Who says the Magic Cyber ​​Police can't overthrow the Heavenly Gang?

Page 340

The association said they had no definite information about the Herod City ruins at the moment, and could only determine that the news had spread from Dragonhorn Territory, but they could not ascertain whether it was true or false.

I heard that a reporter from the London Daily News has rushed to the front lines, but I don't know when he will bring back the news.

In short, the association recommends that you go, but it's best not to go alone. If you must go, please bring along the tough and resilient Latis to ensure your safety among the many explorers.

"So in the end, I still have to trouble my older brother..."

Arterifus sighed softly. She knew that a hotly debated topic like this would inevitably attract a large, mixed crowd. Unlike missions issued by the association alone, it would be difficult for one person to escape unscathed.

However, the information about the Herod City ruins has not yet been confirmed by eyewitnesses, so she still has some time before that.

"Whoa! get out of class is over, you guys hurry back and cook! I'm going to the market on the east side, the morning market is almost over, I can pick up some cheap vegetables!"

The noise from nearby brought Artemis back to her senses. Her ears twitched, and she looked up curiously, suddenly realizing that it was the end of the morning classes at Green Vine Academy, which was located near the Mage Association. So she had just run into the students leaving school at noon.

She stepped aside slightly to let the running students pass.

"It seems many of the children at Qing Teng Academy come from impoverished families..."

Artemis looked up at the sky shrouded in magical clouds and sighed softly.

However, she had also heard that the principal of Qing Teng Academy had a tough time. The learning materials were subsidized by the principal himself to those who were too poor. Those who could not afford to rent off-campus could live on campus for free for a few months until they found a part-time shop or a mage tower off-campus that provided room and board.

The high-ranking mages in Lundia are indeed all very responsible; it truly lives up to its reputation as the capital of magic.

"...Eh?! Is that you? Sir, the ferryman?"

A somewhat familiar voice suddenly rang out in front of her. Ateliers lowered her head, looked at the girl with dark red hair in front of her, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, and asked:

"Honglit?"

"Wow! It really is you!" The red-haired girl jumped up in surprise upon receiving a response. She couldn't help but cover her cheeks and exclaimed excitedly, "Your Excellency, you are so handsome!"

"Eek..." Arterifus instinctively took a half step back, quickly pulled up her hood, and said, "Goulette, what are you saying!"

"what!"

Hong Litt quickly covered her mouth, only then realizing that she had been a little carried away in her excitement. She gave an awkward dry laugh and mumbled, "I'm sorry, Your Excellency..."

"Hey, Hong Litt, what are you still doing here! Weren't you supposed to go buy groceries before the morning market closes?"

A shouting boy stopped abruptly beside Red Pete, patted her on the shoulder, and asked:

"If you don't hurry up now, you'll miss dinner with us!"

"Okay, I understand! You guys go back first, don't wait for me at noon!"

Hongli hurriedly shoved the bewildered boy away, then walked sheepishly to the side of the road, scratching her head as she said to Artemis:

"Um, Your Excellency the extradition officer..."

"Are those your companions?" Arterifus asked curiously, watching a group of young students running past.

"Ah, yes..."

After the initial excitement subsided, a sense of awe for Ateliers gradually returned. Gwyneth instinctively shrank back, inching closer to the half-elf, and whispered an explanation:

"We're all in the same class, and the ten of us rented a cheap mage tower together. We can cook inside, but we have to take care of the magical plants and clean up every day. Overall, though, the conditions are pretty good, except the sleeping area is a bit small..."

"I see."

Artemis nodded, smiled at Redlit, and asked, "What about those children who were extradited with you before? Are they doing well now?"

"Hmm, it's them!"

Hong Litt's expression darkened, and she sighed softly, saying:

"Two of them had such low magical aptitude that they left Lundia. I heard they plan to find work in Crown Stake City or Hard Stem City, but they're not going back to Dragonhorn Territory."

“Hmm…” Artemis’s ear tips drooped slightly.

"Three or four of them did get into Qing Teng Academy, but they don't have enough savings for food, so they have to put their studies on hold for a while and work full-time in the outer city... I heard that in a few months, as winter approaches, the school will have a winter break, and I don't know if they will be able to attend classes then..."

“I see…” Artemis’s brows furrowed.

"Two or three others have entered the Bogu Academy, but I heard that the theoretical knowledge is too heavy, and I haven't seen them for several days."

“Is that so…” Artemis breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"As for the remaining dozen or so, they haven't passed the entrance exam yet, but they've only gone through two rounds of entrance exams so far. They still have a chance before their savings run out."

Artemis paused for a moment, then let out a long sigh.

……

Two minutes later, Red Lily hurriedly left again. Although the half-elf had given her some magic-rich Epperfruit, Red Lily insisted that she couldn't waste the leftovers from the end of the early gathering.

This time, at Hong Litt's request, Arterifus gave her the address of the Mage Territory. Seeing that these children were not doing well, Arterifus ultimately wanted to take care of them within her ability.

I can just stay up all night and make more magic scrolls.

The half-elf shook his head, intending to go home, when suddenly a short young woman appeared in front of him. She was wearing a simple black robe and no accessories, looking quite unkempt.

"Are you the one who extradited that child to Londia?"

The young woman looked up at the slender half-elf, opened her mouth to reveal two sharp canine teeth, and asked very politely:

"My name is Walmart. Can we talk for a bit?"

Chapter 342 The Troubles of the Queen's Academy

"Autumn and winter are approaching, and a new batch of grain exports is imminent, yet Janium insists on raising tariffs..."

Zerris rubbed his temples, glancing at the documents in his hand as he walked toward the principal's office.

Senhai Territory has abundant grain production, which not only supplies the cities within the Kingdom of Norard and goes into the grain reserves, but also leaves surplus for export.

However, the costs of exporting goods were not low, and the Janium people always used goldhouses for settlement, which meant deducting some of the losses from currency exchange rate fluctuations. Although having foreign exchange was certainly a good thing, the goldhouses had an extremely high inflation rate in Janium, and merchants were unwilling to hold Janium currency.

In short, if tariffs are increased further, merchants will inevitably drive down the purchase price for farmers in Senhai Territory. In addition to earning less, the conflict between farmers and merchants within the territory will also become a problem.

Long ago, Zerris thought that diplomacy was just diplomacy, and that everything would be resolved at the negotiating table and on local battlefields. However, this is not the case.

Leaving aside the Kingdom of Norard, the problems within the United Nations of Janium itself were even greater. Janium was certainly short of food, but as a country composed of federal autonomous states, the interests of the border states and the inner states were not aligned. Therefore, even if the civilians in the inner states wanted to import food, the outermost states would extract enough from this business to satisfy their own interests before handing over the food market to their own "illegal merchant clubs" for regulation and sale.

Not to mention that Yanium was a highly theocratic state, with dozens of gods occupying certain territories in various places and having conflicts of interest with each other.

So diplomacy isn't just about negotiating at the table...

Zerris closed the document in his hand with a headache and sighed.

He did indeed believe that Latis was a powerful figure who could influence the diplomatic situation, but waiting for Latis to mature was a rather difficult time.

"If that kid grows up, he might actually be able to clean up this mess..."

Zerris shook his head. He was only fantasizing for the time being and did not place all his hopes on Latis. In the end, in his mind, Latis was still a greenhorn. The messy affairs of the Kingdom of Norard alone were enough for Latis to study for a long time.

Worrying about these issues every year, Zerris feels his hairline is receding a bit. He initially thought he was just dealing with negotiators, but it turns out he has been negotiating with various groups in his own country for many years before the formal negotiations even began.

He couldn't help but think of Milut again.

This young lady from the capital, who was originally just an ordinary noblewoman who followed her family on trade, transformed into a top-notch diplomat after traveling with him to a foreign land.

In retrospect, without her promotion of cultural exchange among various ethnic groups, the Kingdom of Norard would most likely have been unable to peacefully accommodate those foreign tribes within its territory during its expansion. These foreign tribes would certainly not have stood idly by and watched their homeland be incorporated into another country's territory. In the early years, it was a time when the previous king was ambitious in expanding his territory and when foreign tribes were prosperous. Without these efforts, who knows how much blood would have been shed.

In the end, the former king only engaged in localized battles with individual human lords, respecting the autonomy of the other races. The other races did not interfere in the power struggles among humans, and after the situation settled, they smoothly integrated into the new nation.

Perhaps this is the meaning of her career.

After Milut disappeared, her magic mentor, Zerris, unknowingly embarked on the same path as her, but to this day, he can no longer remember why he did it.

Perhaps it was a secret longing that the penniless monk had for the radiant and extraordinary young lady from the capital.

Zerris sighed and pushed open the door to the principal's office.

"...I've said it before, the affairs of the capital are not my concern. I have already taken root in Lundia on behalf of the interests of the capital. The capital is not my home, this is!"

Boom!

A heavy communicator slammed down in front of Zerris. He paused, bent down to pick it up, and looked at Principal Richman, who was facing the window and his chest heaving violently, and asked:

"What's going on?"

Rickman paused, turned to look at Zerris, who was putting the communicator back on his desk, and after a long while, smiled wryly:

"...It's nothing. Sometimes I really envy you for being able to come and go as you please."

"Come on, it's just a bunch of old, trivial matters."

Zerris adjusted his sunglasses, tossed the documents in his hand into the other half of the principal's office, the one he and Richman had "separated," then plopped down in a guest chair, casually placing his legs on the desk, and asked:

"Tell me if you want, or don't."

Richman sighed and tidied his messy hair, then sat back down. He frowned at Zerris's utterly rude behavior, too lazy to bother with him, and simply muttered:

"When did you become interested in prying into other people's private affairs?"

"Hey, what are you saying? We've been under the same roof and tormenting each other for so many years, why are you making all these 'oh ah oh oh eh eh' sounds when I ask you a question?" Zerris laughed heartily and continued:

"What, is your family pressuring you to go back home for blind dates and have children?"

"..."

Richman paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and explained seriously:

"I'm single because I'm focused on my career, not because no one likes me!"

"Why are you telling me this? I'm not your father." Zerris stroked his chin, pretended to think for a few seconds, and then laughed. "Of course, it's not impossible if you want to."

"Fuck you, get out of here!"

Richman couldn't help but curse and give the middle finger, then slumped back in his chair, let out a long sigh, hesitated for a moment, and said:

"As you know, I came here when this academy was still called King's Academy and was still very small. At that time, the territory of the Kingdom of Norard had not yet encompassed the entire Senhai Territory."

“At that time, the kingdom needed talent, and Lundia was the place with the most talent. A group of old friends and I came to the King’s College to make it the most beneficial educational platform for the future of the kingdom.”

He loosened the bottom few buttons of his shirt vest, allowing his belly, which had grown somewhat with age, to relax.

"Government, internal affairs, and foreign affairs—these three areas are disciplines that we painstakingly summarized and organized. Even though the subject of foreign affairs was later handed over to you for overall planning and improvement, it can never erase the contributions of our group to the kingdom."

“However,” Richman said in a deep voice, a hint of anger on his face, “the aristocratic circles in the capital are really going too far. In the parliament, who doesn’t use the students we’ve trained to handle affairs? But they don’t give the students the treatment they deserve at all. The newly recruited nobles every year are completely occupied by the second and third generations of nobles in the capital.”

“Those ambitious young people from the local areas, the outstanding descendants carefully nurtured by the local lords, come to our academy to study, but ultimately waste their youth in the capital. If the internal affairs of the capital are not handled by the students of the academy, those nobles with brains full of shit can make the parliament's account books disappear from their skin in just two days!”

"...It's rare to see you so angry." Zerris put his leg down in surprise, straightened his back, and asked curiously, "So what kind of orders did the capital give you this time?"