CH 95

December 31, 2021 by danmeiheaven

The establishment of the Archiayoli Territory and the Anas Kingdom’s internal newspapers have been slowly on the right track. The letter that Xia Zuoyi asked Green Dumpling to send to the Pope after a long time has just received a reply.

He hopes to be able to establish a newspaper office in the Saint Airo Empire because if he wants to appoint people to collect and even investigate the news, he must greet the “officials”.

—Disputes continue between countries, so it’s not easy for foreign merchants to station in them.

Moreover, as an independent high lord and the owner of the Thorns Chamber of Commerce, Xia Zuoyi would be considered to have ulterior motives if he rashly let his own forces enter the Saint Airo Empire.

In addition, Xia Zuoyi had set up a pit before.

The Ed Chamber of Commerce and Marquis Gary Phoebe are now extremely hostile to him. Even if they can’t reach the level of hatred, they will surely make it difficult for him.

When the Pope didn’t reply to him quickly, he guessed that this matter might not go smoothly or even be difficult in the empire.

…

Xia Zuoyi took the letter from Green Dumpling’s claws.

Sure enough, the Pope mentioned that both the Saint Airo Empire and the Ed Chamber of Commerce were hostile to his intention to set up a newspaper office in the empire.

The Saint Airo Empire thought he had secret other purposes in establishing a newspaper office.

—Lord Desinia went to the Anas Empire to help Queen Minina shine at her birthday banquet…

After that, when the Anas Empire was divided and the whole place was blocked off, he was able to retreat unharmed and smoothly without being affected by half…

So it’s now circulating in the Saint Airo Empire that although the final main envoys who led to the split of the Anas Empire are Orville Archiayoli and Archibald Cavendish.

But Desinia’s handwriting is absolutely indispensable in this matter.

Just by looking at his current alliance with the two, everyone can know that Desinia must also be involved in the plan to subvert and split the empire.

He deliberately used the sugar secret recipe as bait, causing King Paul to fall into a trap without any defense, and even the people implicated by him quickly went to death… 

Therefore, the Saint Airo Empire has good reasons to suspect that Desinia’s intention to set up a newspaper office in the empire is ill-intentioned and has another purpose.

Xia Zuoyi: “…”

A group of people with too many brain diseases.

As for the reason for the Ed Chamber of Commerce’s boycott of newspapers, it’s simple.

One is because of the loss of a lot of gold coins from being played before.

Although the people who fooled them on the surface were the subordinates of Grand Duke Archiayoli, the Ed Chamber of Commerce later learned that diplomats from the Desinian Territory visited the Biya Kingdom at the same time.

As soon as the mayor and diplomat of Fort Comoy left, the king suddenly threw papers recording the secret recipe of sugar in the street. Everyone had read it and knew it, which directly led to the extreme depreciation of the price of white sugar and candy… 

In this way, the sugar recipe that the Ed Chamber of Commerce bought at a huge price instantly became a piece of waste paper and was useless.

—The president almost got a heart attack from anger.

Most importantly, the president later learned that Marquis Phoebe had also been cheated a large number of gold coins because of the secret recipe…

The president thought about it carefully—this is obviously a conspiracy of the trio Archiayoli, Cavendish, and Lord Desinia!

Hence, he and Marquis Gary Phoebe did not relax for several days…

Secondly, it’s because of the purely hostile relationship between chambers of commerce.

Thorns Chamber of Commerce has risen so fast in recent years that it will catch up with them in the blink of an eye, an old chamber of commerce that has been passed down for a century.

They not only sell unexpected new things every year but also their stores appear one after another.

For example, clothing stores and cosmetics stores—the benefits that can be obtained are surprisingly large and eye-catching.

What’s more, the Thorns Chamber of Commerce and the Nagabi Chamber of Commerce have also reached a close cooperative relationship… This undoubtedly makes the Ed Chamber of Commerce feel a sense of crisis.

Segalot said in his letter that although a newspaper office can be established in the Saint Airo Empire, they will definitely be suppressed by the empire and the commerce.

The final result will undoubtedly lead to the waste of newspapers.

The Holy See can support its establishment, but cannot blatantly favor it.

After reading the letter, Xia Zuoyi thought—Ah, he embarrassed the Pope.

So he wrote back to thank the Pope for his help.

Since it’s difficult to establish an office in the empire, he decided to take a step back and let the territory’s diplomats negotiate with the Biya Kingdom to set up the office there…

After all, the Biya Kingdom doesn’t want to be a subject of the empire anymore, so it’s very likely that they’ll take over the newspaper.

Biya is also a neighboring country of the empire. Settling an office there can not only avoid resistance but also be able to pay attention to the situation of the empire at any time.

After thinking about it, Xia Zuoyi nodded in satisfaction and then asked Green Dumpling to bring his reply to the Pope.

The Pope who soon received an answer: “…”

He can’t show favoritism blatantly, but he can do it secretly… But that spoiling thing, Little Rose probably didn’t understand it…

Let’s not mention the Pope’s slightly depressed mood for now.

Xia Zuoyi immediately dispatched Nate to the Biya Kingdom to discuss the newspaper business. At last, the results brought back were gratifying. His Majesty the King agreed to cooperate in running it.

… 

When these important things have been solved one after another, it’s already a cold winter.

After the weather gradually turns cold, people don’t like to go out much except for the necessary work.

The newspaper branch of the Thorns Chamber of Commerce has launched another business—citizens in the territory can subscribe to the newspaper monthly or annually, and then the newspaper delivery staff will personally send it to their residence.

There are also discounts for monthly and annual subscriptions, and the price is lower than buying a single copy.

The nobles don’t care about this little money. They enjoy waiting for newspapers to come to the door.

Not only did they subscribe to newspapers in the territory, but most of them also included those sold in the Archiayoli Territory, the Anas Kingdom, and the Biya Kingdom all year round.

There was a light snow that day, and Wissas was gradually covered in silver.

Two newsboys, one big and one small, dressed in thick clothes, walked into the tavern with their bags on their backs.

As soon as they entered the door, they smelled the smell of beer, the cabinets are full of wine bottles, and waiters shuttled between tables and chairs… The taller newsboy couldn’t help but sniff hard, showing longing on his face.

The outside of the tavern was quiet and deserted, but the inside was lively and warm. It seems as if they’re two worlds apart. The bell under the door rings, attracting the people to look over.

The two newsboys probably often come to the pub to sell newspapers, so that the customers drinking knew them.

One of the bearded men sitting in a chair shouted to the older newsboy, “Little Mark, is there anything new in today’s newspaper?”

The little boy named Mark has messy hair even under his hat.

He had freckles on both ends of his nose. He scrunched his nose and shouted unceremoniously, “There are so many new things. You can buy one and see for yourself!”

Someone immediately laughed and said, “Yes, Old Luther, won’t you just read it yourself. Don’t tell me all your money is used to buy wine that you can’t even afford a newspaper, haha.” 

All the people in the tavern burst out laughing impolitely.

Old Luther’s face flushed, embarrassed, and annoyed. He simply beckoned to let little Mark come over and then bought one copy of each newspaper.

He snorted and took a sip of his wine. Then he lounged in his chair, opened the newspaper of Biya Kingdom, and read it.

Old Luther didn’t look at it long before he slapped the table and exclaimed excitedly, “The Saint Airo Empire was actually beaten back by the Powell Kingdom!”

“Hiss—is the people living in the extreme north highland country so powerful?!” 

The empire’s cavalry is not their opponents?!

He grinned in an exclaim and yelled so loudly that everyone else became curious.

The person next to him wanted to take a look, but was immediately blasted away by the old Luther, “Go, go! Buy it yourself!”

“When who is rare?”1

The person sneered and asked the newsboy to throw him a copy of Biya Kingdom.

Someone immediately shouted, “Little Mark, give me one too!”

“Not the one from the Archiayoli Territory, just from the Biya Kingdom… Wait no, give me the newspaper from the Grand Duke’s territory.”

The man murmured, “Didn’t the last newspaper say that the Grand Duke built a beast garden in his territory? I don’t know what he has raised…”

… 

Little Mark and his friend kept shuttling around the tavern, and soon they were about to sell out the newspapers they brought.

But in the end, there is still a little left.

When the customers no longer needed the newspaper, Little Mark wiped the corner of his mouth with the fluffy cloth pocket on his back. He looked at the beautiful beer with covetous eyes, but finally held back his thoughts and pulled his friend out of the tavern.

He wants to quickly sell the remaining newspapers and back to the courtyard to continue reading the Stories of the Gods.

Xia Zuoyi was also reading newspapers in the study.

He’s very curious about the Powell Kingdom in the extreme north highlands. He learned from the newspaper that the country seemed to have something to do with the Trak Kingdom, so he asked Renault and Adai for some questions.

They gave him enlightenment—the Trak Kingdom was divided a long time ago, and the Powell Kingdom was the part that split.

They were defeated and driven to a place further north.

It’s covered with snow and ice all year round, no spring, summer, or autumn, with only cold or extreme cold.

When the extremely cold season comes, the mountains are closed by heavy snow and become extremely dangerous. Outsiders can’t get in and people inside can’t get out. Life there is extremely difficult.

But it’s precisely because of such a difficult environment that all the Powell citizens who survived were tall, strong, and fierce.

It’s said that they had tamed the wolves on the snow-capped mountains. Because it’s cold all throughout the year and it’s not easy to preserve fire, they also changed their diet, eating raw meat and blood… 

Renault said.

Then he remembered some rumors about the Powells he had heard when the Trak Kingdom hadn’t been destroyed yet, “Today, their citizens believe in the white wolf king on the snow mountain. It’s said that their king raises a wolf pack… But the current wolf king is not white.”

“Solid white wolves are rare.”

“White wolf.” Xia Zuoyi sighed.

098 went out to travel again.

He couldn’t help thinking—I don’t know what kind of gift 098 will bring me this time… He seems to have said before that there are a group of cats but no dogs…

Translator’s Note:

Thank you again, MCJohnston~~ Advance Happy New Year, everyone!!