Swiss Arms

Swiss Arms

Chapter 109

-VB-

Anton Luhr

Anton didn't know what to do.

The duke was obviously a greedy son of a bitch if he was willing to go so far as to mix a quarter of the coin's weight with junk metal. That was … that was unthinkable. Anton wasn't a merchant great enough to understand just how bad it was, but he understood that once the news about this got out, things were going to be extremely bad within the Duchy of Upper Bavaria.

First, he understood at the very least that once the news got out, outraged commoners and merchant might go on a riot. People have rioted for less.

Second, merchants and peddlers outside of the duchy will start trading less for Upper Bavarian pfennigs, groschen, and guelders. With people no longer taking those coins, they will either have to pay more for the same goods or get less goods for the same amount of coins.

What would he lose if he stayed? If the duke decided to punish the merchants, then he would get caught up because he was a merchant, whether or not he partook in whatever riot or pressure merchants as a group might try to put on the duke to compensate for the devalued coins and loss of profit. Riots might also burn his people and assets. Roving bandits on the rise will surely make trade more expensive and harder.

What would he gain if he stayed? Other merchants might leave, leaving him with more share of the city's trade. He might be able to get artisans and merchants to join his guild, either as full members or associates. He might be able to have a better standing within the city, giving him the necessary foothold needed to advance him and his family's status. He might even get a noble title if he helped the duke.

What was more likely to happen?

… A duke who devalued his own coins for greed wasn't likely to give anyone anything even if they helped. Actually, he might turn around and stab them in the back. The devaluation was already exactly that. Anton and others in the city and the wider duchy served the new duke as their new lord faithfully, but the duke went and backstabbed them.

Could he expect any reward from a lord like that?

Anton might just get himself killed towards the end of the oncoming crisis because that would be very convenient for the duke. After all, if he survived after contributing a lot, then he would be expected to be rewarded, right? But if he died "mysteriously" like how the previous duke had "mysterious" misunderstandings with the China Baron, then the duke wouldn't have to reward anyone…

He gulped.

He … there was a lot to be gained, but it hinged heavily on the fact that the duke who already backstabbed his brother (allegedly) and backstabbed his people would be honorable.

… Yeah, no.

"Samuel," he spoke up. "What would you do in this situation?" he asked his friend. His childhood friend, really.

Samuel looked up with his own dark bags underneath his eyes. The man might be a blacksmith, but he was also someone who's been around merchants, peddlers, and other copper counting professions. He knew a thing or two more than most people did, and Anton's own reaction to the latest reveal had pegged in just how bad things could be. Samuel was also not someone who would brush off problems just because it wasn't directly related to him.

"I would run," he replied. "I'm a blacksmith. I would be welcomed anywhere I go. I would pack my family's most valuables and just leave. This looks and sounds like a problem that I can't even get close to doing something about. This duke… he's not a good man. Not a good lord."

Anton pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Just … leave?"

Samuel nodded. "What else can I do? I'm a blacksmith. Not even a knight. Maybe if I had something more to give, something more to lose, then I might have stayed. But the only thing I would lose by moving is my position in your guild, but that ain't much when, obviously, things here in Munchen might go so far down to hell. Might move down the river to Landshut."

"Yeah. That's fair."

"... what about you?"

Anton groaned. "I want to pack up and leave before this blows up. I don't see any way I can come out of this alright, never mind on top!" he moaned out. "Fucking hate this!"

"Yeah, me too. I thought I was gonna have a heart attack when I saw not all of the coin melting into silver and gold. Might have been the heat, though."

Anton snorted. "If you ever get a heatstroke in the smithy, then that's the day the sun rises from the west." The brief levity disappeared as soon as it came. "God, this is too much. Why go so far?!"

Now, he was getting angry.

He knew that people were going to die. There was going to be a lot of people who were going to die from the duke doing this.

"Yeah… Yeah, leaving the city might not be a bad idea."

"Where would you go?" Samuel asked him.

"I don't know. I need to go somewhere I can make money. Got too many people who depend on me."

"... Then what about the place where all of the new stuff are coming from?"

"New stuff?"

"You know. The china stuff."

"Oooh. Right. Fluelaberg." Then he paused. "You want me to go to the place that defeated the previous duke so thoroughly that it's become a scandal for the House of Wittelsbach?"

"Yeah. At least they can keep my family safe from the duke."

"... Fair. I might go there, too. The baron has to keep a large army to be able to destroy the duke like that, right? That sounds like work for a blacksmith."