Ice Vapor Goddess

Chapter 80 Living Area

Since entering the church, the Duke of Hastings's face had never relaxed.

Providing disaster relief, criticizing factories, advocating mutual assistance... many people have done these things, and he himself has done two of them.

Many nobles were happy to show their benevolence in these matters, and many others were always saddened by the plight of the lower classes, using sharp words to expose the dark reality.

This is normal.

But he could sense that Xilun was doing something different. It wasn't a nobleman's whim of bestowing favors, nor was it the church's protection of the poor. It was something... more powerful and more organized.

He was doing these things under the guise of the church; the church was just a cover for him. The duke was over fifty years old, and he knew very well that what Siron was doing was different from what had happened before, but he couldn't explain what it was.

He only vaguely sensed danger.

On the altar, Siron had finished his speech and began distributing house keys, one for each family.

People gratefully accepted the keys, and many repeatedly asked Xilun whether they wanted to pay for them themselves or do voluntary work in exchange.

He has completely won over these people's hearts. From today onwards, these more than three thousand people, whether believers or not, will remember his kindness.

Moreover, if they encounter problems in their lives, they will definitely contact the evangelical church. No matter what they do in the future, they will never be able to leave the church, and the image of Sherwin will continue to be a natural presence in their minds.

Actually, it's very simple to do this: just stand on their side, always think about them, and always speak up for them.

But now, only the person on the altar can do it; even the refugees themselves have conflicts, so it's impossible for them to wholeheartedly do things for others.

“Father,” Cecilia tugged at the Duke’s sleeve, “I’d like to see him, is that alright?”

Duke Hastings gave a wry smile, thinking to himself, "They're not on our side at all, why are we being led astray?"

As a traditional nobleman, he didn't hold factories and stocks like the emerging nobles, nor did he rise to power by drinking human blood and stepping on corpses. However, he wasn't exactly a kind person either, either openly or secretly. He could only maintain the posture of a victor in civilization because his family had won a long time ago.

But the Duke always had inexhaustible patience with his daughter. He lowered his head and asked, "Why?"

Cecilia looked at the blurry face of Xiren in the distance and said matter-of-factly, "A person who leads everyone to help each other must be a very good person, right?"

The Duke began to regret letting his daughter read so many Enlightenment books—a thought that only appeared in fairy tales and the books of Enlightenment scholars. Knowing that his daughter hadn't read fairy tales for over a decade, he could only be reading the works of Voltaire, Rousseau, and others on the bookshelf.

These works were once very popular in aristocratic salons, and he was very proud when his daughter saw them, because she looked very much like a learned, cultured, quiet and beautiful duchess.

Now, all he can think about is why he didn't throw away all the books on the bookshelf that were not good for his child's development back then.

“But…” He hesitated for a moment, but when he saw his daughter’s violet eyes, which she had inherited from her mother, he suddenly gave in.

“Okay, I’ll go ask—but I’m not sure if there’ll be a chance.” He sighed.
-
But the Duke of Hastings couldn't find Siren. He searched the back porch for a long time, only to get the news from Green that "the bishop went to the hospital." After settling the refugees, Siren didn't stop for a moment and rushed to the hospital.

This was his third day without sleep. On the way, even the Holy Healing was becoming too much for him, and he stumbled due to dizziness.

Moreover, divine arts cannot be used indiscriminately. There are still more than a hundred refugees waiting for treatment in the hospital, but his current divine power is only enough for a dozen or so uses.

The hospital is located on the surface, just a walk northwest from the church. However, the outside temperature had already reached -35°C, and there was a strong wind almost every moment. When the cold wind blowing through the buildings carried snowflakes, the biting cold was so intense that it made one almost see heaven.

So Xilun took the elevator to the second basement level living area, walked through rows of shops, and prepared to take the elevator to the hospital.

The residential area is the largest area in Speyside. It is located one level below the damage control layer. Passing through layers of steel, cement mortar and barbed wire, you can see a huge open square and a series of bustling streets surrounding it.

It was larger than the surface layer, extending tens of meters beyond the city walls, with many gates at the edges and tunnels leading hundreds of meters away.

If Speyside were to suffer an irresistible attack, people could at least escape to a distant place from there.

Siren rarely comes here, mainly because he's too busy, but many people have mentioned to him that Mathilde seems to have visited this tavern before.

The streets were deserted, with most people in factories and farms. Only a few shops were open, displaying company logos.

"Hawkins & Sons", "Lentiny Tea & Coffee Company", "Thrifty Penny Grocery Store", "Theo Brothers Furniture"... they all belong to a manager who displays goods on his own counter after they are produced on his farm or in his own factory.

It's easy to understand why you can hardly find shops run by ordinary people or even the middle class here—Spese is a small market cut off from the outside world, and the flow of money and goods is limited to the inside. To open a shop here, you need to have goods, and those goods can only come from within the city.

However, almost all the goods in the city were controlled by the administrators. They had both factories and shops, and they could sell them themselves. They only needed to transport the goods they produced to the upper floors. They did not need other merchants to sell them on their behalf and make an extra profit in the middle.

If an ordinary person wants to buy a shop here, they will be exploited to the extreme under various pretexts before they can even open the shop, eventually leading to their bankruptcy.

If a middle-class person with some status and education wants to open a shop, he might be able to pay fewer of those strange and unusual fees, but he would definitely not be able to stock up on goods—unless he can infiltrate the small circle of salons that manages the business.

But if he manages to get in, then he can no longer be considered middle class.

In short, with upstream producers monopolizing and controlling resources, the entire commercial sector of Speyside was also monopolized. Only those authorized by them could obtain goods, open shops in the city, and ultimately, the profits would fall into their hands.

Shops that require various goods, such as taverns, grocery stores, and daily necessities stores, were all opened by pooling funds from various individuals.

Xiren walked through the deserted streets, pondering the business issue—he still owned a number of shops.

However, he soon walked along Anchor Street, passed the central Whiskey Square, and arrived at the "Stairway to Life".

The elevator doesn't have a name, but since it leads directly to the hospital, it's been given this elegant nickname.

(End of this chapter)