Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1422 1394. The Reckless Idiot

Molnar sighed at his nephew who felt very good about himself, but still nodded.

"Yes, what Xi Leton said is correct. Your tax rate is very low. It was calculated by our accountant at the beginning."

Tax avoidance is feasible, but for an industry like Dwarf Bank, you can't just replace the legal person with a human just to avoid taxes, right?

So they have to pay every penny.

"But then again," Lan En stroked his chin, "this means that the money for the war with the Scoia'tael is borne entirely by the non-human races? This doesn't surprise me too much."

"But a meeting of warlocks has nothing to do with the kingdom's taxation, right?"

"Taxes are certainly not an issue at a gathering of wizards." Mornar added some wine to his glass.

"But after the meeting, the warlocks' joint decisions always have an impact on the North, and even the world. The aftermath will not only affect the tax rate, but also the price of agricultural products, land prices, and so on."

"For example, I really hope that the opinions of the great wizards at the meeting can prevent certain things from happening. For example, if it can curb the soaring prices, I will be overjoyed!"

Morna looked at Yennefer when he said this, because this sorceress was one of the protagonists of the sorcerer gathering that would take place soon.

She is the youngest member of the Supreme Council of Warlocks.

That is, one of the so-called 'great wizards at the gathering' as mentioned by Morna.

"Tell me more details."

Yennefer leaned back in her chair.

"Well, just as Lan said." Mornar nodded to the demon hunter in his chair, "I have been in this industry for many years, Yennefer. I can see the deep connection between seemingly unrelated events such as price fluctuations."

“For example, the value of jewelry has skyrocketed recently because the demand has become so high.”

"Don't look at me! In the past, our bank did purchase jewelry and gemstones in bulk to avoid fluctuations in exchange rates and currency values. But this time."

Morna's expression became deep and serious. Although Schillerton, who also came from the banking industry, heard the news for the first time, he still widened his eyes slowly due to his original professional ethics.

"Gemstone has one advantage," said Morna, seemingly changing the subject. "It is light and small."

"A bag of diamonds weighs only a few ounces and can be easily put into a pocket, but it costs fifty marks. And the equivalent in gold coins? That's twenty-five pounds! You have to carry it on your shoulder!"

"This is a big advantage when you are escaping or moving, my friends." Morna said meaningfully, "Compared to a large bag of gold coins, a small bag of diamonds allows you to hug your wife and children with one hand and hold a sword with the other. The difference is huge."

"Isn't it too early to talk about escape now?" Yennefer said calmly, "Where can we escape to?"

"Kovir, Povis or Humphreys, because they are far away, neutral countries, and have good relations with Nilfgaard."

"Just tell me, Morna." Lan En smiled when he heard this. "What else has increased in price? What is the reason for the price increase?"

"Boat."

"." Lan En was silent at first, then he seemed to have figured something out in an instant and frowned fiercely, "What did you say?"

"Ship," the dwarf banker repeated.

"All the shipbuilders along the coast are busy building ships. King Foltest's quartermaster placed the order. They are generous and new orders are constantly coming in."

"If you have any spare money, Yennefer, Lan, invest it in shipbuilding. It's a gold mine! You can build ships out of bark and reeds, sell them to the military at the price of a fine pine sailboat, and split the profits with the quartermaster."

"This is not a joke, Morna." Lan En straightened up from the wall he was leaning against. "What exactly is going on?"

Ciri looked up, somewhat surprised at Lan's sudden seriousness.

"Those boats were all shipped south." Morna looked at the ceiling and said absentmindedly, "It can be imagined that the army did not start buying boats because they wanted to fish."

"I heard that the ships were transported to the Soden and Brugge areas and hidden in the woods. The officers and soldiers were practicing boarding and fighting. Of course, it's just practice now."

"Dor Angora." Lan En murmured the place name almost immediately after Morna finished speaking. "Indeed, it's the only place."

Yennefer could only barely keep up with Lan's thoughts before. There was a huge difference in their thinking speed. At the same time, there was a huge intelligence gap between the sorceress and the dwarf banker.

So during the conversation, she, who was always strong, was actually quite passive.

But Lan En almost instantly sorted out many things from the words provided by Morna.

"The Yaruga River is entering its dry season. At that time, with the help of a few tools, it will be easy to travel between the north and south banks in Dole Angola."

"More importantly, the ships brought here can supply Lyria and Aedirn. So this is a joint military operation?"

In just a few words, Lan En had roughly guessed the direction of things.

But this trend is not optimistic. Lan En did not have more information about Nilfgaard, but he knew that now even a dwarf banker could vaguely see the clues, so it would be better not to have too high expectations for confidentiality.

The witcher gritted his teeth and pinched his forehead with the hand that was not holding the wine glass.

"It's a good thing these four reckless idiots didn't think of causing trouble in Brokilon Forest, otherwise they would have been in trouble halfway!"

"Let's just pretend we don't know who these 'four idiots' you are referring to." Morna said knowingly, and raised his glass to Lan En in admiration. "Only a noble like you would have the status to say such things."

"Brokielion?" Yennefer, a sorceress, noticed another point in Lan's words. "What happened to the dryads?"

Ciri also looked at the witchers curiously. She still remembered that her first meeting with the witchers was in that vast primeval forest.

But at that time, she only remembered that the situation of the tree spirits did not seem optimistic. Why did Lan En say something like this now?
The witcher put his hand on Ciri's head to prevent her from showing a special expression because of the name of the place.

He said to Yennefer, "I have talked with the [Silver-Eyed Queen] Esna of the Dryads several times, and we have helped each other. I can only say that I am not optimistic about the fate of anyone who wants to mess with her."

The witcher thought again about the ancient leopard-headed spirit that entered the new world through [Random Teleportation], and then was forced back to the Brokilon Forest by himself and Esna with an unimaginable vitality.

It was a huge vitality that made the ancient deer-headed spirit more difficult to deal with than the ancient dragons of the New World.

And that vitality became the "gift" that he asked the [Silver-Eyed Queen] to cross the world to help him.

Now that vitality should still be in Esna's hands, or stored in the dryad's city, Dune Canar.

Esna is essentially the land goddess of Brokilon. She should have been able to do nothing but sit back and watch the forest decline, and decline along with the forest.

But at that time, when Ciri was in a hypnotic state, Esna saw the prophecy from the girl through the [Ancient Blood].

The huge vitality that Lann personally sent over also made the witcher believe that the land god of the great forest, the [Silver-eyed Queen] of the dryads, had more than just the path of decline.

But the negotiations between Lan, Ciri and Brokilon, and the subsequent cooperation between Lan and Esna, are too tortuous.

So the witcher just mentioned it briefly and then said no more.

In fact, he was also thinking about whether he should send the plants brought from the New World for trial cultivation to Brokilon for cultivation and observation.

With the land god Esna watching over them, there is no need to worry about the dangers of ordinary biological invasions, and the vitality of the Brokilon Forest is also very strong.

Perhaps the plants from the New World can complement and promote the magical forest of the Magical Middle Ages.

"It seems that there are indeed many opinions that need to be agreed upon at this meeting before we can start mediation with the countries in the North."

Lan En shook his head and muttered with a headache.

A joint military operation involving a wide range of people in the northern countries would be difficult to carry out without the support of the warlocks.

Therefore, Lan En is currently focusing his main energy on the meeting that will take place soon, hoping to use the consensus reached by the entire warlock community at the meeting to put pressure on the kings who are restless.

Of course he had a grudge against Nilfgaard, whether it was personal grudges, Ciri's life experience, or disgust towards slavery, it was impossible for him to get along with this southern empire.

But why didn't you think carefully before taking action? Why didn't you "build high walls and store up food"?
Just go for it blindly?
Are you going to hit me hard with your neck stiffened?!

Even though Lan En boasted that he had seen some stupid nobles and incompetent kings, the cultural environment he was born in did not give him the slightest respect or glorification filter for the so-called "aristocratic class".

I just think they are just a group of ordinary people.

But he still felt incredible about the kings' eagerness for quick success and their childish complacency in this magical Middle Ages.

But it’s too unreasonable to say this now.

The best chance to stop their impulse is the warlock meeting. Lan En plans to communicate with Heng Gedimitis and Tishaya at the meeting, at least to win the support of these two most important warlocks among humans.

The rest is easy to explain.

Seeing that Lan's eyes revealed his thoughtfulness, even though Mornar had already learned about this first demon hunter in history who became a noble from his nephew, he was still surprised at the other party's speed of thinking and his keen sense of the situation.

He had only mentioned some sporadic intelligence data, and then Lan En followed him and directly deduced the key location that he had not yet mentioned!

This kind of decisive and confident foresight... To be honest, Morna has only seen it in wizards who claim to have the ability to predict the future.

Of course, if among a hundred such people there is just one who really has the magic power of prophecy, then Morna would be very lucky.

"Okay, now that we've talked about the data and the information on the charts"

Yennefer turned her gaze from the thoughtful Lann back to the dwarf banker.

"I need your help with something, Morna."

(End of this chapter)