Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste
Chapter 108: The Duke

Chapter 108: Chapter 108: The Duke

When Perfikot was building the Flying Airship, she didn’t make it too large. After all, it was only meant as her own escape vehicle, with space prepared solely for herself and Foster. There was no need to make it any bigger.

Despite this, in the cabin below the upper deck, Perfikot arranged for herself a comfortable bedroom, or rather a single cabin.

However, now this single cabin housed someone else, someone she didn’t expect, someone who shouldn’t have been there.

"Duke Gloucester, I never expected you to come to the Northern Territory personally. This is simply..." Faced with the leader of the Noble Council, Perfikot was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure how to evaluate such behavior.

He was the head of the Noble Council, akin to the prime ministers of those constitutional monarchies from the world before Perfikot’s crossing over.

That such an important national figure would travel so light and take great risks to come to the Northern Territory was beyond Perfikot’s expectations.

This also led her to some unfavorable associations, and with a troubled expression, she asked, "Did something happen back home?"

"No, quite the opposite. Everything is normal back home, and because of the progress you’ve made on the ’Arctic Research’ project, the citizens of Langton are enthusiastically discussing it. Related industries and the economy have been stimulated, seeing some development." Duke Gloucester shook his head slightly and described Langton’s changes over the past few months to Perfikot.

Hearing this, Perfikot furrowed her brow, "Then what exactly happened that would cause the head of the Noble Council to personally come to the Northern Territory? I can’t think of anything that would warrant you making the trip yourself."

"It’s about that matter," Duke Gloucester started, then glanced at Foster, who had been standing behind Perfikot all along.

"Grandpa Fu is my most trusted steward. He knows everything, and I also need his experience and wisdom," Perfikot understood Duke Gloucester’s implication but still spoke up to keep Foster.

Duke Gloucester, seeing this, didn’t say much more, only nodded and then spoke, "Miss Brandelis, I’d like to know how confident you are in your plan to deal with the impending disaster. How much progress have you made?"

"Which aspect do you mean?" Perfikot, upon hearing Duke Gloucester’s question, understood somewhat but did not reveal directly and instead asked him in return, "As for the execution, I can only say that everything is currently going smoothly. I can have the forward base built before this year’s winter sets in, provided that no unforeseen events occur.

As for other aspects, there are still some technological issues yet to be resolved, but that’s not a problem. I’m confident I can resolve everything before the disaster strikes, yet I cannot guarantee we’ll be able to handle the event itself.

Or rather, none of us can be absolutely certain before the disaster truly arrives. So what exactly do you want to know?"

After hearing Perfikot’s words, Duke Gloucester fell silent for a moment before speaking, "The crisis response committee established by the Empire to address this disaster has yet to produce a feasible plan, and Her Majesty the Empress is very disappointed with this, having expressed significant anger during the council meeting."

"Oh? Can I say it serves them right? That a group of idle lords is finally being dealt with?" Perfikot, upon hearing this news, immediately sneered sarcastically.

Duke Gloucester, understanding Perfikot’s grievances, did not offer any explanation, only sighed and said, "Had there not been progress due to your efforts, this issue might have been easier to resolve.

But precisely because of the advancements you’ve achieved, Miss Brandelis, it makes the crisis response committee look like a group of clowns.

Her Majesty the Empress is very dissatisfied with this and has ordered us to produce a feasible plan before winter sets in and take action. The Empire’s precious time cannot be wasted like this."

Saying this, Duke Gloucester sighed again, feeling dissatisfaction with those idle nobles in his heart as well.

If it weren’t for them driving Perfikot away, this genius girl would still be advising the crisis response committee in Langton, rather than becoming such a vivid contrast to their incompetence that the Empress wielded her whip to chastise them.

"So?" Perfikot, detecting Duke Gloucester’s emotions, asked with a hint of a cold smile, "So, are you hoping I’ll give you some advice, Duke?"

Although Perfikot felt discontent towards the Empire’s nobles, she didn’t actually intend to watch them continue in their incompetence, leaving the Empire’s millions of citizens helpless.

If Duke Gloucester was willing to seek her help, Perfikot wasn’t unwilling to give him some advice.

However, Duke Gloucester shook his head, denying it, "Don’t underestimate the nobles of the Empire too much. While they often hold each other back over issues of interest, when they truly need to work, they are capable of doing good work."

"So you have a plan?" Perfikot was not surprised by this. After all, she knew the true nature of the Empire’s nobles.

They are indeed incompetent, but when someone can force them to work, they can indeed produce something.

Typically, the person forcing them to work is the leader of the Noble Council, namely Duke Gloucester.

In the past, Duke Gloucester had always performed well in this regard, but the crisis response committee’s bickering and lackluster performance nonetheless drew dissatisfaction from the Empress, who further vented it on the crisis response committee.

Unbeknownst to Perfikot, owing to the progress made in the Northern Territory, three nobles in the crisis response committee had already been punished by the Empress, with one family’s title even stripped.

In any case, however, the crisis response committee had come up with a disaster response plan.

"Yes, we do have a plan. Drawing from everything you’ve done in the Northern Territory, they’ve modified your plan and proposed the Northern Expansion Strategy." Duke Gloucester explained to Perfikot, simultaneously picking up a document from the table beside him and handing it to her.

Perfikot quickly skimmed through it, the plan could be said to be almost identical to the one she was currently implementing.

The main difference was using Northern expansion as an excuse to dispatch people from the Empire’s homeland to the Northern Territory to establish settlement points, and then, as the weather turned colder, expand these settlement points into shelters, to shelter people migrating from the homeland.

"It’s a somewhat workable plan, but what does this have to do with your visit to the Northern Territory, Duke?" Perfikot was still puzzled as to how this plan was related to Duke Gloucester’s secret visit.