Andre, as the first guide and businessman, was performing as badly now as he had once performed well.
He had set up several industries related to volcanic ash fertilizer and mining on the island of Wakanogres, employing the locals and paying wages.
The goods produced were sent to O'hara, where they were purchased by people in the related industry chain to complete an economic cycle.
Andre even established some mining industries on the island itself.
Sage prioritized distributing the population of fifty thousand from the West Sea to him.
He was never stingy with his contributors.
But merchants... that's their nature. While there may be individual exceptions, as a group they always find ways to make more money.
Andre went from being obedient at first to wanting to do anything for money now.
Initially, he resold goods to outside merchants at slightly lower prices, increasing revenue through accounting and loss reporting to avoid taxes.
Back then he was quite fearful, worrying about being discovered by the lord. But as Sage and others got busier, conquered more territories, and had more abundant resources, they paid less attention to him.
Gradually, Andre grew bolder. Simple loss reporting no longer satisfied him; he began inflating the prices of goods entering the island and told the people it was the lord's orders, making them buy at prices 20% to 50% above market value.
All the excess money became his income. Additionally, he found excuses to reduce people's wages, not directly but through penalties, using Sage's name.
Out of respect for Sage, even if people complained privately, they wouldn't do anything publicly.
Regardless, they could still fill their stomachs and maintain their lives, albeit with more hardship. Everyone was saving; many things became unaffordable.
It was because of this that they found out.
Sage didn't pay enough attention to the island. In reality, he had lost track of how much territory and population he had; Lily was managing all of it.
But Lily couldn't focus on every island all the time. The signs of this problem started because Lily noticed discrepancies in consumption and taxation.
They were not replenishing goods in fixed amounts; merchants and pirates would come with merchant ships to trade. The merchants were bribed by Andre, but not the pirates.
Barnaby, stationed on the island, sensed something was off and called Hawkins, who reported it to Lily, who was returning from Zou at the time.
Lily then discovered Wakanogres's consumption power was too low, reducing tax revenue, so after investigating...
Oh dear!
A bunch of parasites!
After that, it was simple: the Demon Race personally took action, peeling and executing the bribed merchants in Wakanogres in front of the people. As for Andre, his fate was left for Sage to decide upon his return.
"Andre, Andre..."
Sage walked up to him, looked down at him, and sighed: "How much money is enough... are you not satisfied with the life here? Why do you rebel against me?"
"Master, I did not betray you! You cannot listen to Lady Lily's side of the story alone; I am making money for you, I just wanted to give you a surprise, yes, a surprise!"
Andre started to panic, "Besides, Master, you have no evidence, without evidence you cannot convict me."
Upon hearing this, Lily sneered more intensely, Marika covered her mouth and chuckled, and Renedia laughed heartily.
"Are you kidding me... Andre, have you forgotten who I am?"
Sage stepped away from him, baring his teeth: "I'm a Pirate, yes, a Pirate... what evidence do I need? As long as there's a hint, I can execute anyone, Andre."
"You can't do that!"
Andre suddenly exploded, flailing his arms to rush forward, but as soon as he moved, he was detained by the Demon Race.
"You can't do that! Norton Sage! Do you know how much I have sacrificed?!"
With bloodshot eyes, he yelled at Sage: "You understand nothing! It's not you who contributed within this territory! It's us merchants! It's us who spent a huge amount of money and energy, working diligently!!"
"What's wrong with making some money! As long as those guys can eat well, it's enough, they're not living poorly! Why give them such high treatment! We deserve more!"
"What do you mean everyone has to pay! Why not use slaves? Those guys from the West Sea, they will work obediently as long as you give them food, why give them money!"
"If you go along with our ideas, you can be the Pirate King, and we will spare no effort to promote you. You can enjoy life, why care about those worthless people's lives!"
"People at sea are all the same! Even if you found out this time, there will still be others who think like us; can you kill us all? Don't you need to do business?! Sage! You're blocking our path!!"
The heated shouting caused the banquet hall to fall silent in an instant.
Lily raised her brows and gripped the sword hilt ready to attack, but at that moment, a hand grabbed her wrist.
"Interesting..."
Sage stood by Lily, laughing: "A new sprout of capitalism? Will this development eventually lead me to the gallows?"
He walked over and squatted before Andre, quietly watching him.
Those black pupils gave Andre immense pressure as he bowed his head unconsciously.
"There's one thing you're missing."
Sage chuckled softly: "In a normal world, interactions between people might achieve what you say. Because a big tide cannot be stopped by manpower, however..."
He revealed a malicious smile: "This place, it can be blocked by manpower... I can't kill them all? No, I can kill them all!"
He stood up, spreading one hand, "The essence of doing business is nothing more than demand and buying low, selling high; anyone knows how to do it. You won't let me have peace? Then no one will have peace!"
"Now I..."
Sage flashed a white grin at him, wearing a sinister smile that made Andre shudder, while clenching his fingers.
"Will kill for you!"
"Las, take him away, don't kill him yet, save him for last. Lily, from now on, mobilize my subordinates, all pirates stationed on islands shall start investigations, inform those merchants of the reason, be strict, any Belly collected extra will be hung!"
"Confiscate all assets of those who break the rules and redistribute! Perfect timing, my injured subordinates feel inadequately treated with just stationing, they will be reallocated!"
It's nothing more than replacing one class with another...
Killing a batch is all too simple.