Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 959: Fair and Unbiased Games

Chapter 959: Chapter 959: Fair and Unbiased Games

[Why are they receiving this much privilege? What about us?]

[We also suffered a lot from this lockdown and the pests and disease...]

[I don’t hear any activities for us nobles. Does His and Her Majesty not care about us? Not only the the Sibruh family maintained this territory. We and our ancestors helped too...]

The nobles were getting frustrated that they were not hearing about anything dedicated to them.

’Alright. Alright. Wait for your turn,’ Arabella wanted to say.

She noted to announce before this event ended that nobles and merchants are invited to a meeting separately.

After all, even the merchants were getting frustrated.

"For those who want to have fun and earn some extra money while at it, we have also prepared something for you," Nadia said, and the people waited silently, their eyes widening at the word ’money.’

"We plan to hold game tournaments that include cash prizes and other rewards for the best players. Please welcome my colleague for the specifics, Nadia said and glanced at Felix.

Felix stepped forward and held his voice-amplifying magic tool.

"Everyone may also join the game tournaments.

However, there will be age restrictions.

You may only join games allowed in your age bracket.

This is to ensure that the game will be fair for the players and prevent unfair advantage.

There will be cash prizes and non-cash prizes for the best players and others who achieve set targets.

The range of the prizes will vary according to the difficulty of the games.

For the specific games, we already have some in mind, but we are still communicating with merchants here in Sibruh for some more, as they will be the gamemasters.

To merchants who were stuck due to the lockdown or could not sell their products, and merchants who suffered major losses due to pests and plant disease, please approach me or my colleague Nadia if you want to be among the game masters," Felix explained.

"But why the merchants? Some of them are shrewd. Wouldn’t the games be rigged so no one wins?" Someone with ample experience in games asked.

"The games are forbidden to be rigged.

Gamemasters and their employees or family members who are part of implementing the games are forbidden from joining.

Moreover, the games and prizes are sponsored by the Imperial Palace, so all merchants who become game masters must submit reports, which Nadia and other palace employees will check strictly.

There will also be Imperial Knights assigned to watch in each game to prevent cheating and all sorts of underhanded tactics from both players and gamemasters," Felix clarified.

"I see... We may have chances of winning then..."

The people were relieved that there would be strict rules implemented to prevent cheating on both sides.

"Does this mean not all merchants can participate as gamemasters?" A merchant asked.

"It depends. If it’s proven that you are among the merchants who had major losses due to the current circumstances, you may be among the gamemasters.

However, if you are among the merchants who earned a lot due to the circumstances and still do, then you may not take part unless all heavily affected merchants have already been taken in as gamemasters.

We planned this event such that stuck merchants and merchants with heavy losses may be able to recover at least some of their losses while providing relaxation, fun, and some earnings and rewards for the locals.

Thus, we will prioritize according to guidelines we have determined beforehand," Felix explained.

"I see... Thank you for explaining," the merchant sighed in relief.

Listening to his thoughts, Arabella learned that he was one of the merchants who lost a lot of money due to the circumstances.

The merchant was worried that the bigger and more popular merchants would be prioritized while smaller merchants like them would have no chance.

Thus, he was glad that they would be prioritized based on the criteria Felix explained.

It meant that those who truly needed it would be the ones to be taken as game masters first.

To prevent bigger merchants from getting offended, they are also welcome to join, but only after all the most affected ones have been taken in.

Of course, even big merchants who suffered major losses would also be prioritized as long as they had proof.

Their reports will be verified with the merchant guild, the Marquess’ records, other merchants, and the locals as well.

This way, they could ensure that no merchants were fabricating reports to grab the opportunity to make money.

After listening to the merchants’ thoughts, Arabella realized that most of those who came here to listen were small-time merchants, some were medium-sized, and a few were from bigger businesses.

All of them were affected by the lockdowns and the pest infestation and plant disease, which was why they came to listen to this hearing.

"Thank you for listening. So far, these are all the activities we had lined up..."

Nadia summarized all the activities they had planned out, and the people were glad that there were varied activities they could take part in.

After the activities mainly aimed at destressing, relaxing, distracting, and diversifying the attention and focus of the locals, it was finally time to discuss the employment opportunities.

"We will now present various employment opportunities to be implemented here. Please listen to my colleagues as they explain each project," Nadia began.

Nadia stepped back, and Norbert stepped forward.

"Hello, everyone. Once again, I am Norbert Fidelis, one of Her Majesty’s assistants," Norbert followed how Nadia introduced herself.

"One of the employment opportunities we deemed possible to be implemented here in Sibruh is maximizing the mining industry.

After doing our research, we noticed that Sibruh had a lot of mines, but only a fourth of them are active and not even operating at maximum capacity.

Some had even closed over the years. I heard from the Marquess that this is due to a lack of equipment, a lack of experts on this matter, and accidents happening in the mines," Norbert began.

From their talks with the Marques, more than ten mines had closed due to accidents.

Mostly because there were parts of the tunnels that caved in.

However, such matters can be solved with proper preparation, proper mining management, and strict protocols to be followed.

"In my homeland, our mines operate in all seasons. Even in winter," Norbert said, and the people had violent reactions.

"How is that possible? Mining in winter is dangerous! We can be trapped inside!"