3 (2)

Louis watched the farmlands beginning to operate and recalled what had happened yesterday.

Right after the Colosseum’s successful completion and entrusting Hansen with a task, Max had come to him.

The reason for Max’s visit was obvious—it was because of the food Louis had seized.

His face was inflamed with anger. After distributing food to the poor as an emergency measure, Louis had deliberately avoided meeting Max.

One excuse after another, ignoring Max completely for a day or two.

Max felt insulted at being dismissed, and his pride was also wounded from having just been stopped by Boromir. Who was he? Pierre’s closest aide, who, along with Dekal, had wielded unchecked power before Louis became Governor.

When the enraged Max entered, Louis did not feel at ease, but he maintained a poker face and continued reading the documents before him.

“Governor…!”

“Ah, Max. As you can see, I’m swamped with work. Could you get straight to the point?”

Louis concealed his feelings and spoke with indifference, which only made the already near-explosive Max shout.

“Whether or not the food stores are opened is entirely my right, not yours, Governor! You have overstepped your authority! To seize food without permission—what are you, a thief?”

Louis stopped his pen and muttered.

“Overstep? Thief?”

Just two words, but the anger behind them made Max recoil in fright.

‘He’s not even a warrior, so why….’

Cowled by the pressure effect, Max spoke in a more subdued voice.

“…..You cannot deny it. At the very least, you should have asked me first.”

“When I first arrived in this city, I saw corpses of the starved strewn across the streets. It was unbearable. I wanted to slaughter every last barbarian right then. But beyond that, I briefly stayed in Pontina City and begged my father for support, securing a large supply of food. Yet when I arrived here, it struck me as odd. Too many citizens had died. I read the reports, and they said the supplies had been looted en route, most of the food lost. It was a cruel fate for those who starved to death. But then….”

Louis twirled his pen and, for the first time, lifted his eyes from the report to glare at Max as he continued.

“…Doesn’t that strike you as strange?”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“You know how rumors are. I also heard from my subordinates—that the storehouses were full. Isn’t it natural to want to check such things?”

Max realized Louis’s words carried more than casual meaning.

Together with Dekal, he had thoroughly prevented any rumors from leaking, and Dekal was unlikely to have been careless.

It was like a pact—why would anyone deliberately destroy the sandcastle he himself had built?

This could only mean there was a traitor, and Max, holding back his breath, knew there were more than a few he might suspect.

“………….Who would spread such nonsense?”

“Right? Who would do something so heinous? And yet, when I opened it, the storehouse was filled. Far more than what the report claimed.”

“Even so, how could you hand out food to the poor without a word to me?!”

“Listen, Max. I am the Governor. It’s my duty to care for this city and its people. When a mother sees food in her house, isn’t it only natural she feeds her hungry children? And, by the way, administratively speaking, there’s no issue at all. I left the exact number of supplies as stated in the report. So, in that sense, I owe you an apology. I’m sorry.”

A play of words. What had been a grave overstep of authority was now reframed as a mother feeding her hungry child, leaving Max with little ground for accusation.

After a long silence, Max finally spoke irritably, as though with no choice.

“Understood. Please make sure this does not happen again. The city cannot be run by you alone, Governor.”

His last words carried a warning.

As Max turned to leave, Louis added one more line.

“Instead of coming to me, perhaps you should try managing your subordinates better?”

The door slammed shut.

Louis dipped his pen in ink again.

The truth was, Louis had lied. Not a single one of Max’s subordinates had mentioned the food to him.

Louis had known from the Civilization System’s information window that the city had enough food, and that was why he had raided the storehouses.

For all his meticulousness, Max had one flaw—paranoia.

He never let go of his subordinates, always squeezing them. Louis had thrown a spark onto him. Now it was up to Hansen to shake the board.

The growth of a city depended on its citizens.

Thinking of citizens as one’s children was an idealistic notion. It was like this: in thought, everyone spoke of ideals, but in reality, citizens were treated as chess pieces, to be sacrificed without hesitation.

Louis, too, did not think of the citizens as his children. He was a noble by birth, far from such ideals. But he expressed himself that way to Max because all his focus now was on population growth.

In other words, the city’s growth…

The unchanging truth was that it was population that created the immense collective force.

Thus, if the Civilization System showed the city’s population as three, then increasing it required ensuring they did not starve. For ambitious Louis, this naturally became his highest concern.

‘Max. Go probe your subordinates. I’ll sweep them all away for you.’

What Louis needed now was power.

And where did power come from? Simple. When those with smaller power gathered under someone with greater power, we called it a faction.

It was like a ladder. One entrusting themselves to another, who in turn entrusted themselves to yet another.

Louis was about to collapse that ladder. And once the seat became vacant, it would turn into an opening for new power.

Louis’s aim was to share that position with Dekal.

To drag Max’s officials into the Colosseum, Louis could not do it alone—he needed an alliance with Dekal.

Would Dekal refuse?

Louis did not think so. Dekal clearly favored him more than Max. If they shared the seat, Dekal would inevitably gain more power.

In other words, growth would only make Dekal larger.

And no one who had grown larger would believe they could lose to someone they thought a few steps beneath them.

Realistically, that was true.

If not for the Civilization System….

But Louis had the Civilization System. Even if Dekal amassed power and grew in size, Louis was confident he could devour him.

Depending on Max’s choices, Louis’s trait unlock would differ. With Max already taking the bait, what Louis needed now was talent.

‘Talent Insight.’

It demanded points on par with the Colosseum.

Talent Insight was not a structural trait like the Monument or the Colosseum linked to social policy, nor was it a leadership trait like Military Charisma.

It was, quite literally, the revelation of additional information.

300 points vanished in an instant, and a darkened space lit up. Talent Insight displayed, separately, the “Talent” entry among each person’s information.

It was an investment-heavy trait, but for Louis, it was precisely what he needed at this moment.