Chapter 99.2: It's Tough Being Mayor
6 p.m. Earth time, 11 a.m. OtherWorld time.
Zhao Zhenzhen, riding a tricycle loaded with goods, appeared at the teleportation point in the center of the Weisshem town hall courtyard.
The summoning array that acted as a teleportation point could also transport any goods carried by players as long as the object's diameter didn't exceed two and a half meters. This eliminated the need to set up a magical freezing chamber on Weisshem for storing food items.
Previously, Zhao Zhenzhen had already recced Weisshem and easily navigated the streets with ease on her tricycle before arriving at a small, two-story, ancient-style building constructed of wood and brick.
This was previously a bar, but the signboard, colorful lights, private rooms, and bar counter had all been removed. In their place was a signboard for the Merchant Association canteen, Weisshem branch.
Ji Tang, waiting at the canteen branch, came over after Zhao Zhenzhen's tricycle came to a stop and extended a hand. "Sis Zhao, long time no see."
"It's been a while." Zhao Zhenzhen shook Ji Tang's hand, then pulled him in for a hug.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com
Both of them had a military air about them, though Zhao Zhenzhen clearly wasn't an ordinary soldier; she seemed more profound.
Ji Tang handed the newly acquired keys to Zhao Zhenzhen, led the way in, and introduced her to the two helpers. "This is Lyka and Brook."
Both Lyka and Brook wore a lapel badge, so communication wasn't an issue. The two of them bowed politely to Zhao Zhenzhen.
Zhao Zhenzhen smiled at the young Brook, and when she looked toward Lyka, her eyes lit up slightly. "Hello, my surname is Zhao. You can call me Sis Zhao like how Ji Tang does."
Brook, who had quite a sharp intuition, couldn't help but feel that the undead lady before him, despite her cheerful voice and friendly attitude, had an unfathomable air about her. He gulped and said with some trepidation, "Of course, Lady Sis Zhao."
"Just Sis Zhao will do." Zhao Zhenzhen had never seen such a beautiful young boy in real life before and playfully ruffled the youngster's hair.
"Sis Zhao," Lyka said obediently.
"Mm." Zhao Zhenzhen nodded gleefully and pinched the cheek of the young orc girl. "Look at how thin you are. Your face is hardly larger than my palm. Do you usually eat well?"
"Yes, I'm always full after each meal," Lyka said, this time even more deferentially.
Orcs were known for their keen senses, and Lyka instinctively felt that the undead lady in front of her was unfathomable and even more intimidating than the one who often wore a fierce expression, Hal...
Weisshem was in need of a revival, and Ji Tang had a lot on his plate. Zhao Zhenzhen hadn't come to Weisshem solely to manage an eatery either, so she entrusted the preparations for opening the branch to these two young helpers. Then, Zhao Zhenzhen, the head of this canteen branch... went with Ji Tang to the town hall.
In the mayor's office, Ji Tang brought out a thick stack of paper documents and said, "These are the files left by the previous mayor. The last population census was over 20 years ago, and many of the people listed have already passed away, while new residents haven't been documented. Currently, townsfolk have a slightly higher aversion toward us, and many aren't willing to participate in a population census. When the clerks knock on their doors, they either pretend to be away or are unwilling to provide accurate information about their household members... We still have a lot of work to do to engage with the community."
Zhao Zhenzhen flipped through a few documents and asked, "Is there no head tax in this place?"
"No," Ji Tang replied. "In the Rhine Kingdom, urban population tax is collected on a household basis, with the income of the eldest male head of the family serving as the basis for taxation. I've been thinking, this tax policy is inclined toward the upper class. I looked through some Indahl newspapers that the previous mayor had, and it seems like noble families wield tremendous influence. A single noble family clan can easily have hundreds or even thousands of members. Besides the eldest male head of the family, the personal income of other members doesn't get taxed. There's plenty of room for manipulation within this system."
Zhao Zhenzhen wasn't too surprised by this revelation.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhenzhen momentarily fell silent, then said softly, "This step... is somewhat challenging."
Ji Tang could only nod gravely.
The solution was good, but the problem was that Mayor Ji Tang had no money—the mayor had the authority to manage income from land sales and taxes, but for the time being, he had none of the two!
Weisshem's new lord, Rex, was fully supportive of Ji Tang but had limited resources. The copper coins he had weren't enough to gather all the crop outputs from the dozens of villages in the vicinity of Weisshem consisting of a few thousand farming households.
When the players liberated Weisshem, most of the spoils had gone to Lord Yang—extracting money from him wasn't an easy task!
"Why not have Rex persuade Lord Yang?" Zhao Zhenzhen asked.
"I've tried that, but Rex... doesn't dare to," Ji Tang responded grimly.
There was no denying that Rex was a good person, but that didn't mean he was foolish. Ji Tang didn't believe he held enough influence with Lord Yang to secure the substantial sum needed to buy the crop outputs from all the local farming households.
"All right, then it's up to us to figure out a solution," Zhao Zhenzhen said, rubbing her skull, feeling the weight of the situation.
"It should probably be around August in this world now," said Ji Tang. "Local lords are required to send their taxes to Indahl by October, so there's still time."
"Then let's do what Rex's copper coins allow us to do for now." Zhao Zhenzhen nodded.
Next, the two began calculating the required manpower for the reconstruction of the town's central street, appropriate daily wages for temporary workers, and considerations on how to make more efficient use of Rex's money.
As they were immersed in their calculations, Zhao Zhenzhen suddenly heard a chime right beside her ear.
This lady, who hadn't played many games before entering "OtherWorld," was momentarily confused before realizing it was a system notification. She then quickly opened her character panel.
And then, she seemed to blank out for a moment...
"Sis Zhao?" Ji Tang asked, puzzled.
"...I received a message, um, a system notification," Zhao Zhenzhen said, her expression devoid of emotion. "The branch dispatched beyond the Taranthan territory by the Undead Merchant Association isn't a non-profit entity, and during business hours, profits and losses are self-contained."
Ji Tang: "..."
"That means to say, the local canteen branch that gets supplies from Exile Town is a business... and you get to decide how to use the profits?" Ji Tang raised an eyebrow.
Zhao Zhenzhen nodded.
The two fell into a bout of silence...
Classifying the Weisshem branch canteen as a business entity meant that Lord Yang tacitly acknowledged the tool player Zhao Zhenzhen's authority to manage the canteen branch's profits. This wasn't a sudden act of kindness from Lord Yang but a clear hint to the two of them "conspiring" in the town hall: He had no objections if they wanted to use money to gain the people's favor, but they needed to find a way to earn funds themselves and don't even think of receiving a cent from Lord Yang.