"What is that! Where's my Iron Knight gone!"
Vladimir, the theoretical legitimate ruler of Latovia, draped in an expensive velvet blanket, surrounded by fine wine he had never tasted and treasures he had never seen.
Indeed, while Vladimir was thousands of times wealthier than the average Latovian, if the average local living standard was one, then the global average had to be two or three hundred.
Vladimir was a lord yearning for power and a prosperous world, but no matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn't break into modern society; despite all his scheming, killing, and plundering, he could only extract this much money from those impoverished wretches.
Sometimes he really wished he could kill all his cunning subjects and then ask them in Hell: why are you so poor.
Poor as they were, they still ran everywhere during tax collection, wasting manpower and resources.
