Chapter 209: The Race

The carriage team rushed through the ruins and quickly headed for the square in front of the City Hall. Although George did not have the spirit of passing his own home three times without entering, at this time, government affairs really had to come first!

“Bang!” The car door was opened quickly, and then George jumped down from the carriage in one step and walked straight toward the main gate of the City Hall.

On the south side of the square, shops stood one after another. The arcades formed rows of three-person-wide paths that could shelter pedestrians from wind and rain, just like crosswalks from his past life.

The semi-circular arches and the nearby Doric marble columns seemed to divide the inside and outside into two different worlds while bearing the weight.

Glass-shaded oil lamps hung on the marble columns. The old-fashioned wooden grid windows were paired with heavy, solid walnut doors carved with patterns, featuring deep yellow copper door knockers. The speckled verdigris made them look full of ancient charm.

The dim hanging chandeliers, which should have been lit even during the day, shone on the deep and mysterious great hall. The smell of age spread between the corridors and alleyways. Paired with the bluestone paving stones, this gave people a deep and introverted feeling.

This was the office location in Bolerum Territory for several large Merchant Guilds whose influence spread across the entire Western Continent. Even the Temple of the Goddess of Wealth and Commerce and its seat were located here. These buildings were important places for their temporary office work, business negotiations, and information gathering.

Unlike those new commercial organizations that valued and loved to decorate their bases in magnificent splendor, they appeared more introverted, as if deliberately showing off their depth and foundation to distinguish themselves from the upstarts in their eyes.

It was precisely because the other party’s power and strength were quite good that they were able to occupy more than a quarter of the area among the buildings on the edge of the entire square.

Poitou was not exactly land worth a fortune, but the land prices in the city center were not cheap either. Besides, some things could not be solved just by having money.

Behind these large Merchant Guilds, there were more or less connections with the mainstream religions that spread across the entire Continent. They were themselves huge financial organizations. They influenced the clothing, food, housing, and transportation of many people, and the circulation of bulk commodities was often in their grasp. Although due to the political system of the Western Continent, they could not directly participate in politics in most places, their influence was absolutely not small.

According to Knight Val, the place where he fought with the Colorful Prince was located to the north of where the City Hall was. Although no exact reason was obtained, it seemed that during the attack, the Church of the God of Chromatic Dragons had deliberately planned to avoid those Merchant Guilds.

However, even the aftereffects of the battle caused all glass items there to be in a seriously damaged state. But during the long time from the end of the battle until George returned to the territory, it was enough for them to make these small items look brand new.

The only thing that still had problems was the large ceiling fixtures. Such specially customized items, once broken, were often difficult to find replacements for in a short time. Those high-standard Merchant Guilds also had their own pride and would never use inferior goods to make up the numbers. This made the halls today appear gloomier than usual.

However, this did not seem to affect the normal operation of the Merchant Guilds. The biggest difference was that the two unarmed guards who originally stood at the entrance had now become four warriors holding sharp blades. Even at a distance of nearly fifteen meters, George could feel the faint killing intent and smell of blood emanating from those warriors.

Although they were not experts, they were real people who had seen blood. It seemed that during the chaos that just happened, these Merchant Guilds must have also been impacted, and there was an eight-in-ten chance that they had suffered some losses. Otherwise, given their nature of greeting guests with a smile, they would never leave these fierce-looking figures standing at the door.

Even the original burly guards, whose faces were either handsome or at least honest and simple, were now temporarily pulled in to stabilize the scene. These people might have originally been guards for the caravans.

The situation at the City Hall side did not look much better either. The scattered decorations on the three-story small building hung loosely here and there, looking like a little girl who had just been bullied.

Fortunately, the overall impression of the City Hall had not changed too much. This was not only due to the overall design that stood tall and looked down, but also because of the stone columns that ran all the way down the exterior wall. The three-colored marble, with their luster reflecting each other, gave people a distinct and stable feeling. Plus, the simple and dim surroundings highlighted this building that represented the political center of the territory, as if it had a very solid foundation.

When this three-story small building was originally built, George’s ancestors probably did not consider this situation today! However, such a design gave people a special momentum, seeming to be closer to the Soviet-style style before he transmigrated.

Most importantly, the City Hall at this time was no longer the lazy and listless look it had before getting off work every day.

It was already sunset, and dusk was gradually fading. If it were an ordinary day, the civil officials inside would be doing their final summaries or cleanup work for their day’s work, more or less.

Not only had they lost their passion for work, doing mostly organizing and tidying tasks, but at this time, few outsiders entered or left the City Hall. The cold and quiet atmosphere, paired with the setting sun, gave a unique sense of laziness and tranquility. It was like a transition between the end of a busy work day and the arrival of a quiet restful night.

But today, the place was quite busy. The number of people coming and going was even greater than during the morning office hours of previous days. Moreover, these people were not limited to the civil officials of Bolerum Territory. They included the captains of the constabulary in the territory, the resident representatives of various Merchant Guilds, and even the arbitrators responsible for resolving neighborhood disputes on each street.

They came with worried faces and hopes hidden behind their eyes. After leaving the hall, although they were calmer, they still looked worried and confused. It seemed that the civil officials at the City Hall had not only given answers but also taken actual actions. However, from any aspect, it still seemed quite imperfect. Although it could temporarily soothe the emotions of the other party, it could not truly play a role in stabilizing the people’s hearts.

After George stepped into the City Hall, he saw that the spirit and energy of his officials seemed to change for no reason. They were as if they had found their backbone. At this time, George’s return set up a stabilizing pillar for these civil officials who were somewhat uneasy and could not bear to end their days.

Through their conversations in small groups and their talks with the petitioners before this, George learned that they were simply following the past disaster relief procedures. He wondered if it was because they were afraid of taking responsibility for a failed improvement. If George had not chosen to return to Poitou City after the previous attack but had continued his matchmaking tour, then by the time he received the news and rushed back, he would have definitely missed the best rescue time.

After George returned to his office, he found clear traces that it had been reorganized. One could imagine how great the impact of the battle between Knight Val and the Colorful Prince had been before. The reception room, which had not left a single piece of intact glass, could only be drafty or dark and gloomy for a while in the future.

George pulled out the chair that had scratches and chipped paint from collisions. Before his bottom could even get warm, Ives Barnett put a large stack of documents on the table in front of him.

“I’m sorry, my lord! We didn’t expect you to return so quickly. So the damaged furniture was not sent for repair immediately, and there was no time to replace them with other spare items for you.” Ives Barnett organized his words very carefully, fearing that George would find an excuse to lose his temper at him at this moment.

This view was still quite popular in this world. Subordinates often needed to take responsibility for superiors. Not only in daily work, but sometimes being thrown out to serve as a scapegoat or to quell public anger was also a common thing here. Although George was generally very kind in his dealings with people, always speaking the truth and never doing things without cause, nor ever blaming others, Ives Barnett dared not take this risk at this time.

This was because Bolerum Territory had suffered the most serious attack since its establishment. Although the losses were not the most severe in history, they were still quite heavy!

He knew that the Acting Lord in front of him, although not a person with a high and arrogant heart, had very grand ideals and ambitions. In the few years since George took over the management of the territory, just the reform regulations before and after reached a total of twenty-seven volumes. If it were just changing orders and doing things blindly, it would only show that the other party was a young man eager to show off.

However, after the implementation of these regulations, the situation of the territory could be said to be improving day by day. Even with some slight setbacks, George did not show any stubbornness because of his previous success. Instead, he humbly accepted the mistakes pointed out by others, carefully investigated the reasons for the failures, and finally revised and improved them. This series of performances was simply not like that of a young and impulsive boy.

Because of this, Ives Barnett was even more worried that George would lose his reason this time. Who could remain calm after knowing that their hard work over the years could be destroyed in one battle? The more shrewd a person was, the more likely they were to be overcome by anger after suffering such a blow.

In Ives Barnett’s opinion, at this time, if he just got scolded, it would be okay. But if he was blamed and lost his current position, then all his hard work over the years would be wasted.

It is said that a saint is selfless, a worthy person is self-forgetful, a good person puts public before private, and an ordinary person balances both. A villain puts self first, a rascal uses public for private gain, an evil person enriches themselves with public resources, and a criminal bends the law for private interests. Although Ives Barnett had never heard this saying, he was just an ordinary person with some talent. Sometimes, driven by his own ideals and desires, his behavior might make people think he was a good person.

Being an ordinary person, he naturally avoided harm and sought profit, and calculated personal gains and losses. George saw Ives Barnett’s performance and felt it was not right to blame him for it.

‘He is so careful, which is rare! It is better not to scold him too much. At this time, the most important thing is to stabilize the people’s hearts! If even his own officials are not stable, how can he expect them to help stabilize the current situation? Even the different people might have doubts and distrust of us if they see this situation!’ Having thought through many things, George made his initial decision on what to do next.

He did not even look at the documents in front of him. He looked up and said to the very serious clerk in front of him: “What are you apologizing for!”

Staring angrily was a unique little skill that George discovered when learning the Eastern Martial Arts. In fact, after obtaining the practice of this skill, he gave it a joking name: “Mighty Zhang Fei!”

It borrowed the story of Zhang Fei holding the water and breaking the bridge, showing an angry expression, holding a long spear horizontally, and roaring loudly: “I am Zhang Yide! Who dares to fight to the death!” This terrified Xiahou Jie and drove back Cao Cao’s million soldiers.

The description of the skill began like this: “You can intimidate your opponent before the battle starts, destroying their will to fight. Of course, they can do the same to you.”

Before the two sides start fighting, you can show your fighting intent once to an opponent within a range of up to 30 feet who notices you. Only creatures with normal or higher intelligence will be affected by this, and both sides must be able to see each other. You cannot show fighting intent to more than one creature in a single encounter.

In short, it is a skill that uses one’s own momentum to oppress the other party. However, this technique does not seem to be very perfect yet. At least in George’s opinion, the distance is too close. It can only show some effect during personal adventures, but it is hard to use on the battlefield!

So, the term “Mighty Zhang Fei!” contained George’s own expectations for such a skill. He hoped to develop and perfect it in the future so that one day he could make a great feat similar to Zhang Fei holding the water and breaking the bridge. However, in fact, as long as it could be comparable to the Dragon’s Dread of an adult Dragon, it would have quite a place to use on the battlefield.

According to the description, before starting the battle, your fighting intent—usually through coldly staring at the opponent. This behavior can be seen as a challenge and may produce three possible situations.

If the opponent gives up and does not even dare to look you in the eye, the opponent whose mind has been stolen will basically dare not strike first during the battle. Moreover, their attacks against the user will often become timid.

If the opponent is afraid but ignores the provocation, the user can continue to release their momentum to intimidate them. If this succeeds, the user can often completely suppress the enemy’s morale in the battle against this opponent.

However, if the opponent accepts it, then the user and the chosen opponent must compare their respective momentum. The winner in this contest will deal double the damage with half the effort against the loser, while the loser’s attacks against the winner will become as timid as if they had given up the challenge and had their momentum stolen. Of course, if the result is the same, neither side gains any benefit.

This can be said to be a technique that openly forces the opponent to only endure hard. At the same time, because it involves the mental level, if the opponent’s momentum is too strong, it might easily lead to a situation where one tries to steal a chicken but loses a rice measure. When using it, one must think carefully, but it is still a good move for bullying the weak.

But George found that this skill had a unique advantage, which was that any kind of momentum could be used within it. It was not limited to the use of killing intent on the battlefield. The just now attempt on Ives Barnett was a test. If successful, it would be quite good to use in negotiations or speeches in the future.

Judging from the current situation, it was still quite good. At least Ives Barnett was stunned at once. Taking this opportunity, George said: “You did not do anything wrong before, so why apologize. Is a tiny flaw in my supplies more important than the citizens buried under the rubble? As long as we can ensure that the documents and Contracts do not get lost, it doesn’t matter if I see a mess when I come back. There is not just one office location. Squeezing together with you is no big deal. It seems that the most important thing now is for you to have confidence in your decisions…”

Hearing these words, Ives Barnett’s eyes seemed to become much sharper: “I understand, my lord!”

“That’s right, you should have this look. Also, you immediately go and arrange for the soldiers in the territory to go clear the ruins. If the drills in the past few years go without problems, most of the Commoners buried inside might still survive. They are likely hiding in the built basements. However, with such large-scale collapses, the ventilation openings might also be blocked. If it is a bit later, it might be hard to say what will happen! Even if we have to work by torchlight at night, this matter must be completed today.” After listening for a while, George slapped the table and said, “Tell the soldiers that the profession they engage in is to protect everything in the territory. Now is the time they are needed. Their fellow citizens are waiting for them to save them under the rubble!”

“Yes! My lord.”

George picked up the pen and paper, writing something while emphasizing his point: “By the way, if there are not enough hands, you can spend money to hire the laborers of the Caravans still in the territory. I think those caravan leaders should give them the face. Do not be stingy with money. Now the most important thing is to lead more people to survive. We are now racing against the Grim Reaper. Every step faster is one step better. Do you understand?”

“Yes! My lord.” Ives Barnett answered with strong voice.

“Then go be busy now! I need to sort out my thoughts for the next steps.” George said, stroking his head with his left hand.

“Guaranteed to complete the task!” With these words, Ives Barnett turned and left the room.