Yes, Madam Prime Minister

"Yes, Madam Mayor."

Ronan agreed.

Chapter 5 dialogue, orientation, New Life Movement

The next morning, the group boiled a pot of water, threw in a few pieces of dried meat, Agustina took out a wine jug and shook in some wine, Yvette opened the salt shaker and added some salt, Dinia conjured up some mushrooms and threw them into the pot, and added two pieces of bread that were similar to baguettes. Breakfast was thus completed.

To be honest, even after living in this other world for ten years, Ronan still can't understand why, despite the fact that the geography and climate of this other world are quite different from his original world, and that there are also unique creatures, the dominant humans are similar to those in his original world. If magic is disregarded, they are essentially no different.

Many animals and plants are similar, so it's perfectly reasonable for Ronan to call the bread here "bread."

But is this reasonable?

After finishing breakfast, Ronan got up and went to Dinia. "Madam, do you still remember the lines you prepared?"

According to Ronan's plan, when Dinia goes to White Star City to receive the hospitality, she needs to imply that she is a special envoy. This requires her to deliver the lines perfectly. It doesn't matter that she is not good at this; Ronan and her advisor Yvette have already prepared the lines for her.

“I’ve forgotten everything,” Dinia said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

Ronan was so angry that his hands trembled involuntarily. "It's alright, there's still time. Let's go over it again."

He smiled on the outside but cursed inwardly. Ronan really wanted to ask how someone with such a memory could become the number one magician on the continent.

Yvette seemed to see through Ronan's thoughts and smiled crookedly, "Didi is a member of the Mind School, which is different from our Reason School."

Now Ronan understood.

The so-called "rational school" first cultivates mathematical logic and calculation abilities through training, then learns basic magic, and only after mastering all the basic magic can they master advanced magic.

The Heart School, on the other hand, awakens at a very young age, accepts or inherits advanced magic, and then goes back to learn more, or even doesn't need to.

The maxim of the rational school is that every step we take is the result of countless predecessors learning and paying the price, and these principles can withstand verification.

For the "heart-based" school of thought, what is reason? Just follow your feelings and that's it.

"We're not going to rehearse our lines, that's a hassle. You'll have to come to the banquet with me."

Dinia said.

"Won't this affect your reputation, madam?" Ronan expressed his concern.

"No, some people have slandered me, saying I have an abnormal orientation, and quite a few people believe it," Dinya said, adding that it doesn't affect anything at all.

“But some people in White Star City still recognize me,” Ronan added. This wasn’t an excuse; it was the truth. Ten years ago, during the southern rebellion—no, the uprising—several people had joined Ronan in turning the tide. Some of them are now prominent figures in White Star City, and they will most likely attend the banquet.

Dinia stretched out her palm, and a bright red mushroom grew in her hand. "I ate it."

"Um, will eating this cause you to see little people?" Ronan asked tentatively in a low voice.

"Eat." That was the only word Dinia used.

Ronan had no choice but to bite the bullet and pluck the mushroom from his palm and eat it.

Soon, Ronan felt his whole body burning hot, his muscles swelled up, and a full beard grew on his cheeks and chin at a visible speed. What he couldn't see was that two forehead wrinkles appeared on his smooth forehead, and his eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown.

"Young master, you look so handsome right now." Elena, the maid standing beside him, was stunned, her heart pounding.

When Ronan heard Elena say that he was handsome, he couldn't help but frown. He knew Elena's taste; she had said more than once that Ronan was good in every way, but he wasn't manly enough and lacked something.

After a moment of silence from Ronan, Dinia took a makeup mirror out of her backpack and handed it to Ronan.

"How's it going? Everything's alright now?" Dinia asked.

"no problem."

Ronan replied, "When the leader asks if you have any problems, of course you have no problems. If there are problems, then it must be your own fault."

"How long can this last?" Ronan asked again.

Dinia thought for a moment, "With the strength of my magic, if I don't dispel it, your beard should still be there by the time your body rots in the coffin."

“Alright, let’s go,” Ronan said, his only thought now being to get things done quickly and regain his handsome face.

The group set off again. Dinia rode alone on horseback, while Agustina and Yvette rode alongside her. Ronan and Elena rode together, with Elena in front and Ronan behind, as his riding skills were truly not very good.

At noon, the group arrived in Baixing City.

There are no city walls or gates in the northwest of Baixing City. However, a customs post and guard post have been set up not far from the city on the road connecting to the city. If you take the road that the citizens of Baixing City paid for, you will not be allowed to enter the city without paying.

When the guard Agustina went to pay the fee, she was told that she also had to pay an additional environmental protection fee.

"What is this environmental protection fee?" Agustina asked.

“Our city of Baixing is currently carrying out a new life movement. If you out-of-town merchants bring three horses into the city, it will cause environmental pollution. Naturally, you will need to pay an extra fee. It’s not much, just one and a half jiao of silver.”

The clerk explained.

A silver half-cent coin was a fan-shaped silver coin. One standard silver half-cent coin was equal to one-quarter of a silver dragon, which was equivalent to six bronze muskets.

Agustina's eye twitched. Was this robbery? One bronze musket was enough to buy five baguettes.

However, considering that she couldn't waste any more time here, Agustina still took out six bronze muskets.

The clerk refused to accept the money. "I'm sorry, we only accept silver coins now. If you insist on paying with copper coins, then please pay eight copper muskets, or I can exchange them for you. Seven copper muskets for one half-cent of silver."

"You've broken the law, you know that?" Agustina said, glaring at her one-eyed man. She didn't want to give him the bronze flintlock pistol; she just wanted to shoot him.

"You can sue me." The clerk's attitude was completely "Go ahead and sue me if you dare."

Agustina took a deep breath, suppressed her anger, and slammed a silver horn onto the table.

The clerk gave a professional, fake smile. "Thank you. On behalf of Baixing City, I wish you success in your business and a pleasant journey."

After the group passed the checkpoint, Agustina recounted what had just happened, her teeth clenched in fury, "Captain, I really wanted to shoot that guy just now. I was so angry, I almost lost control."

Unlike Yvette, who calls Dinia by the nickname "Didi," Agustina calls Dinia Captain.

The maid Elena covered her face and chuckled to herself. The root of all evil was clearly her young master Ronan. And this White Star City was the same; they copied Ronan's money-making methods without even changing the name.

Ronan didn't laugh; he and Yvette lowered their heads in thought at the same time.

After a while, Yvette was the first to look up. "Mr. Artes, have you thought of anything?"

"Just a little bit, certainly not as comprehensive as Miss Orion's thinking," Ronan said modestly.

“Hypocritical,” Yvette said dismissively, then turned to Dinia and said, “It seems the intelligence was wrong. The smuggling activities in White Star City are not just a small group of lower-ranking officials.”

Chapter Six: Deduction, Market, and Inviting Someone to Dinner

Dinia gestured for Yvette to continue.

Yvette began her analysis: "The Flame-Striped Rust Iron Sea Spiders live in the waters surrounding those small coastal countries across the sea. There are several large copper mines in the countries that border these small countries to the south."

"Copper has little value to them. The people of these small countries don't accept copper coins at all. They prefer barter. If all else fails, they'll accept the kingdom's silver coins, since the kingdom's silver coins have good purchasing power throughout the continent."

"Logically speaking, if officials in Baixing City wanted to profit from smuggling, the safest way would be to act as protectors for smugglers and then take a cut."

"But the reality is that someone is using this insane method to loot silver coins, which is still very unreasonable."

"Because Baixing City is a commercial port, merchants of any size would definitely pay taxes in silver coins. The truly discreet and safe method would be to misappropriate these tax revenues."

"This situation can only mean one thing: someone has already misappropriated the fiscal revenue of Baixing City, and if lower-level officials want to get involved, they can only find other ways."

"In conclusion, Baixing City is rotten to the core, with officials of all ranks involved in smuggling."

After Yvette finished her analysis, she turned to Ronan and asked, "Mr. Artes, is there anything else you'd like to add?"

"No."

Ronan replied that this was not hypocrisy, but rather that Yvette's reasoning was flawed. What was there to add to a flawed reasoning? Would it be a case of compounding errors?

Clearly, this female staff member has good reasoning and analytical skills, but she knows nothing about the market situation of the Flame-Patterned Rust Iron Sea Spider and the closely related Magic Black Stockings.

Firstly, as a monster whose artificial breeding technology is not yet mature, the increase in the production of Flame-patterned Rusty Iron Sea Spider is small and stable. In addition, the merchants who farm and catch it deliberately control the supply, so the actual supply has not increased much, with the aim of keeping the price stable at a high level.

The pantyhose market is also a relatively stable market, since most low-income people cannot afford them, and the merchants who manufacture and sell these pantyhose do not want to increase their output in order to maintain a high profit margin.

Once a large quantity of pantyhose at a better price appears on the market, it will inevitably be discovered. This would offend the rulers of several small countries across the sea and the major merchants in the kingdom itself.

This behavior is undoubtedly suicidal.

Therefore, the scale of the smuggling by the Flame-Patterned Rust Iron Sea Spiders could never be large, otherwise even the king couldn't save them.

Since the scale of smuggling is not large, misappropriating tax revenue is sufficient, and it is not necessary for lower-level officials to get involved.

In conclusion, the staff member's reasoning was wrong.

However, and this is the key point, the lower-level officials in White Star City are undoubtedly engaged in the act of plundering silver coins.

This behavior is insane and foolish. The White Star City Secretary, whom Ronan knows, is a greedy but shrewd man, and theoretically, he would never sit idly by and do nothing to stop such foolish behavior.

The truth is, he didn't stop it.

There are only three possibilities: one, he did it too; two, someone has something on him; three, both of the above.

"If the smuggling of the Flame-patterned Rust Iron Sea Spider is merely a small group of lower-level officials in White Star City, and the Secretary-General has leverage over the matter and can only acquiesce, then it is still unreasonable."

Ronan immediately dismissed his guess.

If the Secretary-General has something on him and has to tacitly allow that group to smuggle, then he might as well find a way to embezzle taxes and collude with that group, letting them use this method to plunder the silver coins of small merchants. Isn't he just afraid that others won't know that someone in White Star City is causing trouble?

In comparison, misappropriation of tax revenue is difficult to detect unless someone specifically audits the accounts, as long as the shortfall can be covered.

"Damn it, we still don't have enough information."

After much deliberation, Ronan still couldn't arrive at a truly convincing conclusion.

"Don't just stand there, let's go, let's proceed according to the original plan."

Dinia's words pulled Ronan back from his reverie.

“At worst, we can fight these people. Back in the day, I followed the commander…” One-eyed Agustina had just started speaking when Dinia interrupted her with a look.

The discussion temporarily ended, and the group set off again.

Upon arriving in the city, the group first went to the largest hotel in White Star City, where they placed several large bags of luggage and settled the three horses.

As the group walked the streets of Wright, they deliberately inquired about matters related to the Haidi people. Coupled with Dinia's striking white hair and red eyes, they were quickly spotted by someone who reported them to their superiors.

Upon this report, Dinya was recognized.

Although newspapers in this era were all text-based, in more remote areas, no matter how famous a person was, only their name and deeds were known. As for their appearance, it was often exaggerated to the extreme. It was common to hear stories about someone being eight feet tall and having an eight-foot waist.

But Dinia is an exception. The title of Kingdom Hero is just for fun; if she really wants to be noticed, she has to be the title of the continent's number one female magician, with the emphasis on "female." Crucially, several artists from noble families are madly infatuated with her, not only painting a ton of portraits of her but also organizing a nationwide exhibition. Her distinctive features are so striking that you can always find a few people in any city in the kingdom who can recognize her at a glance.

Just as Elena and Agustina were arguing heatedly about whether shrimp cakes tasted better dipped in sweet and sour sauce or sprinkled with salty spice powder, a middle-aged man dressed in all black with his hair neatly combed walked over.

"Excuse me for bothering you, are you Ms. Dinia Egis?"

A well-dressed young man asked Dinia very respectfully.

Dinia didn't reply, but simply extended a finger, from which a mushroom quickly grew.

This is her unique and irreplaceable identity document.

“I am Mayor Ares’s butler. It is a great honor for you to come to our city. On behalf of the mayor, I would like to invite you to a dinner party.” With that, the butler bowed and handed over an invitation with the time and address already written on it.

Yvette stepped forward, took the invitation, and handed it to Dinia.

Her status has changed; she is now a maid, just like Elena.

Staff? There's no such thing. Who would bring a staff on a trip?

Ronan, like Agustina, was a bodyguard.

Dinia glanced at it and said, "Alright, but I have one request. This is my bodyguard; he must come to the banquet with me."

The butler glanced at Ronan, his expression unchanged. "I don't think there will be any problems."

His face remained expressionless, but his heart was in turmoil. Was this bearded man really just a guard? It seemed the rumors were untrue; the continent's number one female mage's orientation was not problematic, she just preferred this rather unusual style.

Then, the butler asked Dinya if there was anything he could help her with.

Dinya said no, and the butler bowed and left.

After the butler walked away, Dinia looked at Ronan.

"It's up to you how you perform at tonight's banquet."

"Yes, ma'am."

Chapter Seven: Board Games, Pantyhose, Affection Increase

After having lunch at the hotel, the group gathered in the suite where Dinia and her two companions were staying. The five of them only booked one large and one small room, which was reasonable and also intentional.

Ronan and Dinia played a popular casual competitive board game in the kingdom – Unexpected Wars.

The first phase of the game involves both sides holding the same resource points purchasing their respective production buildings; during this process, neither side can watch the other's actions.