Book 4: Chapter 22
“The copper coins really were here with you.” I kicked open the chest in front of me. The open chests in front of me were filled with copper coins. Castell stood to one side. He looked at me with a bitter smile and said: “Your majesty, I can definitely explain the origins of these coins. This is the income of salt merchants. This is not my income. It should be considered the nation’s income.”
“So you raised the price of salt so high that you had to repossess virtually all of the copper coins?”
I turned around, grabbed Castell’s collar and shouted: “You’re playing with fire, you know?! Salt is a necessary commodity. Are you trying to incite a rebellion among the lower class by raising the price of it so high?”
“Please calm down, your majesty. I did not want to raise the price of salt so high. It is just that purchasing salt from Castor, shipping it here and then opening a store to sell it are all things that require money. I have dropped the price prior to selling it on the market, but because the cost of procuring salt is so expensive, I have no choice.”
I let go and shoved Castell aside. I looked at the copper coins in front of me and frowned. I thought about things for a moment and then said: “Give me the salt and the money. I’ll prepare things. I’ll solve this in your place. But before that, tell me Castell, and don’t give me those half-assed responses, I’m not in the mood to play word-games with you. Tell me, why are the costs so high? Is it the cost of shipping, operating a store or human resources?”
“It’s the cost of the goods.”
Castell looked at me. He didn’t reveal a smile like he usually does. I think it was the first time I saw him get serious. He adjusted his collar while looking at me and continued, “Your majesty, since you want to know, I shall tell you. The price of salt is so high this year because of Castor’s side. The businesses that had also done business with us decided to turn against us.”
“Turn against us?”
“Because the inventory cost dropped.” Castell looked at me and continued, “Castor is now our vassal state so there are no custom taxes, therefore dramatically dropping the cost of salt we buy from them. However, they rejected us. They want to sell to us at the original price to make up for the difference. Naturally, we could not accept it. However, there was another group that bought salt at that price. Therefore we had no choice but to buy the remaining salt at a higher price. If we did not, we might not have any salt this year.”