Chapter 514: Chapter 487: The Changes in Wubei Territory

With the end of the battle for Mist City, the two kingdoms entered a brief period of truce.

To reward the nobles who had performed exceptionally in the war, Bruno scheduled a victory banquet for the end of the month. The venue was not set in the Golden Feather Palace, but rather in Mist Castle.

This was a place he had fought for in his youth but failed to capture. It was also the greatest regret of his father, His Majesty Oduin IV Klinsmann, before his passing.

Now that the city had been taken by the Oduin Kingdom, he, as the current King, naturally felt it necessary to make a trip here.

The victory banquet was also a reward ceremony. It was believed that the nobles who led the assault on Mist City would receive handsome rewards, and the greatest point of interest was, naturally, Ronin.

Many speculated that His Majesty the King would once again raise the rank of this young noble, who had only recently become a Marquis.

Just as Broel and the others had said in Mist Castle that day, in their eyes, Ronin was already the Oduin Kingdom’s next Duke.

After receiving the invitation to the victory banquet, Ronin was also full of anticipation. Becoming a Duke would bring him a significant boost, moving him one step closer to the Legendary realm and giving him greater confidence in the upcoming struggles against the Alien Races.

However, this was all just speculation from outsiders. How Ronin would actually be rewarded for his performance in the war still depended on Bruno’s decision.

But Ronin had no intention of just waiting to be told what would happen.

He had Blanche return to Golden Feather City, ostensibly to visit her family, but in reality, she carried two of his hopes with her.

First, naturally, was to become a Duke.

Second, he hoped to have the area from Watchtower Castle to Moonlight Valley incorporated into his domain, becoming part of his new Duke’s Domain.

Although proactively making such requests might come across as arrogant and could easily arouse the wariness and resentment of others, Ronin had no intention of doing nothing and simply leaving things to fate.

Besides, it wasn’t as if he was only making demands without offering anything in return.

At the very least, the Oduin Kingdom stood to gain enormous benefits in the upcoming wars.

Besides, Bruno could also present his own ideas. It was something they could negotiate.

Ronin had Carlos escort Blanche to the Golden Feather Palace, while he himself used the Wind Shadow Skill to return to the Wubei Territory.

More than half of the year 971 of the Imperial Calendar had passed. During this time, the Wubei Territory had undergone earth-shattering changes in many aspects.

The first thing the people of the territory truly felt was the ever-increasing population. Even Mountain Forest Town, once a poor and remote backwater, now saw merchant caravans of all sizes coming and going, purchasing the paper produced there to sell elsewhere.

Although sheepskin parchment still held a high status in the Wushan Territory, many people had already begun using this convenient and practical "Mountain Forest Paper." If for no other reason, its production cost was far cheaper than that of parchment.

This also significantly lowered the cost of books, making the circulation of knowledge much cheaper than before.

Besides the growing population, the reputation of the Wubei Territory’s major industries was also on the rise.

First was coal mining. While attracting laborers to mine coal, it also exposed many people to this special resource. In the neighboring Pasture City, for example, Marvin Viscount discovered a similar mine in his territory and even made a special trip to Swamp Town to learn mining techniques.

Next was the popularization of the loom. With Master Dan’s introduction of a new flax loom, the flax produced within the Wubei Territory was no longer sufficient to meet the demands of its textile industry.

As a result, flax had to be continuously purchased from the outside for processing, which had led to Sanfang Town increasingly resembling one large textile factory.

New industries meant abundant employment opportunities.

In the past two years, the food supply in the Wubei Territory had become plentiful, and the common people had found more ways to earn money.

Even though Ronin was often away from the territory, all his subjects were grateful to their busy Lord for bringing them a life they had never expected.

In addition to the two changes above, the Wubei Territory also now had its own academy.

Wubei Academy was divided into three campuses. The main campus taught basic knowledge such as language and mathematics and was open to all school-aged students. The other two campuses were open to Knights and Mages, respectively.

The Mage campus was located in the Mysterious Valley, which housed a Teleportation Array.

As the nominal dean, Bellora Great Mage was so eager to study the Teleportation Array and the confinement Array that had once bound Carlos that she wished she could move her entire laboratory into the cave.

Finally, there was the establishment of the new city, Wubei City.

Ronin didn’t know much about city planning, but that didn’t stop talented individuals in this field from joining in the new city’s construction.

Wubei City had now begun to take shape. The castle in the Wubei Fortress, in particular, was already quite impressive in its scale and presence, even though not even a third of it was complete.

Ronin wasn’t particularly interested in building castles, but Wilson, Chahar, and the others repeatedly insisted that this was the heart of the territory, its very origin, and that not having a proper castle was a disservice to his status.

"My Lord, these are letters from the Purple Thunder Territory and Rapids Island."

His manservant, Gallon, bowed and handed several letters to Ronin.

The Gallon of today no longer had his former naive and simple appearance; he was now dressed in fine, expensive linen clothes.

But even so, he remained cautious and respectful in Ronin’s presence.

Ronin raised an eyebrow. ’If Macken and Karda had anything urgent, they would send a Griffin. Why are they bothering with letters now?’

He opened them and saw that both began by describing the development of their respective territories and the formation of their Knight Orders. This was all secondary information.

The main reason they had written was to request to join the war.

They wanted to participate in a valuable war like the one for Mist Castle.

Unfortunately, Ronin had primarily only brought the Knight Order from Moonlight Valley, excluding both Rapids Island and the Purple Thunder Territory.

As two men who were single-mindedly bent on earning merit, they were naturally eager for battle.

Ronin couldn’t help but laugh, not having expected that they would write letters for such a reason.

This, however, put him in a difficult position.

He had originally intended for Rapids Island to be a counter against Screaming Island.

But now, the Fleming Clan had quieted down and wasn’t causing any trouble, so it wasn’t appropriate for him to go looking for a fight with them.

’I can’t just go play pirate and start robbing people, can I?’

As for the Purple Thunder Territory, it was meant to defend against any moves from the Villa Duchy.

But Andrea, like MacLaren, hadn’t continued to create organizations like the Black Gold Brotherhood, leaving Macken rather idle over there.

’When the war against the Tricia Kingdom starts, I could transfer Macken over.’

Ronin looked at the map. ’Yes, I’ll have Wilson take some men to the Purple Thunder Territory to investigate. They can see if it’s possible to open up a road through the northern part of the territory to the coast, build a pier, and connect the Purple Thunder Territory with Rapids Island.’

Screaming Island’s route to the Crimson Front, which the Villa Duchy was responsible for, was by heading south via the East Sea.

In other words, Ronin’s ships could sail along the coastline and circumnavigate the Villa Duchy.

Once the great steel ships were successfully built in the future, just sailing them out would be a powerful deterrent.

"Gallon, relay my thoughts to Wilson. Have him organize a team to survey the area. As for any needed funds, have him apply to Chahar."

"Yes, Master!"

After Gallon left, Omar, the official in charge of the territory’s population, delivered the latest census data for the Wubei Territory.

As Omar handed over the thick stack of documents, familiar text appeared before Ronin’s eyes:

["Siege and Conquest" achievement unlocked. Attribute Points +8000, Energy Essence +16000]

’Blanche said that Wubei City had already gathered a population of over one hundred thousand. It seems that was true.’

"Tell me about the manpower situation in Wubei City."

Ronin said, gesturing for Bella to pour Omar a cup of tea.

Simon had already completed the modifications for the steam locomotive and laid a section of test track. The next step was to begin the large-scale construction of the railway.

Ronin needed a large number of high-quality laborers who were willing to endure hardship, had strong practical skills, and could follow instructions.

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