Chapter 32: The Expansion of Trade

The first few weeks after the Heavenly Lock was lifted passed in relative tranquility.

But that tranquility did not mean that nothing had changed.

Ever since the first human trade ships departed from Zeta, a new movement had begun to spread throughout Gandalia.

Small and medium-sized human vessels began traversing the ancient spatial routes that had reopened after fifty years of isolation, traveling toward commercial cities and regions with which humanity had lost contact thousands of years ago.

These ships, however, were nothing like the warships that had appeared in the days following the lifting of the lock.

They carried no massive cannons.

They were not surrounded by military formations.

Nor did they approach the territories of the other races in a hostile manner.

They were simply trade ships.

Their purpose was clear and simple.

Trade.

At first, the other races dealt with them cautiously.

Humanity’s return after fifty years of isolation was not an ordinary matter.

Everyone knew that Zeta had been completely sealed, and that anyone who attempted to enter or leave it had been unable to do so.

Then, suddenly, the lock was lifted.

And humanity emerged.

But they did not declare war.

They did not demand the return of their ancient territories.

Nor did they send their armies toward the continents they had lost.

Instead, they sent merchants.

And this left many unable to understand what was happening.

As time passed, however, the initial caution gradually began to fade.

In one of the great commercial cities, a human ship entered the harbor and came to a stop among dozens of vessels belonging to different races.

Several merchants and commercial officials disembarked.

They carried no heavy weapons.

Nor did they bear military banners.

They entered the marketplace and began purchasing what they had come for.

Heavenly ores.

Spiritual herbs.

Spiritual stones.

Rare minerals.

Materials used in ship construction.

Materials used in weapon forging.

And various other resources that could benefit humanity.

Inside a spiritual treasure shop, a human merchant stood before a large collection of rare herbs.

The shopkeeper glanced over the list in his hands.

"That is a very large quantity."

The human merchant raised his eyes.

"Yes."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes."

The shopkeeper remained silent for a moment before beginning to prepare the order.

When he finished, he asked,

"Will you be returning to purchase more?"

The merchant answered calmly,

"Certainly."

He did not know that those simple words would soon become familiar in markets across Gandalia.

Every time a human ship arrived, it carried a new list of resources.

And every time one returned to Zeta, it carried enormous quantities of ores, herbs, stones, and rare materials.

But humanity was not merely buying.

It had also begun selling some of its own products.

Refined metals.

Tools.

Certain ordinary weapons.

And various industrial products.

With time, merchants from the other races began to notice something unusual.

The quality of human products was remarkably high.

Their craftsmanship was precise.

Their products were manufactured with a degree of refinement that exceeded what many had expected from a race that had remained isolated for fifty years.

Questions began to spread.

How had the humans reached such a level?

What had happened inside Zeta during those decades?

How had they managed to maintain such a level of production?

Yet no one possessed the answers.

Humanity had no intention of revealing its secrets.

Its advanced military technologies remained within Zeta.

Its warships never entered the markets.

Its military factories were never opened to outsiders.

And its military bases remained completely beyond the reach of the merchants' eyes.

Foreigners were permitted to enter the markets, harbors, and designated commercial districts.

But everything beyond those boundaries remained a closed world.

Trade was open.

Humanity's secrets were not.

As trade expanded, a new kind of movement began to emerge within Zeta itself.

The activity in the harbors increased.

Merchants from various races arrived in human territory to sell their resources.

Explorers arrived.

Craftsmen arrived.

Representatives of various commercial powers arrived.

And all of them were seeing parts of Zeta for the first time since the Heavenly Lock had been lifted.

What they saw was completely different from the image they had formed in their minds during the previous decades.

Vast cities.

Wide roads.

Enormous buildings.

Organized networks of spiritual energy.

Constantly moving transportation systems.

And harbors that received trade ships on a regular basis.

But what drew their attention the most was the sky.

From time to time, enormous ships passed above the cities.

They were not trade ships.

They were far larger.

Far more imposing.

And the energy auras radiating from them were completely different.

They moved in organized formations before disappearing beyond the horizon.

At one of the harbors, a merchant from another race stood staring at one of those enormous vessels.

"What are those?"

The human official beside him glanced at him for a moment.

Then answered,

"They are not within the areas you are permitted to enter."

The merchant received no further answer.

And in that moment, he began to understand something.

What the merchants saw in the markets was only a very small part of Zeta.

As for what the rest of the territory concealed...

No one knew.

Within the Sovereign Palace, reports continued to arrive.

Eleanor stood before Fafnir, holding a collection of reports.

"The results of the trade have been better than we expected."

Fafnir was seated calmly.

He raised his eyes toward her.

"How are the merchants behaving?"

She answered,

"They were cautious at first, but that is changing quickly. Many of them are beginning to see Zeta as a vast new market. Demand for our products is also increasing."

She paused for a moment before continuing,

"But they have begun to notice the scale of our production."

Fafnir's expression remained unchanged.

"Have they discovered anything important?"

"No."

Eleanor answered.

"No foreigner has entered the military regions or the warship factories. They have seen nothing beyond the commercial products."

Fafnir remained silent for several moments.

Then he said,

"Good."

His gaze shifted toward the great map before him.

"Do not reveal more than necessary."

"Understood."

"Expand the trade gradually."

"Yes."

Eleanor bowed and departed.

Outside the palace, the movement continued.

As the days passed, news of humanity began spreading throughout the markets.

The humans were purchasing enormous quantities of resources.

The humans were selling high-quality products.

The humans were reopening ancient trade routes.

And most importantly...

The humans were not behaving like a weak race that had emerged from a long isolation.

They behaved like a race that knew exactly what it wanted.

Some commercial powers began viewing Zeta as a new market.

More and more foreign ships began heading toward it.

And merchants became increasingly willing to deal with humanity.

Thus, commercial interests began to take shape.

They were not alliances.

They were not friendships.

They were not military agreements.

They were simply trade.

But it was enough to return the name of humanity to the world.

At the same time, humanity was achieving another objective.

Every trade ship that returned to Zeta brought new resources.

Every new resource entered the warehouses.

Every rare mineral could be sent into the factories.

Every spiritual herb could be used in agriculture, training, or various other fields.

Every heavenly ore could become part of a new ship, weapon, or facility.

Trade was feeding the machinery of production.

Production was feeding the strength of humanity.

And that strength was growing in silence.

No one outside Zeta knew the scale of the resources stored within it.

No one knew the size of its factories.

Nor the size of its army.

Nor the size of its fleet.

Nor the number of its warships.

Nor the extent of the power it had forged over fifty years.

The world saw only the merchants.

But behind those merchants...

There was an entire civilization preparing for the future.

As time passed, activity in the human harbors increased.

One day, a large trade convoy arrived at one of Zeta's main harbors.

The convoy consisted of ships belonging to several different races.

The merchants disembarked and began looking around with curiosity.

The city was enormous.

The streets were broad.

The buildings were towering.

The movement of people was orderly.

And spiritual-energy networks operated continuously throughout the city.

But one of the merchants suddenly raised his head.

A massive ship passed overhead.

Then another appeared.

Then a third.

More followed.

The ships moved in an organized formation.

The merchant stared at them for a long moment.

Then asked,

"What are those ships?"

No one answered him.

None of the merchants knew.

And the same question had begun to arise in harbors across Zeta.

What did the humans truly possess?

What had they built during those fifty years?

But there were no answers.

And while trade continued to flourish, something else was happening far from the markets.

In a distant region of Gandalia, a ship unlike any vessel the merchants were accustomed to seeing appeared.

It was white.

Majestic.

And surrounded by a pure angelic aura.

The ship stopped before one of the human harbors.

The atmosphere of the entire area changed instantly.

The merchants raised their heads.

Several conversations came to an abrupt halt.

This was not an ordinary commercial arrival.

The ship's doors opened.

A single figure stepped out.

He wore formal angelic attire, and his aura was entirely different from those of the merchants and envoys the harbor was accustomed to receiving.

He advanced toward the human officials with steady steps.

Then stopped before them.

"I am an envoy of the angels."

Silence descended for several moments.

There was no threat in his voice.

Nor was there any obvious hostility.

Only a message.

The envoy produced a letter bearing an official seal.

"I have come to deliver an official message to humanity."

The human official regarded him attentively.

"What is the message?"

The envoy raised the letter before him.

"In one month, the Seven Supreme Races will hold their gathering."

Silence fell once more.

Then he continued,

"This gathering is held once every hundred years."

The expressions of several people changed.

This was no ordinary meeting.

It was a rare gathering in which the Seven Supreme Races came together only once every century.

The envoy continued,

"The gathering will be held at the Summit of the Beginning and the End."

The expressions of those present changed once again.

The name was not unfamiliar.

The Mountain of the Beginning and the End.

The highest mountain in the world.

A place whose name had been associated with great events since ancient times.

The envoy continued,

"The Seven Supreme Races will gather there to discuss certain matters concerning the races and the world."

He said nothing more.

He did not reveal the nature of the matters that would be discussed.

Nor did he explain the reason for the gathering.

He simply handed over the letter.

Then said,

"That is all I came to say."

The human official silently accepted the letter.

The envoy did not wait long.

He turned around.

Then returned to his ship.

Moments later, the vessel rose into the sky and disappeared into the distance.

Those present remained staring at the sky.

The gathering of the Seven Supreme Races.

A gathering held once every hundred years.

One month from now.

At the highest mountain in the world.

For the first time since humanity's return to Gandalia...

Trade was no longer the only thing connecting humanity to the outside world.

An official message had now arrived from one of the Supreme Races.

But what would happen at that gathering...

No one knew.

Within the Sovereign Palace, the letter eventually reached Fafnir.

He read it calmly.

His expression did not change.

Yet he remained silent for several moments, his eyes fixed upon the final words.

Then he closed the letter.

He raised his gaze toward the sky.

There was one full month before the gathering of the Seven Supreme Races.

And only one month...

before humanity would once again come face-to-face with the powers of the world that had pushed it to the margins thousands of years ago.