“We must do everything we can to capture the Ghost Party criminals, train them effectively and efficiently into negative-cost labor, and then promote this mechanism to increase the city-state's production capacity. We can also issue bounties based on the value of the prisoners. Adventurers and mercenaries with strength in our province and other provinces will see what we're doing and become bounty hunters, even competing to administer justice."

Lance gently raised his finger, pointing to the distant snowy region, and instructed the lords,

“People's desires are like a boulder rolling down a mountain. Once it starts, it can never be stopped. Real benefits are better than anything else. From the beginning, I felt that the game of interests between you was unnecessary.”

They could have made it a win-win situation, but they were too stubborn to see it and insisted on competing with each other.

Lance couldn't understand why these people were like this.

“……”

The others lowered their heads, not daring to say a word, afraid that the goddess was watching them.

He felt that their previous competition was more human compared to the governor's words.

This guy would be a war criminal in wartime, no question.

But they dared not say it.

And after passing the test of conscience...

It did seem worth a try.

The lords and local people had suffered from the Ghost Party for a long time.

What's more... if it could be put into operation, regardless of whether it was humane or not, the benefits might actually be positive!

“What about the specific legal and operational risks?”

The lords asked with concern.

They had no control over too many or too powerful prisoners, and the cost of housing them in prisons was extremely high.

This was the most troublesome core problem.

“There are no legal risks, as long as we draft the official documents reasonably. Even if the Lower House wants to pass an amendment to reject the feasibility of this 'prisoner rental labor,' the Upper House has the power to delay the passage, and given this time difference, I have a way to make this plan more widely available.”

After Lance finished speaking, the other lords nodded in a daze.

Regardless of the Lower House's attitude, the nobles in the Upper House, even those in the south, would likely approve of this "prisoner rental labor."

They might even be eager to promote it in the south once they saw the north perfecting it!

“As for the operational risks, it's simple. I've already made plans. We can sell… no, transfer the high-level criminals to the capital. Our school actually has a cooperative relationship with the Helrom Underground Prison in the capital. Next month, I've invited Warden Bakas to come to our school for a meeting. If it's implemented successfully, perhaps the prisons in the capital can also achieve production reform.”

Lance's original intention was that because he couldn't really kill the students, in order to adapt to the culture of the Protos Empire, Lance decided to change the immediate execution of stubborn students into sending them to prison for reform and education.

Although Warden Bakas, the strongest combat force in the prison, leaving the prison on the outskirts of the capital to come to the school in the downtown area would theoretically increase the risk of the prison being raided that day.

But no one in their right mind would do something like break into a prison.

Lance would never allow any imperial citizens to do such illegal things.

“……”

After hearing this, the lords looked at each other in surprise, their eyes already filled with fervor.

If they could send the powerful prisoners directly to the capital and quickly convert them into cash, it would undoubtedly add a major source of income while solving their worries!

The Ghost Party now seemed more valuable than magic ore!

As if something in their hearts had been completely pried open, they no longer had any psychological burden at this moment and just wanted to quickly complete this great undertaking that could be called a great achievement!

“Lord Rocky McCarthy, you will surely become the greatest politician in the Protos Empire in the last hundred years, and your achievements as Governor in the Snowfield Province will soon add another stroke to your reputation in Helrom, the capital.”

The nobles said excitedly, bowing with incomparable respect.

Although history may not be able to judge Rocky McCarthy well in the long run, and the Ghost Party members who have experienced this disaster will definitely hate him to the bone.

But at the moment, he is undoubtedly the leader who is saving the people of the Snowfield Province from fire and water!

Lance shook his head slightly.

He seemed to think that the lords had misunderstood him.

“I've never been a politician. If I had to say, I should be more like a manager or a businessman. I don't want war, and I don't want to see people being deceived again. It's enough to just improve the economy and let people live a happy life."

Lance said simply,

“However, Chloris did say that the Helrom Broadcasting Corporation has an interview program next month that they would like to invite me to participate in. Now that I have become the governor, the host's title for me during the interview will have to be temporarily changed.”

He sighed with a smile.

The Helrom Broadcasting Corporation was founded in 1723 and is headquartered in downtown Helrom, the capital. It is the largest news media in the Protos Empire.

Although it is a public media funded by the Protos Empire, its management is the responsibility of a supervisory committee independent of the post office and the upper and lower houses, and its independence and autonomy are guaranteed by the Protos Royal Charter.

And in the bustling streets of Helrom, the capital, programs played on giant screens are often from the Helrom Broadcasting Corporation.

“Meow meow meow?!”

The cat boss raised his neck in Lance's hands and meowed a few times.

Being able to receive a proposal for a special interview program from the Helrom Broadcasting Corporation is already an achievement. If its topicality is not unanimously recognized by the editor-in-chief, producer, and committee, it will often not receive such treatment.

It can't imagine the scene of Hyperion in the brightly lit Helrom, the capital, looking up and seeing Lance in a suit, calmly accepting an interview with the host on the giant screen!

More than a month ago, it seemed to remember Hyberion's entrustment to keep an eye on this guy's ambition...

Now it seems that the situation is indeed completely out of its control...

I'm guilty, meow!

“Miss Chloris Bellenhard?”

The other lords said in surprise.

“Yes, the most outstanding student at our school.”

Lance nodded calmly.

The lords all sighed secretly when they heard this, as expected of the governor, he even had contact with the Bellenhard family.

Whether it was Duke Morodian Bellenhard, the holder of the [Primal Slate - Undead], or Miss Chloris Bellenhard, they were all big figures in the imperial power center that these nobles could not reach.

Following the governor, the future is bright.

“……”

Lance watched the subtle reactions of the lords, not expecting that this simple sentence would make them even more respectful to him.

Obviously, in the Hutton Kingdom in the Southern Continent, his classmates saw him and the duchess together every day, but they did not increase their respect for him at all, giving Lance the illusion that "Hyperion had been deprived of his nobility."

After thinking about it carefully, he felt that the Northern Continent was more normal.

When people learn that they know a duchess, this is the right reaction.

People should respect the Duke's family more.

This trip to the Northern Continent brought Lance a lot of work experience and insights, and he believed that he would be able to use it in the Southern Continent after returning.

Please do not forcibly associate the two books too much. They are two independent stories, but there may be a few Easter eggs. Whether you read one or the other will not affect your reading of the other.

(End of this chapter)