Chapter 106: Chapter 105: The Despicable Outsider Dragon

November 14th, Tuesday;

Watched livestreams.

November 15th, Wednesday;

Watched livestreams.

November 16th, Thursday;

Figxin, oh Figxin! How could you have fallen so low! Have you forgotten your goal to overthrow the monarchy? You can’t keep sinking like this!

November 17th, Friday;

Watched livestreams.

Today’s livestream was Priest Andrei and Toto playing that torturous mountain-climbing game together.

But they were actually chained to each other.

Whoever messed up would pull the chain and make the other fall, and the stream wouldn’t end until they reached the summit.

They’re livestreaming geniuses.

They streamed all night, and I watched all night.

...

Figxin closed her diary, her expression grave. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

’What have I even done this past week?’

She was completely numb.

Ever since Zog arrived, it seemed like everyone had gotten busy.

Everyone except her and the rambunctious children.

Gelda had gone off to be a "trainee," another new word she’d never heard before.

She kept hearing new words these past couple of days.

Apparently, the goal was to train to become an outstanding idol.

They had arranged for Zor Elf music and dance instructors, acting coaches from the Shepherd’s Theater Troupe, and even teachers specifically for etiquette, deportment, and answering questions.

In short, her days were packed with classes. She would leave early, come back late, and fall asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

Zete Mage, having taken over many of Gelda’s former duties, was also swamped with work.

Thanks to the Zog Group’s mass hiring, nearly all the idle people in the city had been scooped up.

Public order had even improved; there hadn’t been a single incident of brawling recently.

Everyone was busy working and earning money, with no time to start conflicts that would require the Lord’s intervention.

So there was no need for the Lord to handle any conflicts.

And that was just with two assembly lines open. According to Zog, the plan for the first phase was twenty lines, and they had already started recruiting throughout the Northern Domain.

’What kind of "man-eating monsters" are these factories?’

But they had also destroyed the breeding ground for bandits at its very root.

Figxin used to worry that a new wave of bandits would gather as soon as one was dealt with.

But now, with a stable income of several Silver Coins a month, who would risk their life to become a bandit in the mountains?

However, Zog had given her all the game consoles released so far, as well as a Magic Vision Device, to help her pass the time.

Figxin had treasured them, playing day and night for several days straight. Then, in a sudden moment, she felt like the games weren’t that interesting anymore.

Even though there were still several games she hadn’t played, and their titles sounded tempting.

But... how should she put it?

’I’m tired. I don’t want to turn them on.’

Her life now consisted of training the guards in the morning, then slumping in the great hall listening to storytellers and watching Beastmen move things, just waiting for the evening livestreams.

The parts for the two assembly lines all came through the Teleportation Array in the castle, then were carried away piece by piece by the Beastmen.

Figxin had suggested moving the Teleportation Array elsewhere, since there was plenty of wasteland in the Northern Domain.

But Zog said that relocating a large Teleportation Array was a huge hassle, almost as much work as building a new one, and that it would add a significant sum to her debt.

She had compromised. If it had to be transported from the castle, then so be it.

’No problem, not a single complaint. At this critical juncture for the Northern Domain’s development, a useless Lord like me should make whatever small contribution I can.’

Winterfort, now unofficially known as the Twin Tower City mini-transfer station.

However, her decadent days weren’t even peaceful. The Doudou clone, theoretically responsible for her protection, had rapidly become the absolute leader of the rambunctious children.

And had successfully made all the children fans of *Mechanical Warrior*.

Whether they were interested before or not, Doudou had toys and was more than willing to give them out.

"Meditation Seal!" Doudou shouted a move at Benny.

"Ineffective!"

"What do you mean, ineffective? You’re already paralyzed."

"Because I’m the Snow Mastiff Hero, and the Snow Mastiff Hero is stronger than the Black Rhino Hero!"

"Nonsense! The Black Rhino Hero is stronger!"

...

Figxin watched blankly as the two roughhoused their way past her.

Once they started arguing about who was stronger, they would get trapped in a never-ending loop.

They would never convince each other, and it usually ended with them calling each other a "stan" of their preferred character and accusing the other of being stubborn.

Similarly, they had also argued about whether a lion or a tiger was stronger, or whether a wolf could beat a heavier dog...

’Is he really here to protect me?’ The thought of Doudou’s price tag made her heart bleed.

’Could this be the legendary protection money?’

Figxin took a sip of cola, hoping the bubbles would wash away her boredom.

’I really want to work.’

The only real work she had done recently was to visit the craftsmen who were about to start construction on the Ice and Snow Castle.

And that was last week.

People are probably just masochists. When they’re busy, they want to relax. When they’ve been idle for too long, they want to find something to do.

"My Lord," an Affairs Officer said, approaching Figxin’s side.

"What is it?"

"Several factory owners in the city have jointly filed a complaint against a despicable out-of-town Dragon."

"What!" Figxin shot up. Her role as Lord finally had a purpose.

"Quick, take me to them."

Since she was in the castle, Figxin wasn’t wearing armor. Instead, she was wearing a rare, rather formal outfit.

Anything a noble would call "formal" was always more complicated than one could imagine.

It was hard to tell whether the thing was a torture device or clothing. With the help of two attendants, Figxin struggled to change into it.

Honestly, it was harder to put on than armor and felt so tight she could barely breathe.

Once she was finally ready, she met the plaintiffs in the Lord’s court.

They were all influential merchants in the city.

They might not be considered particularly wealthy in Twin Tower City, but in the Northern Domain, they were local tycoons.

Now, every one of them wore a mournful expression, as if they had just lost their parents.

"The Dragon you’re accusing is...?" Figxin asked.

"My Lord, you must know. It’s the Sub-Dragon who is building a Factory outside the city."

’Okay, he is pretty despicable.’

Figxin silently agreed with the merchants’ way of referring to Zog.

One of the merchants, his fat hand adorned with eight rings, theatrically wiped away a tear and continued his lament.

"Can you imagine? He’s doing *that kind* of thing to the workers."

"*That kind*?" Figxin was a little curious. Although Zog was indeed despicable, he had always treated his employees well.

"He actually... only makes his workers work for eight hours."

"Huh?"

"I knew you wouldn’t be able to accept it either! And not only that, he gives his workers rotating days off. The most intolerable thing is that he pays them high wages.

"Our merchant guilds had already planned to pay the workers a monthly salary of only 60 Copper Coins. That’s just enough for them to live on, but not enough to do anything else.

"This is for the workers’ own good. If they can’t do anything else, they will devote themselves wholeheartedly to the development of the domain and help the Northern Domain prosper. We just want them to be more diligent. Suffer a little now, and their lives will be better in the future.

"But as soon as that despicable out-of-town Dragon arrived, he multiplied their wages several times over and even gave them days off! Isn’t this just breeding laziness?"

"And he’s making them learn to read!" another merchant added excitedly. "How terrifying! If they know too much, how can they be expected to work hard without complaint? This is a threat to the future of the Northern Domain!"

SLAP!

Figxin slammed her hand on the armrest. The merchants immediately fell silent, carefully observing her expression.

"If you can deal with this despicable Dragon, the few of us will certainly contribute a sum of money to the construction of the Northern Domain," one of the merchants said in an ambiguous tone.

Figxin suddenly smiled.

The merchants immediately started smiling too, all traces of their earlier misery gone.

Figxin gave them a "you know what I mean" look.

The merchants returned an "we understand" expression.

"Take me to that Factory. If the situation is as you say, I will see that justice is done," Figxin said decisively.