Liv sat in the cafe, flanked by the incessantly talkative Tess and the silent Elena.
“This is too dangerous, Liv. There are people everywhere. What if someone bumps into you later?”
“Besides, who comes to a cafe to drink coffee and brings weapons inside? The manager’s eyes were nearly bulging just now. I feel like he’s going to find the patrol to report us any second!”
Liv calmly sipped her brewed coffee.
Today, she had specifically asked for extra cinnamon and mint leaves, along with a lot of sugar.
Grain prices had risen significantly, but seasonings had not followed suit.
Many poor people boiled rotten vegetable roots with spices into a large pot to fill their stomachs.
Salted meat had even miraculously dropped in price.
The reason they were at this cafe today was that Elena had written to Liv, telling her that Antonioni had agreed to meet with her.
The location was right here.
The three of them had already met and were just waiting for Antonioni.
Halfway through the coffee, the sound of a doorbell rang.
Then, an old man’s voice reached their ears.
“Good morning, Tori. As usual, a cup of hot tea, but fill it with ice.”
“You got it, old-timer. What brings you here today?”
“Haha, I’m here to chat with someone. Oh, and bring some desserts that girls like. I don’t know much about those, so you choose.”
“Coming right up.”
Then, the old man slowly walked toward Elena’s table, sat down across from the three girls, and took off his hat.
He bowed his head slightly in greeting.
“Hello there. I am Antonioni, Elena’s teacher.”
Antonioni, in his fifties, had graying hair and looked old, but he was still full of energy.
After many years, Liv was seeing her teacher up close again, rather than the brief glimpse she had caught earlier at the Shipbuilding Hall.
She felt somewhat emotional, but a polite smile remained on her face.
“Lord Antonioni, it’s an honor to meet you. I’ve heard Elena describe your scholarship and character, which I admire greatly. Seeing you today is a deep honor.”
Antonioni laughed, wrinkles immediately forming at the corners of his eyes.
“Haha. We already met at the Shipbuilding Hall before. You, and this one here — Her Highness Tessvilan, right?”
Tess nodded slightly as a greeting.
Antonioni continued, “I wonder what you wanted to discuss with me by meeting here specifically? I assume Lady Julia would have told you everything about the Republic’s affairs. And then there is Lord Domenico; he is the leader of the ‘Elf Faction.'”
Liv shook her head.
“Lord Antonioni, I am not here to discuss the Governor’s Office. I want to discuss the grain situation. I feel deep sympathy for the food shortage occurring in your country. To that end, the Elven Kingdom has shipped a lot of grain to support you. I wonder if these efforts have been effective?”
Antonioni said, “Oh, that matter. The Elven Kingdom has indeed shipped a lot of grain for us. I am personally very grateful for that. But without a doubt, as soon as that grain nears the docks, it is bought up by wealthy nobles and merchants. Then it’s sold on the black market. What was originally a barrel of wheat grains worth a few small silver coins, they now bid twenty Grosso for. Then they sell it on the black market for over 100 Grosso.”
“However, that was all from a few days ago. Now, they have taken the concept of a barrel of wheat — even without needing physical stock, as long as there’s a guarantee that cargo ships will keep arriving — as a standard unit for trading.”
Liv gritted her teeth.
She never expected such a situation; she even shot a glance at Tess.
“But can’t the Elves decide who buys it? Why sell to the wealthy merchants as soon as it nears the docks?”
Antonioni looked a bit surprised.
“This… Miss Livyat, did you not know? From the start, the contract signed between the Elves and the Republic was a ‘Free on Board’ agreement. Once the goods reach the Elven port docks, the Republic’s General Purchaser is responsible for receiving them. The risks of subsequent shipping have nothing to do with the Elves. Naturally, who the General Purchaser then distributes the goods to also has nothing to do with the Elves.”
Liv understood.
These were the people responsible for the Elves’ actual operations; after receiving her instructions, they had defaulted to the method most beneficial to the Elves.
It reduced risk and saved on shipping costs.
And frankly, if she had forced the Elves to sell to commoners at low prices, it would have seemed extremely unreasonable.
Liv could no longer maintain her composure.
She asked Antonioni urgently, “Then how can we make it so the commoners can buy moderately priced grain?”
Antonioni took a sip of the hot tea filled with ice that had just been served and said, “My thought has always been that the Governor’s Office is obligated to use fiscal appropriations to subsidize the purchase price of grain. But this seems inconsistent with the current mainstream academic theories.”
“The mainstream view holds that this city-state of Landingset originated from the ‘Bronze Charter,’ an original treaty of the legendary lagoon residents. It clearly defines that independent, property-owning citizens represent the public will of the city-state and enjoy its public services.”
“But who exactly are the citizens? After all, as the city-state develops, new residents keep moving in. Even this New Landingset is now packed with people.”
“Many years ago, the Council promulgated the ‘Golden Book.’ It records the oldest citizen families of New Landingset, as well as those families that became prominent through various merits and opportunities. By the narrowest interpretation, the citizens include them.”
“But the main and branch lines of these people only add up to a little over 1,000 people. The current city of Landingset has more than 100,000 people. Are the remaining residents still considered citizens?”
“So, besides that, ‘Cives’ were born. The current ‘Council Election Law’ stipulates that any man who is an adult, possesses at least 1,000 Grosso in assets, and owns a titled house can run for a Council seat — he is a Cives.”
“But Cives and Golden Book nobles already overlap to some extent. In other words, all the ‘political people’ combined total less than 10,000. Some of them don’t even live in Landingset, but in beautiful country estates.”
Liv understood what Antonioni meant.
‘Who exactly did the citizens include? They certainly included the Golden Book nobles and the asset-holding Cives. But what about the rest? Were they citizens? Did they deserve to enjoy free public services or even public relief?’
There was no written answer. In reality, it was a no.
So if the commoners of Landingset wanted to receive bread distributed by the Governor’s Office, they had to give up their status as free people and become, in a sense, public debt slaves.
It was just framed more softly.
Even then, Domenico still felt it was a losing trade.
After all, how much was bread worth now, and how little did it cost to hire people for labor?
This was already a humanitarian act of charity from the Governor’s Office!
“The Governor’s Office has already lost too much!” Domenico had often said this recently.
He believed that this old grain and the grain collected through taxation could clearly have been sold for over 100 Grosso as well.
Therefore, the Governor’s Office had not let the residents die; instead, they had taken on responsibilities beyond their obligations that they should not have had to bear.
Liv closed her eyes.
She needed a moment to process this.