The Magic Empire for 20,000 years

Chapter 164 Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crab
"Oh? In roughly which places are these activities resisting human-made things taking place?"

El-Erian inquired about the relevant situation.

"I see. It started in the territory of the Radiant Family and is gradually affecting the territories of other elven families."

"The rhetoric is nothing more than the same few things: emphasizing elven traditions, arousing the elven race's antipathy towards other races, and accusing us of using undead in some of our production processes."

"If we completely ignore it, it will definitely have a negative impact on our product sales..."

Elion wasn't too surprised by the Sun Elf family's reaction.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that after so many years, this kind of large-scale boycott has only just emerged...

All I can say is that, for an immortal elf, their reaction time is just too slow!
"Your Majesty Elion, the current resistance movement is limited to a few elven towns, but it shows signs of expanding. Should we take action?"

A faint smile played on El-Erian's lips.
"I do have a solution..."

……

The territory of the Glorious Family.

Inside a robe shop called "Dawn of Light".

The sun elves were engrossed in their work, sewing with linen or silk thread, binding or folding the seams. Other elves were responsible for the more intricate gold thread embroidery and gemstone inlay. The most skilled mages were in charge of the final enchanting.

In the land of the Sun Elves, such workshops are not uncommon. Each one belongs to a family that produces robes and follows ancient techniques passed down through generations.

The entire production process includes five stages: design and material selection, cutting and sewing, decorative techniques, final adjustments, and ritual enchanting.

Even a basic robe takes several months to make. A mid- to high-end robe often takes several years to complete.

On this day, a well-dressed moon elf merchant suddenly visited the magical tailor shop and made a request for cooperation:
"I have a large batch of semi-finished robes here. The initial cutting and sewing work has been completed, and the embroidery process has been carried out in accordance with the principles of arcane magic."

"Unfortunately, the mages who were originally in charge of the later decoration and ritual enchanting died unexpectedly some time ago."

"Now I'm in a terrible situation: these unfinished robes are simply not ready for the final production stage and are just piling up in our shop."

At this point, the elven merchant showed a rather regretful and heartbroken expression, and then said in a pleading tone:

“I’ve heard that you are the most famous robe shop in the city. Can we cooperate?”

“I will sell these unfinished robes to you at the lowest possible price. Then, you can complete the later stages of decoration, gem setting, detail polishing, and ritual enchanting to turn these unfinished robes into finished products for sale.”

"Don't worry, don't worry, we'll definitely sell them very cheaply. Otherwise, these half-finished robes are of no use to us."

The Sun Elves inside the robe shop carefully examined the batch of semi-finished robe samples brought by the merchant across the street and found that the samples were of very good quality.

Moreover, the price of these semi-finished robes is surprisingly cheap, only about 1/20th of the price of the finished products.

In contrast, if they were to purchase the materials themselves and proceed with the cutting, sewing, and embroidery of the robes to this stage, the cost would be far greater.

The owner of the robe shop immediately realized that this was a money-making opportunity!

Although he felt a little guilty for taking advantage of others' misfortune, he was still tempted by money and bought this batch of cheap, half-finished robes, handing them over to his own shop to complete the final production.

That evening, before the shrine dedicated to the elven gods, the sun elf shopkeeper whispered a prayer:

"By the gods of Sidrian, by King Corellon of Avandor, by the great sun elf god—Prince Sunlight, please forgive our family for taking advantage of our misfortune and purchasing an item of excessive value at an unreasonably low price."

"However, if I don't buy these half-finished robes from this moon elf merchant, he won't earn a single penny!"

As he finished praying, the sun elf shopkeeper suddenly had an absurd idea:

These half-finished robes are so cheap, could they be produced in the human kingdom of Eldoron?
No, I can't think like that!

I'll pretend I know absolutely nothing!
……

Suburbs.

After finishing the story and selling the half-finished robe, the moon elf "merchant" found his employer sitting in the carriage:

"Mr. Antonio, we have successfully sold this batch of semi-finished robes."

Antonio, a human merchant with a round face and shrewd eyes, sat in the carriage, adjusting his top hat.

"Well done."

Joseph, standing next to him, adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and couldn't help but say:

"Our method is really underhanded."

"We order semi-finished robes from the magic production base in Eldoron, and then have the robe shops in these elves do the final stages."

"When these robes are sold, they will be regarded as pure elven products by the sun elves who reject human-made items, and thus they will be willing to pay a high price."

"We made money, and the Sun Elves who resisted humanity gained peace of mind."

Antonio shrugged, his face beaming.
"This is all thanks to His Majesty El-Erian's wise decision!"

"Think about it, the entire production process of these elf robe shops begins with purchasing silk and cloth. They certainly don't raise silkworms or grow cotton themselves."

"In any case, there's always a part of the entire production process that the robe shop doesn't handle themselves. So why can't we in Eldoron take on a slightly larger share of that production process?"

"If the final product is made by elves, then isn't it made by elves?"

Similar events were unfolding simultaneously in many parts of the Elf Kingdom. Various renowned elven magical item manufacturing workshops suddenly found suitable partners approaching them, offering the opportunity to purchase batches of semi-finished magical items at very low prices.

Some of these items were even reduced to just the final packaging stage, making them almost like finished products!

Most of the elven magic item manufacturing workshops had a vague idea of ​​where these cheap, semi-finished products came from.

However, driven by self-interest, they pretended to be unaware:

"Oh dear, we don't know the situation either. Suddenly a batch of crystal balls with only the final enchanting step left entered the market. Luckily, we are a famous crystal ball manufacturing family, so we bought them and had them processed."

"I recently discovered that compared to directly purchasing high-grade Soul Reaper Wood and then manufacturing it into a wand, buying a half-finished wand that is already half-processed seems to reduce costs significantly."

"To all the Sun Elves at the Wind Alchemy Workshop, we're adjusting our potion production process. Instead of buying raw materials, we'll purchase two inexpensive bases and then blend them together."

"Wait, so all we'll be doing from now on is mixing the two raw materials together? Just mixing, nothing technical. Can we still call this an alchemy workshop?"

"Yes, you're right, that's exactly what we'll be doing from now on!"

"What? You mean, why are there suddenly so many semi-finished magical items on the market? I don't know about that, it has nothing to do with me! This is just a normal business strategy: it's more cost-effective to buy semi-finished products and then process them than to buy raw materials from scratch."

“We are the most famous cane-making workshop in Sunrise City, using the most cost-effective business strategies. Do you have the right to question us?”

……

at the same time.

Inside the production base in Rolling Stone Town.

"Another new order has arrived!"

"A total of 1000 unfinished robes, 200 unfinished wands, and 100 unfinished magic boots..."

"We still need a batch of magic potion concentrate, which will be mixed together to create the finished potion!"

El-Erian stood on the scene, inspecting the bustling crowd.

Under his leadership, production lines for semi-finished products were successively established in these magical production bases.

It can only be said that, after all, we are still in the primordial era, and the spirits of the present age are still too young, having not been tempered by the messy commercial tactics of later generations.

In Elian's previous life, in a world called Earth, this kind of tactic of simply slapping on a label and blatantly claiming something as its place of origin was far too common.

This is similar to "Yangcheng Lake hairy crab".

No matter where the hairy crabs come from, as long as they have been bathed in Yangcheng Lake, they are Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs!

Soon after.

A large number of goods, with most of their manufacturing completed in Eldoron and the final processing done in the Elven Kingdom, successfully entered the market.

Some of these products contain negligible amounts of elf-made ingredients; they are practically just simple "rebranding" to satisfy the vanity of the Japanese elves.

These high-quality, inexpensive products, made by elves, were snapped up as soon as they hit the market, becoming incredibly popular with elves—especially the sun elves.

……

One day in the 18th year of the Empire.

The Kingdom of Elves.

The city of magic, Moon Song City.

Doron, a moon elf student, walked out of the school as usual and headed to the magic item shop where he had previously bought his robes:
"I'd like to buy a small bottle of arcane ink mixed with the blood of a wyvern. It doesn't need to be of very high quality; it just needs to be suitable for a poor student like me."

The moon elf, who was working as a shop assistant, looked up and pointed to two types of ink on the shelf.

"I happen to have two types of secret inks here that are perfect for a student like you!"

"Both of these inks contain the pure blood of wyverns."

"The one on the left costs 5 silver coins a bottle and is made in Eldoron, the land of humans in the East."

"The one on the right has the same capacity and a similar design, and it costs 6 silver coins a bottle."

Doron scratched his head and asked:
"What are the advantages of the more expensive one on the right?"

The Moon Elf shop assistant took down the ink bottle on the right, shook it, and patted his chest with considerable pride.

"This is a secret ink produced in our own elven kingdom, manufactured by the renowned Sun Elf magic item workshop—Golden Creek Workshop!"

Doron was startled:
"Didn't your shop used to only sell goods from Eldoron, the land of humans in the East? Now you've started selling products made in our own elven kingdom?"

His robes were all bought from here, and they're still intact!

Then, the moon elf shop assistant spoke with righteous indignation:

"Of course! I also want to support our own elven goods. Right now, our elven manufacturing industry has been greatly affected by the impact of the industries of Eldoron, the human kingdom in the east. Every penny you spend on elven products is a support for the elven race!"

"So, little one, which ink do you want to buy?"

(End of this chapter)