Chapter 827: Seven Kings Town

Half a month later, Henwell arrives at the Seven Kings Tower.

A sizable town has already formed around it.

After the armistice was signed, Obilian ceded several square kilometers of land here to Henwell.

It is hard to say whether the Lumir nobles meant to obstruct him or Obilian simply wanted to play a joke on Henwell.

The town was granted to Henwell as a fief.

After all, Lumir had bestowed upon him the title Knight of Peace.

As a courtesy to Obilian, Henwell has never stationed an army here.

That does not mean the town lacks armed forces.

Sitting where four powers meet, the town has gradually become neutral ground for negotiations that none of the parties can conduct in public.

No one dares to kill anyone here.

Scarce Peace Haven goods that the other powers cannot openly purchase also change hands here.

Every major Peace Haven factory maintains an office in town. The height and footprint of each building reveal the scale of the enterprise behind it.

The town is divided into several zones. Peace Haven's state-owned businesses occupy the central district, where the hotels and residences host high-level negotiations between the various powers.

The next ring belongs to Peace Haven's many joint ventures, most established through partnerships between Peace Haven and private investors.

They may be called private ventures, but their shareholders are still Peace Haven's senior officials.

These people have followed Henwell for years, conquered vast territory, and built a formidable power. The wealth amassed by Peace Haven's senior military and civil officials is staggering.

It will be a long time before anyone can establish a republic in a place like this.

All the world bustles for profit.

If they gained nothing by following Henwell, how could Peace Haven keep so many people loyal?

Henwell has already closed the path to noble titles. If he blocks the road to wealth as well, Peace Haven will only breed more problems.

Beyond the joint ventures are Peace Haven's fully private businesses.

As machining techniques improve, private capital in Peace Haven has begun entering costly industries such as clocks, watches, and telescopes.

Many of these businesses thrive. Peace Haven's state-owned industries, after all, exist to serve its broader strategic development.

For certain precision goods, private factories have already pulled ahead in quality.

Even so, private factories will not devour the state-owned industries' market share. The two serve entirely different customers.

In the telescope industry, for example, the highest-quality brand in Peace Haven is Sharp Eye.

Sharp Eye is produced by a fully privately funded factory whose machining precision has already surpassed that of Peace Haven's state-owned plants.

It caters exclusively to high-end customers, earning its reputation through fine craftsmanship and superior performance.

That inevitably limits its output.

Peace Haven's state-owned production lines cannot match Sharp Eye's quality, but they compensate with sheer output, low prices, and volume.

Telescopes are now standard equipment at the squad level in Peace Haven. Some squads in the numbered legions even have two.

That does not even include the bulk export orders from the other powers.

Annual demand runs into the tens of thousands, far beyond anything a precision workshop can supply.

Once private factories gain access to the technology, their pursuit of still greater precision produces many useful improvements.

Those advances eventually make their way back into Peace Haven's state-owned factories, raising product quality across the board.

Peace Haven recognizes patents and protects them by law.

Even so, most private factories transfer their technology to the government free of charge.

Henwell still makes a token payment for each patent. After all, he provided the technology with which those factories were founded in the first place.

A private business demanding a technological monopoly?

Has it forgotten its place?

This is still a feudal age. Do they imagine Henwell is unwilling to kill?

Henwell treats those who cooperate fairly. Their work does help drive technological innovation.

But those who try to defy him will soon discover whether their necks are truly that hard.

Patent law exists to protect private industry, keeping complacent state-owned factories from seizing the fruits of private innovation at will.

It was never intended to give private industry leverage over the government.

Half the businesses on the outer edge of Seven Kings Town belong to the various foreign powers.

Sharp-eyed nobles have realized that this is fertile ground for profit and paid dearly to acquire property here.

Even if they use it only as a refuge, the expense is well worth it.

Seven Kings Town has no regular garrison, but its armed strength is anything but weak.

First, more than a hundred Lord Iron Guards protect the central district.

In addition, every major industrial factory has established a trading post here.

A thousand-strong merchant consortium guard is spread among the trading houses as security.

Then there is a thousand-man public security force. They may sound like irregulars, but every one of them is a veteran retired from the legions.

Few are seriously disabled. Most are simply older, generally over forty.

Peace Haven's present standard of living and wider access to enhancement potions have left these battle-hardened veterans with formidable combat strength.

The Constabulary also stations skilled fighters from the Theft Investigation Bureau and Major Crimes Bureau here.

Nor would the Military Intelligence Office ignore a place gradually becoming the intelligence hub of the southern continent.

The Listening Wind Guard, which answers directly to Henwell, maintains covert posts here as well.

Most importantly, one of the residences belongs to Henwell's family.

In most years, Henwell comes to stay here for a time.

Anyone who comes to do business or negotiate a partnership finds Henwell acting as Lumir's Knight of Peace, ready to provide every appropriate service.

But anyone who comes to make trouble on his ground will meet the Blood Hill Lord.

Now Henwell rides into Seven Kings Town on his second-generation Night Charger, accompanied by a company of Lord Iron Guards carrying Vorry's royal banner.

The first-generation Night Charger eventually became an extraordinary creature, but it reached that level late in life and is no longer young.

The beloved warhorse carried Henwell through countless campaigns and battles of life and death, so he has retired it to the manor's pastures.

Henwell no longer needs to charge into enemy lines, but he still requires a fine warhorse.

The second-generation Night Charger, the finest horse in the herd, had already become an extraordinary creature.

After Barbarossa submitted to Henwell, the dragon strengthened the horse further, turning it into a powerful dragonblood warhorse.

Only a mount of that caliber can withstand Henwell's released aura.

Henwell's arrival immediately draws the attention of every power's watchers in town.

Most tellingly, he does not fly Peace Haven's banner with his personal crest. Instead, he carries Vorry's Golden Lion banner.

The message is unmistakable.