Farming in a Parallel World and Becoming a God
Chapter 605 - 470 The Wealthy and Arrogant_1

Chapter 605: Chapter 470 The Wealthy and Arrogant_1

This was the clever part about him; he never outright quarreled with the other party.

After all, Parost was a local, and when a conflict arose with an outsider like him,

the locals would instinctively side with Parost, a fellow local.

Even if he won a fight against Parost, he would still end up losing his reputation, becoming a domineering dragon oppressing the local snake, and consequently face the united ostracism of the locals.

Gaven had exerted all his effort to outmaneuver Parost, but the native carpenter stubbornly clung on, sneering, "Everyone in the village knows that there’s a treasure of the Launcel Family stored in the basement of the Laughing Bandit Inn. Who knows whether you really want to rebuild the inn or if you’re just using it as a pretext to dig up the Launcel Family’s treasure? What if you end up completely infuriating the Weeping Witch and bring calamity upon our village?"

Seeing that Gaven was not engaging him on the matter of free repairs, Parost had no choice but to shift the topic to the Laughing Bandit Inn.

He pointed directly at the concern at the forefront of all villagers’ minds; the Launcel Family was the surname of the former innkeeper.

Thereupon, Gaven had no choice but to respond, solemnly promising, "I don’t know whether there’s a treasure beneath the inn. Even if I promised that, if a treasure were found, I would not take a single coin and would distribute it all among the villagers, I expect that some would still raise trust issues.

So, here’s a compromise that I offer.

I will send people to renovate the roads in Anfield Village, especially at the Malande crossroads, and replace them all with paved stone roads."

In terms of civil engineering, that was a natural advantage for him; as long as they agreed, he could freely bring in more Gnolls.

He had initially only planned on bringing twenty Gnolls, purely to avoid scaring the villagers of Anfield and causing them to become resistant.

Building an inn was one thing, but laying roads for the entire village and undertaking public works was another matter entirely.

Upon hearing Gaven’s proposal, the whole Malande crossroads fell silent; everyone’s eyes were wide with astonishment as they gazed at Gaven.

This gesture was perhaps a bit too generous?

Anfield Village might be small, but it was still a village. Especially as it was established along a trade route, the combined length of all its roads was substantial.

Even just smoothing them out was not a minor project. Replacing them with paved stone roads, particularly the trade route of Longroad, which was wide enough for four-horse carriages, and the spacious crossroads of Malande was no small feat.

Parost’s eyes bulged like an angry bull’s, and he huffed and puffed, unable to find a counterpoint for a good while.

In Anfield Village, he was known as a tough cookie, never one to shy away from conflict. Even without a reason, he would bite back aggressively; just give him a bit of an edge, and he would hang on like a rabid dog.

The villagers of Anfield generally kept their distance, not wishing to lower themselves to his level, knowing that tangling with a mad dog would never end well for them.

But today he had met his match. Gaven didn’t engage him in battle. Or rather, the move Gaven countered with was too sophisticated, so much so that Parost just couldn’t defend against it.

Gaven didn’t get involved in squabbles over whether there was a treasure or who it belonged to; instead, he threw at Anfield Village a treasure that everyone could share, one whose value far exceeded any treasure that might be found in the inn.

Even before the Laughing Bandit Inn was burned down and the Launcel Family sold it, along with all his personal wealth, Parost wouldn’t have dared to guarantee the village roads could be repaved with stone.

In short, whether or not a treasure could be found beneath the inn, it was a losing deal for him, a matter of how much loss, not if there would be a loss.

The matter of the treasure could not be used against Gaven; it had rather become a prime opportunity for Gaven to establish his reputation in Anfield Village.

However, a mad dog was termed so because they could bite recklessly, and Parost was indeed such a master. He turned around and snapped back, "Very nicely said, but who knows whether you’ll forget your promises once you take over the inn, and we won’t be able to do anything about it then."

"This is simple; I can make a written vow, for a term of five years. If, after five years, I fail to complete the road renovations for Anfield Village, no matter what state the inn is in, it will revert to collective ownership of Anfield Village. You can then publicly auction it to finance the renovations I promised today," Gaven opportunistically added a time limit to the matter.

He had committed to fixing the roads for Anfield Village but had not promised to start right away.

In five years, he could accomplish a great many things. By that time, he might even figure out how to secure the right to build the entire Longroad from the City of Brilliance.

Don’t think this was mere wishful thinking; these days, if one had enough guts, even a ghost would have to take maternity leave.

Had it been half a year ago, or even three months prior, Gaven wouldn’t have dared to consider such a thing.

Now, while there still might have been an element of wishful thinking, at least the hope was palpable.

Parost was rendered speechless again. His accusation that Gaven had ulterior motives was merely conjecture that Gaven was after the inn. But now that Gaven had staked the inn as collateral, he had displayed the utmost sincerity.