Chapter 465

Support from the Trade Guild
The general outline of the matter had been settled.
Now came the stage of hammering out the finer details.
The biggest problem, as expected, was that no written contracts were being made.
We couldn't move forward without resolving that issue.
So how were we going to deal with it?

"Well, the Isles of the Eight Gods probably have some sort of guild-like organization, like a union. I guess we’ll just have to work in coordination with them."

"Come to think of it, is the Trade Guild something that only operates in this country?"

"It operates not just in this country—more precisely, not just in the old kingdom—but the thing is, Trade Guilds tend to be quite unique to each nation. Also, the guilds that have partnerships are all from this continent. We don’t have any ties with the guilds on the Isles of the Eight Gods."

Now that she mentioned it, that made sense.
Guilds are intermediary organizations, after all.
If the countries themselves don’t have strong relations, then the guilds likely wouldn’t be affiliated either.
The Eight Seats had been passed down more as a religion than as a formal nation, so there didn’t seem to be any actual state-level connection.
It really is kind of complicated.

"Is there no way to resolve this simply, without making it so complicated? This is going to take a lot of time and effort."

"Honestly, the root cause is clear enough, but it runs deep. So a simple solution just isn’t feasible.
We’ll need focused education for merchants, fostering exchanges between guilds to curb illicit transactions, and changing people’s mindset through educating the children who will become the next generation.
All of that will be necessary."

"So it’s not possible, huh. How far is the Trade Guild willing to help?"

"We’ll support education for the merchants and inter-guild exchanges. But education for the next generation will have to be handled by the Isles of the Eight Gods itself."

Looks like the most complicated part is the one that's still left.
What is Kiri planning to do?

"Kiri, is educating the children really that difficult?"

"To be frank, it’s outside of my jurisdiction. Each of the Eight Seats has its own domain of responsibility, and education falls under the Light Seat..."

"Huh? Then why did you come here, Kiri of the Water Seat?"

"... Because my subordinate, Kouro, had told me about you, Lady Lily."

Ah, I see.
So it was Kiri acting on her own initiative.
That meant there was a real possibility that anything we decided here could be overturned once Kiri returned.
Even among the Eight Seats, no one should be making unilateral decisions outside their assigned domain.
Especially not when it involved something as critical to a country’s future as education.

Did Kouro know about that?
Actually, maybe this is something Kiri needs to take back with her and get proper approval for before anything moves forward.

What do you think about this chapter?