Count Rivell looked at Bunta City's financial report for the previous month and frowned slightly.
That did not mean the report looked bad. On the contrary, its figures were so impressive that anyone who saw them would probably be astonished.
According to the report, Bunta City's total fiscal revenue for the previous month had reached 460,000 gold coins, successfully surpassing Anvilmar City and making it the single highest-earning city in the Lampari Kingdom.
As the capital of the Lampari Kingdom, Anvilmar City naturally received special attention from the entire kingdom. With more than half of the kingdom's great nobles and major merchant guilds concentrated there, its fiscal revenue had always far exceeded that of every other city in the kingdom.
Yet eight years earlier, before the Xinfei Merchant Guild had appeared, Bunta City's finances had actually been in deficit. It had needed annual subsidies from the kingdom treasury just to scrape by. Although it had not been the worst-off city in the kingdom, it had ranked near the bottom and had never dreamed that it might one day surpass Anvilmar City.
Yet in just eight years, Bunta City had accomplished something that had once been beyond even its imagination. It was undoubtedly something everyone in the city, from top to bottom, should have taken pride in.
As Bunta City's current mayor and the leader who had personally brought about its remarkable achievements over the past few years, Count Rivell clearly had even more reason to feel pleased and proud.
When he first saw the financial report, Count Rivell had indeed been delighted and deeply satisfied with himself.
But when he noticed a previously inconspicuous figure near the end of the report, his mood changed in an instant.
The figure concerned Bunta City's monthly fiscal revenue growth.
According to the figures,