Yes, Madam Prime Minister

"I think you guys are completely out of your minds right now. Why don't we just find a way to pin the murder on him?"

“That’s right. He fabricated a bribery case, and we can just say that he killed the person to silence him.”

In an instant, everyone snapped out of their panic caused by fear.

The next day, a whole new rumor emerged.

Bonova wasn't killed by his accomplices, but by Ronan to silence him.

In the afternoon, Dinia arrived at Ronan's mansion.

"Did you go too far this time?" Dinia asked with a laugh.

"Ha, I overestimated the intelligence of those people. I really didn't expect them to be this stupid," Ronan laughed.

Dinia couldn't help but become curious.

Ronan began to explain to Dinia from the beginning why he said that, “My channels for spreading rumors are different from theirs. I spread rumors openly through civil servants. What officials’ wives say outside is easily believed by the neighbors and then spread. But they, some of them are bureaucrats, but they certainly wouldn’t dare to spread rumors through civil servants, so they can only find some thugs to spread them in secret. And the fact that the rumors spread so quickly must mean that a lot of people were involved.”

"If they only spread rumors once, we might not be able to catch them red-handed, but if they do it again, it's a bit disrespectful."

Chapter 124 Kill, kill again, kill until they surrender

As he spoke, Ronan poured Dinia a cup of tea, then poured one for himself, took a sip to moisten his throat, and continued, "I guess they probably think I don't know much about things outside of Wright City."

"Sigh, I really don't know what they're thinking. Have they forgotten that the Haidi people were the ones who first created the game ships? They might not be able to find any big shots there, but finding a few petty thugs who keep spreading rumors is a piece of cake for them."

"Originally, I had absolutely no idea who this group of people were, and I wasn't even sure if Bonova was one of them."

"But now, judging from their reaction, Bonova must be one of them. And such a conspiracy would not involve strangers, and there would not be too many people involved. By focusing on Bonova and combining that with those thugs, it won't be long before we can find out all of them one by one."

As Ronan spoke, the disappointment on his face became increasingly evident.

How could the local officials and landlords be so incompetent? They kill someone at will, and the other side retaliates. Isn't that just admitting their own guilt?

"What are your plans after you find these people?"

"Dinia asked."

“Kill, kill until someone confesses,” Ronan replied. “There’s no way we can find evidence that they framed Elena, so they’ll have to find it themselves.”

“I thought you had some clever tricks up your sleeve,” Dinia said.

Ronan shrugged. "This is the only way we can do it. They're using all sorts of ridiculous tricks, like paying for only one bowl of noodles when you order two. It's so unethical. We have to let the people of Xinhai City know what happens to those who break the rules."

"I'm leaving now. You can handle things yourself." With that, Dinia turned around and disappeared.

Two days later, Ronan found a large enough estate and held a cocktail party. The first person he invited was Dinia, and he also invited all the heads of the New Sea City Hall and the various departments that did not work in the City Hall.

Everyone who was invited showed up, and none of them were good people. They knew that accepting the invitation didn't mean anything, but not coming meant standing against Ronan.

If Ronan loses power, that's fine; but if he doesn't, then it'll be a big problem if no one comes.

In the end, they were all glad they had come, because Dinia and Ronan acted quite intimately, not at all like they were preparing to replace Ronan as secretary-general.

That night, another one of the nine conspirators died; Alice, who had been lying in ambush, shot him in the head.

The dead man was named Erd. On the surface, he was a member of the Seven Cities United Commercial Guild, and his main business was wine merchant. He also owned several taverns, but in reality, he was a gang leader.

The following night, the conspiring group held another secret meeting.

Of the original nine, only seven remain, two of them have died, and both were members of their own group.

“Bonova and Ronan have conflicts, but Erd has none. He has no connection with Ronan at all. Gentlemen, we may not be fully exposed yet, but he will find out sooner or later.”

“If he wants to kill us, we will kill him.”

“He is a full-rank mage, so muskets are useless against him. Besides, he has been staying at home these days and hasn’t gone out. Also, he wasn’t even there yesterday, which means he has other mages under his command.”

"Then send someone to kill him."

“If he dies, things will really get serious. None of us will survive. If that female mayor gets angry, no one can stop her.”

"Do you think he'll let us go if we just give up? You don't think he's the kind of person who would give up so easily, do you? No way."

"Killing won't work, surrendering won't work either, so you have to come up with a solution."

However, no one could come up with a solution.

It was only then that they realized something: they thought Ronan didn't understand them, so they were in the shadows while Ronan was in the open. However, in reality, they understood Ronan even less and never expected him to take such ruthless measures, killing anyone he caught without even asking questions.

Another day passed, and someone else died. This time, it wasn't one of the remaining seven who died, but someone who was closely related to Bonova, the first one to die.

However, the remaining seven were even more frightened, because this incident proved that Ronan was a complete madman who would rather kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.

That day, they did not gather again, but went to find their own way. If things continued like this, Ronan would come after them sooner or later.

The series of murders did not cause any panic, because the citizens knew that the dead were all rich and powerful people. They were not afraid, but even felt a little smug, after all, these were the people who had lorded it over them in the past.

Three days later, in the afternoon, Octave, one of the conspirators, arrived at Ronan's front door. After hesitating for a long time, he finally rang the doorbell.

After a while, Chloe, dressed as a maid, came to the door and asked him about his identity and purpose through the iron bars.

Octaf identified himself and said he knew something about the things behind the recent rumors.

Chloe left, and Octave's face showed a hint of curiosity. This maid was really different. She had neither the arrogance of servants from powerful families nor the usual etiquette of maids. In short, she was completely unlike a maid.

What truly piqued his curiosity was Ronan's residence. It was incredibly small, probably less than 300 square meters. Even in the city, it was considered tiny. Not to mention the heads of municipal departments, even minor local officials had much more luxurious and imposing residences.

After a while, Chloe came over, opened the door, and led the way. It was just a few steps, and Octave arrived in the living room.

"Speak, what is it?" Ronan said while eating pudding.

Octave stood there and said, “Mr. Ronan, I would like to report to you those who have been spreading rumors recently.”

Ronan didn't even look up. "That's it?"

“Although I’m from Phil City, my main business is in Sama City. I’m a sugar merchant, and our chamber of commerce has recently encountered some operational problems and we’d like to get some consulting services,” Octaf said.

Phil City is the leftmost of the original seven special cities, right next to the commercial city of Sama. Most of the sugarcane from the Southern Continent flows into Sama City, where it is processed and then sold to various places.

Octavian dared to surrender to Ronan because he was a wealthy sugar merchant who could settle in Sama City at any time. However, if he did so, it would be inconvenient for him to hire workers from New Sea City who paid lower wages.

Ronan put down his spoon. "Do you think money is more important to me, or people?"

"A person?" Octavour asked.

Ronan shook his head.

"It can't be about money, can it?" Octave said with some doubt. He was already willing to give money, so it obviously couldn't be about money.

“Neither, of course, it’s not that you’re not very important to me.” Ronan joked slightly. “Given that you’re the first one, and the fact that you dared to come means you’re not deeply involved, answer one question for me and you’ll be safe.”

"Excuse me," Octaf said respectfully.

Ronan posed the question, "Why was a priest named Eric involved in your group's conspiracy?"

Chapter 125 Questions, Answers, and Deals

Octavian was surprised that Ronan was able to find this person. If there was one person among the nine who was the least likely to be found, it would be this Father Eric.

“I don’t know, I don’t know him very well,” Octaf replied. This was the truth. Because Father Eric was only someone they knew, not someone they were familiar with, and had no connection with Ronan, he thought that Eric was the least likely person to be found.

In fact, Ronan was particularly curious about this priest because he couldn't see any connection between him and the city hall.

Ronan tapped his fingers lightly on the table. "Your answer isn't very good. Try to think about it again."

“Could you give me some time to investigate?” Octaf pleaded.

“No,” Ronan replied, a hint of murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

“This…” Octaf tensed up instantly, cold sweat pouring down his back. He was the heir to a small sugar workshop, and he had worked hard for twenty years, defeating so many rivals to finally get to where he was today. He didn’t want to die, really, he didn’t want to die at all.

"Perhaps you should broaden your perspective. This priest has no personal conflict with me, and the expansion of collective farms and civil servants does not affect his interests. But what about other policies?"

Ronan added.

Octavian gripped his trousers tightly with both hands, trying hard to recall everything about Eric. Suddenly, a glimmer of hope flashed through his mind, which had been shrouded in darkness.

“I remember now. He was drunk that day and said the church was preparing for reform.” Octave said excitedly, as if he had grasped a lifeline. “He said the church was going to abolish the pilgrimage system in the southern part of the kingdom and establish a church magic academy.”

Ronan was taken aback, but in the next instant, he understood.

The pilgrimage system is an ancient magical teaching system. The cathedral in a region only teaches one basic skill, and once you have completed seven pilgrimages, you have finished learning it.

However, this system requires a hefty tuition fee from the very beginning. If you can't complete all seven courses, there's no refund. Most people can't even afford the tuition, let alone other miscellaneous expenses along the way. Even now, when the economy is much more developed than it was hundreds of years ago, very few ordinary people can afford it.

Moreover, unless you are someone of high status, the church will require you to take a divine oath and become a priest after you have completed the seven foundational courses.

Priests used to be a highly sought-after profession, with countless people vying to become one, but that's no longer the case.

In the North, if the Church had been willing to reform more than a hundred years ago, abolishing the pilgrimage system and establishing church schools, it could have competed with other magic academies. But that's no longer possible. There are already many magic academies in the North. If the Church were to open a school now, it would absolutely be unable to compete with them in terms of student enrollment.

But it's not like that in the South. Due to some historical issues, there aren't many magic academies in the South, and in places like Xinhai City, there aren't any at all. The Church definitely has a lot of potential there.

Meanwhile, New Sea City is preparing to establish a magic academy, which is seen as a competitor by the Church.

No, or rather, this reason is not sufficient.

Even a magic academy in Xinhai City can't recruit too many people, so the church has no need to worry about not being able to recruit enough people to open another school.

It seems that the matter still needs further investigation.

"Speaking of which, I still don't know what I did to offend you," Ronan asked. "You're a sugar merchant, what conflict do I have with you?"

Octave hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth, “Your Excellency Secretary General, a workshop funded by your consulting firm has produced whiter and finer sugar. I wanted to seek cooperation, but was rejected.”

After being rejected, he tried to send someone to learn from Ronan, but the attempt failed, his own factory was burned down, and many of his men were killed. He was eager for Ronan to fall from power.

"Oh, I almost forgot about that." Ronan remembered. Yes, there was such a thing. Two years ago, he seemed to have just mentioned another time-space bright yellow mud water sugar leaching method, and then he didn't care about it anymore, letting those people research a method more suitable for large-scale, low-cost production. It seems that they have recently done a pretty good job of researching it.

Octavian was sweating profusely. Did this Secretary General not know the terrifying economic profits that sugar could bring, and so casually said, "I almost forgot"?

“If you’re interested, we can talk. How about Panax notoginseng?” Ronan asked.

"Isn't that too much?" Octaf asked, a little embarrassed.

“I said you’re three, and I’m seven,” Ronan said.

"Ah, well, I'm not just in charge of myself, Secretary General," Octaf said. Honestly, he might as well have Ronan just chop him up.

“Four or six, you have to make some compensation,” Ronan said.

“Two hundred Golden Eagles as a one-time compensation, then split fifty-fifty,” Octaf said through gritted teeth.

The Golden Eagle is a large pure gold coin, usually used for large commercial transactions. One Golden Eagle is equal to four Small Golden Eagles, ninety-six Silver Dragons, or two thousand three hundred and four Copper Muskets.

In Ronan's original timeline, this amount of money wouldn't be much, since a bronze musket could only buy three baguettes. However, in that era, most ordinary families' main expenditure was on food, so the purchasing power of a bronze musket was actually quite high.

Before the industrial age, you could hire people and feed them without paying them.

Back to reality, Ronan spread out five fingers. "One thousand. I'll sell you that technology directly. In the future, when you sell sugar, I'll give you 30%. I promise I won't sell the technology to anyone else."

The yellow mud sugar-coating technique is too simple. Once we cooperate, it's impossible to keep it a secret. It's better to just let him buy it at a high price and then take a cut.

"Can I pay in installments?" Octaf asked.

“Let’s write an IOU. I’ll pay you one hundred within ten days, and the rest within two years. I’ll give you the technology within a month.” Ronan said, then shouted to the next room, “Chloe, go get some paper and pen.”

Soon, Chloe brought paper and pen, and then tactfully left.

After writing the IOU, Octave wrote the names of six other people on another piece of paper.

Afterwards, Octave left. As he walked out of Ronan's house, half his face was smiling and the other half was crying. A thousand golden eagles! He hadn't felt this bad even when his parents died, no, when his son died young from illness.

But the thought of being able to acquire that technology is a hundred or a thousand times more exciting than losing my wife; it can probably only be compared to the excitement of all my competitors dying suddenly.

Ronan stood up and stretched. "Chloe, have you learned meditation yet?"

“I’m starting to get a feel for it,” Chloe replied.

“Not bad,” Ronan said with a smile.

The fact that he could feel it in such a short time shows that his Luo's meditation method has great potential. You should know that, apart from some talented people, it usually takes an average person a month or two to feel anything when learning meditation.

"Once you've learned it, I'll give you a bonus."

After saying that, Ronan left the mansion.

He planned to report the situation to Dinia, and then ask the blind man and the mute man about the construction project of the magic academy, hoping to find some clues.

While you're at it, go ask Lady Antari if she's interested in learning more magic.

Ronan wanted to test his method to see if it would have any surprising effects on people with low magical affinity but good analytical skills.

Chapter 126 Eating, Talking, and Drinking?

Arriving at the city hall by carriage, it was just after get off work hours.