Chapter 916 - Highland City (1/2)

Chapter 916: Highland City

News about Rhode’s Void Territory was the hottest topic on the entire continent. No matter where one was located, one would hear every discussion about the new territory. Mercenaries were excited to go on an adventure there while merchants drooled at its wealthy resources. Ordinary people, especially the neighbors of Void Territory, explored the topic with great interest. This instantly swept the Munn Kingdom and Country of Light into the vortex of discussions.

“It’s true. You didn’t see just how big the sun is…!”

Inside a pub, a mercenary gesticulated and drew a huge circle with his arms.

“I’m not lying. It’s really that huge; much, much bigger than the sun above us. Besides, it seems like that territory is closer to the sky. I tell you; the moon over there envelopes half the sky! You would think that with a sun that huge, the territory must be burning, right? No! It isn’t hot at all. Besides, it is so cool that my friend who lives there told me that it feels like paradise! Any seed that he planted grew quickly in the fertile soil!”

“Wow!”

The crowd exclaimed in awe. They didn’t care how the mercenary knew so much because they couldn’t roam freely like mercenaries and these stories amazed them. But they looked forward to visiting that place after hearing the exciting details. To most people, the appearance of the Void Territory was more like another topic of idle conversation over a cup of tea.

However, to some people, it involved life and death.

***

“The ruler of the Void Territory requested that we surrender to him.”

The man put the letter away with a concerned look. He lifted his head and gazed at the elder, the city owner, on the other end of the table.

“Sir, I think we should consider it at length. No matter what, our Highland City is indeed under his dragon soul protection; we have no choice. As for the Light Parliament, I don’t think that they have the ability to fulfill their promise. Besides, this isn’t beneficial for us, isn’t it?”

“Rubbish!”

The elder glared at the man.

“Don’t be blinded by your greed. That so-called Void Territory is only a new territory, so what do you think the ruler can go against the Country of Light with? If you make a foolish decision, our people will suffer in our stead. Have you forgotten what happened to those guys? We can’t afford another hit like this!”

“Yes, Sir is right.”

“Compared to the Country of Light, this Void Territory is nothing. We are suddenly within his territorial control and all we need to do is to stay calm. If you can’t even achieve this, why are you even talking about leading the city?”

The man accepted the criticisms in silence while the elder shot him a look and knocked the hammer on the table.

“Alright, this settles it then. Don’t respond to the Void Territory for now. As for the emissaries from the Country of Light, we can appropriately reveal our bottom line to them, but don’t be too obvious, understood? Everyone… This is the most critical juncture for our Highland City; whether we will break away from this fate will all depend on this!”

The elder smashed the hammer once again, announcing the end of the meeting.

The man headed out of the hall helplessly and shortly after, several men approached him.

“How was it, Clive? What did the city owner say?”

“It didn’t work. Sir hopes to rely on the Light Parliament and he has a lot of supporters. It was impossible to convince him to change his thoughts…”

Clive shook his head hopelessly. Even as one of the city owner’s assistants, he didn’t agree with his idea. Highland City was originally a struggling city located by the borders of Order. They led hard and terrible lives, tolerating the pressures and exploitations from Country of Light. A large group of people including Clive could no longer tolerate such abuses, but they were at their wits’ end. As a city located by the border, Highland City couldn’t possess any strength to retaliate. Most of their foodstuffs came from the Country of Light—with heavy price tags. Although this region was located near the land of Chaos and the magical energy corroded the soil which produced several precious, resourceful mines, Highland City failed to become the next Soraka Mountain. On the contrary, they became a fleshy chunk of meat in the eyes of the merchants in the Country of Light. Instead of the mines bringing them benefits, they faced disasters instead. Many people in Highland City mined for a living, but their salaries were half of those of miners in other regions. Not only that, but the merchants from the Country of Light also didn’t pay them with full gold coins. Instead, they paid using gold coins plus foodstuff to make up the difference, and the foodstuff was all frozen!

Highland City rebelled against the tyranny of Country of Light in the past. The miners united and protested with hopes of receiving their rightful fairness and benefits. In the end, the protest demonstration evolved into a massive parade and even chased away several merchant representatives from the Country of Light.

But shortly after, the Light Parliament responded.

They categorized the protests in Highland City as riots and dispatched soldiers to repress the situation. Although the Country of Light’s army was indeed useless and would crumble in the face of any Undead Creatures now, they were still strong enough to take down the muscular, unarmed miners.