Chapter 204: The Last Obstacle to Seg the Misty S

  Halley was Blood Moon City’s nominal Treasurer, but iy, its ruler.

  As a 15th-level pinnacle knight, he possessed one of the city's top bat capabilities, effectively ag as the lord's personal "caretaker."

  Rubbing his thinning hair in frustration, Halley pondered over the financial shortfall and stroked his :

  "We owe the Goddess of Wealth Bank 50,000 gold s. I o figure out a way to pay it off, or they’ll start causing trouble again."

  "Ugh, the lord’s experiments are getting more expensive by the day, and now he’s not listening to advice. What am I supposed to do?"

  Just as Halley was deep in thought, there was a knock at the office door.

  His worried expression vanished instantly, and his demeanor shifted to one of authority. After quickly fixing his "powerful" hairstyle, he said sternly:

  "e in!"

  As the door opened, Halley saw a burly barbarian warrior who exuded a faint pressure.

  Instinctively raising an eyebrow, Halley’s gaze shifted from Beelzebub's rge frame to the figure following him—Matthew.

  Seeing Matthew’s young fad the Arist insignia on his chest, Halley blinked in surprise and asked:

  "Sir Matthew Ser? What brings you to the city hall?"

  As the real power behind Blood Moon City, Halley was naturally aware of the ret signifit events.

  He also knew more about the feud between Matthew and the Carlisle family than most.

  However, Halley typically didn’t bother with noble affairs.

  As long as they paid their taxes, he didn’t want to get involved unless some idiot decided to challehe lord’s "affe for money."

  Although Halley was familiar with him, Matthew pretended as if it was their first meeting, showing a surprised expression and cautiously replying:

  "There’s a nd development rights transa between me and the Carlisle family that o be registered, and I have to pay a processing fee."

  Gng at Matthew in surprise, Halley set down his ledger and took the dots Ralph handed him.

  He didn’t show any impatience, instead responding calmly:

  "In fad transas smaller than the size of a vilge don’t o be reported to the city hall…"

  Knowing full well that both Halley and the lord were in desperate need of money, Matthew suppressed a smile and softly said:

  "I know, but the Misty S is quite rge, so I pn to settle everything in one go."

  "Of course, I’m also willing to pay a processio quickly finalize the territory’s boundaries and transa tract."

  Raising his head instinctively, Halley looked at the posed Matthew in shod quickly skimmed through the dots in hand.

  Recalling the information about the Misty S, Halley thoughtfully advised Matthew:

  "The Misty S isn’t ideal for development. It’s overrun by murlocs, and dangerous s crocodiles make it a low-value area."

  Matthew wasn’t surprised by Halley’s discreet warning.

  That’s just the kind of person Halley was—a diligent and responsible man, though with a love for money...

  However, even Halley’s greed was through proper els, not for himself but for the troublesome lord!

  "I’m aware. I just want to secure trol over the Misty S as a buffer for my territory."

  "I also pn to run some experiments to see if the s be utilized."

  Hearing this, Halley didn’t say much more. After signing the dots and stamping them with the city hall seal, he hesitated for a moment and said:

  "The Misty S spans 200,000 square kilometers. To avoid plications, you’d best pay the eransfer fee at once."

  "However, si’s hard to turn a profit from developing the s, you only o pay 48,000 gold s. If money’s tight, you opt for installment payments."

  Butler Ralph looked at Matthew in surprise, but the tter shook his head lightly.

  Although Ralph didn’t uand why the lord insisted on this, he didn’t argue.

  He walked up to Halley and handed over a freshly issued check from the Goddess of Wealth Bank:

  "Lord Matthew insists on paying 50,000 gold s, but he hopes Lord Halley help with one small favor—applying for city status for Bay Town."

  Surprised by the string of zeros on the check, Halley was about to gauge how difficult the favor would be, w if he should dee.

  But to his astonishment, Matthew’s request was this simple, leaving him a bit shocked!

  It wasn’t that the task was difficult.

  On the trary, by helping Matthely for city status aing it approved,

  Blood Moon City could plete a rare territorial expansion task, gaining more precious resources approved by the Sevindon cil.

  At the same time, the lord would have aaxpaying and scription-supp ally under his rule!

  It was a win-win!

  However, there was one issue—if Matthew’s Bay Territory wasn’t capable enough and still pushed for the application,

  it could bel Halley as "greedy," plig his ces for future promotion.

  Normally, this tactic was used by aging knights with no ambition to expand their territories.

  They’d use it to raise their rank to baron before death, seg a better start for their desdants and families.

  Given that Matthew was only 18 and an Arist, there was no need for such haste!

  Butler Ralph, thinking about the lord’s development pns, gave a faint, helpless smile and expio Halley in a hesitant tone:

  "For reasons that ’t be disclosed to others, Lord Matthew o be promoted to baron as quickly as possible."

  "Money won’t be an issue, and we handle scription, but there’s a huge popution gap. We’ll need Lord Halley’s help with coordination…"

  Raising an eyebrow, Halley realized that the previous expnations were just pretexts—this was the real request.

  "No fear of you asking!"

  "Only fear your request is too high!"

  Halley’s lips curled slightly as he recalled Bay Territory’s recruitment alement efforts fees.

  He immediately uood that this was their way of boosting the popution to meet the city application criteria and quickly secure Matthew’s promotion.

  This favor he could handle!

  After reviewing the final dots, Halley pondered briefly before turning to Matthew aantly asking:

  "Your st request is to purchase a set of twe teleportation arrays. I approve that."

  "However, you’ll o help Blood Moon City resettle at least 50,ees."

  "And the money must be paid upfront. You must also guarahat these teleportation arrays won’t be shared elsewhere!"

  Having successfully reached his goal, Matthew sigo Ralph to pay, smiling as he replied:

  "No problem, my territory is in dire need of people!"

  The st obstacle to seg the Misty S was cleared!

  Though Halley found the whole situation a bit odd, he couldn’t be bothered to think too much about it.

  Let him be!

  FAL