Chapter 100: Two Reasons
After the hall quieted down, Toba finally spoke again.
"The Sandersford Kingdom has two reasons for deciding to abandon the old arrangement. The first is the Revolutionary Army."
He stopped there.
For a few short seconds, the hall was dead silent.
Then the entire place exploded.
"The Revolutionary Army?!"
"What does that have to do with us?!"
"That has nothing to do with Maturu Island!"
The merchants who had only just regained their composure lost it all over again. Voices rose in every direction, sharp with alarm and disbelief. Many of them no longer cared about dignity or etiquette. The mere mention of that name was enough to shatter any restraint.
The Revolutionary Army was no stranger to them.
In recent years, that organization had become one of the greatest headaches of the World Government. Its presence on the Red Line had already made nobles, officials, and kingdoms increasingly uneasy. No one wanted anything to do with it, and certainly no one wanted even the slightest suspicion of being connected to it.
That was why the reaction was so fierce.
"What does this have to do with the Sandersford Kingdom changing its policy?"
"We've never had any ties to the Revolutionary Army!"
"Yes! We've always kept our distance from them!"
Many people immediately rushed to draw a line, as if government spies might be hiding among the crowd and jotting down names at that very moment. In a place like this, no one dared be careless. If the World Government branded them as collaborators, everything would be over.
On the stage, Toba slowly raised both hands and pressed them down.
"Calm down."
His voice was not loud, but it carried across the entire hall with astonishing force. The noise gradually subsided.
"I am not saying that any of you have any connection to the Revolutionary Army," Toba said. "Nor do I intend to cooperate with them. I am an old man who values his life. I have no interest in doing anything that would drag me to the execution platform."
That explanation eased the tension a little.
Only then did he continue.
"The Revolutionary Army I am referring to has been discovered inside the Sandersford Kingdom itself. The nobles there have found traces of its activity within their own borders. Because of that, they have decided to pull back their forces for the sake of their own safety."
This time, the reaction was different.
The fear in the room did not vanish, but it shifted. The panic was no longer about being implicated. It was now about something much more immediate.
A shrewd looking merchant raised his voice first.
"Lord Toba, are you certain you can reveal this information so openly?"
That was the real issue.
If this was truly classified information from the Sandersford Kingdom, then leaking it in public was dangerous in itself. If the Revolutionary Army heard of it ahead of time, the nobles would look for someone to blame. Everyone in this room could become a suspect.
Toba swept his gaze over the crowd before answering.
"Do not worry. In a few days, the Sandersford Kingdom will make it public on its own. They are preparing to issue arrest warrants for Revolutionary Army members within their territory."
That statement sent another ripple through the audience.
Not as loud as before, but heavier.
Now many merchants had begun to calculate in earnest. Some were thinking about their goods. Some were thinking about whether they should flee while there was still time. Some were already wondering how much profit could be made from the coming chaos.
But there were still doubts.
"They have no reason to withdraw their troops entirely!"
"Yes. With the protection fees we pay every year, they can simply request more support from the World Government."
"Exactly. Not only would that solve the problem, it would bring them even greater benefits. Why would they give up Maturu Island, a place that prints money for them?"
"Can we not negotiate? If they can seek outside help, so can we!"
The voices rose again, though this time they were driven less by fear and more by calculation.
When the discussion reached its peak, Toba spoke again.
"Wealth."
The word fell heavily.
"That is the second reason."
No one interrupted him this time.
Everyone present already understood what he meant, at least in part. Money had always been both their blessing and their curse.
Toba slowly raised a hand and pointed toward the crowd below the stage.
"Maturu Island is only a small island attached to their kingdom, but all of you together now control roughly seventeen percent of the circulating wealth of the Sandersford Kingdom."
He let those words settle.
"I trust none of you need me to explain how terrifying that number is."
The hall grew still.
No one knew that figure exactly, but once Toba said it aloud, they immediately felt the weight of it.
Seventeen percent.
That was not a sum any kingdom could ignore.
"More importantly," Toba continued, "you are all merchants engaged in maritime trade. You are not rooted to the land the way farmers and miners are. In the eyes of the nobles, that means the wealth in your hands can leave their kingdom at any time."
A faint, bitter smile tugged at his lips.
"And that is why they have begun to covet it."
The merchants exchanged glances.
Fear was returning now, but it had changed shape again. The threat was no longer just pirates or the Revolutionary Army. It was the kingdom itself.
One merchant spoke up.
"But if we leave, their own economy will collapse! Years of trade and development will be wasted. Unless our lives are truly in danger, we would never abandon all of that. Can that not be used to persuade them?"
Another immediately followed.
"I know a noble I have dealt with for years. If enough benefits are offered, he would certainly oppose this policy."
"So do I."
"If the nobles who profit from us unite and put pressure on the crown, then even the royal family will have to reconsider."
"And with Lord Toba's status, surely you can secure an audience with the king himself."
That line of reasoning quickly won support. It was the safest path, the most familiar one. Use money to move the nobles, use relationships to apply pressure, and force the kingdom to retreat without open conflict.
But Toba only looked at them with something between pity and contempt.
"Useless."
His tone was calm, but cutting.
"Do I really need to remind you what kind of people most of those nobles are?"
No one answered.
Toba's gaze sharpened.
"A few among them may still possess some reason. One or two, perhaps. But the vast majority?"
He let out a harsh breath through his nose.
"They are nothing more than pests fattened on grain. Greedy, short sighted, and ignorant."
The room went silent again.
No one dared echo those words aloud, but not many truly disagreed either. Everyone here had dealt with nobles before. Everyone knew how often greed outweighed logic when enough money was involved.
Then came the thought many had been avoiding since the beginning.
If Toba was rejecting negotiation with the nobles so thoroughly, then what exactly was he proposing?
One merchant finally forced himself to ask.
"Lord Toba... what do you want from us?"
Toba did not hesitate.
"I want all of you to form a commercial alliance. Together, we will launch a commercial rebellion against the Sandersford Kingdom."
That sentence hit the hall like a cannon blast.
"A commercial rebellion?"
"What exactly does that mean?"
Toba's voice remained steady.
"A coordinated strike. A boycott. We cut off trade. We choke the flow of goods. We force the nobles to lower their heads."
That was not open rebellion against the World Government, but it was still far more dangerous than simple negotiation.
Immediately, objections rose again.
"If we do that, there will be no room left for compromise!"
"The nobles will treat it as a declaration of war!"
"Yes, but at least it buys us time," Toba said.
He did not finish the rest.
But many people here were smart enough to understand the part he left unsaid.
Time to move assets.
Time to relocate.
Time to rebuild a new commercial network elsewhere before the trap fully closed.
Some in the room began to weigh the proposal seriously.
As long as it was not a true revolt against the World Government, then perhaps there was still room to maneuver. Harsh, risky, dangerous, yes, but not entirely impossible.
At the back of the hall, Axel listened quietly.
Toba was clever.
He had wrapped retreat in the language of resistance, and survival in the language of defiance. It was not pure courage, and it was not pure cowardice either. It was the kind of compromise only someone who had spent a lifetime in commerce could come up with.
Then, just as the crowd was beginning to digest Toba's proposal, applause rang out from the side of the stage.
"Brilliant," a voice said.
.....
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