This was part of the reason that Rui was somewhat inclined to get things done less aggressively and more patiently. Not only was there a lot at stake, but the difficulty of matters was higher as well.
"In that case, it's better to let things proceed more naturally, I guess," Kane replied.
"That is what I intend to do," Rui nodded. "At most, that will change at the very end when I'm confident I can exert more fine control."
For the next few weeks, he did not interfere with the exploration teams of Deacon Industries at all. The two sides minded their own business, or at least Rui did, the other side would loved to have gotten their hands on him for the juicy bounty that was on his head to this day.
At that time, both sides had begun to explore the very final sections of the Shionel Dungeon.
It had become increasingly clear to the entire world that this chapter in the story of the Shionel Confederation was soon coming to an end.
The response from the populace to this news was more mixed than Rui was expecting. Apparently, he had underestimated how many people were ready to move on, although the number was still lower than the number of people who reacted negatively to this news, it was quite surprising.
A ton of people had gotten sick of the chaos that it brought to the nation. The Shionel Confederation had always been a nation centered around commerce, but there was a limit to how much they could tolerate. The past half year had flooded the nation with such an absurd degree of immigration and competition in the market that many natives were simply unable to cope, and needed to end up leaving the nation. Those that could cope were entirely sick of the exacerbated conditions of the market.
The sheer increase in competitors made the market share that they usually had a claim on, had dwindled down significantly, while the cost of production had risen dramatically. Raw materials and supplies had become a lot harder to source, and the price of owning land, and the difficulty of maintaining even a spot for a stall had all become much more difficult than before.
On top of that, the consumer market had not shot up in balance to the increase in competition in the supplier market. The reason for that was that most of the consumers interested in the Shionel Dungeon's supplies bought from large-scale suppliers that could supply mass batches of supplies.
Corporations like Esosale Suppliers and Deacon Industries sucked up all of the prizes. Small-scale businesses and retailers suffered the most.
These were among the ones that were most relieved by the indications that the exploration of the Shionel Dungeon was coming to an end. I think you should take a look at
The ones whose livelihood and day-to-day life that wasn't negatively affected by the Shionel Dungeon were naturally in the camp that enjoyed the presence of the Shionel Dungeon in the nation and the exploration of it the most. Those that were positively affected by the Shionel Dungeon were also displeased by the news that the exploration of the dungeon was in its final stages.
Regardless, there was nothing that could be done about it regardless of how one felt about the matter. Nearly two years after its initial discovery, it was quite surreal to many people that this chapter in their lives was finally coming to an end.
The Shionel Confederation was unrecognizable from how it used to be. Even on a map, its sovereign borders had been thoroughly rearranged. The appearance of the dungeon had not strictly fit inside the prior borders of the state thus it had to officially annex certain parts of the territory that contained the Shionel Dungeon. These were previously within the domain of influence of the Shionel Confederation but never officially a part of the nation.
The GDP and GDP per capita of the nation had risen tremendously, and its economy had surpassed that of even the powerhouse nations in the general geopolitical vicinity of that section of the Panama Continent. It had become an economic powerhouse with the sheer amount of wealth and power that was pouring into the nation from the dungeon.
The concentration and density of the Martial Artist population had reached unprecedented heights. There was no other nation in the geopolitical vicinity that had such a high number of Martial Squires within such little area. None of them had ever experienced a state where there were more Martial Squires in the nation than there were Martial Apprentices!
It sounded like an absurd and laughable joke, but it was the actual reality, the Martial Squires in the nation had grown so numerous, they exceeded the Martial Apprentices. There were so many Martial Squires, that Martial Seniors and even Martial Masters were deployed across the entire nation, away from the Dungeon, to monitor the Martial Squires that had flowed into the Shionel Dungeon.
If left unchecked, they could potentially destroy an entire town before the Shionel martial Squires of the military or law enforcement even arrived.
The presence of higher Realm Martial Artists was one of the reasons that the shoving of such large numbers of Martial Squires into a single relatively small nation had not led to a large amount of conflict.
However, the influx of Martial Squires had now slowly begun to turn into an outflux in recent times when word of the twilight of the exploration saga of the Shionel Dungeon spread around. There was no point in showing up to a party that was about to end. Furthermore, the two giants of the Shionel Dungeon had already carved out the spaces of the Shionel Dungeon as their own, there was no room for Martial Squires who was not associated with either as dominating and monopolizing dungeon floors had increasingly become normalized.
As the significance of the Shionel Dungeon began to fade in the minds of the citizens of the Shionel Dungeon, another long-awaited event in the Shionel Confederation was going to arrive.
It was soon going to be time for the election of the next leader of the nation.