Kael received the Duke's economic warfare—the Coastal Blockade and the 200% Excise Tax—not with outrage, but with the cold, scientific focus of a man analyzing a flawed machine. The Duke's tactic was aimed at breaking the core trade loop by turning Kael's exports unprofitable and halting his imports. Kael's counter-strategy had to be purely technical, exploiting loopholes in the tax classification and immediately creating a domestic defense against the inevitable import shortage.
The first critical task was defending the existing inventory. Kael ordered Hektor to immediately cease production of all long-term components at the Iron Works. Every remaining ounce of high-grade coastal iron—the barony's most valuable material asset—was to be converted into universal, standardized components: ten thousand nails, thousands of fasteners, hinges, and standardized replacement tool heads for scythes and shovels. Hektor, utilizing the optimized heat of the new Kiln and the efficiency of the Iron Works, drove the Core team through a relentless, two-week surge of production, maximizing the utility of the existing iron before the expected total cessation of imports. The components were meticulously logged by Elms and sealed in dry, labeled casks within the granary, ensuring that the barony possessed enough spare parts to maintain its industrial equipment for the next two years, regardless of the duration of the blockade.
Concurrently, Kael initiated the Salt Reclamation Project—a defense against the blockade of critical imports. He assigned a small, specialized team from the Contingent labor group to the project, utilizing the waste heat from the Kiln's chimney. Kael directed them to construct shallow, dark evaporating trays near the Kiln, using salvaged sheet metal and refractory brick. The team was tasked with mining low-salinity clay and utilizing the Kiln's continuous, waste thermal energy to slowly evaporate water from local, slightly saline river sources. Kael understood this output would be minimal—a small fraction of the volume lost from the blockade—but it was essential to maintain the minimal physiological requirement for the 300 citizens and to preserve the existing tuber mash, which relied on salt for fermentation stability. This project, though small, represented the barony's self-reliance: generating necessary resources through calculated utilization of waste energy.
The greatest logistical challenge was the 200% Export Tax. The Duke's legislation targeted "non-essential frontier goods" like "fuel" and "flour." Kael initiated the Refractory Solution, a technical pivot designed to nullify the tax by changing the product's classification. Kael ordered the production team to significantly alter the mixture ratio for the briquettes destined for export.
The new product was the "Industrial Refractory Block." Kael instructed them to decrease the flammable organic content and dramatically increase the percentage of purified silt and clay binders. The Kiln was then utilized to fire these blocks at a sustained, higher temperature than was necessary for simple fuel. . The resulting product was denser, heavier, and less volatile as fuel, but it possessed superior insulation properties and durability, making it perfect for lining the furnaces, kilns, and smelters used in the capital's manufacturing district. Kael provided Elms with detailed documentation, classifying the export not as "frontier fuel" but as a specialized "manufactured, high-density industrial component" eligible for a different, significantly lower tax rate usually applied to processed building materials.
Kael sent a comprehensive report to Elara's house, not apologizing for the disaster, but presenting the technical counter-strategy and offering Elara an even more favorable long-term rate on the new "Refractory Blocks" to help offset the unavoidable cost of the revised tax classification. He provided certified data proving that the barony's systematic management and technical innovation—the very things the Duke was trying to destroy—made it the only reliable supplier of high-quality, high-density refractory materials in the region, even with the tax burden.
The immediate result was financial survival. Elara's house agreed to the new terms; the Refractory Blocks, despite the Duke's punitive tax, still generated a small profit margin, preserving the trade relationship and, more importantly, guaranteeing the continuation of the intelligence reports from Fennis. Kael had fought political manipulation with technical adaptation, transforming the Duke's legal weapon into a manageable operating cost. The stability of Ashfall, Kael calculated, would ultimately prove more valuable to the trading house than the Duke's political power. The barony had survived the first economic strike, but the reserves were now running low, and the internal logistical system was brittle, running at maximum sustained output.