"I can answer your question now."
Shirahoshi looked at Makino with amusement, a faint smile appearing at the corner of her lips.
"What you said does make sense. Those nobles spend money on services and entertainment on the Red Line, and that money does eventually flow back to us. It returns to the hands of ordinary people on the Red Line."
"But the problem is that the people who actually become wealthy are the ordinary people of the Red Line. What does that have to do with your Goa Kingdom?"
"The larger your country's trade surplus, the more net labor your country exports. At the same time, it also means the more resources you give us for free."
"These resources can be the goods you manufacture, or they can be your manpower and material resources. It's precisely because the people of the member nations work so hard that the Red Line can maintain such a high standard of living. The average worker there earns more than 30,000 a month."
Makino could not really understand those economic terms, so she did not know how to argue against them.
She hesitated for a while before finally responding with something she did understand.
"Then do you mean this? The reason I only earn 4,000 a month is actually because the nobles and royal family are enjoying themselves? If they distributed that money to us instead, would our income reach the same level as the Red Line?"
"It's not just that. We have to start from the root of the issue. From the very beginning, the citizens of the member nations exist to serve the Red Line."
Shirahoshi smiled and shook her head.
"The existence of the World Government ensures free trade throughout the world. The World Government does not set prices by force. All prices are regulated by the market."
"Let's use the item you use most often as an example, a drinking glass. During these past ten years of rapid development, a medium-quality glass sells for around 300 Berries in your Goa Kingdom. That's about right, isn't it?"
"That's right. If you're buying in bulk, you can get them for 250 Berries each."
Makino might not understand other complicated theories, but she knew the price of a drinking glass very well.
"But that's only the price in Goa Kingdom and most member nations. On the Red Line, the wholesale price for the same glass is 400 Berries."
"That's so expensive?"
Makino stared in surprise.
She only earned 4,000 a month through hard work, so she was very sensitive to numbers like these.
One cup costing 150 Berries more meant that the price difference on fewer than thirty cups was equal to an entire month's work for her.
And even a small tavern needed at least a hundred glasses like that.
"Then do you know how much it actually costs to make one of those glasses?", Shirahoshi asked with a smile.
"If it's produced on a factory assembly line, the material cost is about 150 Berries, and labor costs about 5 Berries. The remaining difference is profit for the factory and distributors."
"But someone of your status pays attention to this kind of thing?"
Makino answered without hesitation. She had long memorized those figures.
After all, she had run a tavern for many years, and glasses were a daily necessity that got used constantly. She knew these prices inside and out.
But she knew those numbers because of her work. Shirahoshi was a noble born with every advantage. Why did she know so much about prices at the bottom level of society?
Makino could tell that Shirahoshi was not making things up. She genuinely understood how the economy worked.
"Compared to some places, the merchants in Goa Kingdom are still relatively kind. With the same material costs, some countries can force the total production cost of a glass down to 152 Berries," Shirahoshi said with a smile.
"The labor cost for making one glass is only 2 Berries? People are willing to work for such low pay?", Makino could hardly believe it.
"No. That 2 Berries is actually machine wear and operating costs. In some backward countries, workers don't even receive wages. At most, factory owners provide food and lodging. With food prices this low, how much is food and lodging really worth these days?", Shirahoshi explained with the same smile.
"Huh?"
Makino was completely stunned.
In Goa Kingdom factories, workers received 5 Berries for producing a glass. She had always thought that was terrible enough.
Productivity was not especially high. She had heard that ten qualified workers could only make about two hundred glasses a day.
That came out to roughly 100 Berries per person.
But she never imagined there were countries where workers were not paid at all.
"So really, the ordinary people on the Red Line should be thanking you. Without cheap labor like yours, they wouldn't be able to enjoy glasses that cost only 400 Berries," Shirahoshi added.
"Wait! Then why is it sold for 400 Berries on the Red Line? Is it because people there have more money, so merchants and factories deliberately raise the price? Or is there some huge transportation cost involved?", Makino asked curiously.
"After ten years of rapid development, cargo ships can now carry over ten thousand tons. There are nearly one hundred thousand merchant vessels operating on the seas around the world."
"With logistics at that scale, transportation costs are almost negligible. Shipping costs average around 10 to 20 Berries per kilogram of cargo. For a light glass, that's only about 2 to 5 Berries."
Shirahoshi casually listed a series of figures.
During her years as Minister of Finance for the World Government, she had not simply held a title in name only. She knew economic data and financial information better than almost anyone.
"Then if transportation is so cheap, why does the price increase so much...", Makino still did not understand.
"The extra 100 Berries is actually an import tax collected by the Red Line. In other words, every time you sell one glass to the Red Line, the World Government earns 100 Berries from it."
Shirahoshi smiled as she revealed the answer.
"Huh? Doesn't that mean you're exploiting the ordinary people on the Red Line too?"
Makino quickly noticed something wrong.
That extra 100 Berries tax was added for no reason, and it raised living costs for ordinary people on the Red Line.
"Not at all."
Shirahoshi smiled and shook her head.
"In economic theory, this is called internal wealth redistribution. The average income on the Red Line is extremely high, several times or even more than ten times higher than in your member nations. This small increase in the cost of a glass is insignificant to them."
"If our family bought those ordinary 300-Berries glasses from you at low prices and then monopolized sales on the Red Line, forcing the price up to 3,000 Berries, that kind of huge profit would be real exploitation."
"But under the current tax system, we're actually exploiting your cheap labor."
"Because if you look at the essence of the issue, labor costs on the Red Line are simply too high. If glasses were produced locally, labor alone would cost over 150 Berries per glass."
"That leads to an unavoidable result. If the Red Line produced its own glasses, the final selling price would definitely exceed 400 Berries."
"The reason those civilians on the Red Line can enjoy cheap 400-Berries glass cups today is, in the end, because the people of the member nations work so hard."
Shirahoshi maintained her smile.
"The way you're talking makes me want to kill all of you," Makino gritted her teeth in frustration.
At the beginning of this year, she clearly remembered the slogans being promoted throughout Goa Kingdom. They encouraged higher productivity, hard work to achieve prosperity, and selling more goods through lower profit margins and higher sales volume.
But according to Shirahoshi, the more goods people at the bottom produced and sold, the better the people on the Red Line lived.
Meanwhile, those who actually made the products received only tiny incomes.
In the end, they earned less than the World Government, which simply collected taxes.
"Oh right, I should add one more thing. All of that commercial tax revenue is ultimately spent by the World Government."
"We use the money to hire civilians on the Red Line, or simply distribute money and benefits directly to poor people there."
"In the end, that tax revenue flows back to the civilians of the Red Line through welfare programs, allowing them to continue living comfortable lives without worrying about food or clothing."
Shirahoshi smiled slightly.
"The way you describe it, the World Government sounds like some kind of saint saving people from suffering. Meanwhile, hardworking member nations like us sound less and less human."
Makino could not help complaining.
"Come on, don't get worked up. When someone's material life becomes endlessly abundant, external achievements and personal fulfillment become their greatest pursuit."
"That's true for me and most of my brothers and sisters. Personally managing a huge world and making it better through our own efforts is very interesting and gives a great sense of accomplishment. In fact, it can even become addictive."
When Shirahoshi spoke about this grand subject, her face immediately lit up.
"Do you really give money directly to civilians on the Red Line? I remember it was about two years ago. Dragon and Shanks discussed giving money to everyone."
"Shanks thought that if everyone received money, everyone would become wealthy. But Dragon believed that giving money to everyone would only cause prices to rise and make money worth less."
Makino hesitantly voiced her question.
She was actually interested in these large-scale topics. The problem was that she had never had any way to learn about them before. She could only gather bits and pieces by listening to conversations between Shanks and Dragon.
Back then, she saw herself as nothing more than an ordinary village woman with limited knowledge. She did not dare interrupt two important figures like them, afraid of exposing how little she knew.
But with Shirahoshi, she did not have those concerns.
After all, in front of someone from the ruling class like Shirahoshi, her ignorance and knowledge probably looked about the same.
Even heroes like Shanks and Dragon seemed as naive as children learning to speak when discussing economics in front of her.
"Hah! If giving people money doesn't work, then that only means your local people and government management systems have problems. What does that have to do with giving money itself?"
Shirahoshi laughed and curled her lip dismissively.
"If we gave the people of the Red Line one hundred million in welfare every year, would that affect your tiny income of 4,000 a month? Would it change the fact that your glasses only sell for 300 Berries each?"
"We are us, and you are you. No matter how much money we distribute on the Red Line, as long as the government maintains strict market controls and covers trade deficits, prices can remain stable."
"But if people have more money, they'll buy more things. If everyone starts buying like crazy, goods on the market will become scarce, and prices will naturally rise, right?", Makino replied uncertainly.
That was actually Dragon's original argument. At the time, they had been passionately debating an opinion from the World Economy News. She was only repeating it from memory.
"Then let me ask you something. If someone suddenly gave you one million right now, would you go buy two thousand useless glass cups? Would you buy one ton of grain you couldn't finish? Or would you buy a hundred kilograms of meat, eat one kilogram, and deliberately throw away another kilogram?"
Shirahoshi fired off a series of questions.
"Uh... probably not. If I had money, I'd buy some higher-quality daily necessities, or maybe try Sea King meat, which is usually very expensive."
"But by the same logic, if more wealthy people all started buying Sea King meat, wouldn't the price of Sea King meat increase a lot too?", Makino still seemed confused.
"It certainly would."
Shirahoshi answered as if it were obvious.
"But once people see Sea King meat prices soaring, poor people in the member nations will rush out to sea to hunt Sea Kings. Eventually, supply on the market will become excessive, and the price will fall back to where it started."
To help Makino better understand, Shirahoshi paused before continuing.
"From a broader perspective, as long as a country has stable income from outside sources, it doesn't really matter if it distributes money to all its citizens. The government could even support people so they wouldn't need to work."
"Because the circulation of money within an economy is essentially another form of distributing money. The core purpose is to keep money moving through the market."
"Giving money to ordinary citizens is better than letting it sit in a rusty treasury. It's also better than spending it on competing countries."
"And most importantly, because we have the extremely cheap labor resources of the member nations supporting us, we never have to worry about prices rising on the Red Line."
"Your vast lands, abundant resources, and cheap labor are more than enough to support the luxurious lives of billions of people on the Red Line."
"So in essence, it is the people of the member nations who are supporting the people of the Red Line one for one with their own sweat and labor."