Chapter 243 Drinking Oblivion

While Mr. Festing was having a pleasant conversation with the head of the Melusine family, other large families that could influence the political landscape of the Magic City were also taking their own actions.

Including the demons who take advantage of the situation.

Including families who want to get a piece of the pie in the reshuffle of Black Wind Castle and the magic crystal cannon industry.

This piece of fat meat, which is looked down upon by the first-class families, has been coveted by them for too long in the second- and third-tier families.

If the Lord of Black Wind Castle had shown even the slightest sign of weakness, they would have already swarmed over him.

However, the recent wind direction has made them undecided.

Luo Yan's high-profile counterattack at the hearing forced them to suspect that the Padridge family had secretly taken sides. Otherwise, it would be difficult to tell where this guy got the confidence from.

Then, the interview of Luo Yan by the Abyss Times and the announcement by the Ministry of Truth to launch an investigation into the disastrous defeat in Port Saldo awakened their long-lost memories.

That was last year.

It seemed that at that time, the "Magic City Daily" reported on the Chaos Gate incident.

That seemed to be the first game between the Demon King of Thunder County and the Dragun family who once dominated the Thunder County maze, and the result of that game ended in the latter's tragic defeat.

Although it was only Xino, the second son of the Dragun family, who took action at that time, everyone could see the figure of Kamu Dragun, the head of the Dragun family, behind the conflict.

This time, Kamu stepped out from behind the scenes and stepped onto the stage.

Although the latter's strength is far ahead of the Demon King of Thunder County, who can guarantee that the result this time will be different?

At that time, many people lost money in gambling in the arena.

That time it was just a small gamble for fun, but this time it may not be the case.

Let's wait a little longer...

While the situation in the Magic City was becoming increasingly treacherous, Black Wind Castle, which was at the center of the game vortex, was peaceful and tranquil. The goblin laborers and hell dwarf craftsmen living here seemed to be completely unaffected by the two sides of the struggle.

Even more than that.

Instead, their lives have improved.

Since the establishment of the Goblin Community Residents Committee, there have been fewer cases of goblins fighting each other and bloody battles, and losses other than work-related injuries have been reduced to a fraction of the previous level.

Not only that, the previously unattended water pump, the rickety stairs, and the vents that were stuck at any time have all been improved, and someone has finally cleaned up the feces in the pit.

The goblins didn't like the way Snick and Slime handled the situation, but it was effective enough.

Whether it was to prove that he was useful, or to prove that he was "powerful", or both, he did solve many problems.

The problems in the Goblin community have been solved, and the problems in Black Wind Castle have been at least half solved.

After all, before Luo Yan noticed this territory, most of the troubles here were caused by the goblins' carelessness in life and their love of taking advantage.

As for the remaining trouble, it is the hell dwarves who are addicted to alcohol.

Every time they get drunk, they do stupid things without thinking, either killing themselves or killing the goblins who are unlucky enough to pass by...

However, with the introduction of cumulative taxes on alcoholic beverages, this situation has been effectively alleviated.

With the drinking capacity of the hell dwarves, they can't get drunk even if they drink low-alcohol liquor until their stomachs burst.

And if it's strong liquor, they'll go bankrupt before they get drunk...

…

As night fell, the magic crystal lamp poles above Black Wind Castle slowly went out, and the street lights that replaced them slowly lit up.

The streets were a mixture of shadows and fog, as if immersed in a dreamy mist.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the "Hell's Cup" tavern is extremely lively.

The hell dwarves and goblins who had just got off work from the factory rushed in here at the same time, filling the narrow space with noisy noises and the stench of sweat.

This tavern is famous for its cheap and generous drinks, and is a good place for the low-level laborers of Black Wind Castle to while away the long nights. The sound of wooden wine glasses colliding is endless, accompanied by rough laughter and the singing of drunkards, forming a unique symphony in the underground world.

However, in the corner of this tavern, a sad-looking hell dwarf shrank his neck, holding a glass of turbid beer in both hands, and muttered repeatedly in an unwilling voice.

“Is this fucking horse urine?”

Baruch grunted and slammed the cup on the table, splashing a few pieces of foam.

The goblin bartender behind the bar glanced at him, wiped the glass in his hand, and said with a smile.

"There's also urine here that isn't horse urine. A cup of 'Dragon's Roar' is enough to make you give up all your worries. Would you like to consider having a cup? Or 'Your Majesty the Demon King'."

The Demon King...

Baruch chewed the name in his mouth and complained with a gloomy face.

"No! I can't afford it!"

He gets angry when he hears the word "devil"! In the past, he didn't need these fancy cocktails. A few glasses of mellow potato liquor were enough to make him forget the fatigue and troubles of the day.

But now, he has to go to the toilet more than ten times a night just to get rid of the damn water.

"Ah... I recognize you," the bartender turned his eyes and recognized Baruch's face in the dim light, and said with a smirk, "You are the guy who yelled for beer subsidies at the lords' meeting and was thrown out by the guards... Aren't you asking for it?"

"Shut up!"

Baruch, who couldn't take a joke, glared at the goblin bartender fiercely, and the latter was so scared that he dared not speak.

This incident is a lifelong shame for him.

Because of this incident, he had to move to live next to the Goblin community... because the other Hell Dwarves excluded him, blaming him for angering the lord and almost causing them to run out of wine.

What are you talking about?

It was as if it was the liquor tax that was introduced by him. Did they naively think that if they kept silent, the lord would have forgiven them?

Afterwards, Baruch came to his senses. The lord had no good intentions when he called him to a meeting with a drunk face. It was a premeditated robbery from the beginning! As for himself, he was just a punching bag thrown into the crowd by the devil...

I have to say that drinking less alcohol can indeed make people much more sober.

Baruch never thought about these things before, but now he can analyze them clearly.

However, sometimes being sober can be a very painful thing, especially sitting among a group of drunks.

Not far away, several goblin laborers were chattering excitedly.

With bare arms and waving their tiny fists, they discussed the latest report in the Abyss Times and praised the devil who brought hope to the lower-level demons.

"Did you hear? The Demon Lord inspected the factory yesterday and talked to the craftsmen in person!"

"I know, I'm from that workshop! Woohoo, not only did he shake my hand, he also reminded me to be careful!"

"What a nice guy... I wish he was a goblin."

"Oh, that's nothing! Did you read the last issue of the newspaper? He confronted a group of bureaucrats from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Logistics at the hearing! He said he wanted to seek justice for the 80,000 soldiers in Port Saldo!"

"Fairness... We actually have this thing in hell!"

"But it's really good... Even though he's a human, I kind of admire him!"

"Hey, you know what. Although he is a human, I feel that he is much more merciful than the big goblins! It is said that in Thunder County, his territory! He lets the goblins live in the forest of elves!"

When he said this, the goblin stood on the table. The goblins around him had sparkling eyes and drooled.

As we all know, goblins are omnivores. Although female goblins are the most in line with their aesthetic tastes, other races also have their own advantages.

Especially elves with pointy ears like theirs, they prefer them more than humans with short ears.

"It seems that the rumors are true..."

“I heard they were butterflying in the barn and bathing in beer!”

“Hahaha…living with the elves…hehehe…our demon king daddy really understands us!”

Baruch, who was sitting nearby, rolled his eyes.

The word "living together" seemed to have been inserted into the mouths of these guys.

What's more, it's a large forest.

What about him living next to a goblin community? Does he nag the goblins every day? Sometimes people's emotions are not completely controlled by reason, especially for a hellish dwarf whose brain is dominated by alcohol.

Hearing these goblins talking more and more outrageously, he finally couldn't help but snorted and said sarcastically.

"What a bunch of lunatics... What good can a demon king have? He's called the demon king, do you really think he's your big daddy? You guys can get this drunk by drinking horse urine, I admire you guys."

As soon as he finished speaking, all eyes were instantly focused on him.

"What the hell did you say?" The goblin standing on the table jumped down and walked to his table aggressively.

Baruch originally sneered and didn't take it seriously, but then a few hell dwarves nearby came over and he suddenly became nervous.

"Are you questioning our Lord Demon?" The hell dwarf with a beard buried down to his waist narrowed his eyes and looked up and down at Baruch with an unfriendly look. His beard trembled as he said, "I crawled back from the dead at the front line, and no one said a word for me. They sent me away with the money for a few barrels of wine. Today, someone finally said a fair word for us guys, and you say he is not a good person? Then I want to ask you who you are."

Baruch's expression changed slightly, his momentum weakened, and he spoke in a low voice.

"I...I didn't mean that. I'm not talking about the front line."

The long-bearded hell dwarf grinned, with the scars and crow's feet at the corners of his eyes squeezed together, and stared at him ferociously.

"The Demon King's business is my business. If you keep saying something without thinking, I will use my fists to communicate with you."

Baruch's face turned livid.

He is not a goblin, how can he bear this?

"What the hell did I say?" He stood up with his hands slammed on the table, his nose poking at the face of the hellish dwarf opposite him. "I work just to drink, and I'd be happy if I died of drinking! That guy made me unable to afford to drink, so can't I complain a little?"

The bearded hell dwarf was stunned for a moment and was really frightened by his aura.

really.

He was also quite uncomfortable with the progressive tax on alcohol, although what the guy said at the hearing was very much to his liking.

Just when his aggressive attitude was about to fade, a large group of goblins surrounded him.

"Damn it! I won't let you say that about my Lord Demon!"

"You idiot! If you guys weren't drinking and causing trouble, why would the Demon King collect that tax? If he really wanted money, why didn't he double the price for all the alcohol?"

Baruch stared.

"When did I say he was after money?"

Why don't these guys listen to me? Just now they were talking about the front line, and now they are talking about making money...

The entire Black Wind Castle belongs to him. Does he need to make money from this?

However, two fists are no match for four hands.

Even a silver-level fire demon is useless, let alone him, a hell dwarf without any supernatural powers.

As the goblins chatted with each other, he was soon drowned in the tide of saliva.

"I know this guy! He's an alcoholic! He got drunk in broad daylight and went to the lord's mansion for a meeting. He even yelled about wanting beer subsidies and other drunken talk. Isn't this guy asking for trouble?"

"Damn it, it's this shameful thing that's keeping us from drinking!"

Baruch's identity was revealed, and the Hell Dwarf, who was originally a little hesitant, was also swept over to the Goblin side by the Goblin's huge momentum, and attracted more and more drunkards.

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When these people asked what had happened, they heard that Baruch, who had prevented everyone from drinking, had the audacity to curse the Devil in the tavern. They immediately rushed over in rage.

The noise in the pub was getting louder and louder, more and more excited. Those who were clearly not drunk seemed to have drunk a barrel of liquor, while the only drunk was sober to the point of being hopeless.

Baruch looked at these guys and felt like he had fallen into a mental hospital. He was so panicked that he was speechless.

"Are you fucking crazy?"

"I think you're crazy!"

A flying oak wine glass hit Baruch on the head, becoming the first spark to ignite the gunpowder barrel.

Seeing this barrel-like guy lying on the ground, the goblins excitedly pounced on him and started punching and kicking him.

Baruch howled in anger at first, then struggled hard, but as fists rained down on him, he was beaten disoriented and the sound of his curses eventually turned into wails.

"That's enough - I was wrong! I was just saying it casually! Please forgive me!"

The tsunami-like sound waves quickly drowned him.

"Kill this traitor!"

"Sober him up!"

"Damn it! The liquor tax is absolutely right! Otherwise, this bastard would have drunk himself to death!"

Baruch tasted blood in his mouth and his ears were buzzing. Finally, he was thrown out of the tavern like a torn sack and fell in the mud in a mess.

These guys didn't dare to cause any death, and they let him go after venting their anger.

He lay on the ground for a long time without recovering, until a gust of night wind blew, making him shiver, and then he slowly got up from the ground.

"What the hell did I do..."

Leaning against the wall of the pub, he rubbed his swollen face and suddenly let out a self-deprecating laugh.

He had comforted himself that it wouldn't hurt to drink a few less cups, as he had almost gotten used to the horse urine in the tavern. If those goblins hadn't described it so cheesy, tasting the horse urine like broth, he wouldn't have said such a sarcastic remark.

As a result, he was beaten for no reason and he didn't know how he had offended them.

Baruch stood against the wall for a while, and finally limped towards home.

He still has to work tomorrow, so he has to take care of the wound to prevent it from swelling and affecting tomorrow's work.

He actually didn't care much about this kind of thing. After all, no matter how many magic crystal cannons he produced, it wouldn't change his life. But now he found that thinking about this thing could divert his attention, and this could ease the pain of the wound.

Baruch licked the blood from the corner of his mouth and suddenly tasted wine.

Perhaps a bottle of beer leaked out a little beer foam when it was flying towards him and it landed at the corner of his mouth.

The mellow taste was more intoxicating than the strongest liquor, and for a moment it actually comforted his troubles.

"Incredible..." He muttered to himself, and suddenly a small sense of happiness surged in his heart. He greedily inhaled the air, letting his consciousness immerse in the aroma of wine that filled the streets and alleys.

Life isn't that bad actually.

Some wines have become more expensive, but some are free, and there is no limit on the amount you can drink until you are full.

He suddenly fell in love with that unfathomable adult, just like everyone else.

This intoxicating taste must not be tasted by only him...

…

The next day, the light of the magic crystal lamps spread across the streets and alleys of Black Wind Castle. Baruch, who had just woken up from a hangover, swept away his previous laziness and fatigue and went to the magic crystal cannon factory in high spirits.

The workers nearby all thought that something was wrong with him today. How could someone fall down and get so bruised and battered in front of his own door? However, Baruch insisted that he just fell down. They didn't know the situation, so they just assumed it was like that.

The inspecting supervisor took a look at Baruch and saw that this bruised and battered guy was working so hard despite his injuries. He couldn't help but look at him twice more and wrote down his name in the small notebook.

The main reason is that other hell dwarves like to slack off, and goblins are even more fond of being sneaky, so he naturally stands out because of his hard work and diligence.

perhaps--

You can be promoted.

Goblins and goblins look too similar, and these hell dwarves always disobey them, making it difficult to control them.

Looking at the dwarves squatting by the wall to rest, the goblin overseer cleared his throat and shouted at the top of his voice.

"Work hard, the Demon King is coming to inspect today!"

The hell dwarves rolled their eyes and stood up from the ground listlessly.

"Why are you coming again..."

"That adult doesn't feel tired either."

They grumbled and complained, but their eyes fell on Baruch and they couldn't help rolling their eyes.

"Look at this guy, he looks like a goblin." A hell dwarf curled his lips and said sarcastically.

"Drunkard Baruch...does he really think he can be appreciated by the Demon King? This guy must have forgotten how he was thrown out in the first place."

"Hahaha!"

Baruch turned a deaf ear to the ridicule and just quietly did his work.

Seeing that he was as unresponsive as a piece of wood, the dwarfs curled their lips in lack of interest and ignored this unsociable guy.

At the same time, on the other side, deep in the Black Wind Castle Magic Crystal Cannon Factory, the respected Demon King, accompanied by the Goblin Factory Director, was inspecting the latest factory building of the factory.

"… Lord Demon, this is the new production line we prepared based on your knowledge! Over there at the entrance is the riveting workshop, which can complete the tank frame according to your requirements. Further back is the power unit assembly workshop, which is used to assemble mining steam engines!"

A short, wrinkled goblin followed Luo Yan closely, a humble and attentive smile on his face.

His attentiveness was not only because of Luo Yan's identity and his courage to scold a group of officials at the hearing, but also because the latter's profound knowledge always exceeded his imagination time and time again.

For example, now, in all his decades of life, this is the first time he has heard of the concept of tank.

When Luo Yan first told him about this concept, the picture in his mind was still like this -

Several hell beasts dragged a huge armored machine filled with boiling steam. The rolling steel blades bit into the enemy's infantry phalanx like canine teeth, crushing the imperial soldiers into meat scraps.

The fantasies of the goblin engineers under his command were even more outrageous. Some even described it as a huge iron ball filled with steam, which would explode wherever it rolled, like a magic crystal cannonball that could run on its own.

He laughed so hard that he almost choked.

How many goblins does this thing consume?

Is it free to train Goblin artillery? It takes time!

Luo Yan looked at the workshop in front of him, nodded majestically, and gave a pertinent comment.

"good."

There are several metal brackets in the clean and tidy workshop. The guide rails suspended from the beams connect these hooks in series, like torture instruments.

The facilities here are still very simple, but he still has to say that it is not bad, at least it has everything it needs.

The concept of tanks had not yet been born on this planet. Even the idea of ​​moving steam engines to land had only begun in recent years along the coast of the Whirlpool Sea.

As for Hell...

The application level of magic technology here is stronger than that of the Empire, but it is not much ahead of the Empire in fields such as metallurgy...even though the underground world has rich metal deposits.

If he remembered correctly, the tanks during World War I on Earth were mainly produced by shipyards and railway locomotive factories to complete the production of armor steel and various parts, and then sent to assembly plants for riveting.

As for the power unit, it was simply modified from civilian machinery, such as the Daimler six-cylinder gasoline engine used in the Mark tank.

In contrast, this world has none of these things.

The players in Beifeng City were actually thinking about steam locomotives that could run on the ground, but they had only just come up with a few experimental products... and those experimental products were the basis for him to make such boasts at the hearing.

It is extremely difficult to build such a production line from scratch.

Fortunately, he has a group of professional gamers who are already familiar with the rules of the game.

With their imagination and the mole people in Iron Fang City, they can even build a "Gundam". I believe that a mere tank production line will not be a problem for them. The Black Wind Fort with its backing in the Magic City is always stronger than that place.

Problems that cannot be solved by science can be solved by thinking of solutions through magic and Hades.

In fact, these workshops are prepared based on the opinions of those players.

In addition to the chariots, he planned to use the production capacity of this magic crystal cannon factory to build a railway from Black Wind Castle to the nearby mining area.

As for the rewards, he has also thought about them for the players.

Enter the deepest part of hell in advance to experience a brand new way of playing...

More than a week ago, this "hot news" had already made the official website forum, which was still immersed in the "Magic Plant Frenzy" event, lively again and again!

(End of this chapter)