CHAPTER 590: CHAPTER 526: TRADITIONAL FISHING

"Whether it’s a small country or not depends on how you calculate it."

Leon began explaining:

"Those over 400,000 square kilometers of land are not directly occupied by the Crolock Kingdom, most of it is rented from other kingdoms and city-states, so it won’t appear on any map, even the Crolock Kingdom doesn’t acknowledge it.

Officially, the territory recognized by the Crolock Kingdom consists of only these 800 or so districts, and only the residents of these districts are considered citizens of the Crolock Kingdom, so you wouldn’t be wrong to call it a small country."

"Not small, not small at all."

Upon hearing this, Algie quickly shook his head and said:

"No matter how you calculate it, a country that effectively controls over 400,000 square kilometers cannot be considered small... But if the real controlled area is so large, why doesn’t the Crolock Kingdom simply acknowledge these places?"

Because that’s the most profitable way.

Upon hearing Algie’s curious question, Leon couldn’t help but squint slightly, recalling the misfortunes of the bandit siblings.

The Cheshire they came from is one of the Crolock Kingdom’s mining areas, where everything is controlled by the Crolock Kingdom, with almost no external trade, and even food and some necessities have to be exchanged for mined hover crystal stones.

Under these conditions, the more than ten thousand people in Cheshire spend their entire lives revolving around the mines, providing a constant supply of hover crystal stones for the Crolock Kingdom, and there are more than a hundred such "mining areas."

Even if not all mining areas require so much labor, nor do they all suffer as miserably as Cheshire, the number of ordinary people directly or indirectly "enslaved" by the Crolock Kingdom is still probably in the millions.

As long as they don’t acknowledge actual control over these mining areas, the Crolock Kingdom can wash its hands of them, using these millions as consumables to exploit the resources they need, with almost no cost.

"Is that possible?"

Upon hearing Leon’s analysis and the tragic tales of the bandit siblings, Algie’s face flushed slightly with anger, his eyes full of indignation as he spoke:

"Can’t anyone do anything about this? Just let the Crolock Kingdom do as they please?"

"Who would do it? The Clean-up Bureau?"

After glancing at this simple-minded strongman, Leon said:

"The ancestors of the Crolock royal family are the residents of the Watcher’s Palace. The Clean-up Bureau’s task is to protect the Crolock royal family and combat the abnormal beings attempting to invade the human world. Managing the Crolock Kingdom’s affairs is not the Clean-up Bureau’s responsibility.

As for other kingdoms, don’t even think about it. The Crolock Kingdom’s technology is at least a hundred years ahead of the others, so even though it has a small population, its military strength is not weak at all.

Moreover, the Crolock Kingdom has paid for these mining areas and even transferred a lot of technology to get the ’exploitation rights’ from other kingdoms. Who would stand up to manage them? The other kingdoms that sold them the mines?"

"..."

"Forget it, we can’t do anything about this sort of situation."

After learning about the "business model" of the Crolock Kingdom through stolen information, Leon had already made up his mind to take action against this B Kingdom when given the chance. However, he remained composed and said:

"We’re just two ordinary Cleaners. Our main task right now is to investigate the situation in Research Area 1, find Atifei-01, who is controlled by Prince Andre, and confirm if the royal family is truly dead, and if they are, figure out a way..."

"What did you say?!!!"

At this point, the scruffy man, who had been eavesdropping since Leon and his companion began chatting, suddenly couldn’t hold it in any longer. He jumped out of his seat, shouting in shock:

"The royal family is dead?!!!"

"Algie, sir!"

Seeing the scruffy man standing opposite, Leon couldn’t help but emphasize his tone, slightly frowning with dissatisfaction as he spoke:

"Didn’t you just promise me that if he had any extreme reactions, you would definitely anticipate and stop him?"

"I’m sorry, I was careless..."

Upon hearing Leon’s words, Algie looked down with a guilty face and said:

"I was a little engrossed in listening earlier, and my reaction speed has decreased a bit compared to yesterday, so I didn’t respond in time... Sorry, I’ll definitely be more careful from now on!"

"Alright, there’s no helping it..."

Upon hearing Algie’s response, Leon shook his head helplessly and then instructed:

"Let’s let it go this time, but you need to be careful from now on. For now, I can use the Secret Tail to cover it up, but if we suddenly have a slip-up like this once we’re inside Research Area 1, we’ll be in danger."

"I... I’m sorry, I will never make such a mistake again!"

"Alright then, control Mr. Bell first, and we..."

"Wait! Wait a minute!"

Seeing these two "fugitive criminals" preparing to control him again, the scruffy man’s expression became anxious, and he proactively lowered his voice to say:

"What did you just say? The entire royal family is dead?"

Hooked.

After glancing at the scruffy man’s wildly fluctuating soul, Leon slightly raised his eyebrow and then, frowning, spoke to Algie:

"Sorry, I was a bit careless too. We shouldn’t have discussed such key information in front of him. You should control him first..."

"No! Don’t control me!"

Upon hearing Leon’s intention to have the strongman control him, the scruffy man quickly said:

"I can help you! Don’t silence me!"

"This..."

After a slight hesitation, Leon shook his head and refused:

"Sorry, this matter is too important. We can’t trust you. If you verbally offer help but actually try to alert others, then..."

"I won’t!"

The scruffy man said anxiously:

"I was a classmate of Lord Fein! I was granted the status of a Level 4 Scholar personally by Lord Fein! I... Is there really something wrong with the royal family? If you can prove that you weren’t lying earlier, I... I can help you get in!"

Got him!

Upon hearing the words of the scruffy man, Leon couldn’t help but smile slightly.

He had long since learned from the stolen information that the scruffy man was a staunch supporter of the monarchy. Given his relationship with the old King, once he heard the news that the royal family might have been entirely eradicated, he would be unable to restrain himself, eager to find out the truth, which falls right into their hands, perfectly aligning with his plan.

After all, Research Area 1 is so important, and Prince Andre, the suspected mastermind, would be an idiot not to guard it tightly.

His Secret Tail isn’t all-powerful; even if they find a scholar from Research Area 1 and use an abnormal object to replace his identity, without his knowledge and memories, unfamiliar with his relationships and the rules of Research Area 1, they would be exposed in no time.

So the only way to successfully infiltrate is to convince this scruffy man to willingly guide them both.

And instead of laboriously persuading him and reasoning with him to seek his help, it’s naturally more reliable to lay the bait first, wait for him to take the initiative to speak, and finally plead to be of help.