Only after Mark had paid did Charles's expression grow more enthusiastic.
After all, the city was still only an outline, yet he had already managed to sell the land.
No matter how he thought about it, it was worth it.
Charles asked Mark, "Lord Mark, why did you come here from your original territory?"
"I remember that when I moved, I invited you to come with me, didn't I?"
"At the time, you were unwilling to move, Mark."
Mark let out a long sigh and said, "If Lord Charles truly wishes to know, there's nothing I can't tell you."
"After you left, the Greater Demon who occupied your territory was nothing but a stupid Demon Worm."
"He completely abolished the good policies you left behind and replaced them with a string of foolish ones."
"If that were all, I could have accepted it. At worst, I would have made a little less money."
"But before long, he started coming up with even more ridiculous excuses for collecting taxes."
At this point, Mark shed tears of grievance. "Lord Charles, you know I'm a small merchant. My capital is pitifully small, and my profits are thin."
"I was barely making any money to begin with. How could I endure such exploitation?"
"So I moved. And not just me—there may be other merchants who want to move soon as well."
Charles stared at the few tears Mark had squeezed out and asked curiously, "Lord Mark, is that really the reason?"
Charles released his spiritual power and inspected the merchant caravan Mark had brought. "If your profits had merely grown thinner, I don't think you would suddenly have wanted to move."
"After all, before I arrived, that Wolf Serpent Demon, and the Balor before it, had policies far crueler than mine."
"You endured even