Chapter 786 786 Big Ideas
Wolfe stepped back from the microphone and the whole room buzzed with excitement. This was great news. The highway itself had been enough to get the Family heads scheming about new ways to corner markets and make a fortune moving goods, but if they no longer needed to send so many people to the border for the Monster Tide, they could focus more of their attention on improving the city and repopulating.
That was one of the primary driving factors in Family decisions within Sylvan Coven. They had lost countless people in the attack last winter, including many of their best and brightest. But the new generation was going to be born without the curse, so they would grow to what remained of their natural potential after generations of degradation, and begin to recover the bloodlines of the Sylvan Families.
The Priya Family clearly had the favour of the Magi, as they had a young child awaken with astounding potential already, years before even the younger generation should have. If that wasn’t enough of a sign that they should go along with this plan, then what was?
Each Family already had their niche within the city, and they all had plans to expand, now that there was a whole new world of markets opening to them.
But the first to realize the true potential was an old man, the husband of one of the Council members.
“So, if we should perhaps have enough spare goods to trade further out than just Sylvan Coven, then we might be able to trade not just with the Covens, but with the entire Continent, is that right?” He asked.
Wolfe nodded. “It won’t be cheap, as air travel requires a powerful and highly trained Witch or magical pilot. But yes, for goods that are not produced in every region, there is a good chance that they can be shipped to every corner of the continent at a profit.
We just finished dropping some supplies in the Free Covens territories, and they seemed quite open to new goods, though some were quite resistant to new ideas. I haven’t personally had an opportunity to visit everywhere yet, but so far, negotiations with the human nations have gone well.
Gormana has a working agreement with both Forest Grove and some of the villages in Morgana Coven territory, while the nations in the north are working on new agreements with Forest Grove, and we have sent the first few plane loads of goods to them.
I think some of them are happier that the curses are fading, and they can actually ship across the mountains, but so far, that has proven risky if there is anyone but an inhabitant of the Frozen Wastes on board.
From what we can tell, it is a lingering effect of a protective inscription that was imbued into the land when the location it was protecting was destroyed.”
The old man’s eager expression turned to one of pure joy, and he clapped his hands.
“In that case, we should work on expanding out into the fields around town.” He informed the woman beside him, much louder than was likely necessary, due to the hearing loss that had come to him in his old age.
The Witch took his hand in hers and patted it gently as he smiled. He might be infirm in body, but it looked like his mind still had some sharp moments. Expanding their production would allow them to trade with all their new potential partners, when before they only had the option of trading within Sylvan Coven. With the reduced population, even just returning to the same production as a year ago would give them a bit of excess to trade away in exchange for other goods or foreign currency.
Wolfe realized that they were going to have to do something about that in the near future. Everyone used their own currency, and to outsiders it all held very little value. It was only good to trade with them in particular, and in some nations the actual value of their currency could vary wildly from year to year.
Unlike the Covens, who controlled supply through regulations and artificial scarcity, many of the human nations used monetary policy and price controls. If they said that essentials were worth a certain amount, then that was what they were worth, and everything else adjusted in value to compensate.
The Fae and the Demons had a more stable form of currency, and Forest Grove had the Mana Crystals, but they were currently unregulated, and everyone just made them as they needed them, and the value was even more unstable than any hard currency.
He would probably have to do something like Morgana Coven did, regulate and mark the mana crystals to set a value and prevent forgery. But he could also make a set of highly condensed mana crystals himself that would be impossible for others to copy. A simple inscription would prevent them from being recharged, and if he linked it to the crystal matrix as he made it, breaking the inscription would shatter the coins.
Then he could set the value easily. The question was, what would he set it at? The coins would mostly be used for smaller transactions, and since they couldn’t be divided, he would have to put only a small amount of magic in them. They would also need a unit of measurement, so that the Fae and Demons would understand.
Wolfe made a mental note so that he remembered to ask the witches later. He could use the same Units that the Mana Crystals did now, and make different coins for different values, but someone might have a better idea. Large transactions with coins were a real pain, and not everyone would be able to trade directly for goods.
A blacksmith only needed so much flour and potatoes from the farmers, which was where the currency came in, but the larger merchants traded on a scale thousands of times larger than that, and there needed to be an alternative so that they could move past small personal transactions with coins.