Chapter 1323 - 567: Heroes Made by the Times

Chapter 1323: Chapter 567: Heroes Made by the Times

PS: The previous Chapter was blocked due to some irresistible factors. I’ve revised it and reposted it, supplementing it to nearly six thousand words. If you’ve read it before, you don’t need to subscribe again. That’s all.

If Musillon is extremely lacking in the necessary population, then Emperor Carl Franz is troubled by how to alleviate the population pressure in Brunswick. Emperor Carl Franz finds that no matter how much relief grain he allocates, the refugees, evacuees, and beggars coming from all directions are always able to consume all the relief grains, and even after the relief food is distributed to the beggars, a part is taken away to offer to the "King of Beggars" and then passed down layer by layer. Many of the relief grains have ended up in the hands of the "King of Beggars", "Beggar Elder", and underground gangs.

However, the Emperor does not dare to stop distributing the relief grain. If he does, it will affect his image, and the city could easily riot. He can only try to provide as many job positions as possible to replace relief with work, but the more he does this, the more people pour into Brunswick. A dock worker gang has thousands of members, which is an unimaginable thing for Brittania.

In contrast, Nuer is colder towards the poor and refugees. The city is content with civic class autonomy and a wealthy lifestyle. The Nuer people’s life emphasizes sophistication and the pursuit of fashion. Whatever style of clothing, shoes, and jewelry Emmanuelle wears at the palace banquet the previous night will be crazily sought after by the civic class the next day. Nuer often refuses to accept so many people unless they have special skills.

"Nuer always shuts its doors to the mediocrities."

— Grand Marshal Nuer Erstein.

Nuer is ultimately just a city with a population of about fifteen to twenty thousand.

Compared to the proud and indifferent petty citizen character of the Nuer people, the nobility of Rick Territory, under the influence of history and culture, always tend to think, "Since our compatriots are suffering, I have an obligation to send troops to support them", "Since I’m so powerful, I should do something for the empire". Under the influence of this custom and culture, whenever any province of the empire is in trouble, the nobles of Rick Territory will loudly demand in the Emperor’s court to send troops to support the imperial compatriots. Emperor Carl Franz cannot, nor dare to refuse most of the migrants like Nuer does, as this would lead to the opposition of many nobles and loss of public support.

Rick people are like the proud and arrogant pearl of the empire. Under the rule of Emperor Carl Franz, this province is the most affluent, most cultured, and also the most arrogant. The only one who can compare with them are the Nuer people.

In the eyes of the Rick people, joining the military and fighting is the shortcut to becoming a noble and getting rich. The increasingly inflated middle-class in recent years is eager for war.

However, at the same time, Rick people are also very arrogant and rude. Their control skills are notoriously strong. Rick people love loudly ignoring others’ opinions only to express their point of view, while many male nobles from other provinces find their wives attracted by the playboys of Rick. They are furious about this, yet amusingly, these male nobles from other provinces also aspire to marry a Rick female noble, as their beauty and arrogance are famous in the Old World.

If a "country noble" could marry a Rick female noble, that would be enough to make their face shine and boast in various private banquets for decades.

Just like Laine married Surya. Maybe it’s not that Laine isn’t worthy, but marrying a Duke’s Daughter is big news in the Old World. If Laine attended a banquet in the empire, many nobles would gather around him, asking him to share experiences and tell stories.

"Next year? I want to go to the empire with you too, good friend." The Temple Knight Alfred raised his head from his plate. This Temple Knight had previously been lowering his head, desperately using his only usable arm to eat, using both a knife and fork, making him very clumsy, leaving him no time to talk: "Good friend, take me with you. I happen to go to the Church’s headquarters to report. You’ve now granted me such a large piece of land. I’m planning to write to Archbishop Vicma, asking him to send more Paladins and Ascetic Monks here."

"Hmm, that’s a good idea. Oh, by the way, Afu, do you know why it’s two thousand Gold Crowns?" Laine grinned slyly.

"Two thousand?" Alfred paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered something, his face flushed and he whispered: "Ah, yes, exactly two thousand, that was exactly her requirement back then."

"So?" Laine looked playfully at his childhood companion, as if hinting at something.

Now Laine is thirty-four years old, and Alfred is thirty-three years old. Both can no longer be considered young; they are now middle-aged, in the prime and peak of their lives.

In the Old World, there’s always been a saying: "Grass twenty, silver thirty, gold forty", meaning twenty-year-old men are worthless, such goods are everywhere; thirty-year-old men have reached the crossroads of life, if they are still achieving nothing at this time, they won’t accomplish much for life; if they are already gaining a bit of fame, then the future is very promising; while forty-year-old men are entering their life’s peak age.

(Why it’s forty, I won’t analyze it here, lest someone says I’m padding the word count.)