Chapter 546: Unexpected Guest

“This isn’t what I’d call wisdom. It’s just about breaking free from conventional thinking.” The Lord stood with his hands in his pockets, a hat made from a true wolf’s head perched on his own. The wolf’s eyes were fierce and sharp, daring anyone to meet the gaze of the man who was now the true Lord of the Wilderness.

In reality, without the Holy Sith Kingdom’s Sai Dai Golden Man and the white snow now blanketing the land, this ingenious idea would have been completely impossible to achieve.

It was just a matter of making the best of the situation.

After several months of construction, rows of Tudor-style houses stood neatly arranged at the foot of the hill. Their walls were built of red brick, and their steeply sloped roofs, featuring chimneys and small attics, were uniformly covered in greenish-blue tiles.

A wide, straight main road, packed down extremely hard, led from the periphery directly to the central hill. Countless smaller paths, paved with bricks, branched off from this main artery into the Settler Areas.

If High Cliff Castle was once just a small, walled tribe, it now had the burgeoning shape of a prosperous town.

After the major construction was finished, Levi also planned to have the walls of the houses painted white and to add greenery and flowers throughout the Settler Areas.

Honestly, if High Cliff Castle had Casters who had mastered Earth Elemental Magic, handling the infrastructure would be as easy as playing with building blocks. Not only would it be faster and more cost-effective, but houses created with magic were built as a single, solid piece, making them much sturdier.

It could be said that most of the magnificent wonders in this world were built by those Mages. Unfortunately, High Cliff Castle only had a group of Zor Priestesses, so they were forced to use the simplest methods to develop their territory.

Batches of the Old People, who had lived their entire lives in the Kas Mountain Range, arrived at High Cliff Castle. Their eyes were immediately drawn to the sky-scraping structures, and they were utterly shocked. Suppressing their inner astonishment, they cautiously sized up the place where they would now spend the rest of their lives.

The exquisite houses were unlike anything they had ever seen. They were also given thick clothing upon arrival; although the fit wasn’t always perfect, they were extremely satisfied.

What surprised them most was that they could actually see vicious Jackal Wolfmen bartering with humans, Giants huffing and puffing as they pulled carts full of goods, and Trolls vigorously swinging iron hammers, sending sparks flying. Squads of Goblins, in neat and orderly rows, wore reed hats and carried hoes, jogging toward the dark soil visible on the horizon.

As these Old People watched everyone else, everyone else was also watching them.

The people of High Cliff Castle had long known that their Lord planned to accept all the Old People from the Kas Mountain Range as his subjects, so they weren’t surprised. Upon seeing that the newcomers were all humans and not some other humanoid race, they simply went back to their work.

After all, their Lord himself was human, so it was hardly surprising to them that he would recruit other humans as his subjects.

When their gazes fell upon the imposing man standing on the castle wall, all the Old People found it hard to conceal their excitement.

“Leiden, with so many people flooding into High Cliff Castle all at once, sanitation and security are top priorities.”

Levi waved to the Old People under their fervent gazes, then turned and walked back into the main hall of High Cliff Castle.

“Anyone caught defecating or urinating in public must be severely punished, even exiled from High Cliff Castle. Also, with this many people pouring in, they certainly won’t all get along at first. Bloody incidents are inevitable. For the time being, withdraw the Rabbit People Guards and have the Centaur Warriors take over their posts.”

“It is my duty, my Lord.” The Giant Goblin, advisor to the Lord of High Cliff Castle, nodded slightly.

Back in the Lord’s great hall, all of High Cliff Castle’s leaders, big and small, were present. The only exceptions were Orak and Miriel, who had gone to Bailiu City and had not yet returned.

Watching Levi stride in with a commanding presence, everyone shot to their feet to greet him. They made a fist with one hand and thumped their chests, producing a series of dull thuds.

“Sit.”

The moment the word was spoken, everyone immediately sat down again. Levi plopped down on a chair between Tina and Heather.

Leiden, acting as the advisor, announced, “The High Cliff Castle internal council meeting will now officially begin.”

Everyone sat up straight, their expressions serious.

“Tina, are High Cliff Castle’s material reserves sufficient at present?” Levi asked, turning to the rosy-cheeked Baisitina beside him.

“Darling, we just restocked on supplies from the Secret Silver Commerce Association. It’s enough to support over a hundred thousand people for half a year,” Tina replied instantly, without a moment’s thought.

As the true stewardess of High Cliff Castle, she was responsible not only for managing finances but also for overseeing supplies.

Whether it was due to the change in her status or something else, she felt a special satisfaction looking at the overflowing warehouses. She wished she could run over to check on them eight times a day, and so she knew the numbers by heart.

“Relying solely on purchased supplies to keep High Cliff Castle running is not a long-term solution,” Levi said, his knuckles tapping a steady rhythm on the table. “We must cultivate more farmland. We need to not only become self-sufficient but also have a surplus to sell.”

The five hundred thousand-plus Gold Coins would eventually run out. His goal had always been for High Cliff Castle to become completely self-sufficient in every sector, eliminating any weakness that outsiders could exploit.

“Lord, besides myself, another Kobold has learned the Soil Fertility Technique.” At that moment, Old Neil delivered a piece of good news. He spoke with a hint of pride, “Working together, he and I can tend to even more farmland. Under the effects of the Soil Fertility Technique, even with the continuous heavy snow and harsh environment, the wheat seeds can still stubbornly break through the soil and sprout.”

“I have already ordered the Goblin slaves to clear more fields. Next year is sure to be another bountiful harvest.”