Staring at the intricately crafted, colorful sweets and pastries on the plate, Will swallowed hard.
Such delicacies he had only ever heard of in tales.
Will had once been a miner in the lower hive.
During the heretical rebellion, to save his family from starvation, he had resolutely brought his pregnant wife and elderly mother to the upper hive.
In the tide of refugees, his mother had starved herself to death, saving the little food they had for his wife, while Will survived thanks to his robust body.
Fortunately, after the rebellion ended, the governor took in those refugees.
Will became a miner once again and, thanks to his experience and a bit of luck—his predecessors had died in mutant attacks—he eventually climbed to the position of supervisor.
His family survived on corpse starch, only indulging in a small piece of sawdust-infused bread every few days.
That was considered a rare treat, something most families couldn't even afford.
But the food before him now was a hundred, even a thousand times more delicious than sawdust bread!
Just moments ago, he had secretly inhaled its scent, and the aroma still lingered in his mind.
It was an exquisite experience and memory, one he had planned to brag about to his children.
Will couldn't begin to imagine how wonderful these sweets would taste in his mouth!
Yet, the governor was offering him these heavenly delights?
What an honor!
Eden nodded in response to Will's hopeful gaze. "Yes, these are for you."
He summoned a maid to bring a fresh batch of sweets and pastries, carefully packed in a beautiful gift bag.
"Consider this a gift for your children," Eden said as he personally handed the gift bag to Will.
"I-I... Thank you! Thank you so much, my lord! The God-Emperor will forever protect you!"
Will was overwhelmed with joy as he gratefully accepted the bag of sweets, tears almost spilling from his eyes.
Seeing how such simple sweets could bring so much happiness, Eden couldn't help but sigh.
In his heart, he silently vowed that one day, he would make it so that everyone on Eristar could enjoy food like this.
It was his duty as a leader.
Eden snapped back to the present and patted Will on the shoulder. "Keep working hard, and the royal district will never forget your contributions."
"My lord, I pledge my utmost loyalty to you!" Will said solemnly, after a moment of silence.
Clutching the gift bag tightly, he turned and hurried away.
Hope Energy +100!
Eden was stunned. One person had generated so much Hope Energy!
In that instant, he realized that simply making promises wasn't enough—he needed to show real benefits and sincerity.
But that was precisely what he lacked the most right now!
Eden once again sank into thought, pondering how to achieve the greatest motivational effect with the few resources he had.
But no clear solution came to mind.
It was difficult!
Meanwhile, Will, clutching the gift from the governor, exited the spire's mansion.
"Will, how did it go?"
"What did the governor say?"
"Can the men who were sent home return to the mines?"
As soon as he stepped outside, Will was surrounded by his captains, all eagerly clamoring for answers.
Each of these captains commanded several hundred miners.
If something happened to the mining crew, they wouldn't be able to face their men.
It could spell disaster for countless families.
A bearded captain pointed at Will's face in shock. "Look! The boss was crying—could it be something bad happened to the mines?"
"Did that bastard in the spire really plan to lay us off?"
Will's expression immediately darkened, and he scolded them, "Shut your mouths, all of you! Stop spouting nonsense!"
Seeing their boss lose his temper, the captains fell silent, looking sheepish.
Wiping his eyes, Will broke into a smile and reassured them. "The mines are fine. Everyone can go back to work as usual."
"No pay cuts?"
"No layoffs?"
"The governor said everything stays the same."
"But what about the men who were sent home?"
Will, feeling invigorated, answered, "Tell those lads to come back and work hard. The governor won't forget us!"
The news stirred excitement among the captains, and they cheered.
Suddenly, one of them caught a whiff of something. "Boss, what's that smell?"
"It smells amazing!"
"By the God-Emperor, I've never smelled anything so delicious in my life!"
"It's better than a woman's scent!"
Will proudly patted the gift bag in his arms. "This is something the governor gave me. They're called sweets or something...
"Anyway, it's food that only the governor gets to eat!"
The captains stared at the bag in Will's arms, drooling. Food that only the governor could eat—how delicious must it be?
The best thing they had ever tasted was sawdust bread!
Compared to corpse starch, rancid bugs, mutant rats, and other foul sustenance, sawdust bread didn't make you want to vomit, which made it a delicacy.
Under normal circumstances, none of these men would ever get to taste such expensive food in their lifetime.
Seeing their longing expressions, Will hesitated for a moment, but his heart softened.
As a leader, he knew that when you had something good, you couldn't forget your brothers. It was a lesson he had learned well.
It was also one of the reasons his men supported him as their supervisor.
As a man from the lower hive, Will owed his rise to the loyalty of his brothers.
Carefully opening the gift bag, Will reached inside for a cookie.
"You dirty bastards better clean your hands! Don't you dare defile such precious food!" he shouted, grinning.
The captains frantically scrubbed their hands clean, lining up and trembling as they extended their hands toward Will, afraid they might drop the treasure.
Each man received one cookie.
The cookies were still warm, beautifully crafted, and radiating a mouthwatering aroma that seemed to touch their very souls!
Their genes had never experienced such flavor, so they couldn't even begin to describe how it tasted.
Some men couldn't wait and stuffed the cookies into their mouths, nearly licking their hands clean.
But others managed to hold back, carefully wrapping the cookies to save for later.
Perhaps they intended to share the treat with their families at home, or maybe they were planning to sell it on the black market.
Either way, they wouldn't waste such a precious delicacy.
Will carefully gathered the crumbs back into the bag. There was still more than half of the cookies left, and he intended to share them with his children.
It would become the happiest memory of their childhood.
Surrounded by his men, Will boarded the steam vehicle and headed back to the residential area, to his home on Black Coal Street.
As the name suggested, Black Coal Street was home to miner families.
They lived and died by the mines.
Any tremor in the mines—whether it be an accident, a mutant attack, a pay cut, or layoffs—could plunge entire families into the abyss.
On the street, the people looked exhausted, faces gray and listless, with no light left in their eyes.
This was the result of long-term hunger.
When the people saw Will, they immediately crowded around him.
(End of Chapter)