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

"You are right," Feuerbach said, "but the previous city lords have already set the tax collection date thousands of years later, which is 2022 in the Ash Calendar."

"What's the f**k!!" Fran was so angry that she blurted out in her hometown dialect.

Chapter 7: How the Gentry Plays

In the following days, Feuerbach would bring new bad news to Fran every once in a while.

The electricity bills of the previous city lords have been in arrears for two years.

I found the meal receipts of the previous city lords, and the bound volume was as thick as a dictionary.

Those city lords had several secret accounts in Tianshui Lane, all of which showed debts.

Lots and lots of them.

Anyway, they owe money in various ways, and even the small shops selling rice, oil and salt nearby owe a lot of money.

This isn't being a city lord! This is playing a debt simulator!

As a result, Fran didn't sleep well that night. She dreamed that a huge crowd rushed towards her and urged her to pay back the money! The number of people was comparable to the monsters she had cheated in the demon world.

Early in the morning, Fran was awakened again by Feuerbach's knock on the door.

"Let me guess, have you found a new debt?" Fran said weakly.

"That's not the case, but it seems to be not much different from this." Feuerbach paused, then said, "Someone came to collect a debt."

"Huh?! So soon? Today is only my second day here."

"They are from the two major families in the south of the city. They said they owed them 400 magic crystal coins for toilet paper, and it's time to pay them back!"

"You can still owe 400 magic crystal coins for toilet paper money?" Fran couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"But if we only look at the number, four hundred magic crystal coins are not a lot?" Catherine said.

"It's not much, but this is a test." Fran said, "It's to test the attitude of me, the new city lord, to see if I will cover all the miscellaneous debts of the previous city lord. As long as I pay off the first debt, the rest will follow."

"Then let's just not pay it back!" Catherine said, "You didn't owe these debts anyway! Every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt has its creditor."

"That being said, the ordinary residents of Orila City don't see it that way. To them, the former city lord and I belong to the same faction, so the debt relationship must be inherited." Fran said, "If I default, I probably won't be able to issue any orders in the future."

"So, your Excellency means, still?" asked Feuerbach.

"Let's pay back the little bit we have now." Fran said helplessly, "As I said before, we can't break off relations with those local tyrants unless it is absolutely necessary. And only if I pay them back, they will look for me for the next step of cooperation. Otherwise, they will definitely try every means to get rid of me, the disobedient city lord.

"Next step of cooperation? What else do they want to cooperate with us on?" Feuerbach and Catherine asked in confusion.

"You don't think that Huang Silang went to so much trouble to show off his power to me just to help others collect debts, do you?"

Sure enough, not long after Fulan paid off the first debt, he received a letter from the Yellow Wolf family.

The words in the letter were sincere and heartfelt, expressing Huang Silang's strong apologies for not being able to welcome Fran in person. For this reason, he planned to host a banquet for Fran next month. At the same time, he hoped that Fran, as the city lord, could cooperate with him sincerely to create a better future for Orila City.

"We are so poor now that we can't even afford to maintain a house in the city. How can this Yellow Wolf still want to cooperate with us?" Feuerbach immediately said, "Sir, I think there may be something fishy going on here."

"What are you saying? It's as if we are not even worth using!"

"Isn't that so..."

"Who said that! No matter how useless I am, I still hold the title of city lord!" Fran said, "I think Huang Silang is probably trying to use the name of city lord to come up with excuses to win over the gentry and get them to pay taxes and donations."

"Ah? To win over the gentry? To pay taxes and donations? What good will increasing taxes and levies do for them? Do they think they have too much money and want to hand it over?"

"This is what you don't understand!! Because paying taxes is a way for them to make money!"

“Paying taxes can also be a means of making money? I thought they would just try every possible way to avoid paying taxes.

"Not only did they pay, but they also paid very actively. Because only when they paid, the people would follow suit!" Fran explained: "Then their money will be returned in full, and the people's money will be divided 30% and 70%."

"How come we have only achieved 70% of the goal after all our hard work?"

"Seventy percent belongs to others. Whether I can get thirty percent depends on my performance at the banquet." Fran said.

"This... aren't we now begging on our knees?" Catherine said somewhat dissatisfied.

"Alas... Being a city lord means begging on your knees." Fulan sighed. "This is the traditional routine of Huang Silang and his gang! First, they use various methods to force the city lord to cooperate, and then they join forces with the city lord to make money. When people are dissatisfied, they will jump up and petition for the people to drive the city lord away. When the people see that the city lord is gone,

Naturally, there will be no more trouble. "

These were not made up by Fran herself, but were written in the information of the previous city lord. He also wrote down all the ways that Huang Silang made money, and marked how much of the share he would get.

Although the previous city lord borrowed all the money he could before leaving, he at least left something for Fran.

In this way, Huang Silang and his men could earn money and gain a good reputation, and all the blame would be borne by the city lord. It was a highly profitable business!

The city lord changes, but the nine major families remain unchanged.

"But the previous city lords weren't stupid. Did they just cooperate with Huang Silang so obediently?" Catherine raised her own question: "Use their own reputation to make money for the nine major families?"

"They have no other choice but to cooperate." Fran said, "Besides, those who are sent here to be city lords are all excluded and looked down upon in the demon world. What's the use of reputation to them? Every penny counts. With money, they can go to the upper levels to make arrangements and leave as soon as possible.

This sea of ​​suffering."

"Hmph! No wonder the loyalty of Orila City to the Kingdom of Ashes continues to decline! With a city lord like this, it would be a problem if it could increase!" said Catherine.

"Alas, you can't blame these city lords. Everyone has to make a living! The higher-ups gave you the most difficult fiefdom and didn't even give you any support! Everyone would choose to work for their own interests! If Beelzebub hadn't suddenly come up with the strongest lord this time, I would definitely cooperate with Huang Silang without hesitation!" Fran

He said, "They have exiled me here! So I must do my best to benefit myself!"

Afterwards, Fran personally wrote a letter back to Huang Silang, saying that she would definitely keep the appointment and that she was looking forward to working with Huang Silang.

With this reply letter, Huang Silang and the major families should not cause trouble to me in the short term.

This finally gave Fran some time to breathe, and she had to take advantage of this time to develop her own power.

She first gave Feuerbach a valuable sum of money and asked him to go out and build his own intelligence system. Of course, this intelligence system does not need to be very good, it only needs to be able to find out about daily affairs, and then further refine it when the time is right.

At the same time, she also asked Feuerbach to find as many forces as possible that were at odds with the nine major families.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The nine families were so powerful in Orila City that they had many enemies. I was new here and was on high alert. What I lacked most was such an ally.

Chapter 8: Saint

Money! Money! Money!

Everything costs money!

These past two days, Fran was almost driven crazy by the money.

It takes money to repair the City Lord's Mansion, it takes money to develop your own power, and it takes money to treat people!

But making money is not that easy. Fran worked hard in the demon world for five years, and only saved up 10,000 magic crystal coins. But this amount of money was too little to spend. It was drastically reduced within a few days after she came to Orila City, not to mention the 300,000 yuan debt she still owed.

Originally, the way that Fran was good at making money was nothing more than hoarding and reselling, packaging various financial derivatives, and making money out of nothing.

But in Orila City, these methods seemed to be of little use for the time being. After all, her identity here was too bad, and no one believed in her. Moreover, all the major chambers of commerce and various commodities here were occupied by the nine major families, and they obviously would not let Fran do whatever she wanted.

If anyone wants to do something reckless, they should be the ones to do it.

Moreover, these money-making methods are too detrimental to one's character. In the Kingdom of Ashes, she had no scruples and could do whatever she wanted. But he wanted to gain a foothold in Orila City and develop in the long run, so he couldn't drain the people's trust all at once.

After trying all kinds of methods without any results, Fran had to change her thinking.

Since he was at a loss in Orila City, why not focus on other places?

For example, the old neighbor of Orila City, the capital of the Holy Roll Empire, Vienna City.

As a native human, it would be easy for him to get into the human world, so why not just take advantage of this? And the wealth of the human world is obviously not comparable to the underground city of Aurora.

Thinking of this, Fran immediately set off for Vienna to see if there was anything there worth making money for.

Considering that this time the main purpose is to investigate the local customs and find ways to make money (cheating) in Vienna, and no force is needed, Fran plans to go alone to prevent the monsters under her from missing out on strange religions.

As for her personal safety. Although Fran is not known for her strength, she has fallen into the dark nun after all. In addition, the demon world respects strength, and there is a martial spirit among everyone, which also makes Fran's strength rise.

Now she has broken through to the sixth level of Dark Nun, and is barely considered a second-rate master in all planes. She is several levels higher than her former best friend Christina. If she encounters the goblin nest that captured her before, even ten of them would not be enough for her to wipe out.

With such strength, as long as he doesn't go crazy and provoke masters, he will have no problem protecting himself.

Finally, she asked the vampire girl who was similar in size to her to wear her clothes and pretend to be her to stay in the mansion, and walk around the door for the spies of the nine major families who were guarding outside to see her. This would paralyze the local tyrants in Orila City.

After leaving Orila City, Fran rode her horse all the way and arrived in Vienna in just three or four days.

From a distance, Vienna is full of artistic atmosphere, and it looks particularly beautiful under the reflection of the morning sun. The golden domes, the jade-like buildings, the wide roads and narrow alleys are bustling with people.

In comparison, the castle where Beelzebub lived was just a pile of rocks, not even qualified to be called a city!

When Fran entered the city, she was immediately attracted by the prosperity of the city! In the Kingdom of Ashes, the most prosperous place only had a few shops, and two old monsters with stern faces and little shouting. This disappointed Fran, who always loved the hustle and bustle.

Is this considered a market? The shops in the cemetery are more lively than this.

The sudden appearance of this in the bustling and noisy city of Vienna made Fran forget the purpose of coming here completely. Not long after, she was having a candied haws in her left hand and a sweet cake in her right hand, having a lot of fun.

But soon, she was attracted by a group of boys and girls in the distance who were wearing luxurious clothes and holding flowers.

"Eh? Is there any large-scale celebration today?" Fran thought as she headed in that direction.

The King's Road, the widest avenue in Vienna, was now completely blocked by the crowd. Citizens of all kinds were pushed to the sides by soldiers who were maintaining order. But their enthusiasm remained undiminished, and they held flowers and cheered for something.

Fran wanted to go and find out what was going on, but she was not tall enough. No matter how she tiptoed or jumped, she could not see what was happening on King's Avenue.

She had no choice but to ask passers-by around her. After asking, she found out that today was the birthday of the Holy Raul Empire's state religion, the Shinra Church.

"Damn it! I used to be an orthodox priest of the Shinra Church! How could I forget such an important day?"

Fran remembered that the Shinra Cult would hold a grand birthday celebration every year, and then pull out the long-hidden Shinra Cult Saint to show off, in order to attract some popularity or something.

In the year she was captured by the goblins, the Holy Maiden of the Shinra Church was already nearly thirty years old, which was considered quite old.

Five years have passed and the Shinra Church should have a new Saint, but I don't know what the new Saint looks like. You know, the Saint is one of the most important figures of the Shinra Church, and she is the one who directly serves the gods, so every generation of Saints is stunningly beautiful.

Fran became more and more curious, but her height was too short for her, so she had to quietly use her strength to jump onto the roof of a house on King's Avenue and look down from above.

In this way, she finally got a glimpse of the entire King's Road.

On the broad King's Avenue, row after row of clergymen in their best attire marched forward, surrounded by a circle of nuns who continuously threw flower petals from baskets, filling the air with fragrance.

The procession will escort the saint all the way until they reach the largest church in Vienna, the Golden Dome.

In front of the Golden Dome Hall, the Saint will pray with all the believers to the Twelve Pillars of the Shinra Religion, blessing the Holy Roll Empire with eternal glory, and by the way, fill up the merit box afterwards.

Fran walked along the rooftops on both sides of King's Avenue and finally caught up with the parade.

Standing at the front of the team was the Holy Maiden of the Shinra Church. She was wearing a long dress, with more than a dozen maids behind her holding up the hem of her skirt. From a distance, she looked like a phoenix spreading its wings ready to fly.

"It seems that the prestige of this Saint is very high." Looking at the crowd below cheering enthusiastically for the Saint, Fran couldn't help but mutter to herself.

The Saint of the Shinra Church has no real power, she is just a vase that appears in religious ceremonies. In addition, she has always been a simple person, so the public does not know much about her. Even without this dress, people can't even recognize who the Saint is!

But this rule does not seem to apply to the current saint. Wherever she goes, countless boys and girls compete to admire her. Even the soldiers on both sides who maintain law and order will subconsciously lower their heads or even half-kneel to pray when they see her again.

Such popularity has obviously far surpassed any previous saint.

This made Fran marvel. The Saint had very few opportunities to interact with believers. How could she accumulate such high popularity just by celebrating her birthday?

What kind of magic power does the current saint have? Does she look like a deity descended from heaven? Or did she simply use some kind of enchanting method?

Fran became more and more curious about the current saint, so she kept jumping and shuttling between the roofs, getting closer and closer to King's Avenue.

However, when she finally got a glimpse of the saint's beauty, Fran almost fell off the roof.

It wasn't because the Saint looked shocking, but because this Saint actually...

It turned out to be her long-lost good sister - Christina!

How can this be?!

Isn't Christina a holy warrior? How did she suddenly become a saint?

This world is too crazy.

Chapter 9: Night Shift Inn

Under Fran's stunned gaze, Christina came to the front of the Golden Dome Cathedral and walked slowly upwards on the tall bluestone slabs.

With every step she took, a hint of holiness appeared on the stone steps of the church. When she reached the top, the surroundings were already brightly lit, as if a miracle had occurred. The people around her knelt on the ground while shouting the saint's name.

This light is of course not a true miracle, but a magic circle carved on a stone slab early in the morning, and then lit up again and again by a special person!

This effect can only fool ordinary people at best, but it must be said that such a trick is very suitable for ordinary people. They just thought it was the appearance of the twelve pillars of gods, and soon the whole venue was filled with Christina's name.

Amid the cheers of the crowd, Christina clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and led everyone in praying to the Twelve Pillars of God.