The scorching summer had slipped past its halfway point before anyone knew it, and September was approaching.
At this time in the previous two years, all the merchant guilds in Bunta City that produced household magic machinery, along with the small guilds responsible for processing components, would have been at their busiest. This had always been the peak sales season for household magic machinery in especially high demand during the summer.
This year, however, things were different in Bunta City.
Like leaves baked by the blazing summer sun until they hung limp from their branches, the many merchant guilds producing household magic machinery in Bunta City seemed drained of energy. Their enthusiasm for production was nowhere near what it had once been, and several had even stopped producing household magic machinery altogether.
The reason? Simple. They could no longer make any money.
Initially, when the newly appointed Lord Kamadu announced commercial tax reforms and imposed additional taxes on magic machinery, the merchant guilds producing magic machinery in Bunta City had felt they had suffered a serious blow. Still, they remained optimistic that they could continue making money. At worst, their profit margins would shrink a little. They could naturally earn back their losses by working longer.
After several months, however, the harsh reality told everyone that under the current commercial tax policy, making money by producing magic machinery was almost impossible. They might even end up losing money.
After struggling for several months, some merchant guilds whose profit margins had already been low had no choice but to halt production to keep their losses from growing.
Once the first did so, a second followed.
In just two months of summer, more than ten merchant guilds producing magic machinery in Bunta City announced that they were halting production. Even more began