NOVEL WEB vol. 4 chapter 16 - Learning Sample
They saw the Lepuitari delegation off with tea and cookies, a light walk-through of the flagship Panas’ topside, and parting gifts of cellulose thread and cellulose cloth—Drei, Vier, and Sechzehn at the rail as the guests departed.
The time was just tipping into noon.
All told, they had hosted them for roughly four hours.
“Do you think we got across that we bear no hostility?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. On that point, I judge we conveyed it without issue.”
Ringo nodded.
“The information we handed over was kept to surface-level content. Naturally, they in turn offered nothing decisive, but that is not a problem. We have not, as yet, finished parsing the kingdom’s fine-grained culture and thought, so we cannot fully read unspoken intents that do not appear in words or text. Within the range we have verified, however, there is nothing that disadvantages us.”
Spy-bots were still harvesting everything they could, but customs and unwritten rules—knowledge that existed only inside people’s heads and experience—were inherently hard to gather. Ringo remained wary of such tacit knowledge, yet judged that, in the end, it would not alter the main line.
“Now then, starting tomorrow the talks will be held daily. From here it’s just a matter of grinding through the details, I suppose.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. At some point, a gunnery drill or similar demonstration will be necessary, but the basic task is to align terms.”
The end goal was fuelstone supply and trade in metal resources. That said, laying those out at the start would only invite the other side to press an advantage; best was to hold them back and present them as a compromise.
“We need to play the fuelstone-supply trump card well. We will have to read the flow of conversation and make on-the-spot calls.”
And then there was Paraiso’s strongest nonviolent card—the real strongest being armed force—the fuelstone they had begun mining around Telek Port City.
Fuelstone extraction had been manual, but after trial and error they discovered that by using water flow they could excavate without imparting unwanted shock or pressure. With mechanical digging, the buried fuelstone at the contact face inevitably shattered and ignited from heat; this solved that failure mode.
With a non–magic-tool method besides hand mining, extraction speed had leapt forward.
Ringo, however, had raised a question about the observed lack of heating despite the presence of fair water pressure and stress. Asahi, with her magic-fantasy brain, offered the opinion that perhaps “fire-aspect is being suppressed by water-aspect,” at which point Ringo recognized further musing as wasted cycles and began tossing such problems to Asahi outright.
Not that Asahi’s idea had been proven at this point.
They truly needed to find something that taught magic in a systematic way. Ringo’s projections were of limited use here to begin with, and Asahi’s reasoning, lacking a base of correct knowledge, ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) could only pile conjecture on conjecture.
“Today we proceeded in a mode of conversation for deepening friendship. Tomorrow, absent specific demands from their side, we will likely move to introducing trade goods other than fuelstone.”
“What do we have on hand again?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Multiple types of cellulose thread and cloth. Tea leaves and confectionery from the Forest Kingdom of Levresta. Preserved foods such as dried fruit and jerky. Sealed drinking water in cellulose containers mass-produced by The Tree. Glass-bottled carbonated water newly in production at Fortress No. 2 Black Iron, and high-purity alcohol produced by industrial methods. Alcoholic beverages now being made in Telek Port City. Various marine products and dried fish as well, though as a maritime nation the Kingdom of Lepuitari will not find those appealing. If liquor lands well, we can also prepare distilled spirits.”
On a quick listen, none of these would roil the Lepuitari economy. There were no life essentials; Levresta goods were luxury tastes. The drinking water’s only edge was long-term storage; it would not displace existing water sources. Carbonated water was a mere indulgence. Alcohol went without saying.
So long as volumes were regulated.
“In substance, the Kingdom of Lepuitari is a new power, but that does not mean the region’s rooted historical knowledge has been lost. Their bureaucracy still retains knowledge and rules of thumb handed down from old. Through trade with us, they will not blunder into shortsighted choices that devastate domestic industry.”
However, Ringo continued:
“On a span of ten or twenty years, for example in the domain of preserved drinking water, it is possible to ruin Lepuitari’s industries.”
If they were to keep supplying bottled water and spirits at fair prices—
Give it ten years, and the kingdom’s bottling industry would be wrecked. Why spend money and time developing it when the needed goods arrive at appropriate prices?
Tariffs set by rulers might shield them, but suppressing such shields was precisely where gunboat diplomacy excelled. And if stable supply continued for five or ten years, everyone’s sense of crisis would dull, and domestic industry would decline under price gaps and, above all, under the gap in quality.
“In Earth’s history, trade partners often held each other’s lifelines to restrain such problems. We, however, can press the issue unilaterally.”
Not that they were about to deploy such a strategy against the Kingdom of Lepuitari, which at present was not even an enemy state.
“And if we can make them harbor these very concerns, then this round of trade can be called a success. They will have to offer something commensurate for our goods. In that case—”
“What we require is metal resources.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. They will have no choice but to offer metal raw materials as payment. In their value system, raw materials are highly important strategic goods. Exporting them in commensurate quantities means exerting some degree of influence on their national strategy. That is where their judgment will land.”
And the headline item on the exchange side was fuelstone.
A super-critical resource tied directly to the Kingdom of Lepuitari’s energy policy.
“Fuelstone is produced in only scant amounts within Lepuitari’s own lands. Their import sources are the Wheat Country of Weizenland and the southeastern microstates. In both, domestic production is limited or nonexistent; almost all of it is stolen out of the United Kingdom of Aphrasia. From their perspective, they would say they are ‘administering land that cannot be administered,’ I suppose.”
“We’re doing it too, so fair’s fair.”
“Which is to say, if we advance the present strategy, nearly all fuelstone supply will ultimately be carried out by us—by The Tree. Where we govern, theft is absolutely impermissible.”
“Of course. Judging by output, it looks like a pittance anyway…”
The south of the United Kingdom of Aphrasia was already under continuous watch by The Tree’s high-altitude drones. The microstates and the Wheat Country mined entirely by hand, and their output was limited. At that rate, even ten years of their work would not equal one week of The Tree’s extraction.
Conversely, it meant they could easily cover the kingdom’s annual consumption in a single day.
“Once the extraction method is established, it becomes a matter of scaling up. That said, if things continue like this and industrialization in the Kingdom of Lepuitari proceeds as predicted, fuelstone consumption will accelerate.”
Mechanization would raise mine outputs. Exporting technology would lift metal production in other countries as well. Increase production of iron and other metals; Paraiso would import them. Pay for them with fuelstone, and let the other side mistake that for economic security.
“From our side, there is no need to break that security. Should relations turn hostile by some grave misstep, we would review the matter, but in ordinary thinking, relations will not deteriorate that far.”
“Let’s remain good neighbors. The Kingdom of Lepuitari seems competent as a leader among the surrounding states, and honestly, bringing the entire northern continent under direct control would be a hassle. Best to leave this sort of thing to the local populace.”
In the south of a northern continent fractured among forces large and small, they would offload the role of regional stabilization onto the Kingdom of Lepuitari. They had aimed for hegemony to begin with; there should be no issue.
It was exactly what they would have wished for.
“Now then, how hard do you think they’ll press? They are specialists, and they do seem sharp. They’re quick on their tongues, too. Don’t you think they’ll make for excellent study?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. As learning samples, they are exceptionally fine. Let us look forward to their best efforts.”