Lord: Stripped of My Inheritance from the Start

Chapter 464 - 437: The First Large City

Flame Castle. This was the castle of Duke Andrea of the Villa Duchy.

In terms of sheer magnificence, it could rival even the Golden Feather Palace.

Duke Andrea sat upon his throne, listening to Order Officer Zack report the details of the Black Gold Brotherhood’s battle and the compensation for the more prominent figures who had fallen. His brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

The Villa Duchy had not participated directly in this battle, but the Black Gold Brotherhood had been their enforcers.

Andrea had never expected that Wushan Castle, by dividing its forces, could completely uproot the faction he supported.

This wasn’t just one or two Knight Squads, but five entire Knight Orders, led by three Meteor Knights.

And they had been completely annihilated.

As someone who had long held a grudge against Lurans, this news was a huge headache for Andrea.

On one hand, he was pained by the loss of three Meteor Knights in this battle. On the other, his enemy was growing stronger and stronger, a development he was even more unwilling to see.

"My Lord, should we continue to gather forces in the Black Pine Mountain area and look for another opportunity to invade Wushan Territory?"

Order Officer Zack asked with a bow.

Andrea shook his head. "No. Such minor skirmishes are no longer of any consequence to Wushan Territory."

If they were to truly fight, the Villa Duchy would have to enter the fray itself, not rely on a hastily propped-up armed group.

But if they were to truly fight, they would not only have to consider a pretext for launching an attack, but also whether it was worth it.

Right now, it didn’t seem worth it.

Thinking of this, Andrea couldn’t help but sigh internally.

Originally, with the internal strife in the Tricia Kingdom, Ference had approached him, wanting to use the Alien Race in Moonlight Valley to ignite a war in Wushan Territory. The plan was to then let the flames of war spread throughout the Kingdom, perhaps even reaching Golden Feather City.

That way, they could have reaped greater benefits from the chaos.

Now, not only had Wushan Territory withstood the pressure, but it had also dealt with the crucial link of Moonlight Valley. The trigger for inciting internal strife was gone, and his plan with Ference and Screaming Island was in shambles.

In a way, the actions of Lurans and Ronin had actually solved a considerable problem for Bruno.

’Looks like we’ll really have to answer Bruno’s call and send troops against the Tricia Kingdom after all.’

If they couldn’t gain any benefits within the Kingdom, they could only turn their attention elsewhere.

However, they held a deep-seated prejudice against King Bruno. The thought of letting him and his son expand their territory, or even re-establish the Empire, was more unbearable to them than death.

In fact, it wasn’t just Andrea; Duke Ference and the faction from Screaming Island were also finding the situation unbearable.

This was especially true for Screaming Island. MacLaren had sent the Viscount of Crescent Island to personally lead the force, resulting in Screaming Island’s direct loss of a powerful War General.

The key issue was that MacLaren simply couldn’t figure out how they had been defeated. Five warships led by a Meteor Knight... how could they lose to Rapids Island, a place defended by a single Silver Knight, Karda?

Unable to determine the reason for his failure, MacLaren could only scale back his strategy and give up his designs on Rapids Island.

One decisive blow saves you from a hundred more.

With this one battle, Wushan Territory had completely resolved the border issues that had plagued it for nearly thirty years.

「A few days later.」

Ronin and his men, laden with spoils, withdrew to Shore City.

Next came the matter of providing compensation for the fallen Knights and soldiers. Both Lurans and Ronin would have to spend a large sum of Gold Coins on this. They would also grant land to the families of the deceased, exempt them from a certain amount of taxes, and so on.

Ronin merely set the policy for these matters; he didn’t need to worry about the specific execution.

"My Lord, according to current statistics, nearly twenty thousand people from Moonlight Valley are willing to migrate to your territory."

Joffrey, who came from the Wilderness Tribe, now oversaw the military affairs of Giant Stone City and held a rather high position in Wubei Territory.

Back then, he had resolved to follow Ronin, a goal that he had now achieved.

But Joffrey knew he could go even further, because the Lord before him was no mere Mortal.

"Only twenty thousand?" The number was lower than he had expected.

Although Mephisto had transformed two to three hundred thousand people into the Witch Soul Race, Moonlight Valley was still a long-established Count’s Domain. A loss of two to three hundred thousand was only about half its population.

Joffrey explained, "Many of them feel the war is over and don’t want to leave their homes. Others have been recruited by Baron Philip and others like him, as their territories are also short on people."

Ronin nodded slightly. "I understand. Twenty thousand isn’t bad. Move them all to Giant Stone City and Chishan Town. Tell Sailin to speed up the mining at the Chishan Iron Mine. I need as much iron ore as possible!"

"Yes, My Lord! I’ll see to it at once!"

Joffrey was delighted. The larger the population of the city he managed, the more Knights would emerge from it, and the easier it would be to form Knight Squads.

Although settling twenty thousand people would be difficult, the grain obtained from this plunder—no, this victory—was more than enough to support them.

After handling the affairs in Shore City, Ronin activated his Wind Shadow Skill. Huge, transparent wings unfurled, and he streaked across the sky above the city at extreme speed, racing toward Purple Thunder Territory.

In fact, two days earlier, he had already received news of victory from Macken—not only had the invading enemies been eliminated, but even Black Pine Mountain had been reclaimed.

Macken had also reported the spoils of war to Ronin. Besides things like Armor, armor, warhorses, and grain, the main prize was the population.

Black Pine Mountain already had a sizable population. Furthermore, in order to support the newly added Knight Orders and to plan for an expansion into Wushan Territory, a large number of personnel had been gathered there for logistics.

Now that Black Pine Mountain had been occupied by Wushan Territory, it was impossible for any merchant caravans or individuals from the Villa Duchy to continue supplying it with grain. The eighty to ninety thousand people left behind would soon face famine.

Knowing Ronin’s concern for population growth, Macken immediately discussed the matter with Melonika, Kabil, and the others, then brought over thirty-six thousand people back to Purple Thunder City.

With Purple Thunder Territory’s grain reserves and the yield from the recent autumn harvest, accommodating so many people was not a problem at all.

The Wind Shadow Skill was indeed fast. Two hours later, Ronin arrived at Purple Thunder Castle.

In reality, if he had pushed it to its maximum speed, the journey likely would have taken only an hour.

But the consumption would have been too great; his Magic Power couldn’t sustain it.

"My Lord, you’re here!"

Macken came out to greet him.

"Congratulations, Macken. That was a beautifully fought battle!"

"It was all thanks to the coordinated effort of the several Knight Orders."

Macken, with his usual composed and steady nature, remained humble.

"Without your strength, this battle couldn’t have been won so easily."

The enemy had five Knight Orders. If not for Macken, Melonika alone could never have defeated the three Meteor Knights.

"Have you taken care of the matter I assigned to you?"

Macken led Ronin into the study. "After receiving your letter, I had Saimon begin work on it. The statistics were compiled into a register last night."

Hearing the name, Ronin couldn’t help but think of the young Mage who had taken the initiative to pledge his allegiance that day. "How is Saimon performing?"

"He’s performing well."

Macken said, "I’m preparing to make him my deputy."

Ronin nodded slightly. He could leave such matters for Macken to decide; he didn’t need to involve himself in every detail.

He walked over to the desk and opened the register that lay in the center.

The precise number of captives brought back from Black Pine Mountain was 36,122. Adding them to Purple Thunder City’s original sixty-eight thousand residents, the city’s population now exceeded one hundred thousand.

Setting aside the issue of how these hundred thousand people would live in the future, this number alone had already met the "large city" requirement for the [Siege and Conquest] achievement.

Therefore, as he saw this number, a line of text appeared before Ronin’s eyes:

["Siege and Conquest" achievement complete. Attribute Points +2000, Energy Essence +4000]