Chapter 205: Grain Shortage

Most people only knew that Evans had been controlled by people in his family, and it was only because Miss Saina went to pick him up in person that he was brought back.

However, after being brought back, Evans lost his job as Miss Saina's Butler and became an NPC specifically tasked with registering the movements of players.

"Mr. Evans." Anna also walked over, "I have already thought it through; this location is better than the previous one, and it is very suitable for a discreet shop."

Glancing at Mata to the side, Evans said, "If you need charms related to the Beauty God, you can ask this person; she is an excellent actress."

Anna nodded, "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Anna. You must be that big star, right? I have already heard quite a few Xiahui People mention you."

"The spirit on you is very special." Mata responded coldly, "But you being here must be permitted, otherwise these Xiahui People would have reported you long ago. If you need materials for makeup, I can give you a contact, but as for Mystical Items, such things are only accepted by custom order, and they aren't guaranteed to be available."

After finishing, Mata gave the other party a Business Card.

She could tell that these people were very familiar with this witch and were people who could be cooperated with.

"Are you planning to open a charm shop? Or a Mysticism shop?" On the border, such shops were not rare, but Tana City had not had one before.

This was mainly because Tana City had always been watched by followers of evil faiths.

Therefore, regarding Mysticism items, there was not yet a Riernaduo here.

Of course, there was also the reason that this place was not particularly prosperous.

However, it had become prosperous now; the You'eryuan shop now only did wholesale, and although it still did business in mystical materials, there was much less of it.

After all, not every player wanted to be a Hunter to go hunting, and mistakes still happened.

Those players from the War Church had even less time to rest; every day, besides training, they were coordinating patrols, and there were plenty of daily tasks, so there was not much time for rest.

It was impossible to invest a large amount of time into capturing materials as they had before.

Conversely, if Anna were to go on a mission, players were still willing to take it; after all, she was an NPC, and they could grind for favorability.

However, Chen Zhi did not tell Anna these things, only hoping she could start a new life on the ground.

As for the missions, those were just incidental.

"I plan to open a Mysticism shop. Besides common charms, there will also be some Mystical Books; of course, they will all be the most basic kind and will not involve any true secrets." Anna said very sincerely, "I know my identity will make you feel strange, but Gannaer has reconciled with the Federal, so isn't my existence a very normal phenomenon?"

"That is true. In the future, many witches will inevitably come, though it is hard to say what their intentions will be." Mata seemed to understand something, "It seems you really do need to open a shop across from Evans. Hmm, I can also provide you with some help, for example, giving you some charms for Disguise, or charms related to Illusion."

"That would be truly wonderful. I will purchase them at a reasonable price." Anna had not expected such an unexpected joy.

After all, having not communicated or chatted with people for a long time, she had somewhat forgotten how to chat with others.

Seeing Anna so sincere, Mata suddenly lost interest in investigating; anyway, this matter was the business of those Xiahui People, as long as it did not affect her own plans.

"That will do. I will wait for your good news." Mata looked at Chen Ai to the side, "By the way, you should also need a good sign; I think you could ask Ai Ai to make it."

"That is exactly what I was thinking." Anna's face was a bit rosy; she had also heard that Chen Ai's Painting work was very good, but unfortunately, she had never seen it before.

"If you want to visit, you can come to my shop at any time." Chen Ai saw through Anna's thoughts and felt secretly proud inside.

As expected, she was the favorite of the system; she had conquered three NPCs standing here in one go!

Just like Anna, the number of merchants looking for opportunities in Tana City was no less than those looking for opportunities in Gannaer.

Most people did not understand the situation in Gannaer, but everyone understood the situation in Tana City.

In any case, those Gannaer people could not come to Tana City to cause trouble; with so many soldiers from the War Church present, the Gannaer people had no choice but to behave.

Not to mention that an Armistice Agreement had just been signed over there.

Merchants who saw the news in the newspaper opened shops in Tana City almost without hesitation.

Especially in the newly emerging wharf area.

Originally, this place was all warehouses, a large number of empty rooms, and quite a few drying grounds.

Now it was almost completely full, and quite a few people were planning to rent shops on the newly planned land.

After chatting with Niya, Luolita ran to the construction site and began to supervise her hotel.

She planned to open a chain of hotels; besides having her own hotel in the Royal Capital, she also wanted to apply the experience she gained to Tana City.

The number of people here would soon increase; the area around the Train station had already been occupied by people from the Wealth Church, so she should occupy the wharf area.

Moreover, opening a hotel here would make money no matter what, and she would not be suspected by people from the Wealth Church.

"We are too short-handed lately." Zhongshan Laoren on the construction site said with a frown, "The people in the factory are also very busy; we are all busy increasing production and originally did not intend to come to build the wharf. Fortunately, the Wealth Church brought another batch of Slaves, but it is a drop in the bucket."

"Just tell me if you are going to raise the pay?" Luolita urged, "Money is not a problem; I can even provide you with a portion of the shares."

"It is indeed necessary to raise the pay; a worker now costs 80 Tana per day, and I regret not hoarding more Tana back then. And I have to provide food and housing; this is all money." Zhongshan Laoren said helplessly, "These NPCs are also competing with us for labor; the price they offer workers is 90 Tana per day, but they do not include food and housing."

"In short, I hope my hotel and the Gannaer Embassy open at the same time; this way, we can accommodate quite a few merchants and tourists from Gannaer." Luolita reminded her business partner, "You should be glad that at least you don't have to run to Gannaer to build houses."

No one in Tana City dared to go to Gannaer to build houses; the God of Death was a deterrent to people from other regions, and from an outsider's perspective, no one would think the God of Death would protect them.

"But I have also earned much less money; it is said that the Wealth Church sent quite a few people over there, and I don't know how they exchanged currency in Gannaer."

"As long as trade begins in the future, currency will naturally need to be exchanged." Luolita continued to inspect her construction site, "Do you not plan to sell some things to Gannaer? Although they also produce Grain over there, there are not many cash crops."

"We certainly plan to go over to plant cash crops like Cotton, but not now." Zhongshan Laoren said in a state of distraction, "We desperately need more players; the current players are simply not enough!"

"Then why don't you go find Ai Ai? She can at least get a word in."

Zhongshan Laoren shook his head helplessly, "After so long, haven't you seen it yet? She has absolutely no way to influence decision-making."

"Compared to us, she is also just an ordinary player; at most, there is some internal test data that needs her to test, but it won't be many versions ahead of us. As for the Helmet matter, finding her is also useless." Zhongshan Laoren said helplessly, "Now quite a few players in our factory have left; they are either going to Rierna to try their luck or planning to do something in Gannaer."

Nowadays, the population of Tana City is becoming increasingly strained.

If this continues, labor costs will be higher than in the Royal Capital.

This is the border; no matter how developed trade is, it cannot be developed to this extent; the labor shortage has become the main problem for Tana City.

"If we bring in more population, we have to make those people from the War Church go back quickly. Aren't the goods we hoarded prepared for them? If one or two tens of thousands of people suddenly appear, looking at the current Grain, we definitely won't be able to support them." A merchant said to Sarana, "Because most of our Grain has been sold to the War Church."

At the beginning, the people from the Wealth Church had calculated that this War would last at least one or two months before ending.

Who could have thought it would end so quickly?

And after it ended, the people from the War Church did not leave.

What was hoarded in the warehouse was still Grain, and there was no way to sell it.

Those nobles were expecting the price of Grain to continue rising, so they held onto it and refused to sell it.

Consequently, the price of Grain is getting higher and higher, and the cost of labor is also getting higher and higher.

Importing Slaves from outside also makes the economy of Tana City even more fragile.

Although the main goal of the people from the Wealth Church is to make money, they are also unwilling if it affects the developmental balance of the entire Tana City.

If it is too turbulent, it might lead to the same things happening as before.

"In any case, let's continue to purchase Grain from those nobles first; if that really doesn't work, we can only import Grain from Gannaer," Sarana said helplessly.

If it weren't for the fact that labor is truly in short supply, she should be considering what kind of goods to sell to Gannaer right now.

Yet now she has to consider what kind of goods to purchase.

"Is it not very safe to import from Gannaer?"

"We cannot just import from other places; their Grain might be even more scarce than ours, and once we get through these two months, those nobles will have a new batch of Grain in their hands, and we will have made it through."

Sarana sighed.

It is still necessary to reclaim wasteland, and more Xiahui People are needed.

It is just that they aren't arriving that quickly.

And the Xiahui People don't seem to be as cohesive as she thought.

She had once brought over a Ship of Xiahui People, but those people were not at all as hardworking and brave as those within Tana City.

Furthermore, their brains were not as good as those Xiahui People, and most were illiterate, with absolutely no intention of learning the Tana Language.

At the thought of having to purchase Grain from the nobles again, those merchants of the Wealth Church wore faces full of sorrow.

With the increase in population, the price of Grain has risen higher and higher, and the nobles are no longer willing to sell Grain.

Added to the Royal Capital's demand for Grain, now not only is the price of Grain rising, but even the price of Wine has risen quite a bit.

As for going to Gannaer to purchase Grain, everyone has not thought about it for the time being; they need to wait until Yun Xiao and the others confirm the situation in Gannaer before they dare to go to Gannaer to purchase Grain.

Who knows what the situation is like over in Gannaer?

"Don't worry, Yun Xiao and the others have already arrived in Gannaer; it is said that they will reveal the price of Grain in Gannaer to us tonight. If it is reasonable, we can purchase a batch to ensure that the population of Tana City can all eat Grain."

"If it weren't for the Believers of the Red Moon goddess causing trouble before, we might not have to be so passive." The merchants all had the same thought.

When the Wealth Church managed the entire Tana City in the past, it was simply too easy for them to make money.

Now, wanting to make money is much harder than before, especially after those Xiahui People started believing in the Wealth Church; they seem to be natural-born merchants, having stubbornly built an entire new Commercial Street.

Chen Zhi observed for a while through his projection.

Then he fell into thought.

If the price of Grain had not risen, he might have already opened a new round of testing.

But precisely because the price of Grain is getting more and more expensive and cannot be replenished in the short term, he does not dare to bring out more of a population now.

After all, players also need to eat in the game.

Unless... those guys from the War Church hurry back; once their rations are gone, the price of Grain in Tana City could be much cheaper.

He could also recruit more players to come and make contributions.

Sitting on the Ship, Yun Xiao's eyes were much brighter than before.

Although he could see the scenery recorded by players on the forum, there is still a big difference between seeing it with his own eyes while on a Ship and what others have recorded.

"Gannaer is indeed an ancient city, different from Tana City." Approaching the pier, Yun Xiao finally came back to his senses; in this hour, the scenery had not repeated once.

Besides the flowers on the mountains, there were various strange trees by the water, as well as Believers of Death full of a sense of Ritual, and small boats drifting in the river.

The mysterious feeling of Gannaer came rushing toward him.

Previous players basically only moved within the pier and did not explain the situation inside Gannaer City in detail, only revealing some neutral NPCs and the stronghold of Ganseer within Gannaer City.

However, the players were not clear about where the stronghold was specifically.

"I am very happy you have come to Gannaer; I am your receptionist—Anna." Anna stood on the pier and said to the group who had just disembarked, "Although Gannaer and the Federal have established diplomatic relations now, if you want to conduct transactions and trade, it still needs to be under our registration and supervision. We will provide you with some things needed for operations, such as personnel, venues, information, and even some goods."

"Baroness Clara is truly thoughtful," Yun Xiao said respectfully, "but we also hope to walk around inside Gannaer City. You must know that to sell things that can make money in the city, one must conduct a consumption capacity survey; if the things we sell are too expensive, the people here will not purchase them."

(End of this chapter)