Chapter 240: Act 7 – Territory (I)
After hearing Flour’s words, Brendel finally set aside his tasks and became serious. “There are four lumber mills and two quarries near Firburh. How could there be absolutely no reserves?” He lifted his head, his light brown eyes reflecting the slender figure of the elven maiden. “Even without stockpiles, Golan-Elsen and the Rendener area are important provinces for high-quality timber produced by Erluin, and Toniger is no exception. To my knowledge, the Baron of Firburh has as many as seven sawmills, and even if we can only control four temporary ones near Firburh, they could suffice for repairs and strengthening the city walls within a week…”
He paused here— the game had a lumber mill’s weekly yield set to one, plus Toniger’s special production bonus of one. However, that was merely in the game, and he wasn’t certain if reality would unfold the same way.
“Milord, do you know?” Flour asked casually.
“Of course I do.” Brendel suppressed his rising doubts and asked, “So what exactly is going on?”
“For two reasons,” the elven maiden said with a frown. “First, the workers in the lumber mills are the property of Grudin; they are unwilling to work for us.”
“Why not?”
“Because they fear retaliation. To them, you, Milord, seem destined to fail sooner or later. After all, your enemy is Count Rendener, and you are merely a fledgling noble.”
“That makes sense,” Brendel nodded. “Then let’s dismiss them. There’s no need to make things difficult. Without a sense of security, the subjects will not follow us; that’s just human nature. Empty promises are not something anyone will believe. But it’s okay; the key moment for reversing the situation is just around the corner. As long as we can get past the first hurdle, our influence will stabilize.”
“So what about the labor at the lumber mills in the meantime?” the elven maiden asked in a tone as flat as boiled water.
“Aren’t there the Sainya people?”
“That won’t work either.”
“Why?”
“Because before that, Milord, you must reclaim the lumber mills.”
“How?” Brendel found it amusing. “Are the lumber mills not under our control?” He clearly remembered that the lumber mill nearest to Firburh was only a few miles away. Did the nobles’ private armies that fled so quickly from Firburh already regroup outside the city? In his impression, those noble private armies didn’t seem to possess such high combat capabilities or tactical skills.
Flour shook her head as she replied to his question. “No, it’s just that, to our knowledge, three out of the four lumber mills have already been occupied by cave dwellers. The remaining one was abandoned five years ago—”
“Cave dwellers?” Brendel asked. “Aren’t they the lowest-tier residents of the underground world? Don’t they live beneath Jotungrund? Legends say that the tribes in the underground world are constantly quarreling among themselves while also clashing with demon lords. When do they have time to come to the surface?”
“There is a fissure from Jotungrund to the surface world in the forest,” Flour paused for a moment. “The captain speculates that it could be a tribe that fled to this area due to the turmoil of war.”
“Does Grudin ignore this?” Brendel felt a bit annoyed and couldn’t help but knock his knuckles on the table. “That is his property…” But he suddenly stopped, as he saw the elven maiden gazing at him with eyes as clear as lake water—her eyes clearly expressed the thought, ‘Who knows what filthy ideas those human nobles are concocting?’ He found himself at a loss for words because he suddenly realized that although Grudin’s hounds ran rampant within Firburh, their combat ability was terribly lacking—he, leading a group of mercenaries, could defeat them easily, let alone against cave dwellers.
It should be noted that in the past game, mercenaries were merely disorderly factions within the human world. Though cave dwellers were indeed the bottom-tier residents of Jotungrund, they were also part of that underground kingdom’s regular forces, equivalent to the first-tier forces of the formidable human empire Cruz, under the Temple of Fire, at least serving as light cavalry or pikemen. Depending on Grudin’s hounds to fend off these roving cave dwellers would likely be a headache just for defense, let alone offense.
Brendel couldn’t help but gently pat his forehead, internally cursing the incompetence of others. However, this realization also served as a reminder—while he considered cave dwellers a low-tier force, he had to recognize that this was, after all, before the Second Black Rose War, and during this period, the highest tiers of all nations only went up to five. Rather than following the second chapter of the Amber Sword, ‘War and Chaos,’ which saw the emergence of phenomena like the great alchemist Tam and the revival of ancient units, the ranking system had surged upward like a rocket. It was precisely because he had experienced that glorious era that his expectations were set so high, making the current war seem juvenile.
For instance, Instalon’s attack on Buche would simply be a border skirmish in the future, but in this era, it could still be considered a rare war.
Keep in mind, he only had a few mercenaries at hand. The ones that mostly didn’t even reach the black iron level, belonging alongside noble private soldiers in the Amber Sword system, were considered a mediocre force in that era and location but were still the main fighting force of this time in Erluin—not the Eagle Empire Cruz.
With this in mind, the young lord stood up, and the elven maiden beside him holding a notebook watched him with a flat expression, though a hint of curiosity flickered in her emerald eyes. “Milord?”
“Come with me,” Brendel replied.
“Where to?”
“We’re going to see a person.”
“One person?” Flour paused slightly, her thought process momentarily stalling. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing much,” Brendel lightly shook his head, opening the drawer to retrieve the philosopher’s stone and put it back on his person. Then he casually took the sword that the elven maiden handed him—it was an ordinary magical longsword, one of Grudin’s collectibles; this baron was cruel and bloodthirsty but was no gallant warrior. Nonetheless, in the culture of Erluin’s nobility, martial spirit was still revered, so he couldn’t avoid showing some refined effect. However, these collectibles had now become Brendel’s spoils. The young lord weighed the sword in his hand, sighing—it was merely a black iron-tagged alchemical longsword, unable to withstand his full strength, slightly better than a standard plain longsword.
At times like this, he couldn’t help but reminisce about the elven longsword, the Starlight Fang. Ever since he lost that sword, he hadn’t found a weapon that felt right. Although he had many goals in mind, either he lacked time, or the production locations were simply not on his path.
He secured the sword and added, “—I just suddenly feel that time is pressing.”
The elven maiden glanced at him.
Soon after, the two walked out of the study, silently making their way along the corridor on the north side of the castle. However, Brendel noticed that the elven maiden, holding her notebook, seemed to want to say something but waited a moment before pulling back her words. He turned back and asked, “What’s up?”
“Nothing,” Flour replied, her gaze fixed on the empty corridor ahead. “It’s just that Kabais’s relic is still with me, Milord.”
“Right,” Brendel slapped his forehead. “I remembered about that; what did you want to ask me last time?”
Flour lowered her head and rummaged through her waist pouch before pulling out a small object. She looked at Brendel, stretched her hand forward, and opened her palm, revealing a diamond-shaped gold artifact resting in her palm. Brendel gazed at the heavy-looking golden item, momentarily taken aback, and blurted out, “So it’s this, Kabais really was lucky—” he paused. “No, I should say I’m lucky.”
The elven maiden looked up at him in confusion.
“This item is called the ‘Stone of Order,’ also known as the Gate Stone; it’s a good item.” Brendel studied the golden artifact carefully, as if fearing he’d misinterpret it: “It can be used to expand territory.”
“Expand territory?”
Brendel retracted his gaze, turning to the side of the corridor where sunlight fell on some unnamed trees in the courtyard, shaking his head. “I don’t know how to explain it to you,” the Gate Stone in Amber Sword could provide a territory with a special attribute, such as the forest’s ‘quick growth’ (lumber mill output +1 per week) or a workshop’s ‘specialization’ (increased chance of artisans being born in the territory). But how these data-driven elements from the game would function here, he couldn’t say for sure. After thinking for a moment, he could only respond, “In any case, it’s a rare treasure. I just don’t know where Kabais got his good fortune—presumably, he must have stolen it since the southern nobles have a good stash.”
He couldn’t help but wonder if he should simply rob him of some as well.
Good fortune? Flour frowned slightly, pulling out another ring. “Milord, this is also one of Kabais’s relics.”
Brendel stopped in his tracks.
He focused intently on the ring bearing the insignia of crossed swords and shields, his eyes flickering slightly. “The Warrior’s Ring,” he struggled to utter the term before asking, “This is also Kabais’s relic?”
Flour nodded, but seeing his reaction couldn’t help but ask, “Is it very important?”
“More than important,” Brendel took a deep breath. Although the name Warrior’s Ring might seem ordinary, like the Knight’s Ring, Wizard’s Ring, or even Elementalist’s Ring, at first glance, it might lead one to think it was just a common item. If you weren’t familiar with its attributes, you could easily be misled by the name. However, for players well-versed in this knowledge, it was one of the few priceless treasures in the game.
First and foremost, its level spoke volumes—golden label, fantasy-grade ornament.
Then, Brendel merely needed to briefly scan its attributes to understand: indeed, it was identical to its in-game version. Like a simple sentence summarizing the explanation of this ring, it was as straightforward as the attribute on the ring.
Because it had only one unique attribute.
Warrior Skill +1.
……
(PS. Thanks to the classmates from the Tieba community, including Longqi Xue Ran Liu Nian, rutuyu, Xiao 7, Daxian, yang6655796, for organizing the data for this book. This is all we have for now; please contact classmate Qing Qishi if you haven’t been included in the statistics.
One update today.)(To be continued. For more chapters, please log in, support the author, and endorse genuine reading!)
