Dear Mr. Colin,

It's been a week since you left, and I wonder how you are doing now?

I wanted to wait a bit longer before writing to you, but apart from you, I really don't know whom to confide my troubles in.

I assume you are still on the ship heading to the Kao Continent. I'm not sure if you'll receive my letter. If you miss it, don't worry, just take it as my soliloquy.

Remember I mentioned planning the industrial park near the refugee camp? Thanks to you and my brother's strong support, the progress of this work has been smooth. Additionally, due to the deployment of Imperial soldiers stationed in the Twilight Province, the prices of textiles, ironware, and other products have risen. The industries in the new industrial area of Thunder City, primarily focused on textiles, are booming.

However, this has also led to the skyrocketing wool prices on the northeast coast of the Vortex Sea. Many nobles have converted farmland into pastures to pursue higher profits... Especially my brother's policies are invisibly pushing this trend. These changes, while bringing wealth growth, make me increasingly uneasy about the future.

My subordinates informed me that in the Thunder County area, many tenant farmers have lost their livelihood land. Instead of taking any measures to guarantee their survival, their lords have brutally expelled them from their ancestral homes, forcing them into becoming refugees.

Many of them once led stable lives, and now they can only wander around or crowd into makeshift camps. I feel very sad; they are clearly citizens of the Campbell Duchy and should live in peaceful times, yet they are forced to endure the turmoil usually seen in wartime, like those in the Twilight Province.

The only consolation is that the industrial area outside Thunder City can offer them some jobs. However, the speed of job growth far cannot keep up with the rate at which landless tenant farmers leave their homes.

I sought answers from my brother, but he told me this was a necessary sacrifice. And his aides also warned me not to invest too much emotion in this matter because the rapid growth of the industrial area in Thunder City is due to the influx of displaced tenant farmers far exceeding the growth of positions. This is the correct cause-and-effect relationship, and cause and effect should not be reversed.

I feel very angry; if not for allowing the citizens of the Campbell Duchy a happier life, for what has my father sacrificed? My brother, however, says that those matters are just things said to outsiders, and the strength of the Campbell family and the Campbell Duchy must be the top priority.

These days, Theresa and I often go to the refugee camps outside Thunder City to relax, watching the makeshift camp become a new town, watching people from afar assimilate into the local life, watching the children playing chase and their smiling faces... it is my only comfort in these busy times.

However, recently, my sole emotional solace has gradually been replaced by other things.

I often hear people complaining about the harsh working conditions in factories. They say those tenant farmers have flooded into the city like locusts, able to endure meager wages, and even willing to work hard and uncomplainingly for just a meal. Despite this, many people cannot find work and can only wait for relief in the camps.

I hear children complaining their fathers are returning later and more exhausted; some even start drinking excessively, often venting anger at home and yelling at them.

To make ends meet, their mothers have had to work outside as well, and they can only play by themselves.

In the tradition of the Campbell Duchy, this is abnormal. Unlike the nobles, they do not have private tutors, and can only be educated by their parents, and then at a certain age, attend the Church's school or chapel for education, or become apprentices to craftsmen. However, outside Thunder City, there aren't enough chapels and schools, nor are there many kind craftsmen. We can only let those children roam the streets or accompany their parents to the factories.

The problems go far beyond this.

Due to the new industrial area, the budget of the refugee camp is rapidly depleting. The original two meals a day has been reduced to one, and unlike initially, the oatmeal is becoming more watery.

I tried to persuade my brother to provide more funds to aid those refugees, but he told me to just stop the emergency porridge altogether, and put all the remaining money into the factories, claiming this can truly save them rather than letting them develop the bad habit of acquiring something for nothing. However, I believe obtaining food from their lord is rightful entitlement and is not something for nothing; it's the obligation of the Royal Family.

I have asked myself countless times, is this really the kind of change I desire? If the prosperity of a minority is built on the pain of the majority, can this prosperity still be called prosperity?

The citizens of Thunder City thank me, but seeing those farmers who have lost their land makes it difficult for me to feel joy. Some nobles are unhappy about uneven distribution and are complaining to the Kingdom, but in fact, they have already gained a lot.

Perhaps my demands are too high, I wish they would become wealthy little by little. They would, through their own diligence, allow those who previously couldn't afford bread to be able to eat bread, and those who couldn't taste cake to relish the taste of cream, rather than letting those who have already eaten cake take away the scant survival resources of the poor, and mocking those weak people for not working hard enough.

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