Chapter 41 - Volume 3 (1/2)

The Role-play Experience was an idea Isaac had put out as he proceeded with the Escort Service, and even Isaac himself was surprised by how successful it became This world alloomen the freedom to pursuit their own careers with little to no discrie of entertainment available for women were very limited Poetry, literary clubs, eht, they were the hobbies of elegance, but you could also describe the that no e, their hearts remain maiden It meant that all women have their romantic fantasy of their ohich they dream of, and Isaac’s Role-play Experience allowed these wo these fantasies into real life, albeit for a briefthe initiative and creating a script of their own to play in on top of the rough drafts Isaac had come up with The rumours of the service spread like wildfire in parties and such, gaining popularity within not just the noble circles but a the middle class as well

And as they say, practice makes perfect

The once-nervous and aard actors began to grow more natural as they performed in many e crowd, and even the audience willingly joined in on the play if they were given the opportunity

The Role-play Experience naturally became a tourist attraction, and New Port City quickly advertised the service as one of theas extras for free if they wished to The nu New Port City rose dramatically thanks to this effect

Port City hastily tried to create a similar attraction multiple ti that a play performed by the whole city was impossible unless it was New Port City

And with the addition of famous authors and scriptwriters who called the service as new branch of art and culture joining the crew itself, the scenarios grewto the popularity of New Port City

“Dear roup of NPCs in an RPG are role-playing”

Isaac muttered to hi that the service was booked full Isaac started to worry when he saw the wo in these plays with more enthusias this fiction to be reality, but it seeh to realise that it was all fiction for now

“Eh… The Role-play Service is fully booked up for the next six months”

It had already been six months since New Port City opened The people ere present at the City Hall’s roof for this e of administration They applauded and cheered when they heard those words from Cordnell’s mouth Their morale had been at an all-time lohen Port City opened its casino at the same ti its golden age while the casinos in New Port City remained empty

Many were skeptical about the possibility of success in Isaac’s brilliant idea But it did succeed, and it drew a large crowd into the city Lanburton, perhaps the largest contributor to this success, s was a common experience in elven society, but this was their first tie

“I’ve told this before, but the Role-play Experience is just a special event Don’t focus on it too much”

Cordnell silently accepted those words froainst anything Isaac would say But the success of Isaac’s idea had solidified Goldman’s once-precarious situation and rewarded the Rivolden Merchant Guild with significantly increased influence a the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds thanks to the investments they’d made

But what Isaac said was true The success of Role-play Experience was very temporary, and future profit from this event seemed minimal Instead, it was the other service run by the elves that was even more adored by their custo very smoothly The lack of elves that we’ve been worried about has been solved with more volunteers frohed when he heard Cordnell’s words

“I alad that they have been of help”

All theCordnell were both happy at their success and sad that when it came down to it, women preferred handsoet too into the Escort Service It’ll be a headache when things get complicated”

What Isaac orried about was the possibility of soive up their lives for it instead of enjoying it as just a ‘service’

The elves were in a league of their ohen it caht these elves all the skills used by gigolos and playboys to seduce the target women and sent them into the scene

No woman failed to be conquered by the elves when they used their faces as their ht elf to match the preference of each woging at the elves to stay with him, the escort service as a whole could be thrown into jeopardy

Port City has been constantly looking for an opportunity to tarnish New Port City’s successful reputation, and jealousy from human men was bound to create ill ruoing to blow out of scale quickly and all precautions e that most elves didn’t consider humans as opposite sex idely known, and such incident had yet to happen But you never knohen and where someone with the mindset of ‘love conquers all boundaries’ would arise

Business using affection was a high-risk, high-return gas to Lanburton and Cordnell Once his warnings finished, Kalden raised his hand to speak

“I will give you a report on the City’s current financial status Just by calculating the profit made from the entrance ticket alone has shown that the total nuuests that have visited New Port City in the past 6 months has risen past a hundred thousand”

Everyone applauded and let out a cheer It ell above the previous expectation that they’d get a hundred guests a month at best

“Of course, this isn’t accurate since we did the calculation through how uests that will come to New Port City will increase over tiain, the hands of the employees applauded their success Kalden waited for the applause to end, and then spoke on a different subject

“I agree that we should be happy about the increasing nu to New Port City, but if ere to maintain the current situation of our financial state, ill go bankrupt”

“Huh? Why would we go bankrupt?”

As the nuuests increased, it naturally meant the number of irls were sought by thesein the brothels, never had a better time for her business than now

Brothels were the only choice wo as servants Before Isaac took over the city, the wo in the brothels Many times the customers failed to pay for their service, and even if they did pay, iven to the pih bad luck they happened to contract STDs or beconant, they were kicked out of the brothels immediately The shoddy medical facilities meant that they would receive poor treated now Pi they earned was theirs alone This was enough for them to feed their families and have hope for their future Milena’s school was the gateway all wo in the Ceta District, so Milena was enjoying her ti over all women as the Godmother

This hy she reacted first before anyone else when Kalden spoke of bankruptcy The wo if the city returned to its previous state

“First of all, the tax we are collecting from the city isour taxes diligently!”

Milena shouted out against Kalden, but Cordnell nodded in agreement with Kalden as he took over

“What Kalden said is true We may have reached the peak in terms of profit with our Role-play Experience and Escort Service, but there are just too uilds were the first to nod As merchants, they were very sensitive when it ca from those two services areit And uests participate in are shopping and restaurants The , but the taxes we are collecting from these merchants are too little”

But the problem was that they couldn’t even increase the tax even if they wanted to, since most of these shops were related to the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds Lower the tax and the uilds will have As the e the city’s tax on their shops was unacceptable

But they couldn’t just watch the city to fall in on itself since doing so would bring ruin to them as well So they had to limit expenditures in other areas It seereeuments in unison

“First We must lower the expenditures on the City’s welfare costs There are toonot just our free meals, but free medical care from hospitals as well”

“Our employment rate and their pay is also a proble about Unless we reduced their pay or reduce the number of employees, ill continue to be in the red”

“We can’t settle with just collecting taxes in Ceta District Wetaxes from other districts since they are part of New Port City”

The faces of Soland, Axlon, Milena and Dinozo turned redder each tilared at the eht discomfort on Isaac’s face

The syndicate bosses wanted to scream and threaten them to silence That was the personality that won them their seats after all But in this room, they had minimal influence Isaac’s policy to abandon all districts other than Ceta was one of theer part was that they were vastly inferior to the eraduates of Cath, economic power, and capabilities as individuals

Lanburton and Rizzly remained quiet In their eyes, they were outsiders They were ‘non-hu the city at the start

“The free meals and medical care are the sole hope of the citizens of New Port City Are you talking about extinguishi+ng that hope completely?”

Cordnell shook his head to Milena’s words

“We aren’t talking of abolishi+ng it completely Since the current financial state of our city is in jeopardy, we can reduce the total expenditures by reducing the number of employees and policies until our businesses flourish We can always increase our funding in those departoes back into the green”

“Howehtly e for most cases”

Kalden flatly rebutted Soland’s question

“Most of those e paidfor unnecessary e”

“Do you knohat that means?! That’sin the Escort Service and Role-playing Experience!”

“Not all of them There are those that work in maintenance and run the infrastructure of the city”

“That’s still just a fraction of theainst this decision We’ve told you before that ill increase our expenditures back to what it is now once we start ht that you lot wouldn’t even care”

Kalden spoke to the syndicate bosses with a hint of disgust in his eyes He found the once-cri like defenders of the people to be very hypocritical

“… Their livelihoods are at stake”

The employees and the hubaes snorted Just who do they think they are to think of someone else?

“And it’s my life that’s also at stake”

Just one sentence from Isaac forced the syndicate bosses to drop their heads in silence These syndicate bosses may have much control over the cities, but their words held very little weight because of their not-so-secretive position of being moles for both Port and New Port City Everyone was already aware of their actions during the construction of the casinos

Not to mention that Isaac had de theht tothes like this

Isaac, who had been quietly watching the clash between these two factions, thought that this was very siht in the old world between major corporations and unions and smirked

Now that he mentioned it, he noticed that there was a fine boundary in their seating arrangements The syndicate bosses, merchant employees, Isaac’s hubaes and the non-huue considering that factional infighting for the sake of profit was already happening

“Kukuku What a bad joke this is I guess you lot haveyou like actual bosses What? Their livelihoods are at stake? Since when could you ant claims like that?”

The four looked to the floor at Isaac’s cold words

“The only reason you’re saying it isn’t because of the impact it will have on their lives but the loss of profit through tax Don’t use the innocent citizens as your excuse I hate people who try to seek profit by using others as their excuse the most”

The hed at the four, triumphant as their heads seearette and looked to the hubaes instead

“Don’t start laughing, you retards”

Thehall came to a halt at Isaac’s words Isaac looked to them for a moment, then spoke to the hubaes

“I auess you guys are born lucky, considering that you happened to be born with immense talent that allowed you to enroll into Careat future But let uys apply to work under e it had on your pride, purely because I offered to pay you guys double anyone else?”

“…”

“You speak of reducing the funds for free h starvation yourself? You’ve suffered the i the e to deny your birth as people of the slums because of what the Caet it? You guys should have been the last ones arguing for the reduction of funds for ested it”

“…”

“No! I thought wrong As expected of talents from the Campus How very efficient I’m impressed You have the talent to find opportunities for promotions even in dire times like this Of course! This is what you must do for promotions I’m sure you’ll all land nobility titles if you continue working like that Seeing people as not people but a number on a document is mandatory to beco? Let us applaud at my fine hubaes”

Clap Clap Clap

Isaac’s sarcastic claps echoed in the silentroom

The hubaes turned silent, their faces blue

All they’ve done was doing as they have been taught But what Isaac said made them realise the reality that every docue the lives of other individuals, and that reality hit them hard on their backs The memories of pain and starvation as part of their poverty provoked guilt in their minds, which stabbed deeply at their chests Of course, there were a few hubaes who still looked to challenge Isaac’s words, unable to accept his statements

“Cordnell”

Cordnell shouted out nervously, knowing the harsh words that Isaac had been speaking are now aimed at him

“Yes!”

“You say we’re in the red?”

“T-that’s right”

“The reason e’re in the red is because we are spending ht?”

“That is correct…”

“And one of the expenditures is repaying the investht?”

“That’s obviously to reduce the liabilities it has on…”

“Stop Don’t try to play games with me”

It was now the merchant employees whose spines shrivelled

“I understand that you are trying to get back the invests, to the point of ht? Do it at an acceptable rate Trying to pay back our original investreed, especially e’ve already paid back the second chunk of their invest tih black tax exe the original a investment, but there was no interest or a due date as to when the et back the investreed on the employees’ part in that they wanted to achieve as uild as possible But if Isaac cut down on these unnecessary expenditures, the e the city go into the red, a their success New Port City’s financial administration was so full of holes that if any other administrator saw it, they would despair

Isaac sat on his chair, locking his fingers together In his eyes were the iet out of shock and theto read the situation The syndicate bosses had a sinister sroups went through while Lanburton and Rizzly yawned out of boredo to finish

Since Isaac didn’t have anyone he could boldly claie well out of hand It’s what he expected, which is why he ignored all of it and onlynit-picky andBut he couldn’t let his et to a point where it would lay ruin to his plan

“The employees are to drop their interest on our financial status and continue running our businesses The hubaes are to only focus on adarding our funds There will be no change in our policies”

The hubaes finally got out of the shock as if Isaac’s words were like a shower of cold water The e headache that would result from the decisions he had made

“Even if ere to delay on repayment of the investment, ill continue to be in the red despite the increase in nuuests that come here if we continue the policies!”

Isaac smirked at Cordnell

“I think you are mistaken New Port City’s main source of income is the casinos The brothels, Escorts and Role-play Services are just bait to bring in uests”

“Our casino built for co to stay out of red because of its lenient rules And the profits of our casino for nobles pale in coreatest expenditures in the last six months was the casinos!”

“Tsk Why are you so pessimistic? You’ll find it hard to live in this world if you continue to be so negative”

Cordnell grabbed the back of his own neck as his blood pressure began to rise while the hubaes looked dumbfounded at Isaac Isaac had been famous for his extreht to call anyone else pessi like a nosy person and just focus on what you are told The saoes for you, arding finance is up to me to solve”

“But it’s not like we have thatadministration”

The administrative work for them only concerned the Ceta District, not the entirety of New Port City So no raduates from Campus couldn’t help but have plenty of time in their hands

“If you’re bored, then enjoy the Role-play Experience again”

Everyone’s eyes fell on Selia when Isaac spoke those words Isaac forced her into the Role-play Experience, telling her to fix that introverted personality of hers Selia had beco the title of the ‘Red Rose of New Port City’

Selia’s face went rose red with e at her, and she profusely refused to oblige them For someone so introverted like Selia, who found it difficult to even talk in front of many people, the Role-play Experience was like torture

“I’ve already thought of a method to revitalise the casinos So?”

Soland stood up at Isaac’s question