Chapter 220: Fireworks
“So, are these all the assets owned by your families?”
After carefully reviewing the asset lists submitted by each family, Willy took off his gold-framed glasses and rubbed his aching brow.
To be honest, even though he was prepared, seeing the expressions on the faces of the spokespersons from each family—as if they wanted to devour him alive, tear him to pieces—still made Willy’s head throb.
But there was no choice; for his adorable daughter, he had to endure even the greatest pressure.
……
“Hah! How would we dare hide anything from you!”
“Will·y·Pre·si·dent!”
Smack!
The spokesperson from the Sendog family, with a face full of deficient vitality, directly propped his foot up on the conference table, spitting out these two sentences word by word through gritted teeth.
“Yeah~”
“President Lord Willy has eyes and ears everywhere; who would dare play tricks in front of you, son?”
“If you just make a little report, our lives would be hanging by a thread~”
Kuge pinched her tone but didn’t even glance at Willy above, only admiring her own nails.
As the saying goes, cutting off someone’s wealth is like killing their parents, let alone directly packaging and selling off others’ century-long accumulations?
Now, these family spokespersons were still willing to sit obediently at the table and listen to Willy speak, rather than directly twisting off his head to use as a ball—purely because there was a precedent.
Just yesterday, a certain family that refused to cooperate was wiped out by the Beasts Pirates with lightning speed, like killing a chicken to warn the monkeys.
That family’s family head had tried to flee to the Four Seas like Old Media, but he didn’t even board the ship before being decapitated and put on public display by a certain monster cloaked in black flames.
After photographs of those hundreds of heads piled into a pyramid, burning fiercely in that family’s ancestral home, were delivered overnight into these people’s hands… even without sleeping a wink, the morning meeting miraculously had no one late.
“Eh~”
The oldest spokesperson said nothing, just kept sighing.
“…”
“Eh~”
Willy also sighed; the pressure from the Beasts Pirates above and from the families below these past few days had worn him out mentally and physically, making his already aged face even more weathered.
Now, if he went out with his daughter, they would probably be mistaken for grandfather and granddaughter…
“Since there’s nothing else, we’ll take our leave first, President Lord.”
Tremblingly propping himself up with his cane, the elderly spokesperson left without waiting for Willy’s agreement.
Seeing this, the others also pushed back their chairs without a word, preparing to return to their respective homes.
They didn’t want to stay here a moment longer.
“Wait~”
Just as the sounds of chairs being dragged forcefully stopped and everyone had gathered at the meeting room door, a voice suddenly came from behind them.
“All sit back down.”
The young voice carried a hint of teasing and arrogance, as if deliberately toying with them.
“Hm?”
“Caspar, you brat…”
“Brat?”
Hearing the other call him that, Caspar raised an eyebrow~
“You said ‘brat’?”
Standing up and walking to the side of the family spokesperson who had just spoken, Caspar familiarly placed one hand on the other’s shoulder and casually stroked the other’s chin with the other hand.
“Just a mere family spokesperson— is it really okay to speak to me in that tone?”
“Ah~ Should I go tell the Beasts Pirates’ lords that another family is unwilling to cooperate with everyone’s actions~”
“You!”
Hearing the Beasts Pirates’ name, that spokesperson’s hand, which had been about to swat away Caspar’s, froze mid-air.
“You, you mustn’t slander me! I already turned over all the family’s assets as you required…”
“Oh~ Is that so?”
“But why didn’t I see your family’s three underground factories on Handy Island in the list you provided?”
“It seems the two mines on the Dibianxia Kingdom side aren’t in there either~”
“Orcasine~ Did you forget?”
As he spoke, Caspar even lightly patted the head of this spokesperson, who was of his uncle’s generation.
“This, this…”
Sweat uncontrollably seeped from the forehead of this middle-aged spokesperson with slightly graying temples.
“Um, Caspar, I…”
“Hm↑ ‘Caspar’?”
His voice suddenly rose another level as Caspar slapped the other’s cheek while correcting word by word:
“It should be ‘Vice·Pre·si·dent·Lord,’ right?”
『Biting the hand that feeds!』
Everyone present, including Willy, couldn’t help but think of this phrase.
“Don’t go too far, Caspar.”
“No matter what, we’re all your elders…”
The eldest elder who had left first spoke up.
“Ah, yes, yes~ You’re right to teach me~”
Hearing this, Caspar obediently let go, walked back to his seat with ballroom dance-like steps, picked up that list, and flipped to a certain page.
“But this ‘elder,’ I remember your family should have seven factories under its name, right? Why does it only say four here?”
“Did you get old? So you forgot?”
“That’s no good~ After all, forgetting this could cost you your head~”
Caspar smiled at the elder before him.
“I think you should just go home and retire peacefully~ You don’t have many years left anyway, so don’t stir up trouble anymore.”
“You! You…! Cough, cough cough!”
“Family Head Mu, are you alright!”
Seeing the little old man suddenly struggling to catch his breath, Willy hurriedly stepped forward to support him and help him breathe.
“Caspar, say a few less words! We’re all on the same ship; don’t go too far.”
“Oh my~ Uncle Willy. No, President Lord.”
“Are you protecting them?”
As he spoke, Caspar waved the industry list in his hand, his tone gradually turning dangerous.
“Knowing full well these people are underreporting their family industries, yet still choosing to protect them…”
“You… seem somewhat disloyal.”
“…”
“I…”
Seeing Willy rendered speechless by his own words, Caspar grew even more smug.
“I just don’t understand— inventorying assets, rebuilding factories, unified supply and sales… these things that benefit the Beasts Pirates above and you below, why can’t they be implemented?”
“One by one, falsifying, concealing, misreporting! Do you really think you can fool me!”
Whoosh!
Caspar forcefully flung the stack of lists in his hand, scattering them like celestial maidens scattering flowers before everyone’s eyes.
“I’ll say it one last time—”
“Tomorrow at this time, right here, hand over the new asset lists.”
“This time, not even a toilet plunger can be omitted, got it!”
“Hmph!”
After saying all this, Caspar strode away arrogantly, leaving behind the crowd with varied expressions.
……
“Eh~”
A long while later, Willy sighed, then bent down to pick up the scattered lists on the floor.
His back view was just like that of a little wife enduring pent-up frustration.
“Eh~ You have it tough too.”
The elder who had caught his breath said.
Hearing this, Willy paused in gathering the materials, then gave a bitter smile:
“Let’s call it a day. I think everyone is tired too; go back and rest.”
“Mm.”
“You too, Willy; we’ll still have to rely on you in the future.”
“Yeah, after all, we’re all on the same ship now; we still need to help each other in the future.”
“Don’t wear yourself out.”
……
Watching the family spokespersons leave, Willy also put away his aggrieved good-guy expression and smiled helplessly.
He roughly understood why the higher-ups had sent Caspar to be his first mate.
People’s personalities always prefer the middle ground.
For example, if you say the room is too dark and needs a window here, everyone would refuse.
But if you insist on tearing off the roof, they would compromise and agree to open the window.
With Caspar this wrecking-ball guy standing by with a sledgehammer, his own job of breaking the window with a small hammer became much easier.
“But this position isn’t so easy to stand in…”
Willy knew full well that this time, the joint reform of the major arms families would touch too many interests; every step forward would face countless resistances, offend countless people, and accumulate countless conflicts… all future hidden dangers.
Therefore, someone was needed to sever those interest tentacles, offend those who needed offending, and bear the resentment and malice accumulated in each family during the reform process.
Once all the steps were complete and the Beasts Pirates’ military-industrial complex was established, it would be time for that scapegoat who bore everything to become fireworks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
All the resentment, dissatisfaction, and conflict from the reform would be released in the moment the fireworks burst into sky-full fragments.
Willy had thought that person would be himself, and he had steeled himself for it.
But he hadn’t expected the Beasts Pirates to find an even more suitable guy—a mad dog with no way out.
Even with his vast experience in reading people, Willy couldn’t help but marvel at how accurately the Beasts Pirates judged talent, precisely picking someone like Caspar, a dragon and phoenix among men.
This guy’s talent for pulling aggro really opened his eyes; even though he knew during the meeting that the other’s actions benefited him, he still felt his teeth itch with anger at this brat.
People are emotional creatures; even if some spokespersons now see this as playing good cop bad cop, over time they would subconsciously accept such archetypes.
『Phew~ Truly terrifying… Beasts Pirates.』
『I wonder if that fool boy has noticed this.』
