L'Mera: I've Never Been This Dishonest in My Life. / The Nations of Terra: Who's Going to Make a Move on Leithanien First?

"Your Highness Theresia, I think your idea is rather dubious. As you've seen, our Banshee River Valley has basically developed with that Speaker funding us out of pocket."

"Although the textiles we sell fetch high prices, without the Speaker's help, no matter how skillfully we embroidered them, we could only sell them for a few silver coins."

"The telephone lines installed throughout the River Valley also cost an exceptionally large sum."

Lamian actually had no idea how much the telephone lines cost, but her main task now was to dissuade her best friend.

In reality, the manufacturing costs of the telephone lines really couldn't be considered cheap.

After all, only nobles could use them at present, and they had yet to become widespread.

The communications network Huang Cao had installed for the Banshee River Valley was indeed losing money.

The River Valley wasn't very large, and he didn't care about this small expense.

"Perhaps you could ask your kinsman to continue helping us. Maybe we could help the Speaker make some money?"

"After all, we're all Sarkaz, aren't we?"

Theresia still refused to give up. She tried to exchange sincerity for sincerity, but unfortunately, Lamian wasn't buying it.

This wasn't about helping Mr. Huang Cao make money. Wanting someone else to invest without any concrete plan wasn't mutual benefit in the slightest.

It was asking the other party to gamble in a game called bleeding them dry. Put nicely, it was called investment; put bluntly, it was sucking their blood.

Of course, Theresia's character was still worthy of trust. Lamian didn't believe her princess was truly that malicious. Perhaps she simply hadn't realized it.

But if the investment really succeeded in the future, then given Her Highness's good character, she would definitely make Mr. Huang Cao a fortune.

But what if it failed?

Given Kazdel's current ecological conditions, the odds of success were practically zero.

Lamian couldn't become that sinner. What if she damaged her relationship with Huang Cao...

79

Chapter 79 Lamian: I've never been this dishonest in my life.

But Theresia was extremely confident. She already had a very well-developed plan for the future, and was only lacking a little support from outside.

How should she put it? After these siblings matured, they had indeed made an indelible contribution to Kazdel's development in the original story.

At least they had prevented so many people from becoming completely displaced. They hadn't done badly, though they hadn't done especially well either.

The only flaw was that Theresia hadn't resolved the problem before the conflict fully erupted, which was why civil war broke out later.

Of course, the entire problem couldn't be blamed on her.

After all, the country truly couldn't find another suitable Demon King. In Kazdel's terrible environment, even the most capable person would need time to find their footing.

Lamian understood her best friend's ambitions very well, but no was still no.

She simply couldn't extend a telephone line to Victoria.

The telephone line Huang Cao had laid for her was one-way. At most, others could call Eden; they couldn't call Victoria.

However, calls from Victoria could reach the Banshee River Valley and Eden.

Although telephones now had numbers, Lamian didn't know Victoria's telephone number.

Even if she wanted to call, it would be impossible to get through unless she asked Warfarin to transfer the call again.

But wouldn't that make it easy to expose everything?

So it still wasn't feasible. Faced with her best friend's refusal, Theresia once again employed her coquettish tactics.

She tried to win Lamian's sympathy with a pitiful expression, and the latter could only let the Demon King stay in the River Valley for a few more days.

A direct refusal seemed rather impolite. It would be better to discuss a countermeasure with Mr. Huang Cao first.

In the end, after Theresia's shameless pleas, Lamian could only agree for the moment.

That night, Lamian used special Originium Arts to transmit the plan into the minds of every one of her people through a voice even the Demon King couldn't detect.

Say nothing unnecessary. When questioned, attribute all the credit to the Speaker in Victoria.

The Banshees were very clever as well. Having coordinated their stories, not one of them let anything slip.

As a result, their words and actions aroused Theresia's intense interest in this so-called Speaker.

Since Theresia's visit had been so sudden, there were no spare rooms in the valley. It didn't seem appropriate to let her stay anywhere except with the Lord of the Royal Court.

Fortunately, after all these years of development, Lamian's residence was no longer just a house with a single room and bed.

After all, wandering Banshees from outside often returned to their homeland after hearing the call of her voice.

Before they had a place of their own, they generally stayed in Lamian's house.

Of course, although Theresia repeatedly insisted that she could sleep in the guest room, Lamian still let her sleep in her own room.

They couldn't neglect proper etiquette. Theresia was, after all, Kazdel's Demon King.

Before it was time to rest, Theresia leaned against Lamian's back and said in a faintly resentful tone:

"Lamian, I feel like we've become rather distant lately. Did I do something wrong?"

We really have become rather distant. After all, your best friend is doing everything she can to keep you alive in the future!

Mr. Huang Cao had established himself in Victoria in such a short time. If the worst really happened...

Lamian didn't think these siblings would stand any chance against Mr. Huang Cao. By then, whether she could even save their lives would be a problem.

She could only hope that Mr. Huang Cao would show mercy in the future. When the time came, all she could do was try to persuade him.

"It's nothing like that, Your Highness. There have simply been rather a lot of orders from Victoria lately. The sisters in the River Valley and I are somewhat exhausted. I hope you'll understand."

Lamian sighed and spoke sincerely.

Theresia didn't suspect anything, but then suddenly changed the subject to Eden next door.

"Speaking of which, how is Huang Cao's territory developing? I haven't seen him in a long time."

Lamian remained expressionless. "Mr. Huang Cao's territory is much more impoverished than ours. It lacks everything, and often has to rely on me for assistance."

Talk about turning everything upside down. Lamian, you're quite the liar now!

The Banshee Queen swore that she had never told as many lies in her life as she had over the past few days.

But if the dealings between the Banshee River Valley and Eden were discovered, it would be no small matter. What was more, Eden was preparing a rebellion.

Lamian continued explaining, "Fortunately, I have a little surplus money... but it's only enough to help one place."

Hearing that Huang Cao was having such a difficult time, Theresia couldn't help worrying about Eden's development, but there was nothing she could do.

After all, everyone was poor, and she had no spare funds either.

The night passed without incident, and several days went by like this.

Lamian finally coordinated her story with Warfarin. After the call was transferred, it connected directly to the Speaker's office in Victoria.

By the time the pink-haired Demon King nervously picked up the receiver, Huang Cao was already thoroughly enjoying himself on the other end.

"Let's see how I fool this Demon King into submission!"

Huang Cao changed his voice during the call. It became mature, like that of a middle-aged man in his forties.

"Hello, Speaker's Office. How may I help you?"

"Hello, I'm Theresia. I'm glad you took my call."

"Theresia? Wait, let me check... It seems your name isn't on my list of members. If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now."

To seize the initiative, you had to make the person seeking your help act like they were begging.

Huang Cao was playing the part of the lofty Speaker.

As the pinnacle of Victoria's nobility, his telephone number wasn't something an ordinary person could obtain.

Nor could he be expected to pick up a random call only to find the Demon King of the Sarkaz on the other end. His reaction was perfectly natural.

Sure enough, Theresia immediately panicked and hurriedly explained her identity and origins.

"So it was Lady Lamian who gave you this opportunity. Very well, I'll give her some face. Tell me your proposal."

The mature man's voice came through the telephone, and Theresia glanced at Lamian with deep gratitude.

The latter awkwardly lowered her head.

This is so embarrassing. Your Highness, don't look at me with such an emotional gaze. You're making me feel shy!

Over the next half hour, Theresia brought out all the business and economic knowledge she possessed and explained the "fact" that Kazdel was a land of investment opportunity.

She appealed to reason and emotion alike, speaking with extreme humility. Her tone didn't sound like something a national leader should use at all.

At least, the person on the other end of the phone was willing to listen, and didn't find it boring in the slightest.

Huang Cao had originally thought that the pink-haired one would spend the next half hour delivering a long speech about her ideals, allowing him to douse her with a bucket of reality afterward.

But he hadn't expected Theresia to say nothing about her ideals during the call.

Instead, she earnestly described the business opportunities that might exist in Kazdel.

She even used an almost pleading tone, her voice exceptionally gentle.

These so-called business opportunities were merely what she herself believed in. If he really poured money into them, he might not recoup his investment for decades.

Still, what Theresia had said wasn't entirely without merit. At least she had mentioned one resource very well.

That resource was population and labor.

His new territory on Victoria's border happened to lack manpower, and these Sarkaz were excellent, inexpensive laborers.

80

Chapter 80 The Nations of Terra: Who's Going to Make the First Move Against Leithanian?

"People? You can provide the Sarkaz with legitimate jobs?"

"I can indeed, though the wages may not be as high as you imagine."

Of course, Huang Cao wasn't willing to become a heartless capitalist.

Scourge was a name others had given him, not one he had chosen for himself.

For example, when the imprisoned Duke of Cumberland learned that Huang Cao's army was called the Abundance Army, he had immediately hurled "Scourge of Abundance" at him.

That name seemed to have come from Leithanian, though now that he thought about it, his true identity hadn't been exposed. The Duke of Cumberland had probably just borrowed the term.

After all, although Leithanian had suffered heavy losses, nobody knew how much strength it truly possessed.

Because of Theresia's secrecy, even if Gaul and the other nations now learned that Leithanian's elite forces had been wiped out in Kazdel, when they tried testing Leithanian's strength, they would find that it had already massed heavy troops along the borders. They wouldn't be able to conquer it in the short term.

At most, its former fifty-fifty odds would become a slight advantage. Nobody would dare underestimate Leithanian's tower casters.

As for whether this would make Kazdel a thorn in the eyes and flesh of every nation, there was no need to worry about that either. They were fighting a defensive war. When Kal'tsit led the multinational coalition into Kazdel, hadn't it suffered a crushing defeat as well?

If the multinational coalition couldn't defeat them before, wasn't it normal for them to lose when fighting on someone else's territory?

If Leithanian managed to conquer Kazdel on its own, then the next great war on Terra wouldn't be against the Demon King, but against the Tower Archmage.

So Theresia had no intention of letting such a good development opportunity pass.

"Although I do have a considerable amount of surplus funds, Kazdel may be small, but it's still a country. Its poverty isn't something I can change."

"But I'm willing to provide employment contracts. I need healthy Sarkaz to develop my territory. Ideally, they shouldn't be infected with Originium Infection."

Huang Cao wasn't being cold-hearted. As an employer, there was nothing wrong with wanting to hire workers in better physical condition.

His territory in Victoria hadn't planted a Golden Tree, and he couldn't suppress that many cases of Originium Infection. Feeding them Seeds would be troublesome.

So it was better to avoid unnecessary complications, lest someone suddenly drop dead in his territory in the middle of their work.

Slowing the territory's development was a minor issue. More importantly, there was truly no need to put those infected with Originium Infection through all that trouble.

Why bother? Sometimes, there was simply no need for everyone to torment one another.

Of course, Huang Cao could guarantee that ordinary people who came to his territory would absolutely not contract Originium Infection during the term of their contracts.

Theresia immediately nodded when she heard this. The next steps proceeded smoothly; they merely had to negotiate how the wages of these dispatched workers would be divided.