Ch.130Limit

In the year 35 of the Amurtat calendar, the North was suffering from a severe financial crisis.

The cause was the well-known arms race, with each country investing enormous sums to expand and maintain the military forces they deemed necessary.

No, “investing” is too generous a term. Considering there was zero possibility of recovering the principal, it was more accurately described as gambling.

Amurtat, with its large population and abundance of exportable goods like steel, pottery, bricks, preserved foods, and elven ornaments, was in a relatively better position.

However, one might question how the struggling northern countries, gasping for air while funding their defense budgets, could possibly purchase these exports.

But the answer to that was simple.

“We are grateful for your continued bulk purchases. This time, we’ve prepared everything with special care.”

“Haha. Thank you. It’s been difficult to find quality steel in the East. Truly… I cannot express how fortunate we are to have established this trade relationship.”

The solution was Eastern trade.

The fact that immigrants were coming through Pale Harbor meant that goods were also flowing back and forth, and many of these immigrants and materials came from the geographically closer East.

With domestic demand in the North nearly extinct, Eastern nations that noticed the situation quickly formed contracts with Amurtat. As a result, Pale Harbor became a complex port with numerous people and goods coming and going.

“Hmm… The increase in people is good, but it’s getting too crowded. The fishing boats can’t dock because of all the merchant vessels.”

“Well… it was originally a fishing port… shouldn’t we be grateful it’s grown this much?”

“Still, we need to make improvements. We’ll have to expand Pale Harbor significantly soon.”

Thanks to this, Pale Harbor, originally a fishing port, was transforming into an international trading port connecting the North and East.

Consequently, the Amurtat court decided to greatly expand Pale Harbor, which occupied only a small portion of the vast coastline, and was able to raise funds through active recruitment of Eastern investors.

Of course, in return, Amurtat had to transfer some shares of the newly expanded Pale Harbor to them, but since the operational authority remained with Amurtat, they could afford to give away such trivial shares.

The saying “a sparrow trying to follow a heron will split its legs” didn’t come from nowhere.

International politics was ruthlessly cold, and to survive and prosper, one needed to know how to join hands with anyone necessary.

If that was impossible, one would suffer losses and perish miserably; if one refused to join hands with anyone, one would die in isolation.

In this world governed solely by power, only a miserable end awaits those who fail to acquire strength.

*

“We have no money!”

All northern countries except Amurtat cried out in unison.

It was already too late to reduce their armies now.

How could they recover the costs of forging swords and spears from steel instead of sickles, hammers, plows, and hoes?

Their finances had long since dried up like empty wells, leaving only bloated armies and citizens withering away as resources were cut off.

Ironically, the northern arms race hadn’t started with the intention of defeating specific enemies but from “vague anxiety,” so there was no justification for conquest, and by now, they had even lost the ability to do so.

This dangerous competition, a prime example of the worst case of herd mentality, finally began to collapse under its own weight.

First, Babylonia began reducing its inflated army and returning resources invested in the military back to its citizens, and neighboring countries followed suit with disarmament.

In the end, the arms race that had devastated the northern economy for a year collapsed so futilely.

The last countries to disarm were those near Fahrenheit and Amurtat, which held out until they couldn’t even pay their soldiers’ wages, ultimately collapsing as deserters proliferated.

“Ha. What a waste.”

I truly thought so.

If it weren’t for those “territorial cores,” Amurtat could have pacified the entire North alone. The problem was that while military victory was possible, political victory was not due to those cores.

Since the other side couldn’t surrender control of their territorial cores, the rise of imperialism and colonialism like on Earth was fundamentally impossible.

And that was precisely why some users disliked the Industrial Revolution world event.

Why bother creating WWII-style tanks or bombers for land you can’t even conquer?

“And then the developers used those added models to make a World War II game.”

I don’t remember the exact name, but it was something like “Iron” something.

I only saw the trailer, so I don’t know when it will be released, and since it’s a game I can’t play anymore, I’m not particularly interested.

“Anyway, what should I do now…”

I licked my lips as I looked at the northern countries groaning with their ruined economies.

I wasn’t planning to destroy what I couldn’t have—just to consume their economic sovereignty.

*

“How is it going?”

“As expected. They’re borrowing money regardless of the interest rate.”

“Hehehe… stupid fools.”

I took a swig of wine and smiled brightly.

Like other countries, Amurtat had banks, and with its population of millions and solid finances, Amurtat’s bank was the most trusted in the North.

While other countries’ banks were busy dealing with what amounted to national bankruptcy, the only place where large entities like nations could borrow money was Amurtat’s bank, which was now bustling with activity.

Watching foreign diplomats borrowing large sums despite the high interest rates announced, all I could do was sneer and laugh.

I can understand needing to borrow money for immediate survival.

But to borrow without considering that once your belly is full, you’ll have to work as a servant in the house of the person who filled it? Truly, I can’t help but laugh.

“Watch carefully, advisor. This is the end of small nations. With small populations come few experts, and with few experts comes an inability to properly assess situations.”

“Stealing Fahrenheit’s intellectual property… I wondered if it was necessary at the time, but now it seems like the best move we could have made.”

Power solves today’s food and shelter, but wisdom solves tomorrow’s.

Though they claim economic collapse, for tiny nations with populations under a million, what they call “economy” is merely rising prices.

Seeing these countries with negligible industries whining about economic collapse and drawing high-interest loans makes it seem like they’re just following others out of vanity.

“So… what will you do now? It seems all countries that could borrow have already done so…”

“Well, what can we do about money that’s been lent? How they use borrowed money is their business, isn’t it?”

I meant this sincerely.

I’ve borrowed money many times while playing games and often worried about interest.

But I borrowed for business needs, not just because of “economic collapse.”

“Why do you think their economies collapsed?”

“Well… Because they put all their useful labor, even those needed for agriculture and other primary industries, into the military?”

“Correct. That reduced production, causing prices to rise. So here’s another question: what will they do with the money they’ve borrowed?”

“I think… they’ll probably distribute subsidies to citizens? Since people need to eat…”

“Right. They have no choice.”

The problem is that this won’t fix the issue.

It takes significant time and effort just to restore fields devastated by labor shortages, but they’ve spent all their money on subsidies instead of addressing this. How will they raise more funds?

They don’t practice crop rotation, so productivity is terrible, and fields need to lie fallow periodically. I’m no expert, but humans starve to death faster than crops grow.

They’ve managed so far by scraping food from spatial storage, but those reserves are gone now, and other countries are in the same situation, so imports are impossible.

Yet they can’t just starve to death, so they’ll desperately seek a way out. And look! There’s a place in the North overflowing with crops, meat, milk, cheese, and alcohol!

And that place is called Amurtat.

“Kukukuku… I’ll suck them dry to the bone… I’ll make them buy food from us with the money they borrowed from us.”