"If I give you a half-elf, what will you give me in return?" The Duke was unwilling to suffer a loss.
Qin Yiyi was shocked: "Sir, I'm helping you solve your problem, and you're actually going to charge me money?"
"Look, haven't I solved your long-standing problem and protected the peace of the Eternal City? You won't appoint me as an ambassador of peace, and you're even thinking of making money off me. Where is your conscience?"
The Eternal Duke had never been spoken to like that before. He blushed at first, but then he realized what he had said.
"Giving you these half-elves will also benefit you. Think about it, isn't your territory lacking talent development? These half-elves are all talented people."
“They are indeed talented, but they are also risky talents. All the commotion outside is caused by these talented people. Besides, if you think they are talented, why don’t you keep them?”
"......"
"Besides, there are quite a few half-elves here. If I eat them all, it will be a burden for me. How much food will I need for the whole winter? All the money I just earned at the auction house will have to be spent on buying food in the Eternal City. Aren't these grains taxed? Doesn't this mean that the Eternal City is making a profit again? And you're asking me for money? You have no conscience!"
"I've solved your personnel problem and increased your tax revenue, so you absolutely can't take any more money from me. You have to give me some discounts!"
The Duke stroked his chin, seemingly finding Qin Yiyi's words to be reasonable, but something still felt off.
He then looked at Qin Yiyi and said, "There are about 20,000 half-elves over the age of 14 in the Eternal City, and only a few hundred under the age of 14. None of these half-elves are over the age of 30, and none of them have offspring. This means that apart from those few hundred who can only be counted as one-third of the labor force, the remaining 20,000 are all real labor force."
Qin Yiyi was overjoyed. The labor force of 20,000 people could renovate the entire territory during the six-month winter. You have to know that her territory only has a little over a thousand people now. Suddenly, she has 20,000 more laborers.
She was overjoyed.
Furthermore, having transformed from a disadvantaged group into the most populous race in the entire territory, the half-elf is unlikely to cause trouble or stir up trouble anytime soon. As long as she guides the people well, most of them should be able to integrate into the group quickly.
This is yet another place that benefits her.
“If you want to take more than 20,000 people with you, even if I don’t ask you for a head fee and give you discounts on food and winter supplies, you still have to charter a train to send them back. Each train car is this number. You can calculate how many train cars that is for more than 20,000 people.”
"However, you are rich now, and you can afford to keep her."
Qin Yiyi did the math and realized that buying food and winter supplies would cost a fortune, and sending these people back would cost tens of thousands of gold coins.
I haven't even had a chance to hold onto this wallet properly before it's already going to be spent again.
The money that the Duke of Eternity just gave him is going into his pocket again.
!!
How awful!
but.....
“Your Grace, even if we consider this an agreement, half-elves are not slaves and cannot be moved at will by you and me. We still need to consider their opinions and see if they are willing. Besides, what if their parents disagree?”
Since the half-elves left, their parents took over their jobs; noble elves would never sweep the streets.
The shouts outside grew louder and louder. Dodora was the central figure, holding a flowerpot in her arms. She had bought the pot with the money she earned from her part-time job, as did the seeds.
In order to buy medicine for her sick mother, she mustered up the courage to start growing flowers again. In the Eternal City, a pot of flowers like this could sell for at least ten silver coins, and the ones she grew were so beautiful and vibrant that they could sell for at least thirty silver coins, so that her mother would have money to buy medicine.
But as she expected, she was framed again, and this time it was a blatant frame-up.
At first she was a little angry, then she became a little scared and uneasy as the situation escalated, then she became a little reckless and defiant, and now she is filled with a mix of resentment.
She resented being born a half-elf. She had complained about her mother in the quiet of the night, knowing that elves mating with orcs or half-orcs would result in half-elves. She would rather be a half-orc than a half-elf. Born with this shameful earring, and then looked down upon by everyone, she had always tried her best to live. Why, why did life always seem to be against her?
Her mother, as an elf, could receive the monthly welfare benefits for unemployed elves in the Eternal City, which included silver coins and food. Meanwhile, she did the lowest-paying jobs, received the same salary as the welfare recipient, and had to take care of her mother, who was often in tears.
Her mother has medical insurance, but she needs to take extra medications that she has to pay out of pocket to recover faster. If it were her, she wouldn't be willing to take them, but her mother has never suffered since she was a child, so she becomes particularly haggard when she gets sick, so she has to find ways to earn money to buy medicine for her mother.
To be honest, tending to a potted plant or two isn't difficult. Even if you're sick, you can still manage. She even had her mother sell the finished plants, since elves and half-elves are treated differently.
But my mother said she had a headache and couldn't carry me.
She had no choice but to grit her teeth and carry the flowerpots out to sell flowers herself, but fearing being wronged and framed, she wrote her name on the flowerpots and branches.
Unexpectedly, it still turned out...
Thinking of this, her tears flowed uncontrollably.
The hardships of life, the inferiority complex brought to her by her family, and the racial discrimination from others—the reason she stayed by her mother's side instead of running away like other half-elves was because she longed for maternal love and hoped to gain her mother's approval. But in the end, it was just her own wishful thinking that she loved her mother.
After being humiliated time and time again, she would reflect on herself and remind herself that her mother might not love her. However, as soon as her mother gave her a little attention or care, she couldn't help but yearn for that elusive maternal love.
Now that she has seen what happened to her, the duty team must have notified her family, but they still haven't seen her mother, shattering her only hope.
She picked up the flower and smashed it down hard, just like her heart, now shattered into pieces.
A half-elf must live for himself at least once in his life!
She looked at the protesting half-elves and shouted, "A landowner says he'll take us in and let us escape the Eternal City! Are you willing?!"
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