Taking Control of the City

As the red sunset tinted the windows.

Loen was sitting at the office desk reviewing documents.

Just then, with a knock, the door opened and Seraphine appeared.

A sense of relief at having finished her tasks was etched on her face.

“Loen, I’ve finished everything you instructed.”

“Good work.”

Seeing Loen answer without taking her eyes off the documents, Seraphine tilted her head.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been doing this from morning until now?”

“…”

Silently nodding, Loen had piles of documents stacked beside her.

They were documents that had to be processed for finalizing the purge of traitors and stabilizing the city.

Loen felt like she was losing her mind. It was endless…

“You look very tired, shall I help?”

Seraphine offered consolation out of courtesy.

She expected Loen, who always tries to handle things alone, to naturally refuse.

But this time was different.

Loen didn’t miss this golden opportunity.

The thickness of the documents was insanely vast, too much to refuse.

Finally, Loen decided to use the friend card.

“Attraction.”

Pulling a distant chair with magic, Loen tapped the empty chair, saying,

“I’d be grateful if you would. Sit here.”

“S-sure.”

As the price for saying the wrong thing, Seraphine was dragged into document hell like that.

Wait, this isn’t what I meant?

After rifling through documents for a while, Seraphine suddenly asked as if remembering something.

“Where is Investigator Psyche?”

Loen answered while stamping documents.

“Psyche? She’s out enthusiastically exposing all the corruption and misconduct the Southern Alliance had been committing. She was so bored, so I sent her out to do at least that.”

“I was wondering why she wasn’t around.”

The purge and cleanup were almost coming to an end.

The city’s chaos was also gradually subsiding.

But Loen had not the slightest intention of being satisfied with just this.

It was now time to begin full-scale control of the city.

Loen didn’t know who would be the next owner of Azra.

That was entirely up to the imperial family to decide.

But it didn’t matter.

‘I just need to make this city absolutely favorable to the Franz family, regardless of who comes.’

Loen was certainly not the soft-hearted type to offer the fruits of her hard-fought battle to complete strangers.

The plan for taking control of the city was already prepared in her mind.

While sitting side by side clearing documents, suddenly Seraphine asked with interest,

“By the way, have you heard? Those merchants and artisans who made contracts with you in the audience hall. They’re spreading rumors about you everywhere?”

“What kind of rumors?”

To Loen’s question, still not taking her eyes off the documents, Seraphine answered with a smile,

“Naturally, rumors praising you. Thanks to that, the weird rumors are also quickly subsiding. Did you even intend that as well?”

“Who knows.”

I didn’t intend to go that far…

Anyway, according to Seraphine, it was like this.

Once, all kinds of strange rumors circulated endlessly in Azra.

Malicious rumors planted by the Southern Alliance were overflowing.

As this was their last stronghold, despite having publicly declared them traitors who colluded with demons at the execution, the bizarre rumors showed no signs of decreasing.

In short, the public opinion in the city was not favorable.

However, after Loen politely escorted merchants and artisans to the palace and concluded contracts with exceptionally generous terms beyond their expectations.

Public opinion began to reverse dramatically.

Those who had been dragged with death-like faces to the palace,

Returned home with sunshine-like smiles as if they owned the world, saying,

‘After talking with her, she’s quite a normal person. This is why rumors shouldn’t be trusted~’

‘She’s more reasonable than expected?’

‘The contract terms were unbelievably good, so I signed right away!’

They began eagerly competing to spread the news of their meeting with Loen to those around them.

With influential and well-regarded individuals in the city leading the spread of positive rumors, the impact was tremendous.

The reversal of public opinion was instantaneous.

Thus, a prerequisite for taking control of the city.

‘Creating favorable public opinion’ was placed on the verge of achievement even before the city control plan began.

For Loen, what was merely an attempt to secure business partners ultimately led to the best propaganda operation.

“The conclusion is that if we trigger one decisive event here, the city’s public opinion will completely turn to our side, that’s the gist of it.”

“Hmm…”

After hearing Seraphine’s words, Loen briefly rested her chin on her hand and sank into thought.

Given the situation… I could advance the plan?

---

The next morning.

In a bustling commercial district where many people come and go.

Just as a vibrant day was about to begin as usual, dozens of corps soldiers appeared with an imposing presence.

Everyone watched the soldiers with eyes mixed with surprise and anxiety.

“What’s happening in broad daylight?”

“Weren’t all the traitors already caught?”

Amid the murmuring spreading.

The soldiers stopped sharply right in front of the notice board at the path leading to the square.

Eventually, someone who appeared to be a commander stepped forward.

He put a new notice on the old board, then turned his body and loudly shouted toward the gathered crowd.

“Attention everyone! Corps Commander Loen Franz has announced new information. Check it promptly!”

As the commander disappeared with the soldiers, crowds rushed to the notice board.

The eyes of citizens who confirmed the content of the notice widened.

Soon, with exclamations of disbelief, they were all engulfed in tremendous shock.

“What? No more protection fees?”

“No more need to pay city promotion fees?”

“Report if anyone comes to collect trade activation promotion fees as it’s illegal?”

Even rubbing their eyes and looking again, thinking they had seen wrong, the content remained the same.

It was an announcement that all sorts of miscellaneous taxes that had been naturally collected were being abolished overnight.

“I need to tell my wife about this news right away!!”

After checking the notice multiple times, people couldn’t hide their excitement and began to scatter in all directions to inform others about this incredible news.

The entire city began to stir instantly.

As expected of a merchant association.

The Southern Alliance had been exploiting people’s wealth in truly creative ways.

One of the most representative methods was illegal taxes.

The Southern Alliance had collected additional taxes under plausible pretexts to avoid the imperial family’s attention.

Faced with overwhelming power, city dwellers had to pay additional taxes without making a sound. As this continued for many years, everyone now accepted this injustice as normal.

Despite it not being normal.

What Loen did was simply eliminate all such deformed forms of illegal taxes based on the imperial law code.

“I thought paying city promotion fees was normal until now!”

“I heard that the Franz family, unlike the ducal houses, is quite a reasonable family.”

“No wonder!”

With Loen’s radical measures as a catalyst, the already positively changing public opinion completely turned to Loen’s side.

Voices criticizing her noticeably decreased.

Those still dissatisfied were only a few corrupt individuals who had enjoyed privileges under the shadow of the Southern Alliance.

This wasn’t the end.

Next, compensation payments were promptly made.

Part of the vast funds recovered from the Alliance still remained in the palace treasury.

Loen utilized this to pay substantial compensation to city dwellers who had unintentionally suffered property damage during the purge.

It was a case of taking credit with someone else’s money, truly achieving an end without lifting a finger, but the effect was certain.

Especially upon hearing this news, ship owners shed tears of joy.

“What did you say!? The value of my ship that was completely burned in the fire… will be paid as compensation?”

“We don’t know the details either. However, the Corps Commander ordered so. Anyway, just sign here.”

To be honest, with the invincible justification of purging traitors, there was absolutely no need to pay compensation.

The ship owners knew this and had resigned themselves. After all, this type of damage was essentially treated like a natural disaster.

But suddenly to offer compensation?

And for the not insignificant cost of shipbuilding?

Finally, the day the ship owners received compensation.

The small and medium-sized ship owners who handled the backbone of maritime trade went around proclaiming “From now on, Loen Franz and I are one body, and those who insult her will face this or that oath.”

Next next, the paralyzed city trade function was quickly normalized.

The restoration of the damaged pier during the chaos and the reorganization of port facilities were immediately initiated.

In fact, the destruction of the pier was largely the responsibility of the Inspection Corps. More precisely, it was Senior Ria’s responsibility, so Loen decided to go out with Seraphine to personally help with the restoration.

Of course, there was a hidden intention.

It was a similar intention to politicians in her previous life who would deliberately show their faces at disaster sites to gain public opinion.

“Seraphine, let’s go.”

“Alright.”

At the pier restoration site.

“Matter Interference.”

“Matter Interference.”

As the two 5th-rank mages cast interference magic, ship debris as large as a house floated into the air as lightly as feathers.

“Ohhh!”

“Moving such heavy things at once!”

Eventually, the debris floating in the air was moved to an empty beach and piled up neatly.

Woooong… Thud.

“Amazing speed!”

“Indeed!”

The pier workers who were doing restoration work stopped what they were doing and just looked at the two mages with admiring eyes.

Fluttering their black coats in the wind, moving ship debris of enormous volume—they looked no different from heroes in mythology.

After all, noble ladies of the Inspection Corps, who were 5th-rank mages, rarely did such menial tasks directly, so their exaggeration and surprise were understandable in a way.

The ship debris piled up and up, and soon a small wooden hill was created on one side of the beach.

“But, what about all that debris piled up there?”

No sooner had someone uttered those words than Loen’s mouth opened.

“Holy Light.”

An enormous amount of dazzling light beams poured down from the sky toward the wooden hill.

Whoosh!

In an instant, the entire wooden hill was engulfed in flames.

A massive fire that brightly illuminated the surroundings red descended upon the beach covered with sand.

The flames rose high into the sky and burned fiercely as if to replace the sky.

Isn’t it said that the most interesting spectacle in the world is watching a fire?

Indeed, it was true.

The overwhelming heat and display of light created by the giant pillar of fire.

Everyone at the pier lost their minds and blankly watched the majestic yet destructive scene.

After similar measures were implemented further.

The public opinion, no, the hearts of the people in the port city Azra, completely turned to Loen and the Franz family.

Having captured the hearts of the people, Loen took a brief moment to catch her breath,

Then began the next phase of her city control plan.

---

Meanwhile, there were those who had extreme dissatisfaction with Loen Franz’s actions of gradually swallowing up the city.

They were the heads of trade institutions who held various trade-related interests and authorities.

As the key stronghold of imperial southern trade, the authority these people held in Azra was truly formidable compared to other cities.

Also, being positions directly appointed by the imperial family, even the Southern Alliance couldn’t treat them carelessly.

The institution heads were cunning like old foxes.

With excellent political skills, these people who had maintained an appropriate distance from the Southern Alliance that chose betrayal, were able to luckily avoid the purge through quick evidence destruction.

They were now secretly gathered to discuss their future course of action.

“Guild Master… Is this really alright?”

“Don’t worry too much. The personnel authority of Azra’s trade institutions is the exclusive right of the imperial family. Even she, from the Inspection Corps, can’t touch it carelessly.”

“True, since we’ve thoroughly destroyed the evidence, there’s no justification to arrest us.”

Surely she wouldn’t act to the extent of infringing on the imperial family’s exclusive rights.

This was their only reliance and source of comfort.

“I hear she’s a mage, and mages inherently can’t resist rare artifacts. So as a gesture of sincerity, let’s try approaching her by offering a few precious artifacts and expressing intention to invest in the Franz family’s business.”

“That’s a good idea. She won’t stay in Azra forever, so we can pretend to cooperate like that, and when she leaves, we can go back to our way of doing things.”

Once a superficial agreement was reached, suppressed complaints began to burst forth from various parts of the meeting hall. There was particularly high resentment regarding Loen’s tax abolition measures.

“By the way, isn’t it too much even though she herself is from a ducal family? Collecting additional taxes under various pretexts is a long-standing custom in the southern region. To abruptly classify this as illegal taxation and abolish it in an instant?”

“Haha, she’s young and still doesn’t understand the ways of the world.”

“Tsk tsk.”

“Now that we’ve settled the direction, let’s conclude the meeting here.”

“Let’s do that.”

The very next morning after the heads’ secret meeting.

Without any warning, while darkness had not yet cleared, heavily armed corps soldiers barged into their luxurious mansions.

Boom!

The institution heads, rushing out in their pajamas, were bound by soldiers without knowing what was happening.

“Take them all away!”

“W-what is this! Do you know who I am! The imperial family directly, gack.”

“You should at least explain why you’re taking us away, umph!”

Their protests and screams were helplessly muffled by the soldiers’ rough hands.

It was the moment Loen’s blade turned toward those who held the city’s core authority and interests.