Chapter Eighty-Five

Is there really such a good thing? Qin Le stroked his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face.

According to the think tank’s statistics, the Green Ghost Calamity had caused over a hundred thousand casualties, and that was with most people having received the Hunter Guild’s warnings and fleeing in advance. Had it erupted without any sign, half of the Eastern Territory would have been left desolate.

Wherever the Green Ghosts passed, not even vegetable roots remained, let alone human lives.

It seemed that the flood of refugees had now become a burden, and these lords sought to direct them here, hoping to overwhelm us.

“Just like Middle Eastern refugees and the EU in my previous life. Unfortunately for them, we are not the EU.” A cold glint flashed in Qin Le’s eyes as he said to Count Daina, “Sit down. Tell me the details.”

Outside, Fishhead entered quietly with a notebook, taking a seat on the sofa and preparing to take notes.

“Yes, sir.” Count Daina sat opposite Qin Le, cleared his throat, and began, “After all the nobles left the royal capital, they did not return directly to their lands. Instead, under Grand Duke Carter’s guidance, they held a secret meeting.”

“Following your instructions, I leaked a great deal of information about you to them, gaining their trust and joining the meeting.”

In this world, the great nobles possessed extraordinary powers. Xuanlu was not foolish enough to regard them as mere natives; on the contrary, he treated them with the utmost caution. But lacking proper channels, he was unable to gather intelligence.

Thus, Xuanlu needed a spy, and Count Daina was that spy. Xuanlu provided all sorts of aid, helping him integrate into the circle of great nobles as a double agent.

As for whether the count would act as a double, or even triple agent, Xuanlu cared little. The information he could access was harmless in itself. Even having Count Daina leak it to the great nobles served as a deterrent.

Whether he acted as a spy for them or for Xuanlu, the result was the same: everyone was a piece on Xuanlu’s chessboard, manipulated by the calculations of black-hearted rabbits.

“After much discussion, they devised a truly vicious scheme: to use the refugees to bring down your territory,” Count Daina recounted the meeting.

The entire Eastern Territory was now facing a massive problem: the refugees created by the Green Ghost Calamity had become a burden on every lord’s domain.

On their desperate journeys, these people died in waves, and every day thousands more perished from disease, cold, or hunger. Yet over a hundred thousand still huddled in the cities of the great territories.

Those refugees gathered near the base were the most fortunate; at least Xuanlu was willing to provide them with enough food to keep them alive. The other lords were not so kind. If they could, the nobles would slaughter the lot of these wretches to keep them off their lands.

However, the Hunter Guild would never allow it, nor would the kingdom. Forcing masses of refugees into the wild to die and leaving their corpses unattended would bring about horrors unspeakable.

They could die anywhere, but it had to be within the nobles’ sight.

Thus, the cities of the Eastern lords were now overflowing with refugees, bringing with them all manner of troubles, not least public order.

There were three ways to deal with the refugees. The first was wholesale slaughter, but that would bring retribution from all sides.

The second was to help them rebuild their homes—the most reasonable solution, but in practice, no one was willing. Aside from Daina’s domain, the disaster-stricken people of the other lands were all freemen, not the lords’ property. Freemen, a polite term; in truth, they were frontier settlers driven out by the kingdom to reclaim wasteland.

Helping them rebuild was a thankless task. Even if they were willing to become property, the lords had no interest—rebuilding was too costly, and the yield too meager to be worth the trouble.

Thus arose the third method: send all the refugees to the Duke of the East. This spared their own grain and might even topple this upstart duke.

Perhaps it would destroy the Duke of the East and the Ninth Princess’s little village. With over a hundred thousand people pouring in, they would devour the land bare.

Most importantly, they could claim innocence—the refugees chose this themselves, and the lords only offered them food out of charity for their journey.

Two birds, one stone!

“If nothing unforeseen occurs, the other two counts in the Eastern Territory have already begun to spread the word that your lands are a haven for all, promising refugees rations for the journey, and even using Princess Olina’s reputation.”

The common people weren’t fools; empty promises wouldn’t sway them. But if the lords truly provided rations, most would cling to that sliver of hope and set out. Hope, however slim, was better than waiting to die.

And Princess Olina was famed for loving her people as her own children—surely she would take them in.

“These bastards!” Olina cursed in fury.

Not only did they refuse to accept their own people, but they sent them elsewhere. Truly, all nobles were cut from the same cloth. The Red Book was right; nobles were nothing but cannibalistic fiends, rotten to the core.

A mocking smile played across Qin Le’s lips. “Heh, the so-called fiends have become the last shield for the people. How ironic.”

If not for the fiends, most refugees would already be corpses.

The monsters feared by all had become the last protection for the people, restraining the upper class from treating the lower class too cruelly.

It was much the same with Xuanlu’s existence—nations were forced to improve the lot of the common folk, though Xuanlu and the fiends were fundamentally different.

“My lord, I suggest you issue a warning to them now. It might stop them,” Count Daina advised.

“If they ignore it, we’ll have cause to strike, even seize their assets to resettle the refugees.”

“No.” Qin Le shook his head, giving a reply beyond Count Daina’s expectations.

“Not only will we not stop them, we will cooperate. I’ll take in these hundreds of thousands of refugees.”

Take in hundreds of thousands? Count Daina’s face was full of disbelief. “But your territory isn’t large enough. Even if you emptied my entire domain’s resources, it wouldn’t be enough to feed them.”

Daina’s lands held barely a hundred thousand people. Even he couldn’t manage so many refugees, and that was a low estimate—the true number in all the Eastern Territory was even higher.

“At Xuanlu, we excel at making the impossible possible, just as everyone once thought Xuanlu would never endure,” Qin Le said, picking up Olina’s Red Book and gently sliding it across the table to Count Daina.

“Daina, you’ve neglected the greatest force in this world—a force capable of changing the very sun and moon.”

Count Daina looked at the black-haired man before him, and in those deep, shadowed eyes he glimpsed something that made his flesh crawl.

“Xuanlu will show you what the power of the people truly means.”