Chapter 975 Special Survey

"That's why we have to nip the religion in its bud before it has a chance to grow," Leon stated.

"Right!" Heinrich nodded seriously and said, "I will send some people to grab a few of these new believers to interrogate them immediately!"

"No, leave this matter to me, Father," Leon said with a shake of his head.

"Since this is a serious matter, I cannot ignore it. I am just letting you know beforehand, Father. With my ability, I can travel to the north and back quickly. Thus, I can also get us the information we need quickly."

"Alright, I will leave the interrogation to you, Son," Heinrich consented with a nod. Since his son had already said that much, there was no need to fight over this matter.

"Nevertheless, you truly surprised me, Father. I didn't think you would get father-in-law and mother-in-law to replicate the Demon Gathering Array and deploy them in Durham and Valaran. This was an oversight on my part," Leon admitted his thoughtlessness.

"I should have considered the people's situation in Durham and Valaran when I made the Demon Gathering Arrays."

"Don't worry about it, Son. These kinds of worries should be left for your father to manage. You've been traveling between places, even continents, and bringing back great benefits for the empire. So it's completely fine if you don't want to get involved in managing the empire," Heinrich stated.

Heinrich knew that this son was not interested in the throne. Thus, it was appreciative that his son was still helping out with empire affairs.

"Oh right, son. I have a piece of good news to share," Heinrich suddenly said just as Leon was about to leave with Faelyn and the two Paragon-level Winter Cats, Rainshine and Snowscar.

"Yes?" Leon looked back.

"Actually, no, never mind. You'll find out later, eventually. I won't spoil the fun," Heinrich changed his mind as he smiled mysteriously.

Leon was baffled, but he quickly put the thought aside.

"Then, I'll be off first, Father."

"Alright. Take care, Son."

Shortly after, Leon summoned the Dark Passage before stepping inside with Rainshine resting on his shoulders.

After Faelyn gave Heinrich a quick bow, she followed right after Leon, disappearing to the other side of Dark Passage.

Right after the black spatial portal completely disappeared, a sudden knock from the study room's balcony.

"Report," Heinrich stated.

"Your Imperial Majesty, we've found the bodies of the missing envoys. Additionally, a large group of envoys will be arriving after half a day's journey from now," a Transcendent-level shadow guard reported after receiving the order.

Shortly after hearing that, Heinrich took a moment to glance down on the side of his desk to stroke a sleeping Paragon-level Winter Cat named Aspenwind.

It was also another one of the frozen Winter Cats resuscitated and awakened by Leon. It has chosen to take up the duty of guarding Heinrich after swearing its allegiance to him.

"Let's hear the details then," Heinrich said shortly after easing his stress with some fluffiness.

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty!" the shadow guard complied.

…

…

…

North Reclamation Camp

After the past three days since the start of the north reclamation project, the hired laborers had cleared several dozen miles of trees from the misty forest.

However, the camp's location remained unchanged. It was still on the outskirts of Extreme Misty Forest.

This made it inconvenient for the hired laborers.

They had to manually move the extremely heavy coldwood trees compared to the blocks of ice across long distances out of the misty forest to turn them in at the camp.

Fortunately, a log transportation system was soon set up for their convenience, which also sped up the process of their work on the misty forest.

At that moment, huge mountains of coldwood logs are piled up outside of the North Reclamation Camp, still waiting for the completion of the new railway before they are transferred to New Capital.

Shortly after a group of old refugees turned in their coldwood logs as usual at the checkpoint, they prepared to drop by the bar for a break before resuming their work in the misty forest.

"Just one moment, please."

"Is there a problem, sir?"

The hired laborers turned back curiously after being called out by the officials stationed at the log collection point.

"No, there is no problem," the official worker shook his head.

"His Imperial Highness has ordered the camp to conduct a survey to gather information on how to improve the wellbeing of all hired laborers working on the misty forest. If you are eager to partake in the survey, we will transfer you to the appropriate department to answer some questions."

"Of course, we have also prepared a small reward of five contribution points for each person participating in the survey as compensation for your time," the official worker added.

After hearing that, the hired laborers were astonished by the generosity of the compensation reward.

An entire coldwood tree was only worth five contribution points. And yet, here, they can earn that exact amount simply by answering a few questions.

It sounded too good to be true.

"Isn't that too generous of a reward for a simple survey?" a female laborer expressed her skepticism.

"This is the will of His Imperial Highness, the one who has been hailed as the Divine Doctor and performed many feats to let the empire become what it is today. You do not need to doubt His Imperial Highness's boundless generosity," the official worker confidently assured.

Leon wasn't just the imperial prince or a divine doctor; he was also a great hero.

"When can I take the survey, sir?"

"How long will the survey take, sir?"

"Are there a lot of questions to answer, sir?"

Several members in the hired laborer group immediately took the bait, expressing great interest in taking the survey after being persuaded by the official worker.

"Unfortunately, I don't have all the answers on me. Whatever questions you have will be answered by the officials in charge of the surveys at the site," the official worker replied.

"Of course, I can call the people to escort you to the survey location right now if that is what you all want."

"Please do."