I Pioneered Scientific Magic - Chapter 457 (Patreon)

Chapter 457: Worthless Wheat and the Collapse of the Kingdom's Nobility!

September quietly arrived, and the hastily constructed train stations and interconnected railways, built with the joint efforts of wizards and hundreds of thousands of laborers, were finally completed.

However, the kingdom's wealthy merchants and nobles had already gone mad due to soaring grain prices. In just one month, the price of grain had increased by five hundred times!

Every morning, countless caravans waited outside the granaries, and batches of wheat flown in by airships were instantly snatched up without even needing to be unloaded!

Because as long as they got their hands on the grain, they could earn several times the profit in just a day or two. Driven by such terrifying profits, most people had gone crazy and lost their reason!

However, such madness had its limits. Because the grain in the hands of the council seemed inexhaustible, the price of grain was gradually decreasing every day. Now, thousands of tons of grain were being thrown into the market every day!

To completely consume this grain, tens of thousands of imperial coins were needed. But their money had long been spent on buying the grain at the previous prices. Some wealthy merchants had even mortgaged all their assets!

But everyone knew they had to buy all the grain. Otherwise, if the price of wheat collapsed, their wealth would vanish into thin air!

These batches of grain were eventually forced to be bought by dozens of grain caravans!

After buying the grain, the major wealthy merchants and nobles were unable to sit still. They sent people out to investigate how much grain the wizards actually had!

It was obviously not easy to sneak into the various cities' granaries through magical monitoring, so the spies came up with a plan to investigate the workshops.

The wizards needed to provide three meals a day for the laborers. If they didn't have enough grain, the supply would inevitably shrink!

After a thorough investigation, they did receive a shocking piece of news, but it was exactly the opposite of what they had imagined— the magical workshops in major cities were planning to provide a supper for the night shift workers to reward their hard work!

The next day, the council directly threw out more than five thousand tons of wheat in total in all the major cities of the kingdom, which stunned all the caravans that wanted to buy wheat!

"This is impossible! Where did they get so much grain?" Count Mortan tightly grabbed the collar of the reporting attendant, roaring in anger!

Count Held and the other imperial counts also lost their previous appearance of being sure of success and strategizing, their eyes all red with disbelief.

In the past month, they had bought up enough food for three million people to eat for half a year. The rest bought by wealthy merchants seeking to profit was no less than what they had bought. How could the wizards take out five thousand tons of wheat in one go again?

"Count Mortan, what should we do now?" Viscount Sk hurriedly spoke, having exhausted all his efforts to support Mortan's desperate plan!

"Otherwise, let's sell the grain now?" Count Bell suddenly proposed.

Count Bell's suggestion undoubtedly greatly excited the nobles present. Now, with the price of wheat at five hundred copper coins per kilogram, if they could sell all the grain they had previously purchased, every one of them present would be rich enough to rival a country!

"Idiot! Do you think we can still sell our wheat now?" Count Mortan slapped the table heavily, angrily roaring!

Let alone five hundred copper coins per kilogram at market price, even if it dropped to one hundred copper coins, no one would even look at it!

Count Mortan didn't understand what it meant to beat the drum and pass the flowers, but he knew very well that the council had provided three meals a day for the poor, so now, apart from those who collected grain, there were no buyers for the sky-high wheat!

The other businessmen were not fools. In the current uncertain situation, who dared to continue buying grain?

The fact that the council had thrown five thousand tons of grain into the market without being able to sell a single bit so far was enough to prove this!

If they continued to release large amounts of grain, the price of wheat would collapse instantly, causing a massive run, and even their wheat would become worthless!

Count Bell panicked as well and quickly suggested, "But, didn't Viscount Sk say a few days ago that they were buying grain? We can sell all the grain to them!"

Count Mortan looked coldly at Bell, then turned to the attendant lying trembling on the ground. "You tell!"

"Until last night, the price at which the council was buying wheat was... was ten kilograms per copper coin!" The attendant cautiously began to explain.

Hearing this news, Count Bell almost fainted.

What a joke, ten kilograms per copper coin?

This meant that the wheat he had spent his entire fortune on, which cost a full one hundred thousand imperial coins, was now worth millions of imperial coins. Yet the wizards wanted to buy it back for just two hundred gold coins!

This is madness!

"No, I remember that Viscount Sk said a few days ago that the price they were buying wheat for should be twenty copper coins per kilogram!" Count Bell hysterically shouted.

If it was twenty copper coins, although he would lose most of his property, it would still be barely acceptable.

Under the gaze of Count Bell and others, the

 attendant explained with a stammer that the price at which the council was buying grain had been decreasing almost every day, from twenty copper coins per kilogram to fifteen, then ten, five, two...

And last night, the price had dropped to the lowest point in the kingdom's history, ten kilograms per copper coin!

Count Sk and other nobles couldn't accept this ludicrous price either. This meant that their existing assets would instantly shrink to one five-thousandth of what they had before!

Count Bell's voice became hoarse as he shouted desperately.

"This is naked provocation, it's war!"

"Their granaries, where are they? I'll send someone to burn all those wizards' grain immediately!"

The nobles present were burning with anger, all showing a posture of overturning the kingdom.

"Burn what?!" Count Held scolded in anger, pouring cold water on everyone.

Five thousand tons of grain were scattered in more than forty cities in the kingdom, heavily guarded, and there were not a few wizards in each town. What could they burn?

Do they think wizards can't use magic to put out fires?

In fact, not only could they conjure up large amounts of water out of thin air, they could even easily summon thunderstorms and lightning!

Thinking of the scene a year ago, when someone in the capital waved their hand and called down terrifying thunder, a feeling of indescribable fear rose in Held's heart, and he couldn't help but regret why he had listened to Mortan's words and opposed those wizards who wielded terrible magic.

Count Bell, Viscount Sk, and others looked at Mortan's eyes also became increasingly hostile.

The latter obviously sensed the increasingly subtle atmosphere on the scene and said coldly.

"Don't forget, gentlemen, we are all tied together now. My death will do you no good!"

"Now we have only one way!"

At this point, Count Mortan paused noticeably, then opened his mouth, almost squeezing out these words from between his teeth. "That is to continue... buying grain!"

As long as they could buy up all the grain of the council, the initiative would return to their side!

"I absolutely don't believe that those wizards have an endless supply of grain!" Count Mortan's loud voice echoed throughout the castle. "Do they think they can conjure wheat out of thin air?"

The wizards have occupied the southern and central regions of the kingdom for only a little over a year. Even if they started cultivating the land from that time, how much food could they produce?

Mortan firmly believed that these five thousand tons of wheat must be the council's last inventory, and releasing them all at once now was meant to intimidate them!

The news from the workshops must have been intentionally leaked to throw them off balance!

After all, Mortan had never heard of any supper, and how could those wizards suddenly show kindness and allow the laborers to have an extra meal in the midst of a food shortage?

This must be deliberately misleading them!

Under Mortan's analysis, Bell and the others clung to this last straw of hope. Whether they wanted to believe it or not, they had to!

However, they soon realized another problem.

Buying five thousand tons of grain at the current price would cost a whopping two hundred and fifty thousand imperial gold coins!

This was tantamount to their demise!

Now that everyone's assets were either mortgaged or spent on buying grain previously, where could they find so much money?

With this realization, Held and the others began to waver.

Understanding that if he didn't set an example, the noble alliance would collapse today, Mortan gritted his teeth and said, "Mortgage my estate, it should be able to raise twenty thousand imperial gold coins!"

"Everyone, now it's a matter of life and death! Think about it, as long as we can get through this, the grain in our hands can exchange for endless wealth. But if we fail, the accumulations of generations will be lost..."

Motivated by Mortan's words, the nobles reluctantly began to liquidate what little property they had left. After all, taking a step back would lead to an abyss, but perhaps taking one step further could grant them everything!

They had to take this gamble!

About half an hour later, more than forty nobles managed to scrape together the two hundred and fifty thousand gold coins. Mortan immediately dispatched his trusted confidants to ride airships to all the major cities of the kingdom and buy up all five thousand tons of grain!

After exhausting their remaining resources, not a single noble left the secret chamber. Everyone anxiously awaited news.

They waited for about an hour before a guard walked in from outside.

"How is it? Has chaos erupted in the capital?" Held and the others immediately surrounded him, eager for answers.

However, Mortan understood that it had only been an hour, and his trusted men sent to buy grain should still be on their way.

Or perhaps the wizards couldn't hold on any longer and were willing to negotiate...

The guard who entered didn't answer the nobles' questions but tremblingly handed over a newspaper. "Lord Mortan, this is today's Magic Daily..."

As Mortan gazed at the guard's fearful expression, a sense of unease surged within him. He snatched the Magic Daily from the guard's hand and began to read.

Upon seeing the prominent, deliberately enlarged headline on the front page, Mortan's pupils contracted, his blood surged uncontrollably, and he felt a rush of anger, causing him to faint on the spot.

"Lord Mortan..."

The nobles present were shocked. Bell quickly snatched the Magic Daily, scanned it, and felt a chill creeping up from the soles of his feet to his heart. With a horrified shout, he said, "Quick, send someone to bring back all those who purchased grain!"

...

Five minutes ago, in the City of Fire Oil, within the newly built Wizard Academy.

Ivina scooped out about ten kilograms of wheat from a wooden box storing grain, wrapped it securely in coarse cloth, and prepared to leave.

"Are you going to sell wheat at the granary again?" Monroe, who was praying in the living room, suddenly opened his eyes and called out to the girl preparing to leave.

"Yes, the wizards lowered the price of grain again yesterday. I think there might be some deeper meaning to it," Ivina replied casually.

"Deeper meaning? It's probably because the council is running out of funds, isn't it?" Monroe sneered.

Thanks to Ivina's covert investigations, he also 'understood' the reason why those wizards could hold out in the food war until now!

The council was using low prices to buy back the meager stocks of grain from the poor, supporting this food war and maintaining basic dignity!

But this was only a temporary measure. It wouldn't last long!

Monroe even believed that today would be the day those wizards would reveal their true colors, and the five thousand tons of wheat should be their last inventory.

Ivina pursed her lips. Her thoughts differed from Monroe's, but she didn't intend to argue. After picking up the ten kilograms of wheat, she left.

No one stopped or questioned her along the way. After all, it wasn't her first time selling grain, and there had been many others buying and selling wheat during this time.

Many wizards saw this as a chance to make a big profit, but lacking enough space to store grain and unable to compete with the wealthy merchants and nobles, they could usually only buy low and sell high to make a profit.

When Ivina arrived at the granary, there was a long line. Despite the council's daily decrease in the purchase price of wheat, the number of people selling grain continued to increase!

This surprised Ivina. After all, the difference between the wizards' purchase price and the market price was a whopping five thousand times!

In other words, selling ten kilograms of wheat to the council would only yield one copper coin, while selling to the various large grain merchants could fetch a whole fifty silver coins!

Maintaining silence for nearly a month, Ivina finally couldn't help but ask the question.

After hearing the girl's question, the townspeople waiting in line in front of the granary cast extremely envious glances at Ivina. It wasn't until Susan, who wrapped a little old grain in tattered clothes, sighed and spoke.

"You've never experienced famine, have you, my lord wizard?"

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