Chapter 38: It Is So Worrying

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Gawain Cecil returned safely, bringing with him the document signed by the King as well as the news regarding the Royal Palace’s help for him.

Viscount Andrew, who had waited at Tanzan Town for nearly three months, felt that he had made the right decision: the nation-founding hero 700 years ago had not let him down. He was not merely a warrior like what he was worried about, but a scheming and strategic figure.

However, he did not expect the hero to choose the Dark Range as his starting point for the re-establishment of his clan.

As a noble clan located at the southern boundary of the town, Viscount Andrew was naturally familiar with the Dark Range. In fact, the original Cecil territory and the Leslie territory were both in the northern parts of the Dark Range. On a good day, one could see the magnificent natural shield easily by looking up. The mountain range blocked out the unhealthy air from the wastelands, which led to it inhabiting numerous monsters and becoming the main subject of weird tales, making people shudder just from the name of it. Even the most reckless hunters would seldom go to the Dark Range to make a living – albeit the northern leaders opened up the hunting rights in the mountains.

The original Cecil territory was located slightly west of the northern part of the Dark Range, with Tanzan Town in the northeast direction, while the “new Cecil territory” chosen by Gawain was in the southeast of Tanzan Town. These three places roughly formed a triangle, just that the “new Cecil territory” was the closest to the Dark Range out of the three. In fact, its southern part led directly into the mountains.

The White River flowing in front of Tanzan Town had a tributary that extended into the “new Cecil territory”. In terms of transportation, that new place was actually quite decent – it could receive aid and resources from Tanzan Town and at the same time enjoy reduced trading costs should the territory develop further in the future

This was however on the premise that Gawain could settle stably with his people in this barren land.

In the castle of Viscount Andrew, the scrawny yet stern nobleman seemed troubled, “Pardon my bluntness, Sire Grand Duke. the first stop that you have chosen isn’t really… suitable. Although there is an abundance of land, it’s too close to the Dark Range. With the lack of protection from civilization, the monsters in the mountains are great threats. Furthermore, during the Fog Month every year, there’ll always be unclean wind blowing from the wastelands and passing through the mountains. The fit and healthy soldiers may remain unharmed but the poor and powerless citizens and serfs may not be able to withstand it…”

“You should have seen the map and know that even though I had many places to choose from, the situations are roughly the same,” Gawain disapproved. “Out of the spots surrounding the Dark Range, the one I’ve chosen is already the best – unclean wind can be suppressed by medicine and magic and I will think of solutions to tackle the issues. Once we get through the first year, we will be able to extract the ores from the Dark Range and the territory will then become stable.”

How could he possibly reveal that the reason he chose such a place was because the country’s treasures were buried in the mountains 700s ago?

He should at least wait till he opened the treasure chest and had all the things in his hands before letting others know about this. Even then, they must not know too much – it was impossible to hide it completely as the supplies were bound to be put to use. Once they were used for building, even a fool would be able to guess the truth.

Until the supplies had been used, it would be best to keep things known to as few people as possible.

Seeing how stubborn Gawain was, Viscount Andrew could say no more. He just reminded him, “These are all your decisions and I naturally will support you to the best of my abilities. But please also remember our very first deal.”

Gawain grinned. “Don’t worry, the Cecil Clan never owes. To let you have your peace of mind, shall I give you a piece or two of these antiques I have on me as a deposit?”

At this moment, Rebecca, who was sitting at the table reporting to Aunt Heidi about everything at the capital, lifted her head and looked towards Gawain with dazzling eyes, her ancestor had the same thoughts as her! Did that mean she had inherited the family style?

Heidi smacked the back of Rebecca’s head, “Stop looking around, continue and tell me more, when you were at a banquet held by the King, all you did was busying yourself with the food?!”

“I also drank – I have reached maturity, I can drink a bit…”

Looking at the dimwitted lady, Heidi had a look of hopelessness, “Oh my god…”

As for Viscount Andrew, of course he could not accept Gawain’s “good will”, so he frantically waved his hands, “No need, no need. I believe in the reputation of the Cecil Clan and the promise of the nation-founding hero… Then, when do you intend to depart?”

“As soon as possible,” Gawain nodded, “We’ll leave once we’ve gathered the supplies. The aid promised by the King won’t be here for another month and I ought to let my residents settle down in their new home first.”

To the people who had escaped from the disaster in the old Cecil territory, the three-month long recuperation had ended and the return of the Lord from the capital implied that they had to immediately prepare to welcome a new life.

Even if the majority of them had no idea what their new life would be like.

Knight Philip and Knight Byron had been dispatched with some men to Tanzan Town to purchase necessary supplies and materials for constructing the new territory – food, tools, tents, medicine, and every other necessity that they had never imagined.

The things required piled up like mountains. Even Heidi, who had always been facilitating the management of the territory, and Byron, an old knight of the Cecil Clan, had no idea where to begin. Nobody knew what was needed to rebuild a territory from scratch. Only Gawain could provide some help in this aspect – during the great founding period 700 years ago, the forefathers of Anzu build their home from scratch. Gawain’s memories were a valuable experience for everything needed to be prepared during the founding period.

Of course, with a lapse of 700 years, those experiences of Gawain might not be entirely useful, but the basic theories were about the same.

No matter how the tools developed and transformed, the problems faced by the founders in the wilderness were still the same, which were just food, clothes, accommodation, healthcare and hygiene.

As for the problem of funding, Viscount Andrew had earlier returned the Cecil Clan their gold and silver. With the addition of the money saved by Knight Philip, although not much, there was just enough to gather the starting supplies.

The refugees from the Cecil territory wandered around the town, buying goods and pushing carts, which caught the attention of the locals. The locals had all heard about the news of the revival of the nation-founding hero as well as the return of the lady feudal lord from the capital. Naturally, they therefore knew that those “foreigners” who had been living in the town for three months would finally be leaving.

Most of the people of the lower castes in Tanzan Town were not really bothered by the coming and going of these “foreigners”. But these “foreigners” had to purchase many things before departing, which could greatly benefit the town’s businesses. Hence, their hatred towards the lord reduced by a lot – prior to this, the lord requisitioned a huge number of shacks to accommodate these “foreigners” and those poor refugees could not even fork out a few coins, earning themselves much loathing from business owners.

While the two clan knights went around collecting supplies, Gawain tasked Heidi and Rebecca with counting the number of the Cecil residents and listed more than 800 survivors into a detailed register.

“Get all the details, down to the name, age, gender, health and skills of each individual. Then, group them into their families and at the same time, make another list with just the carpenters, masons and blacksmiths. Yes, if possible, allocate everyone a serial number for ease of checking.”

This was the task that Gawain gave to his two great-great-great-great… great granddaughters. He thought the task was very easy but it unexpectedly put the two granddaughters into a state of confusion.

They probably had never heard of basic information registrations and how these sorts of “forms” were made.

“Not even a basic population registration had been done before?” Upon seeing the perplexed looks on Heidi and Rebecca, Gawain felt even more confused himself than them. “Then, how did you count the population in the territory?”

Rebecca replied innocently, “The area around the palace is under the charge of Aunt Heidi and the few knights are in charge of their own places. A rough estimate of the number of males, females, elderly, and children would do. As for who are blacksmiths and carpenters, the people living there all know one another. We just ask around.”

Gawain: “…”

What the heck? Just ask around? Is this the legendary way of ruling the country: by using the eyes, satisfying the people with the expression and bringing peace to the world with a holler?

Upon noticing the rapidly changing face of Gawain, Heidi immediately became nervous, “Lord Ancestor… did you and the founding King count the population at that time using the sort of form that you speak of?”

Gawin quickly rummaged through the information in his mind, and a split of a moment later, his face turned pale.

Screw it… it was even more chaotic at that time.

The Gondor Empire collapsed overnight and the Capital which was thriving and developed was torn apart. The lucky ones who survived the first wave of attacks were all people from the remote regions – that ancient empire was a classic example of an imbalanced society, of which the state of development was even close to a deformity as seen by Gawain. As the magic skills in this world depended on the magic focal point and natural magic focal points were limited, all the advanced technologies of the Gondor Empire were accumulated around the strongest magic focal point of “Deep Blue” in the centre of the mainland. As for the remote regions with weak magic focal points… they were unbelievably behind the times.

Therefore, after the Dark Wave exploded at the “Deep Blue” as its starting point, all the advanced technologies as well as the highly intellectual population of the Gondor Empire were sacrificed. Those who survived were sifted out again and again by the subsequent persistent radiation. Eventually when the pioneers led everyone out of their fate, the human civilization could be said to have been utterly destroyed…

To put it bluntly: the four kingdoms were built by a group of illiterates led by a group of elementary students.

In this world where superpowers existed, individual powers at the top were able to offset the overall disadvantage brought by the backward civilization. Therefore, it was possible for the four kingdoms to be established under the perseverance of pioneers who were bursting with fighting spirits and then withstand the pressures from various aspects during the early years of founding.

But, but, but!

It had been 700 years! 700 years, how was it that these unfilial descendents did not make a single improvement?