Blessed by Abundance, Scourge of Terra

I won't bother you for now—let's save the time we've gained and put it aside. I'll have you continue building my castle later.

There's another update this afternoon.

Chapter 25: Where Did All This Money Go?! I Have No Idea!

Meanwhile, on the other side of Kazdel, the Banshees stared at the large bag of gold coins before them, lost in thought.

One dress for a single gold coin—how had prices outside suddenly become so exorbitant?

"It seems that child truly has the backing of someone important. Perhaps we can help each other as well."

Lamian had a vague inkling of what was going on, but she still dared not be certain in her heart.

She deeply respected Huang Cao's personal life and had never interfered much, even when he frequently entered the River Valley under the pretense of purchasing medicine.

So until now, she had no idea that the general store owner and the dear Doctor Huang were the same person.

But so much time had passed that the other party had already risen to equal footing with her in status and title.

In fact, the wealth in his hands now surpassed even her own as the Lord of the Royal Court.

"Send some of these gold coins back. This is far too much."

A whole bag of gold coins—even for her, this was an incredibly substantial fortune.

Where had all this money come from?

Even Theresia, who had taken over the national treasury, couldn't possibly pull out hundreds of thousands of gold coins at once to buy land.

At the end of the letter, Huang Cao had requested Lamian's help in bridging a connection between himself and the Demon King, citing that his territory's development required all kinds of resources.

These resources could only be traded with the Demon King's authorization.

But why did he have to come to me? Why not go directly to Theresia?

Could there be some secret behind this? It couldn't be that he'd stumbled upon a gold mine, could it?

But even if he had found a gold mine, the refining equipment was far from lightweight. Theresia, who was currently desperate for funds, would never allow anyone else to mine Kazdel's domestic gold deposits.

The land Theresia had sold to Huang Cao had only fetched five hundred thousand gold coins. After buying grain, there was hardly anything left.

The remainder had all been poured into the military, so Kazdel was still strapped for cash.

This was precisely why Huang Cao had been unable to purchase pig iron.

All the weapon-smithing craftsmen had been recruited by Theresia, and every resource that could be used for weapons was prioritized for Kazdel's borders.

Although the Victoria Coalition currently had no plans to act against Kazdel, the neighboring Leithanian forces were always watching with hungry eyes.

Huang Cao's territory wasn't far from Victoria, precisely to make future trade with that great power more convenient.

So it wasn't without reason that many Sarkaz in the original storyline despised Leithanians.

Huang Cao had also explained in the letter why he wanted Lamian to act as his bridge.

The reason was simple: he was afraid that pink-haired one would take advantage of his desperation to jack up the prices. He had just bought land not long ago, and now he wanted to purchase other resources.

So it would be all too easy for people to assume you definitely had money on hand!

Since you had money, why not support me first, and pay me back later?

As for when "later" would be—probably a few hundred years from now.

You're a Sarkaz—surely you can live a few hundred years, can't you? If you can't wait, let your descendants come collect the debt.

Lamian shook her head, thinking to herself that Theresia probably wasn't that kind of person. But then she suddenly remembered that the grain Theresia had borrowed from her a few years ago still hadn't been repaid.

It had left her own people starving through the entire winter.

Even if it was for the sake of Sarkaz children, you could at least make a token repayment. But to this day, she hadn't seen a single grain of wheat.

In fact, the two of them hadn't even met in nearly two years.

Sisters stick together through thick and thin, and you play mind games with your sister!

This kind of behavior was truly disheartening.

So, to secure some benefits for her own people, Lamian decided to cooperate with Mr. Huang Cao first.

Thanks to the Banshees' deliberate concealment, Theresia only knew that Huang Cao had spent some time in the River Valley, but had no idea what his relationship with the Banshees was like.

"By the way, that child's territory is called Eden, isn't it? That seems to be a Lateran concept..."

The population of the River Valley and Eden was remarkably similar. Apart from the fact that Eden's land wasn't as large, their theoretical resource consumption was roughly the same.

Especially since, up to now, Lamian's main focus had been on letting her people rest properly.

She wanted to soothe the pain of war as much as possible and restore the population, with no intention of advancing their technology tree.

So on the surface, the two sides' theoretical resource consumption didn't seem significant, but in reality, the gap was far from small.

And that's where the problem came in—Theresia might not necessarily know this fact.

This was also why Huang Cao had chosen to cooperate with Lamian again.

By having Lamian purchase resources from Theresia at a relatively low price, and then paying her a commission.

As for iron ore and the like—once they entered the River Valley, who the hell knew where those things ended up being used?

Lamian knew full well that the other party was also using her, but putting herself in his shoes, this child was only trying to make life better for his people.

More importantly, he hadn't cheated her either, and her own clan could reap some benefits from the deal.

Strictly speaking, Theresia hadn't lost out either, since she was still paying them as agreed.

It was a triple win: the Banshee got her cut, Huang Cao got resources with his money, and Theresia turned resources into cash to fill the national treasury deficit.

So over the next few years, under the coordination of these three parties, Huang Cao's territory nearly solved its mineral resource problem.

They successfully reaped several bountiful harvests and rebuilt a few sizable towns.

Of course, given the available resources, most houses were still made of wood or stone.

But just as the territory was thriving, Huang Cao ran into another problem.

He lay on the bed, staring solemnly at Warfarin before him, his tone tinged with loss. "Warfarin, how much money is left in my treasury?"

Warfarin rolled her eyes but answered seriously:

"Respected Lord, after all these years of spending, we now have fifty thousand gold coins and two hundred thousand silver coins. If we keep spending recklessly, we'll go bankrupt before next year."

"It must be because you, that wretched vampire, have been buying medical equipment without restraint, causing the annual deficit!"

"Whatever pleases you, Lord. And by the way, please settle my salary—I haven't seen a single gold coin in years."

As the territory's accountant, Warfarin never imagined managing a domain would be so expensive.

It was a good thing this land didn't have to pay taxes to Theresia, or they'd have gone bankrupt on the spot.

I'm doomed, the gold mine's been drained dry!

Realizing the sky might be falling, Huang Cao's fingers trembled as he picked up a cup of tea brewed with high-end leaves imported from Yan Country, took a deep breath, and downed it in one gulp.

Still shaken, he rose from his soft, gold-threaded bed and cast a panicked glance at the luxurious, gold-adorned lamp.

Stepping off the bed, his feet landed on a high-end beast-hide rug imported from Victoria.

A series of heavy blows left him wondering:

Where did all the money go?

"Do you even have a clue where the money went? Every decoration in your room costs more than my equipment, you know."

"Don't talk—the raw material for that long dress you're wearing is high-end silk imported from Yan Country, plus the craftsmanship, worth several hundred gold coins."

"..."

Chapter 26: If You're Going to Make Money, Make Big Money! Make Money Off the Nobility

Really broke now!

The treasury's empty—how am I supposed to restore the Han dynasty?

Am I going to have to find another gold mine?

But my roots might not even reach that far!

Besides, there aren't that many gold mines in this world.

Troublesome. Looks like I need to put taxation on the agenda.

"It's almost been five years anyway. I'll start collecting taxes in six months—just a small agricultural tax for now. Kazdel is still short on food, though it won't make much money."

Even with my help boosting crop yields, taxing the current population won't bring in much.

Selling the grain collected from taxes would only net a few dozen gold coins at most.

Sure, Huang Cao could directly accelerate plant growth and trade crops for wealth, but now that he had a territory to manage, and to amass significant wealth, he'd need massive grain volumes—inefficient and risky, exposing his identity and abilities.

Besides, doing that would just make me a wage earner again, wouldn't it?

What kind of noble is a broke noble?

"Maybe I should sell off some of the clothes to tide us over for a few years."

Warfarin gritted her teeth and offered up all her dresses—fabrics imported from Yan Country, since someone loved playing dress-up.

He'd often drag her into costume changes for no reason, and though he'd take advantage of her afterward, it was never anything serious.

She'd long gotten used to it, even enjoying his compliments, saying no but always putting on the outfits.

Huang Cao shook his head. "Even a man at his most desperate wouldn't take back a gift he'd given. Though these gifts are a bit pricey."

"But that's not the point. I'm not short on ways to make money—I'm short on safe, fast ways to make money."

"I'll never be poor, not in this lifetime. Worst case, I'll just steal Theresia's personal treasury."

"I feel like you just said something outrageous."

"That's not the point. The point is, I've already figured out a way to make money." Huang Cao flashed a sinister smile.

After years of companionship, Warfarin knew that whenever this handsome man smiled like that, someone—or a lot of someones—was about to get swindled.

Sell Originium Inhibitors! But not in Kazdel—in other countries.

Huang Cao cheerfully pulled a gold card from the drawer, stamped with Victoria's emblem.

This card was essentially a bank card. Though its function was similar to a bank card, it had no electronic capabilities.

The cardholder could only personally go to withdraw money stored in the bank. There was no password; you could only retrieve money from the bank where you deposited it based on the pattern on the card.

His territory bordered Victoria—how could he possibly ignore this superpower?

As one of the most powerful nations in the world today, money was gradually overshadowing the king's authority.

In fact, a few hundred years from now, the descendants of the Aslan Queen, who still held power, might even be forced to the guillotine.

This was also an opportunity. In the current era, few people cared about the fate of Originium Infection patients—though the same would hold true in later eras.

It was just that, compared to a few hundred years later, infected individuals were still somewhat conspicuous now.

Because in this era, the high-risk group for Originium Infection was precisely the nobility of various nations. They wielded all kinds of Originium Arts, and a single misstep could easily injure themselves and lead to infection.

As long as ordinary people didn't encounter natural disasters or dig up exposed Originium ore on the surface, they rarely contracted this disease.

As for why there were more and more Originium Infection patients later on, spreading further down the social ladder...

That was also inseparable from Victoria.

Because Victoria was the first to start the industrial revolution, using enclosure movements to drive large numbers of ordinary people into city factories.

Due to backward technology and a lack of understanding of Originium, the factories had almost no protective measures. The air was filled with massive amounts of Originium dust.

This dust turned nearly all factory workers into Originium Infection patients.

Additionally, with the factories' enormous demand for Originium, more and more mines abandoned the extraction of traditional metal resources and switched to mining Originium.

Again, due to a lack of protection, most miners also became Originium Infection patients.

Modern Originium industry created a vast number of Originium Infection patients, which was why, a few hundred years later, organizations like the Reunion Movement would emerge among the infected.

But none of this had anything to do with Kazdel. Because the people there were inherently and inseparably connected to Originium. What would become a headache for other nations in the future was simply the norm here.