Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 482: Chapter 280: William’s Eyes Looked Toward the Ocean

These briefings were about past events, most of which had nothing to do with Hill, and it was impossible to discern any future trends.

The only one that Hill could immediately understand was one he had been prepared for.

William seemed to be planning to suppress the prices of basic materials within Saral’s borders.

His royal store, the one called the supply and marketing cooperative, had started listing these basic materials.

In the past, the Undead Tribe had to return to the royal capital to make purchases, but now they could buy them wherever they were.

Although William spoke nicely, saying he hoped to give his citizens the same treatment as the Undead Tribe,

after looking at the names of the items officially listed, Hill knew William did not want his country’s economy to be controlled by outsiders,

not even certain categories.

Just like how he controlled a large amount of grain and various agricultural and livestock products, he always kept an eye on the prices and never sold them cheaply.

He suppressed the high-priced grain sold by the nobles without bankrupting them, still giving the remaining farmers a reasonable purchasing price.

Now, within the king’s territory in Saral, most of the land had been set up as agricultural and livestock bases. Although the king claimed it was for the Undead Tribe’s use, everyone understood that anyone who dared to play the old ”buy low, sell high” game would be taught a lesson by the king.

Hill shook his head with a smile and flicked the few pages of paper with his fingers.

The supply and marketing cooperative had quietly operated as an agricultural and livestock products store for a few years and was now officially joining Saral’s economic regulation faction!

Economic warfare was something William and the God of Time and Space were very familiar with. Although they used to be on the defensive, the memories made them even more adept.

Hill believed they would excel at it.

He wondered if any great nobles or high-level mages’ guilds would try to play acquisition games with William.

Hill even suspected that the God of Time and Space had found a resource star. Otherwise, the basic materials consumed by the Undead Tribe would have been enough to deplete all the resources of the past Teraxil World.

William was clearly tempting the Undead Tribe to follow the path of object-based alchemy. The products from his factory were enough to make the Undead Tribe give up on practicing with potion-based alchemy.

Tools could at least be sold, while basic potions, no matter how cheap, couldn’t match the prices at William’s store.

Alchemists weren’t concerned because few alchemists sold low-rank potions in large quantities, so they didn’t feel threatened by William’s large factories.

The potions for low-rank knights and swordsmen were an apprentice’s task.

Hill casually continued reading and found intelligence from the Forest of the Elves at the bottom.

”Information from the Forest of the Elves? How come we have it now?” he asked curiously, as there had been no news before.

”It’s easier to get information from the Half-Elf Kingdom,” List hesitated, ”but the authenticity and timeliness are questionable, and it’s not particularly confidential information.”

”Just knowing a bit is fine,” Hill looked down and read, ”The main issue is that Elven God King, who is somewhat perplexing. Being part of the Chaotic Faction is one thing, but being both chaotic and foolish is rather startling.”

In fact, the biggest problem with the Chaotic Faction was their impulsiveness, often causing trouble, like bringing the elves and dwarves to this world under the Goddess of the Silvermoon.

Of course, she didn’t escape unscathed either. The previous predicament of the Moon Elves could be seen as her retribution.

But their mishaps were occasional, and with strong power and luck, they managed to deal with the aftermath.

However, that God King seemed to be foolish almost all the time, Hill thought.

Currently, he was infatuated with the new Elven Queen, and all the intelligence from the Forest of the Elves was about his affectionate gestures towards the Queen.

For example, having the most melodious bird sing a love song for the Queen upon waking up in the morning,

placing a gemstone flower by the Queen’s pillow before she awoke,

summoning a rainbow in the forest path as the Queen strolled, and so on.

Hill looked at a whole page of the God King’s romantic gestures and suddenly felt that the Goddess of the Hunt’s downfall was somewhat justified.

Knowing these tactics was one thing; whether or not one was willing to do them was another.

If someone as stunning as him was willing to do such things, it was easy for a naive young girl to fall into a false romance.

If most elves could do something of that extent, then the complete downfall of the Moon Elves as a race seemed somewhat understandable!

Hill awkwardly chuckled to himself, ”Being single isn’t so bad, ha.”

He glanced at List, ”You don’t need to show me this kind of information in the future, okay?”

”Sir, what you should notice is that there are only affectionate gestures from that God King, never any reciprocation from the Queen,” List said seriously, ”The reported events involving the Queen are either her resolving village conflicts or spending large amounts of time nurturing nature.”

Hill flipped through a few pages, ”As of now, there’s no clear indication whether she wants to be Empress Wu or Empress Dowager Cixi. The precondition for both is that their husbands must have died first, right?”

”Empress Wu managed to do quite a lot while her husband was still alive,” List replied bluntly, ”Even though it was because the Emperor was ill, this God King doesn’t even measure up to half of that ailing Emperor.”

Hill suddenly began to laugh, ”Quite right, they’re all messed up in the head, just different types of illnesses.”

He didn’t care about the trivial matters in the Forest of the Elves.

Coron could still be summoned twice. The Elven God King had a very thick health bar!

After flipping through a few more pages, Hill found that the elves’ daily lives were quite peaceful and natural if one hadn’t actually interacted with them. Life was leisurely and carefree.

Uninterested, Hill discarded those papers. ”Next time, skip this kind of boring stuff. Notify me only when that Queen tries to rebel.”

”Yes, sir,” List looked somewhat disappointed, ”I thought you might enjoy some gossip.”

”That’s not gossip, List. Those are outdated and cheesy courtship tactics even for a third-rate romantic drama,” Hill sighed, ”With all of Coron’s talents, he only picked up the promiscuity and sleaziness.”

”Alright, sir,” List sighed, ”I’ll remember that such information doesn’t count as the kind of gossip you’re interested in.”

Wanting to deny being interested in gossip, Hill blinked and finally decided to keep his mouth shut. Sometimes, the Tower Spirit could be very stubborn, and if he said more, List would actually believe it.

And that won’t do.

There were a few pages about the Half-Elf Kingdom as well. Though there were many new policies, they mostly concerned internal affairs.

The only thing worth noting was that the selection for the Queen’s consort was in full swing and had reached the final stage.

Viola could now choose the most satisfactory one among the four young and handsome half-elves.

Recalling his biological mother, Hill wasn’t puzzled about who Viola would choose.

It would definitely be the best-looking one.

Looking at the last page in his hand, Hill noticed that List had deliberately enlarged the font.

Suppressing the urge to swear, Hill read it a few times before putting it down.

Virginia, a druid with the Earth Bear Bloodline, had publicly declared at the Dark Moon Elf outpost in the wilderness that she was going into the wild to seek the Earth Bear for help.

”She wants to go to the World’s End?” Hill sneered, ”Is she just putting on a show, or does she really intend to go?”

”She plans to find the Earth Bear and seek a safe place in the wilderness,” List replied, ”she said a lot, but that’s the gist of it.”

”Is someone contending for her throne?”

”The half-elf mages who followed Gillenskjaern have gone over to that side,” List said, looking faintly amused, ”they plan to support a Legendary Dark Moon Elf Mage to the throne.

They started out just wanting to make life difficult for one of the main culprits behind Gillenskjaern’s death, but they overdid it.

It’s now evolved into a conflict between mages and druids and has become uncontrollable.”

Hill pondered for a moment while leaning against his chair, ”She won’t be able to go there. With her skills, she couldn’t even get close to the World’s End.”

”Not even a demigod?”

”Not even gods could,” Hill said disdainfully, ”Moreover, to differentiate herself from the Earth Bear, she chose a swift transformation.

Clearly, if she had chosen the bear line, it would have been more suitable.”

”So what’s her plan? Just wander around in the wild and then return?” List seemed puzzled.

”She used to live in a pretty good forest with the Earth Bear,” Hill sneered, ”the Earth Bear managed it very well. Even after all these years, it should still be a nice place with many fruit trees.

If no particularly strong demigod beast has taken over, it would be a good place for the entire Dark Moon Elf tribe to settle.”

Hill moved his feet; he could find that place himself.

Then he exhaled, unwillingly sitting back down.

Though she was heartless and cold-blooded, he felt his ancestral bear would still want his descendants to live well.

Virginia had already paid the price and lived a hard life for many years. Although Hill thought she deserved it, he couldn’t ruin her future just because he disliked her.

”Pay more attention to the news from there!” Hill instructed List, ”The Half-Elf Kingdom will certainly be very concerned. They are the closest allies.”

”Yes, sir,” List saw that Hill had no further instructions and disappeared promptly.

Stretching, Hill stood up, ending his daily work.

He walked out to the terrace to enjoy the view.

In the center of the valley, Agleya was still playing maze games with the Undead Tribe.

The wailing and howling of the Undead Tribe were clearly audible from the Magic Tower.

It seemed that Agleya had learned many new tricks at sea, and the Undead Tribe was indeed excellent test subjects.

”Hill’s dad!” Agleya’s voice called out.

Hill stepped back into the study, ”What is it, Agleya?”

”William asked if I’m willing to let the Undead Tribe enter the ocean to fight for me!” Agleya asked, ”Should I agree?”