Chapter 396: Damn! Are You Using Cheats?

“How many? Say that again! I think I might have misheard just now.”

A few days later, Murphy looked at Miriam in front of him with utter astonishment in his office. The Crimson Regent also helplessly repeated:

“The village chief of Treasure Bay, Life Is Pretty Good, signed an investment agreement with several northern merchants who have some local connections, using displaced farmers from the Kafhoka region instead of money for investment. As of now, according to the contract between both parties, by the end of next month, the northerners need to transport at least 18,000 farmers into Transia in exchange for 10% shares of Treasure Bay.

This portion of shares will be held and managed by a newly established commercial company under the White Mountain faction.

Not just you, I couldn’t have imagined either that your warriors would somehow turn running a casino into a human trafficking operation. How much do they love doing this kind of thing? Professor Malcolm has been condemning this as uncivilized behavior, and we can fully imagine what cruel methods those merchants will employ to achieve their goals quickly.

And as Treasure Bay’s business grows larger in the future, I estimate similar incidents won’t be few.

Perhaps we should urge Lord Raven to quickly produce a legal code, even if it’s just transitional! This kind of loophole-exploiting chaos cannot keep happening again and again.”

“No, no, no, what I care about isn’t the methods they might use, I just really want to know how my warriors managed to do it?”

Murphy said in surprise:

“How did they convince the northern merchants to profit by selling their own people? Is Count Andrei’s friendship so important to them that they could harden their hearts to do something that crosses such a bottom line?

Aren’t they afraid of being held accountable by the Nordtov officials?

I think even if northern officials are corrupt, they wouldn’t allow their citizens to be sent abroad on such a large scale, right?”𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

“It seems you really know nothing about the northerners’ political system, my lord. You actually still hope that their system, which has already rotted to the deep end of the swamp, could respond to this kind of thing in time? Should I say you have confidence in the northerners?

Or should I say this aspect is indeed your weak point?”

Miriam shook her head and said:

“Their officials can’t possibly stop it. As long as the merchants bring up the name of Count of White Mountain’s attendant Vesta, they wouldn’t dare to have any opinions. Not to mention the title of the Wolf Queen’s only brother, just the Thorn Clan alone is not something ordinary officials can mess with.

You can’t ignore the terrifying political influence of the Thorn Clan in Nordtov, there’s a reason Lady Shani is called the ‘Uncrowned King of the Great Wilderness’.

Secondly, the Kafhoka region is newly occupied territory, Murphy.

Although the Wolf Queen wants to reform the country’s backward political system and dismantle the conservatives of other factions, you can’t ignore that those factions supporting the Wolf Queen are also part of the rentier class.

The Wolf Queen needs to enfeoff them new fertile lands to reward their loyalty, in exchange for more support within this system.

The fertile Kafhoka Plains have already been divided up under such decisions, and those nobles also have their own factions and subordinates, whose subordinates likewise need rewards.

After such layer upon layer of distribution, all the land has new owners, and the farmers who originally lived on the land naturally have to bear all the costs of what these fellows call ‘reform’.

In fact, I’ve been following the situation in the Kafhoka Plains through Bataxin Chamber of Commerce’s network of relationships, and I can only tell you that the situation there is more serious than you imagine.

Over the past 2 months, the Winter Wolf Legion from Fort Crimea has deployed 54 times, all to suppress small-scale rebellions.

The people there are beyond the question of whether they’re hungry or not, they simply can’t survive anymore.

That we can accept these displaced farmers in this way that doesn’t harm diplomatic relations between the two countries is a great thing for the officials in the Kafhoka region of the northerners, they even have to thank you for your ‘mercy’ during their nighttime revelries.”

“I am shocked.”

Murphy rubbed his brow as he sat back in his chair, saying:

“Even though I’ve lived in Transia for so many years, I still cannot understand the underlying logic of these things that happen in this land.

If my warriors knew about this, they would definitely howl and charge into the Kafhoka Plains to personally hang those bastards who oppress the common people one by one on lamp posts.

Ah, the Children of Order cannot turn a blind eye to such unspeakable chaos, when they enter a place of darkness and evil, turning everything upside down is the only justice and righteousness they can do.”

Miriam looked at Murphy.

The Crimson Regent once again sensed that unspoken anger in Murphy’s heart, it was this hidden anger that always made Murphy so different from other vampires.

His way of looking at this world was completely different from all Transians, if anything, Miriam felt Murphy was actually more like those otherworld warriors rather than a “local”.

The more she interacted with the warriors, the more certain Miriam became of this feeling.

Of course, she wasn’t stupid enough to say these words to his face. After Murphy remained silent for several seconds, the Regent continued:

“In any case, your warriors have once again accomplished a miracle that surprised everyone, the Administrative Department already has several proposals requesting to build more casinos similar to Treasure Bay in other parts of Transia.”

“No way!”

Murphy said sternly:

“Don’t even think about it! With the Black Plague approaching, doing such things that corrupt people’s hearts, are we afraid we’re not dying fast enough? Money really does move people’s hearts, making fools ignore the imminent threat right before their eyes just to clutch their coin purses tightly before falling into hell.

Miriam, discuss with Professor Malcolm again about finalizing the license matter.

I cannot tolerate facilities like casinos sprouting up all over Transia, especially the Blood Rat Gang’s side, we must watch them carefully, if they dare to reach out their paws, cut them off immediately!”

“That’s also the second thing I need to tell you, we now need tax officers.”

Miriam said:

“We are training our own tax officers, but they still have a long way to go before they mature, and now Treasure Bay’s instant success will definitely inspire other imitators.

Even without involving this dangerous field, tax laws for other business models also need to be put on the agenda. Your legal professional Mr. Raven has been organizing various customs in Transia.

He promised me that he could provide me with a temporary transitional code next month, but the vacancy of tax officers has already become a big problem.

I hope you can…”

“I understand.”

Murphy nodded and said:

“I will recruit as many professionals as possible, they will successively enter Transia next month.”

“Alright.”

Miriam breathed a sigh of relief.

But at the same time she also felt an indescribable shame.

She felt that she had treated Murphy and his warriors as a “cheat method” for solving all problems. When she and Professor Malcolm faced a difficult problem that couldn’t be solved, the otherworld warriors could always step forward like deus ex machina to solve all troubles.

Although they were indeed very useful, this mindset was not one an administrator should have!

Miriam, oh Miriam, you must work hard to improve your political and governance abilities, you can’t keep relying on others’ power!

You must know shame!

“Ding”

Just as Miriam was preparing to leave Murphy’s office, a light notification sound from the Governor’s core bead made him look down to scan the information that had just appeared.

Subsequently, Murphy’s expression became strange.

He looked at Miriam, hesitated for a moment, and said:

“Your senior has already set out, Lieutenant Frayzer, um, now Colonel, Colonel Frayzer leading the Goldflower Kingdom’s military observation group from Pioneer Fortress, they will lead the 25,000 border troops supported by Marshal Loren directly from Anderma Hills to the Baroness of Shadow’s domain and look for a garrison there.”

“You need not use such a strange tone.”

Miriam said with a straight face:

“I have no relationship with Lord Frayzer beyond what friends and partners should have, are you hoping I go to liaise? If possible, please change to someone else.

I don’t want to let the malicious rumors between us continue to spread.

Moreover, Colonel Frayzer’s fiancee Miss Becky is still in Transia.”

“No, this time you must go personally.”

Murphy sighed and explained:

“They will definitely discover the Blood Claw Clan hidden in Smuggler’s Woods when they reach the Baroness of Shadow’s domain, and Hog has just applied to us for safe asylum.

The Gnoll chieftain is also worried that he and his clan will be cleared out by the Goldflower Kingdom’s soldiers.

You must personally explain all this to Colonel Frayzer, and try your best to gain his understanding. From our previous interactions with him, Frayzer is a very orderly person, with his intelligence background he can fully understand what kind of role such a unique Gnoll clan can play for us during the Black Plague.

Additionally, I have already chosen an area as the perfect garrison location for the Goldflower expeditionary force, exactly what we discussed before, that territory at the intersection of Saxony, Transia and Foul Swamp.

It’s close to the transportation line between Lake Shulps and Genoa Peninsula, very convenient in all aspects.

Perhaps the Wolfsbane vampires will have objections, but the Carpe family heir is not something they can exploit, unless old Edward comes here personally.

Honestly.

I’m somewhat looking forward to that Ancient One’s appearance in the Saxony region, Tris and I both have many questions we want to ask him.”

Miriam fell silent.

Although Murphy’s reasons were very sufficient, leaving her unable to find points to refute, she could always sense that this guy had “ill intentions”.

Thinking carefully, the source of the rumors between her and Frayzer was still questionable, it might well be connected to this handsome vampire governor in front of her.

Just thinking about this made Miriam feel anger rising.

You and Tris suffer from rumors, so how can you make others get drenched after getting rained on yourself by lifting their umbrellas too? You’re going too far!

However, Miriam had no evidence, so she could only give up. After glaring at Murphy with a strange look, she turned and left the office. As the door closed, Murphy, who had been sitting properly in his chair, immediately revealed a strange and expectant smile.

Although he didn’t get to see the scene he wanted before of Miriam and Miss Becky fighting over a man, this time Miriam definitely couldn’t escape.

His own Crimson Regent works so hard, might as well give her a few days off to handle her “personal matters”.

With this thought, Murphy got up in high spirits planning to continue today’s sword practice with Necessary Evil. His Tomb Guard, Midnight Hunter and Wolf’s Kiss swordsmanship had all reached master level, and the remaining sword arts were also steadily improving.

Murphy felt that whether he could reach the Silver rank before the Black Plague arrived was uncertain, but he could definitely become the most powerful sword master in the Transia region!

However, just as he was about to leave the room, a prompt that Murphy hadn’t anticipated suddenly popped up on the semi-transparent character card before him:

【Subordinate administrative unit ‘Treasure Bay’ development level raised to ‘Stable’! The manpower feedback rate in this territory’s range increased to 2%! Currently this unit has a population of 841 people, available manpower feedback: 16 people.】

“???”

Murphy was shocked by this information.

It hasn’t even been 15 days since Life Is Pretty Good went there to be village chief, and the prosperity level has already changed from “Abandoned” to “Stable”?

This must be due to how prosperous that casino is!

If you add in the 18,000 farmers that Old Huo got for Transia through trading that “haven’t arrived yet”, the gains from this “unorthodox move” can no longer be described as just substantial.

Damn, do you little guys also have some strange system on you? Otherwise how do you explain why this development level would increase so fast!

“This guy is really talented! No, not just him.”

Murphy immediately changed his mind about going to practice swordsmanship, and instead wrapped himself up to quickly fly towards Treasure Bay village in the sunlight, he planned to see the development situation there with his own eyes.

And on the way he opened the territory interface to carefully check the five farms that had already been allocated. Although except for Treasure Bay, the development level of the other four farms was still “Abandoned”, but the territory information showed that the development levels in these four areas were all rising rapidly.

Especially Typal’s “Newbie Village”.

This village was only a little bit away from stepping into stability, Pink Cat Rabbit’s “Lion’s Pride” village followed closely behind, ranking fourth was the “Stonemason Guild” village established with Bricklayer as village chief.

The Scholar brothers’ Farm No. 4 “Phantom Island” was in the worst situation, but this was understandable.

Because the location of village number 4 was not very good, right at the foot of the only small mountain on the Kadman Plains, the roads there were not connected, so developing slowly was expected, but it was said that the Scholar brothers had already started mining exploration there, maybe they could give Murphy a little surprise.

Summarizing this situation made Murphy discover that his little players were really capable in their own ways, probably on some day next month, he would be able to harvest four villages with development levels of stable, plus the Torrent Fort stronghold that the Torrent Knights were about to establish.

Tsk tsk, he could finally achieve growth in player quota without relying on searching for wandering people everywhere.

This could also be considered as Transia’s management development finally getting on the right track, thinking about this journey really hasn’t been easy.

Murphy reflected thus, perhaps because his good mood made the burns caused by sunlight exposure seem to no longer be such a big problem, he spread his wings again in the air to accelerate, like a flying red line crossing the horizon quickly entering Baron of Leim’s domain, from far away he could already see the village at the bay of the Kadman River.

Spirit Vulture Revnor also flew over from afar and made a cawing sound, as if blaming Murphy for stealing its job, this kind of observation and surveillance should be handled by it.

But the Spirit Eagle didn’t understand the significance of this village’s development to Murphy, just as it couldn’t understand where Murphy’s greatest concern came from.

Looking down from above allowed the lord and governor to see more clearly, he could see carriages parking outside Treasure Bay village, some delivering things, some delivering people.

Large numbers of villagers were unloading goods under the direction of civil servants and pushing them on carts to the construction site by the river bay, the foundation for the second building had already been laid, obviously because business had been so good these past few days that Boss Huo, who had received investment, finally made up his mind to expand his business.

“I suddenly have an idea”

Murphy endured the bright sun watching the busy scene of Treasure Bay below from up high, this was a rare sight on Transian soil.

He narrowed his eyes, thinking to himself:

“This kind of prosperity brought by the entertainment industry cannot last, especially against the backdrop of the impending Black Plague, once war begins, even the most interesting entertainment becomes insignificant in the face of survival.

However, even soldiers in war need a place to relax and recuperate, after the Maginot Line is completed, the wounded will also need a rear area.

Isn’t this place just perfect?

I think even that stubborn dwarf Marshal Loren wouldn’t refuse to let soldiers fortunately survive after showing courage and making sacrifices, to recuperate in a good place.

He knows how much morale boost a stable rear area provides!

Right!

Following this line of thinking, I think I’ve found Transia’s second way to make money during wartime, field hospitals need to be established too, right here!

Hmm, next we need to recruit some medical talents, at least find some people who can perform surgeries.

Speaking of which, don’t Ah Yuen and Leading Pigeon’s schools also have medical schools?

What a great internship opportunity this is!

We definitely can’t miss this.”