Hearing the rich merchant's words, Sephyrin's face darkened. He had personally inspected the Rhodes Island personnel after they entered Wolumonde, and he had not only chosen to trust them but also sent people to accompany them.
Now, these guys were reporting Rhodes Island; whether it was true or not, it was a slap in his face.
"Sephyrin, you must uphold justice for us!" The rich merchant pulled Sephyrin to the inn's main gate and pointed at the two large carts in the courtyard, saying.
"Uphold justice for what? I personally inspected these two carts. They are Rhodes Island's own vehicles; you can't possibly claim they are yours!" Sephyrin looked at the rich merchant with a disgusted expression.
After noticing Sephyrin's gaze, the rich merchant felt something was amiss, but with so many people watching, he was in a difficult position.
However, he had already prepared an excuse.
"I suspect that Rhodes Island knew about the Catastrophe but withheld the information, which resulted in all of us suffering heavy losses!"
"Absurd. The people of Rhodes Island only arrived in Wolumonde the day before yesterday, and then encountered the Catastrophe early yesterday morning. You're telling me they knew about the Catastrophe? If they knew, why wouldn't they run? Why would they specifically come here to seek death?"
Upon hearing the rich merchant's words, Sephyrin wanted to give him a big slap. Not to mention that Rhodes Island came here because they suspected Wolumonde would be affected by the Catastrophe, and so, based on humanitarian principles, came to help.
Just his own words contained a huge paradox. After all, who would be so foolish as a group of people who, despite knowing the danger here, would run into the Catastrophe to seek death? Everyone else, upon hearing about a Catastrophe, would hide far away, fearing that the rich Originium would turn them into an Infected.
"But, but look at their carts! The Catastrophe came so suddenly; which family in Wolumonde didn't suffer heavy losses? It was pure luck to escape safely into the secure passages. Yet, these people from Rhodes Island not only safely ran into the passages but also brought such large carts of goods. To say they didn't know about the Catastrophe, how could they have achieved this? Otherwise, ask everyone if they believe it!"
When he realized that Sephyrin seemed to know these people from Rhodes Island, and his initial plan might be ruined, the rich merchant immediately used Rhodes Island's vehicles, which had safely escaped the Catastrophe, to attract the attention of the surrounding ordinary people, and by subtly changing the concept, he directed the blame towards Rhodes Island.
And these onlookers, already saddened by their losses, upon learning that some people were completely unharmed, felt that kind of emotion where 'you are safe while I suffer' is even more painful than everyone suffering together, and it surged forth.
Even knowing this was wrong, they still firmly stood behind the rich merchant, criticizing why Rhodes Island could emerge from the Catastrophe completely unscathed.
"Tsk, this is the root of human depravity, fearing scarcity more than inequality." Kanna looked at the crowd, who were stirred by the rich merchant's emotions and wanted to charge the gate again, and showed a mocking expression.
"Nonsense! I see it now, you're just jealous because others ran fast, aren't you!" Seeing the situation increasingly spiral out of his control, Sephyrin's face turned ashen, and the veins on his hand clutching the long staff bulged, showing how furious he currently was.
"How can you say I'm jealous? I'm stating facts! Rhodes Island must compensate for this, hand over the valuables in the carts, and distribute them fairly among everyone." Realizing that Sephyrin had no intention of helping him, the rich merchant was also driven to a dead end.
At this moment, he only wanted to force Sephyrin to make a choice by inciting the masses.
After all, everyone around them were residents of Wolumonde. If Sephyrin insisted on helping the outsiders from Rhodes Island, he would inevitably lose public support. If he then spread the word, his position as Captain of the Guard would likely become difficult to maintain.
Upon hearing the rich merchant's words, the crowd grew even more agitated. In order to obtain free valuables, everyone began to push towards the gate.
"Clang!" Accompanied by the sound of a sharp object scraping, a bottomless mark appeared in front of the gate. In the terrified gazes of the front row, a small girl stood on the lamppost in front of the gate, holding a dragon spear of astonishingly exaggerated length.
The chill emanating from its sharp tip felt no less terrifying than facing the Catastrophe.
"Hand over the valuables in the carts? Are you kidding me?" In full view of everyone, Kanna plunged the dragon spear into the ground in front of the gate, and the rising dust made the crowd retreat repeatedly in fear.
"I don't know where you got the idea that our carts contain valuable goods, but I regret to inform you that there's nothing you want in the carts. Hmm, I suppose you might not believe me, so why don't you let your esteemed Captain of the Guard tell you?"
Upon seeing the crowd retreat after Kanna's simple swipe and pause, the rich merchant's face turned pale.
However, before he could figure out how to break the deadlock, Kanna's voice came again.
Sephyrin looked up at Kanna, who was standing on the lamppost, and understood that this was an opportunity given by the other party for him to regain the people's trust.
"Fellow villagers, fellow compatriots, I know that everyone has suffered heavy losses due to this Catastrophe. Not only you, but also I, and so many families in Wolumonde.
But do you know why Rhodes Island came to Wolumonde this time? I'll tell everyone. You should still remember the official announcement from Leithanien that there was a high possibility of a Catastrophe occurring in the north here, right? After receiving the news, our friends from Rhodes Island traveled thousands of miles with medical equipment to Wolumonde, precisely to prepare for the possibility that the Catastrophe might affect us, and that Wolumonde lacked medical means to treat the Infected after the Catastrophe, leading to a large number of Infected not receiving treatment.
These two carts are full of emergency equipment and medicines brought by Rhodes Island, and we have already coordinated; the rescue of the Infected in Wolumonde will be handled by their professionals, and all expenses incurred will be fully covered by the government.
So, fellow compatriots, Rhodes Island is not our enemy in Wolumonde, but rather our benefactors who actively extended a helping hand when we faced danger…"
After an impassioned speech, the crowd, who had previously been jealous and wanted a piece of the pie from Rhodes Island, now showed expressions of guilt.
At this moment, the one with the most unpleasant expression was undoubtedly the leading rich merchant.
He never expected that these two full carts were entirely filled with medicines for treating the Infected, and Sephyrin even insisted that the official government would pay for it.
This not only earned Sephyrin a lot of popularity, but also essentially confirmed his crime of attempting to incite the crowd to loot medical supplies during the Catastrophe.
It's important to know that in any country on Terra, this is a very serious crime. He seemed to see himself dragging his obese body to operate a sewing machine for the rest of his life.
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