Mholt demanded tribute because he mistook a headline for leverage. The arithmetic is public: Bugoslavia is richer, broader, and already armed enough to make extortion expensive. I will not pay a republic for the privilege of being threatened by it.
So the answer is no. No quarter of the treasury. No panic tax. No theatrical surrender. I have armed the arsenal further, kept the books investable, and left the border open to labor and capital rather than fear. If YAMListan wants coin, it can earn it in trade like everyone else.
- Sabine Draal, The Iron Tithe