The fat mayor of the small town of Scotti, Benito Donrici, may not be very good at cooperating and accepting other people's opinions - and appearance - but this is just a sign of a higher level of civilization. One of the faces of the de Rossi nobles.
As one of the three existing empires in the world of Rigar, the current domestic politics of the Millennium Empire Padrosi are not easily understood by outsiders.
A concise and concise standard used by academics to distinguish between "kingdom" and "empire" is usually the system of "centralization." Compared with a kingdom, a dictatorial empire has greatly reduced the power of nobles in various places, and almost the entire country is governed by guided by the emperor's personal will.
If the emperor's ability is very outstanding, then the country will naturally prosper because of it. But if this emperor has an extremely thin sense of existence like the current emperor of the Padrosi Empire, he will hardly do anything meaningful. If so, then the situation will be like what we saw.
From the big lords in the provincial capital to the small local nobles, their priority is usually the interests of their own territory rather than the entire country.
The struggle for power is a tug-of-war. What nobles, large and small, are best at doing is finding every opportunity. Once the royal family shows signs of weakness, local power will expand. If there is no control and obstruction, it will lead to civil war. .
Even to the point of division.
The shrunken icon in Piazza della Scoti, which symbolizes the fall of theocracy, was built two hundred years ago. This should have sounded an alarm for Padrosi’s royal family. However, judging from Benito’s stubborn ideas, Se Kesiyutu Royal needs to do better.
But despite this, in all fairness, this overweight local nobleman can still be regarded as a promising mayor.
Although the town of Scotty was in mourning due to the sudden cold wave, at least on the surface, there were no signs of anyone freezing to death. The primary and secondary schools located just south of the central square, where students came and went, also proved that Benito's considerations in building the future of the town.
Yes, it is true that as the mayor he enjoys a far more generous life than ordinary civilians, and can still live a comfortable life when others are hungry and cold, but the townspeople have never raised a flag to attack him because of this. Judging from this point of view, Benito's enjoyment is worthy of his efforts.
So just like what he was saying: The affairs of the Scotti people still have to be handled by the Scotti people themselves. They are just outsiders who have been in this town for two or three days and enjoy the life security provided by the mayor. How do they get the qualifications to point fingers and ask him to do what they want.
Mercenaries should act like mercenaries and don't meddle in other people's business.
Henry and the others had no part in matters involving town management and troop dispatch, but that didn't mean that they would just stand by and watch.
There are countless things that can be done.
Then just do these things first.
The existence of the mercenary union in Scotti Town provided them with a way to solve these problems. Instead of only believing in the existence of the threat of earth dragons, it only made the guards more vigilant against the undead, and only the five of them met in person. The witch, who has no one else to prove it, is even less convinced. Unlike small town nobles like Benito, the mercenary union is a place where all kinds of desperadoes gather their blood.
Youdao often walks along the river without getting his shoes wet. The mercenaries who work with death have seen countless bizarre things, and the mercenary union that sells death receives countless reports every year.
The scary thing is that at least 90% of these reports are genuine.
As blue-label mercenaries, Mira and Henry also have a certain status within the union. Coupled with their excellent equipment and refined appearance, the report submitted by them is even more convincing.
Going to the union branch to report this matter was the result of careful consideration. Although they really had no other alternative, once the information about an earth dragon or a witch is too serious, it will inevitably spread. It can lead to chaos and widespread panic before adequate preparations are made.
The practice of opacity and hiding may appear to the public as the pedantry and stupidity of those in power who only know how to cover up everything, and in some cases this is indeed the case.
But more often than not, this kind of opacity of information is used to control the situation.
Most people's first reaction when certain problems occur is to flee or blame others. If these guys take the initiative in Scotti Town before making various preparations, they will not be able to wait until the real crisis arrives. Everything will fall apart.
Most people in the leadership class understand this truth. Although Henry and Mira still believe that people are inherently good, they still have to guard against some idiots who are afraid that the world will not be chaotic and want to make a mess.
So they reported this matter directly to the top management of the union, and thankfully, the local top man was a very capable middle-aged man. He immediately wrote a letter and reported it to the branch in a nearby larger city, and also used mercenaries. Some of the union's contacts began to contact local lords and religious groups with fighting capabilities.
Unlike Benito, the mercenary union responded quickly.
However, what they can do is actually extremely limited.
The inaction of the fat mayor Benito after learning all this is related to the disrepair of the ancient road in the Bao Forest. It is not difficult for us to deduce one or two things.
Contrary to Avenella on the west coast, the Padrosi Empire became poorer as it went south. The imperial capital of this Eastern empire was built in the central and northern regions, so the center of power was naturally closer to the north. The climate of the wetlands in the south is not very pleasant, coupled with a series of small Lamanite countries on the east coast that have always been in friction with them, and highland minorities who appear to be submissive but are actually unruly, the empire uses the Bao Forest as its border. The South is almost as poor and backward as the West Coast.
Starting from Parnila and going south, there are indeed many small towns in the northern part of the Bao Forest, but at the southern exit there is only Scotti.
And even though the population has exceeded 1,000, compared with Laman towns of the same size in other places, Scotti is still a type that cannot be supported in all aspects.
The more promising emperors in the past also tried to improve the development situation in the south, so roads were built smoothly. However, due to maintenance costs and the fact that there is a lack of market here, in the end, even people in Scoti, unless they are really poor, usually take a ferry in the port city of Pavinzio further south instead of walking by road. .
There are no hotels or inns along the way, there are no human villages, and there are forests where wild beasts and even monsters run rampant. Compared to the fast and calm ferry near the sea, it only costs a small amount of money. It is safe, convenient and efficient. There is great protection in this regard.
The words return to their original place.
Minor frictions continued in the southern region, but no large-scale war broke out. Although there is a garrison, logistical supplies are basically solved by merchants when shipping is available.
Except for the taverns and camp prostitutes that provided entertainment for the soldiers, there was almost no room for ordinary people to find work. Due to the long period of relative peace, ironically, the most corrupt places in the southern part of the empire were the city-state fortresses with a large number of soldiers stationed on the border.
Crime and violence are very common in those cities, and taking into account the distance factor, when people there get the news, they may not be able to catch up with all the crises here - this is still the commander established there. The parchment conveying the message will be thrown into the fire and burned, and will be ignored as a joke.
In the end, the only ones that could be counted on were the relatively reliable nearby lords and their armies, as well as the Knights of the Yetina Sect stationed in larger city-states such as Pavinzio.
However, as Benito said, when these people arrive, who is going to pay the money.
Even if it is declared that this is a serious situation, the sudden cold wave has caused a shortage of various equipment and supplies. If the soldiers from Pavinzio's side are to rush over, it is obvious that the huge amount of supplies to support them will also need to be provided by the local people of Scoti.
Need help? How many people are asking for help?
How big of an army can a small town of more than a thousand people support?
Yes, they can carry supplies, but will Scotti still be there when they gather enough supplies to march over?
A simple rejection has quite complicated reasons hidden behind it. In the end, the mayor, Benito, chose to deal with the situation conservatively and did not request reinforcements that might cause greater harm to the town. Instead, he chose to use the existing troops to be vigilant, hoping that these threats would turn around and return to the forest.
It may be said that he is cowardly, but as the leader of a small town, he must be responsible for the people here.
Henry and the others could not convince Benito.
Sometimes people are like this. They haven't seen with their own eyes how terrible the threats are, so they can't concentrate on dealing with them.
Therefore, the five sages chose to communicate with the mercenary union and report the matter in detail to the local branch. They then forwarded it to the union branches in Pavinzio and two other larger city-states, and the person in charge there went to inform the local branch. The city lord asked them to send troops to assist.
It was foreseeable that Benito would be furious when he learned about this later, but since they could not convince him, they had no choice but to take this approach.
He had his own considerations and did what he should do. And Henry and the others also ran with their own identities and did what they thought was right.
As for what will happen after this, we can only leave it to fate.
At the same time as the mercenary union sent the letter, Margaret also sent a personal letter to Pavinzio. The recipient of this letter was the city lord's palace in Parnilla, and what it requested was a sufficient amount of supplies.
As the largest commercial trading port on the east coast, it was almost easy for Margaret's family to come up with such a large amount.
Just considering the transfer of various letters and the transportation arrangements of personnel and equipment, whether part of this huge empire can be operated in a timely manner and prepared to deal with threats is another matter.
On the fifth day when Henry and the others arrived at Scoti, people from all walks of life were running around from Parnilla in the north to Pavunzio in the south.
Due to the delay in correspondence, it took another two days for the mercenary union to hold emergency consultations with senior staff. After more than half a century, a highly valuable trade union listing task was rarely issued.
Ordinary tasks are issued by the client in the union, while tasks listed in the union are issued by the union itself.
This kind of task does not charge the customary half of the handling fee, but is all given to the mercenaries, and the rewards are high. Moreover, mercenaries who participate in the mission can also get a higher evaluation within the union. It can be said that anyone who wants to stay in this industry will work hard to participate in the mission, but it is a type of mission that is rare.
The reason why the union is so generous is partly related to the fact that Margaret revealed her identity and told her that she would do her best to support her. But in the final analysis, the people on the union side hope to attract enough brave men with high remuneration.
after all.
When people with a right mind see that the recommended level of a mission is a red card, and the objects to be defeated are beings like ghouls and earth dragons, they will choose to stay away from them.
Two flowers bloom, one on each side.
While all this was going on, our Mr. Sage and Little Mira had left Scotti again and returned to the Bao Forest.
This ancient road has only one direction, and Constantine and his party have not been able to reach it after so many days. This is obviously because of something ghostly.
The town's request for reinforcements and arrangements for supplies did not necessarily require the two of them to be present, so they reorganized the supplies, rode two horses and returned to the forest with extra supplies, trying to find their companions. .
Snowflakes fell slowly.
A week after the arrival of the cold wave, the temperature dropped to minus ten degrees near the Bagnato-Okinsonai Forest.
