Wasteland Lord: Starting from Thirty Days to Live

"Alright, go ahead and ask," Vittorio said helplessly.

"Back then, the Earl blocked the news and prohibited the import and export of minerals from the Reach. Soon after, a crisis occurred in the mineral industry. I was puzzled at the time, but after your explanation, I finally understand."

"Then I have a second question for you. What if this merchant also consumes goods? Surely he can spend some of his own money to buy products, right?"

When Grandet mentioned the word "consumption," his face contorted, as if the thought of spending his money was unbearable.

But what Vittorio said next was going to cause him even more pain.

That's impossible.

"Why?" Grandet was furious.

"This is a very simple question. Think about it carefully. Aren't there always new technologies emerging in our daily lives?"

"Take mining as an example. At first, people picked up the ore by hand. Later, people used tools to mine the ore. Later, machines may even appear. People's production efficiency is always improving."

"In other words, the total amount of goods that an individual can produce per unit of time is always increasing. However, merchants are not so kind as to raise wages for workers as production efficiency increases. In the eyes of merchants, the extra goods produced are extra profits for them."

"This creates a contradiction: workers' wages are always the same, but there is an abundance of products. This results in a relative oversupply of products. Although there are so many goods, no one has the money to buy them."

"This chain you imagined has broken again."

Grandet's face turned bright red.

"That's right. Back then, those lowly people gathered noisily in front of the Chamber of Commerce and even sent out some kind of mining worker representative to negotiate with me, demanding a wage increase. But that money was all earned through my hard work, why should I give it to them?"

"And most importantly, they found out about the gold mine and used it to blackmail me and the Earl, saying that if we didn't give them better treatment, they would report this to the capital and make the King take over the gold mine."

"Unforgivable! Unforgivable!!!"

"So, after discussing it with the Earl, we sent assassins to kill them all..."

At this point, Grandet laughed nervously, his head bowed in a distorted manner.

"What was that labor leader's name again... Daphne?"

"She seems to be a pretty young girl, but also a tough nut to crack. After we captured her, no matter how we tortured her, she refused to change her story."

"There was no other way, no other way, so we had to break her into five pieces and throw her into the deep water at the dock."

In the deep water of the dock?

Vittorio recalled the heads he had seen at the docks, the heads strung together on tentacles.

He suddenly had a terrifying thought.

Could one of them be Daphne?

Grandet fell silent, only convulsing in place.

"So, there's absolutely no way? If this businessman wants to amass all the wealth in his own hands, there's no way?"

He nervously repeated the phrase "there is no way," his whole body bulging and swelling like a broken balloon.

His body, just like when he was first teased by Vittorio, alternated between blue and white.

In Vittorio's view, the pale merchant did not grow larger; instead, a surge of power gathered from all parts of his body into his arm.

With a piercing scream, he gracefully swung his arms, knocking over the candlesticks beside him.

Surprisingly, as soon as his hands touched the candlestick, the candlestick quickly changed from iron to a bright gold, and it actually turned into gold!

In an instant, Vittorio understood his ability.

[Midas turned into gold]

No, if you have this ability, why are you even thinking about monopolistic methods? Just print gold!

Unfortunately, Vittorio's complaints couldn't reach Grandet.

After transforming, Grandet stopped speaking and silently attacked Vittorio. This lost soul's attack style was different from any Vittorio had ever seen before.

Grandet's attacks were light and agile, almost like those of an ordinary person who had never received any training. There were too many unnecessary movements, not to mention that this guy had mutated but still cared about his image, so his attack movements had too many unnecessary embellishments.

But even against such a flawed opponent, Vittorio could not defeat him.

Because his hands were so unreasonable.

Anything that is touched, even just for a moment, will turn into gold.

Grandet appears to be full of flaws, but when Vittorio attacks, the man's hands are surprisingly fast, able to appear from any direction from which he is attacked.

Just now, in a flash, without Vittorio noticing, the hem of his robe instantly turned into gold, making the robe heavy and affecting his movements.

Vittorio was certain he couldn't handle him alone.

Call for backup.

Vittorio, as agreed, shouted for help.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out outside. The doors of the Chamber of Commerce were being pounded on loudly, as if someone was frantically banging on them.

Just after Edmund shouted "Get out of the way!", the door suddenly swung open and a group of people rushed in.

"Be careful, his hands can turn anything into gold, don't touch them!"

Edmond took advantage of Grandet's back to shoot an arrow, but the seemingly clumsy Grandet seemed to have eyes in the back of his head and caught the arrow with his hand behind his back.

The entire arrow transformed into a golden arrow in his hand, which he then hurled heavily to the ground.

Isolde, relying on her speed, launched several attacks from the side, but Grandet precisely caught each attack with his hand, and Isolde's sword instantly turned into a decorative gold sword.

This is tricky. The seemingly frail Grandet is like a hedgehog covered in thorns. Although everyone knows that his belly is soft, he always shows his prickly back, making it impossible for anyone to get close to him.

For a moment, everyone stood on the periphery, and although there were many of them, they didn't know where to start.

Vittorio stood on the periphery, carefully observing Grandet's movements, when a flash of inspiration struck him.

"The shield bearers formed a surrounding formation, using their shields to protect their bodies, gradually compressing the area and encircling the guy in the middle."

The shield bearers obeyed orders and surrounded Grandet from a considerable distance.

"Archers, position yourselves behind the shield bearers and keep firing arrows through the gaps, keeping him constantly on the defensive!"

The archers did as instructed, hiding behind the shield bearers and firing arrows continuously.

Archers don't need to be accurate; they just need the arrows to hit their targets. But Grandet has to be wary of this.

Arrows rained down, and Grandet moved his hands at lightning speed to defend himself.

Because his arms moved so fast that the human eye couldn't keep up, leaving afterimages, it appeared as if he had seven or eight arms at the same time.

"Shieldbearer! Converge! Tuck him in between!"

The shield bearers, holding their large shields, formed a shield wall and advanced towards Grandet at a slow but irresistible pace.

Edmund and Isolde stepped back upon seeing this, while the shield bearers approached Grandet.

In an instant, seven or eight shield bearers formed a circle, raised their shield wall, and suddenly surrounded Grandet.

It's now!