Chapter 49: Thoughts
As a child of a southern ruler, it was quite surprising for Chen Heng to have a good relationship with the northern rulers.
The origin of this relationship was his friendship with Krudo.
Even though it was not obvious on the face of things, because Krudo's family had a Knight, they were one of the leaders of the northern rulers.
As such, through Krudo, Chen Heng was able to enter the northern rulers' circles and visit old Knight Sli.
That was his foundation in all of this.
During the past half a year, in order to improve his economic conditions as well as help the northern rulers, he had begun a partnership with the northern rulers.
After all, the northern rulers were all relatively poor.
This was because the northern side was relatively barren and often needed to fight. Moreover, the climate made it so that the crops did not yield much, so even if the soil was the same, the amount of crops they produced was far inferior to the southern side.
However, this did not mean that the northern side did not have any development potential.
Back when Chen Heng had gone to Krudo's family's territory to have a look, he came to some conclusions.
Even though the northern side was poor, that did not mean they could not produce anything.
Firstly, the northern side had many furs, skins, and Outlander slaves.
The furs and skins could be sold to nobles, while the Outlander slaves could be put to work in various residences.
If he could bring these things to the south, he could obtain great profits.
In the past, no one realized the potential value here.
It was just that the northern side's terrain was complex and the path to get there was quite difficult.
Moreover, given that there were a large number of bandits and Outlanders on the way, the trip was very dangerous.
Merchant groups were not strong enough to make the trip, and it was easy to get lost; it was simply too dangerous.
Moreover, Princess Olivia's territory also had similar things.
Merchants cared about costs and benefits, and they would rather go to Princess Olivia's territory and purchase goods for a higher cost than to go the extra distance to the northern rulers and take the extra risk.
Given these circumstances, Chen Heng put in some hard work.
Using his relationship with Krudo, he negotiated some high passage fees with a few neighboring rulers to use their roads. He then traveled through personally, finally opening up a small trade route.
Using Baron Kaisen's name, he could purchase large amounts of crops and weapons from the southern side that the northern rulers desperately needed, while using Krudo's name to buy furs and slaves from the northern rulers…
Coming and going along this trade route, he could earn large profits.
A portion of these profits would go into the pockets of the northern rulers for the passage fees.
When someone could bring you profits and benefits, the way you saw this person and their thinking would completely change.
Chen Heng was already a very amiable person, and after bringing resources and profits to the northern rulers, his relationship with them became even better.
As time went on, his influence among the northern rulers would become even greater.
These were all Chen Heng's bargaining chips, as well as power he could borrow.
At that moment, Chen Heng sank into his thoughts.
The situation in the Kutu Principality appeared in his mind.
Many years ago, the conflict between Princess Olivia and the Prince had become incredibly heated.
Part of this was because of the Kutu Principality's tradition: the Princes and Princesses would fight, and the victor would be King or Queen. The other reason was because the current King was quite ill and confined to his bed.
Under such circumstances, both sides' supporters had their swords drawn, and the conflict was becoming more and more intense.
The current King had three children. Apart from Olivia and Verna, there was another Prince.
Verna was too weak, and because of her personality, she essentially had no hope.
As such, the final victor would most likely either be Olivia or the Prince.
Olivia's advantage was that because her territory was in the north, she had her own army. Moreover, because her mother was the Queen and she had been quite talented, she had been greatly nurtured since she was young.
If she were a man, the fight over the throne may have already been over.
The Prince was born from a neighboring kingdom's Princess, and he had his mother's family's support. Adding on the fact that he was older and was the Kutu royal family's only male successor, he was also supported by some of the nobles.
Overall, both sides had advantages and disadvantages, and both could take the throne.
Under such circumstances, the power of the northern rulers was incredibly important.
Even though the northern rulers were quite closed off, at the end of the day, they were still nobles. They were also used to fighting with the Outlanders and had the strongest military force in the Kutu Principality.
If that great power clearly stated who they supported, the effects would be obvious.
Because Chen Heng was close with the northern rulers and could influence them to a certain extent, his value greatly increased.
Thinking to there, Chen Heng's eyes lit up.
"What is it?" Krudo was still standing in front of him, and he looked at Chen Heng as he asked out of curiosity.
"It's nothing."
Chen Heng turned and smiled as he said, "Has Mr. Corripo come back yet?"
"Not yet," Krudo shook his head and sighed as he said, "According to his last letter, it will be a long time before he can return."
"Alright," Chen Heng also sighed, feeling a bit disappointed.
He had been hoping to see if he could gain anything from Corripo.
After all, as Corripo's student, Corripo was an important card in his hand right now as well.
If he could influence Corripo to a certain extent, it would be much easier to carry out his plans.
As the Kutu Principality's Guardian Knight, if Corripo publicly supported someone, it would be easy to influence many people and give one side a great advantage.
As such, Chen Heng's status as Corripo's student was one of his trump cards.
It was a pity that about a month ago, Corripo had left the Kutu Royal City because of some personal matters. They did not know where he went or when he would be coming back.
Chen Heng stood there and thought to himself.
"Now that I think about it, Princess Olivia normally does not come to the Kutu Royal City, but she suddenly came back recently. Were there any changes to the situation?"
Chen Heng's expression was calm as he suddenly had this thought.
He had a feeling that with Olivia's return to the Kutu Royal City, the situation in the city was going to go through some changes.