Soul echo

Chapter 840 Sickness
"His Royal Highness Princess Lily, long time no see... cough cough!"

When Lily meets her childhood friend in the hall of the Lord's Mansion, she is surprised that he is so thin.

"Lawrence, what's wrong with you?" Lily asked in harmony when she heard the cough.

"It's okay..." After saying that, Lawrence coughed twice and wrapped the overcoat tightly around his body. "It's just that I caught a cold, and I'll be fine after two days of rest."

Lawrence's appearance is very Gaulish. He has long red hair, but now it looks a bit dry and messy, not as smooth and shiny as Lily remembered.

Perhaps due to exhaustion, Lawrence's eye sockets looked deeper than usual, his cheeks sunken, and his throat and lungs sounded like something was tearing when he breathed.

"It's you... Her Royal Highness, why did you come to me?"

Although Lawrence didn't ask, Lily could read the meaning of "why is he dressed as an adventurer" from his eyes.

"You should also know what happened more than half a year ago." Lily raised her hand and scratched her hair, "I escaped from Paris and became the traveling companion of the Eastern native who was famous in the West. On a whim, I became a mercenary."

"Mercenary?" Lawrence coughed twice, his eyes widened in disbelief.

It was hard for him to imagine that Lily would be a precarious mercenary instead of being a princess!

"Yes, mercenary!"

Lily folded her arms, looked up at the ceiling, and couldn't help sighing: "I used to have my own mercenary regiment, but it's disbanded now, because I'm going back to Paris, and not every mercenary is willing to follow me." I come back."

Hearing this, Lawrence suddenly realized, and said, "You want to go back to Paris cough cough...so come and see me?"

"How should I say it?" Lily was suddenly a little embarrassed.

She pursed her lips, pondered for a moment, and then said: "Actually, I want to ask you for help! When I left Auxerre before, I left with a group of poor people. I need a lot of supplies, but don't worry, I will Money can buy..."

"poor!"

Lawrence's expression changed, he slapped the table and got up, "I think you'd better abandon those poor people now!"

"Huh? Why?" Lily wondered.

I saw Lawrence with a solemn expression, and slowly uttered a word that shocked Lily——

"Black Death!"

After saying this word, Lawrence couldn't help coughing twice, sat down and panted, and said weakly: "The Black Death has already appeared in the suburbs of Paris. Although the churches are doing their best to cure and eradicate it, they have not been able to find the Black Death. Where is the source of the disease, there will be an outbreak of the Black Death from time to time.

"Many factories and shops have closed down, and the rest have either laid off employees or lowered wages. Only a few factories and shops can still operate normally. Now Paris can basically rely on those few factories. Otherwise, riots would have come long ago.

"Now that the Black Death has spread, who knows if those poor people are carrying the virus?"

"When did this situation start to appear?" Lily didn't panic, because she didn't hear any relevant news from the players before they went to support the Elven Kingdom on a large scale.

It is impossible for the players not to discuss such a big event as the "Black Death Outbreak in Paris".

And it has only been about twenty days since the players started to go to the Elven Kingdom to support them. From Lawrence's words, she can also know that many churches have done a perfect job in dealing with the Black Death, and there should not be many Black Deaths. Death spread.

Lawrence hesitated a little, "About... more than ten days ago? Although my place is not very far from Paris, it will take some time for the news to spread from there."

Hearing this, Lily breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Since that's the case, even if you don't have any problems here, how could something happen to the poor people I brought over from Auxerre?"

Hearing Lily's words, Lawrence's eyes flickered, "Ah, this... what you said is very reasonable, but what about after arriving in Paris? Are you going to take those poor people to the palace?"

"I'll find a place to put them properly."

As she spoke, Lily suddenly had some thoughts, and asked suspiciously, "Lawrence, when did you start caring so much about the poor?"

"No, no..." Lawrence smiled mischievously.

Under Lily's gaze, the corners of his raised mouth slowly sank, and he sighed: "Well, actually, I want to let the poor people you brought become my workers, because my place is not very far from Paris." Now, many factories in Paris have closed down, and the remaining factories and shops cannot meet all the needs of Paris, so I want to seize the opportunity to seize the market... that's all."

"Huh?"

Lily narrowed her eyes, she was keenly aware of Lawrence's insincere words.

As a childhood friend, Lily knew very well what kind of person Lawrence was. He was a typical aristocrat who could treat other nobles with gentleness and courtesy. There will be a huge 180-degree change in attitude.

It is precisely because of this that Lily and Lawrence drifted away. Otherwise, based on their childhood relationship, they should have become lovers long ago.

Will such a person give workers good treatment after opening a factory?
"...No, let's forget about it!" Lily shook her head, "I own shares in several factories in Paris. After returning, they can be settled."

"Ah? Do you have shares in those factories? Can you speak there?" Lawrence's eyes widened, his face full of surprise.

Lily observed that under the light, Lawrence's slightly pale skin was slowly turning rosy, and she secretly raised her vigilance.

"Well, under the influence of a false god, many factories and shops were facing bankruptcy. I took over the offer, so I should be able to speak..."

"That's great!"

Before Lily finished speaking, Lawrence stood up in surprise.

He didn't notice Lily's surprised and suspicious eyes at all, and he danced and talked: "I have been wanting to discuss with them before, but those guys are unwilling to accept our conditions, if you can talk to them , that would be great!"

Having said that, Lawrence put down his hand, pressed down on the table, looked at Lily with radiant spirits, changed his previous weakness, and said with a smile: "Let's cooperate!"

"Cooperation for what?" Lily raised one leg, placed her left hand on the table casually, and lowered her right hand, faintly pressing the dagger at her waist.

"Pricing!" Lawrence blushed with excitement and clenched his fists. "As long as we can control the pricing of commodities, isn't it up to us what will happen to Paris in the future? As long as we can control the pricing of commodities, wealth, power, Anything can be obtained!

"You can use this to get more power, and even become the queen of the Kingdom of Gaul, and I don't need to stay in this shitty place anymore, I can return to Paris openly!
"As long as we can complete the monopoly, then we can become 'kings' in the true sense. Even the great nobles have to look at our faces—isn't that good? Why do you have such an expression?"

Lawrence suddenly became very angry when he saw that Lily was watching him warily.

"Sorry, let's forget it!" Lily got up and left, "I don't need the supplies anymore, I'll buy them myself!"

"Lily, what are you doing? Don't you want to gain more power and wealth?" Lawrence was so excited that he couldn't help coughing violently.

He was coughing so badly it looked like he was coughing his lungs out of his mouth.

Lily looked back at Lawrence with pity, and said, "It's not that I don't want to gain more power and wealth, but all nobles have their own channels, why should they be restrained by you? If you want to restrain them, you first need Influence the people, and then use the power of the people to force those nobles to make concessions. Aren’t the most affected people still the common people? Lawrence, the common people are not tools, they are also human beings, human beings like you and me.”

After hearing Lily's words, Lawrence became anxious and coughed even worse. He couldn't say a word at all, and could only watch Lily leave the hall of the Lord's Mansion.

He threw his handkerchief on the ground in despair, panting heavily, his lungs were like a broken bellows, making his breathing hoarse.

At this moment, Lawrence noticed the shiny handkerchief from the corner of his eye. He bent down to pick it up in doubt, and as the lights flickered, a shocking bright red came into view.

"Blood... did I cough up blood?"

Lily left the hall of the Lord's Mansion angrily, and a maid took the initiative to follow her and lead her out of the Lord's Mansion.

"Miss, I overheard your conversation with the lord just now..."

Halfway through the walk, the maid suddenly spoke, begging in a low voice, "Are you a princess? Please save us, my father and uncle are unbearable...they have been working all day, But they can only get half a day's wages, and the other half is 'voluntary labor', and the lord will not give them money.

"There's so much work and so little money, and now we can't even buy food. We're about to lose it. Please help us!"

When talking about excitement, the maid couldn't help coughing twice, and after she swallowed her saliva, she sobbed softly.

Lily stopped in her tracks, looked at the maid in surprise, and then her expression changed slightly if she realized something.

"Where is the church in this town? Take me there!"

The setting sun was slanting, and the orange-red light fell on the side of Lily's face, reflecting her face extremely solemnly.

"Right now!"

(End of this chapter)