Compensation for mental distress.
This nonsensical notion, which Yaxiu had always considered as non-existent as "weekday team-building retreats," descended upon him for the very first time—the problem being that the one who had to pay for mental distress was himself.
The grounds for the charge were: "When Mr. Igola insulted Miss Yifalin, you remained silent and did not intervene to dissuade him, which is deemed as your participation in the mob bullying of Miss Yifalin."
Grassroots workers bullying a capitalist—Yaxiu almost wanted to applaud Gospel for its robust legal framework. The most terrifying part was that, after spending 1 Gospel point to check, he discovered the Gospel truly ruled that way.
However, this fell under civil matters: if the citizens didn't report it, the Gospel wouldn't investigate, and even if it did, the outcome wouldn't amount to much. Although the aggrieved party could make reasonable demands of the infringer, if the infringer adamantly refused to comply, the Gospel would at most lower their ranking evaluation by a fraction—compared to the Blood Moon, which placed immense importance on human rights and speech, the Gospel was unexpectedly lenient with public discourse. Unless it caused serious societal harm, the Gospel was extremely tolerant of mere lip flapping and idle talk.
The Blood Moon forbade racial, gender, and educational discrimination precisely because they actively discriminated. Conversely, the Gospel paid little mind to public opinion because the populace lacked hostility, or buried it very deep; fleeting vitriol and rash outbursts would find no following, but would instead be condemned and schooled by rational people—a true case of good money driving out bad.
Although Yaxiu and the others had only traveled through a fraction of the Gospel's lands, judging by Azula, Fanmula, and Mengfeila alone, they no longer expected any PvP zones to exist in the Gospel.
In other realms, it was still possible that "the sun does not shine into every shadow," but here, the Gospel was truly a realm where "the glory of the Gospel is omnipresent."
Running one's mouth wouldn't bring much punishment, but that applied only to ordinary people.
Now that Yaxiu and his companions had fallen into Berdette's hands, this tiny bit of mental distress served as her vanguard to breach their mental defenses. If Yaxiu dared to refuse compensation, he could look forward to dreaming tonight of turning into Miss Berdette's husky.
Of course, Yifalin couldn't make unreasonable demands either; the Gospel was fair and just. Thus, that detestable blue-haired midget made a small demand: except for Lisi, Yaxiu and Harvey had to wear heavy weights all afternoon as a sincere gesture of apology.
She didn't let Lisi off out of respect for the elderly or love for the young, but rather because the Gospel had minor protection regulations. Lisi was still just a child, so an apology was enough; adults couldn't hold grudges against children.
However, as her nominal guardian, Lisi's share was piled onto Yaxiu as well—double weights.
As for Igola, Yaxiu didn't even dare imagine what kind of torment he was suffering. But Igola's most valuable asset was his looks, so perhaps he would have to sacrifice his charms... Damn it, all of a sudden, it didn't feel so satisfying to gloat.
"Haa... whew..."
Cleaning while bearing double his body's weight, Yaxiu was so exhausted he felt like throwing up. His hand holding the rag felt too heavy to even lift, and all he wanted was to collapse right there and rest. Yet he still had to struggle to his feet, wet the rag, and continue wiping away the accumulated dust from the statue.
Although no one was supervising Yaxiu's work, he didn't dare slack off in the slightest. Accepting the cleaning assignment was equivalent to entering into a contract with Yifalin: Yaxiu completed the work, and Yifalin paid his wage in Bei points.
Theoretically, Yaxiu could have slacked off on the clock to earn Yifalin's money, exploiting the big capitalist Berdette in reverse.
The problem was, just because no person was supervising Yaxiu didn't mean the Gospel wasn't, or that the Void Realm wasn't.
Berdette wasn't terrifying; what was terrifying was the iron fist backing her.
"Never take any advantage of Berdette" applied to every single employee working for Berdette. If Yaxiu took the pay without doing the work, it would be a breach of the labor contract. He would then have to throw open the windows to his soul and his mind palace to Yifalin, and before long he would unknowingly max out Huabei to buy Ultimate Weapon Lalafells to eat, eventually thinking that being a dog wasn't half bad after all.
Speaking of which, there were way too many statues in this main building... Yaxiu was currently wiping down a statue of a female sorcerer wielding a staff, unsure which medieval fairy tale she hailed from. There were many more statues like it, spanning various races and factions. Yaxiu had even spotted a Veela dressed like a paladin; it seemed the Berdette family had a habit of stamp collecting.
As Yaxiu strove to clean the recesses of the female sorcerer statue, the excessive weight on his body caused him to accidentally knock over the water bucket nearby. Water spilled all over the floor, adding insult to injury for the already overworked wage slave.
The cult leader sighed and knelt down to wipe the marble floor.
As he wiped, however, a figure suddenly appeared before him. Yaxiu looked up and saw a girl with choppy burgundy hair, dressed in a steward's uniform, kneeling down to wipe the floor alongside him.
Noticing Yaxiu's gaze, she smiled and said, "It'll be faster if the two of us wipe together, right?"
"What about your own work?" Yaxiu asked, somewhat surprised. This was his assigned zone. Generally, servants wouldn't wander off elsewhere except to use the restroom, not only because of their heavy workload, but also because thoughts of "slacking off" or "visiting others"—notions that reduced efficiency—simply didn't cross their minds.
"My job is to patrol the main building and help everyone complete their work," the red-haired girl said. "You're new here, aren't you?"
"Hmm?" Yaxiu wasn't wearing the Fiend Trench Coat right now, of course, but the Distortion Mask was mandatory; whether he put it on or not, others would perceive him as wearing it, making him rather recognizable. Still, Yifalin had said no one in the manor would pay attention to them, so Yaxiu could only trust in the formidable power of the Dominance Faction. "Why do you think so?"
"I remember the face of every servant in the manor." The red-haired girl pursed her lips and smiled. "Nice to meet you, I'm Anfiel."
"How could that be? There are eighty thousand servants in this tyrannical manor—how could you possibly remember them all? You mean you remember all the servants in the main building, right?" Yaxiu twitched his lips. "Though I am indeed new here. My name is Yakamashi Subarashi..."
"Yaxiu Heath."
Looking at Yaxiu, who had just taken a direct hit from his true name, Anfiel blinked. "Don't worry, no one here will report you."
Is this the power of the Dominance Faction—even knowing I am Yaxiu Heath, she won't report me? Yaxiu suddenly grew curious: "Why won't you report me? Don't you know I'm the subject of the Art Board's number one work, and the entire empire is currently hunting me?"
"I know, but this is Berdette Manor. Since you're working here, it means the head of House Berdette has accepted you," Anfiel said. "We all trust the judgment of the Berdette family head."
"The Berdette family head? You mean Yifalin?"
"Yes. Usually, we refer to her as Lady Berdette." Anfiel reminded Yaxiu to mind his forms of address. "One may only address her directly by name under very familiar terms. The everyday forms of address are 'Miss,' 'Master,' or 'Your Excellency.'"
Yaxiu started to speak, stopped, hesitated, and then couldn't hold back: "Do you know you've been brainwashed?"
"Brainwashed?" Anfiel tilted her head. "Come to think of it, you used the word 'tyrannical' earlier to describe the manor."
"Though you might not feel it, you've all actually been enslaved by Berdette." Yaxiu briefly outlined Berdette's conceptual dominance over the populace: "...It is precisely because of her sinister dominance miracle that you squander money endlessly in your youth, work and consume tirelessly as adults, and embark on fatal expeditions when you grow old—all to build her tyrannical, autocratic empire!
"The only reason you won't report me is that Yifalin planted suggestions and hypnotized your minds, making you let go of any malice toward me!"
Ever since learning the Berdette secrets from Annan, Yaxiu had been bottling it all up. Fortunately, no one else had struck up a conversation with him these past few days to hit his sensitive spots, so the cult leader had managed to hold it in. But chatting with Anfiel now, Yaxiu couldn't hold back any longer; he couldn't resist showing off the secrets of Dominance he knew, attempting to awaken a lost lamb.
Yet he seemed to have forgotten: if he truly awakened this lost lamb and Anfiel refused to obey Yifalin's orders, that would mean all restrictions on Anfiel were lifted, and she could report him—a fish that slipped through the net, a walking source of catastrophe.
"Oh..." Anfiel nodded solemnly, a thoughtful look on her face.
Just when Yaxiu thought she understood, Anfiel sighed. "Mr. Heath, you..."
"Just call me Yaxiu."
"Mr. Yaxiu, it seems you have many misunderstandings and prejudices about us."
"What, could what I just said be false? Was I lied to?"
"No, everything you said is true. But, well..." Anfiel thought for a moment, then leaned in closer to Yaxiu and said, "Don't move. Look out of the corner of your eye at the French window over there."
Because of the lush plane tree outside, the window tinted with green could barely function as a mirror. Yaxiu glanced at the window and saw the reflection of an intimate scene where he and Anfiel appeared cheek-to-cheek—though it was nothing more than an optical illusion of perspective.
Yaxiu understood. "You're saying that everything I said is true, but it's only one perspective?"
Anfiel nodded. "Let me ask you three questions first. When you were young, were there many things you wanted to buy, many places you wanted to visit, and many things you wanted to experience?"
"Yes."
"When you work, would you want a beautiful, virtuous wife, a few mischievous yet lively and lovely children, and to go on outings together on weekends to create more memories of your own?"
Yaxiu, who had always dreamed of finding a pretty wife to marry and then letting his Substitute support the family, could only answer honestly, "Yes."
"When you're in your fifties or sixties, your children are grown, and you've grown tired of work, wouldn't you want to see how the world has changed over those decades, behold the magnificent mountains and rivers you didn't dare visit in your youth, and undertake the final challenges of your life?" Having asked, Anfiel shook her head. "Though both of us are still young, so neither of us can answer that question."
Yet Yaxiu already completely grasped her point.
"You think the people of Mengfeila aren't under Berdette's dominance, and that this is entirely voluntary?"
"I've actually traveled to other cities and learned about life across the Gospel," Anfiel said as she wiped the floor. "When youths are most energetic and eager to experience all kinds of life, they have plenty of time, but no money. When middle-aged people are at their busiest and most stable, they have plenty of money, but lack time. And when the elderly have tasted all walks of life, grown weary of living, and need to rekindle their passion, they are often tied down by their descendants.
"If we could take middle age's money and give it to the youths, many problems would be solved naturally. The youth can grow up happy and carefree, enter middle age contented to start families and careers, and upon reaching old age have no need to worry about their children, because the children can likewise advance money from their own middle age.
"On the city leaderboard for resident satisfaction, Mengfeila has consistently ranked in the top five. But aside from Fanmula, which cheats using intoxicating gas, I believe Mengfeila is definitely the happiest city," Anfiel said earnestly. "When we play, we do justice to our youth; when we work, we do justice to our dreams; when we marry, we do justice to our spouses and children; when we grow old, we do justice to the years; and when we die, we do justice to ourselves.
"That's right, Berdette indeed influences us subtly just as you said, building this estate on the value of our labor. But which city has no dominance, no rule? Fanmula? Modora? Nabistin? Or the desolate wilderness and forbidden lands of the Abyss?
"The people of Mengfeila aren't unaware—they know everything, understand everything, yet still choose the life they desire. You can ask any random resident of Mengfeila, and they will tell you: 'I lived a full, exhilarating life; Berdette did not wrong me.'
"All things in this world exist within a cycle of dominance. Time, space, the past, the environment, bloodlines, race... even a god might not dare claim to be free, right?" Anfiel chuckled softly. "Seeing reality for what it is and bravely rising to the challenge—that is who we Mengfeila folk are.
"What do you think, Mr. Yaxiu?"
What the hell do I think?!
I'm practically convinced by you!
Damn it, being Miss Yifalin's dog actually sounds pretty sweet!
I ought to max out a hundred million Bei points right now, live the most ridiculously fulfilling normie life, and then let my Substitute work to pay off the debt for me!
Chapter 387