Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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“I have some thoughts on the representative,” Dinia said.

After each encounter, once the afterglow had faded, she always liked to bring up serious topics.

It can be described as a female version of the post-coital meditation.

“I have always felt that it is good to implement collective ownership in some areas, but as you said, individuals cannot control the wealth they create, nor can they exercise their rights in the collective. They need representatives, but in many cases, the interests of elected representatives are not aligned with those of the people they represent. It doesn’t matter how they are elected or who they are elected. So I think that if elected representatives are still not good enough, then can we try a different approach?”

"What method?" Ronan asked with a hint of curiosity.

"Joint employment—whether it's members of parliament, representatives of labor unions and farmers' associations, or even the people currently in charge of this ship nation, in your words, they seem to have been elected, but in reality, they are the employers, and the people being represented are the employees. That's not right."

“If we use an employment model, then the person being represented is Party A, and the representative is Party B. In this case, Party A may still not have the ability to supervise Party B, but they do have the authority to audit. And the representatives’ authority should be limited to negotiating with the actual managers, just like business representatives.”

"What do you think?"

Dinia asked Elena and Agustina.

Elena and Agustina almost never offer any opinions, but it would be a mistake to think they are incapable of giving any. More than twenty years ago, back in New Sea City, Elena was Ronan's black glove, while Agustina was his protector. The same was true after they arrived at the colony. Later, in the capital, Elena went into business administration, while Agustina joined the intelligence agency. Elena then went to the farmers' association, and Agustina went to the labor union.

To put it bluntly, these two "ruthless officials" have more practical experience than Ronan, so how could they not offer any opinions?

“I think these things still need to be put into practice,” Agustina said.

She'd been a police officer, a secret agent, and a union leader. What bothered her most was the ideas of her superiors. Of course, Dinia was her former boss, so she couldn't say it outright. But if her superiors insisted on doing it, she would guarantee to carry it out perfectly, and everything would be fine. If there were any problems, then it was because of bad people among the masses. And dealing with bad people? Need I say more? Just do it!

“It’s not about testing whether it’s feasible or not, but whether the person being represented feels that the extra effort is worthwhile,” Elena said.

Whether the public supports reform depends on whether it's worthwhile. Elena argues that the maintenance and operation costs of the social system are already paid by the lower classes; adding another expense is tantamount to a tax increase. Would the public be willing to pay more taxes? Obviously not. However, one can't say it directly. If the leadership is determined to proceed, then she should find a way to change the data, turning what's unprofitable into profitable, or even promote the idea that a tax increase is a blessing—that wouldn't be out of the question.

Dinia had been tricked by Ronan, that old bureaucrat, so many times that she was already on edge. She could tell at a glance that the two scoundrels were just playing games. "I asked you to give me your opinions and suggestions, not to talk nonsense here."

“My suggestion is to start by teaching some basic common sense to those in the Ship Country who are willing to follow us,” Agustina said.

"Give it a try, and if there are any mistakes, you can correct them immediately," Elena said.

The two had long guessed that Dinia was planning to use the people of the Ship Country to conduct some social experiments and try to figure out the superior's intentions, which was their specialty.

Dinia nodded slightly, then looked at Ronan.

"Actually, it's very simple. After we leave, we will essentially be a merchant fleet. The fleet will naturally be under our leadership, and everything will be allocated in a unified manner, since all the ships belong to us. It's just like how we used to dominate the country. Some of the people who followed us will enter the leadership, and the captains of each ship will be local representatives. According to Didi's idea, these captains are different from ordinary captains. They are not appointed or elected, but collectively hired. Any hiring must first consider profit and loss."

"This is an interesting attempt."

Ronan did find it interesting, because this was the first time Dinia had proposed something that he, a time traveler, found novel.

It's quite interesting that elected representatives aren't chosen, but rather selected through crowdfunding.

If this thing is really done well, and it's promoted further in the future, who knows, one day it might become a system where people pay to buy a good representative, or even if people from different places are eyeing the same guy, they'll have to bid to get him. There might even be companies that can tender on behalf of the people, and teams that want to be representatives have to submit bids.

Just think about it, it's practically a chaotic mess, so capitalist, money is everywhere.

But upon closer reflection, it's actually quite democratic, even somewhat socialist, because socialism is all about democracy and equality.

“Then let’s do it this way,” Dinia decided.

"Yes, Madam Prime Minister."

Chapter 704 Priests and Knights Both Have Bright Futures

Ulrich Fire looks very young, even somewhat boyish, but he is actually thirty-one years old and is a priest of the Ship Kingdom.

Ulrich is his given name, and Fire is his surname. He is a priest of the Ship Kingdom, and his surname is one of the three schools of thought, namely Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind. The elders take their surnames as their "fiefdoms," and the regular knights take their surnames as the name of their squad. Others do not have surnames, even if their fathers are priests, elders, or knights.

Every priest is a scroll king, and so is Ulrich.

After all, this is the only job on the ship that is not busy, not risky, but has high status and high income. Only someone like Juan Wang could get this job.

During the Paradise Era, elites from all over the world developed a cultivation method under the guidance of Lavini, a combat-type artificial intelligence. Even a year later, no one outside the world had truly surpassed it. This was the conclusion Ronan and his group reached after reading some of the materials.

Lavini went mad, the amusement park collapsed, and a large group of people were forced to board the ship. At first, many people on the ship knew magic and were very strong, after all, they still retained some of their heritage. But they soon lost their magic. As soon as they used their extraordinary power, they began to turn into nightmares, unable to turn back, and eventually became nightmare monsters.

Then, a group of people stood up and said that because everyone had committed sins, the goddess had cursed their past power, and they had to temper their bodies and use only the most basic power. This group of people were the original priests, and they also formulated a set of laws that have influenced the Ship Kingdom to this day, which seem to be very fair.

However, priests of the past hundred years could still use some weaker, smaller elemental magic; throwing one or two small fireballs was fine, but more than that wouldn't work.

"Ha, it's all in the past now."

Ulrich muttered to himself.

He has now mastered a new cultivation method, which has not only improved his physical fitness but also given him supernatural abilities and special magic.

His superpower is like that of a black flying shark, growing a pair of black wings to fly through the air, granting him extremely high mobility. His special magic is to summon a shark-tooth-shaped trap out of thin air to fix a person in place, and inject a special toxin that disrupts the person's magical power, ignoring defensive membranes. This restraint cannot be broken or destroyed; one can only wait for time to run out.

Elementalization and transformation are useless against this move, unless it can disappear on the spot and regenerate in another place like Dinia.

His ability to reach this level is attributed to his decision to betray his country and join Dinia, as well as his own exceptional talent. However, his betrayal only made him a member of the second batch of people to learn the new cultivation method after the experimental subjects, and he enjoyed some special care, which reduced the risks. His rapid progress to this point is still due to his own talent.

According to Ronan and Dinia, he is now at the fourth level of strength, and his physical attributes surpass those of a typical fourth-level cultivator. In the outside world, there are only a handful of people his age with such strength.

Can others do it? Ulrich thinks others can't.

However, although Dinia had been kind to him, he still decided to align himself with Lady Isabel. After all, they were on the same side, so it didn't matter who he repaid the favor to.

Dinia completely ignored Ulrich's suggestion to purge certain old forces. Lady Isabel was much better, showing strong leadership and ambition, and seemed like a "reasonable" person.

"Those who intend to stay here are fools, and those who try to rebuild the paradise elsewhere are idiots. Nothing can compare to going to Seris to pursue the true path to immortality and achieve a godlike state."

Ulrich sighed inwardly. He knew that the goddess Lavini had reached the realm of immortality, and so had Ronan and Dinia. As someone born and raised in such a secluded place, he could only reach that realm by following in their footsteps.

Just as Ulrich was expressing such sentiments, at the same time, another person was also talking to himself.

His name is Morin Dragonhawk, he is 29 years old, a regular knight, and comes from a humble background. Like most people from humble backgrounds, his ancestors were nobles, but after two generations of failure, they fell to the bottom.

He started working as soon as he reached working age, without spending a penny on unnecessary enjoyment. He saved up for several years to cover the cost of the assessment. After passing the assessment and winning, he earned the qualification to be educated and eventually became a reserve knight. He endured hardship all the way, working like a slave and risking his life for others, until he finally became a regular knight.

In his twenty-nine years of life, he didn't enjoy a single moment; he lived a life even more miserable than those at the very bottom of society.

If nothing unexpected happens, he can stay in the starting knight position for a few years, become a veteran, and then start to enjoy life. He can then get married and have children. If his son works hard and has some talent, he might be able to go further than him and become a knight captain. If his son is not good enough, he might only be able to become a backup knight.

But then, something unexpected happened: Dinya and the others arrived.

"Fortunately, I made the right choice and stuck with it."

Molin sighed.

During previous monster-hunting operations, he was always at the forefront of the battle. Several times he wanted to retreat, but the thought of his previous injuries kept him going. Now, he has not only become a knight captain, but has also mastered a new cultivation method.

The totem enhancement further improved his physique, and the magic called divine arts caused even more unique changes to his body.

His body now possesses strong defensive capabilities, coupled with a protective membrane, making him extremely resistant. In addition, his body can undergo incredibly flexible transformations.

All of this is thanks to Dinia.

However, he felt that Dinia was still a bit too strict. He hadn't reached a high position, and it didn't matter that he had gained any benefits. After all, he understood that his value was limited. He had only been good at his job and hadn't made any significant contributions. But Dinia's strict management made him feel that the future was not so bright.

Therefore, he chose to align himself with Ambrina.

But they're all in this together, so thanking anyone is the same, isn't it?

Ms. Ambrina is a good choice. She was once a king, so she must be a wise person. Moreover, she looks like a "gentle" person. If you follow her, your future will definitely be bright.

Now that we can leave this place and go to the outside world, of course we should live the life of the nobility there, with lots of money and lots of women.

If Dinya didn't come, he could only be humble; if Dinya did come, he could still be humble. Then wasn't Dinya's trip in vain?

Of course, we couldn't let Ms. Dinya come for nothing.

"Staying here is stupid. You won't get any benefits and will have to struggle to survive. Following them is just a slight risk. Those monsters are no match for them. Is there any danger? Of course not. But there will always be some scum who are blind to the danger. That's when I should step in."

Morin had a clear understanding of his role: he was there to clean up the mess for them.

But what does it matter? As long as I work hard enough, I'll definitely have a good position in the future.

He didn't have any grand ambitions; he just wanted to live a good life and ensure that his descendants would also live a good life—it was that simple.

Following them is the right way.

Chapter 705 Parting Ways, India is Great, Pirates Ahead

In late December of 1609, Ronan and his party left the alternate dimension.

The Kingdom of Ships, with over ten thousand people, was mostly divided into three groups, choosing to head west, east, and south respectively. They planned to seek a living in the Suleiman Empire to the west, the Mir Kingdom that occupied the former Persian lands to the east, and the Arabs, who were now in a chaotic tribal alliance to the south.

It can only be said that most people feel they lack the ability and are unwilling to take risks. They just want to settle down nearby, to set up a small place in the vicinity, so that they can live and multiply peacefully.

On the fiercely contested Eastern sea routes, what were they? But here, they were definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Of those willing to follow Ronan and his group, only a little over 1,300 were willing to travel far away. Among them, apart from a considerable number of young people who were already quite capable, confident, ambitious, and eager to see the wider world, the rest were a group of young, low-level bachelors. Staying behind would only mean being slaves to them, and they wouldn't get any benefits anyway. They might as well serve Ronan and his group and maybe they would become rich.

These 1,300-plus people are a combination of the most elite and the worst people in the Ship Country.

Of their more than one thousand people, a thousand were aboard ten large triangular-sailed warships, each crammed with about a hundred people. Of course, the ships were staffed with experienced navigators and sailors. These veteran sailors were originally slaves of the Suleimanian nobility. The young Sultan Selim, during his reforms, purged a large number of people and acquired many slaves, which he then sold to Falek at a discounted price. The Sultan was truly terrified of this Queen Mother; frankly, he would have been willing to give her away for free, as long as Falek could get far away from him.

The people of the Ship Country just obey orders and do hard labor. If they were the only ones on the ship, it would be a miracle if the ship didn't sink, let alone sail away. These people, who grew up on the airship, had never even seen land, let alone the sea.

There were also more than three hundred people, mostly young priests and knights. They were in the small boats that came with the airship. They were called small boats, but that was in comparison to the huge airship. In reality, they were nearly twenty meters long, which was quite large for this era.

They don't know how to operate normal sailboats, but they are very skilled at operating these tactical boats, since they are their means of transportation for scavenging.

Ronan and his group, of course, traveled in the small spaceship built by Kate. This ship was easy to navigate at sea and consumed far less energy than when flying in the sky.

As for the enormous airship, it remained in the alternate dimension. Lavini is dead, but the original magical system constructed by intercepting the celestial realm will collapse, and the ecosystem will no longer be suitable for a large number of people and monsters to live there. However, the space itself is still there, and Ronan can enter it at any time if he wants.

Regarding the route, it departs from the Persian Gulf, passes through the Arabian Sea, and then arrives in India.

For the several maritime trade-focused nations of the Western Continent, India is the most important place, far surpassing Seris. It's not that Seris's trade goods are inferior, but Seris is simply far too difficult to deal with. While India has many powerful superhumans, they are not xenophobic. As long as it doesn't affect their status, doing business is easy, and causing trouble is no big deal, since most people there aren't even human. Seris, on the other hand, is extremely xenophobic. They treat those who have traveled thousands of miles across the ocean as if they're begging on their knees, and even then, they need connections to beg.

One or two of them keep using terms like "foreign barbarians," "savages," and "Japanese devils"—it's simply outrageous!

Over the past few decades, I've fought Seris quite a few times.

They could win at sea, after all, Seres' ships were really outdated, their cannons weren't very good, and frankly, their navigation skills were inferior to Suleiman's, who was just a nobody in the Mediterranean.

But there's no way to fight on land. The enemy has more people, more guns, and more superhumans. Even if their weapons and tactics are inferior, there's still no way to fight. What's the cost of them bringing someone over from thousands of miles away? And what's the cost of Seris conscripting cattle and horses on the spot? They can't afford to fight, they really can't afford to fight.

In summary, India is fine, but Seres is not.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed, and the year was 1610. Now, Ronan's fleet was in the Arabian Sea, not far from India.

Ronan and his group were eating, drinking, and playing cards on the deck when suddenly Ulrich came onto their ship, looking like he had something to report. Seeing that Ronan and his group were having a great time, he didn't rush to speak but just stood there.

This guy doesn't seem like a clergyman at all, nor does he seem like a young man. He's more like one of those old guys from the inner court of the old palace, with a lot on his mind.

“Speak if you have something to say,” Ronan told him.

"Here's the thing, the people ahead spotted two large merchant ships being besieged by a group of pirates," Ulrich reported. "The pirates are all small, fast boats, about fifteen or sixteen in total. They're not equipped with cannons, but with a strange kind of shoulder-fired rocket launcher. The range, speed, and power are all pretty average, but they have a strong ability to set things on fire. We don't seem to have seen any superhumans on the pirates' side."

Ronan couldn't help but wonder why such an extremely primitive rocket launcher, which looked like a giant firecracker, was used by very few people. Even if the missiles were specially modified to be ignited, any first or second-tier elemental mage could easily neutralize the threat posed by this thing.

These days, what ocean-going merchant ship doesn't carry superhumans? Aren't they afraid of being bought up for free by other superhumans? The law can't govern things at sea. Some superhumans who aren't strong enough to just lie around and reap the benefits don't mind taking matters into their own hands and being self-sufficient.

It's not just superhumans; normal ocean-going merchant ships also carry a lot of cannons. Ordinary small pirate ships can't even get close to large merchant ships easily. They can only rob small cargo ships to make a living. Only big bosses who are both merchants and pirates can truly make a fortune by buying things at sea for free.

This pirate crew of just over a dozen small boats was clearly not a big shot.

Anyway, if Ulrich's description is accurate, the scene is quite strange.

Just then, Morin arrived and reported that the pirates seemed to be able to control a huge monster that moved in the sea.

Besides that, there were many people on that merchant ship who looked very much like Seris.

This is interesting.

Astrid stood up abruptly. "I'll go take a look. Yingqi, you come too." She was very interested in this, and since the merchant ship might be carrying people from Zhao Yingqi's hometown, she naturally thought of bringing Zhao Yingqi along.

"Huh? I... I can't fly," Zhao Yingqi said, looking quite embarrassed.

“Let the old man show you around,” Astrid said.

Ronan stood up and nodded to indicate that he could. He then looked at Ambrina, who disliked boat trips and had been quite bored lately. Naturally, Ronan wanted to take her along to see this interesting event.

Ambrina stood up; she was certainly interested, having been incredibly bored these past few days. "And you?"

“I don’t need to,” Dinia said, as she still had to play cards with Elena and Agustina, two longtime card enthusiasts.

“I’m not going.” Isabel doesn’t like joining in the fun.

Finally, Ronan, Astrid, Ambrina, and Zhao Yingqi went there.

Chapter 706 The Pirates Who Court Death, the Strange Seresian, Who Looks Just Like My Wife

Should the Seres be saved? Should the pirates be killed? Ronan didn't have such thoughts, nor did Ambrina or Astrid. Zhao Yingqi might, because the Seres were truly her compatriots. Even though she grew up in the Kingdom of Fas and her values ​​were formed in France, and her lifestyle and even her thinking had become Westernized, she would still regard the Seres as her compatriots.

Astrid hovered in mid-air between the pirates and the merchant ship, facing the pirates, and said in Arabic, albeit politely, "Gentlemen, could you do me the honor of abandoning this operation?" Her language talent was truly remarkable; in just two months, she had already mastered Arabic through her interactions with Falek.

These pirates were Arabs based in South Asia. Their ancestors had migrated here from the peninsula hundreds of years ago. Their language was quite different from that of the Suleimans, but they could still understand Astrid's words telling them to abandon their mission.

To be honest, if anyone else had said that, these pirates would have just laughed and said something like, "Woman, if you stay and keep us company for a few nights, we'll consider it." But facing Astrid, a being suspended in mid-air, overflowing with magic and exuding an astonishing pressure, they didn't dare to flirt with her or even utter a laugh.