Cthulhu Gonfalon

It was late autumn, icy frost had long since covered the grounds in the North. Even in the South where the climate was warm, there was a significant chill in the air. The streets were filled with pedestrians who were mostly donned in thick clothes as they came and went, and even the low-income civilians tried to wrap themselves with as many as two layers of clothing.

Though many of them had patches sewn onto their clothes, they were generally neatly dressed in clothes that were warm enough to help them withstand the cold wind while maintaining some basic decency.

Such a situation was not easy to come by even in the capital of the Duchy of Thunder. Out of the uptown district where the aristocrats resided and the inner city where the rich lived, when one arrived at the midtown district, workers donning worn-out clothes were still a common sight, even though the locals were observably quite well-dressed. As for the outskirts and downtown districts… every morning, the patrol team would be tasked with the important job of cleaning up the frozen bodies of the dead homeless wanderers.

Every winter, even for the capital of the Duchy of Thunder, there would be hundreds of homeless wanderers freezing to death. Their dead bodies would become snacks for those wild beasts roaming the city outskirts. But in this city, such a situation never happened. Of course, the winter season was enough to freeze people to death, but the people here would never die because of cold or hunger.

More than 20 years ago, starting from the former lord, Baron Crick Keane, and after two generations of barons, the Keane City was now a rich and prosperous land second to none within the entire Duchy of Thunder. Unlike the other lords in general, the Keane family practiced a policy of "leaving wealth with the people" and were very particular about the interests of the people under this policy. Every winter, the lord would arrange for various jobs, minor and major roles alike, to be allocated so that the poor had a stable income. Most of these jobs would come with a free lunch.

This naturally cost a lot, and the lord was often ridiculed by the other lords in the surrounding cities. But there was no denying that over 20 years of management, the living conditions of the people on Keane Hill were indeed quite good. If going by Earth's way of doing things, they would have moved away from a city of basic needs like "food and clothing" and were on their way to becoming a well-off society.

Although, this was perhaps just the beginning.

Seated at a table on the second floor of the "White Beard" Tavern, Sui Xiong ordered some common dishes and rice wine. With food and drink on his table, he looked down at the street below.

After a good, long look, he finally gave a satisfied smile.

"All these years… Anna and her company have been doing a pretty good job…"

At this moment, he was neither appearing as Crick Keane, nor was he in the form of a green jellyfish. He was Sui Xiong, in his original form as a man from Earth.

He had black hair, black eyes, and tan skin, with a medium build but was more on the shorter side. He was proportionate yet slightly thin and donned a pair of ordinary, black-rimmed glasses that framed his face, giving him a scholarly look.

Such a look was commonly seen on Earth, but over in this world, there were relatively few people sporting this style. Even in recent decades, the Church of the God of Knowledge had been striving to promote the popularization of education, but the results had been mediocre. "Reading literacy" was still quite unattainable for most people. Even in Void City with the highest level of education, most residents could only read and write their names, and in passing, they might learn to recognize about a hundred frequently used words.

Keane Hill also attached much importance to education. But people like Sui Xiong, who had a more scholastic mind, were not aplenty. The waiter in the tavern had a quick eye for the extraordinary. One look was all he needed to recognize Sui Xiong as someone with quite a background. So he showed great politeness and was very attentive to Sui Xiong. At this moment, he saw the pedestrian out on the street smiling and could not hold back the urge to close in on the situation.

"Sir, did you see something interesting? Is there anywhere I can be of service to you?" asked the tavern waiter in a fine voice as he smiled brightly. He looked slightly older than Sui Xiong's current look.

"I just felt like sighing, that's all," said Sui Xiong, "I am a traveler and have visited many places…"

He noticed the hint of doubt that flashed in the tavern waiter's eyes and could not help feeling a little embarrassed—the image of "Sui Xiong" was definitely not one of a traveler because he did not have calluses on his hands due to long-term use of a walking stick nor did he have any frost accumulating on his face due to long-term traveling. Especially when the corners of his eyes were still so flat and even, clearly, this was a pair of eyes yet to be exposed to much wind. And for someone like him to call himself a "traveler"? It was no wonder that this waiter, who was quite knowledgeable, might seem accommodating on the surface, but regarded Sui Xiong with total disbelief in his heart.

But, Sui Xiong truly did not lie. He had been to a majority of the countries on the Main Plane, though he generally maintained an invisible form when he did so, as he slowly floated by from high up in the sky. Yet at least, pertaining to the two aspects of "traveling extensively" and "having wide experience and extensive knowledge," he was indeed a traveler.

"I've been to many places and seen many cities. Many of them are more prosperous than Keane City, but there are few like this city, where the poor have higher living standards," said Sui Xiong. He wisely brushed off the waiter's doubts with due negligence and went on saying, "It is not difficult for a city to be prosperous and strong, but it is not easy to ensure that the poor also lead stable and decent lives. From this point alone, Keane City is indeed a good place that is worthy of being called the "Pearl of Thunder! Among all the cities that I've been to, probably only a few cities in the Republic of Northwest are similar to it," said Sui Xiong. He went on to say, "I heard that Baron Crick Keane, who presided over the reins of government of Keane City, was once a Holy Spirit of the Void Mask, His Majesty, who was the founder of the Republic of Northwest. I had been a little skeptical about this before, but now, it seems like this rumor may be true."

Upon hearing what Sui Xiong just said, that waiter nodded vigorously. The smile on his face also became a little more sincere.

"I'm not sure whether the rumors are true or false. After all, the matters of the gods have always been so far out of our reach," he said happily. "But what you said previously is right, our Keane City is indeed a wonderful place! Although I have not traveled extensively like you have, I have been to a few nearby cities, and they simply cannot compare to us!

"Just like what you have said, over here, even the poor are able to lead stable and safe lives without needing to worry about making ends meet. And so long as anyone is willing to spend effort and put in more thought, wanting to earn more is not difficult at all," he said, and the more he spoke, the happier he got. He added, "Twenty years ago, my parents escaped that major flood and arrived here. Originally, families like ours would most likely be at the bottommost societal level. No matter how desperately we struggled, our situation would have been hopeless. Perhaps, it would not take long for our entire family to freeze and starve to death. But we have relied solely on our hard work and got ourselves out of such a predicament. Slowly, we accumulated our family assets—did you know? Recently, my sister has been assessed with a certain level of qualification. She has received a scholarship and is now studying to become a doctor!"

Looking at his smile, Sui Xiong also smiled and picked up his wine glass. He poured another glassful and passed the glass of wine to the waiter, saying, "Let's toast for the good days ahead of us!"

The waiter did not refuse him. Taking the glass of wine, he downed it all in one gulp then walked away with a hearty laugh.

Looking at his departing figure, Sui Xiong smiled and poured himself a drink.

"Such a nice place, so of course, it was worth putting in the effort to protect it. Though it was inappropriate for Crick and the Void Mask to make an appearance, yet even so, does that mean that I should also sit back and watch others make trouble for it?"

He smiled and shook his head, then said, "Alright, let me see, exactly who could be so greedy and actually dare to stick out their paws like that? And, I need to think of an interesting idea to kick the crap out of those guys. Also, I need to teach the others who have an agenda up their sleeves a good lesson so that they will not do such annoying things again."

As he spoke, he poured himself another glass. Only at this moment did his eyes flash with a sharp, cold light.