The 34th Lord of San Felipe

  In the Lord's office in Santa Fe, Lord Haigal was still at work. Some recent events had left him with a headache. First, the Iron Fist Army was destroyed by a demon, and then there was corruption on the economic front. The iron products in the city were almost unsellable, and some spider silk products were also in trouble.

  Everything is related to that demon, it almost monopolizes the weapon industry of Erland. The high-quality weapons and armor produced every day make the weapons of Saint Fee completely uncompetitive in comparison. The rare spider silk originally bought from Robito now flows out in large quantities from a place called Thunder Cliff, at a price so cheap that almost everyone can afford to buy it.

  Hegel looked at another blacksmith's letter of complaint, his face full of worry as he began to reply to this blacksmith on the verge of bankruptcy. He could say little, only advising him that the parliament was working hard to find a solution and asking him to hold on for a while. If he could just get through these difficult days, everything would be all right.

  He had written many useless words, and Hegel himself felt ashamed. But as the most enlightened person, he knew that the city council was completely without any intention, and could only quarrel or make some completely unreliable suggestions. If there were still troops in hand, perhaps they could still do something through war. But now it's completely hopeless, after all, the iron hammer has already been destroyed.

  "Have we lost even the last resort?" He thought of Ironfist Hagar with some sorrow, whose younger brother was one of the squad leaders.

  "Excuse me, is this the Lord's Hall?" A girl poked her head into the office and asked. This made Hager very surprised, it was already close to dawn now, how did this girl get into the castle that had already closed its doors?

  "Excuse me, miss, who are you? It's already late at night, how did you get in?" Hegel shifted his chair back a bit to make room for his large belly when he stood up.

  "Are you the lord of the city?" The girl didn't answer Haigler's words, but instead asked: "My master has some things he'd like to discuss with the lord of the city, so can you tell me if you are the lord of the city?"

  "I am." Hegel asked in puzzlement, "Who is your master? What brings you to find me?" Upon hearing Hegel's words, the girl's head retreated back outside the door. Before long, a tall figure pushed open the door and walked in. A large cloak enveloped him entirely, but from the limbs exposed outside, it was clear that the fellow before them was not human.

  "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hager." The newcomer removed the hood of his cloak, revealing a cow head with two horns and said: "I am Mo Yan, the master of Thunder Cliff. By the way, if you want to call the guards, forget it, I've already knocked them out, although my methods were a bit rough."

  "Are you here to kill me?" Haigler, who had just stood up excitedly, sat back down and said in a cold voice as he looked at the monster in front of him with a gaze that seemed to see right through it.

  "Kill you?" The Minotaur shook his head and said, "I'm not that kind of bloodthirsty guy, and killing you wouldn't do me any good either. In fact, it would have quite a few negative consequences."

  "What are you here for?" Upon hearing Mo Yan's words, although Hager's hand gripping the weapon under the table relaxed a bit, he still remained on guard against Mo Yan. Regardless of what the monster in front of him was here to do, it couldn't change its fundamental nature as a monster.

  "I've come to talk with you." Mo Yan pulled over a small table from the room, looked at Hegel inquiringly and sat down after getting a nod of confirmation. "You rejected my trade proposal, I'd like to come personally and talk with you, see if there's any room for maneuver."

  "Room for maneuver? After you've killed a thousand Ironfist warriors?" Haigal sneered, "Not to mention my personal wishes, do you think I'd agree if the Council would? There are children of many families in the city among the Ironfists, they won't cooperate with their enemies. And my brother is also among the Ironfists, so do you think I'd agree?"

  "I don't deny what I've done." Mo Yan smiled and said, "However, the downfall of Tie Huan is entirely your responsibility. If you hadn't come to conquer me for the sake of the city-state's interests, this could have been completely avoided."

  "This is the result of the parliamentary deliberation." Haig also showed some regret, saying: "We passed that decision by a majority vote, although I think it was a wrong decision, but there's no way to change the parliament. The thing has happened and can't be undone."

  When Kabinda started selling weapons and armor, a request for defense was proposed by the ironworker member of the city. After investigating the source of Kabinda's iron ore, a meeting was held in the city to vote on whether to subjugate the demons. Everyone understood that if they did so, they would inevitably offend Kabinda and hinder Saint Fee's proposals in the council chamber.

  However, the members of parliament did not expect Iron Hammer to be defeated by a monster, and there were no survivors who escaped. Saint Fey, who had originally only planned to lose one vote, was greatly shocked. After the residents of the city received the news of Iron Hammer's defeat, the parliament was even besieged for four or five days, with the people shouting for the parliament to give them an explanation.

  Why was the Ironfist Legion sent to such a distant place, and why did it perish in just a few days? Was it due to poor command or an error in the parliamentary resolution. To cover up their own failed resolution, the Santharian Parliament decided to propose the Karasu (All-Ellador Resolution) to the Council of Cities.

  That monster is a disaster that occurs once in a thousand years, and it takes the power of all Elen to eradicate it. The Saint Phi Council even used the summoning order that can only be used once a year, letting the representatives of all Elen gather in the council city for a short time to discuss how to deal with this matter. As expected, Cabinda was resentful and blocked the proposal of the council, which ultimately ended in failure.

  After finally calming down the people who had lost their loved ones, they then faced economic corruption from Thunderhead. The city of Santa Fe, which had just paid a large sum of condolence money, was powerless against such an economic attack and, due to the people's reasons, could not trade with Thunderhead, completely falling into a passive state. The financial situation in Santa Fe has become somewhat difficult. Merchants have also initiated several proposals in Congress, but they were all ultimately rejected.

  "There is actually a way." Mo Yan thought for a moment and said, "In this regard, it only needs to be guided by public opinion. The masses don't know much about what happened, they just heard rumors. Since a demon that can destroy the iron hammer has appeared, then handing over a demon's corpse would be fine."

  "Are you trying to deceive the people?" Haig said after hearing Mo Yan's words, "This won't do! Lies will eventually be exposed and only lead to greater anger among the people. Covering things up will only make matters worse, during my term I will not permit such a scandal!"

  "It won't be necessary to hide for long." Mo Yan continued to tempt, saying: "When the people taste the sweetness, they will automatically ignore this fact. And I'll also help spread the word, letting the whole of Eran know that the demon has been killed by Saint Fee. It's been so long since it happened, some details should have been forgotten by the people already?"

  Hearing Mo Yan's words, Haigell fell into a dilemma. As the lord of the city, he hoped to resolve the economic difficulties, but as an elder brother, he hated the demon in front of him. If it weren't for his long-term self-awareness as a politician that allowed him to calm down and listen to Mo Yan's words, he would have already taken out his weapon and fought the demon to the death.

  "But the benefits we get are too little." Hegel thought for a moment and said, "You have almost completely monopolized the market for weapons, and our spider silk is already unsalable. Just selling you agricultural products, the profit we get is too small. The blacksmiths in our city will not agree, even if we have no grudges."

  "Blacksmith, I can hire them to do the work for me." Mo Yan heard Hager's words and said: "The salary I offer will be more than what they usually get, of course, the method used is also taught by me, and a confidentiality agreement must be signed. And you are not without any advantage, San Francisco has a mineral that I need, I think you also know the kind of ore that attracts iron."

  "Magnets?" said Hagrid. "They're useless, and they'll damage our trowels. Some merchants make little trinkets out of that ore, but it doesn't sell well."

  "I'll make a reasonable offer to buy it." Mo Yan said, looking at Hegel who was gradually coming to an agreement: "You don't need to worry about the price, I can also handle the blacksmith and weaver's affairs. Now that the obstacles have been removed, we can both win and benefit mutually."

  "Yes." Haigal nodded and stood up, starting to unbutton his collar. "Now that official business is out of the way, let's take care of some personal matters." As he spoke, he pulled out a short sword from under the table, his angry eyes turning scarlet. Now that they had finished discussing official business, it was time to settle the score for his brother's murder!

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  Seeking recommendations, seeking collections

  Do politicians who separate public and private affairs really exist?