nycdaug Chapter 80 The Cold Nobles...
Chapter 80 The Cold Nobles...
Chapter 80 The Cold Nobles...
How do you play this?
Bai Cai was a little confused. The mission was very clear: the first batch of elven robes would appear soon. However, according to the World Tree's analysis, these robes could not appear in a big way, because not only would the shadowy forces hidden in the dark cause damage to the elves, but the humans who now dominate the continent would also monopolize and blockade them!
Do humans need elven blood?
Of course they do! Which nobleman wouldn't want to live for over a thousand years? Which rich person wouldn't want to continue enjoying life?
But do humans need the Elven civilization?
The answer is... no!
Especially now that humans are divided into different social classes!
The civilization of the elves is in fundamental conflict with the current human social system.
Elves believe in natural evolution and survival of the fittest. Those with good aptitude will have their information reported up the chain of command by the World Tree, without being concealed by any selfish motives. The elders of the upper echelons will be able to allocate resources to nurture that child with good aptitude immediately. The elven race will continuously produce the best evolved beings. It is precisely because of this system that the elven race has been able to create a civilization that can rival the Titans and the dragon race in tens of thousands of years.
However, this system, which follows the natural evolution of life, is not recognized in human society!
Whoever has the best qualifications should receive the most resources?
How can the interests of human nobles be protected?
How can the accumulated wealth be protected?
No one would want to use the pure natural system of elves. For human nobles, the only purpose of elven blood is to make their rights and wealth last longer, while their fellow humans at the bottom will forever be barred from elven blood.
Once the elven bloodline is controlled by nobles, it will be even more difficult to promote elven civilization, which is a concern of the World Tree.
Although Bai Cai was not a very experienced person in her previous life, she had learned the Chinese dragon-slaying technique and understood that this was something that human nobles would do.
In other words, the first batch of elves must be from the lowest rungs, and if they want to develop elven civilization... this would require a revolution.
Wow, this is a huge task!
But it's not that Bai Cai is unwilling to do this. She's been trapped in this godforsaken place for years and hasn't seen a soul. It's not that she's unwilling to become a rebel leader and start a revolution, but the key is that she can't get out, so what's the point?
Doesn't the World Tree know what kind of monsters live in that river?
Even a random crab can cut off your dog's head, so what are you going to use to start a rebellion?
How can the elf robes born on the outskirts of the forest protect themselves?
Just kidding?
Bai Cai sat cross-legged on the ground, racking her brains for a solution. She was very enthusiastic about this because after completing the task, the experience points might allow her to level up again, and maybe she could even beat the crabs in the river.
As for who will ultimately win between the elven civilization and the human nobles, that's not her concern. All she wants now is to get out of here immediately and stop being a savage!
The only way... is to contact people on the outside.
There are three groups of people I can contact right now. First is the Heart of the Forest, those guys whose thinking seems to have gone astray. Their advantage is that they are very obedient to me and easy to control. If used properly, they seem to have a chance to complete the mission.
The downside is that these guys are too fanatical, and they'll cause trouble if they get out of control. Also, I heard Michelle say they're stupid.
The second one is Michel. That guy is very shrewd. Although I have never met him, I am sure that he is very shrewd and has cheated me out of a lot of good things. But he should not be a nobleman. However, I am a little unsure what will happen if the elven bloodline falls into his hands.
What would a shrewd businessman do with elven blood?
It's definitely a sale, my goodness! But clever Michelle might also be a good candidate to protect the elf seeds.
Finally, there was the fellow villager who had contacted me recently.
Honestly, if she could, she would still prefer to trust her own people, but she hadn't known that fellow villager for very long. What kind of person was he? Was he trustworthy? Was he reliable?
There's been no explanation, and the worst part is we still can't get in touch with him!
This is really troublesome.
After thinking for a long time, Bai Cai decided to try a three-pronged approach. Since there aren't many channels, she'd try them all!
A piece of news that thrilled the Holy Stone City refugee camp quickly spread, and countless people danced with excitement, but immediately began to pray again.
A new viscount has been born in Holy Stone City. According to the announcement by the security officer, this newly born viscount will select a considerable number of people from the refugee camp to fill the worker vacancies in Holy Stone City.
Upon hearing the news, countless refugees, especially strong men, were so excited that they couldn't sleep all night.
As refugees, even if a city takes them in, many of them only have a lifespan of four or five years at most, regardless of gender.
Women in brothels could only barely make ends meet by selling their bodies or working day and night doing menial tasks like laundry. Compared to women in legitimate brothels, their income was shockingly meager, and they were prone to various diseases. Men, on the other hand, could only earn extremely low wages doing menial jobs requiring no skills, such as portering...
Unregistered workers are inefficient and paid less than a tenth of what ordinary workers are paid. They expend enormous physical energy and can only fill their stomachs with thin porridge or moldy black bread. If they develop even the slightest health problem, they will suffer and die in agony because they cannot afford medical treatment, and will eventually be sent to Bright's crematorium to be burned.
This is the fate of most refugees. For them, the only hope of staying in the city is that one day they will have the opportunity to have a formal identity.
Every city takes in refugees as a supplement to their official status, but such opportunities are rare. Official status is usually reserved for local citizens and can be inherited. Every year, only a handful of people can be found in a city with official status. Tens of thousands of refugees are scrambling to get ashore, but how many can actually make it?
An opportunity like this, where a viscount can recruit a large number of regular workers, is a once-in-a-century occurrence.
Many people realized that this might be their last chance!
Early in the morning, many women in the refugee camps start cooking to prepare a hearty meal for their husbands. Indeed, most of the women in the refugee camps have formed families. For these women, if their husbands can obtain official status, the fate of their entire family can be changed.
Even if she and her child go hungry for a few days, she has to make sure her husband looks energetic and vibrant every day.
The single men didn't deprive themselves; they took out their savings, ate a hearty meal, and spent some money to go to a simple bathhouse to wash themselves clean and change into a set of worn but at least clean clothes.
Recruiting nobles can often be a matter of a single glance; if someone is slovenly and smells bad, they may immediately lose their only chance.
As Bright tidied up the crematorium, he looked down at the refugees bustling about in the refugee quarters below and felt a pang of emotion.
The people in the refugee camp don't know yet that the master who's hiring them is the one burning corpses on the mountaintop. He doesn't plan to cancel his identity, since once Holy Stone City opens, players from the North District will flock there, and many players will die because of the quests. Corpse collectors get experience from dissecting high-level corpses, which is a rare opportunity to gain experience.
Having changed into a gray suit, donned a hat and a silver cane, Brett in the mirror looked nothing like someone who burned corpses.
Taking a detour through a side road, Bright quickly arrived at the recruitment area he had agreed upon. An hour earlier, the area had been packed with people, many of whom were arguing over queuing. If it weren't for the sheriff's warning, a fight might have broken out.
Looking at the densely packed crowd, Bright's feelings became increasingly complicated.
His seal of authority is that of a viscount. If he doesn't consider employing knights at all, he can appoint nearly two thousand workers. If his sole purpose is to save lives, he can save most of the regular refugee camps.
But that's not realistic, first of all, I have a plan.
To sustain the resources of the forest, we need highly skilled technicians. This includes not only workers but also scholars skilled in geography, alchemy, and materials synthesis. Ideally, we should establish an academy to train talent in these fields and also need merchants to expand our sources of income.
These things alone require reserving at least half of the authorized seal positions. The number of workers employed today must not exceed one thousand, and priority should be given to young people who have previously been literate.
Those who are middle-aged and need to support their families are the ones that Brett needs the least right now.
He needs young, clever people with more learning and development potential, not people who are burdened with a family, afraid to take risks, and who, as workers, dare not venture deep into the forest to risk their lives.
Even if you dare to take the risk, the cost is relatively high.
According to imperial law, if a nobleman's servant dies while serving the nobleman and has children, the nobleman must guarantee that the status of the parents will safely fall into the hands of these orphans. This is the most basic human decency.
In other words, if I hire a worker whose child is young, say only four or five years old, and he dies in an accident while at work, then his eldest child must inherit his father's profession, even if the child is too young to take on the job.
This is a law that is common in almost all countries. The reason for its formation is very simple: if nobles can arbitrarily deprive families who have lost their ability to work of their inheritance of their professions due to death, then ordinary commoners who have gained status will not dare to have children easily, or at least not have many children, thus creating a burden. Ultimately, this will lead to a decline in the birth rate of law-abiding citizens with status, resulting in social unrest.
It is said that several hundred years ago, several human empires suffered from this problem, which led to a sharp decline in the birth rate of their citizens. As a result, young and strong refugees continuously replaced them in the cities. In order to improve their competitiveness, the refugees dared not have children at will, which eventually led to depression, empire decline, and being devoured by neighboring empires.
Under the guarantee of imperial law, at least the desire to have children among law-abiding citizens has increased. On the refugee side, because the probability of obtaining legal status has become smaller, many people are willing to have children. If they hold back from having children, they will most likely never have the chance in their lifetime.
This law has been validated over hundreds of years and has gained recognition.
However, this will also make the current aristocracy more selective and ruthless in choosing refugees.
Bright looked at the first interviewee with a headache; he was a man nearing forty, carrying a pale, thin girl on his back...
This is the first person that I, a cold nobleman, need to ruthlessly eliminate.
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