Volume 3 Chapter 4: Investigation

"Nonsense! If I farm, it's good enough if I can keep my family from going hungry, but I can't keep a single copper coin. But if I work on things other than farming, not mentioning anything else, if I go find some work at some company in the city, I can earn at least ten gold coins a month and that's over a hundred gold coins each year! Even if it means buying grain for an entire year, I would still have at least fifty gold coins left to buy other things! Why do you think I don't want to keep farming?"

Sarkozy rolled his eyes, looking at the investigative officer sent from the City Lord's Manor with disdain. He thought that this officer who followed the idiot City Lord was also an idiot.

Was there a need to come and ask this obvious fact?

This was the most basic problem, even a sixty year old farmer like him who had never gone to school could easily understand this and a fellow like him who was wearing such a precious looking uniform couldn't. Could it be that the officers helping the idiot City Lord were all the same, only having straw in their heads and not understanding a thing?

Seeing the clear disdain on the old man's face, officer Moya didn't feel good.

If it was any other time, he would have disdained this old farmer who looked to be of lowly birth and had old callused hands. If it wasn't for the special instructions of the Lord City Lord, how could he come to a remote, dirty, and backwards place like Mexilan Village to do some damn investigation?

Thinking of the Lord City Lord's serious instructions, Moya suppressed the unhappiness in his heart and maintained what he considered to be a friendly smile. He kept asking Sarkozy, "But as long as you have this farmland, you can at least guarantee that your family won't starve. However, if you go work for a company, although your monthly wage might be high, you might lose this job at any time and lose this money, right?"

It would have been fine if Moya didn't ask this, but once he did, Sarkozy's eyes suddenly popped out. He angrily slapped the iron shovel in his hand on the ground and began pointing at Moya as he scolded him.

"You're not embarrassed to ask this? If it wasn't for your City Lord Manor's whatever promoting agriculture policy, the Sundial Chamber of Commerce wouldn't have left Banta City and my son wouldn't have lost his job at the Sundial Chamber of Commerce! Do you know, his wage at the Sundial Chamber of Commerce was close to twenty gold coins! Because of you all, not only did he lose his job, he can't find any other work in the city! This was all caused by you!"

Moya didn't expect Sarkozy's sudden angry outburst. After being surprised for a while, he touched his face and found that there were several specks of saliva from the old farmer, causing his heart to be filled with disgust.

After working hard to suppress the idea of turning and leaving, Moya took a deep breath and forced himself to calmly say, "This is the Sundial Chamber of Commerce's decision, it can't be blamed on our City Lord Manor, right?"

"Bullshit! If it wasn't for your City Lord Manor chasing the Frestech Chamber of Commerce away, how could the Sundial Chamber of Commerce leave? If the Sundial Chamber of Commerce didn't leave, would my son lose his job? Moreover, you're doing that bullshit agriculture promotion policy that is forcing our Banta City's companies away, so there are much less jobs in Banta City! It's not just me blaming you, if you ask the people who came all the way to our Banta City for work, do you think they wouldn't scold you?" Sarkozy's eyes were wide open as he asked without any politeness.

Moya took several steps back before avoiding the spit from Sarkozy's mouth. He quickly refuted, "The Lord City Lord is promoting this agricultural support policy for the good of you farmers, why don't you understand the Lord City Lord's pains?"

"For our good? Bulshit!" Sarkozy said with a cold laugh, "Our good is making us lose jobs with high paying wages? To make us obediently run back to those damn fields? To make us work hard all year without being able to ensure we can feed ourselves? This is for the good of the farmers? Don't think we don't know! The Karma City's newspaper said that the Lord City Lord is doing all this for his own achievements!"

Moya's expression changed. He never thought that a normal old farmer from Mexilan City would actually read the newspaper from Karma City that was several dozen kilometers away and he could understand the meaning of the word "achievements".

Thinking about it, Moya kept explaining, "Isn't increasing Banta City's harvest yield good for you all? Could it be that you've forgotten how hungry you were before?"

"Bullshit! We did starve before, but when did our Banta City's people starve in the last two years?" Sarkozy refuted without any courtesy, "Report to the Lord City Lord, all our Banta City's farmland has been opened in the past two years by the City Lord! Even if he has everyone return to the fields, the yield won't increase by much, so have him give up!"

Hearing Sarkozy actually mention the matter that the Lord City Lord worried about the most right now, Moya finally understood that this seemingly normal old farmer actually knew more than he imagined.

This was something that was much better than the other farmers who didn't understand anything in the other cities of the Lampuri Kingdom.

Although from the viewpoint of his investigations, it was easier to obtain answers from people who were smart, for Moya himself, he would rather talk to farmers who didn't know a thing.

It was clear the Lord City Lord also thought the same.

If the farmers of Banta City were like the ignorant farmers of the other cities of the Lampuri Kingdom, how great that would be. That way the Lord City Lord wouldn't have such a large headache about how to return the land to the farmers and how to raise Banta City's harvest yield.

Thinking of this, in order to have something to report to the Lord City Lord, Moya suppressed his anger and said to Sarkozy, "The Lord City Lord's plan is for the long term, you can't possibly understand it now, but you must trust the Lord City Lord. He is definitely doing this for the good of you farmers. As long as you listen to the Lord City Lord's plans, I dare say that not only will you not starve for two years, you'll never have to worry about starving in the future. Rather if you support the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce can't make any food for you to eat."

"Forget it." Sarkozy gave a laugh, "You're looking down on the Frestech Chamber of Commerce? If you have the skills, have the Lord City Lord give the order that Banta City won't use the stuff from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce? If you have the skills, stop using the agricultural magic machines from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce?"

Moya was instantly speechless.

Whether it was him or the Lord City Lord, even if they hated the Frestech Chamber of Commerce in their hearts, they had to admit that if they lost the support of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce agricultural magic machines, not mentioning increasing the harvest yield, they wouldn't even be able to open all that farmland in Banta City.

Seeing that Moya wasn't saying anything, Sarkozy gave a cold laugh, "You don't know shit and you're still asking questions, wasting my time. Forget it, I still have to go to Koror Village for a meeting, I don't have time to waste words with you. Goodbye."

After saying this, Sarkozy put his shovel on his shoulder before turning to leave.

Moya watched Sarkozy leave in a daze. After thinking for a bit, he couldn't think of anything to say to make this old farmer who was rather intelligent to stay.

After being in a daze for a while, Moya turned to look at the villagers who watched the two of them talk. He wanted to continue his investigation, but when those villagers saw him look over, they immediately avoided him like he was the plague. They instantly scattered and only left Moya by himself standing in the road.

Moya looked at Mexilan Village not far away and let out a bitter laugh. Although he had talked to sixteen villagers for this investigation, the sixteen villagers had all strangely said the same thing. They all had strong opposition for the Lord City Lord's agricultural promotion policies.

Based on this result, there was no meaning in this investigation because the results were clear.

But Moya knew that if he brought these results to the Lord City Lord, all that was waiting was a storm.

In a normal situation, the Lord City Lord wouldn't care about the ideas of the peasants at all.

But at this time, the Lord City Lord's number one goal was to increase Banta City's harvest yield to prove that his policies are in the right direction, while also proving that the noble faction behind the Lord City Lord is correct.

With the help of the agricultural magic machines from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, the previous City Lord Count Sean had reclaimed large amounts of farmland in Banta City. He had almost already completely cleaned Banta City out of all its potential.

If the current City Lord Count Stagg wanted to improve the harvest yield, he had to have the support of the farmers with many years of experience in farming.

Especially an old farmer with rich experience like Sarkozy, he was now a treasure for the Lord City Lord.

So even if Moya wasn't happy, he didn't reveal it to Sarkozy and kept trying to convince him.

However, Sarkozy was as stubborn as a rock, not giving Moya a chance at all.

"Should I just go back like this?" Moya thought for a bit with a bitter smile. He suddenly saw three farmers walking in front of him who had similar clothes to what Sarkozy had been wearing.

His eyes swept over the face of the farmer in the middle and Moya's eyes lit up as he quickly went forward to talk to him.