Chapter 742: Golden Words

Perhaps the dozen-plus suggestive audiences earlier had finally taken effect. Perhaps the back wages had finally been made up and paid. Or perhaps His Highness Thales's speech had moved hearts and awakened minds. After the afternoon, the attitude of officials from every department who came to report on work, and the news they reported, were different.

"Unbelievable, Your Highness," the port officials reported with faces full of joy, "but just as you said, the port situation is improving..."

"Led by the famous Sea Wolf Ship Group, quite a few ship groups have reopened for business, even providing free escorts and cracking down hard on pirates. They say they must maintain professional ethics, and even if Jade City sinks, they must stand the final watch..."

"Under their protection, at least seven cargo ships will enter port and unload today. The captains and cargo owners have all issued statements. They believe the waters around Emerald are very safe, very suitable for business, and they will come again in the future. Moreover, they dare not not come... uh, I mean, they would feel embarrassed not to come..."

"Speaking of this, those cases from earlier, where passing merchant ships were robbed and extorted at sea, mm, this, our city's security forces swiftly intervened and have now clarified them in time. It seems they were all misunderstandings, misunderstandings, and not pirate behavior..."

"Those escort ship groups cooperating with the authorities... oh, no, it should be only one single ship from one single ship group. The temporary sailors it recruited lacked skill and misunderstood the receivable fee rates, collecting a number of extra payments. Therefore, it appeared like robbery and extortion, leaving a mistaken impression and producing unnecessary misunderstanding. But please rest assured, the relevant departments acted swiftly and have already compensated the affected merchants with discount vouchers for next year's berths..."

"The maritime administration has already ordered the ship groups that made mistakes to rectify vigorously. As for that South Coast Catfish, the ship suspected of scraping wealth from the people, as long as we wait for this wind to pass... mm, cough, cough, I mean, the authorities will promptly announce the follow-up investigation results..."

"Of course, the security department carefully investigated the negligent temporary sailors on that ship and discovered that many of them had backgrounds and experiences involving overseas voyages, residence in foreign states, even receiving foreign currency. It feels like they were corrupt... mm, yes, residing in foreign states. When issuing the external notice, this point must be especially emphasized..."

"Bad things are definitely done by spies. If our people did bad things, then he must be a spy. We must especially explain this point clearly to the simple commoners. Does Your Highness understand what I mean?"

After the port came the commerce markets and finance departments, then civil administration and noble affairs. All kinds of news flew in like snowflakes, so fast that Thales had no time to reply to every report. They involved every trade and profession in Jade City that had once fallen silent.

"Your Highness, I can see that market prices are returning to normal. Though slowly, they are indeed recovering. Merchants are gradually coming back out to do business. Steady and improving..."

"The creditors of at least three debts sent letters claiming that, in consideration of the greater situation, they will extend debt deadlines, even waive part of the interest..."

"There are even those who want to keep lending us money to pass through difficulty, but I sternly refused them in public. What joke is this? One must know that Jade City is a regional capital, with deep foundations and enormous scale. There has never been any such thing as difficulty..."

"Cough, cough. Of course, if Your Highness still wants to meet them and personally refute their fallacies about borrowing, heh, I had them quietly wait at the rear gate. Rest assured, no one saw. Absolutely confidential..."

"For several massive overseas debts, the creditors have not yet sent word. But strangely, their local agents seem to have agreed among themselves and no longer crowd outside the Finance Office's reception room demanding meetings and payment..."

"I received intelligence that five local families took the lead in convening an assembly of Jade City's small and medium nobles. But regarding writing to His Majesty in support of the iris flower family, the families at the meeting had no small differences. In the end, they parted unhappily and the matter was left unsettled. In other words, Your Highness, no one opposes you now. To put it more joyfully, Your Highness, everyone now supports you..."

"Merchant groups in mining, metallurgy, textiles, grain agriculture, and other industries issued a joint statement fully supporting His Highness Thales's administration..."

As this news arrived, the personnel in every department became diligent, their attitudes excellent, passionate, upward-looking, and fighting spirit high. From top to bottom, they revealed a positive atmosphere of flourishing progress.

"After finances improve, we can again promote various affairs according to the annual budget. In truth, the first funds for public security and city construction have already been issued, actively making up for official arrears left from robbing Peter to pay Paul..."

"After a deep ideological and moral education, every department of Jade City's official offices is invigorated. Most government affairs are recovering their previous operating efficiency..."

"Regarding the fire caused by the brawl in the busy market earlier, after the major Security Halls worked overtime, the truth has now emerged. The suspects have all been arrested. It is said that quite a few people heard of Your Highness's magnanimity, awakened, and surrendered voluntarily..."

"Tourists for the celebration have begun increasing, and fewer local business owners are dragging families along to flee..."

"Quite a few handcrafted-processing shops have started taking orders again and opened their doors for business..."

You know, Thales.

Thales frowned and waited for the officials before him to report one by one, occasionally nodding in response. But the voice in his heart was silently sneering.

You know why they are doing this, why they were arrogant before and respectful afterward.

Because you, who originally knew nothing, found the path. Starting from Covendier, you pried open several key points, and then the ship called Jade City began to operate.

Politics is such an interesting thing.

Is that not far more interesting than the "there are no shortcuts in governing a place" that you used to intimidate and frighten them?

Because politics and power are nothing else. They are precisely the study of how to take shortcuts.

If everyone kept their feet on the ground, followed steps in order, performed their own duties, accepted their own fate, and had no need to take shortcuts at all...

Then where would political struggle come from? Why would people fight for power and profit? How would there be differences of high and low?

But precisely because of this...

Politics can accomplish great undertakings that many people, many ordinary people, many scattered and broken individuals, cannot accomplish.

As long as you can use it well.

Thales closed his eyes and drove the unnecessary thoughts from his mind.

But compared with these officials who bent with the wind, merchants who slipped through cracks, nobles and powerful people who calculated every mechanism, and frightened commoners of every trade, among today's visiting guests, the one who left Thales with the deepest impression was a white-haired barber-shop owner in coarse and simple clothes.

"This is an apology gift to Your Highness from Bosses Fog and Nekra of the Blood Bottle Gang," said the owner in the study. He had done his best to dress neatly and spiritedly, but compared with the interior of Emerald Palace, he still inevitably looked shabby. He carefully yet steadily presented two gift lists. "And this is an apology gift to Your Highness from Boss Catherine on the other side of the Blood Bottle Gang."

Fog and Nekra. Catherine.

Wya accepted the gift lists, while Thales, who knew the inside story, frowned.

"If I remember correctly, Catherine and Nekra, the two sides, are fighting internally and should be irreconcilable?"

The barber-shop owner looked honest and simple. He nodded as though nothing were unusual and took out another gift list.

"Precisely. Your Highness sees everything clearly. And here, this is a greeting gift from Boss Razzanchi Fisso of the Brotherhood at Black Street, North Gate Bridge."

Razzanchi Fisso. Black Street Brotherhood?

This time, Thales's brows moved, and he could not help looking at the person before him with new eyes.

"Why?"

"Oh, after... afterward, they knew their errors and all feared Your Highness's thunderous wrath, so they entrusted me..."

"No. What I am asking is this," Thales interrupted him. "Whether it is hostile factions within the Blood Bottle Gang or the major drug lord of the Brotherhood, when they want to pledge loyalty and goodwill to me, they actually found you, all at once."

Thales sized up this completely ordinary, unremarkable barber-shop owner and narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you?"

"This old man is called Barta. I am a barber," Barta bowed calmly, neither hurried nor humble. "Many years ago, I moved to Jade City and opened a small barber shop. I was fortunate to receive the tolerance of several street bosses, letting me operate until today..."

"And incidentally sell information and act as a middleman?" Thales said with ill intent.

"Your Highness sees clearly."

Thales studied Barta for a long while and found that from any angle, he only looked like the owner of a small business, with a dull expression, numb eyes, and several yellow oil stains on his sleeves that could not be washed away.

Ordinary. Completely ordinary.

Barta held a smile and peacefully let Thales look him up and down.

"Those who do information business often also act as intermediaries," Thales thought of his experiences in Eckstedt and the Western Desert. "It seems the same everywhere?"

"If one wants to be a good intermediary, one cannot help being well informed," Barta answered calmly, as though the person sitting before him was not a powerful prince of a kingdom but a short-term worker at the snack stall next door. "And when a person becomes familiar with information work and climbs a step higher, there is no need to personally run intermediary work anymore, except for those especially major deals."

His words made Thales thoughtful. But Barta then took out a dirty thick notebook, wiped the stains on it with his sleeve in embarrassment, and handed it to Wya.

The prince's attendant officer opened the notebook and could not help freezing while conducting a safety check.

"What is this?"

"Oh, this..."

Barta revealed a simple and honest smile and saluted Thales.

"Whether it is Your Highness being publicly humiliated by Miss Hilley, the inside story of Duke Zayen's imprisonment, or the truth behind several appalling serial murder cases, every piece of news and every rumor in Jade City's streets, whether absurd or reliable, our shop has carefully recorded and sorted them, traced the source and cause as much as possible, and hired a literate clerk to write them into text for Your Highness to read conveniently."

What?

Thales could not help leaving the chair back and leaning forward, taking the notebook from Wya.

"In addition, we will continue tracking the direction of public opinion in Jade City and report the true situation to Your Highness, so you can grasp movements at the bottom."

Barta maintained his smile, facing Thales, who flipped through the notebook with a deep frown.

Sure enough, the notebook recorded all kinds of news. From how the common people discussed Jade City's serial murder cases, to how the conflict between the prince and the duke had been spread into more and more ridiculous versions, to how many circulating versions there were of the shocking event on the day of the Election Assembly, and even Thales's romantic affairs with Jade City's famous young ladies.

Of course, what was more useful was the different reactions displayed by Jade City from top to bottom before and after the Jade City coup.

All the major merchants suffered blows and lost confidence. However, the clerks and employees of different merchant groups behaved differently. Some panicked and scrambled to buy ship tickets, while others appeared orderly and steady as old dogs.

Most high officials and nobles watched the wind. Yet the gardeners and servants who guarded their houses and courtyards also had subtle different reactions. Some reduced food and clothing and kept indoors, while some gambled with even more extravagance than before.

Before the celebration, whether at North Gate Bridge or among the Blood Bottle Gang thugs, rumors spread that drowned corpses were killing people everywhere. Some cried that their friends had gone missing because of this, but the news was strangely suppressed by the bosses of each territory.

In an inn some days ago, a sailor from a certain ship group revealed while drunk that their shipowner Tanganga had recently been tossing and turning, unable to sleep, and repeatedly confirming with his first mate whether the ship could set sail at any time.

The servant responsible for managing garbage transport at Emerald Palace's rear gate complained that there were far fewer old items worth selling in the palace garbage recently, but a huge quantity of shredded paper had appeared instead. They seemed to be discarded old and new contract documents, with many numbers faintly visible.

Vendors in the square chatted, saying that among the prince's guards there was always a rich young nobleman who liked to come buy food and ask them about Jade City's matters from top to bottom, inside and out. He was especially interested in how the old duke died.

Thales moved his gaze away from the entry stating, "On the eve of the Election Assembly, the coachman of the Tyron State special envoy flaunted himself before his former employer, declaring that Jade City would collapse sooner or later, while boasting that he would soon follow his new master and make a fortune," and handed the notebook to Wya with a soft sigh.

If only he had seen this earlier.

Many matters perhaps would not have been discovered so late, leaving him to respond passively.

Barta continued:

"Also, we will spare no effort to turn public opinion, offset the unfavorable rumors about Your Highness these days, and reshape your image from the bottom up."

Thales first froze, then laughed.

"I came to Jade City, brought down a duke, dragged down a city, and incidentally ruined the livelihoods and rice bowls of countless people. Do I still have an image to speak of?"

"Of course. As long as the hairstyle is handled well, a person's image can change. A thief loaded with evil can become a roaming hero who repays kindness and enmity as he pleases. A respected knight can also be described as a hypocritical and cunning landlord. It all depends on how people cut hair, uh, no, how people hear stories."

Barta's eyes brightened. It seemed that when discussing his specialty, he became fully confident.

"Please be at ease, Your Highness. We are professionals. We deeply understand the principle that blocking is worse than guiding. We also know that subtle influence surpasses deliberate propaganda. Even more, we understand combining positive and negative, pushing and pulling together..."

Listening to him, Thales could not help setting down the notebook.

He withdrew his smile and grew alert.

"Now I know where Zayen's excellent public reputation came from."

Barta realized something and bowed humbly.

"But even the best public reputation cannot compare to one light point from Your Highness's lofty power."

Thales snorted a laugh, unclear whether it was sarcasm or agreement.

This fellow is interesting, Thales.

The voice in Thales's heart quietly spoke.

He can sense the subtlest emotions and situations, then respond. Sometimes he shows goodwill and weakness, sometimes he shows muscle.

He can smell the thick power lingering on you and move according to the situation.

A born survivor.

Either use him well...

Or simply...

As Thales pondered, Barta was still continuing:

"This old man can also help Your Highness find Miss Hilley, who seized the murderer and fled. According to my investigation, when she was young, she was sent to the Sunset Temple for further study and had a very good relationship with one priest. That priest also had kindness toward Roger of the Blood Bottle Gang. Although Roger is dead, his secret bases in Jade City are not without traces..."

The prince's brows tightened.

"No need," Thales refused at once. "I have more important matters, and I am not interested in where Hilley is hiding."

Barta frowned and raised his head.

Thales looked at him, his gaze sharp.

"If I truly want to find her, I have my own methods and need no help."

Barta was silent for a while, his brows deeply locked.

"Since that is so, I understand."

After a moment, Barta relaxed his expression and smiled honestly.

"Your Highness truly schemes with mastery and is one move superior."

For some reason, facing this small barber who looked ordinary no matter how one looked, Thales felt slightly uncomfortable, even having a naked feeling of being seen through.

What did he understand?

"Then what we can do otherwise includes raising people's confidence in Jade City's future, to assist Your Highness's administration," Barta continued smoothly. "Your Highness has experience governing Star Lake Castle. I hear that after Your Highness took charge there, people did not pick up lost objects on the road, doors were not locked at night, life flourished, and chickens and dogs could be heard from house to house. These deeds can all become material for improving Your Highness's image..."

Wya, standing nearby, listened with a strange expression, wanting to speak but stopping himself.

"But none of that is true."

Thales was somewhat annoyed.

People did not pick up lost objects on the road.

Indeed. It was so poor there was nothing at all. What lost object could be picked up?

Doors were not locked at night.

Star Lake Castle's gate had not even been repaired. How were they supposed to lock doors?

Life flourished, chickens and dogs heard from house to house.

That part was true. It was just that all kinds of piss and shit could be smelled from house to house as well.

"But what is truth?"

Barta asked and answered himself, smiling patiently.

"Truth is what people are willing to believe, and what conforms to their expectations."

Thales's gaze moved.

"If those conditions are not met," Barta's eyes flashed, "then even truth is not enough to become truth."

Thales was silent for a while and glanced at Wya, who was flipping through the little intelligence notebook nearby and looking more and more shocked.

The attendant officer immediately understood and spoke coldly:

"Speak plainly, Barta. You have offered His Highness so many benefits. What exactly do you want? To pledge loyalty and service?"

"I want nothing. Offering loyalty to Your Highness is a citizen's duty..."

Thales snorted softly.

"Barta."

The barber-shop owner paused for a second. He bowed deeply and spoke in an orderly manner.

"If one must say I am doing this for anything, then it should be said that it is for Your Highness's magnanimity, for not remembering a commoner's small offense..."

"What do you mean?"

Barta raised his head. His honest simplicity vanished, and he became solemn and serious.

"This is an apology, Your Highness. For the grievance you and Miss Hilley suffered in my humble shop on the day I was absent."

Thales's brow jumped.

He thought of the adventure he and Hilley experienced on the street while following Srimanny the defender that day. But he immediately thought of the glove Hilley had dropped on the street.

Not good.

"What grievance?" Wya's face was full of suspicion.

Barta looked at the attendant officer, then at the silent prince, and smiled faintly.

"Nothing at all. His Highness taught the workers in my shop a lesson that day, nothing more."

Wya could not help being surprised. He turned toward Thales, but still restrained the questions in his heart.

Thales instinctively wanted to deny it outright, but looking at Barta's steady and composed expression, as well as the little notebook in Wya's hand, he finally only pursed his lips.

"You knew it was us."

Barta nodded.

"I was not in the shop that day. But the boys lost a large amount of revenue and could not hide it, so they could only tell me everything."

His expression became serious.

"After removing the exaggerated and false parts, I guessed the true situation and the identities of those involved."

Thales thought of his experience on the street that day, especially the good deeds done by those barber-shop workers, and could not help sneering.

"Then I suppose you want to say it was all because the temporary workers under you had no eyes and offended noble people?"

Unexpectedly, Barta straightened his back and looked directly at Thales. His gaze was firm, with no intention of dodging.

"No. They were not temporary workers. They are the workers in my shop. Every one of them was accepted and taken in through my hands."

Thales could not help raising his brows.

"Second, they did such things not because of anything else, but precisely because they did have eyes," Barta sighed softly, quite pained. "On one hand, their eyes opened at the sight of money. They looked highly upon a beautifully dressed defender, flattered and pleased him. On the other hand, they looked down on others with dog eyes, bullying poor-dressed outsiders as much as they liked, without restraint."

Interesting.

Thales narrowed his eyes.

"That was what led to the coercion and bullying of Your Highness that day. No, of a pair of foreign siblings who lived by performing tricks," Barta said with deep pain. "Therefore, in summary, the one who truly made a mistake that day was actually me."

"You?" Thales was interested.

This was fresh.

"Yes. No matter the appearance, at the root, as the boss, there was a problem with my management of the shop," Barta answered heavily. His expression was grave, his tone stern.

"Oh?"

"Yes. Jade City has been peaceful for many years, and one could earn money lying down. Because of this, I neglected teaching them and let my people become harsh, selfish sacks of wine and rice. Lazy and negligent, privately demanding bribes, borrowing tiger might under false pretenses, bullying others through backing."

Barta saluted again.

"I must also thank Your Highness for visiting my humble shop. Only then did I awaken in time and realize this possibly fatal defect."

Thales was silent for a while.

All right.

On this day when every bureaucrat in Jade City was declaring loyalty and competing to improve, he had actually met a superior who did not shirk responsibility and instead took it upon himself.

That could be considered a clear stream.

Or perhaps it is because he, this well-informed survivor, has completely figured out your temperament.

The voice in Thales's heart spoke disdainfully.

Therefore he knows that before you, actively taking responsibility is the best way to shirk responsibility.

Thinking of this, Thales's face tightened.

What you should be curious about is...

But the voice in his heart continued quietly reminding him.

If the person he offended was not you, but merely some powerless commoner unable to resist, would he still come so diligently to apologize?

"But fortunately, the ones they encountered were Your Highness."

Before Thales's thoughts ended, Barta spoke again.

"If they had offended some ordinary person without power, someone anyone could bully, then naturally there would be few consequences and no punishment. I would have no way to learn of it and no way to correct it. That would be equivalent to encouraging and fostering their arrogance in disguised form, corrupting their character, and letting them do the same or even worse bad things next time."

He looked at the slightly surprised Thales and slowly nodded.

"Even more fortunately, it was Your Highness. Otherwise, if one day in the future they provoked some severe and cold great person unwilling to forgive, or some highly skilled roaming hero who repays kindness and enmity as he pleases, then calamity would arrive. It would be far beyond something I could avoid by making one trip to Emerald Palace."

Facing such an attitude, Thales could neither praise nor scold him. He could only follow along.

"So you came to Emerald Palace to resolve this matter."

Perhaps also to use admission of fault to gain favor and make a connection with you, the newly risen great person.

The voice in his heart coldly reminded Thales:

That way, no matter who takes power and who governs, he can get by.

"I guarantee, Your Highness, that I will strictly discipline the people in the shop," Barta said seriously, making Wya beside him nod involuntarily. "The more one comes from bitter origins, the more one should have self-respect and self-love, rather than using power to bully one's former self, or bowing and scraping to those above and those with money."

The barber-shop owner made his face solemn.

"Treat people equally, trade at marked prices, do not do dirty work, do not stain with blood. This should be my shop's creed."

Thales did not speak.

"As for Your Highness and that young lady's matter, please rest assured. No one will still remember what happened in the shop or on the street that day, including me," Barta said decisively and without room for doubt. "If even the slightest rumor leaks in the future, please come find me at any time. I will block the source for Your Highness, whether by methods or with my head."

After hearing his words, Thales was silent for a long time.

What a barber-shop owner.

"You truly leave no gaps and are smooth in every direction, Barta," he said quietly. "After such a speech, even if I wanted to find your mistake and vent anger, I would have nowhere to begin."

"That is because I have no more mistakes."

Thales frowned slightly and sneered.

"Oh? You are certain?"

Barta nodded respectfully.

"If I truly still had mistakes, yet Your Highness had nowhere to begin, then Your Highness would lack ability and govern poorly," the barber-shop owner said calmly. "If I had no mistakes, yet Your Highness insisted on finding mistakes in me and using the topic to vent anger, then Your Highness would have virtue unworthy of position and act willfully."

Before Thales could react, Wya beside him had already changed expression in fury.

"What did you say?"

But before Thales responded, Barta quickly bowed, first to the prince, then to the attendant officer.

"Obviously, Your Highness has both virtue and talent."

Wya snorted softly, and his expression eased slightly.

Thales, on the other hand, showed no anger and even found it rather interesting.

"Interesting. You dare speak to me like this. Are you not afraid that in a fit of anger I..."

Barta smiled.

"If Your Highness were the kind of person who acts 'in a fit of anger,' then I would have changed my wording. For example, I would bring that worker's head over and push all the sin onto him. Or I would praise Your Highness until flowers rained from the sky, describe you as a flourishing age's wise ruler, and use tears and generous gifts to make you spare me..."

Barta's tone changed.

"Fortunately, Your Highness is not that kind of person."

Wya snorted coldly.

Thales did not answer immediately. He studied the barber for a very, very long time. Countless possible responses turned through his mind, threats and intimidation, gentle winning over, arrest and imprisonment. In the end, with a subtle and complicated mood, he still nodded.

"I will not accept the wealth from the Blood Bottle Gang and the Brotherhood. I know where this money came from. If I accept it, that would be equivalent to acknowledging this system of power rent-seeking, encouraging them to continue plundering ordinary people layer by layer downward, then offering it up as rent to great people in exchange for the privilege of acting recklessly."

Thales said coldly:

"Tell them that plundering from the people is already a sin. They should stop at the right time and think about how to use it for the people. Do not wait until the day calamity comes."

"I will certainly convey Your Highness's will."

Thales paused.

"As for you, I will keep this notebook. I do not want to hide it, because it truly is useful."

Thales narrowed his eyes.

"As for your apology... since nothing happened, what apology is there to speak of?"

Barta smiled. He calmly took back the two gift lists from Wya's hand and stuffed them into his pocket.

"Where the law does not forbid, there is no punishment. Where power exceeds its bounds, there must be strict investigation."

The barber-shop owner smiled and nodded.

"This is precisely where Your Highness is wise."

After saying this, he sighed again.

"And this is also why this city prospered in the past, and what it originally should have looked like."

Thales listened thoughtfully, while Barta saluted in farewell and prepared to leave.

"In truth, Your Highness, there is one more reason I came here."

Thales raised his head and saw Barta let out a long sigh.

"Brennan was an old customer of my shop. Mm, he could also be counted as an old friend."

The barber said softly, his eyes full of reminiscence.

"For many years, I personally handled his hair and beard."

Thales's gaze moved.

"Brennan, the late grand judge," he looked at Barta before him. "So you knew him."

The barber nodded.

"When he first arrived in Jade City, his life was difficult, and everything about him was shabby. Only when he went to court did he insist on arranging his appearance properly and solemnly. His wife was educated and reasonable, but happened to be poor at housework, let alone..."

Barta laughed.

"It happened that my shop had not been open long then either. To attract customers, the prices were favorable."

"Life was difficult? If I remember correctly, Brennan was invited from thousands of miles away by the old duke. He should not have been treated poorly."

"Indeed. But Your Highness, do you know what that fellow said when he returned the large monthly 'living gifts' Duke Lenster sent him?"

Barta breathed out, his gaze drifting.

"'I came here from thousands of miles away. All the more, I cannot treat Jade City poorly.'"

Wya froze for a moment, while Thales understood something and could not help being moved.

"I know why the old duke invited him here."

Barta nodded. There was no grief in his eyes, only faint remembrance.

"After the old duke was assassinated, much of the intelligence behind that case was also entrusted by Brennan to me to find."

Thales's gaze moved.

"That man had a stubborn obsession. For the sake of some detail, even some idea, he always liked competing with himself and refused to give up for years."

The barber sighed.

"When I was young, I laughed at him. When I matured a little, I advised him. When I grew old, I coldly watched from the side."

Barta gradually became lost in thought.

"But that day, when I watched from far away as his children scattered his and his wife's ashes into the sea, I finally understood..."

He looked at Thales and Wya and let out a long sigh.

"Jade City's prosperity and development depended on people like him," Barta said quietly. "Not people like me."

Thales said nothing.

"I am only an ordinary person. I seek luck and avoid disaster, protect myself wisely, and have no great ambition. Perhaps I will never be able to be like him," Barta laughed softly, with a little mockery and also sorrow. "But from that day on, I told myself, whenever I meet someone like him..."

The old barber looked at Thales, lowered his head, and removed his hat. His gaze was complicated.

"I will never again sneer coldly."

"In fact, I am willing to help with all my strength."

Thales listened in silence for a long time.

Barta also sank into thought.

Wya was the first to react and intended to politely send the guest away, but Thales stopped him.

"Jade City is sinking."

The barber slowly raised his head, his gaze changing slightly.

The prince looked at him seriously.

"Regarding this, barber Barta, what view or suggestion do you have?"

"I do not dare..."

"Barta, I treat you equally," Thales stared without shifting his eyes. "And trade at marked price."

Barta paused for a while.

He looked at Thales's eyes, then looked at the hat in his own hand, and understood something.

The old barber smiled, then withdrew the smile again.

"Indulgence."

"What?" Thales froze.

Barta took a deep breath, filled with emotion.

"The people in this city, especially those in high positions, with fat brains and greasy guts, who order others around, have lived too well these past decades," he shook his head. "So well that they think everything was always supposed to be this way, right and natural. So well that they think the wealth that fell from heaven onto Jade City truly was created by their own struggle."

Thales was thoughtful.

Barta spoke slowly and earnestly.

"So well that they are unwilling to open their eyes and look at how much filth and corruption is hidden beneath this heaven-pouring wealth. To see how many increasingly rich and increasingly large magnates and high families there are across the whole territory.

"To see how many bankrupt landowners and poor families are losing land in the border corners. To see exactly how much grain the farmers and hunters on the fields and estates must sell to exchange for even a tile over their heads in the city.

"To see the wages of workshop apprentices in the roaring metallurgy district that have not risen for so many years. To see Jade City's taxes and the ever more imposing facilities of every official office, which always grow faster than residents' wages.

"To see what eyes foreign travelers have in Jade City. To see what expressions local workers wear after laboring through all four seasons. To see what heaven-and-earth differences and class contradictions exist merely among thugs of different sections within the Blood Bottle Gang. To see what different peaceful years and anxious suffering lie separated by a single wall between inside and outside the city.

"To see the drowned-corpse rumors and missing persons repeated every year in the dock district. To see, behind advanced rule of law and strict law, how many pitiful people can only stand at the Judgment Hall's door, looking at the seemingly solemn and fair legal provisions while suffering hidden losses, even great losses.

"Then look at North Gate Bridge. Look at the walking corpses inside, living one day at a time, eating one meal without knowing whether there will be another. Are the things Razzanchi Fisso sells truly only drugs? No. What he truly peddles is numbness and escape, carnival and excitement. It is a heart-killing poison that makes people flock to it even when they know it will eventually poison them to death..."

This long passage contained many things only Barta, who had lived here for many years, could see. Thales and Wya listened with heavy hearts and looked at each other.

Barta sighed.

"Your Highness, those people have lived too well. So well that they can no longer, or rather, are unwilling and even afraid to admit one fact."

Thales looked back at him and listened seriously.

"Just as the wealth and development of the South Coast Territory were not accidental..."

Barta said solemnly:

"Jade City's disasters today, whether internal or external, are natural. They were bound to happen sooner or later."

The barber snorted softly, revealing some disdain and contempt, not quite matching the caution and honesty he had displayed before the prince earlier.

"So when they held the market, assets, debts, land, and order in their hands and wanted to force Your Highness away, they were so justified, as though without Your Highness, without Federico, without the villains eyeing their wealth, without the great people of the kingdom center, these things would naturally have belonged to them."

Barta looked at Thales, his gaze grave.

"But perhaps they have not realized that this matter being able to happen in Your Highness's hands, able to happen only in Emerald Palace, able to be limited only to the ridiculous internal fighting of the iris flower family, is already far, far too fortunate.

"Only when they realize this, awaken, gain a correct understanding of the world, and make truly appropriate responses, rather than burying their heads under blankets, tucking the four corners tight, as though this can guard the pile of gold under their beds..."

He snorted softly.

"Otherwise, no matter how many methods they use to avoid disaster, they are only temporary expedients and clever tricks. When the time comes, bad things will happen again and again."

Thales did not answer. He only pondered carefully.

But the barber changed his tone, becoming solemn and heavy.

"But they cannot learn anything from the wealth they already possess, just as the strong cannot learn anything from the weak who do not resist."

"Because the strong do not need to retreat," Thales murmured, thinking of something.

Barta nodded gently.

"Therefore, only when disaster truly arrives, destroys, ruins, and reshapes, forcing everyone on this land, especially those who benefited most from Jade City's rise, to change again and reach balance again..."

He said coldly:

"Only then can Jade City's problems be considered truly solved."

Terrifying flames hid in Barta's eyes.

"Before that, every rescue measure is merely carrying firewood to put out a fire. Not only futile, but self-righteous."

Carrying firewood to put out a fire.

Futile.

Self-righteous.

As his words fell, the study was silent for a long time.

Until Thales finished digesting them and breathed out, leaning back against the chair again.

"Apologies. I spoke too much."

Barta came back to himself. He smiled faintly and instantly returned to that seemingly simple and honest, actually smooth in every direction, barber.

"Perhaps Your Highness does have a kind of charm that makes people unable to resist speaking their hearts."

Wya had not yet recovered from the long passage just now and only nodded silently from the side.

"Barta."

Thales looked at the little notebook on the desk and did not raise his head.

"A person like you went to open a barber shop, hiding among street gangs to buy and sell information. It is truly a waste of talent."

Barta smiled.

"Your Highness does not know. A person like me, insufficient compared to those above yet more than enough compared to those below, is most suited to this place."

The barber chuckled and subconsciously wiped his hands on himself, as though he were wearing a work apron.

"If I climbed higher, with my ability and methods, I would either encounter stronger and smarter opponents and die without a whole corpse, or I would inevitably provoke envy and make countless enemies, lose my head and life."

Barta narrowed his eyes.

"It would only be a matter of sooner or later."

"But are you content like this? At Star Lake Castle, I..."

But Barta smiled faintly and interrupted the prince gently yet decisively.

"This old man is very content, Your Highness. I also do not have great pursuits, and still less do I want to play some risk game where the winner takes all and the loser loses everything, no matter how high the benefits. So when the kingdom's Secret Intelligence Department came looking for me..."

"The Secret Intelligence Department came looking for you too?" Thales's expression moved, and Wya was also startled.

Barta shrugged.

"When they needed me."

"How did you respond?"

"Of course, politely. Whatever needs they had, I cooperated with all effort," the barber smiled honestly. "As for their goodwill in formally recruiting me, I could only appreciate the thought."

Thales looked at this seemingly ordinary old barber, who had refused the kingdom's Secret Intelligence Department, with a complicated expression and said nothing for a long time.

"Barta," Thales thought of something and murmured, "perhaps you will live to be a hundred."

The old barber revealed a smile, honest and simple.

"Then this old man will certainly work hard to survive and extend his years."

He bowed deeply.

"To prove Your Highness's golden words, and that what you promised was not false."