People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

Those who silently escape are the majority of history. Those who manage to escape are lucky; those who cannot are cruelly trapped in the "muddy ruts under the wheels of history."

The Shelag people may very well have been people from a secluded paradise who fled the chaos of the Qin Dynasty, leading their wives and fellow villagers to this remote place and never leaving again, thus becoming isolated from the outside world.

Anyway, there's no evidence. Sherag's few tattered books can't possibly record things from such an ancient era. Who can say for sure what's going on when no one has verified it?

For Safar, the important thing was not to convince Jeragand, but to convince himself.

He convinced himself that this way he could live more comfortably.

Therefore, with the sky so clear and the air so fresh, Safar's mood was so beautiful!

But before he could even feel happy for a moment, another deep voice suddenly rang in his ears:

"You don't actually think that Yeragand agreed to let you stay here because he's giving you Sherag as a health retreat, do you?"

Safar was startled.

Are there any experts? !

What's going on? It's one thing for Yeragand to be a behemoth, but there are other people with him?

Why didn't he sense anyone else's presence? Although his strength was far from what it used to be, in such a small snowy country, he could still be considered a high-end fighter, right? There shouldn't be so many people who could silently infiltrate his side and whisper to him.

Safar quickly turned around, his hand instinctively conjuring a flaming sword. But when he saw who the speaker was, he withdrew his flames.

"Beast Lord?"

"What? Are you surprised to see me?"

Lying lazily on the snowdrift, basking in the warm afternoon sun, Gawain yawned and grinned listlessly.

"Don't be envious, this vacation time of mine is a rare treat. I might be going on a long trip again in a while."

"Life in Sherag is peaceful, but it's anything but relaxing. Little Balrog, you'd better cherish your time now."

You made a special trip just to tell me this?

Safar scratched his head in confusion. But quickly, he gave a disdainful smile:

"What could possibly be difficult for me?"

Ernst, the one who brought him back, had been observing him these past few days. He noticed that Felin was constantly running to construction sites, busy with work there. And for a Balrog, doing any construction-related work was incredibly easy.

Do you even know what a human welder is? He welded on the first skeleton of Kazdel, who knows how many generations ago!

Faced with Safar's reckless provocation, Gawain simply chuckled, turned his head to the side, closed his eyes, and lay down on the ground in a comfortable position.

Stubborn, huh? Sarkaz always love to be stubborn. Gawain loves seeing guys like this, still babbling even after a nuclear bomb has hit them, not even a second hot.

Watching them break down is a great pleasure in the beast master's boring beast life!

Moreover, Ernst has so many tricks up his sleeve. Sometimes, even Gawain can't figure out what kind of work he can come up with.

If you underestimate someone who's always alive, you might find yourself working up a sweat at an intense pace at any moment.

You mean the director of the Central Heating Office in Shelag, who works year-round without a break?

Chapter 213 Talking to Brother Xiong is so straightforward!

Shelag, Silverheart Lake.

As the largest lake in the heart of Kjerag, Lake Silverheart has always been nominally under the jurisdiction of the Perroch family.

The reason is quite simple: before Kjerag was opened to the public, Lake Silverheart's primary function was to provide irrigation water for agriculture. As a major grain producer in the Kjerag Mountains, the Perroch family, who controlled a large area of ​​the plains and the lake's grain-producing belt, naturally held the management rights over the lake area.

When the three families' territories were divided, the older generation of Sherag were simple and honest. They believed that under the witness of the great god Yeragand, the cooperation between the three families would be close and inseparable. Therefore, they did not intend to restrict the development of the Perroch family by controlling the water source. With a simple stroke of the pen, they gave the Perroch the most important grain-producing area in the entire Sherag region.

Call the Perrochs straightforward or a bit dim-witted, but they did strictly adhere to the rules established back then. In the long years that followed, although there were constant frictions between the three families, even to the point where they couldn't stand each other and were plotting assassinations, the Perroch family never considered using food as leverage to force the other two families to submit.

It was precisely because Ernst knew that Perroche had never been biased on such matters of principle that he did not adopt Enciodis's suggestion to completely remove Perroche from his post and military power. Instead, he gave him an empty post and allowed him to retire voluntarily.

Defeating Perroch is easy to say, but it will only set a bad precedent. If those who are wholeheartedly devoted to Sherag become targets of defeat simply because of their outdated thinking, it will only create more and more enemies and make them increasingly isolated.

Because you never know when you might become the one who is "somewhat outdated" in your eyes.

Human beings are always on the road to understanding the truth, and the truth is not eternal and unchanging, but constantly changing according to the environment.

A person who believes he possesses absolute truth and adopts an attitude of "overthrowing" or "purging" any dissenting opinion is not a reformer. We usually describe such a person as a "tyrant" or a "traitor to the people."

This is why, at the beginning of the founding of our country, our leaders did not choose to kill Puyi, the last emperor who had committed numerous crimes, but instead chose to reform him.

Even if you kill him and his head falls to the ground, the queue (traditional Manchu hairstyle) will still remain in your heart. There will still be people who call themselves slaves and flatter the emperor. The times have not changed.

Only by transforming him with the ideas of the new era, and turning this greatest demon, nurtured by the old era, into a human being, will people realize that the times have truly changed.

Of course, these deeper plans have little to do with what the head of the Perroch family, who is standing in front of Ernst at this moment, is saying so freely.

Ernst didn't know whether Actos had received a tip from Latatos or Ensiodis, which was why he had temporarily left his "patrol" to come to Silverheart Lake to find him.

But judging from Jeston's apologetic look, as if to say "sorry I couldn't stop him this time," Actos's determination to get involved in this "Yelagand Statue" project seems quite firm.

“Of course! Brother Ernst, don’t blame me for not telling you, in Shelag, what matters in Jeragund is what matters to me, Actos. If you don’t take me with you when they build the great statue in Jeragund, I might just turn my back on you!”

Actos shouted. Ernst was both amused and exasperated.

You could call this a threat, but Actos called him quite affectionately. Normally, Ernst would never hear this guy call him "brother" or anything like that. He would usually just call him "Ernst," "the boy from the Shivaesh family," or something like "little prime minister," whatever sounded right to him. But today, he was calling him brother, which was indeed quite unusual.

But if you say he fawned over Ernst, the implication is quite blunt.

Ernst could understand Actos's idea that "no matter how small the matter is in Jeragund," but one shouldn't casually say things like "turning one's back on someone" in the political arena.

Forget it, why should I and Big Bear argue about this? Ernst will only have a real headache if Big Bear starts trying to outsmart you.

Shaking his head, Ernst temporarily sealed away the fixed mindset formed during his time in Columbia, and simply corrected him:

"Minister Aktos, how many times have I told you? When you're at work, you must use your official title!"

"Alright, alright, Ernst Botany, it's settled then. You're allowed to handle the Jeragund statue matter? No going back on your word!"

Ernst shrugged:

"It's not that I don't want to give it to you, it's just that things aren't even close to happening yet."

He opened his palm and counted them out in front of Actos:

"We need to build a statue for the great god Jeragund. Where should we build it? Silverheart Lake is your Peroch family's territory. Would you be willing to give it up for everyone to build?"

"Of course I'd be willing! It's just an island, right? It's overgrown with weeds and nobody even cultivates the fields. It would be an honor for us to have a statue of the great god Jeragund on it. Don't worry, I agree!"

"Then I will issue you the land requisition approval document, and you will draft a consent form for me."

"So troublesome?" Actos said impatiently.

Ernst could only explain, "The procedures still need to be followed. This land won't be acquired for nothing; the government will officially buy it from the Perroch family at the market price in Sherag."

"You're still giving me money?" Actos asked in surprise. "Isn't that unnecessary?"

But Ernst's attitude was firm: "It is necessary."

Only when there are approval documents, consent forms, land deeds, sales contracts, and accounting records can the transaction be considered complete.

The program may be bloated at times, but it can guarantee that it will not have any problems, and if problems do occur, the responsible party can be held accountable.

Ernst intended to make the Jeragund statue on the island in the middle of the lake a landmark for the Kjerag tourism industry. The amount of money invested in this area in the future would be substantial, and if successful, the returns would be absolutely enviable. He didn't want the Perochi family to use the pretext of "territorial ownership" to argue with him and try to get a share of the profits.

The acquisition was based on the market price for land in Shelag. While this price certainly couldn't compare to the prices of land in external tourist areas, it was still reasonable and justified. Ernst didn't exactly take advantage of Actos. After all, the land was just sitting there, undeveloped, and as Actos said, it was just a vacant lot overgrown with weeds, inconvenient even to cultivate.

Actos clearly hadn't considered this aspect; he only felt that building a huge statue for the great god Jeragund was simply outrageous! He hadn't even thought about the money involved.

Seeing Ernst doing such a devout thing, and not even offering a helping hand to the Perroch family, who recently plummeted from the top of the three clans to become the poorest, he had only one thought:

"Ernst is still an honest man!"

Ernst could only smile and remain silent.

Dealing with Brother Xiong is all about being straightforward! There aren't many twists and turns or probing questions. Every interaction is based solely on biological instinct, enjoying the pure, unraveling pleasure. If everyone on this land were like Brother Xiong, there wouldn't be so much trouble.

Having resolved the land issue, the biggest problem was also resolved. As for the funding for building the Jeragund statue, Ernst wasn't actually worried about that.

With the increasing number of tourists visiting Shelag, foreign exchange reserves are soaring, and with the "voluntary and generous contributions" from Karan trade, the government is no longer as short of money as it initially seemed. Besides, didn't the patriotic entrepreneur Mr. Enciodis already agree to pay for the statue's construction?

Creating a brand name is something worth doing, no matter how expensive, because it's a unique feature, an investment, and more worthwhile than stocks. Given Sherag's qualifications, it's not so easy to lose money.

In high spirits, Ernst's speech became much more "bear-like," and he asked readily:

"Do you have any ideas on how to repair the Yeragand statue?"

“Yes!” Actos nodded firmly. “This is the image of our great god, so it must be done meticulously! I won’t discuss this preliminary idea with you, Ernst, any further. I’ll go find that bastard Nosis, rummage through the Edwis family’s books, and then go to the Manju Academy to look for ancient texts. I’ll think about it and give you a satisfactory answer then, how about that?”

What else could Ernst say?

"Alright, alright! I'll leave it to you then! I trust you to handle things."

"Don't worry my ass," he said, giving Jeston a knowing look.

The gist of it is: keep an eye on him, and make sure he doesn't cause any trouble.

One must be steady in doing things and never forget one's roots. Ernst's aesthetic standards for Actos weren't high either; what if he spent ages searching through ancient texts only to find a large rock standing on the island in the middle of the lake when he returned from Lateran?

At least make it look like a real place, not like the Holy Stone Square, where you just put up a big stone and pretend it's Jeragund.

Chapter 214 The Experiences of a Fellow Villager from Sherag

Shelag, Tukarim.

Shiva is an indigenous person of Tukarim, and his family has lived on the land of Tukarim for generations.

The people of Shelag are very attached to their homeland, and Shiva is no exception. Like many of his fellow Shelag natives, he never left Tukarim in his entire life.

But now that he finally had to leave temporarily and go to stay with his relatives living in the territory of Brantou, he was not as sad or lost as he had imagined.

"If you ask me, isn't the point of life to have something to look forward to? Now that things are getting better and better in Sherag, I have something to look forward to. Even though I was watching those Colombians from outside demolish my house, I wasn't actually that angry. Because our Prime Minister Ernst and Lord Enciodis have already promised to give me a newer and better one."

He had also seen the display boards that the Colombians had put up in front of the government office building in Tukarim, which showed the city's future renderings through pictures and videos. According to the plan, the place where he would live in the future would be much neater and cleaner than it was now.

If there's anything that displeases him, it's only the tourists from other places.

In Shiva's view, most of these tourists lacked manners and showed no reverence for Jeragund. Last time, while he was herding pack animals, he was stopped by two tourists from Victoria. After muttering to himself for a while, he finally understood that the two wanted to ask which way to get to Mount Kalan.

Shiva didn't think much of it at the time and gave them directions. But the next day, he heard from the girl who often helped with farm work that two tourists from Victoria were trying to climb Mount Kalan and take a piece off the sacred stone in the sacred stone square as a souvenir!

This is utterly disrespectful! This is extremely disrespectful!

The Sacred Stone is a tear from the god Jeragand, a true religious relic. The fact that the annual Harvest Festival and Sacred Hunt ceremonies open in Sacred Stone Square speaks volumes about its importance to the people of Jerag!

Siva was furious, but he wasn't the furthest. He'd even heard that the people from Perroch's side almost grabbed their weapons and rushed up the mountain to hang the two Victorian tourists on the Matterhorn because of this.

Prime Minister Ernst was still in Colombia at the time, and the matter was eventually resolved through the mediation of Defence Secretary Mr. Jeston and the intervention of Chief Enciodis Shivaesh.

But the feud had already been formed.

Even the kind-hearted old residents of Tukarim, like Shiva, and the loyal leaders of Shivaish, who had developed a three-generation group of reformist citizens, had some complaints about these outsiders, let alone the already conservative Sherag people.

Siva was initially worried for Prime Minister Ernst, thinking this was a difficult situation that could easily escalate into a disaster if not handled carefully. But Prime Minister Ernst, true to his word, quickly provided a solution that satisfied everyone.

"Prime Minister Ernst and the Perroch family have reached an agreement to build a large statue of Jeragund on the Silver Heart Lake?"

When Shiva first heard the news, he was a little confused and couldn't believe it.

A new statue of the god Jeragund? That sounds like great news, but it's impossible that the Sherag people only came up with this idea today.

Building a statue on the island in the middle of Silverheart Lake presents significant challenges, including the availability of materials and tools, and determining the appropriate height. A miscalculation could result in the statue-building team participating in the first Silverheart Lake Winter Swimming Competition in Shelag.

Because of its low feasibility, high cost, and high risk of injury or death, no one has actually tried to build such a spectacle in that place to this day.

But Prime Minister Ernst gave his own answer – it’s not difficult, not difficult for Scherrag now!

Rhine Life has the capability to build transmission channels on the island in the middle of the lake and on the shore of Silverheart Lake to ensure the transportation of building materials. The tool they use is a flying gadget that the Sherag people have never seen before.

"They call that an engineering drone."

Shiva stood on the edge of Silver Heart Lake, watching the drones that could fly in the sky, in groups of four, carrying stones that would take several young men to lift, and flying them to the distant island in the middle of the lake.

He was speechless, as were many of the Sherag people who had come upon hearing the news of the Jeragand statue.

While the reconstruction of Tukarim may have regional limitations, for many Sherag people in the Perroch and Brantau territories, it didn't feel particularly real.

At that moment, perhaps for the first time, they truly felt what "the power of progress" meant.

Confused, surprised, shocked, and somewhat empty, Shiva didn't know how to describe his feelings at that moment.

"What are you standing there for, Shiva?"