I was rolling back and forth on the bed, repeating Seriana’s story over and over in my head.

At the time of independence from the West, things were different, but the current East-West conflict ultimately stems from the presence or absence of monster-derived resources. The East… especially the alliance side, even if they have some feelings about the West, aren’t particularly eager to do anything drastic.

If anything, they’d rather just let the West perish on its own over time… they want to leave it alone that much.

Right now, national-level exchanges with the West mainly consist of merchants handling logistics. Of course, the government is involved in negotiations here and there, but the interaction is basically at the civilian level.

And, apparently, even if they cut off those ties, it wouldn’t cause that much trouble…

Before the war was publicly announced in Riana, there was a bit of chaos, mostly among craftsmen, but even now, despite logistics not fully recovering, the confusion has somehow settled.

Surprisingly, many Eastern goods have been used as substitutes.

The war has ended, and logistics will probably recover by summer, but maybe sooner than expected, civilian exchange with the West might completely stop.

Considering the cost of moving goods from West to East, it’s much cheaper if you can manage with nearby places.

Besides, it’s not just the Great Forest Alliance; the East is fundamentally made up of people with similar values and cultures, so sudden wars like this cutting off logistics shouldn’t really happen.

If that happens, maybe ties won’t just break off with the large powers and their satellite countries, but with the entire West…

But then, what will happen to us?

Our selling point is that, while we don’t trade with other continents, we use the southern sea route around the continent to trade with lands on the southern side of this continent… but if ties with the West are severed, that will fall apart.

Well… not only goods but also people moving around is a big selling point too…

No… come to think of it, there are plenty who want monster materials from the magic wilderness, which is also our selling point.

In fact, I feel like we sell more than we buy from the West…

And those monster materials from the magic wilderness aren’t just desired by the West—they’re wanted everywhere away from the magic wilderness, so maybe it’s okay?

But if so, won’t we have to rethink how things are arranged inside Riana’s territory?

Hmmmm…

“…Ah!”

While rolling on the bed, I was deep in thought about Riana’s trade situation and specialties, when something suddenly came to mind.

“What is it?”

Seriana, who had been sitting on the bed reading again, put down her book and looked over.

“We’re turning the eastern base into a town, right? To prepare for the magic wilderness’ development.”

Oh yeah, that’s something I wanted to ask about too.

The current base functions like a small village to some extent, but because of its location, no one permanently lives there. It’s mainly used as a rest spot for adventurers and hunters who go hunting in the magic wilderness.

They do monster dismantling there as well, but since no commercial or adventurer guild branches are established, any commissions require transporting materials back to the capital. So while it’s a convenient location, it’s still very much a developing place.

“That’s right. It was originally planned to be developed eventually, so this is a good opportunity. We’ll need to dispatch soldiers from here to fill in any gaps when cutting down the forest and expanding the base… Fortunately, there’s no longer anything in the capital that requires heightened vigilance, so we can afford to allocate soldiers there without issue. And even if something unexpected happens, it’s only a few kilometers away—we can return immediately.”

“Yeah, that sounds good, but what about the orphanage ruins in the church district? I don’t know who ended up using it, but it must have some kind of impact, right?”

I don’t actually know who won the rights to use that site in the end, but the adventurer guild had applied for it because they wanted a place specialized in handling monsters brought in from outside.

And the current plan is for the adventurer guild to specialize in dungeons…

Still, when the eastern base develops, both the adventurer guild and commercial guild will definitely expand into that area.

It’s bound to be convenient where it is.

Thinking about that, what’s going to happen with how those ruins are used?

I don’t think it’ll be resolved in just a few years, but if it ends up obsolete just a few years after completion, it might cause friction with the other guilds.

“As for that, we’ll need to discuss it again… but that was expected from the start. You could say the timeline was just moved up a bit, so it’s not a big deal.”

“Oh, really?”

I see.

The unexpected policy change in the West sparked a rush to advance development within the territory, but if that was already planned, then they must have accounted for that much.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Sera・Blessing・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind’s Garment】

Blessed Items・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】+1【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】【Red Sword】【Monkey’s Arm】・8 cards

Seriana・【Area Identification】・【】・0 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec・【Strong Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・10 cards