Enemies Are All Nourishment for My Fungi..
Chapter 399: The Second Meeting with the Higher-ups (12)

Chapter 399: Chapter 399: The Second Meeting with the Higher-ups (12)

The villagers who ran back screaming reported the news. At first, there was some panic among the villagers around the small square, but they quickly calmed down.

"Why panic? It’s the Great Witch. She’s just coming back for a look, don’t panic, she doesn’t kill people."

"Yes, yes, don’t panic, don’t panic. Although she’s the Great Witch from the Alien Clan, she doesn’t kill people, she doesn’t kill people."

"This time she’s not coming alone. She brought people with her, and their clothes are very beautiful, even better than what the Old Knight wears."

"Did the Great Witch bring high officials from her side?"

"Where’s the village chief? Let’s find the village chief first, right?"

"Someone’s already gone. The village chief seems to be at the mill."

"Do you hear something?"

"It’s the Great Witch’s big carriage, this time it’s even bigger than last time."

"Of course, she brought people along."

"Then why are we standing around? Clean up, don’t let the big carriage knock over our things."

The villagers hurriedly tidied up the clutter that might block the road to the side.

The village chief also rushed back, still catching his breath, seeing a huge beast pulling a carriage driving down the village road.

The crowd suddenly scattered and quietly watched this unfamiliar giant skillfully stop in the middle of the square.

As they traveled, Ye Nai looked around, noting that compared to years ago, it was much more rundown, even one corner of the large well platform in a corner of the small square had broken off.

Stop the car, turn off the engine, release the parking brake.

Ye Nai pushed open the car door and stepped onto the pedals, landing steadily.

"Oh, village chief, long time no see. Why do you look so much older? Has life been tough these past years? Without the Knight’s family, has life gotten worse?"

Compared to a few years ago, the village chief now appeared older, his hair and beard were gray, and the wrinkles on his face were like carvings.

"Great Witch, long time no see. As you say, life in our area has indeed gotten worse."

"Is it so?"

Ye Nai gestured for the village chief to follow her, while she walked towards the back of the car, unlocking the trailer board as she continued talking.

"Why is it worse? Is someone stealing food, or is bad weather affecting the harvest? Or did new nobles demand more taxes?"

"All of the above."

"Ah?"

"The Royal Family and core nobles are gone. Have other nobles emerged?"

Ye Nai removed the tail bolt from the trailer board, while the person inside the vehicle pulled the bolt at the front. As Ye Nai was about to lower the board, the village chief kindly lent a hand, making the heavy board appear unexpectedly light in his grip.

Then, Ye Nai placed a ladder under the trailer, allowing the people inside to disembark one by one.

Despite the great difference in height, upon seeing the straight uniforms and dazzling shoulder badges under the sun, the village chief retreated a few steps, bowing respectfully before speaking with Ye Nai again.

"Great Witch, we don’t know about outside affairs, but indeed a noble family arrived, took over the land originally belonging to the Knight’s family, asking us to resume taxation, and charging even higher than before."

"Alright, I understand. I will handle it. Have you already paid this year’s taxes?"

"We’ve already paid."

"When is the next tax due?"

"I don’t know."

"You don’t know?" Ye Nai frowned, "How are they collecting taxes? Someone just comes and demands them without a fixed schedule?"

"Yes, they bring soldiers to accompany them, we can’t refuse."

"I understand, I’ll take care of them soon."

"...Ah?"

"Just like I dealt with the Knight’s family before, these new nobles won’t stay long either."

"Alright, then what about this land...?"

"My country will take over. These officers are here for an on-site inspection from the military."

At this point, Ye Nai finally had the opportunity to introduce the three vice ministers to the village chief.

The village chief, who wasn’t used to hearing so many military-related advanced terms, suddenly appeared confused, his eyes spinning.

Seeing this, Ye Nai wisely kept quiet.

"So, village chief, are there any clever and talkative people left in the village? Doesn’t matter if they’re male or female, as long as they’re brave enough, how about leading my senior officials around the village? They’re just learning the local language, let them chat a bit."

As Ye Nai spoke, a Selsa silver coin suddenly appeared in her palm.

"I’ll pay for it. Is this currency still accepted?"

The village chief glanced at the silver coin, startling.

"No need, no need, just walking around the village isn’t worth that much."

"But money can still be used, right? The currency hasn’t changed, the nobles haven’t issued new coins."

"Yes, the currency hasn’t changed, but having money is useless. Great Witch, you’ve seen the market in town. Now the market’s gone, the new nobles demand too much, there’s nothing left to sell."

"It’s okay, we’ll exchange it for something else."

Ye Nai put away the coins and took out a Fruit Salt.

The Fruits are hollowed-out shells, dried until hard, sounding crisp when tapped, about the size of a small red plum, but filled with a whole shell of salt, fine and slightly yellow in color.

"Lack salt? This whole thing is salt, it’s a specialty from a certain salt-producing region. They like to pack refined salt in treated shells for external sale."

The Otherworld’s planet is a huge planet where everything is oversized, a wild fruit the size of a red plum seems not small to Ye Nai, but to the locals, it’s just a tiny thing.

Using such shells to pack salt, the target buyers are poor people who can’t afford salt, and buying one small Fruit Salt can last for a month.

Ye Nai bought many such small, hard currencies during procurement, more useful than coins and viable in any country, circumventing the disadvantage of ineffective currency.

Now, using them to reward villagers as tour guides is undoubtedly suitable.

While the village chief hesitated, a timid woman’s voice came from behind him, her hands nervously clutching the apron on her body, which looked on the verge of being torn off.

"I’ll take the job. My family needs salt, village chief. We have no salt at all."

"Village chief, do you recommend her? Does she like to gossip?"

"No, no, all are regular people."

The village chief said as he pushed the woman who stepped forward to the front.

"Great Witch, you know our village is only this big. I don’t know what the officials want to know."

Standing close, seeing the group of men and women, obviously shorter than herself but wearing clothes even better than the Old Knight’s, their aura was that of superior, the woman’s scant courage instantly dissipated, her voice trembling.

"It’s okay, relax, just answer what they ask, right?"

"I can, I can."

Ye Nai placed the Fruit Salt in her palm, holding it up for the three vice ministers to see.

Vice Minister Cheng from the Logistics Department took it and walked away with the woman.