76 Taking Advantage of the Chaos

At the market in White Village, Sword Tyrant wandered through the crowded player trading bazaar, stopping now and then to ask after the prices of various goods. Everything was falling sharply. Even assorted junk dropped by monsters was nearing a point where a whole bundle could be sold for a single copper coin. His brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

Manipulating market prices to trap an opponent would hurt far more than just the target; it would wound oneself as well. Once the market was thrown into chaos, restoring order would take far longer. If this had not been done to place overwhelming pressure on Tiger and Leopard Village and force it to submit, he would never have agreed to such a measure.

As he walked, a professional merchant player suddenly came up beside him and whispered a few words in his ear.

Sword Tyrant was startled. “Someone is buying medicine in huge quantities?”

The player said, “Absolutely true. I even sold one to him myself. Life potions have already dropped to between three and two coppers each, and they’re still falling. I don’t know where that player got such deep pockets, but he’s boldly buying up more than a hundred life potions at once, taking quite a risk. My guess is he wants to wait until the price rebounds and then flip them for the spread.”

Sword Tyrant hurriedly asked, “Do you know which village he’s from?”

The player shook his head. “No idea. Within fifty li of White Village, I, Money Spans the World, know every well-funded professional merchant there is, yet I’ve never seen him before. He must be from out of town.”

“Good. Thank you. This information is very important.”

“What’s there to thank me for? In the future I’ll still need Elder Sword Tyrant to lend me a hand!” Money Spans the World laughed heartily, then asked in curiosity, “By the way, Elder Sword Tyrant, what exactly is going on with these copper coins? Has the village run out of cash, or is there some special move in the works? I heard that our village had a falling-out with Tiger and Leopard Village yesterday over medicine and iron ore trade. Is that true? Are we trying to test our strength against them?”

Money Spans the World’s sharp instincts were practically on par with those of a gossip reporter.

Sword Tyrant smiled. “Commercial secrecy. I can’t say.”

Money Spans the World sighed helplessly. “Fine. I knew you wouldn’t tell me. I’ll dig up the information myself; maybe I can even make a profit from it.”

Sword Tyrant returned to the administrative courtyard and told Zhang Xiaobai about the mass buying of medicine, then said, “I think we should tighten medicine sales immediately and push the price upward. That will stop certain players from seizing the chance to stockpile medicine and profit from it.”

After hearing this, Zhang Xiaobai nodded. Since copper had already been restricted, medicine should be tightened as well, or else the village would lose a great deal of its wealth. As for the complaints from player merchants, let them complain. Under these circumstances, he could not hope to satisfy everyone’s interests.

“Mm. Go handle the medicine prices. Have Three help you reduce supply and raise the price of medicine to above five coppers each, maybe even higher.”

Sword Tyrant said, “There’s something else... Xiaobai, you know that Young Hero Spring and Autumn and his brother have been receiving free medicine from the village all this time for leveling, so they still have some left on hand. It isn’t much, but enough to affect the market price. I think they’ll need to cooperate with us on this too.”

Zhang Xiaobai was silent for a moment. “I’ll tell him. Go discuss the medicine with Old Li.”

Sword Tyrant smiled, then left the hall and went to find Li the Third. All of White Village’s medicine output had to pass through Li the Third’s hands. He might not be suited to other forms of administration, but when it came to watching the accounts, he was astonishingly precise and had never made a mistake.

...

Sword Tyrant spread the news that medicine was in acute shortage, then cut back on medicine sales, even buying a small amount back from the market outright. These measures to drive prices up took effect quickly. Player merchants followed the trend at once, tightly hoarding medicine and refusing to sell, and the price rebounded to around five coppers per pill.

The most obvious result of this chain of actions was a decline in market trading volume. Merchant players, and even many ordinary players, began to complain that medicine was too expensive and that it was affecting their normal leveling. Qiu Shui had no choice but to step forward personally and offer some calming measures, telling everyone to stay patient, that this matter would pass soon enough.

Tiger and Leopard Village.

Black Tiger and the merchant players were locked in a standoff. Most of the merchants were waiting for the latest news, trying to figure out exactly what was happening in White Village, and so no agreement had been reached.

Black Tiger was furious, yet utterly powerless.

White Village’s influence over merchant players in dozens of nearby villages was simply too great. Most merchants in the region had traded with White Village before and knew that its current financial strength was sufficient to manipulate the market. This time, White Village’s situation had arisen in a highly suspicious manner, with no warning at all. Everyone was guessing whether some secret struggle between villages had triggered such a huge upheaval. Without accurate information, none of these merchant players could predict White Village’s next move, and so they dared not rashly involve themselves in this sudden change, fearing they might miss the real target and end up dragged into the consequences.

Some bolder merchants grew impatient and shouted, “Listen, Village Chief Black Tiger, copper coins are in short supply right now, and your weapons can’t fetch a decent price. How about this: I’ll take the risk and buy a batch of your weapons at thirty percent of the original price. You’re asking one hundred coppers for a plus-three iron weapon? I’ll take a few off your hands for thirty coppers each.”

Black Tiger jumped to his feet in shock and roared, “Thirty coppers? What kind of joke is that? Do you think my weapons are scrap metal? These are leveling weapons, not White Village’s life potions!”

The player refused to back down. “Copper is already worth three or four times what it was. One copper now is worth three coppers before, so your weapons should naturally fall to around thirty coppers. Who’s going to buy them at one hundred? Isn’t that right?” He turned to the other merchant players beside him. “You tell him. Besides, who knows how the price will move in the future? If copper keeps rising, I’m the one who’ll be taking the loss. I’ve generously shouldered such enormous risk, and you still won’t appreciate it.”

The merchant players around him all agreed. “Of course you can’t buy at the old price. Who’d be that stupid?” “Thirty coppers now is the same as one hundred before. We’re already taking a big hit.” “Why don’t we wait and see whether copper keeps rising? Maybe it’ll double again.” “Good idea!”

The hall rang with clamorous voices, all of them forcing Black Tiger to slash his prices to the bone. The merchant’s ruthless greed was on full display.

Black Tiger was so enraged he could hardly speak. These shameless profiteers were simply... outrageous. In a fury, he slammed the table and shouted, “Damn it, I’m not selling my weapons anymore!”