After leaving Montphera, the Funeral Agency repeatedly swapped their modes of transportation until they arrived safe and sound at their destination, Fedela.

Ashe had initially assumed Annan would have local contacts here. After all, by this point, they had offended nearly every faction in the Gospel Kingdom except for the goblins. If no one was waiting to receive them, whatever greeted them next would either be a bullet or a betrayal.

However, according to Annan, "This is a city where you can offend the entire world and still hide safely."

And she wasn't lying.

Fedela was the one region where the power of the Gospel was at its weakest. It wasn't some kind of anti-sorcery zone where the Gospel simply failed to function. The reason was far simpler. The people here were too poor to afford listening to it.

Listening to the Gospel required Gospel Points, and the sole source of those points was to earn a place on the rankings. While geniuses could climb the ranks on their own merit, ordinary people relied entirely on piggybacking on city and collective rankings. In those systems, cities distributed points to all citizens, and corporations shared them with employees.

But there was a catch. The ranking quotas were strictly limited. Naturally, some cities and enterprises were bound to miss the cut.

Azura, Vanmura, and Montphera were all top-tier hubs. Because their cities and corporations consistently raked in massive amounts of points every year, they could reinvest that wealth back into production. This created an insurmountable, irreversible first-mover advantage. One after another, they rapidly modernized and built up thriving second-layered cities.

Fedela, on the other hand, was a mere background character that failed to make any list. Its greatest purpose was to serve as a foil, highlighting just how excellent the ranked cities truly were.

What, you're asking why such a backward city doesn't try harder to catch up and become a model civilized society? That's like...