Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (WN) 2018

c65 - The Prelude to Disaster

King Edomarisu of Farmas Kingdom frowned as he received his report.
There have been changes in the trade status quo surrounding the Farmas Kingdom.
Originally, the profits and losses of trade will take up to a year or even longer before it's certain, but this time the changes are much too abrupt.
Due to its location, the Farmas kingdom can be considered as the main trading partner of the Dwarven Kingdom.
Without the need to traverse hazardous terrain, it is advantageous for direct transactions. Therefore, a great deal of profit was earned by selling the imported goods after implementing high taxes.
But, simply selling goods to foreign kingdoms is hardly enough to be satisfied about.
If the imported goods were to be solely sold within the country, withholding foreign trades, that would further increase profits, and such a decision was made after listening to the advice of the Minister of Economical Affairs.
As expected, at first there was an increase in the number of adventurers into the country plus the sales and revenues also increased.
But in a month, sales started to show signs of recession, and an investigation of the cause was immediately ordered.
The damages are not only limited to imported goods. Foreign merchants who came to buy goods and adventurers who came to stay disappeared altogether.|
Adventurers staying in the city affect the revenues of shops and inns, making this situation something that cannot be ignored.
This isn't a problem one can afford to simply wait and see.
When their report was brought forth, it was a shocking one.

"It seems like a new city has appeared in the Great Jura Forest. In addition, it's inhabited by monsters."

And that's the situation. This is simply absurd.
When Veldora disappeared, the spike in monster activity had been a cause for concern. Many monsters live in the Great Jura Forest. Comparatively, the threat level of the monsters have been relatively low, even though there are monsters that exceed B rank amongst them.
Making a town in such a dangerous place, how much combat force is required? Even defending the surrounding villages and towns within the monster habitats requires a lot of tax money invested into it.
Moreover, monsters living in a town is an unprecedented phenomenon.
This is a phenomenon of monsters founding a country. Who could possibly believe this?
However, there were reports of goblin tribes evolving into a human-like physique, figures that looked like orcs, and whatnots.
In the report, they've all evolved into the species called hobgoblins. By now, the goblins are already quite close to humans, even engaging in business while speaking the human language.
That's not all, there are also Orcs and High Orcs, with knowledge and technique of organizing work corps to establish and maintain roads.
This is an absurd story no matter how one thinks about it.
How many years would it take even for a single individual to evolve? Of course due to the magnitude of the subject this is something that must be dealt with immediately.
News about an entire group evolving, this is something that is unheard of for centuries!
Of course, I didn't doubt that the spies would lie.

But that's not the problem here.
The main issue is a city has appeared out of nowhere.
Directly through the Great Jura Forest, with a route directly connecting the Dwarven kingdom and the small country Burmund is formed.
Moreover, the safety of the trade route is guaranteed.
This is something that can't be neglected. After all, if this route is permitted, the geological advantage the Farmas kingdom possessed is lost.
For the Farmas Kingdom, which mainly relies on trade for income, this is a matter of life and death.
Due to the neighboring Dwarven kingdom being an excellent industrial kingdom (thank you), the local level of industry is low.
There are no local specialties, and there aren't any resources able to be processed.
The local agriculture is at a level when the people wouldn't starve, but the tax gained wouldn't be enough to cover the national spending.
Tourism and trade being it's main pillars, it's a country where tariffs are high.
Until now, thanks to threat Veldora posed, the trade route through the Farmas kingdom had made it prosper.
The disappearance of Veldora after 300 years was not predicted.
Thus, measures for the future as a country haven't been well looked into yet.