The Ogre Financier

Across Shattered Lake, a transport ship cleaved through the waves. Along the way, leaping finger sharks repeatedly tried to take bites out of this behemoth, producing crisp clinking sounds. "Hollis is rallying the Wine of Immortality Club?" Inside the ship's only VIP lounge, a benevolent-looking ogre sat in an upholstered armchair, biting down on a pipe and puffing out a ring of pale green smoke. On the light screen before the ogre, a tall, handsome goblin with pointed ears and a shaved head was flipping through documents. He wore a tailored black suit and spectacles, his expression laden with worry. "Yes, Mayor. I'm afraid they want to launch an impeachment to cut your term short." The goblin's tone was heavy with anxiety. "You are held primarily responsible for the April 24 Incident. If Hollis rallies the centrists to launch an offensive and demand a mayoral vote, it will be hard for us to secure enough support. Even the councilors who back us will face pressure from their own district constituents." "To think I contended with Andere for so long, only for that bastard Hollis to swoop in and reap the spoils..." Snap! With a savage bite, the ogre crushed the white jade and ivory pipe between his teeth! Chewing a few times, he swallowed the entire pipe down! "How can anyone run politics when surrounded by such vermin?!" His brow furrowed, and his kindly, benevolent face instantly hardened with chilling malevolence. "A spineless, indistinct, dull-witted human waste like Hollis, incapable of changing the status quo and universally regarded as easy to manipulate—he dares compete with me?!" "Mayor, if worse comes to worst, we can wait until the next term—" "There is no next term! None! Gibot, we don't get a second chance! Not a single one! The moment I step down, there won't be another opportunity to start over!" The ogre held up three thick fingers. "In all of Kaimeng City's history, there have been fifty-one elven mayors and forty-two human mayors. I am one of only three non-standard race mayors ever elected!" The Blood Moon Sovereign shed glory equally upon every race, yet certain races received more favor due to their appearance—such as elves and humans, who were known as standard races. The rest, such as orcs, ogres, and goblins, were non-standard races. Through years of selective breeding, the appearances of non-standard races had grown increasingly closer to standard races. The most primitive and grotesque among them were terminated at infancy and remade in the cycle, never even stepping foot past the doors of the rearing institute. "Do you know what I sacrificed for this?" The ogre tapped his teeth. "I pulled out all of my sharp fangs and replaced them with neat white teeth. The first thing I do every morning when I wake up is clip my nails, because it takes only a single night for an ogre to grow claws as long as a finger joint. Every week, I undergo photorejuvenation just to keep my skin free of hideous wrinkles. "Even after doing all that, if not for the citizens' novelty-seeking curiosity, I never would have been elected mayor! Even though I, Allandor Financier, hold three gold degrees, am a Two-Winged Gold Sorcerer, and possess countless other titles I've long forgotten myself, the citizens will never give me a second chance—just as you would never watch a clown's second performance. "Gibot, do you know why I chose you as my secretary? Because you're a goblin. Only you can understand my predicament; only you have endured the ridicule I once faced." The goblin Gibot on the screen hesitated, looking as though he wanted to speak. The ogre Financier raised his artificial eyebrows and asked, "What is it you want to say?" "Mayor, why... why didn't you save the citizens?" Gibot's voice held a trace of sorrow. "You clearly knew it was an invasion by outland sorcerers, yet first you claimed it was all rumors and that nothing had happened. "Then you claimed there was a serial murder spree and dispatched the Sin Hunting Hall to investigate. "Only at the very end did you claim it was a terrorist attack and mobilize all the armed forces in the city. "And once it was all too late, you finally summoned the frontline adventurers. "If only the truth had been announced from the beginning—" "Announcing the truth from the start would only have provoked mass panic among the populace, leading to large-scale congregations attempting to flee and granting the invaders even greater opportunity," Financier said calmly. "So what do you think I should have done? Facing over a hundred well-prepared outland sorcerers scattered throughout the city, I mobilized the Sin Hunting Hall at the earliest possible moment." "There were also the Research Institute and the Church!" Gibot said. "If they had been willing to act, the invaders certainly wouldn't have run rampant like that!" "They were unwilling. The invaders did not harm their interests, so they had neither reason nor obligation to protect Kaimeng City." "But you're the mayor! If you had pressured them in public to take a stand, the citizens definitely would have backed you!" Financier glanced at Gibot. "I see it clearly now. Hollis merely wants me out of office, but you want me dead." "No, I—that's not what I meant..." "Indeed, as you say, if I had openly made a statement to force their hand, the Research Institute and the Church would most likely have stepped in to help repel the invaders to safeguard the stellar reputation they've spent years building." Financier said in a cold voice, "Yet no one uses the Blood Saint clan and the Moon Shadow clan without paying the price. No one. Once my term ends, what awaits me would inevitably be a lingering death, and future rulers would take me as a cautionary tale." Gibot's expression fell. "Were we really supposed to just stand by and watch the citizens be ravaged by invaders...?" "Do you think I lack compassion? And must you flaunt your own misplaced sympathy like this?" Financier waved his hand impatiently. "This outland attack will blow over soon enough. Vacated positions will easily be filled by others; destroyed buildings will be rebuilt quickly, generating plenty of new jobs; and within months, Kaimeng City will be back to normal. What's more, because of this sudden catastrophe, consumer spending among citizens will surge over the next six months. Most of those who died were middle-aged and elderly whose declining stamina prevented them from escaping in time... For Kaimeng City alone, this attack actually did more good than harm!" On the screen, Gibot stared blankly at Financier. "Mayor, you..." "This isn't just my opinion. The Racial Security Hall, the Sin Hunting Hall, the Development and Planning Hall... the entire civil service apparatus was dropping hints," Financier said. "As long as the attack ends, the next six months will be an opportunity for the Kaimeng City Administrative Hall to rack up political achievements. "Gibot, a mayor is merely a temporary master parasitizing the civil service system. If the entire bureaucracy harbors such desires, my relief decrees would only have been carried out sluggishly anyway. Rather than fighting everyone's wishes, why not ride the tide? It saves money, too." Financier continued calmly, "It's like gardening. Overgrown flowers and grass must be trimmed properly for the garden to look neat and beautiful. It's just that in the Blood Moon Country, we can't and aren't permitted to prune. Now that someone has helped prune for us, why shouldn't we be glad? "More importantly," he spread his hands, "the Blood Saints crave corpses, and the Moon Shadows cherish death... Both clans of the Blood Moon were reveling in this slaughter. This is a game played by the gods. The Administrative Hall cannot afford to displease them. You understand, don't you?" The goblin murmured, "That is too cruel..." "If you want to climb higher in the future, don't concern yourself with good and evil. The Administrative Hall cares only about order and chaos." Financier tapped the desk. "Alright, lesson over. When you get back, take one-fifth—no, one-third—from my vault to win over the councilors of the non-standard races. Then give one-seventh to Xilin and have Woodpecker assassinate Hollis and every last remnant of the Wine of Immortality!" Gibot panicked slightly. "Mayor, how could you—when you leave prison, you'll have to undergo another memory inspection—" "I'll erase this memory myself," Financier said offhandedly. "But Hollis isn't an ordinary person! He's a human councilor. The Sin Hunting Hall will relentlessly investigate to the bitter end! This is a gamble!" "If I don't gamble, there will be no chance left!" Financier's voice turned icy. His eyes widened like bronze bells, radiating a chilling bloodlust that made Gibot realize for the first time that this mayor was, after all, an ogre. "I worked so hard to convince the councilors of the other races... Even the elves agreed to my plan... All the races of Kaimeng City were finally about to unite for the very first time... "If luck had been on our side, we would have been the first to discover the correct Void Realm passage and the first to invade the outlands! That achievement would have been enough to please the Blood Moon Sovereign, securing my reelection and buying me more time to prepare! "Pity ogres have never had good luck..." Financier ground his teeth. "Yet no matter what, I cannot let my term end prematurely, and I certainly cannot surrender the mayoralty to a fawning sycophant like Hollis! Humans are more arrogant than elves, more shortsighted than goblins, lazier than orcs, and greedier than ogres... Humans are the most untrustworthy race of all! They would gladly abandon their own flesh to receive the blood of the Blood Saint clan and drape themselves in the skin of the Moon Shadow clan, only to turn around and exploit their own kind even more ruthlessly! At this point, we have no choice but to make a few minor mistakes!" Gibot looked incredulous. "Assassinating a councilor is a minor mistake? Then what counts as a major one?" "Only getting caught counts as a major mistake," Financier said coldly. The scenery outside the window ceased passing by. The intercom in the room chimed: "Mayor Financier, Transport Ship 322 has arrived at Shattered Lake Prison." Financier walked to the window. His fingertip glowed with faint light as he tapped his own temple, drawing out a thin white thread before tossing it into the waters outside. A finger shark leaped up and swallowed it whole. "I've already forgotten what I just said to you." He looked at the young secretary on the screen. "It's in your hands, goblin." With that, Financier turned off the screen and stepped out of the room. Accompanied by two Bloodmad Hunters, he departed the transport ship and set foot inside Shattered Lake Prison. Past the yellow line, two smartly uniformed prison guards were waiting. Giving Financier little courtesy, a hunter handed the documents to the handsomer guard. "Only one prisoner on this transport. Please sign." The handsome prison guard examined the documents and nodded. "Confirmed. Mayor Allandor Financier of Kaimeng City." "There are some supplies on board. Are you the only one here to unload them?" "Apologies. We're not sure if there was an issue with the ingredients delivered last time, but half the inmates and most of the guards have gotten upset stomachs and are currently queuing up at the Treatment Room. Could we trouble the hunters and deckhands to help unload the supplies?" The hunter muttered, "I heard they recently uncovered a batch of poisonous Lalafell in Kaimeng City... Don't tell me... Sure, no problem. But we don't know where the warehouse is." "I'll guide you." The handsome guard turned to his colleague. "Take the mayor to register in the Sinner Directory and assign his quarters." "Understood." Financier turned his head to look at the other guard beside him, who lacked any sense of presence. Whether it was because the sunlight was too glaring, he couldn't tell, but the man's features seemed strangely blurred. "Mayor Financier, welcome to Shattered Lake Prison. You'll find your stay here to be just like home."