Volume 5 Chapter 94 - Bait (1/2)

The two looked at each other before Seveni reacted. She found that her reaction was a bit too intense, so she couldn’t help looking a bit awkward.

“No…..Don’t misunderstand. Xu Yi, it isn’t that I don’t like Freya, I just…..feel that the two of them are incompatible.”

Xu Yi looked at Seveni with doubt, not really believing her explanation.

Of course he wouldn’t mistake it as Seveni not liking Freya, but Seveni’s reaction was just too abnormal which made him a bit curious.

Feeling Xu Yi’s doubtful gaze, Seveni’s expression became even more awkward. She opened her mouth, but she didn’t give an explanation. After pausing for a bit, she changed the topic.

“Xu Yi, how is your Stantine Duchy’s slavery abolition going?”

This topic change was too stiff, even Xu Yi was stunned for a bit before reacting.

He took a deep look at Seveni and after taking a deep breath, he didn’t keep asking.

Seveni’s child’s origin was very strange. Even now she wasn’t willing to announce who the father of the child was, so it was clearly hard for her to bring up.

As her friend, Xu Yi wouldn’t force herself to tell him the secret she wanted to keep.

“Eh…..It’s not too smooth. The lords of the duchy don’t want to change the slaves under them into citizens. They think that this will cause them to lose these citizens and suffer losses.”

“That is certain.” Seveni gave a nod, “Xu Yi, actually……I also feel that your methods this time are too…..strange…..”

Xu Yi looked at Seveni’s hesitant look and thought that she wanted to say that he was insane, but she didn’t say it.

“Slaves have already existed on the continent for a long time, but you want to abolish them, this is going against the traditions of the continent. The lords with slaves will definitely not agree to your idea. You can forcefully carry this out in the Stantine Duchy, but if it was the Lampuri Kingdom, there is no way that this proposal would pass in the kingdom parliament.”

“What if you’re the one who brought it out?” Xu Yi tentatively asked.

“Then our Lampuri Family’s best result would be giving up the throne.” Seveni said with a serious look.

Xu Yi thought for a bit before giving a silent nod.

“Actually, Xu Yi, you should know the consequences of doing this, right? Otherwise, your actions in the Stantine Duchy wouldn’t be so anticlimactic, you’re not someone who does things halfway.” Seveni asked.

Xu Yi gave a laugh, “Un, the pressure and opposition to this is quite large, so I’ve decided to postpone it and not rush it.”

Seveni knit her brows, “So I don’t understand, why did you do this? You clearly know how hard this is and there aren’t any benefits for your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so why did you ignore all the opposition and went against the pressure to do this?”

“No, this matter is quite good for our Frestech Chamber of Commerce.” Xu Yi shook his head, “Seveni, did you read the article in the «Lampuri Weekly»?”

“The one from Baron Hannas, the article about how you want to free slaves to free productive forces? I’ve seen it and not just once.” Seveni said, “I do admit that you have reason. Hiring workers as slaves cannot give you the best efficiency and it can even affect the quality product, but since there isn’t a good effect in letting slaves handle complicated work, you can just let them handle the simple work. No matter what, slaves don’t need to be paid wages, right?”

“Even you can’t understand my ideas in the end, that means it’s impossible for others to understand them.” Xu Yi shook his head and said with a sigh, “All of you can’t understand one logic, slaves are no different from domestic animals to you, they have no special value. But for me, they are also people. Since they are people, they have the basic ability to study as humans. So even if they are slaves, there is the chance of increasing their abilities, so you can’t treat them as simple domestic animals.”

“You mean…..you are planning on freeing them from being slaves and then teaching them to turn them into skilled workers?” Seveni asked in a surprised voice, “Is it worth putting in that much effort for these slaves?”

“Why isn’t it worth it?” Xu Yi asked back, “Seveni, let me ask you a question. How many people are in the Lampuri Kingdom right now?”

Seveni was surprised, never expecting Xu Yi to change the topic to this.

After thinking about it, she replied, “There was a survey when I took the throne, the population then was around six million and four hundred thousand people.”

“Does that not include the slaves?”

“Yes, slaves are not considered citizens, so they aren’t counted. But according to the estimates from the various regions, there are around three million slaves in the kingdom.” Seveni replied.

“Then can you tell me, of the Lampuri Kingdom’s six million and four hundred thousand people, how many can actually work? And among the three million slaves, how many can work?” Xu Yi asked.