Originally, those Snezhnayan merchants had figured this was simple.
It was a huge gamble. If they lost, they could just sell at a discount and take a small loss.
But if they won, they would make more than ten times their investment. Profits that staggering were enough to drive them mad.
Unfortunately for them, this time they had run into Ellin.
One slash of her sword had broken through the barrier-and broken the deadlock holding both nations back.
On top of that, both nations deliberately acted as though they no longer needed the land at Stone Gate, leaving the Snezhnayan merchants utterly rattled.
Gambling their entire fortunes might not cause problems in the short term, but as time dragged on, all sorts of issues would surface.
For instance, their existing businesses needed operating capital. Without money, they could not buy stock.
With their funds tied up at Stone Gate for so long, whether they could turn a profit was beside the point. They could not simply live off their dwindling reserves and abandon all their other businesses, could they?
That was the difference between big merchants and small ones. Big merchants had money to spare and enough working capital to wait things out.
But as Ningguang had said, although big merchants had the resources, they also saw the bigger picture. They would never do something that offended those in power.
Small merchants, however, were greedy and shortsighted. If they went too long without seeing a return, they would start to panic.
The Snezhnayan merchants who had expected to sit back and rake in the money were now panicking.
Liyue and Mondstadt no longer needed that land, which meant the property in their hands was nothing but a burden.
As far as they were concerned, they had already lost this gamble.