"You can rest assured. The kind of killing-for-fun behavior my brother indulged in is sothing I would never do."
After making the solemn promise, Phield changed the subject.
"Now go get a cup of afternoon tea."
"Fine."
Tisiana shot him a glare, barely managing to salvage a bit of dignity.
anwhile, within the gray mist.
"Look. Another group of corrupted cavalry is moving into Bull Territory without stopping, and the fortress isn’t intercepting them at all."
"Oh! You’re right. Violet, you weren’t lying."
Behind a massive boulder, two young won crouched in hiding, peeking out to observe.
On the road not far away, gray, decaying corrupted heavy cavalry continuously advanced toward the human fortress.
Even through the mist, their rotten plate armor reflected a chilling tallic gleam.
Iron-shod hooves pounded against the earth.
The corpse cavalry looked as though they had ridden straight out of hell, their oppressive presence nearly suffocating.
"This is highly unusual. Those undead should belong to so powerful Corrupted entity."
"Exactly. Their numbers are small, and they’re deliberately avoiding Agnes’s surveillance."
Violet’s complexion looked worse than usual. She already possessed the pale appearance of a vampire, but today she seed especially exhausted.
"Please bring this information back."
"I will."
Rosalia originally wanted to tease Violet a little, but after seeing how pale she looked, she gave up the idea.
After committing the information to mory, the two left the migrating undead horde and moved into a safer area.
"What have you been collecting?"
Violet pointed at the wooden crate in front of Rosalia.
It was filled with all kinds of random junk.
"My lord ordered to collect ores and magical items along the way. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any magical plants."
Rosalia sighed, a rare sight.
"Advancing to Tier Three requires a trendous amount of resources. Honestly, I’m worried Phield won’t be able to afford anymore."
"Magical plants? I’ve seen a few before."
Violet fell into thought.
"They weren’t useful to , so I ignored them. If you need them..."
"Please bring them to !"
Rosalia’s eyes lit up instantly.
Speaking in a sweet, pleading tone, she said,
"I won’t do anything for you, but I’d still really appreciate it if you delivered them."
"You’re unbelievable..."
Violet sighed.
"Fine. But it’ll take a few days. Those magical plants are inside the Viscount’s territory."
She leaned over Rosalia’s crate and scanned its contents.
A weak smile slowly appeared on her pale face.
"My dear young lady, I don’t know much about ores either, but why exactly did you collect dog droppings?"
"Huh? Isn’t that an ore?"
Rosalia froze in horror.
"Oh no. I’m contaminated."
"It’s not that serious."
Violet shook her head.
"Still, for a noble young lady to be helping with this kind of dirty work is rather surprising."
She tossed aside the pieces of garbage she recognized before continuing.
"I always assud only girls from poor families like us had to do this sort of labor."
"We’ve been dead for ten years already. Why bother talking about that?"
Rosalia waved dismissively.
"Besides, being a Divine Chosen isn’t inferior to being a noble."
Then she glanced at Violet.
"Speaking of which, why do you look like you’ve starred in a hundred defeat scenes? Actually, no. If you’d really perford a hundred defeat scenes, you’d probably be glowing with vitality."
"Absolutely not! You’re still just as infuriating as ever."
Violet nearly exploded.
"I was seriously injured while fighting the undead horde, that’s all."
"Maybe you should find a master and beco a sex sla... cough, cough. Maybe you should find a lord."
Rosalia’s cheeks reddened slightly as she licked her lips.
"Soone like Phield. He doesn’t care whether you’re Corrupted or a demi-human."
Then she paused.
"Actually, never mind. Don’t co. There won’t be enough to go around."
"What kind of recruitnt pitch is that? You didn’t even finish speaking before driving away."
Violet was completely speechless.
"I’m leaving."
She shook her head.
"As for contracts, I... I’m not interested. I still have more important things to do."
"Goodbye. Find yourself a lord soon."
Rosalia hoisted the crate onto her shoulder.
"It’s been so long, yet you’ve neither grown stronger nor stopped getting visibly weaker."
Only Divine Chosen who ford contracts with lords possessed the ability to advance.
Carrying the crate, Rosalia offered one final piece of advice.
"Figure out where you belong. If you ever decide you don’t want to live anymore, co find . I’ll inherit your will and eat you. Heh."
With that, Rosalia hurried back to the Grand Manor.
At that mont, Phield was handling administrative affairs inside the manor’s city hall.
"Another hundred and sixty-three people have earned free citizen status. We’ve already earned back far more than we invested."
Humming cheerfully, Phield stacked the gold coins paid for their redemption onto his desk.
At that mont, he looked exactly like a greedy tycoon straight out of a movie.
"My lord, there’s sothing else."
Kaor presented a report.
"The number of pregnant won within the territory has increased significantly. In a few months, we can expect a rise in births."
"We could implent a population tax in advance. Additional population will place pressure on agricultural production."
"The food situation isn’t a problem."
Phield tapped the table.
"By then, the second harvest will be more than enough to support the newborn population."
Besides, he was already planning a trip to Bull Territory to see what could be looted.
"As for a population tax, forget it."
He knocked lightly on the desk.
"A comrcial tax, however, can be placed on the agenda. That’s where the real money is."
The marketplace remained small, but trade had already begun flowing.
Many free citizens, especially the earliest arrivals, had started living comfortably by selling miscellaneous goods and vegetables.
So would likely beco rchants in the future.
"Your generosity is astonishing."
Kaor sighed.
In his opinion, his lord was excellent in every regard except for one thing.
He loved giving commoners benefits.
"I’m simply encouraging childbirth."
Phield casually gathered the gold coins into a small burlap pouch and tossed it into a drawer.
"Newborn children are blank slates. They’ll receive better education and beco the foundation of a stronger territory."
Then he looked up.
"Have the inventories from the Fierce Stallion convoy been completed?"
"Of course!"
Kaor puffed out his chest and straightened his clothes with professional pride.
He was extrely proud of this achievent.
"Three wagonloads of food. Dried beans, salted fish, cured at, and bread. Everything has been inspected. No poison."
"One chest containing exactly three thousand two hundred gold coins. I suspect it represents the entirety of Baron Fierce Stallion’s private treasury."
"Thirty-five sets of high-quality knight armor, including reserve equipnt. Twenty sets of heavy infantry armor. Two full wagonloads of various weapons and military gear."
"As an important border stronghold and a knightly family, Baron Fierce Stallion possessed considerable resources."
Even Kaor, who never set foot on a battlefield, could not suppress the grin spreading across his aging face.
Those were all quality suits of plate armor.
Enough to support a small-scale war with ease.
Back then, if Ashina had not been present, Tier One Divine Chosen Tisiana would have struggled to face so many knights alone.
"Indeed."
Phield chuckled happily before sighing.
"This is what generations of family accumulation look like."
He glanced at the armor and equipnt.
"With current technology, forging this much plate armor without at least ten years of accumulation would probably be impossible."
User Comments
0 comments from readers