( Leo's POV )
The second major event that had taken place in Leo's life over the last two months, was the arrival of more and more refugees to his Barony, as the Demons kept making more and more gains along the Eastern Boundary.
As things stood, the demons were only one major town away from reaching his door-steps and had displaced several refugees along the way, who had flocked to Crest-Hill Barony after listening about their generous migrant friendly policies.
Over the past two months, the population of Berkshire Town had nearly doubled from 80,000 residents to 150,000 residents, officially crossing the 100,000 threshold needed to classify it as a major town.
With Berkshire Town now becoming a Major town, Leo could technically officially apply for the title of a Viscount, since to qualify as a Viscount one must have a major town under their administration alongside two smaller villages, which Leo already did.
However, Leo did not officially apply for a title upgrade, as Baron or Viscount did not matter all that much to him, since the soldiers cap was lifted during the war-time anyways allowing even a Baron like him to recruit as many soldiers as he wanted, which was the only real benefit in upgrading to a Viscount.
With more and more people joining his Barony, Leo found it easy to expand his workforce and his territory's defenses, as no matter how many people showed up, with his products list increasing, he could find employment for them all, with there also being new organic job openings appearing in his territory as it's prosperity increased.
Over the past two months, the construction of the wall around Berkshire Town was completed, transforming the town into a large, impregnable fortress for wartime.
With that project complete, Leo now further invested in anti-siege mechanisms, such as cannons and other weapons, to help his forces secure the perimeter during a demon invasion, as he progressively improved his territories security with time.
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In addition to the defensive improvements to his territory and the demographic shift, Leo also experienced astronomical gains as a merchant over the past two months.
The revenue from his deal with the White Tiger Group finally started to roll-in, and it was much higher than he initially expected.
His products were flying off the shelves, and in just the first month of sales, he made an astronomical sum of 1.7 million gold coins from his deal with the White Tiger Group, which was nearly 70% higher than his initial estimations.
In the second month, this revenue further increased from 1.7 million to 2 million gold coins, netting him a total of 3.7 million gold coins in just two months of trade, which was absolutely shocking.
This significant increase in revenue was primarily due to two major reasons, 1)wartime inflation and 2)Fast moving inventory.
As news of the demon invasion spread throughout the empire, the prices of all products rose sharply.
This allowed the White Tiger Group to raise their prices for Leo's products, thereby increasing Leo's profit share in the trade, however, with there being no substitutes to his products, and the demand for them still being high, the White Tiger Group increasing their prices did not affect the sales, with the product selling out every week, before the next week's consignment arrived.
Additionally, Leo secured new trade-deals with new merchant groups like the Black Tortoise Group, opening new avenues for his revenue.
Apart from the astronomical one time fee, the Black Tortoise Group found themselves in a unique situation where they could sell the product to the government in bulk, and were negotiating a contract for the same.
Apparently, someone in the government had taken interest in the 'Immortal Pill' and if the deal went through, the revenue was estimated at 11 million gold coins, netting Leo over 6 million when the deal was completed and the order would be delivered.
New sources of revenue seemed to fall into Leo's lap every week, as in terms of merchant clout, every major organization was constantly trying to get into his good graces, by gifting him expensive items which Leo quickly sold for cash, as he had no need for luxuries.
Looking at how Leo's products were a career maker and had given the Black Tortoise Group a new lifeline for their struggling business, the hype for Leo's next creation became even bigger, as the other major groups knew that if they failed in negotiating a deal, they would be doomed.
However, all that did not matter to Leo, who with all the extra cash, began to loan out some of his money to those in need, such as the Dark Sky Guild, and charged a percentage interest on his lending, for providing the service.
This effectively made him a private bank, as instead of letting the money he owned rot in an inventory, he loaned it out to make it grow.
According to Leo's estimation, if he continued to rake in money at this rate, he could very well become the wealthiest individual in the empire within a year or two, having enough money to disrupt the entire economy, which would complete his Actor Class mission for the same.
However, all that was for the distant future and did not matter right now, as for now, Leo had other goals in mind—visionary goals—which included toppling the Empire by supporting 'The Uprising'.
After some serious contemplation, Leo had finally decided to accept the invitation from the Uprising Guild to join their ranks.
However, his acceptance was not simple.
It was far more complicated than him just joining their ranks as a mere member, as before even considering joining their group, Leo decided to confront their leader, ChaosBringer, leading to one of the most legendary and amusing conversations within the game world of Terra Nova.
A conversation that was sure to shape the gaming landscape for years to come, as it saw one of the legendary hidden bosses of the game, come down begging on his knees.