"What is this new system?" Jornis asked with a dark tone.
Nick looked at Jornis without fear.
"From now on, voluntary blood donations will be replaced by mandatory blood donations," Nick said.
When Jornis and Vanessa heard that, they were positively surprised.
That was good, right?
"A powerful city is not supposed to rely on its weakest members to give it stability," Nick said. "Everyone has to contribute to a powerful city."
"The minimum monthly tax will be lowered from 120 credits to 40 credits. Payment via blood is no longer an acceptable replacement for the tax. Everyone has to pay the taxes via credits."
"Additionally, the tax-free age range will be increased to 16. Anyone below 16 years of age is exempt from taxes."
"Okay," Vanessa said with furrowed brows. "And how is the city supposed to pay its tribute to Aegis without that?"
"That's where the new system comes in," Nick said. "Every member of the city, without exception, will have to donate 500 ml of blood every three months as long as they are 16 or older."
"The Dregs, the Outer City, the lower layer, the middle layer, the upper layer, the Extractors, the Governor, the Liaison, the people in this room, the guards, everyone."
"Every single person will donate 500 ml of blood every three months."
"No exceptions."
The people in the room were shocked.
The people in this room as well?
They had to donate blood now?
They really didn't like that idea.
Forcefully taking their blood sounded… wrong.
It felt like something very important to them was being taken away.
Vanessa and Jornis did some calculations.
That would increase the blood gained via the blood tax by over four times!
While the volume of the blood was about the same, the quality of the blood was very different.
After all, blood from Extractors gave much more Zephyx than blood from normal people.
Vanessa and Jornis were happy to hear that.
However, their happiness was short-lived as Nick continued talking.
"It is important to note that the blood gained this way is not seen as Kugelblitz's property. The city's laws are the ones that make it possible to gather this blood."
"Because of that, 90% of the Zephyx produced via this way will belong to the city, and only people working for the city will be allowed to be present in the Crimson Fungus' Containment Unit while the blood is used."
"90%?!" Jornis shouted as he stood up.
"Yes, 90% will belong to the city. 10% will belong to Kugelblitz since you own the Crimson Fungus," Nick repeated.
And just like that, Kugelblitz's profits plummeted.
The Zephyx generated via the blood tax would halve!
"This is unacceptable!" Jornis shouted.
"Jornis!" Aria shouted as a tremendous amount of Zephyx gathered around her.
Jornis looked with aggression at Aria.
"You are speaking to the Liaison!" Aria said with a threatening tone. "You will keep yourself under control! Am I understood?!"
Jornis looked with absolute rage at Aria.
Some tense seconds passed.
Jornis gritted his teeth, looked away, and sat down again.
He didn't want to admit it, but Aria intimidated him.
She had been his superior for decades, and Jornis knew that Aria was still much stronger than him.
"This is reducing our profits by over 20%," Vanessa said in an angry voice to Nick.
However, her voice was not as loud or disrespectful as Jornis' voice.
"The tax change has increased your profits by over 10%," Nick answered. "This just puts it a bit below the time before I took over as Liaison."
"That doesn't change the matter," Vanessa said. "We can't accept this."
"Then, change the way you operate," Nick said. "You relied on the blood tax and the blood of your own Extractors for the Crimson Fungus. The 90% for the city only counts for the new blood donation system. You are still free to gather your own blood via transactions."
"That's not the same," Vanessa protested. "We never needed to pay them before this. This will change everything!"
Nick looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Every liter of blood equals almost an entire kilogram of Zephyx for you. That amounts to almost a million credits."
"Paying someone from the Outer City 10,000 credits for a liter of blood is barely 1% of what you produce with this blood."
"The safe limit for blood donations is one liter every two months. If we search for a common denominator, that's three liters every six months, while the new blood donation system only takes one liter every six months. You can still get two liters out of everyone. Of course, only if they are willing to donate voluntarily," Nick explained.
This did not help Vanessa and Jornis at all.
In a way, this wasn't about profit.
This was about them needing to pay for something that they didn't need to pay for before.
It was very similar to when the upper layer needed to pay for their own nature preservation program.
Essentially, the city was taking something from Kugelblitz.
It felt like the city was stealing from them.
Even more, the dynamic between the city and Kugelblitz was different now.
With the old blood tax, the city was working together with Kugelblitz.
But now, it was the city forcing Kugelblitz to comply.
Kugelblitz had seen itself as a partner or ally with the city due to the blood tax.
Yet, with this new change, it was like the city was pushing itself upward while pulling Kugelblitz down.
The city was clearly stating that it was superior to Kugelblitz and that Kugelblitz had to bend to its authority.
The loss of profits was not as important as this.
If Kugelblitz let the city get away with this change, more changes would follow, and before they knew it, Kugelblitz would be helpless in front of the city.
They couldn't allow that to happen!
"We're not accepting these terms," Vanessa said.
Nick looked evenly at Vanessa.
"Your acceptance is not relevant in this matter," Nick said.
Vanessa's rage exploded, and she glared at Nick as Zephyx gathered around her.
At that moment, Aria stood up and pushed Nick behind her.
Nick was a bit surprised by Aria's action, but he didn't let it show on his face.
Jornis stood up and also gathered his Zephyx.
The people in the room became nervous, stood up, and retreated to the door.
They didn't want to be anywhere near the parties if a fight suddenly broke out.
Vanessa and Jornis glared at Aria, who looked back with narrowed eyes.
"Do you really want to do this?" Vanessa asked with a threatening tone. "You don't know what has changed in the last 18 months."
"You think I don't know about Libran?" Aria asked. "I already know of her advancement."
Vanessa became shocked, but she didn't let it show.
"Then, you know that we have three Heroes now," Vanessa said.
"While you are alone."
Aria didn't falter. "I am not alone."
"I have Aegis behind me," Aria said. "And while they can't save my life…"
"They can avenge me," she said with narrowed eyes.
Vanessa gritted her teeth.
"And even if I were alone," Aria continued.
"I would still be standing here."
Vanessa's eyes narrowed even more as her fury reached new heights.
She glanced at Jornis, who seemed about ready to attack.
She looked back at Aria.
They should be able to win…
But it was risky.
Extremely risky.
The battle was risky, and the aftermath would be even riskier.
She wanted to do nothing but attack…
But her rationality stopped her from doing it.
"This is not the end," Vanessa said as she gestured for Jornis to leave.
The two of them pulled their Zephyx back and walked towards the door.
"The meeting isn't over yet," Nick said, stepping out from behind Aria. "You are not permitted to leave yet."
The two from Kugelblitz looked at Nick with unending fury.
"Shut up!" Jornis shouted. "If you weren't hiding behind a woman like a child, you would be dead right now!"
Aria became furious.
"I'm not hiding behind a woman," Nick spoke calmly but with authority. "I'm hiding behind a Hero working for Aegis."
"I will happily forward your words to Simon Francium, who works under a female Justiciar, who works under the Left Arm," Nick said.
"Your insult only works on insecure people."
"Now, sit back down. The meeting isn't over," Nick commanded.
Now, it became clear.
The city was demonstrating its authority over Kugelblitz.
Nick wasn't even allowing them to leave with some dignity.
This was a humiliation!
"Make it quick," Vanessa said with annoyance as she went back to her chair.
Jornis followed unwillingly.
The other people in the room also sat back down again.
"Now, are there any matters that need addressing from your side?" Nick asked the people in the meeting.
"No," Vanessa answered with a dark voice.
Nick's eyes went to Gemini.
"No," Mindy said with nervousness.
Gemini wanted to address something, but they didn't dare to be the reason why Kugelblitz had to remain in here for another second.
Within less than a minute, the meeting was over since nobody dared to talk about anything.
"Then, the meeting is concluded," Nick said as he stood up and walked to the door.
Aria walked after him, not looking at Jornis or Vanessa.
Vanessa and Jornis looked as the two of them left.
There was a dark glint in their eyes.