Chapter 511 - 440: A Solution for Military Expenses

Six months after the end of the Cyrenaica War.

Radiant Calendar, Year 1463, February.

The Golden City.

This once prosperous, magnificent, and spectacular Stereoscopic City was now a landscape of devastation under the heavy weight of war. Even the sixty-meter-tall Emperor Statue, which stood before the Pilgrim Cathedral in the Upper City District, had been reduced by a baptism of fire to nothing but a pair of legs standing in place.

Lady Catherine.

The woman who controlled the economic lifeblood of the Imperial Administrative Region, the helmsman of the Capet Family, a dynastic Overlord.

At this moment, clad in a backless black evening gown, she stood alone before the railing of a terrace at the Governor’s Mansion. The high-altitude winds swept across her cheeks. She lifted her head, her deep violet pupils reflecting the distant sky.

The first batch of this year’s sixteen Tax Collection Ships were rapidly departing the Golden City, disappearing into the atmosphere of Hurst World.

Her left hand, gripping the railing, squeezed slightly. The ironwork groaned with the sound of bending metal. When she finally released her grip, she left a deep, sunken imprint of her hand on the railing.

Hearing footsteps approach from behind, she exhaled slowly. The anxiety and vexation that had flickered across her brow vanished in an instant, replaced by an affable smile as she turned and said, "Lord Ariel, are you enjoying the banquet?"

The footsteps drew closer, and a middle-aged man approached Lady Catherine’s side. He was exceptionally powerfully built, with a rugged face and a mane of curly brown hair like a lion’s. He was dressed in magnificent crimson robes, one hand held behind his back.

He first cast a meaningful glance at the handprint on the railing, then looked up at the Tax Collection Ships about to disappear over the horizon. In a deep voice, he asked, "To go this far for the sake of the Imperial Administrative Region... is it worth it?"

Lady Catherine kept smiling.

"Shouldn’t I?"

Ariel, a leader of a native Merchant Family from the Ash Soil Star Zone and one of the great grain magnates.

Not only did his family possess five grain-rich Agricultural Worlds, but their grain trade also spanned the entire Star Zone. From the dining table of the Governor of Iberia to the feeding troughs of prisoners on the Exile Worlds, the industries under Ariel’s family radiated throughout the Star Zone’s entire food supply system.

This Imperial merchant, who had once pursued the path of a Knight but ultimately failed, needed only to say the word to bring about a catastrophic famine on any given world.

And that wasn’t all.

His family also maintained a private army of considerable size, with over thirty Clan Knights.

Such a force could easily conquer any non-militarized world.

Ariel chuckled, leaning against the railing as he sized up Lady Catherine. "But let’s not talk about that. You held this banquet because you want me to sign the grain supply agreement you drafted with the folks in Iberia, didn’t you?

"The terms are negotiable. The price will be a 20% increase on the original, and the first year must be fully tax-exempt..."

Hearing his exorbitant demand, Lady Catherine felt the rage she had been suppressing—already simmering due to the matter of the Tax Collection Ships—begin to boil over.

’A twenty percent price hike?’

’And a full tax exemption for the first year?’

’If the Verne Front Line weren’t facing a life-or-death crisis, she would wring this greedy bastard’s neck right now.’

Suppressing her fury, Lady Catherine’s expression remained unchanged. Smiling, she replied in a negotiating tone, "Twenty percent is too much. The best price the Grand Governor can offer is a 5% increase.

"If you agree to our terms, Your Lordship, then after the war, you will be the sole grain supplier for the three hundred worlds of the Administrative Region for the next thirty years."

Ariel sneered inwardly. ’Whether the Imperial Administrative Region will even survive today is a question, and she’s talking about the next thirty years?’

A thirty-year exclusive supply contract would be a guaranteed profitable deal at any other time, but things were different now.

As one of the great grain magnates, he had long heard rumors. Not only was Grand Lord Kles preparing to declare war on the Administrative Region this year, but rebel factions within the region were also planning to make a move.

The only reason he had deigned to grace the Golden City with his presence was that Lady Catherine had invited him time and time again.

Besides, making a large-scale grain deal with the Imperial Administrative Region at such a critical moment was a risk for him and his family. If Grand Lord Kles won the war and decided to settle old scores, he would be in deep trouble.

Ariel offered a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes, his tone chillingly indifferent. "Let me finish. It’s not that difficult to get me to sign the agreement, but I have another condition."

’If it’s a condition, that means there’s still room for negotiation.’

"Please, continue."

Ariel sized up Lady Catherine once more, then grinned. "The additional condition isn’t difficult, actually. As long as you agree to keep me company for a year, the agreement can be signed right now.

"Care to consider it?"

Taking a huge risk to accept an invitation to the Golden City—this grain magnate’s true purpose was not the agreement, but Lady Catherine herself, and the greater benefits she represented.

If it were just a matter of beautiful women, he himself had lost count of how many he kept in his various private manors.

But Lady Catherine was different.

This was the dynastic Overlord who, when he had once sought her cooperation, hadn’t even given him a second glance. Now she was the one begging him. If she wanted him to sign an agreement now, it wouldn’t be a simple matter of money.

He would reclaim the face he had lost thirteen years ago from this very woman!

The situation in the Imperial Administrative Region had deteriorated to this extent; not only were there shortages on the front lines, but the supply chains for half of its three hundred worlds were in a state of severe crisis.

He could afford not to make this money, but Lady Catherine and the Administrative Region behind her could not.