Lynch had already predicted that unrest would occur in Nagariel, and he played a certain role in pushing events forward, such as attending a salon before his birthday.

At the salon, people discussed new business rules. Here in Mengwu Province, the rules are set by Lynch and the United Development Company.

Lynch, along with the United Development Company, always denied their influence on Nagariel's business rules, but no matter how they deny it, they have already achieved it, starting to affect the business ecosystem here.

At the salon, Lynch appeared very "fair." He didn't favor any side, and his words, if scrutinized word by word by all the lifetime Chief Justices at the Federal Supreme Court, would reveal no issues.

It's not just the Federation; any country can gather people to study his words, and they too would find no problems - meaning there were no direct or subtle language hints suggesting anyone would receive different treatment.

But here, the greatest fairness is actually the greatest unfairness.

This sentence sounds somewhat puzzling, but it is a truth, like sending a modern army to attack a tribe still in the primitive times; so-called fair competition has long been unfair.

Real fairness should balance the strengths of both sides, but it's clear Lynch does not intend to do this; he is pressuring, pressuring Mr. Simon, and other former foreign traders, to leave quickly. This place is the Federation merchants' paradise.

The Pretton era has passed; those clever merchants left Nagariel with all their possessions during Pretton's flight. Those remaining are the not-so-bright and greedy type.

The Federation people are enthusiastic, gentle, not very aggressive, but that's based on them having no stakes with each other. Once competition forms, Federation merchants will reveal their fierce and dreadful side.

Coupled with the fact that the Nagariel Youth Party is expanding rapidly, there will be a conflict someday, possibly a bloody one.

Staying here at this time is not a wise choice, and Lynch has already warned Fox's group; it's best not to go anywhere during this period, just stay in the hotel.

There are security personnel in the hotel, along with people Lynch sent, sufficient to protect their safety; as for other places...

Severa is a girl who listens, unlike ordinary girls, who are somewhat whimsical and stubborn, always thinking that opposing others is interesting. Ultimately, they end up harming themselves.

On the afternoon of the second day after Lynch's birthday, Severa boarded a ship returning to the Federation to leave here. After seeing Lynch, she confessed; once the thing she most yearned to do was completed, her inner turmoil gradually calmed down.

Lynch did not directly accept her confession, which is also a reason, but to say he didn't accept...his words made it unclear for Severa; anyway, their current relationship is above ordinary friends, but not quite lovers; everyone needs to make an effort.

Once the unrest Lynch mentioned is over, she will come again.

The peaceful time in Nagariel seemed unchanged from before, but whether it's Lynch's businesses—his cement plant—or the Provincial Governor's manor, they all strengthened their security forces and reduced outings.

Many are waiting for the imminent and inevitable conflict.

"...My men have not contacted me for a few days now, possibly they've been discovered and dealt with. You are right; these people are not ordinary."

In Drag's room, he was chatting with Lynch about the issue with the Nagariel Youth Party.

Drag, as a local Provincial Governor, is also very curious about this group; Nagariel has not encountered such a "rebel force" for hundreds or thousands of years. Now one suddenly emerged, sweeping across the nation quickly; this is definitely not by chance.

Nor can it be a "trend of the times"; this is absolutely some people premeditating and planning these actions. Finding these people, investigating their identities and origins, will clarify what they intend to do.

Lynch cannot meddle in these matters; he is a foreigner, and his people are all foreigners; a foreigner mixing with locals stands out too much—it's not even about hiding. Just by standing out, as long as the surrounding people aren't blind, they will know he is a foreigner.

So ultimately, it is up to Provincial Governor Drag to take action—he is local and has trusted confidants and subordinates. He dispatched some people to join the Youth Party's activities under the guise of "enthusiastic resistors," gathering some clues.

The headquarters of the Nagariel Youth Party is located right at the center of the Nagariel United Kingdom, also known as the Royal Capital. This answer was unexpected; although Nagariel had long been divided with power always in the hands of Provincial Governors passed through generations, the Royal Capital is still the Royal Capital.

The Royal Capital can also be seen as the largest "Provincial Governor's" territory in this country and is the most prosperous place. Such a place should not have become the Youth Party's origin point.

But then, it was expected; the Nagariel Youth Party could not have swept across Nagariel without any foundation; any kind of ideology, spirit, or program, from its inception to having actual theoretical and practical value, needs a very long time.

The Nagariel Youth Party might have existed as far back as years or even decades ago. Only recently have they perfected the organization's doctrines and rapidly began their expansion.

No matter how, for them to sweep across the country so quickly, besides having a set of goals that people can accept, there need to be funds to drive the movement.

An impassioned ideology is undoubtedly precious, but what truly motivates people to exert effort is interest; only driven by interest will these people act.

The two were discussing about Drag's men sent to the Royal Capital to gather information, mentioning this person suddenly lost contact, likely discovered and dealt with.

In summary, this matter is not as simple as people imagined. At this point, Lynch already had some ideas in mind, while Provincial Governor Drag had some suspicions in his heart; neither revealed their thoughts.

Lynch soon moved on from the topic, "How are the arrangements on this side?"

Provincial Governor Drag nodded, "Everything has been arranged; everything can be initiated at any time." He spoke with some hesitation and uncertainty, "Will this cause the situation here to spiral out of control?"

He worried a bit; the actions they were going to take, to a certain extent, made Provincial Governor Drag feel a twinge of apprehension. In Lynch's words, it was like digging up buried explosives and igniting them early.

The Nagariel Youth Party will ultimately become a major issue for Nagariel's development, putting aside political stances; Federation merchants' investments here actually bring only benefits, not drawbacks.

Those without jobs now have jobs, people have money in their pockets, the market starts functioning normally, and society becomes prosperous due to labor yielding rewards.

In contrast, the Nagariel Youth Party trying to expel foreigners contributes nothing to the country's development. Rather than letting tensions and their power build up to an explosive extent, it's better to dig them out early and trigger conflicts under controllable conditions.

What they aim to do is trigger trouble prematurely.

Lynch smiled and waved, "Currently, the tensions are focused on locals and those 'foreigners,' but if you ignore them, letting them develop, ultimately these people will aim to expel not just foreign merchants, including you who hold power."

His tone was light, and it had a hint of schadenfreude, "Maybe by then, they'll propose a slogan like 'Take the power back from the dictator for the people,' break down the outside gate, rush in, kill you, take your wealth, seize the power in your hands."

He sipped a local specialty floral tea without looking at Provincial Governor Drag anymore.

After around one or two minutes, Provincial Governor Drag squinted slightly and exhaled a breath of stale air, "Then everything will proceed as planned..."

Lynch put down his cup and nodded, "You've made the right decision, and you must remind yourself, you are now a Federation citizen."

This sounded like a joke, but it wasn't one.

A few days passed in a flash, as if everything hadn't changed much from before.

The foreign traders doing business in Nagariel were preparing to leave; with Pretton Trading Company no longer providing protection or escort, they couldn't obtain any goods.

The fairness Lynch spoke of?

Their own countries and even neighboring countries were unwilling to sell goods to them and even more unwilling to send ships to deliver them, because Nagariel is the territory of the United Development Company.

Even if they don't speak, others must still respect the sovereignty of the United Development Company, so they wouldn't offend the rapidly expanding Federation international merchants for just a few worthless goods for some traders.

How about buying things from the Federation people to sell?

It's possible, but you have to bear rather "normal" tariffs and also wait for unspecified delivery times; if you object, they'll tell you it takes one or two months to process orders, factory production, and transportation.

No goods to sell for one or two months?

By then, the entire market would have been seized by Federation merchants!

If this is fairness, it is indeed very unfair.

Most merchants from the Pretton era were thinking of clearing out inventory and leaving; they couldn't afford to play and didn't plan on continuing.

But just at this moment, an unexpected small incident occurred...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.