Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

Lille is the most important industrial city of Sidney in the North.


Two hundred years ago, Lille entered its period of development—the steam engines and textile machines from the Engineering Association made it the center of industrialization of the Sidney Union early on. The local artisan industry was directly crushed by various mechanized factories, and the various light industrial products from Lille became the first choice in the lives of many commoners. Factory owners made a fortune from this.


With the discovery of iron and coal mines in nearby provinces, and the laying of railways, Lille further established its status as a trade hub.


However, with the development of Lille and the first rise and decline of the Northern Doctrine, worker uprisings failed, and the exploitation by the nobles and the rich grew increasingly terrifying.


Chapter 286: Battlefield