Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Reif walked up the sloping tunnel tiredly while carrying a crossbow, feeling exhausted.

As a skilled miner, four hours of excavation work—and just the excavation of soil—was not heavy physical exercise for him. The trouble came from the labor clothes on his body. The weird suit was thick and heavy, wrapping him from head to toe, even including his eyes, nose, and mouth. Water crystals were inlaid in the eye position, and a special ventilation mask was put in front of the nose and mouth like a pig's snout. Anyway, it was very cumbersome and very stuffy.

Stuffy! He had never thought that he could feel stuffy in a place located in the shade, where ice and snow were present all day long!

"It's still good that it's winter though!" He couldn't help but sigh. "At that time, although the mud was frozen and it was very difficult to dig, at least it was not necessary to wear these strange clothes!"

Of course, this was not a real complaint because Town Mayor Felix, who presided over the excavation work, had repeatedly stressed that there were dangerous negative energies under the ground. Only by wearing this suit could the workers avoid being hurt by them.

"Negative energies are not swords or vipers. They won't hurt you immediately. Instead, they will only hurt your body slowly." He still remembered what the beautiful female town mayor had said at the time. "If you don't wear this protective suit, you will feel your spirits become sluggish bit by bit. It will be easy to get tired, and you won't eat as much. Then you will get sick easily, and it will be difficult to recover afterwards… Basically, as this stage, people are almost dying. But if you are particularly lucky to get through it, then what is waiting for you will be deep erosion caused by the negative energies that will turn you into something like a walking skeleton or a zombies…"

Felix had told them similar words repeatedly for at least 20 times. She had even asked every excavator to be able to retell such a passage—not necessarily precise, but the general meaning couldn't be wrong.

She had even found a group of mice to demonstrate the results of negative energy erosion to the excavators. The originally healthy mice had quickly succumbed to weakness in the light gray negative energy and finally fell down. A lucky one had survived but had become dull and stiff, its eyes glowing like wildfire. Seeing that, the excavators had all been scared.

Therefore, even if it was very uncomfortable to work and exhausting to wear this suit, they were absolutely afraid of taking it off.

"Your Majesty, the equipment you have offered them is really luxurious!" Felix could not help but shake her head after looking at the excavators far away. They were walking out of the tunnel slowly, staying in the purification array for three minutes, and then taking off the protective suit eagerly. Then she said, "Those guys probably can't even imagine how expensive the suits on their bodies are, not even in their dreams…"

Sui Xiong smiled. "People-oriented. To revitalize Pyroxene Town, we require a large number of people, especially skilled workers. And when the town is revived, it is still necessary to serve the people. In my opinion, these excavators are much more precious than those protective suits made of magic rubber."

"Five hundred gold coins for each protective suit… If the money is used to recruit mercenaries, it is at least enough to find us ten strong men who know how to use swords and bows. They would fight bravely."

"With you and Jose in Pyroxene Town, that amount of force is enough. We can just save money and invest it in more valuable places," Sui Xiong said with a smile. "Not to mention that these protective suits will not go to waste; they are very durable and can be used for a long time. With their help, when we harvest special mushrooms in the future, ordinary people can also do it. It is much safer and more efficient."

Felix twitched her lips, disagreed by Sui Xiong's words. But she did not object to Sui Xiong's practice. On the contrary, she liked this kind of life-cherishing behavior—except for a few, almost everyone liked a generous and benevolent leader.

What was more, Sui Xiong was not as simple as "generous and benevolent." When he had returned from this trip, he had found that as the tunnel was being dug deeper and deeper, the concentration of negative energy in the tunnel was increasing as well. Although negative energy of such a level would not present any immediate harm and the purification array after the work could eliminate most of the impact, over time, it would still become severe enough to cause serious illness or even death.

So Sui Xiong had immediately informed Felix to set out more appropriate protective measures for the excavators.

Felix had had no opinion on this. She had intended to buy protective suits made of "Mageweave Cloth" which compiled into the magical plant fiber. Its protective effects had come from adding the entry-level spell with the effect of "Energy Resistance" on the Mageweave Cloth. However, Sui Xiong had vetoed her opinion and asked her to purchase Magic Rubber Cloth in which the primary-level spell with the effect of Energy Protection" could be built. This was to be used to make full-coverage heavy protective suits.

This had led to a significant increase in investment. With the current 30 excavators, the cost of 30 sets of Mageweave Cloth labor suits with the additional "Energy Resistance" spells added up to about 1,500 gold coins. The price could be reduced to 1,200 gold coins through some internal channels; but as for 30 sets of Magic Rubber Cloth heavy protective suits with additional "Energy Protection" spells, each cost 500 gold coins, adding up to 15,000 gold coins in total!

This price had scared Felix. As a high-level mage who had been accumulating knowledge and strength after entering the Legendary Realm, more than 1,000 gold coins had not been a big number to her. It was nothing more than a little heartache. However, 15,000 gold coins… This price was enough to recruit a group of top killers to assassinate a king. But instead, it had been used to make protective suits for a group of laborers?

Really, this had been too extravagant!

However, since Sui Xiong had made a decision, she could only perform it. Fortunately, Sui Xiong had not made her spend too much; he only made her buy raw materials. His Majesty, the God of Jellyfish, had produced protective suits and added enchantments all by himself. He finally had reduced the cost to 200 gold coins per one, with a total price of 6,000 gold coins.

Felix had previously worried that if someone else learned their technology, what would they do? Looking at this protective suit, there had been no need to mention it. She had believed that no businessmen in the world would be crazy enough to invest such a huge sum of money just to make anti-negative energy suits.

The energy essence was only low-end magic material, so it was not worth spending so much money!

"In fact, after a careful calculation, this investment was still cost-effective," Sui Xiong said with a smile. "These protective suits can be used for at least 20 years, but the Mageweave Cloth Labor Suits can only be used for up to three years. From the point of long-term investment, the price difference in protective suits is actually about half of the price. Is it cost-effective to use this price difference for a group of skilled and reliable workers?

"And think of this. With such strict protection, workers can stay healthy all the time. They will become the strong support for the rejuvenation of the town and even the construction of a new type of society. This can't be exchanged for any amount of money!"

Felix produced a forced laugh and defaulted Sui Xiong's words.

Outside the tunnel, Reif had accepted the purification and taken off the heavy protective clothing. He rinsed the protective suit under the pipe that was spouting clear water and hung it in the designated position. After doing this, he went to the rest stop and made a cup of tea. The tea was made of scorched rye from a large wooden barrel that should have been filled with ale. He took a long sip.

The lukewarm tea flowed along his throat and into his stomach. This made him feel a lot less irritated and eliminated much of his exhaustion.

In fact, he was not very tired. It was nothing but the stuffiness that gave him the illusion that he was tried. Now, after returning to a more comfortable environment, he, of course, recovered as the illusion disappeared.

In this case, he could have been working for more time, but the morning work was over, and the protective suit needed time to dry. Therefore, he could go home safely, have lunch, rest a little and prepare for the afternoon work.

An excavator only needed to work eight hours a day, which was also the rule set by Sui Xiong. Of course, he could find a lot of reasons to explain that, but in fact, the original reason was just out of "habit."

For Sui Xiong, the proper protection of workers, as well as the eight-hour work system was a natural thing with nothing to discuss.

Both the excavator Reif, who only knew how to work himself to the bone, and Felix, who presided over the revival project of the whole town had, no way to understand Sui Xiong's habits.

Things like "endowment security,""disease and work injury protection,""holidays,""work meals," and "overtime pay,"—this world had not had these concepts before. Owing all this to Sui Xiong, these things were popularized in the Void Mask Land.

However, so far, it had only been popularized inside the Void Mask Land.

Even though many kind gods had greatly appreciated these systems, some even wanting to emulate them, in the end, the Land was still the only one who had stuck to them.

If other places wanted to follow that, first of all, it would be impossible to pour so much capital investment into the system like the Void Mask Land. There were a few places where you could get so much money every day. Secondly, even if there was enough money, you would lack a social basis that could accept these practices. You should know that every penny invested in welfare was the profit of the investor itself. Merchants would not be willing to give up such large profits, and the aristocrats would not be willing to give their people so many benefits. Even if the churches of kind-hearted gods did this internally, it would still be impossible to popularize it.

Only the city that had been built by Sui Xiong alone out of foundation could use such a set of rules directly. Other than there, nowhere else could!

Even in Pyroxene Town, Sui Xiong did not directly apply for the various guarantees and benefits in the Land but decided to adopt a step-by-step approach to promote social progress little by little instead.

He remembered a famous saying, "Communism cannot fall from the sky." From another perspective, the system directly driven by the power of the gods would definitely not be the progress he wanted.

Progress should be made little by little. For the current Pyroxene Town, this condition was almost good enough.

Of course, this situation would not last forever. By the time the man-made veins began to produce, or the conditions of agriculture improved, he would definitely further promote social progress. This would cause the living conditions of the people in Pyroxene Town to continue to improve, and the town would move in the direction of his ideals.

As the saying went, high buildings rose from the ground. Now, the Pyroxene Town was only at the foundation stage.