When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#403 - Jeanne

The young citizens within the city stood on the city walls or hid behind fences, their eyes wide as they gazed at the approaching army.

The hot wind billowed their short black cloaks, the close-fitting black wool-linen blend fabric clinging neatly to their bodies.

The gleaming golden gear accessories, though incomprehensible, possessed a unique metallic and exotic charm.

Combined with their upright posture and gait, they appeared exceptionally majestic.

Many of the bolder female laborers and citizens began to toss flowers at the war monks, the pink, yellow, and white petals forming an arch in the air.

Beneath this arch, Horne led his warhorse, Grape, slowly to Jeanne's side.

Horne’s piebald horse, Grape, and Jeanne’s black horse, Radish, were half-brothers, and they habitually disliked each other.

Upon meeting, they each turned their heads, squinting at each other with ill-concealed animosity.

"Brother, how was I this time? Huh? Wasn't I awesome?"

Looking at Jeanne, who seemed determined to hold her chin up to the sky, Horne smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair: "You were awesome, a great contribution."

This time, Jeanne had resolved the issue of the Kasha County noble coalition in advance, buying Horne at least two days.

It was indeed a great contribution.

Jeanne giggled foolishly, embracing Horne's back and intimately rubbing her face against his.

This scene was commonplace to the war monks of the Salvation Army, but the people of Smallpool City who witnessed it felt as if the sky had fallen.

Many of the young people's eyes were filled with a sense of disillusionment. Where was the Saintess Jeanne, who was as cold and resolute as ice when defeating the enemy and as passionate as fire when speaking out for justice?

Who was this giggling country girl? Was this still the Saintess Jeanne they knew?

In recent days, Jeanne's feat of defeating three thousand with six hundred and her night raid on seven camps had spread rapidly, establishing her as a benefactor of Smallpool City.

Jeanne's personality was already quite tomboyish.

Coupled with her bold and chivalrous Valkyrie persona, she quickly became a goddess-like figure in the eyes of many young people in Smallpool City.

Now, their goddess was clinging to someone's arms like a shy girl?

And that person was even shorter than Jeanne!

Perhaps it was an illusion, but Horne felt as if he heard a series of things shattering.

"I made a contribution, is there a reward?"

"What reward do you want?" Feeling Jeanne's chin resting on his shoulder, Horne patted her back and said.

Jeanne wrapped her hands around Horne's neck from behind, tilted her head, and puckered her light red lips.

"What's wrong? Is your mouth dry?" Horne pretended not to know and kissed her forehead. "Drink more hot water if your mouth is dry."

After all, Paslik was watching him intently from the side, so Horne couldn't do anything too excessive even if he wanted to.

Until he returned home, Horne could only choose to stall for now.

Alas, Carrie and Jeanne, truly a huge problem...

Maybe even add Hilov?

Shaking his head, Horne chuckled inwardly. She hadn't shown any intention, so why was this old habit of being overly sentimental relapsing?

Releasing Jeanne's arms, Horne hugged Jeanne amidst countless heartbroken gazes: "How are the ships prepared?"

Although she was unhappy that she didn't get a kiss, Jeanne was ultimately reserved and didn't act like Moliati with her forced affection, only tugging on his arm: "They're all ready, come on, I'll take you to see."

"Since they're ready, there's no rush." Horne cast a meaningful glance at the group of Saint Path faction city councilors led by Armand. "I think these councilors have been waiting long enough, how about we get acquainted first!"

Great opportunity! Seeing the councilor next to him trying to step forward, Skygge immediately stuck out his foot and hooked him, causing the councilor to fall to the ground.

Stepping over the councilor's back, he trotted up to Horne.

"Greetings, Holy Grandson Pope Your Eminence." Taking off his hat, Skygge prepared to perform a chest-touching salute to Horne.

Horne strode forward and grasped his hand: "In the Saint Path faction, we believe in no distinction between noble and base, let's just do this handshake."

Exchanging pleasantries and introductions with the seven or eight city councilors one by one, Horne maintained a smile, making sure not to slight anyone.

The city councilors, who had been neglected by Jeanne for several days, suddenly felt a sense of finding their organization and being bathed in a spring breeze.

"...As expected of the hero of Smallpool City, since you are locals, you can take me on a tour of Smallpool City."

After several introductions, Horne had gained some understanding of the people before him, and he proactively suggested that they take him on a tour.

"Then your holy knights..." Skygge scratched his eyebrows in embarrassment.

What would happen if the army entered the city?

Some lords would forcibly have soldiers stationed in the city, even using this as a welfare benefit to recruit soldiers.

"It's fine, they will set up camp outside the city themselves, just don't let those prostitutes and idlers enter the barracks."

Hearing this, Skygge breathed a small sigh of relief and gestured with a welcoming motion: "Your Eminence, this way."

Entering Smallpool City, Horne found that this small town was even smaller than Jeanne d'Arcburg.

On both sides of the road were various wineries, grocery stores, tailor shops, and other shops, but they were quite dilapidated.

Some of the shopkeepers were still operating, while others secretly opened a crack in the boarded-up doors, cautiously observing the members of the Salvation Army.

"Why are there beaver statues or decorations placed in front of almost every shop?" Horne asked, pointing to the beavers that were either exquisite or outrageous.

"The beaver is the mascot of Smallpool City, they are called the builders of Smallpool City." Skygge introduced with a smile, "If they hadn't built the dam upstream, Smallpool City would still be swampland today."

In this era, almost every free city had a small mascot. An image of a Sphinx Hogge flashed through Horne's mind, and a wry smile immediately appeared on his lips.

"Tell me about the history and municipal structure of Smallpool City, mainly the last ten years."

Through the narration of Skygge and others, Horne gradually understood.

Smallpool City was still a town a few decades ago, and it was mainly thanks to the Huannuo faction (then called the Enlightenment faction) bishop that it was able to establish a city.

The highest administrative body in the entire city is the City Council, which is elected from the citizens.

The requirements for voters are citizens who have at least three years of stable tax payment records and 40 gold pounds of assets or real estate, and who pay more than 1 gold pound in taxes annually.

It is clear who can vote and what kind of people will be elected.

The majority of the City Council includes wealthy merchants, notaries, clergy, guild representatives, and noble members. Many younger sons of noble families seek a job as a city councilor.

These younger sons are often the industrial and commercial representatives of the nobles in the city. They live in the city for many years, to the point where they betray their main family.

However, because Smallpool City is the secular base of the Huannuo faction, the laborers at the bottom have not completely lost their voice.

Therefore, the position of mayor of the Smallpool City Council has been vacant for seven or eight years, because if they were to elect someone, it would easily be a member of the Huannuo faction.

Further loosening the right to vote would outweigh the benefits.

The mayor of a free city is not a fixed position. Sometimes there is no mayor, and sometimes there are multiple mayors at the same time.

Because the city structure has not been prosperous for a long time, many political systems have not grown, and there are many loopholes.

For example, Branding City had a situation where a rooster was chosen by lottery to be the mayor, and the result was a mayor with an incredibly pure "soul as noble as a child but trapped in an adult body."

But ironically, the seven years he was in office were the seven years of Branding City's most prosperous development.

Looking at the rows of shops on both sides of the street, Horne suddenly asked, "What is your main business?"

"Main business? Do you mean the main source of money?" Skygge scratched his head, "We haven't really counted it specifically, probably river trade and brewing."

Unlike Rapidwater City's main financial and weaving industries, Smallpool City mainly started with wine.

The church that preceded Smallpool City had several famous wines. After obtaining a 99-year wine franchise issued by the church, this city centered around the brewing industry prospered.

Later, due to Smallpool City's franchise, many brewing monasteries or merchants would set up agents in Smallpool City.

Relying on being a middleman and the convenience of river freight, liquor processing and supporting industries became the mainstay of Smallpool City.

As for river trade, as a city downstream of a tributary of the Nauan River, the largest river trade is the import of ore and grain from the northern Black Serpent Bay.

In other words, a large part of it is tacit smuggling.

Smallpool City is not large, but these two industries are enough to support five or six thousand residents.

"The industrial structure is too simple." Horne looked at the beaver statue with open arms in front of the City Hall. The marble beaver held a ship in its left hand and a wine jug in its right hand.

"The primary industry is all a single crop, grapes, the secondary industry has a very small market share, and the tertiary industry, the service industry, is thriving, but it all depends on the so-called operating franchise.

In other words, it is not competitive in the free market. If it weren't only you who could sell it here, those liquor merchants would have sold it themselves long ago."

"Yes, a large part of Smallpool City's struggle is because the church is not prepared to renew the franchise, but instead transfer it to Swiftflow Fort." Skygge reached out and stroked the wine jug in the beaver's hand, saying with emotion, "We can't support more than six thousand residents with just river trade."

Horne stood on the doorstep and looked back, as if he was thinking, or as if he was distracted.

He looked for a long while before continuing to walk up the steps, coming to Skygge, who was leading the way.

"I do have a small business to discuss with you, but it's still too early." Horne patted Skygge on the shoulder. "Get the ships ready, we'll leave the day after tomorrow morning."