"Everyone, please rise. No need for such ceremony. Today is a joyous day for Storm City, and I am already deeply grateful that you have come from so far away."
"Do not stand on ceremony today, either. Eat well and enjoy yourselves in my City Lord's Manor. Seeing you all have a good time is the greatest honor I could have as your host!"
Standing atop the raised platform, Nalant smiled calmly at the crowd that had come to offer their congratulations.
"Haha, Baron Nalant is far too polite!"
"Indeed, Baron Nalant is truly generous and approachable!"
"Thank you, Baron Nalant!"
It had to be said that now that Nalant had become one of the powerful, the attitude of all the guests toward him had changed enormously.
Even though Nalant had merely smiled and spoken a few ordinary pleasantries, a burst of cheers immediately rose from below.
But then, who could blame them? Nalant was now considered the most powerful man on the entire Sacred Continent.
People carry one another in flower-decked sedan chairs. After taking over the Sacred Continent, Nalant had not imposed strict control over the various kingdoms.
Instead, he had relaxed matters considerably, leaving the kings of those nations immensely grateful.
He had even lowered the taxes from half to thirty percent.
Do not think a mere twenty percent reduction was insignificant. Those twenty percent left behind for ordinary commoners to live on
were already enough to allow the serfs and commoners to support themselves.
Of course, even with only thirty percent, Nalant was still earning an enormous amount.
After all, there were more than a hundred kingdoms of varying sizes across the Sacred Continent.
Though he had also taken on the responsibility of protecting those kingdoms, the two did not conflict.
"All right, everyone, I will