The Vastness of Magical Destiny
Chapter 351: Volume 6: Cautious Planning - 9: Shadow

With the complete eradication of the ogre, the Bahomon Fine Iron Mine was just starting operations. Although Caffrey and his friends owned only a minor share in the mine, Komer and Puber had already agreed to let Caffrey’s friends with experience in mining and management take charge. Of course, Komer also made his demands clear: they could not employ the forced labor and brutish management seen in the mines of the Leon Region to the north. All miners here were legitimate citizens of the territory with their freedom rights intact.

The sensational effect of the ogre slaying was beyond Komer’s expectations. The four ogre heads hanging from the flagpole outside the Lord’s Mansion, after being processed by Ilot, looked exceptionally fierce and terrifying. The massive hide was also affixed by Ilot to the wooden plaque outside the door, complementing the gruesome heads on the flagpole. With Hesse’s meticulous planning, the tale of the Lord personally vanquishing the ogre swiftly spread throughout Caucasus. Whether they were indigenous people, recent immigrants, mortals, or other races of citizens—from Ugru to Mattdam, and from Bahomon to Darman—in those two weeks, the topic of choice in taverns and coffee shops was the ogre. When speaking of the demon’s (Komer’s) conquest of the ogre, people began to use a new term—our Lord. This signified that Komer’s status in the entire Caucasus was gradually being accepted and solidified among the people.

Komer had not anticipated that public sentiment could be stirred this way. He hadn’t expected working for his own self-interest would generate such a stir, to the extent that he had to seriously consider how to leverage this enormous benefit the event had brought.

The news that he was about to visit the Southern Barbarian Territory was also timely released. This rekindled the already subsiding ogre incident. The Lord’s single-handed slaying of the ogre followed by another display of divine power, earning the respect of the proud and overbearing barbarians, was polished anew and launched by Puber. Having witnessed the power of public opinion, Puber realized pushing Komer’s reputation to a pinnacle was an inexhaustible benefit for securing the Lord’s Mansion’s rule, maintaining stability throughout Caucasus, and promoting the Lord’s Mansion’s various policies. The wonderful legend that the Lord was an Archmage and rumors that he had apprenticed under a certain dominator on the Continent were fervently discussed in the taverns. The mysterious origin of Komer’s magic skills had become a topic Caucasians were most eager to debate and explore.

Ordinary citizens were naturally enthralled by their Lord’s abilities and charm, but the upper echelons were more focused on the acquisition of practical benefits. When they received through reliable channels that Komer had reached an understanding with the Barbarian Tribes to the south regarding boundary issues and had won their friendship, planning to visit the Barbarian Territory in three weeks, both the discerning individuals among the indigenous people and the upper-class gentry within the immigrant groups began contemplating how this news would bring change to Caucasus.

The defiant barbarians had always been Caucasus’s most dangerous neighbors. Although there hadn’t been conflicts with Caucasians for several decades, the barbarians had persistently refused entry of other races into their southern borderlands. Over ten years ago, a few adventurers were captured by the barbarians for entering the disputed border region, ultimately being executed and having their corpses sent back to Ugru—since then, no one dared to adventure there. While only a little over two hundred miles from Ugru, it seemed the barbarians also preferred to maintain a ’good-neighbor’ policy of mutual non-visitation, except during famine years when they sometimes needed to pass through Caucasus for food. Most of the time, it was rare for Caucasians to catch a glimpse of the barbarians.

The poor relationship with the barbarians also continuously impacted Caucasus’s reputation. In Cyprus, when Caucasus was mentioned, aside from the mysterious and horrifying Damarlinsk Castle, it was the threat of barbarians, as if comparing them to the Beastmen to the north, ready to invade and plunder at any moment. However, reality proved that the behavior of the barbarians differed greatly from the northern Beastmen. So long as one did not offend their dignity or harm their interests, they refrained from any outrageous acts.

But now it appeared all issues were easily resolved. Our Lord had effortlessly earned the respect of the barbarians, who even invited him to visit their territory, never before entered by outsiders. What did this mean? Could it be that the barbarians were truly planning to change their policies and live in harmony with—or even open relations to—Caucasus?