As more and more people came to see Tales, in just one afternoon, good news about maritime trade, the market, debts, public order, noble affairs... came one after another.
The various industries and departments of Emerald City, which had once looked as though they were on the verge of death, had actually begun showing signs of gradual revival, much to D.D.'s amazement as he secretly pushed a food cart out from the kitchen to reward everyone.
"Emerald City was never really dead. More precisely, it faked its death to protect itself."
At dusk, the Prince saw off the last group of guests from the Grain Merchants' Guild and returned to his bedroom for a short rest. The little stupid lion standing guard outside the door—or, more precisely, Paul Bozdov—worked hard not to look at the steam rising from the food cart and explained coldly:
"How could you call that revival?"
"If they pretend to be dead for too long, they'll really die," Morgan said coldly from the other side, guarding the door to Jann's room. His eyes remained fixed on the food cart as he rubbed his empty stomach. "Once they get the chance, of course they'll stand up and revive as soon as possible."
"His Highness wanted to arrest the murderer and close the case, but suffered a minor setback at Miss Hilaire's hands," Guard Officer Komuto said more politely than the other two, with the air of a man speaking from experience. "The people—especially the officials at every level of Emerald City, and the powerful nobles and merchants—felt that His Highness must be furious. They feared that in a fit of anger, he might simply flip the table and smash the pot... So naturally, they had to try harder to put on a good performance..."
"But is that