Draiss listened to the complaints, swirling the drink in its glass, before walking over to the bookcases that lined the walls, and after a moment of looking, pulled out a scroll, and spread it on the table. After a few moments, his servant returned with a newer map, and he could immediately see the problem, just from the two maps. The cities that they represented were in some cases not even on the maps anymore, while others were drawn far smaller than they should be. After a moment of considering, he had the lists of merchants coming through the portals brought up, and after a half hour of skimming those, he had an idea. It would kill a bit of his income, as merchants would likely go back to their previous routes, but he didn't mind, the town was easily in the top three most lucrative areas of the nation, and likely the top ten of the plane, just from Draiss' careful managing of the valley.<br/><br/>The idea that he proposed was that the towns would send a bit of tribute to here, common food stuffs, in exchange for him raising the prices of travelling merchants using his teleport circle that were just short cutting. He had to carefully word the proposal to include merchants that stopped for less than a week of trading in his town before heading out, but merchants that were going between his valley and the town would still get the flexible pricing. The total charge to the short cutting would be 1 gold per head plus 2 gold per cart, and merchants would be warned that price dodging would end up with them paying the total price next time they came through, as well as the price again as a fine. If they tried to do it again, they would be arrested and sent back through the portal, and their names given to the mages with the request to not allow them through. He looked up, and gave the protested a steady look, once the wording was finalized. "However, I am going to be very unhappy if that tribute for this decree stops. All of you will sink or swim by all of your actions. Your complaint is legitimate, but if one of you stops sending it, you will all be warned, and if the tribute falls behind enough, I will drop this decree, and you will be on your own. If you agree to this, sign the decree. And all of you will, or it will not go into effect. Tribute is to be delivered at harvests, and common food stuffs please, equaling... say... five percent of your harvest."<br/><br/>Once it was signed, he had a copy run up for all of the individuals to be taken back, and he said that the merchants would be warned over the next month before the actual price change went into effect. That done, he had the decree taken to the guard captain in charge of the guard that logged and accounted for everyone going through the teleportation circle, so he would be able to start spreading the word about the upcoming price change. That done, he leaned back, and enjoyed the quiet, wondering what the next emergency would be.