[The Horse Market]
A mere fourteen-year-old girl, and a girl at that, was being hailed as a master archer.
"Is this even possible?"
But what surprised Aiden even more was that, while they might not have reached the level of the girl from Helias, children of a similar caliber—a "downgraded version," if you will—were emerging all across the North.
"Well... you see, the further a village is from the Lord's Castle, the more the kids learn to use a bow from a young age," Jamie replied, scratching his head.
"Knives and traps are dangerous, and besides, metal blades aren't exactly cheap, are they? So we kept those away from the kids. But bows are different. Even a fancy composite bow is just made of buffalo horn, and in a place crawling with hunters, buffalo horn isn't exactly a luxury item."
"Still, arrows can't be cheap."
"Oh, come on. Why would they need metal tips to play around? They just whittle some wood they find lying around."
"Even so, shooting with both feet planted on the ground is a far cry from shooting on horseback after barely learning how to ride."
"Maybe they adapted faster because they're kids? The horses are small, too, so it was probably easier for them to get used to it."
Even as he said it, Jamie didn't seem entirely confident himself.
Since this was the first time they had taught children to ride for free, and the first time they’d put bows in their hands while mounted, there was no precedent to compare it to. It was only natural.
"Isn't it a good thing?"
"Ah, Sir Biyan."
Biyan’s face appeared outside the door.
Since Jamie had smashed the office door to pieces yet again, Biyan was standing there in an awkward posture, trying to knock on thin air.
"Please, come in. As you can see, there is no door."
"......"
Biyan looked lost, unsure whether he should laugh or not.
"I'm joking."
"Ah. Ha, haha..."
Only then, prompted by Jamie's nudge, did he offer a vague laugh.
"The barracks for the militia—if things keep going like this, it won't just be a dream. Just looking at the reports, the results are... well. We only provided a few horses and a handful of bows, but the results are so good it's almost embarrassing."
Aiden teased Biyan, who had taken a seat at the table.
"It is all thanks to your trust, my Lord."
"What have I even done?"
"But what brings you here? I assume you didn't come just to offer your thanks."
Aiden had already heard the "Song of the Dragons Flying to Heaven"—the endless praise about the Lord's grace—from the Northern Army more times than he could count.
It meant there was no need for Biyan to come all the way to the office to repeat the same thing.
"I have something to discuss with you."
"I thought I delegated the affairs of the barracks to you knights?"
"This does not seem like a matter we can resolve on our own."
"Hmm."
Aiden’s expression turned serious in an instant.
In truth, ever since he had given the knights full authority over the Northern Army, he hadn't paid much attention to the problems of the barracks.
Despite the lack of funds and manpower, Biyan and the other two Northern knights had managed the army without a single issue.
No, they had actually been deeply grateful for the meager increase in funding he’d provided, pinching every penny to maintain the troops' morale.
As the head of the Northern Army, Biyan’s martial prowess went without saying, but it meant his administrative insight was not to be underestimated either.
If a man like that was complaining for the first time, even the great Aiden couldn't help but feel tense.
"What is the problem?"
"The Horse Market has sent a letter."
"The Horse Market?"
Aiden had expected talk of insufficient funds, supplies, or manpower, but what came out of Biyan’s mouth was completely unexpected.
"By 'Horse Market,' you mean the Mashi?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Why the Horse Market?"
"They say they will no longer send invitations to the North."
"?"
As Aiden’s eyes darted around, Jamie quickly added.
"You can't just go to the Mashi. Only those who receive an invitation can enter."
"Why?"
"The number of horses traded at the Mashi is in the thousands at a time. It’s impossible to raise that many horses in one place all the time, isn't it?"
"That's true."
If thousands were being traded, it meant they possessed even more than that. If that many horses were gathered in one spot, that in itself would be a problem.
'That land would turn into a desert in no time.'
Even if the laws of nature in this world were completely different from Earth, the impact of tens of thousands of large livestock could not be ignored.
"Because they raise the horses while constantly moving them, the location of the Mashi changes every year."
"So they’ve essentially tamed their customers under the guise of an 'invitation'."
"Yes, Administrative Officer."
If it were a common commodity, they would have been out of business long ago. Changing the location of the trade every time was asking for unnecessary effort from the customers.
But unfortunately, the problem was that horses were not a common commodity.
'The value of trained horses, especially those of superior breeds, is immense.'
The merchants of the Mashi realized at some point that the customer could never be the 'superior' party in their transactions.
The scales were tilted from the start. Since demand always exceeded supply, it was inevitable.
"Does that mean if we don't have an invitation, we can't even find the location of the Horse Market?"
"Even if we find out through the grapevine, the bigger problem is that we won't be able to purchase horses."
"And the wild horses of Groblin can't fully replace the Northern horses?"
"No."
Biyan dropped his head.
"I am sorry. It seems the horse merchants are angry because of my suggestion."
There wasn't a single person in the office who couldn't guess why the horse merchants said they wouldn't give them an invitation.
It was an extension of customer taming.
In other words, the horse merchants were currently making their displeasure very clear.
— How dare you try to catch and use some wild horses of unknown pedigree? Then you don't need us, right? Good luck on your own! Hmph!
At most, fifty wild horses.
And it wasn't even for the official territorial army; it was for a small village militia to teach the local kids. It was absurd that they were acting so sensitive over a few small horses.
"They say they trade thousands of horses at once, but they’re as narrow-minded as a minnow’s gut."
Jamie shook his head, clearly displeased. But Aiden didn't find the Mashi's decision entirely incomprehensible.
'It’s the small holes that eventually collapse the dam.'
Not all horses on the continent were traded at the Mashi, but it was said that any horse farm of a certain size was essentially a subsidiary under the Mashi's umbrella.
However, the Groblin wild horse farm had literally fallen from the sky. The Mashi could not tolerate that.
"If we withdraw the wild horse farm plan, will they give us the invitation again?"
When he asked Biyan, he replied,
"...I am sorry."
The loyal knight confirmed the question with an apology.
"I don't like this."
He had his answer, but his gut was twisted. No matter how much of a civil servant he was, prioritizing safety above all else, his pride wouldn't allow him to be at the mercy of outside contractors just to replace a piece of furniture.
"Still, it's difficult to make an enemy of the Mashi right now. With the post office and the trading post, we are growing rapidly, and the number of horses we need is increasing day by day. If we don't have a sufficient supply, there will be a bottleneck, and the stagnant areas will begin to wither."
Jamie expressed his concern.
The North still had to constantly fuel its growth and move in every direction. If it stopped awkwardly, the entire Northern economy, which had only just begun to turn, might collapse all at once.
"You said if we combine all the wild horse herds, it's about two hundred head..."
"To raise stallions and breed them, no one knows how many years it will take for two hundred wild horses to support the entire North."
Biyan shook his head, adding that even the fifty they had supplied initially was a stretch.
"In the end, we need horses, but we have nowhere to get them if we make an enemy of the Mashi."
"I am sorry, Administrative Officer."
"I am sorry, my Lord."
"But we can't give up the horse farm. The moment we give this up, we'll be leashed to the Mashi forever."
It was a matter of time. In a dozen years or so, the Groblin horse farm might finally grow large enough to handle the number of horses the North needed.
As with all things, it was a question of whether one could endure the initial hardships or not. Of course, most people couldn't overcome the immediate difficulties. That wasn't something to blame them for.
'But that doesn't mean we should give up without even trying.'
The experience of breaking the cycle of poverty in the North gave Aiden confidence.
"Let's find a way."
"But..."
"It's the North. The frontier."
It might be an impossible task in other regions. But the very disadvantage of being a 'frontier' that had been strangling the North might act as an advantage in this situation.
Variables always occurred in regions that weren't even on people's radar.
"It won't take long. Can you do it?"
"I can delay the response for a month or two."
"Then I leave it to you, Sir Biyan."
"Yes, my Lord."
It was time to study the Mashi.
"So, the guys who pull the strings at the Mashi were originally barbarians?"
"Yes. They are the people who raised horses while traversing the vast steppe, including our Elteon Empire, the forest regions above the Great Forest, and the northern part of the Holy Empire."
"It would be nice if they could show some consideration for their fellow barbarians."
"What do you mean, 'barbarians'? We are proud subjects of the Empire."
"Everyone calls us barbarians. In the eyes of others, we’re the same as them."
"Still, is that something for an Administrative Officer to say?"
"Can't I even make a joke?"
Jamie grumbled at Aiden’s words, but he didn't seem particularly offended. His superior had already bound the North and himself with the word 'we'. Even insulting words become jokes when said among our own, even if they would be grounds for a blood feud if said by an outsider.
"So they aren't really affiliated with any particular power even now?"
"Because they are a nomadic people who move through ownerless land. Of course, some of the great merchants who are called the masters of the Mashi are treated like nobles no matter which country they go to."
"They get treated like nobles just for trading horses on a large scale?"
"To the nobles, are horses just animals? And you saw it this time. They start by threatening to stop trading if their mood is spoiled. This would be a much bigger blow to the high-and-mighty folks living down south than it would be to us in the North. It’s not like they have the grasslands to raise horses down there anyway."
Listening to Jamie, Aiden began to grasp why the power of the Mashi had grown so large.
Raising horses required an enormous amount of land. It wasn't that there were no grasslands in the south, but even a child knew it was far more economical to raise cattle or herd sheep than to raise horses.
Even if it was an era where the fist was closer than the law, it was a world where a loaf of bread for tomorrow was more important than a thug's fist.
"In the end, it’s back to square one."
There was no alternative to replace the Mashi. At least within the Empire, one couldn't consistently receive a supply of horses while being at odds with the horse merchants belonging to the Mashi.
"It’s a shame about the wild horses, but we should consider them something we can capture again anytime, and for now, we should take a step back... I will talk to the Groblin people well."
Uncharacteristically, Jamie sounded weak.
"'Capture again anytime.' Where is there such a thing?"
He would have felt better if they had just been stubborn to the end, but seeing his adjutant so depressed only made him angrier.
"It’s not like taking cookies off a shelf; saying we can capture them anytime is nonsense..."
Then, struck by a sudden realization, Aiden’s head snapped toward the blackboard.
The massive blackboard covering one wall of the office helped him organize his thoughts by listing important keywords at random whenever they had a meeting.
Mashi.
Horse merchants.
Nomadic people.
Great steppe...
As Aiden pronounced the words written on the blackboard one by one, he finally blurted out a single, coherent sentence.
"The great steppe. Isn't this included in our North?"