Whenever he went to the library, he made sure to avoid her if he ever saw her. He knew that he couldn't keep doing this for long, especially considering they were going to the same school. However, right now he didn't want to be involved with the gods, and this was the only way to avoid this. It didn't help that the reason he was looking for foundation stones was to summon one of the gods.
Riza and Soren's martial arts training progressed smoothly. At the end, Riza could hold on for five minutes while fighting Reeve, who was trying his best to hold back. As for Soren, he had more stamina, and when it came to jogging, he could endure more than Riza. In terms of fighting, well … he had potential … which was a nice way of saying he sucked. That didn't deter him though, oh no! He worked much harder than Riza, to the point where Reeve began to question who was trying to join the army.
Besides the crap he read about the Ancients and the dragon slayers, he read a few more books at the library, before running out of silver coins. Riza, being the treasurer, told him that they had run out of money, which of course, managed to put an end to all his adventures, if they could be called that. Among the books he had read, there was one which explained in more detail the history of the continent he was living in.
Apparently, the continent was located in the Southern part of the world, and it was called the Euphraece continent. There were four more continents, and in the northern part, there were the floating islands. The book said that in the beginning, there was only one continent in the world. However, due to some cataclysmic event, the continent was split into six continents. The sixth continent also underwent some changes, causing it to float into the air and split into various smaller islands.
Reeve found this hard to believe. Then again, in a world filled with "magic" and "immortal beings", who was he to decide what was possible and impossible?
The Euphraece continent had a lot more countries, but in the southern part of the continent, that was where the Three Kingdoms Alliance was located. The most powerful country in the south was called Tob, and it was not part of the alliance. In fact, alone, Tob was more powerful than the alliance. Unlike the countries in the alliance, what made Tob more powerful was that it relied on breakthroughs in magical inventions to fuel the expansion of its economy.
Various inventions came from Tob, but usually through smuggling, since the King of Tob forbade trade of magic weapons with other countries. Besides the magic inventions, the other major driving force of the country's economic expansion was its aggressive investment strategies. The country had a merchants' guild which focused on trading almost everything; from agricultural products, to mining germs and ores, and then finally, oil used to light lamps.
In contrast to Tob, Vyren was like its poor cousin. Most of the mages who graduated from Artemine Elemental College, fled to Tob in hopes of a better future. They would then join the guilds there, causing a massive brain drain in Vyren. As for the alliance's merchants' guild, due to the war between the countries back then, it was mostly broke, and couldn't afford to carry out an aggressive investment strategy like Tob. This was especially true with the invasion of Alvarlon. It left the alliance almost bankrupt!
However, that didn't mean that there were no rich people in the alliance. There were individuals who made their own fortunes through smuggling weapons from Tob. These individuals sold these weapons on the black market, causing a rise in banditry. There were also individuals who specialized in selling slaves on the black market. After the establishment of the Three Kingdoms Alliance, the High Council decided to abolish the selling of slaves.
Of course, this didn't mean that people who did it stopped. Abolishing the trade of slaves on the open market, caused the trade to flourish on the black market instead! Even though the country's army tried to find these traders, the efforts were lackluster, and due to bribes, the black market flourished even more.
As Reeve read about this, he was not shocked. Back in his world, there were always people who sold drugs, weapons and so on. Despite the government's best efforts against these kingpins, most of them always got away with it. So, it was no surprise to him that something similar was happening in this world as well.
There were also people like Mrak of the Southern Earth tribe. These people focused on internal trade, gathering and trading natural resources within Vyren. This caused them to have a certain amount of wealth. Despite paying taxes to the government, they would also have some money left over. However, these people were few and far between.
The other problem that the alliance faced, was corruption in their officials. For example, in the South, the country had discovered Trade with the continent beyond the fjords. However, not much came out of this trade.
As Reeve read this, he couldn't help but remember Rizaneth. She said she worked for someone who had been given the title of governor of the South. Wasn't this person the one sent to the Southern Water tribe due to the trade? If he was, doesn't this mean he was very corrupt?
There were lots of things which didn't make sense to Reeve, but after the visit to the library, it was like a fog had been cleared from his mind. Albeit, only ten percent of this fog had been cleared, and the remaining fog had become even more dense.
Reeve didn't put this to mind, since his focus was now on training Riza and Soren. He didn't want another situation where he would have to be the one to deal with the danger, if they were in one. He knew Riza could take care of herself, after all, before he met her, she was already strong. However, Soren was another story.