Chapter 326: Festival

Li En didn’t personally carry out the family confiscations—he had too many other messy matters on his plate.

The frontline executors were the Weavers’ Knights and the City Guard, but behind them, the Radiant Guard, the Grand Magus, and certain Good Deity Churches stood ready to provide support at any moment.

“This will perfectly offset recent expenditures; this year’s harvest has been terrible.”

Dainya complained to him that incidents had been relentless, and military funds and compensation payments had long exceeded the budget.

Investment and construction in the underground town, along with all supporting services, required money.

In a normal city, you could just hand it off to the local lord—but this time, the local nobility alone wasn’t enough, and the royal treasury had no funds to subsidize.

In fact, the lord had already borrowed a massive sum from certain transnational organizations in Huicheng’s name; if underground exploration fails to meet expected returns, next year will be even harder.

But if everything goes smoothly and underground progress surges, that’s another matter entirely.

Just the “transaction tax” on high-grade materials alone could make this city rich—but to Li En, there was also the ground-level revenue from the Mirror Spirits’ livestreams.

These things are meaningless to discuss now; we’ll just act when the time comes. Li En had the Sudar family purchase a shop and rental units near the “Livestream Plaza,” preparing to profit from this opportunity.

“Going deeper will require elite expeditions of full-grade specialists; if they succeed in hunting, the returns are huge—even a single sub-dragon material’s transaction tax could yield thousands of gold coins. Even so, next year’s military budget still has a massive shortfall—we’re counting entirely on what lies below.”

Li En had heard this too, but the gap seemed primarily due to the girl’s reckless military expansion.

In a sense, the sponsoring families of the “Beast Cult” were rushed into confiscation without even bothering to trace their networks because there was genuine, pressing need.

Confiscating families is great—take down a few nobles, and we might waive taxes for years.

“They’re richer than me! A baron, actually richer than me!!” Dainya grew angrier by the second—the Queen had opened financial channels to her, yet the cash she could mobilize still couldn’t match the assets of a low-ranking noble.

Watching the puffed-up Dainya, Li En knew no comfort was needed—these days, petty officials and minor nobles hoarding wealth had become too common to make headlines.

Li En sighed, tugged the blanket, and covered his innocent body.

“Superior” trust might be good, but when your superior calls you on video right after waking up over trivial nonsense—or just to chat aimlessly—it’s gone too far.

“Do you find me annoying?” The girl was sensitive; she first pouted in hurt, but Li En knew if he didn’t soothe her soon, she’d be ready to pick a fight.

“How could I? I just think such a rare resource as the Mirror Spirits shouldn’t be wasted on trivial matters.”

“It’s fine, heh—Our God is pleased with my results and has sent me another batch of little and big Mirror Spirits.”

With pride, the girl resolved the underground troubles and successfully launched the underground exploration; the kingdom had narrowly escaped a major crisis.

Victory often brings more investment and trust.

“Boom!”

A sudden explosion drew Li En’s attention, but seeing the fireworks outside, he set down his sword.

The trumpeting of elephants came from nearby, followed by noisy music.

Through the open wooden window, fireworks streamed down the street.

The clamor and chaos suggested several circuses performing together.

In midair, winged humanoids were scattering flowers to guide the way, though the cheap perfume mixed in made those too close feel nauseous.

“Is it today?”

“It is. Today I still have to prepare my speech.”

As if remembering her duties, Dainya finally ended the call. Li En hadn’t expected that, in this other world, he’d still face the hassle of a superior calling and refusing to hang up.

“Autumn Wheat Festival? How perfectly timed…” Looking outside, this seemed to be his first festival in this other world.