"So far, the Great Elijah McNickles had singlehandedly, and with great sacrifice, managed the administration of this camp tirelessly. He had been the one to contact various suppliers from the capital city - among others - establish a tentative supply train from those cities to Listo, then to Baratuo."
"If not for the issue concerning the safe transport over the first two bands of the Plains of Death, I have no doubts that the Lord Seneschal would have easily created a powerful yet stable supply route."
"However, since the man wishes to abdicate, that means three things for us. Firstly, someone is going to have to establish contact with various suppliers and establish a sales and supply agreement."
"Secondly, someone is going to have to create a stable supply route by contacting various city lords and wagoners to take up this job as well as open the routes/safeguard them. After all, bandits are around, so mercenaries will need to be contracted to protect the wagons up until Baratuo, which is a long and arduous journey."
"Third, and most importantly, someone is going to have to source the finances for everything. Paying the sales agreement for the goods on a regular basis, paying the transporters and their guards, paying the cities a share of tax for the use of special routes, paying a third-party with the required skills to cart the resources from Baratuo safely to our camp."
Darius smiled while amused and brushed a hand over his hair. "All of this might have seemed simple thanks to the chairman's efforts, but getting everyone here fed and watered daily is not an easy job at all. Satisfying everyone's basic needs is complicated enough, and that's not even to account for special delights that are requested by various factions here."
Darius clapped his hands and leaned on the table. "So, ladies and gentlemen, who here is willing to take charge of this problem?"
Unsurprisingly, the table had become deathly silent as many fellows now wore terrible faces. Regret burned through their lungs and their intensities as they felt foolish for having stretched poor Elijah too far.
As leaders, these kinds of basic logistics were normally handled by their aides while they sorted our more important issues, or in the case of others, they were just there to be powerful deterrents.
Since these things had always been handled for them, they had underestimated the difficulty. Their aides had always got it done no matter what, and Elijah too had got it done, so how hard could it be?
In reality, logistics was easily one of the most arduous and complex subjects in the world, encompassing far more than shipping and delivery as many people wrongfully assumed.
It was a science of its own in fact and was developing with each day. In Fallon, it was stuck in its medieval era standard, unlike Earth where it had been optimized.
Darius had 'kindly' listed out the process for them, but even this had left out a few smaller details, yet his explanation had been more than enough to make the room quiet down as no one dared to speak.
Not a single person wished or dared to offer themselves to the table, hoping that someone else would be foolis-*cough* kind enough to do so.
Many eyes naturally fell on Elijah hoping that he might reconsider, but they were dashed away when they saw the Royal Faction's representative cold and detached expression.
What's more, he didn't even try to hide his schadenfreude about them realizing what him going away meant to them personally. He would have clearly already left if it wasn't for the fact that he needed to chair the floor for Darius.
Eyes then turned to Darius who had already shown his generosity once, hoping he could once more become the answer to their problem. Darius had a playful smile as if he could read the thoughts of those looking at him, making their lips twitch with discomfort.
The silence dragged on until Darius decided he had milked it enough and poked the table again. With the current silence, this simple tap was as loud as a gunshot. "In truth, there is a way out."
Once he spoke, more than half of the powerhouses here audibly sighed with relief, making them freeze as their realized their gaffe. With terribly ashamed expressions they ground their teeth in anger.
Darius' eyes curled upwards as he continued. "I am willing to finance 50% of the camp's resource expenditure, but you will have to come together to donate the remaining half someway, somehow, because I will not pay a single bronze more than what."
Many were shocked. One should know that even when they had been bullying Elijah, they had only made him fork over 30% of the costs. Their contributions had reached 70%, yet even that had been enough to trouble the Royal Seneschal greatly!
Yet, this lad was kind enough to come out and offer to pay for half of it from the get-go? No wait, how much money did he have?! And more importantly, just what was his source of wealth?
He had previously gone on a spending spree with currency that had been untraceable, and looked to have been of higher quality than common coins, baffling many bankers.
Of course, these unique coins had instantly been pocketed and had their values subjectively raised due to the purity of the metal. As such, many had fallen out of circulation, but this was an unintended consequence.
Darius' plan for solving the possible inflation he could cause was compound, but did not have to do with the current situation, so he didn't see the need to go over it again mentally.
Before the various powerhouses could feel relieved, he continued. "However, if I am to shoulder this burden, I have certain conditions I need all of you to agree on."
"Firstly, all manner of agreements and discussions with suppliers will be done solely by me. Secondly, all matters concerning the transportation of goods from the source point to this encampment will also be solely handled by me, including their security. Thirdly, distribution of resources to various outlets here will be solely handled by me as well."
Once Darius was done, the table went into an uproar. No wonder this blasted fellow had offered to bleed so much! Although he would do all the dirty work, it would allow him to hold them by the necks!
If they agreed to his conditions, then the fellow would be the sole decider of whether they got to eat, bathe or even shit on a daily!
Offend him and your supplies would miraculously lessen. Support him and you would be filled to the brim with resources needed for conquest.
Truly insidious!
