Where Did All This Money Go?! I Don't Know Either! / If You're Going to Earn, Earn Big! Earn the Nobles' Money!

I won't put you through any more trouble for now. I'll save the time we spared and have you continue repairing the castle later.

There will be another update this afternoon.

Chapter 25: Where Did All This Money Go?! I Don't Know Either!

Meanwhile, on the other side of Kazdel, the Banshees stared at the large bag of gold coins before them and fell into deep thought.

One gold coin for a formal dress? When did prices outside suddenly become this high?

"It seems that child really has the backing of some powerful figure. Perhaps we can help each other."

Lamian had vaguely guessed something, but she still didn't dare to be certain.

She respected Huang Cao's private life immensely. Even though he often entered and left River Valley under the pretext of purchasing medicine, she had never interfered too much.

Thus, even now, she had no idea that the grocery store owner and her beloved Doctor Huang were the same person.

However, after all this time, he had already become her equal in status and title.

He even possessed more wealth than she did as Lord of the Royal Court.

"Let's return some of these gold coins. There are simply too many."

That large bag of gold coins represented a substantial fortune even to her.

Where had all this money come from?

Even Theresia, who had taken charge of the national treasury, couldn't produce several hundred thousand gold coins at once to buy land.

At the end of the letter, Huang Cao asked Lamian to act as a go-between for him and the Demon King, explaining that the development of his territory required all kinds of supplies.

Only the Demon King had the authority to trade in those supplies.

But why did he have to come to me? Why couldn't he just go to Theresia?

Could there be some secret behind this? Surely he hadn't dug up a gold mine, had he?

But even if he had found a gold mine, the refining equipment would be extraordinarily heavy. Theresia, who was desperately short of money, would never allow anyone else to mine Kazdel's gold deposits.

The land Theresia had sold to Huang Cao had only brought her five hundred thousand gold coins. After buying food, little of that money remained.

Everything left had been invested in the military, so Kazdel was still short of money.

That was why Huang Cao had never managed to buy pig iron.

All the craftsmen who forged weapons had been recruited by Theresia, and every resource that could be used to make weapons was sent to Kazdel's borders first.

Although the Victorian coalition currently had no plans to do anything to Kazdel, Leithania had always been watching it hungrily from the side.

Huang Cao's territory wasn't particularly far from Victoria. He had chosen that location so that it would be more convenient to trade with the great nation later on.

That was why there was a reason so many Sarkaz in the original story hated the Leithanians.

Huang Cao had also explained in the letter why he wanted Lamian to act as a go-between.

There was only one reason: he was afraid that this pink-haired one would take advantage of the situation and raise her prices. He had only recently bought land, and now he wanted to purchase other resources as well.

That made it very easy for people to assume that he must have money on hand!

Since he had money, why not have him support me a little first? He could pay me back later.

As for when "later" would be, it would probably be several hundred years from now.

You're a Sarkaz. Surely you can live for several hundred years? If you can't wait, have your descendants come and collect the debt.

Lamian shook her head. She thought that Theresia shouldn't be that kind of person, but then she suddenly remembered that Theresia still hadn't returned the food she had borrowed several years ago.

She had even made Lamian's people spend the entire winter hungry.

It had been for the sake of the Sarkaz children, but she could at least have returned a token amount. Yet even now, Lamian hadn't seen a single grain of wheat.

The two of them had almost gone two years without seeing each other.

Sisters share one heart with you, but you play tricks on your sister!

Such behavior was truly chilling.

Thus, for the sake of securing some benefits for her people, Lamian decided to cooperate with Mr. Huang Cao first.

Because the Banshees had deliberately concealed the matter, Theresia only knew that Huang Cao had spent some time in River Valley. She had no idea what his relationship with the Banshees was.

"Come to think of it, that child's territory seems to be called Eden. That seems to be a Lateran concept..."

River Valley and Eden had nearly identical populations. Apart from the fact that the latter's land was larger, their theoretical resource consumption was actually quite similar.

More importantly, Lamian's main goal for now was to let her people rest properly.

She wanted to ease the suffering brought by the war and restore the population as much as possible, not climb the technology tree.

Thus, on the surface, the two sides' theoretical resource consumption didn't seem particularly large. In reality, however, the difference was far from insignificant.

That raised a problem: Theresia might not know this fact.

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

He could buy the resources in Theresia's hands at a relatively low price through Lamian, then pay Lamian a commission afterward.

Once iron ore and the like entered River Valley, who would know where those things were being used?

How could Lamian not know that he was using her as well? But putting herself in his shoes, she knew that this child was also doing it to improve the lives of his people.

More importantly, he wasn't cheating her, and her people could gain some benefits from it too.

Strictly speaking, Theresia wasn't losing out either, because Lamian was still paying her as usual.

It was practically killing three birds with one stone. The Banshees received their commission, Huang Cao bought the resources he needed, and Theresia exchanged resources for money to make up for the treasury's deficit.

Thus, over the following years, with the three sides working together, Huang Cao's territory practically solved its mineral-resource shortage.

It enjoyed several bumper harvests and successfully rebuilt several relatively large towns.

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

However, just as the territory was thriving, Huang Cao encountered another problem.

He lay on the bed, staring solemnly at Warfarin before him. His voice carried a hint of melancholy. "Warfarin, how much money is left in my treasury?"

Warfarin rolled her eyes but answered seriously anyway:

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

"It must be because you, that wicked vampire, have been buying medical equipment without restraint! That's why we've been running a deficit every year!"

"As long as you're happy, my lord. Also, please settle my salary while you're at it. I haven't seen a single gold coin in several years."

As the person responsible for the territory's accounts, Warfarin had never expected managing a territory to cost so much money.

Fortunately, this land didn't need to pay taxes to Theresia. Otherwise, they would have gone bankrupt on the spot.

I'm finished! I've drained the gold mine dry!

Realizing that the sky might be falling, Huang Cao tremblingly lifted a cup of tea brewed from high-end tea leaves imported from Yan Country. After taking a deep breath, he drained it in one gulp.

Still shaken, he rose from the soft golden-thread bed, then looked nervously at the luxurious lamp decorated with gold.

After getting out of bed, he stepped onto a high-end animal-skin rug imported from Victoria.

The series of heavy blows made him question everything:

Where had all the money gone?

"Don't you know where the money went? Every decoration in your room costs more than my equipment!"

"Don't say that. The fabric of the dress you're wearing is also high-end silk imported from Yan Country. With the labor costs, it's worth several hundred gold coins."

"..."

Chapter 26: If You're Going to Earn, Earn Big! Earn the Nobles' Money!

I'm really broke!

The treasury is empty. How am I supposed to revive the Han dynasty?!

Am I going to have to find another gold mine?

But my roots might not be able to reach that far!

Besides, how could there be so many gold mines in this world?

This is troublesome. Looks like I have to put collecting taxes on the agenda.

"Five years will soon have passed anyway. Let's start collecting taxes in six months. We'll begin with a small agricultural tax. Kazdel is still quite short on food, though it won't earn us much money."

Although his territory's agricultural output had benefited from his help, even with taxes, he couldn't collect much.

With the current population, selling the grain collected in taxes would earn at most enough to offset a few dozen gold coins.

Huang Cao could directly stimulate plants and exchange food for wealth, but he was a lord now, at least in name.

Besides, obtaining a great deal of wealth required a great deal of food. Not only was the process slow, but it would also easily expose his identity and abilities.

Especially if he did that—wouldn't he just become a wage laborer again?

Could someone without money still be called a noble?

"Why don't we sell some of the clothes? We can get through the next few years first."

Warfarin gritted her teeth and offered up all her clothes. Their fabrics had all been imported from Yan Country, after all, because someone enjoyed playing dress-up.

He often dragged Warfarin into dressing up for no reason. Although the other party frequently took advantage of him afterward, she hadn't actually gone too far.

She had long since grown somewhat accustomed to it. She even enjoyed Huang Cao's praise, and despite verbally refusing, she put on the clothes every time.

Huang Cao shook his head. "Even at the most dangerous moment of a man's life, he can't possibly give away a gift and then ask for it back. Besides, this gift is only a little expensive."

"But that's not the point. I don't lack ways to make money. I only lack ways to make money that are safe and quick."

"Being poor is impossible. I'll never be poor in this lifetime. At worst, I'll steal Theresia's private treasury."

"I feel like you just said something incredible."

"That's not the point. The point is, I've already thought of a way to make money." Huang Cao revealed a sinister smile.

After years of companionship, Warfarin knew that whenever this handsome man wore that expression, one person—or a whole group of people—was about to be swindled.

Sell Originium Inhibitors! But I can't sell them in Kazdel. I have to take them to other countries.

Grinning, Huang Cao pulled a Gold Card from a drawer. Victoria's emblem was engraved on it.

This card was essentially a bank card. Although it served roughly the same purpose as one, it had no electronic functions.

The cardholder had to personally withdraw the money stored in the bank. There was no password; they could only use the pattern on the card to withdraw money from the bank where they had deposited it.

His territory bordered Victoria. How could he possibly ignore this superpower?

Victoria was one of the most powerful countries in the world, and money was gradually beginning to overshadow the king's authority.

Several hundred years later, even the descendants of the Queen Aslan currently ruling might be forced onto the guillotine.

That was an opportunity as well. In this era, few people cared about the fate of those infected with Originium Infection. Of course, the same would be true in later eras.

Compared with several hundred years later, however, the Infected attracted more attention in the current era.

That was because, in this era, the groups most likely to contract Originium Infection were the nobles of every country. They had to use all kinds of Originium Arts, and the slightest injury could result in infection.

As long as ordinary people didn't encounter a Catastrophe or dig up exposed Originium deposits, they rarely contracted the disease.

As for why the number of Infected increased later and spread further down the social ladder—

Victoria couldn't escape responsibility for that either.

Victoria had been the first to begin the Industrial Revolution, using the Enclosure Movement to drive vast numbers of ordinary people into urban factories.

Because of backward technology and ignorance about Originium, factories had virtually no protective measures, and the air was filled with Originium dust.

The dust caused nearly all the factory workers to become infected with Originium Infection.

In addition, because factories demanded huge quantities of Originium, more and more mines abandoned the extraction of conventional metals and turned to developing Originium deposits.

Again, because there was no protection, most miners also became infected with Originium Infection.

Modern Originium industry created vast numbers of Infected, which was why organizations like the Reunion Movement would emerge several hundred years later.

But none of this had anything to do with Kazdel. The people here were born with an inseparable connection to Originium, so what would become a headache for other countries in the future was simply the norm here.