Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Because their living space was blocked, many children could only drown.

"In short, go back and appease your own people. As long as you don't cause me any trouble, it won't be difficult to abolish this law. It won't even be a problem to turn you back into a community. After all, this is just a special local law."

Ronan said.

The regional restriction laws for the Haidi people are not universal laws; they can be abolished as long as the ruling factions in the seven special cities agree to abolish them.

This would have been impossible in the past, but it would be feasible if the seven special cities could be merged.

Therefore, from now on, the Haidi people must support and cooperate with him properly.

This point doesn't need to be explicitly stated; those who understand will understand, and it's pointless to explain it to those who don't.

"I've finished speaking, I'm leaving now."

Ronan immediately took his leave.

When it comes to making empty promises, just sketching out a shape is enough; drawing overly detailed pictures is something only liars do.

Was Ronan a fraud? Of course not.

After Ronan left the small private hospital in Conch Bay, the high-ranking officials of the seven special cities immediately began a heated discussion.

The first thing to discuss was how to explain this incident to the people. This was not difficult in general, since due to Ronan and Dinia's sudden interference, apart from the Seaflies of White Star City, the Seaflies of other special cities, including Wright City, had not yet had a chance to truly participate.

So they had no idea what had happened, which made it much easier to explain.

After discussing how to explain things to the tribe, the next step was to talk about the future.

Ronan's words had rekindled their hope.

The dream of restarting civilization has been shattered, but the hope of living a better life seems within reach.

A group of people each had their own ideas, and after much discussion, they finally came to the same conclusion.

Ronan said what to do, and that's what we did.

On the way back, Elena asked Ronan, "Young Master, what if you don't keep the promises you made to them?"

“First of all, I’m very confident,” Ronan said. “Secondly, if the result is not ideal, have you ever heard the saying that priests often say: ‘If your wish is not fulfilled, it’s because you are not devout enough.’ Similarly, if the result is not ideal, it’s because they haven’t supported me enough.”

Anyway, Ronan never gets his pans sticky.

"Ah, this..." Elena was speechless for a moment, but upon closer reflection, it was entirely in line with the young master's usual style.

Ronan used to tell the citizens of Wright that the city hall had done its best to create a good environment for them, and that if they hadn't made money, it was because they hadn't worked hard enough.

Back at the manor where Baal had arranged for the group to stay, Ronan had just entered the hall when Agustina told him to go to Dinia's room.

Dinia wanted to discuss the next steps with him and Yvette.

At this point, Yvette also learned what had happened from Dinia, though of course, she only heard the abridged version.

What Ronan and Dinia saw and heard on the ninth underground level has become a secret for them forever, and no third person will ever know it until the day they die.

At the same time, Yvette gave Dinia a more detailed account of the situation in White Star City over the past two days.

As soon as Ronan entered, he saw Dinia and Yvette, both wearing nightgowns, sitting on either side of the table.

Dinya's hair was casually draped over her shoulders, her eyes closed as if deep in thought, her arms crossed over her abdomen, her chest supported by her forearms, making it appear even larger.

The petite and slender Yvette stared intently at Ronan.

As soon as Ronan sat down, Yvette immediately began to explain her plan, much like someone who had just lost a game of chess and couldn't wait to start the next one.

Yvette held up three fingers. "Three moves, checkmate in three moves."

Chapter 43 Demands, Parliament, and the Unrepresented People Are Not the People

The first step is for Dinia to take office in Wright City, never mentioning the matter of Ares and the Seapipers, but instead targeting the "game ship" in Blackfish Harbor. With the cooperation of Baal and Ronan, they can temporarily lull the people of the other five special cities into a false sense of security.

The second step was to secretly write a report to be submitted to the King and the Prime Minister.

The report should roughly explain the "truth" of the matter.

The truth is that Dinia first came to Wright City for an inspection, where she met Ronan. Ronan, who was driven by a sense of justice, reported Ales, this parasite.

Ronan's scenes end there.

Later, Dinia arrived in Shirahoshi City as a tourist, and the astute Dinia immediately realized that things were not as simple as they seemed.

After uncovering Allais's conspiracy, and going through a series of perilous battles of wits and courage, they finally succeeded in resolving the incident.

The events in the underwater alternate dimension can be glossed over; simply mention that they obtained seeds preserved by the Sea Flute People from the past.

In short, the main point of the first half of this report is that all the credit belongs to Dinia, and all the evil deeds were orchestrated by Ares.

The latter half of the report is the key part.

The report emphasizes that the seven special municipalities are poorly managed and have high management costs, and that they should be subject to unified management, ideally by merging the seven special municipalities. As for the arguments, they are presented in the first half of the report.

If a merger can be achieved, the Haidi people can be brought together to cultivate high-yield crops, thereby increasing the income of the merged new city.

Yvette took a sip of tea. “For the kingdom’s higher-ups, what happens in the border regions is completely unimportant. The kingdom only cares about two things in these border regions: first, how much tax can be collected, and second, how much money is needed to collect the tax.”

"They have no reason not to agree to raising taxes while reducing the cost of collecting them."

Ronan agreed with what Yvette said.

It must be said that this female staff member is quite capable in this regard; she clearly understands the needs of the kingdom's rulers.

The third step was to wait for the king's order, then immediately announce the matter, and then Dinia would naturally become the mayor of the new city after the merger.

"Once the order is given, those people have no choice but to accept it."

Yvette said with great arrogance.

After saying that, she looked at Dinia and then gave Ronan a slightly provocative glance.

Dinia didn't immediately agree, but instead looked at Ronan, "What do you think?"

“A brilliant plan.” Ronan said it was brilliant, but there was no hint of agreement on his face. After taking a leisurely sip of tea, he said unhurriedly, “I don’t think we need to rush to submit a report. After the mayor takes office, we can use this incident as a pretext to invite the mayors of the other special cities to come and meet. You don’t need to talk about anything practical, just have a meal together.”

"As for me, I will have a good talk with the other secretaries-general about the merger," Ronan said. "I believe that if we submit a joint report, it will definitely be more convincing."

Yvette only gave Ronan a cold laugh.

“It’s impossible to persuade the mayor and the secretary-general,” Yvette said. “I believe that with your judgment, Mr. Ronan, you cannot be unaware of this. But knowing this, you still suggest a private meeting with the mayor and the secretary-general, which makes one wonder if you have other intentions.”

Ultimately, in Yvette's view, Ronan, as a representative of the local forces, could not possibly stand entirely on Dinia's side.

If it weren't for the fact that Dinia had inexplicably developed trust in Ronan in just a few days, Yvette would definitely have stopped Dinia from bringing him over to discuss the follow-up matters.

Faced with Yvette's "attack," Ronan simply smiled indifferently. He neither wanted to refute nor would he refute.

The reason is simple: his stance is indeed problematic, that's a fact, and trying to refute it will only make things worse.

Ronan calmly sipped his tea. "May I ask, what are the needs of the mayors and secretaries-general of the seven special cities?"

Yvette understood the problem perfectly and could answer it without even thinking: "The mayors are losers who were parachuted in here after the power struggles. Some are here to retire, while others are here to lay low. The former want money, and the latter want political achievements. But neither of these can be given, which is why the mayors cannot support us."

"As for the secretaries-general, ha, a bunch of people who act as feudal lords in the name of civil servants, what do they want? Need I say more? Power, of course. And that can't be given either, so the secretaries-general can't be persuaded."

Ronan clapped his hands, "A very insightful argument, but Miss Yvette has overlooked something."

"You say you can't give power? No, you can. Just form a three-court parliament after the merger. How can timid civil servants compare to legislators who are open and aboveboard?"

Ronan silenced Yvette with a single sentence.

To be honest, the officials in the seven special cities are dreaming of having a parliament.

They are all powerful and influential people in the local area. If they could become councilors, who the hell would want to be a civil servant?

The so-called Tri-Council is similar to the Estates-General of France in Ronan's original timeline, but it is also different.

The three institutions are the Citizens' Institution, the Martyrs' Institution, and the Theory and Knowledge Institution.

The citizens' representatives are elected, but there are no ordinary people in the House of Commons; they are only representatives of capitalists.

The Martyrs' Memorial Hall does not hold elections; it looks at lineage. One must have ancestors who have left their mark on history. Therefore, there are no martyrs in the Martyrs' Memorial Hall, only descendants of feudal nobles who enslaved the people in the past.

The members of the Academy of Reason were elected through a recommendation system, selecting local intellectuals. What constitutes an intellectual? Magicians, of course.

Unscrupulous merchants, landlords, and academic cliques—this is the composition of the members of the three-court parliament.

It is indeed a reactionary stronghold.

“Hmph, according to my plan, there’s no need to delegate power to them at all,” Yvette said, almost as if she was about to say, “What are you natives?”

Ronan replied, "If you don't give it, the civil servants certainly won't have any objections, but the public will. If the public has objections, the lady's decrees will probably only remain on paper."

If civil servants don't dare to cause trouble, then surely ordinary citizens do?

Yvette understood: if she wasn't given power, she would cause trouble.

“Do you really think you can represent the people?” Yvette retorted. “You only represent a minority.”

The population of the seven special cities consists of three parts: the first is the Haidi people, numbering around 100,000; the second is the immigrants who came here three hundred years ago when the previous dynasty collapsed; the third is the largest group of people in the seven special cities, numbering over 400,000.

Thirdly, there are immigrants who came here a hundred years ago, and their descendants number only seventy or eighty thousand today. Ronan and other officials represent this group of people.

“You’re right.” Ronan finished his tea in one gulp, let out a long breath. Now that he was on Dinia’s pirate ship, he wasn’t afraid to say some things. “But to be honest, if he doesn’t have any people represented, is he the people? No, he isn’t.”

"Without organization, no force can be formed. All it takes is to stir up the masses, and these people, who make up the majority of the population, will forever remain a disorganized mess."

"They can't be counted on at all."

"The only person a lady can rely on is someone like me, at least for now."

Chapter Forty-Four: Struggle, Overcoming Skill with Force, and Losing

Yvette gritted her teeth, unable to find a rebuttal to Ronan's statement.

They had no choice but to temporarily set aside this debate and move on to another point of contention: "So what makes you think you can convince the mayors?"

“We couldn’t persuade them,” Ronan replied directly. “So, I didn’t send the lady to persuade them, did I?”

“If the mayor doesn’t support the merger, then your plan is just empty talk,” Yvette said.

In special municipalities, if the mayor wants to do something, he really needs to rely on local officials like Ronan.

But if the mayor insists on opposing something, Ronan and his group are powerless to do anything about it, because the mayor represents the kingdom.

Seeing that Ronan did not respond immediately, Yvette was secretly pleased, and then added, "Don't tell me you're trying to find some dirt on them to force them to comply."

"Of course not. If a lady uses such underhanded tactics, her image will be ruined. She'll be seen as a troublemaker by her superiors, and how will she ever climb the ranks?"

Ronan said.

Yvette was waiting for Ronan to say, "In that case, we should adopt my plan, bypass the mayors, and create a fait accompli."

Ronan poured himself another cup of tea. "The mayors will fight back. They may not be able to stop the merger of the seven cities, but they can prevent the lady from becoming the mayor of the new city."

“Struggle was inevitable,” Yvette said.

“But we shouldn’t fight in the opponent’s area of ​​expertise,” Ronan retorted.

To be honest, Dinah's level of political maneuvering is nowhere near that of the other mayors. Even if you include Ronan, he might not be able to outmaneuver them.

In this respect, even Winston was far superior to her. Winston was a complete idiot when it came to governing local areas, but that doesn't mean he was incapable of engaging in power struggles.

Those who are incapable of power struggles are not even qualified to be exiled to a special city.

Seeing the tension between the two growing, Dinia tapped the table with her finger. "Ronan, just tell me your proposal."

“Yes, ma’am,” Ronan replied. “The mayors want money or political achievements, and I believe we have reached a consensus on that. Both of these can only be provided to them by the relatively wealthy citizens of the special city. Therefore, as long as people in this class support us, the mayors will have no choice but to bow down.”

"The specific method is very simple. After you take office as the mayor of Wright City, you should publicly announce that you will do everything you can to build a magic academy in Wright City."

"The best way to duel with a swordsman whose swordsmanship is superior to your own is to give him a musket."

Ronan said.

“This…” Yvette’s eyes widened, and she couldn’t say anything.

Although most people who complete their studies at the magic academy will not become full-fledged magicians, they will not even be able to compare to Dinia's level when she was five years old.

Even a novice mage who has only mastered some of the basics can possess extraordinary physical qualities and a longer youth.

What an allure!

Moreover, what if one has the talent to become a proper mage? Proper mages are few in number, and the circle is extremely high-end.

Most magic academies are located in the north of the kingdom, especially around the capital. Many cities in the south do not have magic academies, let alone places like the capital.

Wealthy old aristocrats are fine, but someone like Ronan can even hire private tutors.

But it's much harder for ordinary people. It's not enough to just spend money; you also need a recommendation. If you're from out of town and want to get into a magic academy, you're bound to be treated like a pig being slaughtered.