“Hahaha… ‘Paid content,’ you say?”
Yae Miko was thoroughly amused by his audacity to negotiate prices when standing on the brink of death.
She laughed so hard her shoulders shook.
The suffocating pressure in the air dissipated slightly, allowing Lu Heng to breathe a little easier.
Having requirements was good; what he feared most was a client without requirements!
As the atmosphere relaxed, Miko looked at Lu Heng with a playful smile.
“What an interesting little guy. But sweet talk won’t save your life, you know.”
“Naturally, brilliant Lady Guuji. Please allow me to explain… this ‘paid content.'”
Lu Heng maintained his professional smile, but his spine subtly straightened.
He was no longer a fugitive, but a dominant negotiator at a meeting table.
Miko nodded slightly, a glint of amusement passing through her narrow fox eyes, signaling him to continue.
“Let me use relief grain as an example. The bad debts written in *Yes, Harbinger* are by no means just a few low-level officials getting their hands dirty.”
Lu Heng spoke at a steady pace, every word striking a nerve.
“Snezhnaya is deeply mired in a prolonged war, so supplies are bound to be scarce. But the ‘Harbingers’ don’t curb this—they welcome it.”
“Oh?” Miko raised her tone.
“Profiteering from a national crisis?”
“Something far higher-level. Short-selling.” Lu Heng looked Miko straight in the eye.
“As grain on the market grows scarcer, the purchasing power of Mora plummets daily. Those in power use their authority to intercept the real gold, silver, and quality grain meant for the lower classes, reselling them on the black market for exorbitant profits. Then, they use moldy broken rice or even poisonous grass roots to cover up the accounting loopholes.”
“Because they know as long as people don’t starve to death, this bad debt will never blow up.”
The smile at the corners of Miko’s mouth faded slightly.
She understood, of course—this wasn’t about Snezhnayan Harbingers at all; this was the exact playbook of the Tenryou Commission’s Kujou Clan. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
“The longer the war drags on, the faster the daily financial system collapses. To break the deadlock, one must abandon the current Mora settlement and establish a ‘wartime hard currency.'” Lu Heng presented his core point.
“Abandon Mora?” A trace of genuine surprise finally appeared on Miko’s face.
“That is a rule set down by Rex Lapis himself. Your appetite is quite large.”
“Rules are static, but living people must survive.” Lu Heng intertwined his fingers, speaking calmly.
“If front-line soldiers receive their pay in Mora, yet can’t buy a single… Lavender Melon on the market, Lady Guuji, what do you think will happen?”
“…Mutiny,” Miko uttered the word in a completely serious tone.
“Exactly. Therefore, we need to issue a ‘wartime ration voucher’ based on a resource standard, forcibly pegging it to high-demand goods like grain, salt, and minerals. One voucher can be redeemed at official points for a full supply of goods. By anchoring absolute credit to real assets, we can stabilize a collapsing foundation and make stagnant water flow again. I call it—’wartime internal circulation.'”
Yae Miko lowered her eyelids slightly, her finger gently tapping the tea table.
She had to admit that the low-level clerk sitting before her, who seemed so terrified of death, had just nonchalantly presented an idea that struck precisely at Inazuma’s most fatal weakness.
“A brilliant theory.” Miko looked up again, her narrow fox eyes watching Lu Heng with a half-smile.
“If the Tsaritsa of Snezhnaya were to hear your insight on ‘wartime internal circulation,’ she would surely reward you handsomely.”
At this point, Miko’s tone shifted, carrying a commanding pressure:
“But what does that have to do with our Inazuma? I am merely the Grand Priestess of the Grand Narukami Shrine. If Snezhnaya can’t pay its military, leading to mutinies, that’s something for their Harbingers to worry about. Isn’t using another nation’s mess to barter for your head a little too superficial, Mr. Lu?”
Lu Heng did not answer immediately.
He looked deeply at Yae Miko, then did something that surprised even her.
He dropped his formulaic fake smile, his slightly hunched back straightening completely.
His gaze turned remarkably sharp.
“Since Lady Guuji puts it that way, I’ll lay all my cards on the table. That internal circulation plan wasn’t meant for Snezhnaya—it was tailor-made for Inazuma. I know what you’re worried about: the Shogunate’s treasury is empty, and it can’t provide real assets to back the ‘ration vouchers,’ right?”
With that, Lu Heng’s lips curled up into a fox-like smile.
“…Coincidentally, what Rito lacks least is wealthy foreign merchant guilds itching to expand. Since I proposed ration vouchers, I naturally have a way to make them willingly fill the Shogunate’s treasury with goods.”
Miko let out a soft laugh as well, the two “foxes” staring at each other.
The next moment, she clapped her hands gently and stood up, looking down at Lu Heng with genuine appreciation in her eyes.
“Since you’re so confident, things become much easier.”
“To tell you the truth, behind this novel, I have an extremely distinguished client. She’s currently having a massive headache over the ‘free trial version’ content in your book… and is very, very interested in your ‘subsequent solutions.'”
Miko turned and walked gracefully toward a spacious, luxurious carriage parked at the roadside, speaking without turning back:
“Bring your belongings and your solutions, and get in, big author. I’ll take you to meet this grand client for a face-to-face report.”
Lu Heng let out a long breath, his heart finally settling down.
His life was saved for now, but his brain didn’t dare stop for a second.
As he got up to follow her, he pondered frantically about who this “grand client” could be.
*Someone interested in these matters at a time like this, and whom even Miko calls a grand client…*
Lu Heng’s steps froze, his newly settled heart leaping into his throat again.
It felt as if he had been struck by lightning—in all of Inazuma, who else could serve as the ultimate client requiring Yae Miko to personally act as an introducer, besides the Raiden Shogun in Tenshukaku, who might draw her blade and slash someone at any moment?!
*I’m dead!*
Lu Heng walked toward the carriage with a heavy heart, feeling like he was marching to an execution before the sovereign.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself out of his tangled thoughts.
He prepared to greet this solemn carriage with the utmost professional attitude and lavishly praise the fox woman’s taste to win some favor.
However, when he raised his head and caught sight of the carriage’s full appearance, his eyes nearly popped out, and his newly built mental fortitude shattered into pieces.
This luxurious carriage actually shimmered with a dreamy, glittering pink luminescence.
On its outer walls, white jade lines were ostentatiously carved into the shape of a round, playful, pink fox that looked ready to leap off the wood!
The art style looked just like an illustration from a special volume of a Yae Publishing House light novel.
What was even more absurd was that as Electro energy faintly flowed through it, the little fox actually glowed!
Lu Heng—a fugitive clutching 900,000 Mora of illicit funds—stood frozen in place.
He was utterly, deeply shocked by this otherworldly “itasha” carriage.