After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World-Chapter 1901: Conflict of Interest?
Regardless of who Papell Town was, as allies, Alterra ought to help out Ferrol a bit. Anyway, towns attacking other towns without reason weren’t good partners anyway.
Besides, they couldn’t let one of their greatest business partners take a loss, right? They should at least help increase their chances of winning with minimal losses.
For most outsiders, this line of thought could be seen as them being presumptuous and arrogant.
After all, what could a new Town—just a few years old—do to help out in a war between established high-level territories that had existed for decades, if not centuries?
However, there were indeed plenty of things Alterra could do, and this was probably something the other side hadn’t expected.
The people from the intelligence department soon arrived with summarized information of the town about an hour or so after Althea told them to gather information, finding just enough to figure some things out.
Apparently, Papell Town was one of the producers of paper and seemed to have some alliance with Crystal City, also located Southeast of them. It was unfortunate that they did not have spies there. At least not yet.
"What are the reasons for the few times high-level territories go to war? Especially one so far away from them?" Althea asked rhetorically. She naturally had her own theories, but she wanted to hear others’ opinions.
"Revenge or conflict of interest."
The first was unlikely, knowing what kind of person Jonathan was. If the target was another person in Ferrol, then there would’ve been no need to go to war at all.
As for the latter...
It produced paper and related products, one of Alterra’s best exports.
Then, silence.
If it was the latter...didn’t this war have something to do with Alterra?
"We haven’t even seen Papell Town products in our area before we started mass producing this. We don’t operate in the same region at all!" Ansel said, annoyed. In their area, most of the nobles used vellum or parchment before Alterra started making and exporting paper.
Supplying similar products was one thing, but if the target market was different, why the need for conflict?
However, if not that, then what else could they be attacking for?
...
The war was indeed due to a conflict of interest.
This applied in both Papell’s case and in the case of their master territory, Crystal City.
Papell Town produced paper while Crystal City produced glass. For decades, this had been their money-maker, their gold source, and the reason for their stability and current prestige.
How could they be calm when they saw this stability being threatened?!
To be fair, they were so far away, and the demand for the product far surpassed the supply of it, so technically speaking, in terms of quantity, there was no conflict between territories when they were at least two regions apart.
However, some of their items had somehow reached the Papell Town markets. This was how it was if the item was really good and expensive, and people were reluctant to use them themselves. The more it passed hands, the farther it would go, which was how it ended up all the way here.
Worse, these new items were tagged as superior products as soon as they appeared.
The new parchment was thinner, smoother, and even sturdier. The ink stuck better, wouldn’t run unnecessarily and cause a mess.
The crystals were clearer, without visual impurities, and also sturdier. There were even more colors available!
Basically, even if the new products were sold much more expensively than the local products, it still casted some doubts about the local products.
They could’ve just been considered as a superior and more expensive product, another line of product with a different target market. At first, they thought they could even dip their toes into this new line of products.
However, it was not that straightforward. The problem was some of the merchants had revealed, after being inebriated, pressured, or the like, that the buying price was actually lower than what Papell town made, and this casted some doubts.
People thought, why would they buy the new items for such a high price if they had a chance to get them for much prices? Many people thought this, so Papell and Crystal’s administration knew they could not join in by reselling them for higher.
Even if the sources of the ’new and improved’ versions were still unknown in their area—and even if there was only a small amount that reached their market—rich people and merchants tended to think long-term.
They would naturally have second thoughts on investing so much money in the ’old’, when something new, better, and possibly less expensive have made an appearance. That had affected sales quite a bit.
A lot of prospective bulk sales were modified all of a sudden. There were few outright cancellations, but almost all large orders had reduced in quantities, and it seemed like it might be a continuing trend.
This naturally put a strain on the once guaranteed rich wallets of the two Lords and the nobles associated with the industries.
These products entered their markets in only a handful; one could imagine what would happen if a bulk became available!
According to the merchants who sold them, there were purchase limits, but that was because there were so many orders! This meant that, in certain regions, it was already widespread, and it was only a matter of time before it reached deeper into their region.
Separately, the two Lords investigated the merchants who sold these things to their people. None were local, coming from other Towns, and each territory handled these merchants differently.
A few unfortunate blokes were killed, while some were kept alive (some tortured), and some were spared simply because of the territory they were residents in. For example, one of the recent merchants was from Avel City, which was one of the nearest Cities to them. They naturally could not be careless with their citizens.
It took months of tracing as the items had changed hands so many times, and some had no idea who they bought what from.
And after all this time, they finally found a clue to the originator, and it was surprisingly farther away than they thought, which was indicative of the greatness of the item, as well as the influence of the territory behind it.
Soon, they found it, the common denominator for the sources of the products that reached their Town/City.
Ferrol Town
In fact, they saw another town in the reports, but it was only a new town, so they subconsciously ignored it.
And so was the current scene, with pitiful Ferrol unfairly gaining targets on its back.
