Chapter 1453 - 780: Wolf Cubs

Chapter 1453: Chapter 780: Wolf Cubs

Lance stayed in Bastia for two days. At first he thought he’d be there longer, since the areas outside the city hadn’t fallen out of control yet, and he’d planned to leave only after things stabilized.

But he hadn’t expected that once they rushed over and announced they were breaking away from the nobles’ rule, those people would so quickly throw themselves into Hamlet’s arms. Even the few vested interests who wanted to resist were powerless to do anything.

Because the Earl and those nobles, after one war after another, fighting the Barbarian Tribes and then infighting among themselves—whatever the reason, the exploitation had already reached the breaking point. All sorts of fucked?up taxes had been levied for years by now.

A lot of people’s grain had been completely emptied out; only some landlords had a little surplus left. Even just getting through this winter would be hard. At a time like this, it’s not hard to understand their reaction.

Because people really were going to start dying. Who the hell cares which noble master rules over them?

Not to mention the hope brought by Hamlet’s policies.

For most people, the impact wasn’t that great, since the fields weren’t theirs to begin with. If they’re reclaimed, then they’re reclaimed. And later they’ll even be given land, with all those extortionate miscellaneous taxes abolished.

On top of that, they were being loaned grain for the winter, at almost no interest compared to those loan?sharks’ rates.

The administrative officers had done similar things countless times before. Once these problems were settled, Lance could finally go back.

As for everyone else, they each had their own tasks. For example, Laura had already gone back ahead of them to incubate the eggs, while Boslake needed to stay in Bastia to handle administration and liaise with the Barbarian Tribes.

People like Vick and Francis, who were familiar with Bastia, also had to wait until the local situation was stable before returning.

On the military side, Commanders Reynard, Balistan, and Barton each had their own garrisons they needed to station at, leading their units over to carry out missions and so on...

So in the end, only Grendel and Boudica were going back with him.

Along that old road, a carriage was hurtling toward Hamlet, and of course the passenger inside was Lance.

He looked out the window, a bit worried about whether they could make it back before heavy snow buried the road, so the carriage was going a bit fast.

Ever since that day, the snow had kept coming on and off, and now it felt like it was getting heavier and heavier. In the biting wind, flakes swirled through the sky, turning the world white.

It was just that the last time he’d sped along the old road was...

Lance’s gaze gradually turned unfocused. He reached into the display case and took out an ordinary letter, and as he looked at it he couldn’t help sinking into memories.

Yeah, the last time he’d taken a carriage down the old road was his first time coming to Hamlet.

He remembered clearly that when he woke up it was nighttime, in a constantly jolting carriage, with two unfamiliar mercenaries beside him.

Before he’d even had time to process any information, the butler flipped the carriage and bolted, and they were thrown straight into a clash with bandits.

What was he thinking back then?

Lance didn’t remember much. At the time he had only one thought: to stay alive.

And then... he dealt with the patriarch, reclaimed the lost territories, and a wonderful noble life was waiting for him!

"What’s wrong?"

Grendel noticed Lance was wearing a weird, goofy grin. With the carriage going this fast right now, shouldn’t he be worrying about whether Boudica was drunk?driving?

"Things are finally settled now. Next I can properly take a break. Isn’t that something to be happy about? I’m going to sleep in every day until I wake up naturally, then eat, drink, and have fun all day long."

The smile on Lance’s face was completely unrestrained. Overtime was over; it was vacation time now!

At his words, a smile also appeared on Grendel’s face, and she teased, "Looks like our Lord has finally remembered he’s supposed to rest."

"I’m telling you, once I have time I absolutely have to improve the menu. Eating the same stuff every day is totally boring..."

Lance seemed to have already started laying out his "retirement" plans to Grendel.

The whole way, they didn’t run into any overturned carriage incidents or bandits robbing the road.

Because after the external strategy was drawn up, the very first main road they built was the [Hamlet–Ovando] highway, based on the original old road.

There’d already been the foundation of the old road, so they paved it with brick and stone to fill in some of the potholes, then expanded it into a wide four?lane road.

If the port and docks were Hamlet’s outlet to the sea, then this road was its outlet to the inland. Lance understood very well the principle that development starts with building roads.

As for any bandits or brigands—they’d already been combed through who knows how many times. If anyone dared show themselves now, Hamlet’s Army would show up at their doorstep immediately. Odds were the road under their feet had been built by that army.

At last, before the heavy snow shut the roads, the Lord returned to his loyal Hamlet.

Not many people knew the Lord had come back, and Lance didn’t like pomp anyway, so naturally no one was going to brave the snow to greet him.

And just as the carriage stopped at the post station, he happened to hear some good news: those she?wolves had finally given birth some time ago.

"Hell yeah!"

Before Lance could even open his mouth, Boudica beside him couldn’t help shouting, and then, ignoring everything else, she scampered off, butt wiggling, toward the wolf?breeding pens in the suburbs.

Not everyone was as energetic as Boudica. After the long journey, Grendel was already very tired.

"You go back and rest first, I’ll go take a look."

Lance was quite curious about the bloodline Wang Cai had left behind in the real world, so he parted ways with Grendel and headed over there.

The grounds hadn’t been expanded, still just a large yard enclosed on all sides, with a row of interconnected single?story buildings. The only change was that the wooden fences around the perimeter had been replaced by earthen walls, which at least looked a bit more proper.