"And putting on some light makeup. This should be enough, right?" Flora took a step back while looking at the silver mirror.
"Hmm?" Nathan examined his appearance. The hair had been dyed brown. With some light makeup, she managed to make his face much different from the original one. "This is not bad."
Nathan glanced to the side, looking at Flora's new appearance. She had plain black hair and toned down her beautiful face a bit.
"I thought a princess like you would have the servants to do all this for you."
"What are you talking about? I have to be independent. If everything is done by the servants, how am I going to survive in the wild? Although I don't have the best daily life skills, I'm still capable enough to do them properly." She harrumphed.
"Hahaha. Sorry." Nathan chuckled. "Then, let's go, shall we?"
"Yeah." Nathan nodded. They regrouped with the others before heading to the teleportation in the city.
Sera handed over the letter. "This is the letter from my teacher. If you talk to the mayor by bringing this letter, he should cooperate with you."
"By the way, my teacher wanted me to confirm whether you want to proceed with the current plan regarding the kidnapped people. After all, the situation will become dire if the Holy Kingdom accepts them…"
"No worries. Tell him that the problems will be handled by me. As long as he can return them, it will be fine. Still, you have to ask him to declare that they're going back home. That's my only condition."
"That's acceptable. I'll tell him once the mission is over."
Nathan nodded. "Alright. The missions this time are not going to be easy. And we all have to go to separate cities. Make sure to take care of yourself."
Sera smiled. "The time limit is one week. You can destroy them in a day, but you have to be careful. Then, everyone. May God bless you with good fortune."
After the last speech, the three groups entered the teleportation circles one by one.
Nathan had to go to Ellenwood City with Flora.
As soon as he arrived, he would be greeted with a rather concerning atmosphere.
'Hmm?' Nathan couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows. When he looked to the right, he would see a lot of people sitting right in front of the buildings. They were shivering because of the cold temperature, but more importantly, their eyes had lost their light.
When he turned to the opposite side, he would see a lot of stores closed, as though they had gone out of business.
Even Flora was shaken by this sight. She had never thought that the atmosphere was much different from all the cities they had seen so far.
Their new city was brimming with energy. In the end, they were creating a new city, so people had work to do.
The city where they usually used the teleportation circle was also much better than this city. Then again, the people from their cities had livened up the atmosphere, especially with the fact that they were the first place where their food went before getting teleported to other cities.
Meanwhile, this city was not near the front line nor too far. It was located perfectly in the middle.
Now that the disaster had hit, a lot of people had lost their jobs. Nathan and Flora couldn't help but wonder if this city was one of the major cities that was included to be a part of the farming city. If they had a cloud-repelling device, the farmers would definitely work hard to fulfill the granary.
But if it wasn't a main city, their condition felt like it was deserted. Farming? No one could do it without the cloud-repelling device. Selling items? Who would buy them? No one really worked, so they didn't earn money.
What could they do? There was basically nothing. All they could do was wait for the food ration to be handed out and live another day.
At first, the people didn't realize much impact. But after a month, the people started to stop working because there was not much they could do anymore.
When they saw people arriving through the teleportation portal, they couldn't help but widen their eyes. It felt like their expression flashed for a second, albeit darkened again after realizing they didn't bring any food.
However, Nathan and Flora could actually see several eyes still lit up… not for a good reason, though.
"This…" Flora sucked a cold breath.
"Yeah…" Nathan couldn't help but take off his goggles. "I have thought that food will be the only thing needed to sustain life.
"I have forgotten about one thing. It's a job. Without a job, the money won't flow. Normally, people who have retired will believe it's time for them to relax, but after working so hard every single day for decades, they have built a certain habit.
"Even if they can lie down for a few weeks or months, they will notice that something is empty and their days are boring. Some retired people often go back to work. It won't be as intense as before, not because they want money… It's because they want to fill a few hours of their life by doing something.
"Well, some are lucky enough to be busy with taking care of their children and grandchildren. But with the lack of things to do, these people will start to lose themselves."
Flora listened to Nathan attentively, surprised to find the profound insight. She knew Nathan was smart, but even when he talked about strategy, it just showed his intelligence.
On the other hand, the way Nathan talked about the people, she could feel his wisdom.
'I have never thought Nathan would have such a deep understanding of human nature. Seriously… What does this man not have? He is smart and wise, ruthless but filled with compassion, strong but doesn't misuse his power.'
Flora suddenly hugged Nathan's arm, startling him.
"Huh? What are you doing?"
"Aren't we in disguise? Let's spice things up a bit. We're disguised as a couple who are trying to go sightseeing in this town." Flora stuck out her tongue playfully.