"If they question my actions, then let them take a look at this." Before leaving, Solomon pulled out a thick stack of documents from who knows where, interspersed with some photos. Natasha Romanoff was very familiar with this type of document—she had personally written more mission reports than she could count. "I believe once they see these, they won't have a single objection to what I've done."
"What is this?"
"Mission reports on human trafficking crackdowns, and recent intelligence operations."
"You're allowed to get involved in this kind of thing?" Romanoff was a bit curious. "I remember you once said that unless the magical world or the mundane world faced an extinction-level event, Kamar-Taj wouldn't intervene. You used that same stance on previous missions."
"Kamar-Taj can't, but the Eternal City can. The law always has loopholes, and the Sorcerer Supreme doesn't mind me exploiting a few." Solomon opened one of the files. "This one is about the human trafficking network in Ukraine, which runs from Eastern Europe to the East Coast, finally docking in New York. The girls were tricked onto ships under the pretense of job offers—what happened next doesn't need to be guessed."
"How many of those girls ended up joining the Eternal City?"
"At least half. That's currently the largest recruitment source for the Sisterhood," said the arcane sorcerer. "Besides that, the Sisterhood is also targeting warlords and arms dealers in Africa, rescuing child soldiers. Although the methods are a bit brutal, for those who have been reduced to animals, violence is the most universally understood language. To conceal our activities, the Eternal City established many companies, which, under corporate names, set up education programs, handcrafted workshops, factories, and trained good people to become police officers. We built prisons and other infrastructure to address the problem at its root. For those child soldiers already tainted by blood, whips and books are the best educational tools. Only in this way will Western countries not realize that someone is interfering in Africa. They want Africa to stay poor forever. To me, that is unacceptable—it's a colossal waste of human resources."
What Solomon didn't mention was the extent of Wakanda's involvement in these projects.
When T'Challa learned about Solomon's plans, he was very supportive. Almost all infrastructure work was assigned to Wakandan engineering teams. Thanks to advanced equipment, the Eternal City's plans progressed smoothly on the ground. Because very few people paid attention to those areas, hardly any country truly knew what was going on. Even the local governments—if you could call those warlords-turned-politicians governments—only knew that some military force they couldn't afford to provoke had taken root in the area. Nothing beyond that.
Even if someone cared, as long as the Eternal City was present, Western media and human rights groups couldn't get in. After all, on a blood-soaked, war-torn African continent, a few hundred dead journalists wouldn't cause even the slightest ripple. Only truly kind-hearted idealists would be allowed in after thorough screening, and even then, only if they signed nondisclosure agreements and fully joined the Eternal City's development efforts.
That work was carried out by Wakanda's intelligence services, who were more than happy to do it—and very accustomed to it.
Of course, not all Wakandans supported the plan. Some believed that only by keeping Wakanda's surroundings—and indeed the entire African continent—poor and covered in forests and grasslands could the true face of Wakanda remain hidden. T'Challa harshly rebuked this mindset. Even though he wasn't king yet, his words carried great weight. King T'Chaka tacitly approved of T'Challa's actions. In a sense, Wakanda was merely Africa's lucky child. Without vibranium falling from the sky, Wakanda would be no different from any other African nation.
Wakandans owed a debt to the African continent, and that debt must be repaid.
Except for Solomon's proposal to form an army—which was rejected—everything else proceeded as planned.
Natasha Romanoff fully supported Solomon's initiatives. In her eyes, his actions were far more meaningful than those of the wealthy who simply donated to charitable foundations. After all, most of those donations were just tax write-offs, and the small portion that actually turned into food or clean water sent to those regions was akin to tossing scraps to animals in a zoo. They never gave the people what they truly needed. Even the scant supplies that reached the hands of the poor were merely to satisfy the donors' sense of mercy—to let the rich feel good about their charity while polishing their reputations in high society. That kind of white savior fairy tale was deeply nauseating. Compared to that self-indulgent approach, Solomon preferred to teach people how to live, to create an environment where survival was possible, and to equip them with reason and wisdom.
Whether through killing or saving, everything he did was to save more lives. His actions put into practice Kamar-Taj's creed of doing good. Though it was just a small social experiment, Solomon had done far more than nearly all others with equivalent wealth.
But Natasha still had her doubts. She didn't believe Solomon's actions wouldn't cause a butterfly effect around the world—especially since Africa produces a large quantity of minerals. Such drastic measures were sure to shock global markets. "Then why haven't diamond prices risen recently? They've actually been falling," she asked. "I noticed that some of the operation sites include diamond mines. There's no way those companies would pass up the chance to inflate diamond prices."
"Because I am the biggest diamond dealer on Earth, my dear. There are no diamond traders on other planets—just gems that can be synthesized artificially," the arcane sorcerer said with a smile. "I'm not worried about those diamond dealers ganging up on me. They don't have guns, and even if they did, they don't have as many as I do. These guys used to make it so expensive for me to get diamond dust for spellcasting—that's a personal grudge."
"What about gold, chromium, platinum, nickel, and other metal ores? Oil and gas? Even uranium? Those resources are incredibly stable in value. I don't believe that after you took over the mines, their prices wouldn't fluctuate. Yet, everything looks within a reasonable range."
"The Eternal City is just one piece of all my projects, Natasha. I have the means to absorb those resources and convert them into actual products. I just need to issue a currency for the Eternal City."
"You have nuclear weapons?" Natasha nearly choked on her tea. Solomon pulled her into his arms and gently patted her back until she calmed down.
She had originally thought that Solomon had merely established an armed group under Kamar-Taj to fight black magic—maybe equipped with second-hand tanks, second-hand Quinjet aircraft, and perhaps a second-hand helicarrier (which was technically newly manufactured). Possessing that kind of arsenal and maintaining it, plus funding an intelligence network, was already an extraordinary feat for a young man barely in his twenties (allegedly self-made).
Especially considering that the Eternal City was also conducting genetic modification research on super-soldiers, it was clear Solomon's technological capabilities were already more advanced than those of many countries.
But nuclear weapons—that was a whole other level. Natasha now suspected Solomon possessed global nuclear strike capability.
When faced with the question, Solomon acted rather shy. "Nuclear weapons are just conventional deterrents, Natasha," he said. "If you don't mind, change into something more comfortable—I'll take you to see my ship."
"I know you have a helicarrier. I've already seen it."
"Not the one in the water. The one in space."
(End of Chapter)
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