This New Year, Bunta City was considerably quieter than it had been in the previous two years.
Over those two years, Bunta City's economic development had drawn people from many other cities to seek work there.
At its peak, Bunta City's registered population had even exceeded two hundred thousand, with at least another thirty thousand estimated to be unregistered. Compared with its former population of only around fifty thousand local residents, that was several times as many.
Although many people took advantage of the New Year holiday to return home, many others felt the journey was too long and simply stayed in Bunta City to celebrate, or continued working through the holiday to earn wages far higher than usual.
As a result, the previous two New Year celebrations in Bunta City had been exceptionally lively. Both people and goods were plentiful, and the bustling prosperity had even prompted Haines, who was visiting at the time, to remark that Bunta City was probably not far behind Anvilmar City anymore.
But all of that had come to an abrupt end with Earl Stark's arrival.
Because of Earl Stark's Commerce-Suppression and Agriculture-Promotion Policy, Bunta City's merchant guilds had moved away one after another, taking their employees with them.
Besides the workers who had come from other cities, even many workers originally from Bunta City had left because they were unwilling to give up their jobs.
Looking out through the window of the City Lord's Manor at Bunta City's deserted streets, where there was scarcely any trace of festive cheer, Earl Stark could not help letting out a deep sigh.
He returned to his desk, picked up a document, and scanned it. His already furrowed brow tightened further.
The document was Bunta City's annual fiscal revenue report.
According to the figures, Bunta City's total