Book 15: Chapter 1
Freya wouldn’t have suffered so much if she knew Vyvyan was able to bring back so much gold. Freya was aware she had no means of stopping Nara; hence, she did her utmost to stall Nara. Guns were the foundation of the North. If their guns were widely circulated across the continent, the North would lose their advantage. The North still didn’t have its own military, so if they handed over their advanced weaponry, then wouldn’t that be the same as handing over their only advantage?
Freya could only do her best to keep on buying time to find a solution to repay the financial debt. They would rather pay back Nara and owe somebody else than hand her their weapons. Alas, Freya had nobody to turn to for a loan, and she definitely couldn’t take back the money they went through lots of trouble to redistribute. The Imperial Palace paid more than they gained to compensate the losses of the people. Perhaps Castell was used to spending money at Hilles City, and therefore didn’t consider saving when he spent money here.
Castell was under the impression that the North wasn’t financially lacking, since Freya dared to pull such a stunt. However, the financial burden had always plagued the North. At the time, the North had continued to make payments but didn’t export anything. The North had just settled down and was still in its recuperation period. The internal politics had yet to be settled, let alone foreign trade. As a matter of fact, they struggled to feed themselves; it was too difficult for them to become a nation that participated in exports at that point.
The only item the North exported at the time was weaponry, and they exported them exclusively to Rosvenor, not to mention in limited amounts. The North was unlike Troy City, in that Troy City could steadily provide the elven dye. Further, as it was a luxury item, the price of it was exorbitant. Therefore, Troy City was considered a very wealthy city at that point in time. Furthermore, the statue of Queen Vyvyan and Empress Elizabeth led to lots of politicians and businessmen seeing business opportunities. That was why they swiftly moved to prepare their own homes and businesses in Troy City. The issue Troy City was faced with was it was too small.
Lots of people had their eyes on the hot springs on the hill of Troy City. There were fully equipped facilities nearby the hot spring. Nevertheless, it was still the private property of the lord of the city and off limits to the public.
Plenty of people were shocked to see Troy return to Troy City. There was no news of his return. Even the guards near the city walls were surprised. They didn’t receive any news of his visit, but they sighted the White Deer King; hence, they were sure it was him. They also saw a woman with him, which was commonplace in times of peace. With that said, the two of them didn’t ride the White Deer King. They, instead, walked to the city doors together.
I do really like Luna, but I couldn’t present her to the public, after all, so I couldn’t hold her in my arms atop the White Deer King. At the same time, I wasn’t willing to let her walk alone. I’d rather walk with her to Troy City. Lucia and Nier wouldn’t accept Luna. The primary reason for that was because of what Luna once went through. They would feel insulted if she was put on the same footing as them. While I loved Luna very much, I had to take my two wives feelings into consideration. Luna was a very sensible girl, though. She didn’t ask me to marry her and bestow her with a title. All she asked was to stay by my side.
Luna looked up at the name of the city in pure gold. With a look of both envy and pride, she remarked, “How pretty… This looks to be a very pretty and beautiful city. The residents here must be very blissful.”
“You haven’t even entered the city yet.”