“Is he gone?”
“He’s gone, he’s gone. The Hero is gone.”
At the copper-clad red sandalwood gates of the City Lord’s mansion, several beautiful heads suddenly popped out from the gap between the doors.
They looked like a nest of ornate beast heads carved from jade and gold.
These were City Lord Rainer’s twenty-six concubines.
As the Hero’s chestnut-colored horse turned the corner, they collectively breathed a sigh of relief and began chattering away.
“Is that the Hero? I didn’t think he’d be so handsome… if only I could sneak a night with him…”
The mistresses giggled, their voices like the chirping of orioles — sweet and enticing as silk wrapped in honey.
“I heard he came for the refugees.”
“Oh? That’s so kind of him.”
“Truly worthy of being a Hero.”
Praise rose and fell until, a moment later, the City Lord’s wife walked over expressionless to announce an important notice.
Because sending off the Hero had exhausted too much of the City Lord’s savings, the household would have to tighten its belt from this day forward.
Monthly allowances, supplements, and spending on food and clothing were all to be reduced by 50%.
This was nothing less than a bolt from the blue.
The mistresses immediately looked as though they had lost their own parents, feeling their lives turn gray.
With their pockets suddenly so tight, what was the point of living?
As soon as the mistress of the house left, they gathered in small groups, grumbling and complaining.
Their resentful tones were as low as the screeching of black crows on distant branches.
“It turns out the Hero was snatching our gold coins…”
“This Hero is too wicked.”
“Exactly. Taking shiny money to give to those beggars… what a waste of resources.”
“Using our money to play the good guy while he takes all the credit — what kind of Hero is that? He’s nothing but a shameless scoundrel!”
There were a few gentler souls who tried to mediate and ease the atmosphere, but they were quickly shut down by the more acerbic and emotional mistresses.
“You shouldn’t say that. If the Hero didn’t distribute porridge for disaster relief, what if the refugees were forced into a rebellion…?”
“What if they rebelled? They’re nothing but ants. Master Rainer could put on his armor and kill hundreds of them without breaking a sweat.”
“But if too many people die, there won’t be anyone to farm our land…”
“What are you afraid of? Commoners breed like rabbits anyway. Having more of them die just clears the land for us. Once it’s in our hands, we can just buy slaves from other territories to do the farming.”
“Well…”
Human joys and sorrows are not shared.
Even that small spark of kindness could only go so far in its persuasion.
***
On the third floor of the mansion, City Lord Rainer looked down at his concubines.
He felt a bit troubled as well — he had managed to get rid of the Hero, but the financial “bleeding” this time was truly significant.
He was just about to call two mistresses upstairs to drink and vent his frustration when he suddenly noticed an elegant black crow landing on the windowsill.
Rainer froze, then rushed to open the window to welcome the crow inside.
The bird flew into the bedroom and immediately melted into a puddle of shadow; then, the shadow rose from the ground, gradually condensing into the silhouette of a young girl.
The girl had delicate but cold features and a noble aura.
Her black dress was ornate and mysterious, making her look more like a standard aristocrat than Rainer himself.
She pulled a black letter from her bosom, stamped with a Golden Iris Emblem.
Rainer hurriedly knelt to pay his respects.
“Greetings, Lady Envoy. May I ask what instructions Lady Zyra has for me?”
“My Master has an order,” the girl said in an indifferent tone.
“Regarding the natural disaster in the Thousand Rivers Territory, all regions must remain stationary. No pointless rescue efforts are to be conducted. Those who violate this do so at their own peril.”
“What???”
Rainer snapped his head up, his face turning pale with shock.
“W-Why? Lady Envoy, why must it be this way?” he asked hurriedly.
“My Master sent us specifically to explain it to you.”
The crow-girl’s face remained expressionless, like a lifeless doll.
“The reason is simple — the development of our Thousand Rivers Territory is too slow. This disaster is the perfect opportunity to speed things up. The more commoners die, the more vacant land we can reclaim to manage ourselves.”
“But if the commoners die… who will farm the land?”
Rainer’s eyelids twitched violently.
A single sentence was going to turn the Thousand Rivers Territory into a river of blood.
Even though he knew that the Lord had studied shadow magic for a long time and her personality had been eroded to the point of being extremely cold-hearted, a chill still ran down his spine.
“It’s simple. We buy Demons.”
“D-Demons…? Is that even possible?”
Rainer’s mouth hung open involuntarily, his pupils dilating.
‘Can Demons actually be used as agricultural slaves?’
It was true that the physical constitution of Demons far surpassed that of humans, and they were born with special racial magics.
In every aspect, they were like a “superior replacement” for humans.
However, Demons were far too troublesome.
Capturing even one Demon slave could turn a ten-mile radius upside down; the cost-effectiveness was completely negative.
Even the weakest and easiest to handle Succubus slave carried the risk of sucking every male in the vicinity dry.
The crow-girl remained silent for a moment before explaining with a strange smile, “Speaking of which, we have Demon King Ria to thank for this.
Through his own efforts, he forcibly hammered a sense of order into those chaotic creatures. At the very least, using the institutional legacy he left behind, it is no longer difficult to force those Demons to work.”
“My Master has calculated that if we clear out all the commoners in the Thousand Rivers Territory, reclaim all the land, and switch to Demon slaves for farming — and then replace all surplus grain fields with cash crops — the net income per acre will increase nine times.”
“Of course, we cannot directly purge the commoners. That would displease those useless officials in the Imperial Capital who do nothing but eat, which would be detrimental to our future. But we can find a middle ground.”
Rainer began to stutter.
Even though he wasn’t a good person, he felt this idea was too cruel and cold-blooded.
However… the phrase “net income per acre will increase nine times” scratched at his heart like a hook — after all, that was nine times the amount of gold!
His heart leaped, but it was suppressed by his remaining conscience.
“Lady Envoy.”
He cupped his hands in a respectful gesture and immediately began to shift the blame.
“To be honest with you, the Hero was just here. He forcibly took a large sum of gold coins from me and even seized command of the City Guard for the purpose of disaster relief. Regarding this…”
“The Hero?” The crow-girl frowned.
She hesitated for a moment before saying, “I will report this to my Master. Regardless, land reclamation and the replacement of labor with Demon slaves are crucial policies for the development of the Thousand Rivers Territory. Even a Hero must not interfere.”
“You are quite right.”
Rainer was respectful on the surface, but he was skeptical in his heart.
As for who was stronger between Lord Zyra and the Hero? He didn’t know, and he didn’t care — he couldn’t afford to offend either side anyway, so he would just try to please both as much as possible.
The girl transformed back into a black crow and flew away, leaving a few black feathers drifting slowly down.
Looking at the feathers, Rainer suddenly felt a wave of emotion, and a deep sense of exhaustion washed over him.
“Sigh, being an official is truly like treading on thin ice.”
He shook his head, clicked his tongue with a sigh, and then turned toward the garden to tease his concubines.
***
Meanwhile.
Jon, who was traveling between cities and organizing disaster relief using his authority as a Hero, suddenly found that his orders were no longer working as well.
Affairs that had been progressing smoothly were suddenly delayed by all sorts of strange and bizarre reasons, with no further follow-up.
Liya, who had experienced similar situations before, saw through the crux of the problem at a glance: the City Lords had regretted their decisions.
They were secretly sabotaging him, feigning compliance while acting in opposition.
But… why would they suddenly regret it?
Liya smoothed her skirt, her heart full of doubt.