Backlund, Cherwood Borough.
Vogt walked down the street like a walking corpse. His expression was numb, his gaze vacant, as if life had already lost all meaning. Only the occasional flash of ferocity in his eyes made people feel that he was still "alive."
Vogt had originally been the owner of a small factory in Backlund, and he also held partial shares in several upstream and downstream enterprises. Although he could not be considered wealthy in a metropolis like the capital, he still lived quite comfortably among the middle class and had even bought a small manor in the suburbs for vacations.
His wife was beautiful and gentle, his eldest son handsome and talented, and his younger son, though still young, was very sensible. A family of four, happy and harmonious.
However, after the Great Smog incident in Backlund, everything changed!
This was not because his factory had been affected by the "smog"… quite the opposite. Because the factory site was not far from a Church of Steam cathedral, the vast majority of his workers were fine. Only a few had developed pneumonia, and they later recovered with the help of the Church.
What truly sent his career into a steep decline was the "Pollution Control Act" introduced after the Great Smog incident, as well as the "Kingdom Atmospheric Pollution Investigation Committee" that had promoted this act!
Because of pollution control, his factory and many upstream and downstream enterprises were forced to suspend operations and production… that alone would have been bearable, but the new regulation mandating the use of "smokeless coal" as fuel pushed him straight into the abyss.
Leaving aside how "smokeless coal" increased production costs, further squeezing the already thin profits of someone who relied on price advantages to maintain a market share… just the requirement to replace all steam equipment to burn "smokeless coal" was something he simply could not afford!
On top of that, the breach-of-contract penalties he had to pay due to halted production, as well as bank loans approaching their settlement dates, gave him endless headaches.
For this reason, he even sold his family's manor, sold his house in the city, and moved his family into a rented apartment in the Bridge District.
But the nightmare still did not end. After barely scraping together enough money to repay his debts, the bank that had once been quite "friendly" to him refused to lend to him again!
Vogt only later figured out that it was not due to his credit, but because Prince Edessak, who had once subtly stood behind him, had also died in the Great Smog…
Yes, a year ago, Vogt's business had been much smaller. It was because his eldest son, Alex, had, for some unknown reason, caught Prince Edessak's eye and become his assistant that Vogt had obtained a large loan and gradually expanded his enterprise.
Unfortunately, his eldest son Alex had died mysteriously before the Great Smog, and His Highness the Prince had actually been assassinated during the smog…
One piece of terrible news after another, coupled with the promulgation of the "Pollution Control Act" and the bank's "ruthlessness," finally crushed him, forcing Vogt to declare bankruptcy.
Originally, after paying off all external debts, Vogt still had some savings left and could have provided his wife and younger son with a stable life.
But the unfortunate often become even more unfortunate… not long after he went bankrupt, his younger son suddenly fell ill and needed surgery to survive…
Vogt sold everything he owned except for a handgun, and even moved his family from the Bridge District to cheap housing in the East Borough, but he still could not gather enough money for the surgery.
At this moment, the pocket of his coat held the only remaining "property" he had kept. His eyes glanced toward a nearby cinema, as if he wanted to do something that went against his moral principles, yet was stopped by the last shred of conscience he had left.
In fact, he was not far short of the surgery fee anymore. He only needed another 30 pounds to hire the famous Doctor Allen to perform the operation…
If this had been in the past, such a sum would have posed no problem, but for Vogt, who now had no income and no assets, it was utterly impossible.
Any channel he could think of had no chance of raising 30 pounds within a day or two. Even loan sharks were unwilling to lend to him.
Except…
Alex is already dead… If Makas also dies of illness, what meaning is there for Lin and me to keep living?
And Lin's mental state had already been very poor ever since Alex died. She absolutely would not be able to accept losing another child…
At that point, even if I killed all the councilors who pushed that bastard of a bill, it wouldn't change anything, would it? I might as well rob a place right now!
And I've already found out that the daughter of one bastard councilor is the actual manager of this cinema. Robbing her money is only right and proper—let it count as her atoning for her father's sins!
After going through a series of mental preparations, Vogt lowered his hat, took a deep breath, and was about to walk into the cinema to rob the "ticket booth."
He had scouted the place in advance and knew that since it was currently the period when Ebner Bryan's Bryan Film Company's new movie Titanic of the Ice Sea was being screened to packed houses, there would definitely be a large amount of cash at the ticket booth.
But just as Vogt approached the entrance of the cinema, an unexpected change occurred. Several girls dressed in rather sexy and fashionable clothes walked out, each holding a stack of papers resembling "flyers."
When they saw Vogt step forward, they giggled and stuffed one flyer into his hands each.
After the waves of fragrance drifted away from him, Vogt jolted back to his senses. He turned his head to look, only to see those young ladies standing by the roadside, handing out flyers to passersby.
Two or three security guards wearing uniforms similar to police attire stood not far from them, seemingly protecting their safety to prevent harassment.
Upon seeing the "security guards," Vogt's just-now "unstoppable" momentum was interrupted, and he began to hesitate again, wavering with worries: since even the flyer distributors were equipped with security guards, would the ticket booth really be without any?
Feeling dejected, Vogt subconsciously glanced at the "flyer" in his hand and found that the top page was a "survey questionnaire":
"Which illusory movie scene would you like to see appear in reality?"
Below were several preset answers, such as "The Sunken Laurel," or "Roselle's Crystal Palace"… of course, one could also write one's own "wish."
"Boring…" Vogt shook his head. He had no leisure mood to travel right now. He casually flipped through a few more flyers behind it and found that the content was largely similar, only with different wording. For example, the second one began with:
"If you could make a wish to Viscount Ebner Bryan, to bring a scene you once dreamed of into reality, which dream would you choose?"
"Quite a few tricks… wishing?" Vogt snorted in disdain and was about to throw these flyers into a trash bin, but at this moment, the words on the last page caught his attention and made him stop his hand.
"Lord of Berdan recruits elite talents with experience in engineering management and enterprise operations, weekly salary 10 pounds… salary can be advanced?!"
Vogt stared fixedly at those few lines, not even looking at the many subsequent "requirements," such as having to leave Backlund to work in Berdan, implementing a 996 work schedule, only allowing rest on Sundays to attend church services, and so on…
Right now, his mind was completely filled with the words "salary can be advanced."
The next moment, he suddenly rushed toward one of the young ladies handing out flyers, but a nearby security guard stepped forward and blocked him, shouting, "What do you think you're doing?"
Vogt snapped back to his senses. Ignoring the young lady's startled look, he stared straight at her and asked, "Is this recruitment real?
When and where is the interview?"
The flyer girl glanced at the security guard standing in front of her, then smiled sweetly and calmed herself before answering, "It's in the manager's office on the third floor of the cinema… You can interview right now."
At this point, she added a "kind" reminder:
"However, you'd better first go to the stationery shop next door and make a résumé for yourself."
"Thank you!" Vogt said sincerely, then immediately ran toward the small shops near the cinema.
Watching him leave, the flyer girl threw a flirtatious wink at the security guard and laughed. "Thanks."
The guard's face instantly turned red. He scratched his hair and stammered, "Th-this… this is what I'm supposed to do."
With that, he hurriedly walked away to continue performing his duties.
Seeing this, the other flyer girls all burst into laughter and teased softly, "Zoe, don't use the tricks you used back at the 'White Rose' on Ron. He's never seen that kind of thing before."
The girl named Zoe stomped her foot in annoyance upon hearing this.
…
In front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the third floor of the cinema, Ebner and Hazel watched this entire scene together.
As for those women taken over from the hands of the Desire Apostle Cessia, those with high aspirations were all arranged by Ebner to go to Berdan. In the future, they would engage in "celebrity" work. Whether they could make a name for themselves would depend entirely on them… even if they returned to their old profession, Ebner would no longer interfere.
Those who wished to return to ordinary life were basically arranged to work as greeters, attendants, and similar roles in cinemas across various cities. At night, they would also be shown various instructional videos to learn different skills… it could be considered half work, half study… of course, there were also those who became self-reliant, such as the stationery shop next to the cinema, which was also opened by a former "White Rose" lady.
"That man… seems to harbor hatred toward my father…" Hazel said after a few seconds of silence.
"No policy can satisfy everyone. There will always be people whose interests are harmed… as long as there is follow-up consideration, compensation, and assistance, it's not too big of a problem," Ebner said with a smile.
"So… the large-scale recruitment you're doing in Berdan is also partly to make up for issues like this?" Hazel asked, turning her face to the side.
"You could say that… but more so it's for the development of my own territory," Ebner answered honestly.
"Thank you, Ebner… if it weren't for you, that man's family would essentially have been ruined by my father… he might have gone to extremes to seek revenge against my father…" Hazel said with a hint of gratitude.
This was not wild speculation on her part. Having just advanced to Sequence 6, Prometheus, she was already able to steal some of other people's thoughts.
(End of chapter)