That joy lasted for only one day.
News arrived that Earl Wezor had invaded Lord Daina’s territory. Alkan had never seen his father so depressed.
At the time, Molzora was forty-nine years old, and Alkan was eighteen.
“Alkan, I don’t understand. Why did the earl go to war?”
“Probably to gain territory.”
“What good would scraping off a slice of that territory, which is mostly wasteland, do for his people? How much military strength would he need to expend to protect the land he obtained? Lord Daina admitted fault. Debts only mean anything if you keep the other side in debt. If we invade, then the debt disappears, and we end up in the wrong.”
“Yes, but the earl would surely point out that increasing his domain increases the territory of the kingdom.”
“If the Northern Knights united their forces, our kingdom would stand no chance of victory. Then we would be the ones who end up losing territory! All right, what would he say to this: I know you’re angry that your vassals were killed, but who made it so that you could obtain a permit and purchase goods on the coast in the first place? Do you know how much time and money that took?”
“The earl would likely answer with the following: That was done for the kingdom. Our war is also for the kingdom. So you have no right to say that to me.”
“Hmm. I see. But I’ve been saying for years that our country does not have territory-related ambition. What happened to that?”
“Expanding the territory of a kingdom is the duty of its loyal subjects. He would probably say you have been disloyal to the crown for your dealings with the feudal states of Fenks.”
“We no longer have any need for increasing our territory! Opening up genuine trading with the northwest coast will bring great wealth to the kingdom and lead to population growth, which will increase our productivity. We have plenty of usable land left even within the kingdom right now. Our first priority should be developing within the country and increasing our own strength. To do that, we need to bring wealth to our economy through trade. The lords in Fenks whose territory the trade routes will pass through will benefit as well. Creating an economic relationship where both sides depend on the other will decrease the chance of war. Once we have grown our nation’s power to a sufficient degree, we can invite the lords into our kingdom economically. Taking territory by force will not endear its people to us, and their resentment will run deep. Countries grow prosperous through the profit of their people. Was that not already proven with the northeastern coast?”
“That won’t convince anyone. The lords of Baldemost will see your actions as benefiting only House Riga. They’ll argue that everything to the north and east of Riga is essentially our territory. We invested money and people from the kingdom to increase its wealth, and then we made it our own. Because of that, they’ll say that we need to give them a chance to grab some land to the west for themselves.”
“So not even saying that this is all for the kingdom’s benefit rather than our own will reach them. Hmm. Alkan, what can I do here?”
“Father. Have you received a request from Earl Wezor to provide logistic support for the war effort?”
“No. I have received nothing of the sort.”
“Then let’s sell our salt to Tada.”
“What?”
That year, the northeast coast of the continent had suffered consistently bad weather, and the production of salt had fallen tremendously. As in other countries, the royal family in Baldemost had a monopoly on salt, but in reality, it was House Riga that had total control over the production and sale of it. They had built up a healthy stockpile of salt under House Riga’s direction.
House Riga sold that entire supply to the neighboring country of Tada. Tada had been suffering from a shortage of salt, so this placed the country in Baldemost’s debt and brought enormous profit to the kingdom. All distribution of salt, aside from regular provisions, to the cities throughout Baldemost was cut off temporarily, prices inflated on the open market, and then it disappeared entirely.
The opinion that Baldemost should supply Earl Wezor with reinforcements was voiced in the Privy Council, but that was rejected mainly for the reason that it would result in a war between nations. There were no lords who wanted to go so far as to spend their own money to support the earl, so the war dragged on.
The earl then ran out of salt. There was no salt for him to buy, so the war effort had to be suspended without gaining any territory.
If any one lord had assisted the earl, it would not have worked out that way. When Molzora asked Alkan why no one came to his aid, Alkan answered with the following.
“If any of the surrounding lords had supported the earl, it would have been because they thought their turn to receive support would be next. But they also couldn’t stand the idea of the earl reaping all the rewards from this war. No lord was going to be willing to help increase the earl’s territory at their own cost.”
That was exactly what happened.
A crack had formed in the friendly relationship between the lords of Fenks and House Riga, and the dream of opening trade routes grew more distant. However, learning that they were capable of holding back the earl’s army opened up possibilities for the future.