The Cornflower Witch

Book 3: Chapter 89: The Girl’s Prophecy

—Morning · Pinecone Street—

Sylutia stepped into this block once again, her fingers lightly pressing down on her hood, her eyes curious as she looked around, then her ears listened to the situation here.

This was a place where construction laborers gathered to live. In the past, forty or fifty people had been crammed together in sweltering dormitories, but now things had improved considerably. New wooden planks had been used to build partitions, separating the space into smaller rooms, then fitted with bunk beds, making the environment much cleaner.

At the very least, under Four Eyes’ scoldings and teachings, no one now urinated or dumped trash in the dormitories. The air had become much fresher.

As for meals, if laborers truly had no way out, they could go to designated spots in the block to receive a minimal but safe and hygienic portion of food. However, those accepting relief had to be forcibly registered and identity-verified by gang members. If nothing was wrong, they would then receive auxiliary training to help them find a job as soon as possible to get by.

Such jobs wouldn’t be great, but at least they allowed people to survive and slowly save up a small sum of money, then readjust the direction of their lives afterward, rather than plummeting to the bottom with no hope or chance of recovery.

After inquiring a bit, Sylutia found that the matters she had instructed Four Eyes and the others about had basically been carried out, with no lip service or hidden disobedience.

Not bad at all, she thought.

Afterward, she went to other blocks, visiting one by one. Although the lives of most laborers remained the same as before, the number of those who were most impoverished, endangered, and struggling on the edge of life and death had decreased significantly.

Additionally, in the laborers’ residential areas, the number of idle children wandering around, playing, sneaking, and stealing had also dropped. Now they were all gathered together and forced to undergo education.Faced with these changes, many residents were quite delighted. In the past, when laborers went out to work during the day, there was simply no one to take care of the children. Now there was a trustworthy place where they could entrust their children for discipline, which indeed saved a lot of energy for many people and prevented these still-growing saplings from quickly growing crooked.

After finishing her visits, Sylutia came to the underground world in the block again. By this time, Fire Pig and Four Eyes already knew she had returned, since in the last few blocks, some people had recognized this genius girl who had graduated a few months ago.

In the huge underground cavern, Four Eyes, Fire Pig, and a group of middle-level members sat around a round table, looking at the girl who had retaken her seat at the head.

“Lady Hedra.” Their hearts were somewhat uneasy, unsure why this girl had suddenly returned.

To this, Sylutia first said a few calming words, then said she had only come back for a few days.

“You’ve done well. But I think there must have been some problems these past few months, so let’s discuss them now.”

For the rest of the half-day, Sylutia deliberated and discussed with everyone, making improvements to their previous methods.

“Although we’ve spent quite a bit of money, the benefits are also many.” After it was over, Four Eyes said with some emotion.

“Oh? What benefits are those?” Sylutia asked curiously.

“Probably that management has become much smoother and easier than before,” Four Eyes replied.

“For example, in the past, although the four of us headmen were very strong, we often faced many challengers. Even our subordinates were restless. We were always worried that one day someone would overthrow us and kill us.”

“But now, that kind of situation has decreased a lot. Sometimes people even come to us on their own initiative, hoping to cooperate.”

“Before, we were like that kitchen rag—picked up when needed to wipe something, but after using it, eager to throw it away as soon as possible because of disgust, afraid of staining our own reputation or something,” Fire Pig said with a sarcastic tone.

“At that time, after you graduated and left, I was actually very worried that the officials in Asra District would make an example of me and replace the person in charge.”

“Fortunately, as the situation stabilized, more and more people in the community and among the laborers began to support us. They also seemed to realize that replacing us would cause a huge upheaval, so they eventually gave up the idea.”

“Now when our people handle things in the block, it’s very relaxed. Unlike the past, if we were the slightest bit off, people would start fighting and resisting each other,” Four Eyes said with emotion.

“That, I understand.” Fire Pig gave his own opinion.

“Because we’re no longer doing that completely profit-driven squeeze model. Instead, we support and assist the elderly and the extremely poor, which makes them feel some kind of security.”

“No one can predict what accidents will happen in the future, and everyone is afraid of being old, injured, or sick. That state of isolation and helplessness is terrifying.”

“Our current approach makes them feel that if they one day reach that point, maybe they can turn to the gang for help and care, or have a safe environment to recover from injury or illness.”

“With that thought and desire, when faced with the things we bring up, as long as it’s convenient or not too much, most of them are willing to do us a favor and show their friendship with us.”

“That way, if something happens to them later, we’ll definitely take care of them and help them get through the hard times.”

“Also, because we’ve maintained the community environment well, theft and robbery have decreased a lot. Now the police are no longer hostile to us, and occasionally they even give us a convenience. With their assistance, we handle many things very flexibly, and it also makes some previously neutral people see that we have the police’s backing, so they’re willing to lean toward us.”

“Lady Hedra, you may not believe it, but this month our income hasn’t decreased because of the relief efforts. On the contrary, because our reputation and credibility have improved, we’ve made even more money.”

“For example, now many business transactions hire us as guarantors. Also, the gang’s rental and second-hand trading businesses have been going very smoothly, earning a lot of money.”

“In the past, the biggest problem with rentals and second-hand goods was worrying about poor quality or being cheated. Now with our endorsement, no one dares to play tricks, so the business has become much more stable.”

“After all, if something really goes wrong, we can go directly to their door, not like those useless guys who only haggle over so-called rules and end up recovering nothing.”

After listening, Sylutia reflected with emotion. Although this kind of underground group had many problems, when it truly shouldered some kind of responsibility and maintained morality and order, it also gained much support and endorsement.

It seemed this step of hers had been correct. Even though it was just an experiment in one region, it had verified many of her ideas.

If a national organization wanted to exist for a long time, it must inevitably bear some kind of responsibility, allowing many people to benefit from it and obtain the most basic stability and security.

Support and endorsement were mutual. Whoever could give stability and relief to those without anyone to rely on would gain their support. And those organizations and people who gained their support naturally possessed some kind of power.

Similarly, if a certain Aspect Path could bring something indispensable to the world, satisfying some need for stability and security, then that Aspect law would be practiced by more people, gaining a large number of followers, and thus more Transcendents of that Path would appear, until an Hour of that Path was born.

What the Mage Alliance should seek wasn’t so-called “strength” or “conquest,” but truly giving this world and the countless living beings what they needed. And at that point, even if it didn’t pursue it, there would be an endless stream of followers gathering from all directions to jointly forge the birth of a new Hour.

So how should the mages complete this grand mission?

At least for now, Sylutia hadn’t seen a clear view or action. And if they never clarified this point, if the future path was never clear, they would sooner or later, due to resource exhaustion and intensified internal competition, eventually walk down the path of expansion and war.

And that result wasn’t what she wanted to see.