Elliot had been very busy lately.
Vanessa only needed to fight monsters, but Elliot had far more to consider.
Allocating resources throughout the Hearthfire District, planning its development, and handling conflicts with the Night Watch Bureau were all troublesome matters.
He had originally thought the Old Duke had put him in charge of the Hearthfire District merely to see what he was capable of, but Elliot soon discovered that the Old Duke had truly dumped the entire district on him.
As long as he could keep production from falling sharply, he could do as he pleased. The Old Duke did not even concern himself with what the factories manufactured.
Elliot was genuinely surprised. Had he really been given complete authority?
The Hearthfire District was hardly small. Several thousand workers alone lived there, and its total population was probably over ten thousand.
Anywhere else, it would practically have been a small city.
This thoroughly exhausted Elliot, but it also strengthened his control over the Hearthfire District.
He began placing his own people in every position. Given another year, this would be Elliot's Hearthfire District, not Sterling's. Aside from that, he was also secretly investigating the festival.
Almost everyone around him was extremely tight-lipped about the Theresia Festival, which was not difficult to understand.
After all, sacrificing so many people was hardly something to be proud of.
So Elliot turned his attention to ordinary people.
He used various methods to ask ordinary people about the festival.
After all, however cruel and absurd the nobles might be, they could not possibly sacrifice everyone in the city. There were bound to be plenty of people who had lived through many years of the Theresia Festival.
These people would not help cover it up.
Sure enough, they spoke enthusiastically about the festival, describing its lively