Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)

Chapter 247 Tying up all loose ends Part 1

Enjoy!

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/A few hours later…/

Following his meeting with Winthrope, Dale went around the Village doing a series of odd tasks, talking with people, completing Quests, and even getting a few more.

He started his completion spree by going to the entrance where the Trade Outpost had been built since by now, a few days had passed since it was completed, allowing the Merchants to run it for long enough to collect some info on its functionality.

The result was as he expected, the idea worked wonders and the Merchants got a lot from the daily 'trading' with the players.

Before logging in, Dale had also checked the players' reaction to the Outpost, and their opinions were mostly positive, albeit many players realized they were being scammed somewhat.

To sell a gem, even if rough, for the price of few pieces of bread… Unless they were a child they would realize they were being explored given they understood the value the merchants gave those products.

To be scammed of something is to be given an unfair trade based on the buyer's or seller's value of the item at hand after all.

But what could they do? Until one of them rose to the position of gem cutter or found a proper purpose for those pieces of sparkling stone, the gems were mostly extra loot from killing and mining in the Yellow Desert.

Metals and other products were funneled into their respective NPCs, and slowly, a trade route was being built for Resko, one of many they would have in the future.

Thanks to that, the Merchants' moods were through the roof, and his reward was rather chunky.

A lot of coins, a total of 1000 Copper Zulls, several dozen times what he made from the Quests he completed after his Expedition.

From a quick calculation, Dale estimated that the Trade Outpost would produce around one to two thousand Copper Zulls every week, with this value increasing over time as more players grew strong enough to challenge those fields…

But of course, that would only hold true for as long as the Merchants had those.

The way Resko's economy was going was a healthy and stable one, but without constant injections of money, it would eventually break apart.

Right now, with over 95% of the Players not having enough Reputation to buy items from the Villagers, much less interacting with them, there was only an outflux of coins, like a broken leak in Resko's economy.

Right now, they could barely sell their loot to other players or to some selective NPCs, which was extremely restricting for the economy.

This way, there was more money entering the pockets of the players than entering the Village, and one day, sooner or later, as the number of players increased… It would all come crashing down.

If the NPCs lose their ability to hand in money as rewards… An Uprise may happen.

Dale was thinking of ways to solve that, though he came with little conclusive answers.

The players can farm money on their own, even if little, but without that being injected back into the economy, it was as good as the weight of air.

He could try to incentivize player combat outside of Resko to potentially slow down their growth, but his actions so far have been pushing for the contrary.

It's too late to change sides now.

So he went with the simplest one. Bidding for time.

If he buys enough time for just enough players to raise their Reputation, the big spenders, the Guild, and the Major group's representatives, then things might stabilize.

Until then, he could only try his hardest to reduce the impact on the Merchants by trying to use some of his own money, but given the number of players all around, things have already gone far beyond his reach.

With 10000 players running around, each spending 1 Zull of Iron daily, that's 1 Copper Zull every day.

And albeit those numbers seem reasonable, the reality is far from that.

Due to this, a timer was set.

The moment the Merchants' money comes to an end, they'll leave for the nearest City, the Fort City by the mountains where Ermin, his sisters, and many other Guilds are currently settled.

They'll likely sell or store most of their items there before returning, but given how unwelcoming the Fort is to any Outsiders, it's likely they'll have to advance further North into the Continent, mayhaps to their original cities to exchange for more materials before returning.

They originally took around two weeks to prepare and arrive, but that was a special occasion, now, given the best scenario, it would take somewhere around a month for them to return, maybe more.

This was Ericvic's, the Head of the Dragovir Services words.

Most of this time would be spent traveling and dealing with the logistics of selling their materials and acquiring more basic supplies.

Ericvic himself said that at most they would spend a week to restock before returning to Resko, this time with better items and proper materials fitting for their current ambitions.

This in itself was the true reward of this Quest, good relations with a reputable merchant group, one good enough to come and go from North to South.

He also got a cool Golden Badge with the symbol of Dragovir Services, a Platinum Hawk, carved in it, it was pretty beautiful.

It was a Badge reserved only for their highest customers, usually being Lords of Households and representatives of entire Cities.

Though for him, it wasn't that useful since Dale had no plans of leaving Resko anytime soon, but if the need ever came for something like that, Dale could use the Badge to contact their main forces back in the Continent for support.

...

Following this, Dale made use of his knowledge to track down the location of the black market.

It was pretty easy to locate, the players made it pretty obvious.

The black market was located in the extreme North of the City, the area most covered in sand.

By using a 'secret' entrance, and by secret it meant a pretty large hole in the sand that led to a pair of stairs on the ground with several pretty lanterns hanging close to indicate its location, Dale descended into a large underground complex, the remains of the structure that was once the Soldier Barracks.

How Ironic, for an illegal activity to take place in the remains of a place of Justice and Law… But it was the perfect location for that.

Several reinforced floors wide and large enough for hundreds of small shops to exist side by side and to support thousands of people within, this was the layout of the place.

Simply put, this was a hidden area where Fimbroy, the merchant that had been set aside due to his rude behavior by his fellow 'Companions', could sell his items without any prejudice while also profiting the most.

Here, he would buy the items of the players, all of them, for cheaper than they would be able to sell outside while also selling his own items for more than they were worth.

Why would anyone come here though?... Because they had no other alternatives.

Until their Reputation was high enough, they would have to settle with Fimbroy's greedy hands…

And he wasn't stupid, there was a reason he was here.

Fimbroy allowed the players to set up shops in his area as well, taking in part of their profit.

After all, buying items from the players and selling them to someone else took a lot of effort and personnel, things he didn't have as he worked alone to maximize his own profits... Even if most of that was done through System Windows...

Dale had yet to figure out where their own awareness of the world ended and the System takeover, AKA their NPC act, began...

Regardless, like that, the first-ever Player Market of Resko came to life… How funny to think it came from the hands of an NPC no?

The market was a very dynamic area and considered a Neutral zone, so much so that most Guilds would not cause trouble within its confines.

If they had an issue over shop size, their products, conflicts of interest, and the like, then they settled all problems outside of it, and this, albeit it didn't come as a surprise to Dale, it was still very… Unexpected to say the least.

Because Fimbroy… Was alone, so how did he convince those greedy players to accept his terms was unknown to him.

Though that happened mostly due to his own Reputation as the players were trying their hardest to not damage their own scores and standing with the City.

They didn't know he and Fimbroy were on bad terms, because if they knew…

Well, either way, Dale wanted things to remain as they were, and he would try his hardest for them to continue as such.

So after he scouted the area, Dale came up with a simple plan… One that would allow him to take control of the Market while also removing Fimbroy 'peacefully'.

This plan would also include the players to give them a sense of accomplishment, together with driving some of the major forces against each other to induce mutual self-control.

Multiple birds with one stone.

He called this plan of his, 'Police VS Terrorists'.

So with a smirk on his face, he went back to the Merchant Outpost since by now, they had all taken house around the area, preferring to be near the place where money was made.

He had a few words to exchange with Ericvic, since in the end, Fimbroy was still under the protection of the Dragovir Services and the last thing he wanted was to give the fat merchant a reason to be upset at him.

By working together, he would find a way to properly remove the skinny merchant from his board so he could play in it to his heart's content.

That was everything he did regarding the merchants.

Following this, Dale proceeded with his day, deciding it was time to finally deal with Erile and the truth of the past Commander.

So he made his way to the Church… Or so he would wish.

"What the…"

Because the moment he stepped within the Church, he saw himself… Somewhere else.

'Where am I?'

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Notes