In the middle of the winter night in Corta, the cold air that comes out of my bones makes people can't do without the oil that is heated by me at all, and there have been some shocking remarks about missing people in the city recently.

Most restaurants are only open until around 9 a.m. to ensure safety, so they don't get involved in any special incidents, and there aren't many restaurants that actually stay open until late at night.

Relying on the rough portrait of the robbers drawn by Donald with what he recorded with his scouting eye and some restrictions, a large number of plainclothes police officers were scattered in the police station in the city of Corta to investigate, and it did not take long for the results to be obtained.

"Because my son has a lot of gambling debts, in order to help him pay off the debt, the restaurant will stay open until about 11 p.m. in the past month, and people who work overtime will come to my place for dinner......

The owner of Lawrence's restaurant was an old man with gray hair and a somewhat thin body, who was holding several portraits in his hand at this time, but his eyes were a little cringe as he looked at the people in front of him.

"I know this man, he has come to me several times to buy food...... Since about a week ago, he would come over every time when all the customers in the store had left, and I was about to close, and he would buy several copies each time, and he did have a strange smell on him, but most of the customers who came to me were workers from the surrounding factories, and they actually had a smell on them, so I didn't care. ”

They were on the second floor of the restaurant, the first floor was watched by Lawrence's wife, and the police in the city of Cortá had all been evacuated to avoid attracting the attention of robbers who might be nearby.

"If he reappears to you now, will you recognize him?"

Captain Luther asked.

"Of course, because he was a very special guest, I was very impressed with him...... Mr. Sheriff, I will assist you in handling the case, I wonder if I can get some rewards?"

Lawrence thought that these people were police officers like the ones he had just come to the door, and he thought that he would get paid by reporting criminals.

For these small citizens, they don't care who they are accusing or what they do, as long as they can benefit, everything is naturally easy to say.

"If you can catch a prisoner, we will give you a reward of 1 gold pound, which is the part of the advance. ”

Donald tossed a shilling into Lawrence's hand, and he didn't mind paying the price if he could get Lawrence to help them with money.

It's just that it's only close to noon, and there are still nearly 12 hours before the night, and since there are no other clues, in order not to startle the snake, it is impossible for them to conduct a city-wide search while waiting for the rabbits, so all they can do at present is to wait.

It was getting dark after the afternoon.

In order to capture the target as quickly as possible when it arrived, the group waited on the second floor of the restaurant.

Donald stood at the window, his gaze unconsciously following the sparse pedestrians on the street outside, an angle that reminded him of his actions in the hotel two days ago, and after his daily routine of meditation, he would often move a chair and sit at the window to pass the time.

It's not that Donald likes this behavior very much, but just guessing the current state of mind of pedestrians passing by by looking at the expressions on their faces outside the window can help him pass the time.

Of course, the long observation also made Donald inevitably have some doubts about the current state of the citizens of Corta.

The mood of decadence and depression was prevalent on the faces of pedestrians he had seen, but the city was seen by people in the rest of the world as a city that was thriving both economically and in terms of living standards...... Such a situation is clearly unreasonable.

Turning back, leaning against the window frame, the cold wind blowing through the crack in the window, his eyes fell on Captain Luther in the room, who was now flipping through the book he had obtained from the craftsman before, and there were large handwritten texts in the book, which should have been the notes taken by the craftsman while reading the book.

From noon to now, he has only done this one thing, but the expression on his face has changed from disgust and disgust when he first opened these books to solemnity and deep thought.

He might know why the people of Corta are so depressed, Donald thought.

But as a foreigner, he has no position to ask about this, as Jacqueline said before, this is a matter of the craft and forging sect, and outsiders can't control it.

"Donald, look over there!"

Stephanie, who was also bored by Donald's side, seemed to see something, and pulled Donald's sleeve and said.

"What's wrong?"

Retracting his gaze, he turned to the direction Stephanie was pointing, and at the interface over there, a truck was approaching this way...... It wasn't one of the trucks with containers attached to the back of the car, but a flatbed trolley pulled by a car with a large number of ropes holding something familiar to Donald in place.

Mermaid sculpture holding a water bottle......

"Mermaid pool?"

It was the only thing that made Donald feel good when he came to the city, but now it is a pile of rubble waste, no longer as elegant and refined as it once was.

Jacqueline, who was wiping the long sword in her hand next to her, immediately got up and leaned over when she heard the name of the mermaid pool, and when she noticed the broken mermaid statue, she frowned even more, and the female knight chief, who had always shown a gentle and humble image, looked back at Luther in disbelief, and for the first time there was a restless and pressing momentum on her body.

"Captain Luther, what are you trying to do? That fountain is one of the symbols of Corta's art city, and you actually demolished it?"

Although she believes in the god of morning light, Jacqueline actually spent a considerable part of her childhood in Corta, and the mermaid statue, as a landmark in Corta Central Park, is also one of the shining points in her childhood memories, and because of this, she subconsciously said this place when she said that she was looking for a place to meet at the train station.

"What if it's demolished? Practicality is what really matters, art, it's just some pompous and superficial things, the craft and forging sect is now pursuing something that is really good for the people, Corta needs a thriving industry, not something that seems beautiful, but in fact worthless, not only this statue, but even Central Park will be bulldozed and converted into a Freud consortium's steel mill in the next period of time. ”

Captain Luther before today, when he said this, he was absolutely justified and did not back down in the slightest, but after reading the thoughts in the book, he was a little shaken by some ideas in his heart, and the momentum when he spoke was much weaker.

Does his word make sense?

In Donald's view, Luther's remarks are undoubtedly absurd, and he once came from an era of flourishing culture, and he scoffed at this idea, but it is undeniable that this idea is extremely marketable in this day and age.

Just like when we look back at some events that happened in history, such as "how bold people are, how productive the land is", "sows race elephants, eat one head for a year" and other things that seem to us to be ridiculous and unreasonable today, but they have become a common phenomenon in specific social environments.

Now that the industrialization of the Ryan Empire is developing from the coast to the inland, Corta has become the first "people" to eat crabs because of its rich iron ore support.

Even though its industrialization process is actually just beginning and everything is still being explored, it is undeniable that they have already tasted the sweetness.

At this time, as the craft and forging sect that controls the religious concept of the city, it is inevitable that some problems will arise within the sect brought about by this wave of industrialization.

When large factories replace handicraft workshops, assembly-line production methods replace the meticulous manufacturing of craftsmen...... Some of the ideas in the teachings of the Craft and Forge sect had to change with the times.

It may be a saying that the same should be the case, but it also means that if a mature religion wants to develop, it must adapt to the times!

There is no doubt about that!

The problem is that the reality of this change is often not as good as it could be......

"You have destroyed those works of art, which is equivalent to destroying the spiritual world of the people in Corta, how can a sect be so harsh? ”

Jacqueline, who was still holding the idea of not getting involved in the private affairs of other sects, suddenly broke out because of the destruction of this mermaid fountain, these words were actually suppressed in her heart for a long time, and now she said them all in one go.

"Hmph, you love the spiritual world of the people, and protect those works of art...... And then, Delchimo's standard of living ranks among the highest among the cities in the entire county, and don't you, the chief knight of the Morning Light Sect, know that most of the people use kerosene lamps for lighting, chop wood for heating, and go out on foot and oxen and horse-drawn carts, and how many people are unemployed because of the new products made by factories in other cities? When the products produced by our Corta completely dominate the market, and the people in Delchimo's workshop are only allowed to go back to the farm to raise cattle and sheep, and they are dying of starvation, you should talk to them about art!"

As an apostle, he naturally couldn't listen to outsiders questioning his beliefs, and Luther almost subconsciously wanted to defend his own sect, so he stood up and retorted directly.

Is Luther strong?

What he said was the truth, and even Jacqueline couldn't deny it!

"Hey, when this matter is over, even if you fight you to the death, it's none of my business, but at least for now, I don't want to see that you haven't caught the enemy yet, and you will fight among yourself first, if irreparable losses are caused because of your quarrels, don't blame me for turning my face then!"

Seeing that the quarrel between the two people continued to escalate, Donald rubbed his eyebrows, raised his head again, and with Lilo and Anthony, the momentum on the three of them exploded strongly, directly pressing everyone in the room back.

Donald wasn't here to listen to these two men arguing about ideas!

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