Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 336 - 336 164 Miss You Foot Man_3

336: Chapter 164: Miss You, Foot Man_3 336: Chapter 164: Miss You, Foot Man_3 Reality isn’t like a game, where you can’t turn off friendly fire.

In a well-organized military formation, it’s manageable, but once you’re in a chaotic melee, if friend and foe are equipped similarly, seeing red and accidentally stabbing your own person can’t bring a smile to anyone’s face.

Of course, these Chain Armor coats aren’t luxurious like the Lord’s Guard, with no dyeing or printing.

On the crude gray coats, there is only a simple sketch of the Sword Wing emblem.

By itself, this simple Sword Wing Badge might seem monotonous, but when all the warriors wear it together, the sight must carry a certain impressive air.

Leon only hoped that the company from that island nation in his previous life, the one that made action figures in Nottingham, wouldn’t cross time and space to send him a cease and desist letter.

After going to the training field, he and Mr.

Brian Sr.

reminded everyone that the selection for Crossbowmen would officially start tomorrow, and then he took Azeryan home to rest.

Since they didn’t know if the Death Claw was still sunbathing in the backyard, Leon and Azeryan didn’t ride horses but simply strolled through the streets.

While chatting, they could still hear the rhythmical and joyful sound of trumpets coming from the village head.

“Another household getting married?” Azeryan looked toward the bustling noise.

“Mhm, based on the previous household’s application for the old village marketplace, this time it’s a girl from the village who’s brought over a young man from Selva,” Leon said, smiling.

A new addition to the Selvian population, of course, made him happy.

These days, what the territory didn’t lack were the weddings of Subjects happening every few days.

Initially, Leon was quite interested in joining the hustle and showing up at his Subjects’ weddings to display his people-friendly attitude.

But he couldn’t hold up against doing it so often; going every time seriously interfered with the civil administration that was now in full swing, so later on, he gradually stopped appearing at weddings in his territory.

Instead, he sent Lena to attend on his behalf, delivering a gift and his blessings to the newlyweds.

Nowadays, Selvian men were hot commodities in the eyes of widows and young girls from surrounding villages.

Whether it was middle-aged men who, after losing a wife or child, wanted to leverage their remaining “capability” to leave behind offspring, or young men with enough means who wanted to marry quickly before joining the military, finding a wife was easy.

After all, their economic ability was plain to see – with money, where can’t you find a wife?

Nevertheless, Leon was especially careful to avoid population outflow.

Naturally, young and strong Selvian men wouldn’t up and leave Selva, abandoning their inheritances to marry into another family.

But there were no shortage of well-off young women in Selva, and if they were to marry out as was customary, the village would lose a population and a wealthy family, which would be a great loss.

So Selva had long established relevant local laws.

Local women, unless marrying someone from the village or from Longka or Platon, were not permitted to relocate.

The man had to move to Selva to settle.

That, of course, was not easy.

Population shifts were unfavorable to Selva, and naturally, the Lords of the Thorny Flower Territory didn’t welcome them either.

Generally speaking, aside from more liberal areas like cities, it was almost impossible for serfs and tenants on most territories to be allowed to move freely.

Even for wealthier freemen who wished to relocate, they had to pay a substantial Relocation Tax, which not everyone could afford.

Under these limitations, the number of people able to afford the Relocation Tax and immigrate to Selva was extraordinarily few.

But few didn’t mean none, and Leon still regularly met with young men from outside who, hoping to marry a Selvian girl, presented their cases to him.

Weighing the benefits of population growth, Leon introduced another policy in response: he would write personally to the Lord of the man’s territory, explaining the situation and subsidizing a portion of the Relocation Tax the man had to pay to his original Lord.

Looking long-term, the benefits of an increasing population of able-bodied individuals far outweighed a small financial loss.

The execution of territorial policy was more successful than Leon had expected.

In fact, such a minor matter found no Lord of the Thorny Flower Territory who wasn’t willing to do a favor for the man known as: the Snake Slayer of Selva, the Griffin who swallowed the wolf in the battle of Longka, and currently the most promising Square Banner Knight of their family.

A Lord or two from the territories could be traded for a slight favor and friendship from this Legendary Knight without a single Thorny Flower Knight begrudging the deal.

According to last month’s tally, counting both men and women who migrated to Selva due to marriage, long-term hired craftsmen and laborers, new residents from Aiken, and so on…

just these documented residents alone had reached close to five hundred, and that didn’t include the Thorny Flower Family and Count Trolsa’s supply camps to the east, or the constant stream of merchant caravans nearby.

The number of transients each month was skyrocketing, nearly reaching the number of permanent residents.

Now, excluding Azeryan’s and Lokhak’s Subjects, Selva also boasted a fluctuating population of around a thousand people, with an atmosphere that had changed drastically from the past.

The whole village had reached the standards of a developing town by the norms of the current era.

All that remained was to ensure that infrastructure development kept pace.

As he walked past Subjects who enthusiastically greeted him and Azeryan on the street, Leon was filled with deep satisfaction.

He had watched with his own eyes as the once struggling village on the verge of collapse slowly developed under his guidance to its current scale.

The sense of achievement was even more thrilling than mastering a perfect management game.

Because unlike a game, each person before him was a living individual who would express gratitude and respect as their lives improved.

Even though most of the time, Azeryan handled the administration and execution of the Kingdom’s civil issues, Leon only had to provide strategic direction…

Opening the front door, Leon saw Miss Elena receiving a weary messenger in the entrance hall.

“Oh…

Mr.

Leon, you’ve arrived just in time.

This gentleman says he is a messenger from Great Vestra Territory, from Count Rahman of Duwana County; he is seeking an audience with you,” Elena quickly introduced.

“Count Rahman?” Leon paused for a moment.

He remembered Duwana County, the county famous for the Duwana War Dogs.

Wasn’t that Lady Adelina’s family home?

Azeryan reminded him, “If I’m not mistaken, that Count Rahman should be Lady Adelina’s father.”