Chapter 773: Chapter 429: May the Sun Shine Upon Gray Rock

The Black Iron Grand Assembly Hall was overcrowded, with five hundred hardwood chairs packed together, making it necessary to gauge each other’s expressions before even moving a shoulder.

The side door was pushed open at this moment.

Light slanted through the crack in the door, and Louis walked onto the stage, facing the rising morning light from outside the window.

He wore a dark cloak, without gilding or superfluous embellishments, fastened only by a simple insignia at the collar.

The morning light outlined his silhouette clearly as it fell upon his shoulders.

The previously scattered noise in the assembly hall naturally quieted down.

Louis stood firm, scanning the audience below, five hundred faces, almost pressed together, some young, some weary, some with sharp gazes, and some not completely adjusted yet...

He looked around, raised the corners of his mouth, showing a gentle smile: "It’s good for everyone to squeeze together. On the initial stormy nights in the Northern Territory, that’s how we huddled together to keep warm."

As he finished speaking, a few people in the front row subconsciously shifted their shoulders, as if the words had stirred their memories.

"A few years ago, the Northern Territory was a forbidden zone for life," Louis continued, his tone not intentionally raised, "The wind could blow people down, and the snow could bury bodies. But now there are steam-spewing factories, heated floors running hot, and schools where children learn."

He paused here, allowing the image to naturally form in people’s minds.

"Some say, it is Louis who brought this miracle." He shook his head, "No, they are wrong, it’s the miracle of Red Tide."

The moment his voice fell, the hall fell silent for a moment.

"This honor belongs to me, and to this banner," Louis raised his hand and pointed to the insignia behind him, "But more so... it belongs to everyone present, to every drop of sweat you have shed."

Pete felt a warmth in his chest, instinctively straightening his back.

Those around him did the same, sitting up straight as their eyes brightened, no longer leaning against the chair backs.

Even the most fatigued among them found it hard to deny that the efforts of the past years were not in vain.

Louis did not let this emotion ferment for long.

He shifted his tone slightly, speaking more lightly: "However, I’ve heard that the people of Gray Rock Province pity us."

Someone in the audience looked perplexed for a moment.

"They say, poor Northern People, living in a world of ice and snow, surely they gnaw tree bark every day."

As soon as he finished speaking, suppressed laughter began to emerge.

Louis didn’t stop them, just smiled faintly: "Tell me, is the winter of Red Tide cold?"

This sentence seemed to open the floodgate fully.

Uniform and confident laughter exploded in the hall.

"Cold?" A representative from the Craftsman’s Office half stood up, shouting loudly, "Sir, our heating is too hot that we have to open the windows at night!"

"Gnawing tree bark?" Another official chimed in, laughing and slapping his knee: "We’re tired of eating meat!"

The waves of laughter rose higher and higher, unintentionally coordinated, yet exceptionally harmonious.

A few old nobility officials sitting against the wall exchanged glances, their expressions subtle.

The laughter seemed to slap them directly in the face, burning hot.

The place they thought of as a wasteland was unexpectedly more affluent than the province they prided themselves on?

The superiority they had built up from childhood was, at this moment, reversed.

Listening, Pete found his previously tense shoulders relaxing at some point.

He saw that many Red Tide officials around him had expressions that also softened from tension.

In that laughter, there was a nostalgia for those difficult years, accompanied by a pride that no longer needed proving anything.

As the laughter gradually subsided, the smile on Louis’s face faded along with it.

He stood on the podium, with the morning light still streaming in through the high windows behind him, but his tone suddenly turned more solemn, with a bit of restrained empathy.

"But is this funny?" He paused for a moment, his gaze settling on those faces in the hall still not fully relaxed, "No. This is actually quite sad."

The assembly hall returned to a state of quiet.

"While we enjoy heating and hot meals in the Northern Territory, here, there are hundreds of thousands of Gray Rock Province people waiting to die in the mine pits."

Louis’s voice wasn’t loud, yet it carried weight, "They are neither lazy nor stupid, just told from birth that the world is inherently dark, hunger is God’s arrangement, and living is a matter of luck."

He didn’t raise his volume, yet allowed each word to land clearly: "This arrogance and ignorance are the true winter."

A brief silence spread through the hall.

Louis stepped forward, reaching out to the audience.

"We are here, not to conquer a territory, nor to snatch a few stones." His gaze swept across the faces of the rows of Red Tide officials, "We are here to bring the sun of Red Tide to this dark land.

To tell the people of Gray Rock that though the winter is cold, life can indeed be warm, and though fate is harsh, people can live with dignity."

He stopped here, not elaborating further.

"This is the mission of Red Tide!"

No one spoke in the hall.

The emotion that had just been burning was pressed into a heavier form in the hearts of everyone by these few words.

Louis quickly reined in the emotions, not letting the atmosphere descend further.

"Of course, saving people cannot rely on fervor alone," his tone shifted again, becoming calm, "All of you present have been tempered in the winds and snows of the Northern Territory."

He nodded, as if confirming a fact.

"You must adapt to local conditions, learn how to turn these wastes into food, understand how to turn stones into fortresses."