When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 745 - 701 "Flies of a Thousand Valleys Collecting Honey

Between the azure sky and the deep blue sea, alabaster cloud mountains accumulate. Seagulls circle above the cloud mountains, landing amidst the masts, emitting a wailing cry.

The fishy-smelling sea breeze blows past the jagged stones of the coast, sweeps over the barnacle-covered hulls of ships, and the passersby hurriedly hold onto their felt hats, gazing out at the boundless sea.

Unfortunately, at the Dam City port, the citizens cannot witness the beautiful scenery of where the sky meets the sea; what they can see is only the dense forest of long sails slowly moving.

This is the origin of Dam City's title as the "City of Sails". Located at the mouth of the Nao'an River in Windmill Land, Dam City boasts an extremely excellent deep-water port that can accommodate over two thousand large and small sailing ships, with seven to eight thousand merchants coming and going daily.

At this moment, at least a thousand large and small merchant ships are queued along the coast, laborers in summer vests during winter, shouting chants as they carry wooden boxes one by one.

Vampires or Blood Slaves wearing hooded black robes in broad daylight, El people with fake ears holding their heads high, dwarves drunkenly sleeping under eaves, and even centaur gangs entrenched at the street corners can be seen.

The merchants bring grains, silk, tea leaves, and precious metals from the Blood and Flesh Royal Court in the west, and take away the woolen goods from River Island, wine from Dawn Island, high-end furniture and crafts from Windmill Land, gilded items from Codfish Castle, bone china from Flower Hill, and glass from the White Sand Land.

This unique trait has made Dam City the center of overseas trade for the Leia Kingdom today.

The Leia Royal Family can siphon off at least 200,000 gold pounds from Windmill Land annually, which is an important financial source for the Royal Family, yet compared to the wealth of Windmill Land as a whole, this number is somewhat small.

Because although Windmill Land nominally belongs to Leia, the Leia people's hands can hardly stretch into it.

After the Battle of Windmill Land, to relieve financial pressure, the former king had no choice but to entrust Windmill Land to the Imperial Council in hopes of obtaining enough loans from the bankers and oligarchs of Windmill Land.

If the Falan lost face in the Battle of Windmill Land and the Leia lost dignity, then the Windmill Land people were the double winners — they won big both ways.

The Falan did not reclaim the territories illegally occupied by the Leia during the Hundred Years' War, and although the Leia preserved their only good port for seafaring, they lost control over Windmill Land.

Amidst strange political games, Windmill Land inexplicably gained the autonomy that the Thousand River Valley People had gained only through sacrificing their heads and blood.

In five to sixty years, the number of towns in Windmill Land exploded from about a hundred to nearly three hundred, with merchants, citizens, and artisans from the entire Empire migrating to Windmill Land.

Such a prosperous commercial culture spawned a large citizen class, and tea restaurants that could not operate inland due to being too expensive were everywhere in Windmill Land.

Unlike farmers and artisans, merchants and citizens make their income by exploiting information gaps, so they need a place to exchange information.

In a tea restaurant at the corner of Hague Street, during this time of day meant for labor, one could see groups of citizens and scholars, lounging in the tea restaurant, chatting and debating.

This tea restaurant isn't large; its brick structure is covered with a layer of red-painted wood panels, and on one end against the wall, there is an L-shaped counter.

Unlike other taverns and restaurants of the time, the walls house neither shrines nor animal skins and deer heads. Instead, there are exquisite portraits and landscape paintings.

Sitting beneath a seascape painting, Miss Lupher, who has graduated from the River Island Royal University, was wearing crystal glasses and sorting through her manuscripts.

"...A friend recently went to the Thousand River Valley to purchase dyes and came back telling me that he was amazed in the Thousand River Valley—the flies there collect nectar!..."

"...The Holy Father didn't create flies for them to be born dirty; it's the filthy and awful environment that made them as they are. The citizens of the Thousand River Valley not only maintain cleanliness but actively sweep away trash and dirt..."

"...From towns to villages, from valleys to riverbanks, everywhere you look are vibrant flowers and grass like green carpets..."

"...In such a clean environment, to survive, flies naturally began to change, no longer chasing after filth but, like bees, pollinating crops and flowers..."

Lupher removed her glasses, rubbed her sore neck, and raised her head from the sea of densely written text.

She picked up the cool black tea on the table, took a sip, and only then exhaled a deep breath.

After half a year of training, the editors and reporters at this Dam City newspaper finally are somewhat on track, capable of producing articles and reports that are decent.

Sitting in the corner of the tea restaurant, Lupher glanced around, and approximately half the people in the tea restaurant were reading a copy of "Art Forest". Every time she saw such a scene, her originally lazy thoughts diminished considerably.

Since "Art Forest" was launched at the beginning of the year until now, this weekly, and sometimes twice-weekly, newspaper had already taken Windmill Land's towns and cities by storm.

Initially, people of Windmill Land thought that the Lakin Family's eldest daughter was just bored and made a booklet for fun.

Apart from reprinting some articles from "The Truth", the booklet featured news about the Empire's various lords, solicitations from a few scholarly brothers, and published some sour poems and little jokes.

Although the first few issues of "Art Forest" were released frequently, they remained lukewarm, garnering attention mainly through the "Church Jokes" that attracted a loyal following.

In the end, to clear the inventory and make space, Lupher had no choice but to give away "Art Forest" for free.

Her older brother, Fleming, took a five-day boat trip to Dam City, said to Lupher, "Just get the next issue out soon, the home's bathroom ran out of paper again," then he left by boat.

Miss Lupher was so upset that she couldn't eat for several days, losing four to five pounds, and even started doubting if the newspaper was being run too foolishly?

But this situation saw a huge change after the outbreak of the Black Snake Bay War.

Since the Black Snake Bay War was crucial to the significant spice trade, shipowners and citizens of Windmill Land were quite anxious about the progress of the war.

And among the multitude of swirling rumors, "Irlin" reported on the Black Snake Bay War with the most accuracy and timeliness, attracting a considerable number of readers.

After all, "Irlin" had exclusive news channels in the Thousand River Valley—Lupher's several senior monk friends, including Fuchev, Armand, and Leonardo.

At the same time, the "Irlin" newspaper and the Black Snake Bay War brought Horn and the Holy Alliance back into the public eye.

In the towns of Windmill Land, scholars began researching the "Thousand River Valley Freedom Charter," while knights were scrambling to buy discarded holy guns and spring cannons at high prices, but citizens were most concerned about spice prices.

This logical chain was simple: the war was initiated by peasant rebels, so it must lead to destruction, destruction inevitably results in reduced production, spices and sugar would be reduced, so stocking up in advance can bring high prices.

Thus, a large number of citizens began frantically stockpiling spices and black sugar, some even borrowing money to do so, with bankers and commercial nobles fueling the fire by shouting, "Spice prices will surely rise in the autumn."

Only "Irlin" published an anonymous report in the newspaper, not only accurately informing about the war situation and the state of Black Snake Bay but also urging many citizens not to stockpile, as the Holy Alliance was not such ignorant rebels.

The ultimate result, naturally, was spice ships arriving in port as scheduled in September, with more spices flooding the market than ever.

Those who had stockpiled spices lost their shirts.

Conversely, the citizens who bought "Irlin" experienced no issues, and some even made a profit by short selling.

After this campaign, "Irlin" achieved great fame, those booklets once used to prop up table legs were back on the desktop, becoming must-reads for the citizens.

This reading was remarkable—novel conversational articles, amusing church jokes, thrilling Thousand River Valley theological debates, advanced "Thousand River Valley Charter" and city construction...

In an era full of rumors and unreliable news, "Irlin" learned from the advanced concepts of "Truth Newspaper," instantly making it the most accurate and timely source of news at the time.

The renowned scholar and Chief Justice, Master Quivarin, even personally reviewed this newspaper as "rational, neutral, objective," although Master Quivarin's review of this newspaper was purely coincidental and had nothing to do with the fact that its editor was his student.

In those days, "Irlin" sold insanely well, with daily reprints—printing one batch and selling one batch—Lupher even managed to recover the initial losses.

With "Irlin's" popularity, scholars even found that publishing an article in "Irlin" was more effective than ten street speeches, and certain art critics could cause a new artist's work to sell out with just one comment on the newspaper.

Merchants were amazed to discover that the information collected and analyzed in "Irlin" was superior to what they purchased at great expense, not to mention the profits brought in by advertising merchants and shipowners.

Lupher's father, who was previously urging her to marry back home, even wrote her a letter himself, simply saying, "You did the right thing, absolutely right!"

"Irlin" was not just a simple newspaper, it also hid the potential of being a mouthpiece of public opinion, which was what the Lakin Clan valued.

However, she was now also facing a huge problem with the emergence of numerous counterfeit newspapers.

After all, printing newspapers did not require much technical content, yet could firmly control the direction of public opinion, naturally attracting attention from a lot of citizens and commercial nobles.

These tabloids, though not as good as "Irlin," were cheaper and dared to fabricate stories.

Due to "Irlin" publishing too many "Thousand River Valley myths," they continued attacking Lupher, accusing her of being a Thousand River Valley spy.

Adding targeting from some local city oligarchs in Windmill Land, even the fact that Lupher was the eldest daughter of the Lakin Clan left her a bit overwhelmed.

She had just finished organizing a special report on the Black Snake Bay War and was preparing to take a short break when the door of the tea room suddenly opened.

While Lupher continued reviewing her manuscript, a young student dressed simply but with an urgent demeanor walked in, scanned the area, and upon seeing Lupher, quickly approached.

"Miss Lupher..." the newspaper employee lowered his voice, "it's the new issue of the 'Truth Newspaper' and an envoy sent from the Holy Alliance."

Lupher's brow furrowed slightly, she took a deep breath and handed the manuscript in her hand to the employee: "Okay, I understand."

After adjusting her collar, she walked out of the tea room, crossed the crowded wooden stairs, and arrived at the meeting room on the second floor of the newspaper office opposite the tea room.

A man dressed in dark robes stood outside the door, his wrist hidden in his cloak, his triangle eyes unblinkingly staring at the surroundings.

Lupher politely nodded towards him and pushed open the door.

"Armand?!"