Chapter 352 351. Enclosure
Since the Chief Executive Officer Far also serves as the president of the Adventurer's Guild, in order to facilitate him to handle official business on both ends, the new city hall was located diagonally opposite the Adventurer's Guild, separated by only a wide street.
With such a close distance, it is foreseeable that some minor problems will inevitably arise in matters such as expansion in the future.
But at this stage, for Farr personally, this layout undoubtedly brings great convenience, and he uses it quite smoothly.
In a reception room that was simply yet respectably decorated, Farr had just finished a brief meeting with two officials from Fishing Port and Norwegian respectively.
After the two sides exchanged some routine friendly courtesies, Fal handed over the subsequent detailed negotiations to his deputy Mirabelle.
The two officials came here to "learn from others". They hoped to replicate Mushroom City's successful system of managing mushroom masters and efficiently cultivating mushroom fields in their own city. However, during the entire meeting, they cleverly avoided any topic about what price or return would be required.
Fal was well aware of the two city lords' attempt to get something for free, but he didn't care.
Now that Mushroom City is developing rapidly, he no longer cares about this small profit.
He only clearly put forward one core requirement, that all the rules and regulations of the "Puji Master Professional Association" established by both Yufan Port and Noweide must be consistent with those of the Mushroom City headquarters.
After both parties reached a consensus, the remaining detailed negotiations and document work were Mirabelle's tasks.
As the fungal network expands inexorably to surrounding cities, the monopoly advantage of mushroom fields is obviously unsustainable in the long run.
Judging by the reaction efficiency of surrounding cities and the spread speed of the fungal blanket, Mushroom City can maintain its rapid development period brought about by the mushroom dividend for about half a year.
If we want to maintain our leading position, we can't pin all our hopes on mushroom fields.
In Farr's view, the next key opportunity lies in "Pujishi" itself.
By taking advantage of the geographical advantage of Mushroom City being the closest to the Puji Dungeon, and further improving Puji's trading, identification, and even selective cultivation systems, and building Mushroom City into the undisputed "Puji Master Center" of the entire region and even the entire kingdom, we can maintain our advantage in the next stage of development.
A crucial link is the standard-setting power and industry discourse power held by the "Pujishi Professional Association".
Obviously, the two city lords next door have not yet realized the importance of this.
Everything is going smoothly, except for two things that caught Farr's special attention...
When Mirabelle finished her negotiations and returned to the office, Fal looked up, tapped a report on the desk, and asked, "Milarbelle, why is there no mention of the emerging gangs in Mushroom City in this recent summary?"
Gang problems are an inevitable part of almost every city. Back when Mushroom City was still just a small town, it was too small to allow gangs to thrive.
But now, Mushroom City has become a new city with a population of tens of thousands and frequent mobility, and the breeding of gangs is almost inevitable.
According to traditional urban governance experience, if we want to identify and eliminate these gangs one by one, it will not only consume huge manpower and material resources, but the effect will often be limited.
As soon as one batch is eliminated, new ones will emerge.
In fact, even if left alone, most of these so-called "gangs" will die out naturally due to various reasons.
However, this doesn't mean that Farr should turn a blind eye to this.
It is undoubtedly a necessary preventive measure to have a small number of people monitor and understand the movements and size of these gangs, and to take timely action to strangle a gang when it shows a tendency to grow into a behemoth.
Therefore, Fal felt a little dissatisfied when he failed to see the gang situation summary that should have appeared in the routine report. He wondered if Mirabelle had neglected this and failed to pay enough attention to this issue.
Facing the city lord's questioning, Mirabelle quickly explained, "Lord, it's not that I intentionally neglected or didn't want to write a report. It's just that...there's nothing worth writing about in the current situation!"
"What do you mean?" Farr asked.
"Currently, there are no established gangs in Mushroom City. The only ones that exist are small groups that call themselves 'gangs' but are actually just three or five members. They're not worth reporting on," Mirabelle said with a hint of helplessness. "We've indeed received intelligence reports on gangs, but often when we verify them later, we find they've already disbanded and vanished. None of them have managed to persist and grow."
"So strange?"
Mirabelle nodded affirmatively.
Falben wanted Mirabelle to be more vigilant and guard against whether there were any deeply hidden gangs operating in secret, but then he thought that gangs were different from assassination organizations or spy networks, and it was almost impossible to hide them completely.
Maybe the gangs in Modu are just developing slower than expected?
Finally, he turned the topic to another matter that concerned him.
"So, what about the newly discovered stone forest to the east? I didn't see any follow-up investigation results in the report."
The stone forest that Farr mentioned was recently discovered and reported by adventurers. It is located in an area deep in the uninhabited forest east of Mushroom City.
According to adventurers, the trees there, and even parts of the landscape, were petrified by some force.
"The detailed report on Shilin has just been delivered, and has not yet been compiled into the summary in your hands." Mirabelle quickly found the report on Shilin from another stack of documents.
"The cause of the petrification has been preliminarily determined. It's caused by a special kind of puff that's unique to that area. This puff emits a weak but persistent petrifying ray, altering the environment."
"However, because petrification also affects fungal mats and other Pooji, causing endless internal friction, the petrification range has been limited to that area and has not expanded. A Pooji master in the guild has successfully captured a specimen for research."
"Petrified Puji..." Fal pondered and nodded. Sure enough, the increasing number of strange changes in this land were always ultimately linked to Puji. "It would be best to send someone to conduct an in-depth investigation to determine the specific environmental causes that gave rise to this peculiar Puji. Also, assign someone to regularly monitor the Stone Forest area. Report any signs of expansion immediately."
…
At the same time, a group of evil wizards who were packed up also left the imperial land.
The purpose of this trip is to go deep behind enemy lines and hold a dark ceremony in a special area that is considered "relatively safe".
The risks are self-evident. Once discovered by humans, they have almost no chance of survival in the enemy's hinterland.
It was also for this reason that many evil wizards who had initially signed up for the mission, attracted by the generous rewards, turned pale and backed out after learning the specific content and location of the mission.
However, there will always be brave men when there is a big reward.
In the end, nearly half of the people could not resist the rewards promised by Duke Sigismund and chose to join the team.
Valen is naturally among them!
(End of this chapter)
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