The Vastness of Magical Destiny
Chapter 328: Volume 5: Lord’s Path - 13: Planning_2

Chapter 328: Volume 5: Lord’s Path Chapter 13: Planning_2

The new discovery by that crazed dwarf had Puber exhilarated. In the offshoots of the Volt Mountain Range, the dwarves were confident they had found a series of coal mines, large and small but rich in reserves. Although they were somewhat distant, if a road could be built from there to Mattdam, then the abundant hydro resources of the Catania River could be utilized for transportation, continuously delivering coal to Bahomon, which would save a considerable amount of transport power. The only problem was that the area was too remote and scarcely populated, surrounded by forests. To develop this area, not only roads had to be built, but most importantly, a small fair needed to be established to meet the various needs of coal mining development—everything was still castle in the air at this point.

After the general locations of several towns had been confirmed, Puber and Neptune also began their frenzied land acquisition. In Ugru, except for the land of the indigenous people which was re-confirmed through legal forms, all lands were re-registered by the Lord’s Mansion, especially the lands around Ugru Town, which were planned one by one. According to Puber’s design, all lands and streets within a thousand meters from the center of Ugru Town’s crossroad needed to be re-registered and classified into three categories according to their distance from the center. Anyone who wished to build houses on the streets within this thousand-meter radius had to acquire land ownership through purchase. Beyond the thousand-meter range, one only needed to pay a land ownership confirmation fee to obtain land ownership. Such classification fully granted the wealthy immigrants preferential rights and complied with Puber’s principle of maximizing the squeeze on their wallets.

Mattdam was no different, with a large area by the sea and an area out of the river mouth clearly identified as the future port dock development area. Although Mattdam’s current population was a mere thousand or more, as immigrants arrived, Puber and Neptune both believed it would develop into Caucasus’s most important external port. Of course, they were obstructed by Pirates on the Nether Sea; however, both were convinced that once Komer returned, he would definitely find a proper way to solve the problem.

Hesse’s task was even more arduous. Aside from leveraging all his connections and abilities to guide and persuade the indigenous people of Ugru and Mattdam that the arrival of over a hundred thousand immigrants would bring endless wealth and business opportunities, he also had to tightly control the public sentiment between the two areas. If any signs of trouble were detected, he had to intervene in time to nip the problem in the bud. Hesse’s agitation and propaganda did indeed play an important role, especially when the friends of Caffrey began to set up shops in Ugru and Mattdam, which greatly stimulated the locals. Under Hesse’s incitement, the merchants of the two fairs also expanded their businesses in preparation for making a fortune when the immigrants arrived. Some stores that had never existed in the towns began to appear, such as coffee shops, large hotels, weapon stores, book stores, and many other services that the indigenous people of Caucasus had never enjoyed before. The public mood, guided deliberately by Hesse and his friends, was developing smoothly in a favorable direction.

Although the situation seemed very promising, Puber did not dare to relax. After Hesse provided the help of a few adventurer friends for Ilot and Baoling, Puber decided to massively expand the Lord’s Guard to deal with various contradictions and problems that might arise with the massive influx of immigrants. A combination of carrot and stick—kindness and might—has always been the unrivaled approach of rulers. Only by doing so could the situation be firmly controlled in one’s own hands.

The Lord’s Guard had expanded from sixty formidable men to one hundred and eighty, which was just the preliminary idea after Puber’s consultations with Ilot and Baoling. With the entry of one hundred and fifty thousand strangers, it was hard to say whether there would be conflicts with the local indigenous people. Throughout the past month, under the introduction of the local natives, a steady stream of immigrants from other regions arrived at the Lord’s Mansion to register their desire to settle in Caucasus. Following the content of the announcement, Puber, in his capacity as Administrative Officer, granted them the status of legal residents. However, as the composition of the incoming population became more varied, races such as Dwarves and Half-Elves, who faced discrimination in other parts of the Continent, also started to appear. Puber was pleased yet worried. Many problems from various aspects needed early consideration. Although he had the title of Lord and the support of Hesse father and son, he was aware that his roots were shallow and many conflicts had not yet erupted. Hence, establishing a strong military force completely under his control in this remote territory was exceptionally important, a viewpoint on which Puber and Ilot entirely agreed.

Under Puber’s direction, Ilot and Baoling intentionally selected the simplistically minded Half-Beastmen when recruiting for the expanded guard. They were physically fit and robust; more importantly, they had little interaction with the local natives. Having just emerged from the shadow of being mine slaves, once they obtained the status of Free Citizens, they would naturally be grateful to the Lord who gave them freedom, making it easy to keep them under control. Baoling was in charge of basic infantry training, while Ilot and a few Adventurers took up the role of training individual soldier skills. Half a day was spent on individual combat skills, the other half on basic infantry formations, and even evenings were used by Baoling for discipline training.

When Ilot presented the fully armed Half-Beast Warriors in front of Komer, the formidable warriors caused quite a stir even in Bruce. After all, employing Half-Beastmen as warriors on such a large scale was uncommon in Human Clan-controlled regions of the Continent. Most of the Half-Beastmen living in Human Society were relegated to the lowest social class, taking on high-intensity jobs like Farmers, Miners, Lumberjacks, and Porters—these were the best jobs they could get, and many were living as slaves in society. However, Komer appeared to have always been indifferent to this, perhaps significantly influenced by his Master’s Dwarf and Barbarian lineage, which made him disregard racial and ethnic issues on the Continent.

Komer was somewhat pleased but not too surprised to see all this; however, Hozer and Lafayette, who accompanied Komer, now looked at these Half-Beast Warriors with a bit more reverence. In their eyes, these warriors seemed not much different from the savage and brutal Beastmen—just as strong and with imposing horns, just as fierce in appearance. Although they were clad in Human Clan warrior armor, the unrestrained spirit inherent in their nature was still overwhelmingly intense. These newcomers were incredibly obedient in front of Ilot. Clearly, as per their racial tradition of respecting strength, they had likely experienced the painful defeat of challenging Ilot and being beaten black and blue, just like their predecessors.

Leaving Hozer and Lafayette in the carriage, Komer, who had been stiflingly bored, finally had an opportunity to enjoy a spirited horseback ride. Whipping his horse forward, he quickly left Ilot far behind, feeling indescribably exhilarated and relaxed. This time, the journey across to Leon was exceptionally smooth. From Bruce to Darman Pass, Komer encountered only a few of Palermo’s carriages returning after delivering food to Ugru and even came across several scattered immigrants heading to Caucasus after learning of the recruitment announcement. But by then, Komer no longer had the keen anticipation he initially felt—the burden of one hundred and fifty thousand immigrants weighed heavily on him like a massive and heavy burden.