"It is now your time for your matters," the governor said before turning to Aria and Vernon. "Kugelblitz first."
"Thank you, sir," Vernon said with a smile while standing up.
"The number of people paying their contributions via their blood has dropped by 2.4% this year," Vernon said. "While that is a great matter for the health of the city, it makes it more difficult for our Heroes to grow stronger."
"At the same time, according to several studies Kugelblitz has performed, the objective value of a credit has decreased by almost 4% within the last year."
"Therefore, we would like to ask the city to increase the taxes of the outer layer of the Outer City by four to five credits," Vernon said.
Nick's eyes widened, and he almost felt like he had been thrown into an icy cold pool of water.
Vernon had just asked the governor to raise the taxes for the people of the Dregs!
Memories of the countless times Nick had seen people almost killing each other just for a couple of credits for the taxes shot through his head.
The people of the Dregs were already beyond desperate!
But now, Vernon was asking for even more money?!
Was he trying to kill them?!
At that moment, Nick came to a terrifying realization.
Right, the blood from the Dregs was what allowed the Crimson Fungus to produce Zephyx.
If the Dregs stopped producing blood, Kugelblitz would lose a huge chunk of its revenue, power, and growth potential.
Naturally, Nick's goal was to improve the lives of the people in the Dregs.
But if that happened, he would essentially be threatening Kugelblitz's power!
The next words that were spoken didn't register in Nick's head as he kept thinking about what all of this meant.
Earlier, Nick had expected that it wouldn't be thaaat difficult to improve the lives of the people in the Dregs.
He just needed to get some stands with free food, which would allow the people to save up a bit of money while also giving them more energy to earn money.
Naturally, that wouldn't solve the fundamental issue, but it would put a band-aid on it until a more permanent solution could be found.
But after hearing Vernon, Nick realized that this wouldn't work.
Kugelblitz would notice the drop in revenue and would go to the governor for an adjustment in the taxes.
Then, everything would return to how it was, and the people would still nearly die each month because of the taxes.
And the worst thing was that this state could only be achieved if Nick kept helping them!
The people would suffer just as much as they were suffering now.
But if Nick then stopped helping…
Terror!
Chaos!
Death!
The people wouldn't be able to pay their taxes anymore, and a huge number of them would die of blood loss!
Of course, in the next meeting, the taxes would be adjusted again to the old level, but that wouldn't bring all the dead people back.
'If I help them now, I am essentially taking out a loan of lives!' Nick realized.
'I might be able to save a couple of lives now, but the same number, or even more, will die when it is time to repay the loan!'
As Vernon and the governor kept talking, Nick kept thinking about what to do with his life now.
He thought that he could start helping them now, and, in fact, he had done just that.
He had given a bit of money to just a couple of people.
Him getting rid of several members of the Riker Strikers had also helped with the overall health of the Dregs.
And sure enough, the amount of blood paid had reduced!
But now, Vernon was about to put it back to its old level!
Or even higher!
Nick started to pay attention to the meeting again, and he heard Vernon and the governor arguing about the value of a credit.
Nick felt the overwhelming urge to get involved.
This was his opportunity to make a difference!
Wyntor looked at Nick with narrowed eyes.
He was ready to intervene if Nick decided to do something stupid.
Nick gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
Unending rage and hatred were building inside of him.
Subconsciously, Nick's eyes focused on Vernon in an intense glare.
He felt betrayed.
He had liked Vernon!
He had enjoyed talking to him a lot!
But now, Vernon was casually dooming many innocent people to a life worse than hell!
Nick's clenched fists shook.
Then, he clenched his teeth and looked away.
He hated himself at this moment.
He hated himself for looking away.
So many people were being doomed right now, and Nick despised himself for looking away.
'But what am I supposed to do?!' he thought in frustration and rage.
'If I get involved, it will cause trouble for Dark Dream.'
'If Dark Dream dies now, I will never be able to help the people of the Dregs!'
'I'm not strong enough!'
Nick had never hated his own weakness this much in his life.
He was so weak that none of the other Manufacturers even needed to pay attention to him.
Wyntor kept looking at Nick calmly.
He could tell what Nick was thinking about.
Sadly, Wyntor couldn't do more than Nick.
In the end, he just sighed.
"If the rate of blood donations sinks again this year, I will consider increasing the taxes," the governor said, "but I will not increase them this year. That is my final decision on the matter."
"Of course, sir," Vernon said with a polite smile before he sat down again.
When Nick heard that, he released a sigh of relief.
At least the people of the Dregs didn't need to suffer this time.
'But if I keep helping them like this, the governor will increase the taxes,' Nick thought.
'If I want to help the people of the Dregs, I need to do it in a different way.'
Nick glanced at Vernon.
'Kugelblitz wants blood, but they don't care where the blood comes from.'
'As long as I can increase the amount of blood, the taxes won't increase.'