268: Chapter 79: Thunder God merce Society (Part 1)_1 268: Chapter 79: Thunder God merce Society (Part 1)_1 Zi was taken aback, and turned to look at his good brother, “Maybe you’re right.
If the gods blessed the Beastmen with strong bodies and innate bat strength, they probably wouldn’t give us superior wisdom as well.
Perhaps it’s best for the Beastmen to stay isolated in the Northernmost Wilderness.
If I were to lead the Beastmen out of the Northernmost Wilderness, I might just end up bringing destruction to the Beastman Clan.
I need to think carefully about how I can help the Beastmen progress further.”
Ye Yinzhu asked, “By the way, you called me out here to find something?”
Zi responded, “We’re looking for something to cover our identities.
Since we’re pretending to be human merchants leaving the city, we need to look the part.
I thought I might as well show you around the Beastman’s largest city.”
The two had moved from the small path to the main road during their conversation.
Unlike the hustle and bustle of human cities at night, the main street of Thor’s Hammer Fortress appeared quite empty, with few people and hardly any Beastmen moving around.
It seemed eerily quiet.
“Isn’t it strange that there are so few people on the streets?” Zi asked.
Ye Yinzhu nodded, “It just got dark, and this is the liveliest time in Milan City.”
Zi said, “Thor’s Hammer Fortress has faced countless battles with humans.
Each time a battle approaches, a curfew is imposed within the fortress.
Over time, even when there’s no curfew, few Beastmen are out and about at night.
What’s more, aside from the army, very few Beastmen have enough to eat.”
“Ah?
How can that be?” Ye Yinzhu seemed somewhat stupefied.
He could hardly believe that the Beastman Clan, with its powerful Legion of Behemoth Beasts, capable of waging war against three countries simultaneously including the First Empire Milan, would face such a situation.
It was this Clan, where even providing meals was a struggle, that forced the three northern countries to annually expend a significant portion of their forces just to barely resist.
Zi sighed, “Do you know what’s most popular in the Northernmost Wilderness from the Human World?”
Ye Yinzhu brilliantly guessed, “Is it grain?”
Zi nodded and said, “Exactly, it’s grain.
Grain is very inexpensive in your Human World, but here in the Beastman’s World, it can be exchanged for the equivalent weight in fine iron!
In the early days, wars between Beastmen and Humans weren’t as frequent, and the Beastmen survived by trading various metal ores with Humans for grain.
But as Humans gradually developed, armed with superior weaponry that often cost Beastmen dearly, the Beastman leaders realized that giving more metal ores to Humans would only lead to their self-destruction.
As a result, they drastically reduced the annual exchange amount.
While this reduced resource depletion, fewer Beastmen had enough to eat.
Although the Northernmost Wilderness is teeming with various wild animals and magical beasts, they are far too few pared to the enormous Beastman population.
The autumnal assaults on Humans are a necessary measure for the Beastmen to ensure their survival.
Otherwise, countless Beastmen would freeze or starve to death during winter.”
Ye Yinzhu frowned, “Can’t the Beastmen grow their own crops?
Even though the Northernmost Wilderness’s conditions are harsh, with its vast resources, there must be places suitable for crop cultivation.
Even if the yield is lower, it’s better than having nothing at all.”
Zi explained, “Previous Beastman rulers considered this, but it proved to be extremely difficult to implement.
Beastmen are innately warlike but fall far short of Humans in other areas.
Plus, the inclement conditions of the Northernmost Wilderness result in pitiable crop yields that barely sustain the Beastmen farmers.
The cunning Humans keep their effective farming techniques a closely guarded secret, trading cheap grain for our ores.
This has created a massive contradiction, with most interactions culminating in warfare.”
Ye Yinzhu’s eyebrows slightly creased, “There must be a way to solve this problem.
Zi, if someday you became the ruler of the Beastmen, would you do the same as they do now?”
Zi looked deeply into Ye Yinzhu’s eyes and said, “To tell you the truth, I don’t know.
If that day ever es and out of desperation, I may lead the Beastman Army to launch an attack on Humans for the survival of my many people.”
Ye Yinzhu gave a bitter smile, “If that were to happen, it would certainly be the greatest disaster for the Human World.
If Beastmen unite, the influence of Amethyst Behemoth on the entire Beastman Clan and your wisdom alone is inparable to the current Beastman leaders.”
Zi shook his head, “Yin Zhu, don’t forget, through millennia of evolution, you Humans are no longer the weak species of my ancestor’s era.
If I truly led the Beastman Army to invade the human nations, I’m afraid you would be the first to stop me.”
Ye Yinzhu laughed, “We might be brothers, but I’m a Human.”
Their gazes clashed like sharp blades in the air, sparking off each other.
Zi also laughed, “But that day will never e.
Even if I don’t bee the King of the Beastmen, I would never battle against you.
You’re right, there will always be ways to solve problems.
Why must it e down to war?
Besides, Faran’s Seventh Tower wouldn’t just sit and watch the Beastmen invade the Human World.
That’s why I said earlier, if the Beastmen really left the Northernmost Wilderness one day, it may very well lead to destruction.”
“Let’s forget about these plexities,” Ye Yinzhu gave a helpless shake of his head, “Your Highness, Emperor Zi, where are we going next?”
Hearing Yinzhu addresses him as ‘Emperor Zi’, Zi couldn’t help but smirk, “We are heading to your human’s merce society here.
After we obtain a few badges of the merce society, we won’t have any trouble getting out of the city tomorrow.”
“A merce society?
Even within the beastmen’s fortress?
But you just mentioned that the beastmen try to limit the loss of resources as much as possible, so why would they allow a merce society to exist?” Ye Yinzhu asked curiously.
Zi replied, “Limiting it doesn’t mean pletely prohibiting it.
Just like how some things that you humans need can only be found among beastmen, the beastmen also need some things that can only be found among humans.
A trade of goods benefits both parties, and as long as the resource trading isn’t in high volumes, rulers won’t interfere too much.
Most of the trades are in fact conducted between the elite beastmen and human merchants.
Besides, some trades are indeed beneficial to the beastmen.”
Ye Yinzhu smiled, “I look forward to seeing it.”
While conversing about the current situation of the beastmen, they headed towards the west side of the fortress.
Streets were not busy with only occasional patrols of beastmen soldiers, which surprisingly consisted mostly of the members from the three dominant beastmen clans.
Among them, the lion clan had the least members.
After traversing several streets and under the oppressive feeling from the stone buildings on both sides, they finally arrived at their destination.
From afar, Ye Yinzhu saw a gigantic stone building at least thirty meters tall appearing before his eyes.
Its spiky structure looked extremely monumental.
While there are not many people on the other streets, it was bustling here with not only the beastmen but also humans.
The beastmen were mostly acpanied by guards and some were even dressed in extravagant human costumes, evidently aristocrats of the Thunder God Tribe.
“Let’s go in,” Zi whispered and they quietly slid into the merce society among a troop of humans.
The inside of this massive stone building was surprisingly well-organized rather than chaotic, which was what Yinzhu had initially imagined.
As soon as they entered, Yinzhu was immediately attracted by the dazzling array of goods displayed.
Most of the goods were sold by human vendors, and their shops were no different from those in the human cities.
Most goods were foodstuffs.
The human shop assistants ignored their own species strolling in the merce society, yet showed great enthusiasm to the noble beastmen, constantly promoting their goods.
Zi telepathically told Ye Yinzhu, “This merce society was built by your humans, the beastman don’t have such an efficient mechanism.
This merce society in Thor Hammer Fort was reportedly formed after several negotiations between Milan Empire’s biggest business alliance and the Thunder God Tribe.
Everyone selling stuff here is the member of that business alliance.
These out here are just regular goods.
This place is divided into five sections, and the goods bee more expensive as you delve further.
Beastmen can buy goods from human hands with gold or silver coins, or trade with goods of equal value.
For example, magical beast pelts, crystal cores or metal ores.”
Ye Yinzhu messaged, “So how can we get the badges for the merce society?”
Zi pointed at the badges on the chests of the human shopkeepers and whispered, “See the badges they are wearing?
We will have enough if we manage to get six of those.
If we can’t, we will have to use Chang Hao’s invisibility barrier to get out of here tomorrow.
Although there are no magic elements in this fortress and, considering the amount he used up today, he won’t recover in time.”
Suddenly a light bulb went off in Ye Yinzhu’s head, “Zi, why isn’t there any magic element in the Thor Hammer Fort?”
Zi replied, “You don’t know?
Thor Hammer Fort is known as the first fortress on the continent as it houses the continent’s foremost divine artifact.
This artifact, known as Thor’s Hammer, is hereditary in the Lion King Family, which is why they have been the tribe leader of the Thunder God Tribe.”
“Thor’s Hammer?” Ye Yinzhu’s interest was piqued, “How does this foremost divine artifact pare to my Desolate Dragon Yin’s Zither?”
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