The once-small border town of Batasin in Transia had now expanded twice. More astonishingly, a third expansion—within just eleven months—was already on the agenda. The original city walls had been torn down, and the city had spread outward into a much larger area to accommodate the steady stream of trade.
The city was the headquarters of the Batasin Chamber of Commerce, and, apart from Riptide Fort, Transia's largest inland commercial center.
Trade routes to Ice Bay, the Kafhoka region, and even the far-off northern lands all began here. The Lion's Pride Trading Company, which had already monopolized Transia's logistics industry, loaded and unloaded cargo here hundreds of times a day, on average.
It was no exaggeration to call Batasin the economic heart of Transia.
If it were destroyed or occupied, it would be enough to bring Transia—which had long teetered on the brink of financial collapse—to its knees for good.
Such an important area naturally needed heavy defenses. Batasin was guarded not only by an elite People's Army unit withdrawn from the Maginot Line, but also by 1,500 winged cavalrymen who were stationed there year-round. The Midnight faction of the Blood Eagle Clan had built two mage towers in the city, and elite Midnight psychics personally trained by the young lady were also stationed there.
These defenses were strong enough to ensure that, even in the worst-case scenario, the city could be evacuated before it was destroyed.
It was said that Perfect Shipping Company would soon be setting up a commercial outpost in Batasin. Once the airship tower currently under construction was finished, there was no doubt armed airships with formidable firepower would be stationed here for defense.
But it was precisely the city's importance that prompted outside forces with malicious designs on Transia to provoke it time and again.