The three of them—Aiven, Olivia, and Liweina—who had already returned to the Material World from "hell," were sitting around the tea table on the top floor of the Witchcraft Garden in Poseidya City.

Aiven casually placed the clay jar containing the "Spring of Sanctity" onto the table.

Jingle jingle jingle...

Above their heads, the phantom of the "Life Tree" that seemed to prop up the high vault of the sky swayed slightly, as if it had already entered resonance with the "Mysterious Source," and gradually began to ring with a crisp, pleasant chime.

In just the time it took Aiven to pour each of them a cup of black tea, the Mind Network had already projected a huge image across nearly half the sky.

Making them feel as if they were personally on the scene.

Wooo, wooo, wooo...

At this time, in the northeastern part of the New Continent, although it was still autumn, the cold wave originating from the "Eternal White Land" had long since begun to show its might.

In this region.

To the north was the Atlant Kingdom's colony, the Giant Horn Cape, which controlled the largest cod fishery in the entire Material World; to the south was the Sak Empire's colony, the Saint Lawrence Territory, with an area of 1.3 million square kilometers.

Bang! Bang! Bang!...

Right now, the border between the two colonies was shrouded in gunpowder smoke, the shouting and killing lasting all day long.

From the looks of it, this was definitely not ordinary border friction. The two army units had clearly gone all in, and the conflict had risen to the level of war.

"Kill! Drive those Atlant bastards into the sea!"

"Sak scum, the Potosi Silver Mine is ours!"

"..."

With Bess, the intelligence chief who had already reached Peak Official Wizard level, having compiled the intel for them in advance, Aiven and Liweina were startled to discover that the root cause of this mess still traced back to the two of them.

The two quickly took a sip of tea to calm their nerves, then exchanged a mutually approving look. Tsk, nicely done!

As early as three years ago, the Coinage Bill they had jointly pushed through had, in the form of law, confirmed that the Tulip Alliance would issue paper currency—the Gold Pound—under a gold-and-silver bimetallic standard.

This paper currency was issued and managed by the "Alliance Central Bank," jointly formed by the seven national central banks of the member states.

Among them, as the initiators and the economically strongest, the Galliot Duchy and the Phaletis Kingdom took turns serving as bank governor, changing every three years.

The main pattern on the front of the "Gold Pound" was a blooming tulip and seven Stars representing the seven countries of the Alliance, while the back bore the Church's Black Iron Cross Badge.

Because for paper currency, anti-counterfeiting is of paramount importance; if someone used a pile of waste paper to swap away real gold and silver, that would be the kind of situation that truly makes you want to cry.

Aiven and the others simply copied the Lowland Republic's homework and introduced the Goddess' power to endorse the paper currency.

The denominations of the Gold Pound were 5 pounds, 10 pounds, 20 pounds, 50 pounds, and 100 pounds, with other amounts still supplemented by copper fuer coins. For the sake of convenient transactions, a 30–Gold Pound banknote could be exchanged in the Tulip for one full-weight Golden Lion.

Given the current outstanding position of the Tulip Alliance in the world economic system.

Including the Lowland Republic and the Golden Palm Federation, not a single country dared pat its chest and claim it would never trade with Tulip. If you wanted to do business, you had to settle in Gold Pounds.

After three years of steady development. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The international "Gold Pound Settlement System" had already begun to take root.

It had also formed an international gold-and-silver bimetallic system centered on the Gold Pound and based on gold and silver.

By now, gold and silver were the primary international reserve assets of various countries, while the Gold Pound had become the principal international means of settlement. Precious metals and Gold Pounds had simultaneously become universally recognized international reserves.

In addition.

Officials from the Alliance's fiscal departments and financial elites were also tentatively trying to peg the "Gold Pound" to domestic bulk commodities.

The Tulip Alliance was simultaneously a major importer and exporter of bulk commodities, and a financial powerhouse closely tied to fluctuations in commodity prices.

They planned to peg the prices of iron ore, coal, refined steel, natural rubber, cotton, copper... as well as certain categories of grain to the Gold Pound, further increasing the Gold Pound's gold content and trustworthiness.

Especially the Galliot Duchy, which possessed the fertile, vast, and mineral-rich Northern New Continent.

During the three years since the start of the "Western Advance," the Midwestern Region had already been opened up to vast expanses of farmland, and various crops had yielded bumper harvests several times over.

Even wild bison, whose ferocity was second to none, had been turned into high-quality draft animals on the farms through the adjustments of the Life Tree School.

Subsequent projects, whether "steam power," "electric," or "internal-combustion machinery," had all been launched one after another. Agricultural mechanization would greatly boost the productive capacity of this land.

And there would be even more surplus available for export.

The financial elites had originally estimated that the "gold-and-silver standard" could be maintained for at least thirty years.

But with bulk commodities as a supplement, as long as the Alliance's military strength and economic strength remained in a dominant position, this international currency, the Gold Pound, could be sustained indefinitely.

Meanwhile, the "International Aid Plan" to expand their influence had been steadily advancing.

And it was this very plan that directly became the fuse for this war.

The Tulip Alliance, looking like a great philanthropist, was providing loans to many countries, of which 90% were interest-free and 10% low-interest.

But there was an attached condition: when using the aid funds, the recipient country had to purchase Tulip's products or services.

The Gold Pounds had not even left the country before they directly flowed back into their own pockets.

And then, things became simple.

Wherever the gold pound flows, prosperity appears; wherever the gold pound is withdrawn, decline follows.

Once the gold pound flows out, it doesn't just lie in other countries' banks earning interest, but goes out to make all kinds of investments.

After the Tulip Alliance releases gold pounds and goes on a global buying spree, the world economy naturally enters a boom cycle.

At that point, with the hard work of the working people of all nations, global asset prices naturally rise across the board, and after a few years of increase, those gold pounds that were sent out reap huge capital gains.

And once the Alliance Central Bank starts raising interest rates to recall the gold pounds, those previously released gold pounds will bring back enormous appreciation returns and flow back into Tulip.

A covert plundering operation is thus completed.

So yeah, there's no such thing as charity—it's all business.

By now, they no longer need to do anything extra.

Once the gold pound became a stable international currency, it has been harvesting the world's wealth at all times.

There's no need to repeat what happened in the "Tulip Bubble" days, brawling with the Lowlands bankers like street thugs with bayonets drawn.

They already possess the composure and confidence of the world's number one great power.

As people gradually saw the lethality of the Tulip Alliance's gold pound, bankers beat their chests and stomped their feet:

"If only I'd been born in Tulip!"

What they had racked their brains for yet could never attain, Tulip had achieved with ease.

That said, back to the point.

An international settlement currency cannot do without financial business backing it. Phaletis, which first completed the Steam Industrial Revolution and currently serves as the core of the entire Tulip Alliance, with its Royal Capital Bekele, has already become the world's financial center.

So, bankers and the financial industry are not completely barred from the Alliance countries, but they are subject to strict controls and absolutely forbidden to run rampant.

Moreover, based on the Alliance's ironclad defense of the livelihood sector, their banks will also be strictly limited in size, unable to form any real climate, and even less able to compete with the Alliance Central Bank.

Which is only natural.

Using an "international currency" to circulate worldwide is not some hidden conspiracy, and the logic behind it cannot be concealed from the smart people in other countries.

The world's major powers, including the Lowland Republic, the Golden Palm Federation, the Sak Empire, the Atlant Kingdom, the Heimar Kingdom, and so on, naturally are not willing to be harvested just like that.

To anchor an international currency, it has to be redeemable in gold and silver.

And getting hold of large amounts of real gold and silver has also become their necessary means to counter the gold pound's local harvest.

But Tulip, whose domains have expanded to cover the globe, has already gathered up most of the world's gold and silver—Northern New Continent fully under control, the Southern Continent's Land Gold Mine (Chapter 447), the Peacock Islands...

Thus, the Sak Empire and the Atlant Kingdom unwittingly turned their eyes toward... the Potosi Silver Island Chain.

This is the largest known silver mine in the world, with estimated reserves of twenty-five thousand tons, and is a jointly occupied zone of Tulip, Sak, and Atlant.

Back at the end of the "Silver War."

Under the witness of the Bishop-level Holy Professionals dispatched to the New Continent by the Eternal Flame Church, Iron Cross Church, Dawn Church, and Frost Church, the chief military officers of each nation drafted a provisional agreement.

The Hilus Empire exclusively held three-quarters of the Potosi Silver Mine, and the remaining quarter was shared equally among the other three parties.

After the Galliot Duchy's meteoric rise, due to complex property rights, it could not simply take over all of Hilus' legacy.

After several rounds of negotiations, the Galliot Duchy ultimately obtained half of the total mine shares, the remaining six Tulip countries shared another quarter, and the last quarter was granted to the Sak Empire and the Atlant Kingdom.

But in line with their now well-practiced "balancing-hand diplomatic doctrine"...

During the negotiations, the Alliance, which was in a dominant position, tossed that quarter share to them as a whole and simply told them to sort it out among themselves.

Thus planting the fuse for today's war between the two sides.

With its Southern Continent colonies already the largest in the world and its national strength booming, the Sak Empire naturally could not accept splitting the share evenly with Atlant.

Even before the birth of the "gold pound," they had been conspiring and clashing, both openly and covertly, over silver production.

Now, as the power of the international currency gradually emerges, Sak and Atlant can no longer hold back and have launched a struggle over the enormous interests of the Potosi Silver Island Chain!

"But something feels off! The intel says Atlant was the one who started the war, but their army is getting beaten like a bunch of brats. Initiating a provocation... like this?"

Watching the land battlefield, where the fighting time between the two sides wasn't long, yet Atlant was already clearly on the back foot, Aiven could plainly see that the outcome was decided.

"Didn't you say last time there might be one or even more Demon Gods descended upon Atlant? These inherently chaotic bastards, could they have..."

However, before Liweina could finish speaking—

Within the field of view of the Mind Network, on the broad ocean between the Potosi Silver Island Chain and the New Continent, where the two fleets were also locked in battle...

A colossal warship flying the Atlant military flag, which would look like a monster to humans of this era, suddenly materialized out of thin air.

"What's going on?!"

The instant they saw that warship, the three of them all changed color, sprang to their feet at the same time, and the clay jug sitting on the table was knocked over and fell, the "Spring of Sanctity" spilling all over the floor.

Rumble...

At the very moment it was stained by the spring water, the illusory, sky-covering Life Tree in the Witchcraft Garden stretched its branches and leaves and actually started shooting upwards again at high speed.

But the three of them no longer had the mind to care about this anomaly.