Pirate: It’s not a phantom beast, it’s a phantom god!

Chapter 374 Willie's Rural Diary (Part 2)

"Excuse me, is this Inari Village?"

Just as the village chief, supported by his granddaughter, was preparing to head to Kangjiacheng to beg the renowned Kang family of Shuangyue to see if they could find a way to give the villagers a chance to survive, a gentle voice suddenly came from afar.

"Hmm? And you are...?"

Looking at the strangely styled but exquisitely made clothes of the newcomer, and the several fierce-looking burly men following behind him, the village chief asked cautiously.

"Ah~ I am under the command of Lord Kaido, the 'King of Light,' and I have come here to oversee the construction of the weapons factory on the orders of General Orochi."

You can just call me Willie.

Willie's tone was very gentle, like that of a refined middle-aged gentleman.

But as soon as the villagers heard that he had come to build a weapons factory, their eyes blazed with fury and they immediately picked up their hoes.

Their anger led them to believe that Willie was the culprit who wanted to take their land.

"So you're the bastard who tried to steal our land?!"

"I'll kill you with this hoe right now!"

"Taro! Stop right now!"

Fortunately, the village chief understood Willie's background and immediately reached out to stop the tall man who was charging at the front.

If what he said is true, the person in front of you is even more dangerous than the samurai ono from before!
“Willie… Sir, you mean you’re here on the General’s orders to build some kind of weaponry in our village…”

"It's a weapons factory."

Willie added with a smile:
"Elder village chief, it's like this... Our Beasts Pirates' Governor-General Kaido, isn't he now the 'Guardian King of Wano Country'?"

"Lord Kaido bears the mission of protecting Wano Country, and he wants to build several weapons factories here so that he can better protect the people of Wano Country~"

"Upon hearing this, General Orochi immediately nodded in agreement."

"They said they would fully cooperate with us, that they would take care of the land issue, and that we shouldn't worry about anything else, just focus on building the factory."

"I've come here today just to see the land that General Orochi has designated for us."

Willie's words cleverly shifted the blame for the land grabbing entirely to the Serpent, who was in charge of building the factory.

However, upon hearing this, the old village chief seemed to have discovered a savior.

He stepped forward and grabbed Willie's trouser leg tightly, pleading:

"Lord Willie, Master Willie! Please, have mercy and talk to the general, tell him not to seize our village's land!"

"If we lose our land, our village of over a thousand people really won't survive... Mr. Willie!"

"Can't survive...why?"

Upon hearing the village chief's words, Willie feigned surprise, then asked, knowing the answer already:
"I remember you all received compensation, right? This money should be enough for you to settle down in Daming City or the capital."

"Compensation?"
Upon hearing this word, the villagers looked at each other, their eyes filled with confusion.

Of course they were suspicious, since the so-called compensation was all fabricated by Willy to win over the hearts and minds of the people of Wano Country.
"Yes. However, according to General Orochi, this compensation was not originally intended."

"But Lord Kaido is kind-hearted. He said, 'We are here to protect this country, not to plunder it. We cannot let the people of Wano become homeless because of our arrival!'"

"So he took out his own money and ordered us beasts to pay each of you people whose land was expropriated twenty gold coins."

"I personally handed this money to General Orochi, instructing him to compensate you during the land requisition... Didn't you receive it?"

Willie, who was lying through his teeth, frowned and feigned a puzzled expression.

"Twenty gold coins?!"

Upon hearing this number, everyone present widened their eyes, and even the old village chief felt his mouth go dry.

That's twenty gold coins!
They, who have toiled in the land for generations, have never seen so much money.

Due to its long-term isolation, Wano Country has its own currency system, which uses precious metals such as platinum, gold, and silver as circulating currency.

Compared to Pele, this monetary system that directly uses precious metals is clearly more rudimentary.

Generally speaking, if it's just to make a living, a small family's weekly expenses are only around five silver dollars.

Twenty gold coins, or twenty thousand silver coins, is enough for these villagers to find another way to make a living in the city.

"Goooo~"

Swallowing hard, the village chief cautiously asked again:

"Mr. Willie, we...we have never received any compensation...what's going on?"

"That's right! They didn't even receive any compensation from Yi Yin!"

"No? That's impossible! I personally handed over the money..."

"Hmph! He was probably... ugh!"

"Be careful, Taro!"

Seeing that Taro was about to say something rebellious, the elder behind him immediately covered his mouth.

Slandering a general is a serious crime. We don't know if this seemingly refined fellow is trustworthy, so we can't afford to give him any leverage.

"Um……"

Seeing that all the villagers around him were staring at him expectantly, Willie pretended to be thinking about something, resting his chin on his hand...

"How about this."

Finally, just as the villagers were about to lose their patience, Willie spoke up.

He seemed to have made a great decision, and said in a difficult tone:
"I'll ask General Orochi about the compensation later. As for the twenty gold coins..."

"Stare~~~~"

Feeling the scorching gazes around him, Willie exhaled and smiled wryly:

"I'll send them to you first, so you can all feel at ease."

"Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh!"*n
Upon hearing Willie's words, the crowd erupted in a deafening roar of cheers!
The villagers, who had been driven to the brink of despair, suddenly regained their hope for survival... Willie was now like a savior in their eyes.

……

"Alright, alright~ everyone quiet down~" Willie pressed his hands down, and the scene immediately quieted down. At this moment, he had secretly gained more prestige than the village chief in the hearts of the villagers.

“Dante, I’ll wait here. You go back and get the money, and we’ll distribute it to the villagers right here.”

"Huh? Good, good."

Dante paused for a moment, then nodded and set off.

Willie clapped his hands as he watched the other person's back, then casually found a rock and sat down, not caring that the dirt on it would soil his expensive suit.

The villagers noticed his casual behavior and unconsciously felt closer to the refined "gentlemen" around them.

“Um… Mr. Willie.”

"Just call me Willie, no need to be so polite."

“Oh, that won’t do. How can we call our village’s great benefactor by his name so rudely?”

The village chief shook his head and refused.

"Sigh~ then just call me Mr. Willie, anything but 'Master,' I'm not some kind of master~"

"Haha~ Okay! Mr. it is~"

Seeing that Willie said so, the old village chief readily agreed and called him that.

"Mr. Willie, what kind of factory does Lord 'Ming Wang' want to build...?"

"Ah, this."

"Governor Kaido wants to build weapons factories, specifically to produce weapons to defend Wano Country. With these factories, we won't have to worry about either bandits or invaders from the sea."

"Of course, besides weapons factories, we will build other factories in the future. For example, textile factories, candy factories..."

As Willie spoke, he took a beautifully wrapped fruit candy from his pocket and handed it to the girl next to the village chief.

"grandfather……"

The girl glanced at the village chief, and seeing him nod, she timidly took the candy and put it in her mouth.

"?!"

The silky, sweet taste made the girl, who only gets to taste sweetness during the Lunar New Year, widen her eyes immediately.

"So sweet~ So delicious~"

Upon hearing this assessment, the children bit their fingers and swallowed hard, unable to stop drooling.

"Haha~ Since you like it, you can have it all!"

"You can take these and divide them up~"

As he spoke, Willie took out a handful of candy from his pocket and handed it to the village chief's granddaughter, asking her to distribute it to the children around them.

This immediately drew cheers from the children present. Watching the children swarm around the girl like bees, Willie smiled and said:

"Once those factories are up and running, every child in Wano Country will be able to eat these candies..."

"But, but we can't afford it."

Looking at the smiling children, the village chief sighed and said helplessly.

Those candies didn't look cheap; even a samurai's daughter probably couldn't afford them, let alone farmers like them who had been farming for generations.

"Don't worry, these candies are not expensive. I guarantee that everyone will be able to afford them in the future."

"Is that so... If that's the case, then that's wonderful."

The village chief laughed and agreed, but his laughter sounded forced, clearly indicating that he didn't believe Willie's words.

Willie simply shook his head and stopped there, changing the subject to the construction of the factory.

"By the way, we might need some helpers when the factory starts construction in a few days."

“Your village is right next door. Is there anyone willing to sign up? The wages are 40 silver coins per month.”

"4.40 silver coins a month?!"

"Ah."

Willie nodded; he knew that this price was an astronomical sum for these villagers.

"Of course, this is the price for an adult, young and strong person."

"If it's a girl or a boy who's not quite grown up, he'll be responsible for cooking and cleaning, and he'll only get 25 silver coins a month."

"Woman, is a woman acceptable too?"

A young woman asked.

"of course."

"We beasts don't have any rules that women can only be wives and mothers. In fact, if you can prove that you're no less capable than those young men, you can earn 40 taels of silver a month!"

"..."

Willie's words undoubtedly had a huge impact on these traditional Wano Country farmers...

They had a vague premonition that everything they had upheld for thousands of years might be mercilessly crushed into dust by something enormous in the near future.

This inexplicably instilled a nameless fear in them.
"Yes, right. Mr. Willie, when will Lord Mingwang's factory begin construction?"

Seemingly to distract himself from his unease, the village chief took the initiative to start a conversation.

"Hmm, let's wait a few more days~"

"The rice in this field is almost ripe... We'll start work once you've finished harvesting the rice!"

Willie gazed at the undulating rice paddies in the distance and said in a deep voice:
“You call this Inari Village, so this can be considered a complete ending.”

"..."

Half an hour later, amidst the villagers' continuous cheers of "Thank you, Lord Mingwang! Thank you, Lord Willie! Thank you, beasts!", Dante finally brought over a full basket of gold.

……

(End of this chapter)