What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

It was really strange. Ever since they came back from Margaret's palace, Vanessa had been hiding from him. She didn't dare to look him in the eye even when she spoke, and she kept blushing. He didn't know what had happened.

A woman's heart is as unfathomable as the sea.

Fran thought Vanessa looked down on the reward she gave. She thought of what happened in the palace and continued, "Although it's not a year yet, the New Year is coming soon. You don't have to go to the military camp for training these two days! Have a good rest. If you miss home, I will allow you to return to the Magic Palace.

Just don’t go find Beelzebub!"

However, what Fran didn't expect was that as soon as she finished speaking, Vanessa looked at her in surprise and said, "City Lord, are you chasing me away?"

"Drive away? That's not what I meant!" Fran said.

"Then why...

"No, no, no! You misunderstood me." Fran said, "I'm just saying that if you want to go back to the Demon Realm to see your family before the New Year, you can go back now. I won't stop you! Just don't tell Beelzebub about what happened here."

Vanessa breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Fran's explanation, but then she realized that she was too sensitive, so she kept pinching the edge of her skirt and lowered her head.

Um, anyway, if you have any difficulties, you can always come to me!" Fran patted Vanessa on the shoulder.

"Then...if after a year, I still want to...still want to stay, is that ok?" Vanessa lowered her head and said softly.

"What did you say?" Fran was just distracted by the musketeer training in the barracks, and Vanessa's voice was too soft, so she didn't hear clearly.

"I... nothing! Lord City Lord, have you forgotten? The New Year's time in the Demon Realm is different from that in the Main Continent! It's still a long way to go before the New Year in the Demon Realm." Vanessa said, "Lord City Lord, I'm a little tired and want to go back and rest first."

"Oh! That's right, I almost forgot about this." Fran said: "Then you should go and rest first.

After hearing this, Vanessa ran back to her room without looking back, took out the paper and pen under her pillow and started writing a letter.

Dear mother:

I didn't write to you last week because I was out on business.

Lord Fran is such a fool! He knows nothing. How did such a person win the heart of the Saint Sister?

But she...even though she cheated Mother of so much money and ruined Mother's favorite game, I don't think she's actually that bad. Mother was a little too harsh on her. In short, I think there are many things worth observing about Lord Fran, and I'm applying to extend my stay in Aurora City.

...

...

...

"What a strange little girl." Fran shrugged as she watched Vanessa run away in panic: "Catherine, you also have half vampire blood in your body! Tell me...what happened to her?"

"Maybe she was just frightened." Catherine shook her head and said, "I don't know. But I still want to talk to you, City Lord! Don't always bully her alone, at least... find someone else to share the burden. I think that Gorronil is pretty good. He has been a clan leader, so his psychological endurance should be good. And his figure is similar to yours,

You can let her pretend to be you in the future."

"That makes sense. I will pay attention to it next time." Fran nodded.

However, since his true identity has been exposed in front of Margaret, and the announcement of the Vienna Alliance is about to be made, there will not be many opportunities for him to need a substitute in the future.

As the two were talking, Feuerbach hurriedly found Fran.

"Lord City Lord, you are finally back."

"What's wrong? Did something happen at Thermopylae?"

"That's not the case." Feuerbach said, "Lord, do you still remember the task you assigned to me when you first arrived in Aurora City?"

"Uh..." Fran was stunned, her mind went blank.

Fortunately, Feuerbach didn't expect Fran to remember, so he said, "When you first came, let me find out which forces are at odds with the Four Yellow Wolves and the Nine Great Families, and win them over."

"You found it! What kind of organization is it? The underground resistance? The Brotherhood? Lindenwan?" Fran said.

"Uh... none of these." Feuerbach said: "Strictly speaking, this is not a strict organization, just a group of people. They are a branch of the nine major families."

"A branch of the nine great families?"

Feuerbach said: "The nine major families have been thriving in Orila City for so long, and their descendants have spread far and wide. The number of families is already immeasurable. However, only the clan members who are very close to the direct line can enjoy extraordinary treatment. Most family members are actually not much different from ordinary people, or even worse off."

"Why would it be worse? They are from the same family after all! There's no reason why they should be worse off."

Feuerbach said: "This is about the dispute between the direct line and the collateral line."

Chapter 69: The Wolf Family's Daughter Grows Up

With the fall of the Lord of Orila City, the nine major families gradually gained power. They controlled the most profitable businesses, occupied the most comfortable jobs, and could exploit massive wealth from other monsters with just a flick of their fingers.

Not only that, they had the city lord as a shield to share the people's grievances internally, and they had the unique natural defenses to resist the enemies externally. Without internal and external troubles, the direct descendants of the nine major families immediately became corrupt and degenerate.

Aurora City didn't have as many places for entertainment as Vienna, nor did humans have the brain circuits to develop XP that made monsters shudder. This meant that the direct descendants of the nine major families didn't have many entertainment activities, so the few things they could do was to have children.

After several generations of hard work, the number of direct lineage members expanded rapidly, becoming huge tumors that parasitized the already weak city of Orila. Moreover, the direct lineage descendants were all fat and bloated, and they were exhausted.

People like Huang Silang, who are reliable and have some ability, have become rare outliers among the direct descendants of the nine major families.

But the nine major families controlled so many industries after all, and these industries had to be managed by their own people. They had no choice but to bring in people from the side branches and let them work for them, but at the same time they had to be on guard against them all the time, not letting them gain too much power and wealth and overthrow the direct line.

Today, the most basic, hardest and most tiring work in the industries of the nine major families are all managed by their collateral branches, while the direct descendants just sit on high seats, directing the affairs of the country at will and directly taking away most of the fruits of the labor of the collateral branches.

The members of the collateral lineages were naturally unwilling to see the lion's share of the spoils go to the members of the direct lineage, so they rose up one after another to resist the exploitation of the direct lineage. Some collateral lines failed, and continued to be exploited, while some collateral lines succeeded, and they became the new direct lineages and began to exploit other collateral lines.

But no matter who the direct descendants of the current nine major families are, they all have to have the same consensus! The collateral line is a more important enemy than the outsiders. The outsiders may steal your business and make you earn less money, but the collateral line may directly take your life.

As a result, they became more and more wary of the side branches, and the rewards they paid and the power they gave them became less and less.

But the members of the side branch are not stupid. Since the pay for working for my family is so low, why don’t I go find a job outside?

The direct descendants, who had become corrupt to a certain extent, were obviously no longer able to manage such a large industry on their own, and they were unwilling to give up so much cheap labor.

So they came up with a plan to start from the childhood.

They opened a lot of schools, and then found those poor parents, telling them that they could send their children to them for education, with food and accommodation provided, and everything was free! But when the children grew up, they had to work for them, otherwise they would have to pay a high penalty!

In this way, they regained a large amount of cheap labor.

Moreover, the poorer the ordinary families were, the more bargaining power they had with the children's parents, and the more outrageous the agreements they signed. Later, there were even clauses that required working for 120 years before retirement, and ridiculous things like having to pay money to the nine major families during internships.

They could obviously turn them into slaves directly, but they still made promises and asked these collateral members to sign agreements.

The nine major families also formed a tacit understanding that they would rather hire civilians than hire the side branches of the other nine families.

In this way, they completely blocked the path for all collateral members to rise on their own. Of course, they would also select the outstanding members of the collateral line and let them recognize the elders of the direct line as their fathers and mothers, so that they could transform themselves into the direct line.

This method not only allows those collateral members living in darkness to see a glimmer of hope, but also divides the collateral members internally, allowing them to attack and criticize each other.

After taking multiple measures, there was no more incident of collateral members rising up to overthrow the direct line. The collateral members had to bury their anger deep in their hearts.

However, anger cannot be suppressed. It will gradually grow in people's hearts until someone speaks out and brings out the anger in their hearts again.

Having resolved the worry about the collateral line, the members of the direct line also boldly handed over more responsibilities to the collateral line.

Therefore, many of the private guards of the nine major families are now members of the collateral branches, and members of the collateral branches have also appeared in some important positions.

Feuerbach felt that if he wanted to find someone who was wholeheartedly against the Four Yellow Wolves, he would have to look for him among the side branches of the Yellow Wolf clan.

After searching for a long time, he selected a very suitable candidate.

This person is called Huang Shang, a girl from the Yellow Wolf Clan.

When she was young, she was sent to the academy opened by the Yellow Wolf Clan because her family was poor. The instructor saw that she was in good health and took her to the warrior training camp. She lived up to everyone's expectations and became the top graduate in the training camp at that time.

Female warriors were very popular among the direct lineage! After all, many young ladies were not convenient to be protected by male guards. However, Huang Shang's character was too upright. She couldn't stand the young ladies bullying civilians, and she refused to carry out the task of beating civilians many times. In the end, she was kicked out and sent to the third area to protect the minerals and fight with the demons there.

Things fight.

During those years, Huang Shang received the lowest salary and did the most dangerous work.

But Huang Shang did not fall. She actively fought in dangerous situations in the mining area, protecting the lives of the miners time and time again. Even when the monsters rioted and the direct members in charge of management fled, she took over the leadership and commanded the miners and guards to fight off the monsters.

After that incident, Huang Shang's reputation among the miners gradually increased, and his strength also reached the third level with more and more fighting!

A third-level warrior is already considered a strong mainstay in Orila City!

So she was transferred back. Huang Silang wanted to make her a direct member, but Huang Shang refused all of them and said that she was willing to return to the mining area.

Huang Silang naturally couldn't transfer her back. Of course, it wasn't because he valued her talent, it was because Huang Shang's reputation there was too high, and she refused to be recruited, so it was likely that something bad would happen. So Huang Silang gave her a position as the captain of the Wolf Fort patrol team, locking her firmly by his side.

After listening to Feuerbach's introduction, Fran sighed deeply.

A girl who has completed the upgrade through her own efforts, a soldier who can calmly command in the face of danger. Such a talent should have become an excellent general! But now he can only be reduced to guarding the gate for Huang Silang, and he will never be able to make a name for himself in his life.

And who knows how many talents like this have been wasted at the hands of the nine major families.

If you want to make Orila City stronger, you must eradicate these cancers that are parasitic on Orila City!

Chapter 70: Guarding the Pigs and Waiting for the Wolves

The next day, Fran and Catherine quietly came to the city of Orila.

According to Feuerbach's information, Huang Shang would go to the city to purchase goods at this time every week and have a drink with her old friends in the mining area.

In order to contact her secretly, Fran arrived at her usual hotel in advance, waiting for Huang Shang to appear.

Not long after, several sturdy wolf tribesmen came into the hotel, talking and laughing. Judging from their appearance, they should be ordinary civilians doing manual labor.

"These people are Huang Shang's miner friends. They are all from the Yellow Wolf Chamber of Commerce." Catherine said beside Fran.

Fran nodded and listened to their conversation.

"Have you heard? The mine owned by Lord Fulan has an output ten times that of ours." said a miner.

"Ten times? How is that possible? If I remember correctly, her mining area is the same as the one of the gray dwarves before! The environment there is not as good as ours."

"Yeah, yeah. The depth over there is deeper than ours, and the strength of the monsters there is much higher than ours. Although those bastards from the direct lineage will cause trouble, at least we have the support of the Miners' Union. They have nothing and are ten times more efficient than us."

"Why would I lie to you?" the first miner said, "The son of the former owner of the dog of the neighbor of my friend's second uncle is working as a guard in the mine! He told us."

Good fellow, you were able to get this information, and the connection even went all the way to the Feruman Empire. Fran couldn't help but put down her glass.

"You're just exaggerating!" said another miner. "Although I admire the new city lord, ten times is too much."

"I'm not exaggerating! I heard that Lord Fulan carried out a large-scale cleanup of the mining area and then built fortifications there! Let me tell you, those are not our fortifications made of earth. They are..."

“That’s a military-grade wall.”

At this time, a female voice interrupted the conversation of several people.

Fran looked in the direction of the voice and saw a slender wolf girl coming to the table, picking up a pot of wine and drinking it all. She had golden hair and two big furry ears on her head. This should be Huang Shang.

"Are we going to contact her now?" Catherine asked

"No rush. Let's listen to what they say first. Besides, we're not the only ones looking for them." As she spoke, Fran pointed to the table next to her without being noticed.

Catherine looked closely and saw that the people at the table next to Huang Shang looked suspicious. Although they were eating with their heads down, they were always paying attention to the movements of the miners. Not only that, there were sticks and other weapons leaning against the corner behind their table, and there were bulges under their clothes, obviously carrying weapons and armor.

These guys came prepared.

"The big sister is here!"

"Big sister, please take a seat."

The miners apparently didn't notice the suspicious person sitting nearby, and quickly asked Huang Shang to sit down.

"What are you talking about?" Huang Shang asked.

"We are talking about Lord Fulan's mine. Is their efficiency really ten times that of the Yellow Wolf Chamber of Commerce's mine?"

"Maybe more than that..." Huang Shang said, "I heard that the defenses reinforced by the Lord of Fulan City are comparable to Thermopylae. Not only are there city walls, but there are also various fortifications, and many soldiers have been sent to guard them. So even if there is a tide of monsters, it will not affect the production inside."

"But even if that's the case, it can't be ten times as much, right? I heard that they used a large number of slaves. They were all prisoners captured during the last attack."

"That's true." Huang Shang smiled bitterly after hearing this, and then said, "But the treatment of those captives in Fulanhe is probably far better than that of ordinary miners like us."

"How is that possible? Prisoners are paid?"

Huang Shang said, "I don't believe it either. But it is true. The miners there can eat meat every now and then, and their staple food is sticky rice porridge with various side dishes. The most important thing is that if you complete today's work, you can get extra compensation for every extra point, which is a special reward."

"This is the treatment for prisoners." Another miner said, "If they were formally employed miners, the treatment would be better."

"Fuck! I want to go there now."

"Forget about it, have you forgotten the contract on you?"

"Well, bear with me for a while. My contract still has twelve years left. When it expires, I will go to Lord Fran's mine."

"In another twelve years you will be an old man, so you won't have the energy to mine."

Everyone, including Huang Shang, laughed heartily.

However, at this moment, the people sitting next to them suddenly stood up and surrounded Huang Shang's table with sticks.