Chapter 256: Aiwass Qianjin City Horse Bones
Isabel, who was standing behind Aiwass, patted his shoulder gently and whispered in his ear, "Mr. King really doesn't seem to know... He's so pitiful."
You really call him king.
Do you know that you are Her Royal Highness the Princess?
Aiwass raised his eyebrows but did not express his complaints.
He simply leaned over to Isabel's ear and whispered in a low voice, "Why, do you want to pardon him?"
"He still has a daughter to support... I feel like that's the truth. He truly regrets it. I don't know what Minister Droste does."
Isabel felt compassion, but she also remained rational.
So she bit back again: "Help me, Aiwass... How can we save him without endangering the interests of Avalon?"
"As you wish, my Lord."
Aiwass's mouth corners slightly raised, and he whispered to the side of his face: "Leave it to me."
——Since Aiwass said so, it must be correct.
Isabel immediately made up her mind and stood up, taking two steps back to Lily's level, indicating that she would no longer interfere in this matter.
Aiwass turned around and squinted his eyes at the king. Just a glance brought him tremendous pressure.
It is a good thing that Her Royal Highness has volunteered to be a benevolent queen.
As someone whose social ties were essentially tied to Avalon, Aiwass naturally hoped that the future queen, his immediate superior, would be a kind and compassionate person. Aiwass would not deny this positive growth trend.
If Avalon really needs some less merciful measures, needs to add a little ruthlessness and cruelty... then he is still there.
Just hope there won’t be any familiar developments like “Evans, I am the queen” or “Isabelle, you will regret it”…
It is actually very simple to fulfill Isabel's request.
——Because Mr. "King" doesn't know one thing, that is, Avalon is actually short of talent.
Botanist is a rare profession, even in Star Antimony.
At least, neither Royal Law University nor Milton University has this class inherited. This is because changing to this class is actually more difficult than changing to an alchemist. The alchemist's focus on balance is more on the principles of "conservation of matter" and "the principles of everything."
The path of balance that botanists must follow includes the balance between man and nature.
This is much more difficult to understand than alchemy.
Under the influence of Master Nobel, alchemy had been developing in Avalon for nearly twenty years. But even if it tried its best, it was still far from reaching the level of Star Antimony.
On the one hand, this is because Avalon has not yet formed a sufficient talent pool, and currently basically relies on the older generation of alchemists - and these old alchemists are basically not from Avalon.
On the other hand, the development of paths like the Path of Balance and the Path of Beauty requires a positive social atmosphere. Research is mutually reinforcing and competitive. While this inevitably leads to internal competition within the industry and significant waste of talent, the overall pace of development will not be slowed.
——Well, since Xingti has so many talented people, Avalon might as well hurry up and pick up some!
We want the people you don’t want over there!
Although the "king" himself only regarded botanists as a subsidiary profession of alchemists... after all, botanists could not make a lot of money or become famous, unlike alchemists who had several complete inheritance and promotion routes, and they even seriously lacked combat effectiveness.
But from a national perspective, a botanist who excels at cultivating diverse plants, inducing targeted mutations in plants, and rapidly generating a variety of rare plants is far more useful than a low-level alchemist of the same rank. While an alchemist must be of a higher rank to be useful, a botanist is useful even at the first level.
A botanist of only the first level can squeeze out the fertility of the soil and reduce the time it takes for crops on several acres of land to mature in eight or nine months to less than three months, while ensuring the quality of the crops. Moreover, low-level botanists can also deal with pests and diseases and continuously optimize crop seeds.
This is why wheat and corn grains from Xingti can continue to be exported to Avalon in large quantities.
Because the imported grain from Xingti is of such high quality and low price that it has severely squeezed the income of Avalon farmers - even with the 30% protective tariff, it is still 30% lower than the grain price in Avalon.
Avalon does not have a noble class that owns individual lands, as Star Antimony does.
All of Avalon's land belonged to the royal family, with farmers paying rent for their use. However, the price of grain made it impossible to pay the rent and sell it, leading to a financial crisis for the kingdom. Ultimately, Avalon's farmland was gradually converted into pasture.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time wanted to implement the Corn Laws.
That is, by forcibly setting food prices, imports are absolutely prohibited when food prices fall below the set price.
He hoped to use this method to forcibly maintain the price of grain circulating in the market. This meant that the price of grain on the market would more than double, and with it the prices of all agricultural products. Furthermore, the number of workers in the factory would be significantly reduced.
The young Queen Sophia thought about it for a long time and thought that this would bring great conflict and instability to Avalon. So she did not pass the Corn Laws in the end.
Without anyone hoarding food or driving up prices, the price of food would at least double. This would be enough to kill people. And it's unclear what else would happen.
As a result, Avalon eventually became dependent on Star Antimony for its crops. As its name, "Pastoral Bay County," suggests, Avalon's farmers were outnumbered not only by herders but even by fishermen. The remaining farmers primarily cultivated high-value cash crops. Only a few plots of farmland, fully funded by the royal family, were used to grow war grain at a loss, even lower quality than the grain sold by the Star Antimony people.
——In Aiwas's opinion, this celebrity was actually quite afraid of Avalon back then.
That was the critical period when Xingtan was heading east to attack the Black Eagle Principality and the Narcissus Principality, especially the Narcissus Principality - it was too far away from Xingtan's homeland.
At that time, Xingtian had no idea of the newly crowned Queen Sophia's control over Avalon, nor her governing plan. That's why they used this strategy to prevent Avalon from actively declaring war on Xingtian.
And now, it's almost time to get out of this predicament.
According to Aiwas's understanding, the government of Xingti actually keeps a very strict eye on botanists - probably because they are trying to seize power there, the alchemists are squeezing out the living space of botanists.
Because the botanists' income was basically all taken from the alchemists. It could even be said that the Star Antimony officials raised the price of alchemical raw materials in order to protect the botanists' income and status.
According to Aiwas's memory, this was around the time of the civil strife in Xingti.
The alchemists wanted to seize power—and from the alchemists' point of view, their strongest demand was naturally to reduce costs.
Obviously, the work done by botanists is not complicated and does not require high technical skills, but their income is much higher than that of low-level alchemists of the same level.
Low-level alchemists basically spent money like crazy—cultivating a third-level alchemist would cost at least 380 gold coins in material costs. This was calculated based on the assumption that all alchemy was successful. If the talent was slightly lower, this number would increase several times.
We are all at the same first level. Why do you earn dozens or hundreds of gold coins a month while I have to spend only a dozen gold coins a month?
Therefore, alchemists were quite hostile to botanists, who were considered "profiteers." To win the support of the middle and lower-level alchemists, the top alchemists sought to profit on their behalf—part of which came from botanists, and part of which came from all walks of life through overall price increases.
If Aiwass guessed correctly, the "King" would sell goods during the promotion ceremony... and he would probably be slaughtered by the alchemists.
If Aiwass could recruit the "King" and send a friendly signal...
Then, when the internal strife in Xingti intensifies further, they may accept the surrender of higher-level botanists.
Furthermore, the "King" had decent moral character. As long as his concerns could be addressed, he could be useful.
"If I'm not mistaken," Aiwass said slowly, "your family is likely to have been controlled by the Star Antimony people."
Hearing this, Augustus' face turned pale: "W-why...?"
"Because botanists are forbidden from leaving the country. You probably came from a poor background, or your rank was too low before, so you didn't know about this."
Aiwass sighed, a look of sympathy on his face. "The inheritance of botanists is very strictly guarded by Xingti. If nothing unexpected happens, you might also be assassinated by Xingti."
Of course, this was a lie. After all, he was just a first-level rookie botanist.
The battle was raging on the Xingti side, and even for the sake of political correctness, they wouldn't take the botanist too seriously at this critical juncture. Otherwise, it would only further infuriate the extremely sensitive alchemists.
In other words, as the alchemists plotted to seize power, the leakage of the botanists' legacy was irreversible. For Xingbi, whose desire for war was now growing stronger, the royal family had no choice but to side with the alchemists, who represented the most advanced technology, in any conflict with the botanists.
This is the conflict between the country of "Xingti" and the core group of "Xingti's alchemists".
"Then, then I can still go back..."
"What are you thinking about? What do you want to say to the people over there?"
Aiwass interrupted him and asked, "You took the initiative to export a large amount of 'alchemical raw materials' to Avalon. Although plant essential oils are not classified as alchemical raw materials, you don't think the Star Antimony people don't understand that we buy these things to synthesize alchemical products, right?
"I'm not afraid to tell you—the man you sold the goods to was your Star Antimony's biggest spy in Avalon, responsible for smuggling from Star Antimony. And just in the past few days, he was apprehended, interrogated, and executed. And it happened almost before your goods arrived and after the contract was signed.
"Then you personally arrived in Avalon on a smuggling freighter. You met me, the future Queen. But you received no punishment and returned to Starland safely—I won't say anything else. Think about it yourself, what do you think the people of Starland would think of you?
"You don't think you can go back?"
The more the king listened, the paler he grew.
He's not stupid. He's just a little naive.
But to be recognized by the Way of Balance, one must be smart. After a moment's thought, he realized that what Aiwass said was true.
However, Aiwass changed the subject at this moment: "But you have to thank our kind princess.
"Because of our connection, Her Highness Isabel intends to help you. We will try to send an inspector to Xingti to see if we can rescue your family. We will also send someone to protect you."
"...What! Thank you so much, kind and noble Princess, and Mr. Moriarty... Please rescue my family—!"
Augustus was immediately overjoyed, but also a little uneasy: "Then, what can I do for you?"
"You don't have to do anything. At least for now."
Aiwass raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and said something that made Augustus feel relieved, but also more uneasy: "It's free, Mr. Augustus."
Update completed!
(End of this chapter)
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