Chapter 291

"React, react, it's always reacting, and there hasn't been any substantive progress at all."

Harrison was extremely angry; he was also one of the foreign merchants stranded here after the Sakoku Decree was promulgated, originally thinking of coming to a foreign land to earn profits.

As a result, once the Raiden Shogun issued the order, after being exploited by those bastards several times, he instantly became a pauper.

The key is that they are trapped on Ritou, controlled by the Kanjou Commission, and even if they want to leave, they can't; they can only serve as fat sheep being bled dry.

Perhaps when one day they lose all their oil and water, they will pitifully fall into becoming beggars.

Kurisu's face was bitter; how could he not be angry, but reality is cruel.

Living under someone else's roof, even wanting to rebel wouldn't succeed, and they can only be suppressed.

He is not a hot-headed kid like Harrison who acts without regard for consequences; he has a family and concerns, so he just muddles along, and unless it's a last resort, he will always be the one to back down.

"Harrison, listen to my advice, forget it, you can't fight them."

Reaching middle age, he had long since learned to compromise, and Kurisu did not want to make a big scene.

However, Harrison was clearly unwilling, and he said indignantly: "President, you can endure it, but I cannot. Being forced to this point, there is no way back, and even if I fail, I want to bite a piece of flesh off them."

Leaving behind these words, the hot-blooded young man turned and left.

Upon hearing this, Kurisu's face changed drastically.

"What are you going to do? Don't be impulsive! Harrison!"

Unfortunately, the young man, whose mind was clouded by anger at this moment, simply could not listen to anyone's words.

Kurisu was very anxious; he did not want to see this companion do something irrational and suffer punishment as a result.

But he himself had no way to help, and could only watch the other party leave, because even stopping Harrison would be useless.

While at a loss, the sound coming from the side made him look over subconsciously.

"Excuse me, are you Kurisu?"

Lumine looked at the middle-aged man with deep-furrowed brows and felt some sympathy in her heart.

Having experienced the three million Mora incident, she had some understanding of the plight of foreigners living on the island.

She had even hidden on the side just now to hear the end, knowing that the young man might do something foolish.

Kurisu was a little puzzled in his heart: "Who are you?"

He had never seen this person on Ritou; could it be a newly arrived foreigner? Looking at her appearance and attire, she indeed did not look like a local from Inazuma.

With a thought, he asked in surprise: "Could it be that you friends are here to seek the protection of the International Trade Association? Could it be that the Yuanguojian Office has made you bleed heavily?"

Paimon put her hands on her hips and answered bluntly: "We heard your conversation just now; you can't even protect yourselves, yet you still want to protect us."

Kurisu: "..."

Life is hard, don't expose it.

Sighing, the wrinkles on Kurisu's brow deepened again, and he sighed: "Sorry, I let you see a joke."

Lumine shook her head slightly and explained her purpose: "We are friends of Thoma. We heard you are in trouble, so we came to help. I wonder what difficulties the Association has?"

"Difficulties?"

Kurisu couldn't finish speaking for a while; it was truly difficult everywhere, and he had even gotten used to it.

The Sakoku Decree is actually fine; the main thing is that there are people bleeding them dry.

Various high taxes, unreasonable rules and regulations, and collecting Mora at every turn under some unheard-of name.

The most unacceptable thing is that a new tax law was issued some time ago, and the form of tax that needs to be paid has changed from Mora to Crystal Marrow goods.

Undoubtedly, it is another new method of exploitation.

Listening to Kurisu's complaints, Lumine and Paimon were tongue-tied.

This is like wanting to fry them in a pan of oil.

As if finding a rare outlet to vent, Kurisu poured out his bitterness.

Of course, if they weren't Thoma's friends, he would absolutely not have revealed his difficulties so easily.

After all, what if it reached the ears of those people, and they made things difficult in secret?

"You guys really have it hard." Paimon's sympathy began to overflow: "Lumine, why don't we help them?"

Lumine could only agree; she had promised Thoma before, and secretly comforted herself that this was each side getting what they needed.

Kurisu was overjoyed and told them everything he knew.

Because the new tax law replaced Mora with 250 Crystal Marrow, but this kind of goods is becoming less and less as it is constantly paid.

Things are expensive because they are rare, so the price keeps rising, to the point of being sold out, and finally only one merchant can provide it.

And that merchant, after monopolizing it, naturally raised the price.

After a period of time, the tax is now almost exceeding the profit, and if it continues, they will only have to pay out of their own pockets.

Kurisu had thought about discussing the decree with the superiors of the Kanjou Commission, but in this land of thunder, there is simply no voice for merchants like them.

Lumine secretly thought that even the commercial capital of Liyue wasn't this ruthless, plucking a sheep until it was bald.

"Where is that merchant? I want to find him to understand some things."

Almost the moment Kurisu finished speaking, Lumine keenly sensed that there was something wrong with that merchant.

Perhaps it was because she had been played around with in Liyue that she had a stress reaction, but the tool-girl's intuition was very accurate this time.

She hoped to obtain the other party's information, thereby digging out some unknown hidden secrets.

But there was no need to tell Kurisu this; she would wait until she found evidence before speaking, otherwise, what if she made a mistake and it was very embarrassing?

"Hmm, if you want to find him, go to the tree by the seaside in the residential area; that is the place where we usually meet."

Kurisu clearly didn't think much and very readily provided the merchant's information.