Free Web NovelChapter 828: Chapter 95: Windfall—Earning Tens of Thousands Daily! Massive Talent Acquisition with Su Li
For the Knights who had made it through the selection and into the final list, today’s festival was, without a doubt, an immense honor. No matter what their past origins were, no matter what their current status was, they had now become the brightest, most glorious group in the entire city, tightly guarding the Divine Statue of the Sun Goddess, parading around the city once, and then, amid the attention of all, entering the Lion Ring Arena flanked by tens of thousands of cheering people.
In a single day, they perfectly illustrated what it means: "Yesterday’s wretchedness is not worth boasting of; today’s wild exuberance knows no bounds. When the spring wind favors you, your horse’s hooves fly; in one day you see all the blossoms of Chang’an."
It is human nature to worship heroes; in this numb and dark Empire, that worship has been magnified to the extreme.
Every contestant drew a huge crowd of fans and supporters; tens of thousands cheered for them, feverishly backing the Knight they had bet on.
With the selection phase over and the formal tournament beginning, all competitions and gambling were held within the Lion Ring. Harillah, who managed the gambling operations of this arena, hurried to Su Li to excitedly report.
"Lord, the betting pools we set up have been an enormous success. In the first round alone we received wagers totaling more than eight thousand Golden Crowns!"
Su Li’s face also lit up with joy. This Half-Elf was the nephew of Minister of Foreign Affairs Hartskline; when he first entered the Hesse Territory, he had already shown a remarkable business mind, and now the gambling business of this tournament was performing superbly under his management.
Over eight thousand Golden Crowns in just the first round—at a 5% commission, that’s more than four hundred Golden Crowns. And there were five rounds of combat on the first day alone, easily providing the Territory with over two thousand Golden Crowns in income.
Two thousand Golden Crowns may not be much compared to many large transactions, but this is stable revenue. If the Territory’s casinos could bring in two thousand every day, that would truly be "raking in gold by the day," with monthly profits exceeding eighty thousand Golden Crowns! Every current problem in the Territory would be solved at once.
More crucially, winners had to pay taxes as well. For example, if a gambler won fifty Golden Crowns, then 45% of his winnings would be withheld by the casino before he even got them, and directly handed over to the Hesse Territory.
This was why Su Li attached so much importance to this Radiant Competition Festival, and to this gambling operation in particular, because every round of betting could in practice provide Su Li with around two thousand Golden Crowns in profit and tax revenue.
This is also why casinos are a violently profitable monopoly: no matter whether the gamblers win or lose, the house doesn’t care, because the house is always earning from the rake. No casino ever gets nervous because gamblers are winning; they only get nervous when gamblers stop coming.
You could say that once a casino opens, it’s practically guaranteed huge profits. A normal person could lie there and still be "earning gold every day," yet to manage to go bankrupt running a casino during the Empire’s ascent, when national strength is at its peak and believers are flocking in from all over the world, takes someone as bizarre as the "King of Understanding." The biggest reason for that bankruptcy was probably that when a gambler won money but didn’t thank him properly, he threw the gambler out.
Meanwhile, Su Li sat in the highest tier of the Lion Ring, looking down at the tens of thousands of frenzied gamblers and believers roaring below; it was like watching tens of thousands of hens that could all lay golden eggs, and he was utterly delighted.
What pleased him even more were those Knights down in the arena. Once they entered the Lion Ring, the task of running the tournament was handed over to professionals.
The warm-up matches had already begun, still bearing the distinct style of the Sun Goddess Church: an emphasis on military discipline, strategic wit, and the struggle against Evil Forces.
The Goddess’s believers were usually Warriors, Knights, and officers, so their style was especially straightforward and bold. They made no secret of choosing as the target of the warm-up matches an Evil River Giant from the Blue Mirror Territory.
The crowd was roaring in a frenzy, cheering and applauding the Sunfire Church Knights who represented the glory, justice, and civilization of humanity.
Countless people shouted for the Knights in the arena to swiftly execute this evil being from the Blue Mirror Territory!
At the height of this deafening, feverish atmosphere, the Champion Knight in the arena began unabashedly smearing the Blue Mirror Territory. His words were fiery, claiming that all acts of sealing the border, obstructing waterways, and raising tariffs were schemes of the River Giant Witch.
As a Knight of the Sun Goddess, he would use the golden blade bestowed by the Goddess to sever all evil!
Amid the cheers and excitement of countless people, he raised his golden Longsword, shining with golden light, and with a single Sword Slash cut off the filthy, foul head of the River Giant.
The blood that shot skyward instantly pushed the atmosphere in the arena to a new climax.
The Empire’s subjects were a people brimming with hot blood and a thirst for battle. They admired any great force that used violence to crush evil, and believed this represented the most righteous form of human civilization.
With the deliberate guidance in the arena, the Hesse Territory undoubtedly became the symbol of civilization, while the Blue Mirror Territory—which had sealed its borders and raised tariffs—was cast as an Evil Force whose Lord had been bewitched by the River Giant Witch.
As the Champion Knight in the arena raised his arm and shouted: "Purification of the Blue Mirror Lake, sweep away the claws of evil!"
The entire Lion Ring erupted like a tidal wave. At this moment, everyone fervently supported sending troops to the Blue Mirror Lake, seeing it as a crusade of civilization and a Purification of evil!
Without question, through this grand Radiant Competition Festival, the Hesse Territory had gained a massive advantage in public opinion over the Blue Mirror Territory. Both inside and outside the Territory, there was extremely high support for Su Li launching a punitive war to defeat the evil Blue Mirror Territory.
Then, in this blazing atmosphere, the Lion Ring opened the formal dueling events of the Radiant Competition Festival.
