Due to the reform of education, a large number of civilians started to move from Sibor to Oditore after the news spread. They heard about Oditore's school. To the civilians, getting rid of their illiteracy and obtaining a degree from the Empire was a very glorious thing. This meant that their work and salary would increase exponentially. Now that they could obtain knowledge at a low price, it even caused a craze in the entire Empire.
The church in Oditore Castle was still under construction. Bishop Becky's reputation was rising steadily due to the increase in the number of civilians who believed in the God of Light. Civilians who saw the beautiful bishop on the street would stop and greet her devoutly.
The people here were simple and honest, and because the Church of Light encouraged people to do good, conflicts rarely broke out in the territory. Surprisingly, the conflicts between the trolls and humans that many people were worried about did not become a problem for the territory.
The main reason was due to the gentle nature of the Forest Trolls. They weren't hot-tempered at all, and they would tolerate anything. The residents of Oditore were also afraid of the Forest Trolls. Even though they traded with each other, they didn't usually quarrel with each other.
Moreover, most of the Forest Trolls who went to Pombo Village to trade were female. Their appearance made the civilians less likely to quarrel with them.
The Cave Trolls' captives were quickly dealt with. The location of their tribe was soon found, so Oditore had another batch of manpower.
Including the Gondor tribe, there were two tribes of Cave Trolls that belonged to Oditore. However, many of them did not have their own villages. These guys needed to be controlled. Otherwise, if they did something unexpected, they would not be able to stop them in time.
The two tribes of Cave Trolls had more than a hundred adult warriors who could fight. Although these guys were not tall, they were much stronger than ordinary soldiers.
These abnormally strong fellows were first assigned to various villages that were under construction as coolies. After staying there for a month, they actually began to receive military training from their instructors. They were given unsharpened scimitars and heavy iron tower shields, and constantly practiced battle formations.
The military structure of the territory was now a few more organizations. Many of the original guards in Odittore had been changed to patrol the entire territory. This was absolutely unrealistic in the past because the soldiers only needed to defend Odittore Fortress with its tightly shut gates. Other than patrolling the city walls, there was no need for any patrol teams.
But now, the situation had changed greatly. The people in the territory traveled back and forth between the village, the castle, and Pombo Town. There were also the children who came to school. Under the orders of the Lord, the soldiers traveled back and forth between the newly repaired main road all day long to protect the people's safety.
Due to Elena's hard work and Birkins's influence, the business circle in the territory was built up quickly. Moreover, after the feudal lord announced to lower the citizens' taxes to an unimaginable height in the spring, the influence of the newly promoted Baron among the citizens was comparable to their ruler, Emperor Charnak.
The people did not want much. It was not that there could not be corrupt nobles. What the people feared and hated were the nobles who did not do anything!
※ ※ ※
"Nana?
Aren't you going to practice today? "
Many stopped writing and looked up at Sylvia, who walked into the house with a plate of fruit in her hand. She was wearing a close-fitting long dress, and her brows were slightly furrowed as she slowly walked over.
"I'm taking a day off today because Father has replied to me."
Sylvia leaned on the edge of the wide table, stabbed a piece of peeled fruit with a fork, and fed it to Many naturally.
"It's very sweet." Many smiled and pulled Nana onto his lap. "What did Elder Wendell say?
Is he blaming me, a little mercenary, for abducting you and not letting you go back? "
"Silly!"
Sylner's frowning eyebrows relaxed slightly because of Mandy's jokes. She leaned against Mandy's body and said, "Father said that I didn't go back to hand in the level-7 mission, and it took me such a long time to write a letter to him. He's also a bit angry!"
"Fortunately, the elder didn't scold me, right?"
Many took a deep breath and enjoyed the faint, warm body fragrance of Sylvia.
"Hmph, Father said that a certain little mercenary's information played a big role. He wants to meet him alone later!"
Sylvia seemed to have thought of something. Her face was a little red, and she reached out to pinch Many's nose. "But Father said that the elves' 'Day of Blessing' is coming, and he wants me to go back and attend the ceremony with him."
"Day of Blessing?
Well, it's really coming this year. "
Many people did not know what this so-called "Day of Blessing" was, but the memory in his mind immediately filled in the gaps of this knowledge. "Day of Blessing" was a celebration of the elves that only occurred once every seven years. On the last day of spring, the elves would hold a large-scale commemorative event to pray for blessings and seek protection from the elven goddess that they had always believed in. This festival was a rare occasion for the elves, so the elder's request could be said to be reasonable.
Otherwise, it was hard for Many to understand why the elder, as the elder, would ask his daughter to rush back to the elves' royal city when the alarm of the invasion of the undead had not been lifted. Spring was coming. According to the information sent by Henry on time, sightings of the undead and small-scale conflicts were happening at the edge of the forest in the Empire. It seemed that a new wave of attacks was about to begin. Although there were no clear signs yet, the threat of the undead was definitely there. If such a danger existed one day, then they must be careful in choosing the destination of their long-distance journey.
The area where Noda and the others were heading to the dwarven territory was evenly distributed with several important cities of the Empire along the way. With the abilities of Noda and Daugen, unless the undead targeted them, they would basically not be in any danger. However, if Sylvia wanted to return to Dashiell, she would basically have to pass through forests infested with undead, which was no laughing matter.
Since Elder Wendell had made a request, Many naturally would not stop him. He was not qualified to negotiate with an elder of the elves yet. The so-called Elven Guardian Medal would not give Many any qualifications to speak to the higher-ups of the elves. Now that he had become the baron of the Empire of Saint Reims, he naturally had to be more careful when speaking to the elves.
"The teleportation circle can send you to Sibor. It should be closer from there." Many sighed and glanced at the wooden "calendar" on the wall that was used to indicate the date. "You may need to leave before the day after tomorrow, Nana, I —"
"The territory is important." Sylvia lowered her head and gently raised her hand to Many's lips. "Miss, I've also grown up. I'm not a child anymore, am I right?"
When Sylvia said this, she raised her head slightly, and the appearance of the three-tailed cat lady immediately appeared in front of Many. But then, Sylvia burst out laughing. She put the fruit plate in her hand on the table, hugged Many's neck with both hands, and leaned her head on Many's shoulder. From a shy little girl who would hold hands to a "liege's wife" who only had a slightly faster heartbeat when she did this, Sylvia's progress in love could be said to be obvious to all.
Sylvia thought about the stupid things she had done in the past. She curled up the corner of her mouth and pressed her body close to Many's. Many was a little lost in thought as she recalled all the experiences she had with Nana along the way. It had to be said that although it seemed that only less than a year had passed, the two of them had almost been separated by life and death several times. So, their attitude toward love was much firmer than most people.
The two were dumbfounded, and then fell into silence.
The impending separation was inevitable. Although the two of them did not say anything, their hearts were filled with a slight bitterness.
They did not know what to say. Sylvia suddenly felt a little sore in her eyes, afraid that tears would fall if she spoke. On the other hand, Many's mind was a little confused. It seemed that she was not mentally prepared for this sudden separation, and actually fell into silence.
"Take care."
After holding it in for a long time, that was the only thing that came out of his mouth.
Many felt that there were countless words in his heart that he wanted to say, but when it reached the tip of his tongue, he could not say them. The stifling feeling that seemed to be stuck in his throat made him take a deep breath, but it could not relieve the sense of loss that seemed to be growing stronger in his heart.
Confidence?
Many had, and far more than anyone else.
However, the sudden sense of loss rendered his confidence useless. The strength of his physical body could not make up for the indescribable sense of loss in his mind. If there was anything lacking after he absorbed the dragon skeleton and his strength soared, it would be the uncertainty brought about by his feelings. It was definitely a flaw.
Most of the strong would not let matters of love affect their emotions. Not to mention, this was a parting that was not a big deal.
From this point of view, there was still an insurmountable gap between Many and the top of the strong. The same thing happened to Carolina. There was a forbidden zone in the heart of this Level Ten red dragon that no one could step into. The few times she lost control of her emotions showed that she still could not get rid of this uncontrollable emotional disturbance.
Speaking of which, the two were very similar in this aspect.
Just when Many and Sylvia were speechless at the parting, an incredible scene was playing in the Garlass Mountains thousands of miles away.
The sun shone directly on the snow-white mountain peak. The snow drifted into the air with the strong wind. The snowflakes that filled the sky reflected the light, but suddenly twisted as if it was hit by an invisible force. The snowflakes turned into water droplets in the air, and then instantly solidified into ice shards that fell to the ground.
This scene happened in an instant and ended in an instant. Not to mention people, there was not even a living creature in the vicinity of the entire mountain peak. So, this strange scene was not noticed by anyone.
Carolina heaved a sigh of relief and bent down slightly. Even the tier-10 Crimson Dragon was feeling tired after such a long period of conjuring magic.
How long was "long time"?
— Carolina had not rested for a month.
As a dragon, the demand for energy was much greater than other species. However, not only did Carolina not feel hungry for a month, she did not even have the desire to drink water!
This situation was beyond her expectations. In order to break through the barrier, Carolina tried her best to attack and disintegrate the barrier. But no matter how she cast her spells, the barrier did not budge at all!
She did not even touch the edge of the barrier because all the spells she cast, from the lowest level fireball to the sixth-level single target Flame Blast, did not pose any threat to the barrier. But the strange thing was that every time Carolina almost exhausted her magic power, she found that she did not need to meditate at all. The magic power would quickly recover in a short period of time!
This was absolutely impossible in the world outside the barrier. Carolina's level was terrifying. If compared horizontally, her storage of magic power was nearly a hundred times more than that of the mage Chris, who had beaten many people into a sorry state. But such a vast amount of magic power could not be recovered quickly.
Although Carolina's mental strength was extremely strong, every time her magic power was consumed to a certain extent, she still needed to meditate to recover her magic power. But it would take at least ten days for her to fully recover all her magic power!
Of course, Carolina would never let her magic power run out. The ten days of meditation was just a theoretical number. For a tenth-level master, there was no battle that would require all of her magic power. There were not that many masters of the same level in the world who would clash with each other. Since the battle hundreds of years ago, Carolina had never encountered a tenth-level enemy again.
Inside the barrier, Carolina found that no matter how much she consumed her magic power, it would quickly recover. So after continuously verifying this rule, Carolina did not care about the danger of her mental strength exhaustion and released three seventh-level forbidden spells!
"Thunderstorm!"
"New Star!"
"Erupting Volcano!"
The power of the three forbidden spells was enough to destroy half of Saint-Rames. But in the barrier, after the gorgeous and destructive incantation ended, there was no tangible result!
The Thunderstorm covered the entire world with dark clouds. Within an hour, nearly a hundred square kilometers were struck by lightning tens of thousands of times. The grassy land was scorched by the flames of the lightning strikes. Then, the ice forbidden spell, 'New Star', froze the land into countless white ice cubes in less than three quarters of an hour. The moment the New Star ended, all the ice cubes exploded, and the entire land, including half of the mountain, was destroyed beyond recognition as if it had been bombed!
The Erupting Volcano had destroyed everything within sight into a complete mess. The thick volcanic ash had turned the entire world grey, and the pungent smell and scorching temperature had turned the originally warm mountain peak into hell!
The sky was shrouded in thick black smoke, but the apocalyptic scene completely disappeared within a day after the incantation ended!