A declaration of alliance between Holy Empire Ruberius, Western Saint’s Church, and Tempest was formalized on paper, and a declaration of the same was sent to every country.
These kinds of formalities are normally truly tedious, but having the leaders calling the shots makes it all much easier.
Hinata is also a representative of some sort… I mean, everyone recognizes her power. So with all the signatures thus gathered, that matter was closed.
The alliance declares equality of its members.
The matter of trade restrictions we basically left it to the marketplace: the merchants and countries will just have to fight it out. In short, I won big on this contract.
Hinata and Ruminas are uninterested in matter of commerce. So they agreed to leave it up to market itself to figure the rules out—as I had wanted; a free market would be beneficial for international trade.
(Translator’s note: Do we have any economy majors who can comment on Rimuru/author’s claim that removing trade restrictions completely will be so beneficial?)
(Smoggy’s notes: Well, if there is no trade protectionism, Consumers will be better off due to a larger diversity of goods, and potential at higher and cheaper prices since firms will have to compete even harder in the larger market in terms of quality and productivity. While infant firms will face problems, large successful firms such as Rimuru’s will benefit from the wider range of consumer, as well as the lack of taxation needed when trading within the trading bloc. On a side note, government revenue will be lowered due to the decrease in revenue originally generated from tax, but should enjoy the beneficial GDP growth from the boosted economic activity. P.s. if they all use the same currency, no need to worry about currency appreciation)
We might even create a self-sufficient system and enjoy a time of never-before-seen wealth.
Currently the top brass (me, myself, and I) live in luxury, but we can still improve the quality of life of the lower class citizens.
And in order to obtain the ingredients to accomplish this I could hope for no better opportunity than trade with the Holy Empire Ruberius. It’s one of the largest agricultural countries in this world, after all.
Oh, and Ruminas isn’t oppressing her citizens. On the contrary, she protects them most passionately. To the point that they grow all the food they need as to not starve.
Which is why if we start trading and exchanging products we could turn stagnation into abundance.
And that’s how I’ll get to manipulate the market all I want.
I’ll research the climate and introduce appropriate produce.
Perhaps Ruberius will manage potato while we’ll focus on cultivating rice.
As for the rest, I would imagine that on the technological front Tempest would dominate. Rare metal and mineral trade is also likely to end up to our benefit.
I’m sure Myormiles-kun would be able to handle that question without any oversight.
The vast lands to the west, compared to those of the Eastern Empire are terribly infertile.
A battle between demon lords took place there, and the magical energy released eroded the nutrients in the soil.
But, if you think about it on the flip side, you could actually use the land to grow special products that require such magical energy density.
And if we leave it as is, these sands are bound to swallow up Ruberius eventually. Ruminas seems to be of the mindset that she’ll just up and leave for another land, but I can’t say I support her plans.
