Chapter 312: Spies and Harvest

"You can rest assured. The kind of killing-for-fun behavior my brother indulged in is something I would never do."

After making the solemn promise, Phield changed the subject.

"Now go get me a cup of afternoon tea."

"Fine."

Tisiana shot him a glare, barely managing to salvage a bit of dignity.

Meanwhile, within the gray mist.

"Look. Another group of corrupted cavalry is moving into Bull Territory without stopping, and the fortress isn’t intercepting them at all."

"Oh! You’re right. Violet, you weren’t lying."

Behind a massive boulder, two young women crouched in hiding, peeking out to observe.

On the road not far away, gray, decaying corrupted heavy cavalry continuously advanced toward the human fortress.

Even through the mist, their rotten plate armor reflected a chilling metallic gleam.

Iron-shod hooves pounded against the earth.

The corpse cavalry looked as though they had ridden straight out of hell, their oppressive presence nearly suffocating.

"This is highly unusual. Those undead should belong to some powerful Corrupted entity."

"Exactly. Their numbers are small, and they’re deliberately avoiding Agnes’s surveillance."

Violet’s complexion looked worse than usual. She already possessed the pale appearance of a vampire, but today she seemed especially exhausted.

"Please bring this information back."

"I will."

Rosalia originally wanted to tease Violet a little, but after seeing how pale she looked, she gave up the idea.

After committing the information to memory, the two left the migrating undead horde and moved into a safer area.

"What have you been collecting?"

Violet pointed at the wooden crate in front of Rosalia.

It was filled with all kinds of random junk.

"My lord ordered me to collect ores and magical items along the way. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any magical plants."

Rosalia sighed, a rare sight.

"Advancing to Tier Three requires a tremendous amount of resources. Honestly, I’m worried Phield won’t be able to afford me anymore."

"Magical plants? I’ve seen a few before."

Violet fell into thought.

"They weren’t useful to me, so I ignored them. If you need them..."

"Please bring them to me!"

Rosalia’s eyes lit up instantly.

Speaking in a sweet, pleading tone, she said,

"I won’t do anything for you, but I’d still really appreciate it if you delivered them."

"You’re unbelievable..."

Violet sighed.

"Fine. But it’ll take a few days. Those magical plants are inside the Viscount’s territory."

She leaned over Rosalia’s crate and scanned its contents.

A weak smile slowly appeared on her pale face.

"My dear young lady, I don’t know much about ores either, but why exactly did you collect dog droppings?"

"Huh? Isn’t that an ore?"

Rosalia froze in horror.

"Oh no. I’m contaminated."

"It’s not that serious."

Violet shook her head.

"Still, for a noble young lady to be helping with this kind of dirty work is rather surprising."

She tossed aside the pieces of garbage she recognized before continuing.

"I always assumed only girls from poor families like us had to do this sort of labor."

"We’ve been dead for ten years already. Why bother talking about that?"

Rosalia waved dismissively.

"Besides, being a Divine Chosen isn’t inferior to being a noble."

Then she glanced at Violet.

"Speaking of which, why do you look like you’ve starred in a hundred defeat scenes? Actually, no. If you’d really performed a hundred defeat scenes, you’d probably be glowing with vitality."

"Absolutely not! You’re still just as infuriating as ever."

Violet nearly exploded.

"I was seriously injured while fighting the undead horde, that’s all."

"Maybe you should find a master and become a sex sla... cough, cough. Maybe you should find a lord."

Rosalia’s cheeks reddened slightly as she licked her lips.

"Someone like Phield. He doesn’t care whether you’re Corrupted or a demi-human."

Then she paused.

"Actually, never mind. Don’t come. There won’t be enough to go around."

"What kind of recruitment pitch is that? You didn’t even finish speaking before driving me away."

Violet was completely speechless.

"I’m leaving."

She shook her head.

"As for contracts, I... I’m not interested. I still have more important things to do."

"Goodbye. Find yourself a lord soon."

Rosalia hoisted the crate onto her shoulder.

"It’s been so long, yet you’ve neither grown stronger nor stopped getting visibly weaker."

Only Divine Chosen who formed contracts with lords possessed the ability to advance.

Carrying the crate, Rosalia offered one final piece of advice.

"Figure out where you belong. If you ever decide you don’t want to live anymore, come find me. I’ll inherit your will and eat you. Heh."

With that, Rosalia hurried back to the Grand Manor.

At that moment, Phield was handling administrative affairs inside the manor’s city hall.

"Another hundred and sixty-three people have earned free citizen status. We’ve already earned back far more than we invested."

Humming cheerfully, Phield stacked the gold coins paid for their redemption onto his desk.

At that moment, he looked exactly like a greedy tycoon straight out of a movie.

"My lord, there’s something else."

Kaor presented a report.

"The number of pregnant women within the territory has increased significantly. In a few months, we can expect a rise in births."

"We could implement a population tax in advance. Additional population will place pressure on agricultural production."

"The food situation isn’t a problem."

Phield tapped the table.

"By then, the second harvest will be more than enough to support the newborn population."

Besides, he was already planning a trip to Bull Territory to see what could be looted.

"As for a population tax, forget it."

He knocked lightly on the desk.

"A commercial tax, however, can be placed on the agenda. That’s where the real money is."

The marketplace remained small, but trade had already begun flowing.

Many free citizens, especially the earliest arrivals, had started living comfortably by selling miscellaneous goods and vegetables.

Some would likely become merchants in the future.

"Your generosity is astonishing."

Kaor sighed.

In his opinion, his lord was excellent in every regard except for one thing.

He loved giving commoners benefits.

"I’m simply encouraging childbirth."

Phield casually gathered the gold coins into a small burlap pouch and tossed it into a drawer.

"Newborn children are blank slates. They’ll receive better education and become the foundation of a stronger territory."

Then he looked up.

"Have the inventories from the Fierce Stallion convoy been completed?"

"Of course!"

Kaor puffed out his chest and straightened his clothes with professional pride.

He was extremely proud of this achievement.

"Three wagonloads of food. Dried beans, salted fish, cured meat, and bread. Everything has been inspected. No poison."

"One chest containing exactly three thousand two hundred gold coins. I suspect it represents the entirety of Baron Fierce Stallion’s private treasury."

"Thirty-five sets of high-quality knight armor, including reserve equipment. Twenty sets of heavy infantry armor. Two full wagonloads of various weapons and military gear."

"As an important border stronghold and a knightly family, Baron Fierce Stallion possessed considerable resources."

Even Kaor, who never set foot on a battlefield, could not suppress the grin spreading across his aging face.

Those were all quality suits of plate armor.

Enough to support a small-scale war with ease.

Back then, if Ashina had not been present, Tier One Divine Chosen Tisiana would have struggled to face so many knights alone.

"Indeed."

Phield chuckled happily before sighing.

"This is what generations of family accumulation look like."

He glanced at the armor and equipment.

"With current technology, forging this much plate armor without at least ten years of accumulation would probably be impossible."