Lately, the atmosphere on the sea has been somewhat eerie.
It's not because the secret imprisonment of a Navy Admiral has been exposed, nor because the Revolutionary Army and Mary Geoise are at odds again, and it's not due to the Cross Guild accepting the Empress.
Rather, compared to these lively events, the New World is unusually quiet.
Or, more precisely, the first half of the New World occupied by Sage is extremely tranquil.
Although everything is running as it should, business is normal and increasingly prosperous, there's still an odd sense of silence.
Those familiar high-ranking officers haven't appeared in a long time.
Even the Royal Palace, usually bustling and visible from the harbor, has been silent for quite some time; there's been a period without the familiar lively sounds.
The liveliness of the Royal Palace is open to the public; because banquets are held regularly, it gives the nearby residents peace of mind.
That's what the lord should do, providing them with such stability, peace, and prosperity, so what's wrong with having a banquet?
How much can a banquet cost? How much can eating and drinking possibly spend?
No matter how much one can eat, how much can they eat?
Moreover, the lord is paying!
To them, the priorities are incomparable to the lord; those treasures, even affordable, are not necessarily obtainable—they are all offered to the Royal Palace.
However, no one has any objections.
Those who had objections are already dead, leaving only those who have no objections or dare not have any.
In fact, for the lower class, paying is entirely unnecessary; out of respect for the lord, they can fully afford it.
A meal with hundreds of dishes?
Even tens of thousands of dishes, wouldn't all 4 million people in O'hara be able to afford just one of them?
On the contrary, the more people there are, the easier it is to supply.
They only need to supply one.
What they fear is not supplying one but supplying thousands, yet still, being unsatisfied, wanting to reach for their homes, their lives, wanting to turn them into slaves to serve them for generations.
But such things don't exist in O'hara and have no soil for existence.
If forced to say...
These people are essentially Sage's slaves, being ruled by Sage, belonging to his private property.
Others who want to act like this are not just disrupting rules but outright rebelling against Sage. It's not only betrayal but severe provocation, treated with utmost importance, and they will be crushed to dust.
Even those bold businessmen who were cleaned out during that period only embezzled workers' salaries, never daring to take over lands and see people as slaves.
Having been ruled by Sage for a long time, people might have initially felt uncomfortable, but after half of Gares's stubborn ones died or were injured, and the surrender faction transformed into the loyal faction occupying O'hara, people got used to the liveliness in the Royal Palace.
Some even take pride in it.
The more lively their lord makes it, doesn't that mean they contribute better?
If contributing well means paying more taxes; the lord has money to hold larger banquets.
Conversely, if the noise isn't enough, they need to reflect if they haven't been working hard enough lately—how could they let the lord hold a banquet that barely makes any sound?
They need to earn more money to pay taxes.
Lately, there hasn't been any activity in the Royal Palace, and that's making the residents anxious.
It seems Lady Lily set sail, but the lord hasn't left, just staying in the Royal Palace, yet there's no sign of a banquet these days. Could it be they've run out of money?
Being in the Royal Palace, resting for a day is fine, but it's been several days now, and no sound at all.
Some people rushed to the gate with money, threw down the money, and ran away. Shortly after, a pile of gold and silver treasures accumulated at the gate, and Gin, on guard duty, had no choice but to have his men tally the money and people, and send it back.
Such situations aren't just a one-time occurrence.
Emphasizing explanations to them, it's busy affairs causing Master Sage to not hold banquets, not a lack of money.
He has a gold vault there, and a giant Golden Bell from the Sky Island is displayed atop the palace.
Of all people without money, it's impossible for Sage to be one of them.
A cash king of the sea, the holder of the world's largest treasure—if he didn't have money, then who would?
Heavenly Celestial Dragons?
Sure, many countries pay the heavenly gold, but there are many Celestial Dragons too, and the heavenly gold has to cover the Government's own expenses, and only after that it's distributed among the Celestial Dragons, so an individual gets very little.
Sage is different; he's truly alone, with taxes from personnel and industries in his territory fully covering current military expenses and even exceeding expectations; all these people and their earning industries—raising seventy thousand pirates—how much trouble could that be?
On average, it's about sixty or so people raising one pirate; their resources alone are enough, plus Sage possesses core industries, leading investments himself.
Take O'hara's infrastructure issues, for example; inevitably, it won't break even and might even incur losses, but for his envisioned prosperity, infrastructure must be done, pursuing efficiency requires spending money.
Road construction, repairs, and re-planning—which doesn't cost money?
Tearing down houses and rebuilding simply can't generate much profit; relying on Sage's prestige for one-to-one swaps, the area of the house ends up with either surplus or deficit, but fundamentally it's not profitable, after all, he won't excessively raise house prices.