Hwee-Kyung lightly hit her forehead as if she belatedly realized something.
“Oh that’s right. Elves don’t have Pyeon, in other words, money. You know what it is right?”
“…Are you talking about those iron pieces that are being printed at Automation?”
“Yes. We usually trade with that now.”
“Yes. I am aware of what that is.”
Leonar awkwardly smiled. He had been a merchant himself until he became tribal chief, so of course he knew what Hwee-Kyung was talking about.
“However…we do not have any money.”
“Do you not have anything equivalent to money? Or any craftwork. Humans can wear clothes that Elves wear.”
“…We do not.”
The Elves had been wandering for a while so they had abandoned their heavy belongings a long time ago.
Hwee-Kyung looked back at Sairan.
“Sairan, was there…anything that could be used in place of money?”
“There was nothing when I looked around. Unless the Elves themselves become the goods.”
Leonar opened his eyes wide at those words. But before he could even say something, Hwee-Kyung shook her head.
“No. It seems they don’t even have enough people to work, so they won’t be able to trade people. Isn’t that right, Leonar?”
“Ye…yes.”
“Then there’s nothing much we can do.”
Hwee-Kyung put the grain seeds back into her pocket. Leonar looked at her very sadly as he watched her.
“I did come because God told me to help you, but still, it would be troublesome if we didn’t make any profit. There are people like the Lizardmen who passionately believe in God, but we don’t, or at least I don’t.”
Sairan hit Hwee-Kyung on the shoulder with his tail. When Hwee-Kyung rubbed the area she got hit and glared at Sairan, Sairan looked at the ceiling pretending he didn’t do anything. Hwee-Kyung nudged Sairan with her shoulder and looked back at Leonar.
“Well, it’s unfortunate, but we’ll head back now.”
“…..”
As Hwee-Kyung put her hand on the floor to push herself up, Leonar said, “That’s enough, Hwee-Kyung, lord of Automation. I was a merchant too.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t think the chief of a tribe would come all the way here for a trade that they were not sure would be successful. Especially not with a chosen one from the Black-Scaled Tribe.”
Interested, Hwee-Kyung sat back down.
“Keep going.”
“At the very least, I know that you came here because there is something you want from us.”
“You said so yourself; you have nothing to give. So what would we take?”
Leonar got up and brought over a piece of white silk from the corner. The Elves did not have much silk and used them to make clothing, but the information Leonar had drawn on the silk was much more important.
Hwee-Kyung recognized what it was.
“It’s a map.”
“We’ve put together information on the Ogres and double checked it. You came up this way, and we are about here.” Leonar pointed to a location on the map.
“This is good. Still, I don’t think the value of the map would afford you enough grains to satisfy you.”
“I’m not going to sell the map.”
“Then what?”
Leonar pointed at a few more spots on the map and said, “There is a strip mine here. Iron comes out of it. The Ogres’ iron had already been traded in Automation, so you should be familiar with the quality. It’s not bad. Not only that, the land downstream of the river is very good. Farmers say that crops would grow well as long as the seeds can endure the weather. And above all, trees here grow straight and upright. They’re very solid on the inside. I’ll trade all these with Automation at a cheaper price. We’ll have to talk more about how much cheaper.”
Hwee-Kyung snorted.
“Leonar, anyone can brag like that. Drawing a map, showing what’s here and there, and saying great profits would come from those places. Falling for this would be the same as falling for all the frauds out there. Am I wrong?”
“My words are not empty like those of frauds. I am selling you the future and the trust of Elf Leonar.”
Hwee-Kyung’s forehead wrinkled, and her voice grew louder.
“What? Are you out of your mind? You’re selling me the future and your trust?”
“Yes.”
“Are you saying you’re trading something that’s not even visible to the eyes right now, for something here that can be seen, can be held in the hand, can be smelled, and even tasted?”
“Yes.”
Hwee-Kyung put the pouch containing the seeds, which she had been holding and shaking, back into her inner pocket.
“Okay.”
“I knew you would say that.”
Leonar was calm. He had expected this, and his confidence wasn’t unfounded. While Hwee-Kyung was getting angry, the Lizardman sitting next to her had stayed calm.
Hwee-Kyung said, “Buying the future and trust? I’ve heard of no such deal.”
“Some people might think it’s eccentric.”
“But we are doing the right thing.” Hwee-Kyung responded to Leonar before turning to her companion. “Sairan. Silk and charcoal, do you have them?”
When Sairan took out the silk and charcoal, Hwee-Kyung began to write something on the spot. People’s names could not be fully represented in Choongmun yet, so the contract was drafted as one between the Humans of Automation and the Elves on the northern coast. Serious negotiation took place while Hwee-Kyung wrote the contract.
They talked about how cheaply the iron would be sold for, and how long they would be able to log the trees for. Leonar was generous, but at the same time, he demanded for more. For the deal to proceed, Leonar told them that the paths needed to be widened, a bridge needed to be built to make the travel shorter, and that threats from Goblins and Ogres needed to be addressed. Hwee-Kyung accepted a few conditions and refused the others. But this wasn’t all that completed their deal.
Both of them soaked their hands in the blood of the deer that had been caught to welcome the guests. Then they left handprints on the contract.
Leonar pulled back and said, “This contract will certainly be honored. I swear to God.”
“Swear to God? Okay. I’ll also do that. The contract will certainly be honored. I swear to God.”
Leonar let out a sigh of relief.
‘Thank goodness. Believing in God is surely a good thing. It’s true that we will have to pay a higher price in the future, but we may not even have a future without this deal. Yes, this is was logical and reasonable. Nothing in the world is given for free. Everything is a deal.”
Reading Leonar’s thoughts, Eldar despaired that Leonar had thought wrong. The deal had only come to be because he had no power. Leonar had no choice but to lower the price given the tribe’s dire situation, but Eldar, who could see further into the future, couldn’t help but consider their Elves fools.
Sung-Woon made fun of Eldar for being distressed but Sung-Woon also saw things from a different perspective.
[Notice: The first credit deal has been established on the northern coast of the third continent!]
‘Credit deals have begun. That also means the culture of checking one’s own credit has begun.’
Discovering and starting credit deals was a good thing. These kinds of deals led to the thinking of considering land ownership assets, and in the future, developed into deals of buying and selling value itself. Credit deals had not been possible until now. There were no such things as contracts, and the other party of the deal could have fled to an unknown place, and there was nothing that could be done about that. But now, there were sedentary tribes, and as nomadic tribes moved along the paths, their deals began to be recorded in writing.
‘Until then in The Lost World, each individual’s world was limited to one’s own tribe. And the rest of the tribes were just threats to one’s world. But not anymore. Paths are drawn on maps, word of who fought with whom spreads, and reputation and credit have become more important. The world has become larger.’
This widened world would be a challenge for Sung-Woon leading into the future.
‘…How do I rule over this large world?’
***
South of the peninsula, the Dwarves persistently fought back, but Lakrak won again. The main Dwarf force was unable to get proper supplies due to the continuous swarm of ants and ended up suffering an overwhelming defeat by the hundred Cockatoo warriors Lakrak led. Having lost all their warriors, the Dwarves abandoned their village and ran away in search of a way to live. Lakrak was at his prime with God’s Blessing, as well as Electric Demonic Magic.
Lakrak walked past the Dwarf village. The bushes came to an end, and he soon entered the land full of white grains of sand. Lakrak kept walking. In the land full of sand, there were shells, dried up starfish, and bones of unknown fish here and there. Lakrak continued to walk. Small waves alternated between rolling up to Lakrak’s toes and retreating while bringing about white foams. Lakrak stood still for a moment. A stronger wave pushed through the sandy beach and swirled around Lakrak’s ankles before moving back.
“This is the end.”
Lakrak looked at the endless sea. He was standing at the end of the peninsula. Now there was no one who did not know of Lakrak on the eastern side of Automation, the wilderness and the northern coast above the wilderness, and the peninsula south of the wilderness. Lakrak had fulfilled God’s will until now. Lakrak had no doubt that God’s will was his own.
There were tribes with wicked manners and customs, and tribes who dared to fight back against the Black-Scaled Tribe. Aside from those tribes, there were others who felt hostile towards the Black-Scaled Tribe due to misunderstandings, and Lakrak found that unfortunate. Apart from that, Lakrak had conquered the land all the way to the end of the peninsula, just as the Blue Insect God wanted. But this time, God had no made any other special requests—it was something Lakrak had always been given when he was about to finish his work. Lakrak thought he could understand why.
‘There’s no land to conquer right away.’ 𝘦𝑎.𝒸ℴ
Lakrak knew there were lots of tribes west of Automation, but there was something he had to do before going there. And Lakrak thought that was why the Blue Insect God’s will hadn’t come to him yet.
‘…How do I conquer this large land?’
Large was the land of the Black-Scaled Tribe where Lakrak had influence over. He had influence over the whole peninsula, the wilderness, Automation, and the northern coast. The edge of the northern coast was given to the Elves, and Humans lived in Automation, but Lakrak thought of all that as his.
‘However…’
Lakrak thought it was all his land, the Black-Scaled Tribe thought so, Hwee-Kyung of Automation and Leonar the Elf likely thought that way as well, and even God might be inclined to agree, but sometimes there were those who didn’t think that way. At places where Lakrak had swept through, those who hadn’t got wind of Lakrak’s stories would claim that the land was theirs. Lakrak had already met a few who thought that way, and he was generally able to persuade them with his words and spears. If Lakrak met more people like that, he was confident in persuading them to whom the land they were stepping on belonged. But wondering how long he would have to keep persuading others left him tired.
‘Do I have to ride the Cockatrice forever? Hm…’
After giving it some thought, Lakrak did not think that would be so bad after all. He had done so until now, so it did not seem like a bad idea to continue his business as usual. His best warrior, Yur, also said he would follow Lakrak wherever he went. But that was not the case with his companion, Zaol.
“That’s not efficient.” 𝘳.𝑐𝘰
Zaol was right. Lakrak did sometimes forget, but he did not like being wasteful. Even if himself, Yur, and the warriors could keep going, there were young children and older people in his tribe. And without them, there would be no warriors.
‘Then what would be the best path forward?’
***
Sung-Woon had sort of an answer to that.
“Eldar, if you had a large territory, how would you rule over it?”
“Hm… Well, usually people choose one of two options.”
“Tell me.”
Eldar thought Sung-Woon would already know the two options if he was like most players, so they could not figure out why Sung-Woon bothered bringing it up. But knowing Sung-Woon’s personality, Eldar did not want to annoy him.
“Feudalism, or monarchy.”
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