Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

But precisely because of this, Malin was eager to change everything.

Having secured this knowledge, Malin began to establish more factories, recruiting capable individuals among the refugees. Those who had served as soldiers could be absorbed into the factory guard as soldiers, and these new troops would be responsible for the safety of the city and its streets in normal times.

The commercial guilds wanted to join in, and Malin could offer them distribution channels—the increasing number of goods required more and more smooth logistic channels. In this era, maintaining a country’s logistics was very challenging, so Malin didn’t mind granting benefits to the savvy members within these guilds. If the guilds didn’t see Malin’s presence as something that would ultimately oppress or even eradicate them, then what Malin needed to do now was to show everyone that he was willing to trade with them, that they were partners, not mortal enemies fighting to the death.

Interest was the best weapon to divide those who were short-sighted, quicker than a knife, fiercer than a bullet, and more silently pervasive than a deranged gunner.

Besides that, Malin’s weapon workshops began to offer more and better weapons; the price had always been a major issue in weapon export, but Malin had a natural adversary and business partner in this respect—Chaos Evil God.

Their legions, their followers, and their subordinates, all would be the most reliable promotional partners for Malin’s weapon workshops.

When money could eliminate Chaos faster and better than knives and bows, what else could be a problem?

Perhaps these Nobles and the King would further oppress those poor souls to obtain these weapons, but when those who couldn’t survive chose to head to Carterburg—a haven of peace—Malin would absolutely enjoy seeing it happen.

He could even spend money to buy refugees; from among them, the selected peasants would have land to cultivate, the herders could graze livestock, and the city dwellers could learn the knowledge needed for industrial production; Malin had enough skilled workers to educate them.

And their children would learn more knowledge in Malin’s schools, becoming the new workers, herders, farmers, and soldiers.

With money in their pockets, the Nobles could buy more weapons, more cannons, eliminate Chaos more quickly and efficiently. If they survived the upcoming Tide of the Dead and sudden Chaos assaults, they would be the best live advertisements for Malin’s weapon workshops.