Chapter 932 — Taking the Initiative
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
The argument below grew ever more heated, yet the speakers—however impassioned they appeared—still kept to propriety and order, expressing their views in accordance with parliamentary procedure. No one overstepped, no one disturbed the crown. Matilda merely sat quietly in the chair that was hers, watching it all with a face devoid of expression.
Until this stage was concluded, these people would likely keep arguing for quite some time.
They had already argued at length the day before.
To Matilda's eyes, this seemingly chaotic and clamorous scene was in fact perfectly clear. She could see that the old-line nobles had long since reached a tacit understanding, yet the minor nobles—who in former days ought likewise to have stood in the noble camp—were now vaguely aligned with the merchants. A coalition of the latter would have been unthinkable a few years ago, yet since last year similar situations had arisen more than once.
The reason was simple: the factories and emerging companies were amassing ever greater wealth and occupying ever greater influence, and the "new faction" among the minor and mid-tier nobles were the principal investors in these industries. They had long since bound themselves to the merchants by interest. The upper nobles, by contrast, still held vast traditional industries and fortunes, and controlled much of the infrastructure—which meant that although they had been a step slow to react to the new investment boom, they remained a formidable power not easily withstood.
These two forces had by now divided and occupied their territories with growing clarity. Every member of each kept a close eye on the other side's every move, guarding their own pockets, unwilling to let a single copper coin fall to the opposite camp.
The distribution of interests was more real than any allegiance.
Friction between the two forces had been mounting since last year, but because the fields in which each held the advantage overlapped little, that friction had remained mild—until recently, when it had suddenly grown so intense. This was because certain new technologies had abruptly broken the existing "rules," giving merchants and noble investors alike a sudden chance to get their hands on that infrastructure—and the old owners of those facilities had, understandably, reacted with considerable force.
Matilda very much wanted to yawn, but she restrained herself.
Today's debate would yield no result, but she could already foresee the outcome a few days hence: a compromise would emerge. The traditional relay towers would be preserved; those costly-to-maintain facilities would be retrofitted into carriers of the new technology; merchants and noble investors would be given an opportunity to buy in. Overall, however, the entire communications network would remain firmly in the grip of the old families and the Mages' Association.
Matilda could even be certain that the opportunities to invest in the relay tower retrofit would be released voluntarily by the old families and the Mages' Association. It looked like a sharing of the communications network's profits, yet it would make it difficult for the still-tenuously allied noble investors and merchants to maintain a unified and hardline stance. So long as a measure of dividend served as "appeasement," dissenting members would readily emerge within the new interest bloc; they would abandon the radical plan of rebuilding the entire communications network from scratch in exchange for steadier, safer returns—and that was precisely what the Mages' Association and the great nobles behind it wished to see.
Ultimately, the Mages' Association was not foolish, and the great nobles were even less so. They could of course see how much benefit a brand-new communications network would bring—they simply did not wish to see it fall into anyone else's hands first.
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