Butterfly across time and space six, The most stingy parliament

  "Governor, is this really the parliament?" Fili stood in front of an exquisite arched gate, his tone full of confusion. A sign hung above the gate, with the words "New Mazosuburei First Public Elementary School" clearly visible.

  "Yes." Governor Nohm walked in without hesitation, and Fili had to follow him. "Originally, there was a more upscale parliament building in the city center. But the members of parliament all have their own jobs, so they can only hold meetings on weekends or at night. The meeting hall is usually empty, and people need to be hired to clean and guard it, which is really wasteful. Later, the previous speaker simply rented out the meeting hall to merchants to open a casino, using the proceeds to pay parliamentarians' allowances, and the parliament moved into this elementary school. Anyway, when meetings are held, students have all gone home, so nobody has any objections."

  Feili rolled her eyes, thinking that the new Mazo State Council was really stingy to the extreme, and even the venue had to be so frugal. As soon as they took two steps in, the two of them had to stop because a large crowd had blocked the passageway tightly.

  The entrance of the elementary school is a relatively spacious small square, surrounded by doors and windows leading to various classrooms. Now the small square is crowded with hundreds of people, all sitting on the ground with their legs crossed, holding banners with slogans such as "We want to eat!", "Strongly protest against the parliament's shameful behavior!", "Perseverance is victory!" and so on. Among the protesters, there are humans, dwarves, elves and other races, each with a face full of anger. From time to time, someone stands up and shouts a few provocative words, followed by a burst of noisy responses.

  The peasants demanding back pay? Phil looked on in amazement at the scene before him. Governor Nomm's face changed color, "Bam! Nevel! What are you doing?" He strode through the middle of the troops, bellowing at the two men at the front.

  "Your Excellency, we have no choice. The council owes us half a year's subsidy and now they won't even give us travel expenses. The brothers are all fired up, so they elected us representatives to protest." explained Bam, a dwarf wearing an old work uniform that looked like he had just crawled out of the mine.

  "Yes, those old masters in the council can't even provide equipment and still have the nerve to ask us to bring our own. Is there any logic in the world that requires people to pay with both money and lives? Sir, we can't even afford food anymore, please help us out." A middle-aged uncle named Nivelle cried bitterly, with a mix of snot and tears.

  Governor Nohm stared blankly at the ceiling for a good half day before coming to, "Where are those bastards now?"

  Neville pointed at a small door directly opposite, "They're all having a meeting on the second floor."

  The governor strode in with big steps, and Fili hurried to follow him. Finding an opportunity, he asked, "Governor, who are these people outside?"

  The governor stopped in his tracks and said indignantly, "These are all people from the civilian corps! That old fox Zarra has tricked me again!"

  Feili was shocked.

  Standing outside the door of the meeting room, Fili could already hear the loud voices inside. As soon as he opened the door, a cup flew out from inside and hit Governor Nomm's face with great accuracy. The poor governor shook for a moment before falling backwards, and a loud rumbling sound echoed down the stairs.

  Observe three seconds of silence for the late Governor Nohm.

  Fili cast a protective spell on himself and cautiously poked his head out, the scene before him involuntarily reminding him of certain "democratic countries" in East Asia from his previous life.

  This is a very spacious room, estimated to be originally a classroom. In the center of the room is a large conference table made up of many small tables, covered with thick tablecloths, and on the huge blackboard is written "New Mazovia State People's Assembly Fundraising Meeting".

  More than thirty guys who looked like congressmen were having a huge fight in the room, it was hard to tell how many factions there were, each person shouting insults and hitting others with fists or sticks. A short congressman swung a chair like an axe, about to hit a fat merchant, but was tripped by a sneaky thief and hit on the head with a vase, unable to get up again. A dazed wizard cast a fireball spell, fortunately it missed its target and flew out of the window, then was trampled by the furious crowd. A beautiful El'goroth priestess lay at the door, her head swollen with a big lump, her originally cool clothes now completely tattered, her body covered in bruises, easily giving people evil ideas. Several little girls were hiding under the table, shivering with fear, their faces still wet with tears, apparently they were students who had been bullied.

  The only one in the room who was not affected by the commotion was a female dwarf cleric who was dozing off on the podium, and even the flying teacups were blocked by an invisible barrier. It seemed she was a spellcaster. Fili estimated the distance, gritted her teeth, and used an acceleration spell on herself, taking a step back before jumping onto the table, then leaping over the heads of the council members to finally reach the edge of the podium.

  The girl, Zorvath, slowly lifted her head, gazing at Phil with a dazed expression from head to toe several times, then uttered an ambiguous voice: "Phil? Taylor?"

  "Indeed, Honorable Member."

  "That's fine." The female legislator reached into her bag and pulled out a card, handing it to Phil.

  "Elise's Temple Beauty Transformation Coupon?"

  "Oh, no." The female councilor snatched the coupon back and rummaged through her bag again, pulling out a golden card. "Honorary Citizen Certificate, that's right, this is it." She smoothed her silver hair and put on a professional smile. "Miss Taylor, in recognition of your outstanding contributions to New Morslebury State, the state council has decided to confer upon you the title of Honorary Citizen of New Morslebury City. Here is the certificate, please keep it well."

  ".... Didn't Governor Nohm make it clear? I'm a man!"

  The female legislator widened her eyes, then with extremely agile movements pulled Fei Li over, and before Fei Li could react, started patting him up and down, exclaiming in surprise, "Really? There's nothing on top! Wow, it's really a man!"

  The fierce fight in the room had stopped unnoticed, and all the members who were still awake cast their astonished and admiring eyes on the two people entwined on the rostrum.

  "Hooked up so quickly?"

  "That girl in pink is Phyllis Taylor? She still looks like a little girl."

  "Alas, the old chairman's illness has relapsed again, and another unfortunate girl is going to be ravished."

  "It seems like it's time."

  "Don't insult our Zuo Er!"

  The door was suddenly kicked open with a "bang", and Governor Nohm, his face bruised and swollen, appeared at the entrance. "Shut up! What are you bastards doing?"

  As soon as Governor Nohm let out a thunderous roar, the room fell silent immediately. Several little girls crawled out from under the table and quickly cleaned up with nimble hands and feet. The pastor who had been ready beforehand also came in to treat the injured. The fundraising meeting was able to continue shortly afterwards.

  But this is of no help in solving the actual problem, all members have obviously received the true transmission from Prince Churi's lie, describing their constituencies as if an economic crisis is about to occur, in short, they resolutely oppose all tax increase demands, so there is no equipment, no mobilization fee, and the arrears of subsidies are still not available.

  "Soon, you've also seen it." Female Chancellor Zor's hands spread out, smiling like a fox. "The parliament really can't come up with the money, so we have to resolve this from your Governor's financial resources. Haven't you already collected three months of war taxes? You should still be able to afford this expense, right?"

  All the members of Congress responded in unison.

  "Zena!" Governor Nohm protested loudly, "The militia is within the purview of Parliament, why should I pay for people who don't fall under my jurisdiction? Or are these old debts from past years?"

  "The Assembly has only the duty to safeguard the interests of citizens of this state before receiving superior orders, and you want to take the militia northward. The extra expenses incurred should naturally be borne by you," said Speaker Zhuo with a straight face. "The Assembly is now strengthening border and coastal defenses, stockpiling war materials, and really doesn't have extra money to support an expedition that was launched without superior instructions. It's already difficult enough to explain to voters why their children are being sent to fight in New Enoch."

  "That can't make me a scapegoat. I also have to pay salaries for the security team and hundreds of subordinate officials, and the finances will be even more tense than yours. Besides, this expedition was launched to prevent the war from burning to New Masobray State."

  "It's you who should mobilize the militia, not me!" The female speaker slammed her fist on the table. "In any case, this battle is fully under the responsibility of the Governor's Office, and the militia has already been handed over to you. Whether or not they can be led away is your business, go settle it yourself."

  "This is outrageous blackmail!"

  ……

  Just as another violent clash was about to erupt, Feili thought for a moment and intervened to mediate, "Two adults, now that the military situation is urgent, how about we first pool some funds to let the militia depart, and put aside the specific responsibilities for now?"

  "Yes, Sohn, you can go first." The female speaker said with a smile.

  Governor Nohm was about to continue his outburst when Fili quickly pulled him back and whispered in his ear, "Your Excellency, at this point it's you who are being hasty, not the parliament. Once you get authorization from Central or the Continental Congress, you can find an excuse to take the money back. Just be patient for now."

  Governor Nuo furrowed his brow and whispered, "But I really can't come up with that much money right now. The military expenses for this battle all depend on me to raise."

  "Why don't we go find a bank loan first?" Phil suggested.

  "But what can be used as collateral? This is no small sum, unless...". Governor Nohm turned his gaze to Fili, "Fili, I'm afraid you'll have to make a sacrifice this time."

  Fili shuddered, but Governor Nohm had already turned to the senators and said: "Gentlemen, since neither of us can provide this sum, I propose that we first apply for a loan for the militia's departure. The collateral will be provided by the Governor's Mansion, which was just obtained yesterday as spoils of war - the elven three-masted ship 'Horn'! Who among you is interested?"

  Damn it, the money was found on his own head, that ship was the spoils of war for him and fourteen guards, how could it be mortgaged? Phil cursed in his heart, and worried about how to explain to the team members who were waiting to divide the money.

  Several banker senators who saw the collateral moved faster than a dog seeing bones. Before Phil could finish his complaints, a loan agreement of 15,000 gold coins was reached. Seeing the governor take the lead, the female speaker also pretended to be generous and agreed to let the militia purchase weapons on credit in her name at the arsenal, but with an interest rate of 10% per month.

  After being beaten up, Feili finally became a nominal commander of the militia.