A rather wealthy merchant of modest character was riding toward the city of Andora. He was not fat and dissolute, but on the contrary, intelligent, handsome, and business-like. He was transporting two wagonloads of the most expensive goods in this world—spices! Spices, just as on Earth during the early modern period, were extremely valuable commodities. The merchant's name was Albert Von Kaiser. His family were high aristocrats in the Aras Empire, but Albert had no desire to get involved in the political affairs of the nobility. He did not want to marry someone he did not love; he much preferred entrepreneurship and was contemplating the idea of creating a global trade network. In his two wagons, connected by a single trailer and pulled by five horses, were about 30 bags of spices and 15 bags of grain.
After receiving news of the rising prices for bread and grain in Oldenburg, Albert decided to sell his products in that kingdom. His company was quite popular and known for its quality goods... The company itself was called the knight of trade and entrepreneurship. The young merchant could already see the city of Andora and was preparing money to pay the customs duty of 5 silver coins, but he did not know that Andora no longer belonged to the kingdom, but to a new state: the First Galactic Empire.
He saw slightly damaged walls with cracks in them and a small queue of several wagons from other merchant companies that had decided to profit from trade in the city, which was flourishing from increased commerce. Albert saw a couple of merchants expressing their dissatisfaction, openly criticizing their "new" law on trade duties. Looking slightly to his right, he noticed strangely dressed guards holding some kind of odd spears; these spears were not pointed upward, so as not to injure the citizens, but were held at their sides. It must be their new equipment, nothing special, Albert thought. Then he saw a merchant refusing to hand over his goods and not allowing the guards to inspect his wagon for contraband and the like. A couple more guards arrived, twisted him strangely face down with his hands behind his back, and led him away at a 90-degree angle through some door, while his wagon was moved aside and the inspection of other wagons continued.
Twenty minutes later, it was Albert's turn. He drove his wagon up to the guards. They looked at him through strange helmets that completely hid their faces, but one guard spoke to Albert.
"Sir, your documents." Albert understood that he was being asked for his merchant's card and that they wanted to verify his identity. Many had tried to pass themselves off as Albert, but most cases ended with them being exposed and accused of fraud.
"Here you go," young Albert said, pulling the merchant card from his bag. The guard read the card and returned it to its owner.
"According to the new law on imperial customs, we are required to inspect your wagons for contraband and similar prohibited items, including slaves and exotic animals."
"Alright, you may proceed," Albert said with surprise, thinking to himself, "Is slavery forbidden here?"
In the world where Andrey had found himself, slavery existed. It was mainly applied to non-humans, beastmen, elves, demons, and similar races. One might recall the administrator of the Adventurers' Guild in Andora; she was a beastman but not a slave, because slavery did not extend to beastmen, elves, and so on who were employed by the guild, due to the guild's patronage and its influence over states.
"Sir, what is in your bags and boxes?" a guard interrupted Albert's thoughts. He turned and answered the clone.
"Ah… um, in the bags, I'm carrying grain and spices, and my personal belongings are in the boxes."
"Understood," the guard said, climbing down from the wagon. "Well, according to the law of our state, we take a portion of the goods as payment for the duty."
"A portion of the goods? You don't take money for entry into the city?" Albert asked, his face a mask of astonishment. He did not want to give up his goods to the guards at all! Each bag of spices had cost him 10 gold coins, and he had 30 such bags. He had paid a gigantic sum for these goods, and now he had to give away spices for free as a duty. Now Albert understood why the other merchant had been taken away; he hadn't wanted to part with his goods.
"And how much of my goods will you take?" Albert asked in an unwilling tone.
"Based on the quantity of your goods, we have counted approximately 45 bags of spices and grain, so we will take 5 bags of each type of product." That meant they would take 5 bags of spices and 5 bags of grain from Albert. Albert let out a low whistle at such a duty! To take 5 bags of spices was like robbing a medium-sized merchant of 50 gold coins, and throughout the world, 50 gold coins was the entire capital of most average merchants. He wasn't too upset about the grain, though, since he had bought it cheaply; where he came from, the Deidan Republic, there was plenty of wheat and bread for everyone to buy.
"And what happens to those who refuse to pay?" Albert asked the guard with interest.
"Those who refuse to comply and hand over a portion of their goods to pay the duty will not be allowed into the city, and they will have 50% of their goods confiscated, plus a fine of 5 gold coins." Albert nearly fainted from such a penalty for non-compliance. It was apparently designed specifically to easily seize expensive goods should they come across any. But he had to accept the terms, so he handed over a portion of his goods to pay the duty and was allowed into the city.
He rode on, observing the city, and found it a little strange to see slightly ruined houses, but the residents paid it no mind. The townspeople went about their business; some were trading or working somewhere, children ran among the adults, and everywhere people had smiles on their faces. A moment later, hearing strange clanking sounds from behind, he turned and saw a huge bipedal creature that seemed to be walking straight towards him. Albert tensed up in fear, waiting to be stepped on, but the monster simply stepped over him and continued on its way, flanked by patrolling guards. Albert was in a stupor from what he had seen and turned to look at the others to see their reaction to such a behemoth, but no one was even scared, as if it were a commonplace part of their daily lives.
Albert rode on, looking for a place to open his shop. As he searched, examining the city, he saw a building unknown to him with the sign "Bank." After a few minutes, he found a vacant shop in a rather good location with a lot of people. After setting up his goods and waiting for customers, he remembered the white creature with the long legs and decided to ask a local townsman about it.
"Hey, friend. Do you happen to know what that giant white thing is?" A bearded man in a gray shirt responded to his call.
"Hm? You mean the thing walking around the city now?"
"Yes, that's the one."
"Ah, so you're not from around here. Basically, it's a magical beast. It's controlled by the city guards and protects us from criminals. Thanks to them, our city is very safe; it's not even scary to walk the streets and alleys at night," the man in the shirt said with joy.
"Wow. And can you tell me why some of the houses here are half-destroyed and others aren't?"
"Ahem… Unfortunately, there was a war here recently, and it was the worst nightmare I could have ever lived through."
"Really? Could you tell me more about it?"
"I remember that attack on our city as if it were yesterday." The man began to tell his story of how he survived the most terrible hours of his life.
He had been simply walking home when he saw a huge army of 75,000 with Princess Janet, and they were guarding the walls. Martial law had been declared in the city, and a curfew was in effect at night. The man was returning home from work when he suddenly heard some rumbling sounds like distant thunder. Then he heard a whistling, and about 15 meters away from him, a young couple who was walking exploded, leaving nothing behind. He realized the city was under attack from the shouts of the knights defending the walls. The explosions were a true nightmare. Then the gate exploded and those same bipedal monsters entered. They killed and crushed the defending army. Princess Janet even managed to defeat one, but was instantly attacked by others, and the enemy army marched into the city to some kind of music of their own. He saw the marching white soldiers, who were now the city guards, and a man on a high pedestal in a black cloak, of whom only his chin and mouth could be seen. Then came giant monsters the size of the city wall and a giant five-wheeled vehicle. It was then announced that a new state had been created, called the First Galactic Empire.
Albert listened attentively and with interest. He was simply in shock from the man's words and understood that it was all true, as he himself had just seen those bipedal beasts. He realized that Andora was now a city-state called the First Galactic Empire. Apparently, the laws had changed, and an emperor now resided in the city.
"I see… what an ordeal you've managed to survive. My condolences."
"It's alright, I live alone anyway, and I was lucky my house is still intact. By the way, what are you selling?"
"I'm selling spices and grain right now. Would you like to buy some grain?"
"Yes, I need some! I'm a miller, and the mill received an order from the state to prepare flour."
"How much will you take?"
"Let's say two bags. I'm strong, I can carry them without a problem."
"That will be 2 silver coins."
"Here you go." The man handed him two pieces of paper, and Albert didn't understand what they were. The man, however, explained it to him. It turned out that in the city, you could now pay not only with coins but also with a special paper—a Credit Note. It could be exchanged at the building called the "Bank" to receive the amount written on the note.
Albert went to this very bank and saw a beautiful 19th-century interior. He watched as other people calmly exchanged paper money for coins and vice versa. Albert thought this was a rather good method for maintaining the economy and combating counterfeiters. A rather obvious problem existed in this world. Coins were not uniform and were made by hand, so most counterfeiters would shave off a piece of a coin and repeat this many times until a new coin was formed from all the shaved pieces, which contained much less gold, for example, but had the same face value. Counterfeiters worked mainly with coins and did not know how to make credit notes; or rather, they didn't know about them yet, as these notes only existed in Andora.
"Hello, how may I help you?" a young and beautiful woman greeted Albert. He hadn't expected it and turned sharply. "Ahem, forgive me. I assume this is your first time here and you don't know how everything works."
"Ah? No… I know everything. A local resident told me about your Cre… Cred… Credit Notes, that's it! I'd like to exchange them for two silver coins."
"Very well, please give them to me and sign the document, writing your first and last name." Albert did as the woman said and gave her his credit notes. A few minutes later, she returned and gave him 2 silver coins. Albert was curious as to who had invented such a thing.
"Thank you for using our state bank. By the way, I would also like to inform you that you can deposit your money in the bank for safekeeping. We wish you a pleasant day."
"Thank you." Albert turned and left the building. He wanted to establish a branch of his trading company here. Andora was a huge trading city that was very safe, and plus, there was a place to store money and withdraw it when needed.
From Andrey's perspective
Andrey was still sitting in his office, signing new decrees on the establishment of new state institutions. He needed young geniuses who would serve him for the good of the whole empire. The emperor was thinking about opening the first imperial state university, or at least a school to provide a minimum level of education to the citizens of his new country.
"System! Open the remote control panel!"
SFX the remote control panel opens
Andrey went to the factories tab and collected the money from there. He now had approximately 1.5 million credits in his account. Then he went to the barracks tab and began recruiting special soldiers: a Colonel and 100 ISB agents. Andrey had already constructed the building for the Imperial Security Bureau and he already needed his first personnel to counter espionage, terrorism, sabotage, and uncover conspiracies against the state authority. You might ask, how does Andrey know all this? He loved social studies, history, economics, and political science, and he enjoyed playing strategy games involving the development of his own state and technology. Therefore, he draws all this knowledge from his passions and hobbies.
A Sergeant stood in his office, holding folders with documents. Lord Vader had gone to the industrial military sector, where he would begin recruitment for the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps. A rather menial job for a Sith Lord like Vader, but he was sitting around with nothing to do anyway, so here was a task for him to build up the army. By the way, former knights who surrendered to us and served as police are beginning to join our ranks. Before we give them our equipment, they undergo thorough propaganda to increase their loyalty and prevent desertion. It was impossible to stop it completely, but we could simply increase their loyalty to us and strengthen them with physical training.
"Your Majesty, the people are slowly starting to get used to your new currency."
"Ah? Oh, that's wonderful news. I should have done this from the very beginning; there are so many problems because of counterfeiters… People constantly complained about the differences in coin weights. By the way, I need to invent a machine for minting coins of a uniform shape with a special mark that only the state would have."
"You mean a mechanism that could make coins with a special mark, so that if a piece of the coin were cut off, it would be noticeable?"
"Yes, exactly. Counterfeiters are a fairly serious problem. We have already announced a reward for anyone who turns them in. The result was staggering… In one day, we caught 50 counterfeiters. The punishment for them was an ironic execution: molten silver poured down their throats. A torturous and instructive death for others."
"Well, Your Majesty. I will try to find specialists who understand these matters."
"Sergeant, you are a soldier, not a minister. Your job is to command the clones and protect your country and me. I will handle such things myself. But your determination is commendable for a soldier like you, Sergeant. I believe you are worthy of a higher rank. I have personally seen your merits to the empire and to me. Your command abilities are quite high, so I am appointing you the 1st Major of the Grand Imperial Army. Also, for ease of communication, you will now be called Fox."
"Understood! Permission to leave?"
"Granted… I feel that tomorrow there will be victims again, and many more…"