Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1346 Peeling Back the Disguise (Second Update)

"The Act on Abolishing the Legalization of the Sex Industry and Establishing Facilities for Guiding, Maintaining, Educating and Re-employing Sex Industry Employees, totaling 68 articles... Voting begins; The Act on Establishing Adult Night Schools and Subsidizing Employment in Light Industry, totaling 152 articles... Voting begins; The Act on Improving the Efficiency of Government Functions, totaling 354 articles... Voting begins; The Proposal on Accountability for Corruption Cases, totaling 588 articles... Voting begins; The Act on Nationalizing Energy Companies, totaling 1126 articles... Voting begins."

The Speaker of the Hungarian Provincial Parliament, holding a folder, read aloud the details of the federally drafted bills. The lengthy process and his muffled voice made many people doze off, but they had no choice but to patiently sit there and vote in favor of the bills read by the Speaker. The Emperor then showed them all a document detailing each person's habits, relationships, transactions, communication details, and so on—containing much that was unsavory. The contents of this document were enough for the Emperor to drag them out of his office and shoot them for ten minutes, yet he allowed them to live, because he intended to use them to change the long-standing laziness and corruption in the Hungarian province.

The speaker's throat was parched from reading, but he couldn't pick up the bottled water in front of him and drink it all down, because the front and back doors of the polling hall were locked from the outside, and several soldiers surrounded the entire building, not allowing anyone to approach. The speaker's request to go to the toilet was denied, and the other members of parliament had the same experience; except for a few lucky ones who had been dozing off from the start, none of them escaped unscathed.

The head of the Imperial Guard told the Speaker that no one could leave the hall unless the bills were all passed, even if they relieved themselves like wild animals in this historic building. At first, no one believed the Emperor would do this, until a soldier pressed a gun to the thigh of a protesting senator. The intense heat of the laser instantly burned through flesh, and nearby senators smelled the nauseating stench of burning flesh. If medical personnel hadn't arrived in time, the senator's swollen thigh would likely have become infected or required amputation. Although the senator survived, his bones had been burned through. After receiving painkillers, he was no longer able to perform his duties and was therefore dismissed by the Imperial Guard, who represented the Emperor. The high-tech medical services that officials were entitled to were withdrawn, and he was left to his fate.

The emperor's proposed bills covered government systems, tax systems, financial services, social morality, civil rights, higher education, compulsory education, and so on. Apart from issues concerning religion and the economic system, they were not significantly different from the political ideologies of the current right-wing ruling party. However, it was precisely this difference that made the emperor unable to tolerate them any longer.

During the First Expansion War, the Emperor's Martian Foundry had taken over some of the privatized military enterprises in the provinces, including four munitions factories, three woodlands, and two small businesses. In addition, it had shares in eight power plants, and the Hungarian gas company acquired by the Italian companies Italgas and Snam, which now obtained cheap natural gas from its ally, Russia.

This renationalization of energy companies had not been formally implemented before, because even with EU sanctions, Italian energy companies were unwilling to withdraw due to the exorbitant gas prices in the Hungarian province. It wasn't until Regent Viktor von Dum signed trade agreements and secretly constructed and maintained former Soviet gas pipelines that the nationalization bill for energy companies was introduced, ordering prepared technicians to forcibly take over the facilities. The Balkans lack traditional fossil fuels like oil and natural gas; were it not for abundant lignite reserves, even basic industrial capacity would be dependent on others. If the Emperor and Regent hadn't implemented nationalization reforms in Hungary, the mess left by privatization after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe would have continued to fester and erode Latvia like a festering sore, causing a continuous loss of assets.

These are all critical issues. The emperor needs money to manufacture military equipment, train soldiers, and ensure food supplies, etc., and cannot afford to allow anyone to tamper with these matters. Otherwise, once the Dark Order's fleet arrives, all of Europe will be in chaos, social production and stability will completely collapse, and Hungary, where many enterprises are controlled by foreign capital, will be directly paralyzed. The foreign debt borrowed from the International Monetary Fund alone would be enough to strangle the country. Although the emperor claimed to the regent that the vote was merely a delaying tactic, some problems had indeed reached a point where they could not be ignored. Being able to temporarily implement some measures using the principle of parliamentary rule was actually a good thing.

While the members of parliament were still voting, the emperor had already taken to the streets of Budapest.

Near Fisherman's Bastion, in a 13th-century house, lies a very nice restaurant. To the untrained eye, it's an elegant and vintage establishment. The foie gras appetizer is particularly outstanding; such delicious food at such a low price is hard to find. To the average person, the Emperor was simply a foreign tourist of Semitic descent. Handsome and tall, he wasn't unapproachable, and spoke fluent Hungarian in a charming voice. Even a brief conversation conveyed his gentleness and erudition. The restaurant owner recommended his prized Bull's Blood wine to the Emperor and even contacted the director of a private museum near the Parliament Building, intending to invite him to see the artworks after dinner.

The restaurant owner, looking apologetic, approached the Emperor, who was still enjoying his dinner. He told the Emperor that he had been informed that the roads near the Parliament Building were blocked, Freedom Square after crossing the bridge from Fisherman's Bastion had been closed, and the private museum had been forced to temporarily close, with no indication of when it would reopen. The Emperor then heard the owner launch into a tirade of complaints, much of it accusations against the former government and the Emperor himself. The restaurant owner disliked both Orban and the Emperor because the Emperor's changes had been so profound, inevitably impacting everyone's lives.

The emperor's concept of efficiency was also ill-suited to this slow-paced city, perfect for tourism. The war had drastically reduced the number of tourists; unless for work purposes, few European tourists visited Budapest anymore, to the point that restaurants that were once bustling with customers now had only one customer. Although the pessimism about the future, the lazy work attitude, and the poor information infrastructure had improved, and the outflow of labor had decreased, the boss was still very dissatisfied because the blockade during that period had delayed the delivery of ingredients.

Customers were trapped in their homes, the restaurant was losing money, and one of the Michelin-starred restaurants in Budapest had already been forced to close due to a cash flow crisis. Salomon listened to the owner's complaints while stuffing food into his mouth, occasionally nodding in agreement, showing no sign of being criticized. After the meal, he declined the owner's offer to find him some after-dinner activities. Sex work is legal in Hungary, and there are at least ten thousand female sex workers in Budapest. The restaurant owner even pointed him in the right direction, completely unaware that this man was about to take steps to shut down legal sex work establishments.

The restaurant owner recommended tourist attractions, and he wasn't unfamiliar with the world outside Budapest. Beneath the veneer of warmth and historical architecture lay a weak legal system, rampant bureaucracy, lax public order, and a terrible social order. Although his army had purged a large number of illegal civilian groups—gangs—if he hadn't dined near the Parliament Building and Fisherman's Bastion and instead ventured into the outskirts of Pest, he would have seen streets teeming with drunkards, European leftists roaming about, and leashed dogs running rampant everywhere.

If he has to go through any procedures, that would be even more of a torment.

Fortunately, he was not a true tourist, but a ruler, and he had the ability to change the status quo.

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)