Chapter 431 - Comprehensive Cooperation

As the Gnoll ladled food onto his plate, its final gaze at him clearly held something unusual, but it did not hinder him, faithfully serving the food and ensuring to admonish him, "You’re only permitted to eat, not to leave any leftovers, and certainly not to throw it away, otherwise you will be severely punished, woof."Its accented Common Tongue, was filled with seriousness and sincerity.

Archer couldn’t help but ask curiously, "Is the food here always of this standard on normal days?"

"This is the non-work meal, the work meal is better, more meat, tastier bread."

That’s it? And it’s not even the best?

Archer’s eyes lit up irresistibly. Such meals were not something an average farmer’s family could afford to sustain.

At an inn or restaurant, they would all be considered acceptable, worth at least a silver coin.

And that was just the portion for an ordinary person.

The amount he had already consumed was worth more than five silver coins.

"Is it also free-flow?" Archer asked again.

"As long as you don’t waste, you can eat as much as you like," the Gnoll replied sternly.

Based on just that,

The decision to stay didn’t seem difficult to make.

Duke Gaven had just promised room and board.

"Archer, Archer, Archer..." A Pikespirit called out while fluttering about, "Who is Archer Lahn?"

"I am, I am, I am," Archer quickly responded.

"Temporary job, assist in registering the remaining mercenaries, wages calculated based on designated post and salary, follow me."

The Pikespirit said while leading Archer forward, and soon, they came to a temporary desk.

Right beside the registrar who had just helped him register, a new place had been set up.

The registrar handed over a stack of forms and several pens, saying, "Just follow the forms from top to bottom, don’t be sloppy. This matters not just to their future assignments but also to your integrity here. You’ll be held accountable because this line is for your signature. Miss Lale will be assisting you."

"Understood," Archer, a clever man, grasped the instruction at once.

Looking around, he saw not only this area, but others were also continuously adding people and tables.

The new additions were all chosen from the mercenaries.

This was also why during the form filling, they had inquired whether one could read and write.

It seemed it wasn’t that Duke Gaven did not want to assign more registrars at the start, but that in his domain, only a limited number of people could write.

Now it seemed a wise choice that he had spent a year’s worth of gold coins to have a nomadic Mage teach him to read and write.

Even among mercenaries, not many could write, and so far, only eleven more desks had been added.

None of those who chose death over signing the mercenary contract and staying in the sewers were present. Once the majority of mercenaries were rallied, they had all climbed up and lined up in a queue.

They were mercenaries, after all, who worked for money without any inclination towards loyalty.

Moreover, it was clear to any fool.

The Sambia merchants had, from the start to finish, treated them as cannon fodder meant to attract the Treants.

When the Red Dragon used its Flame Dragon’s Breath against the Treants, it certainly didn’t care about their survival.

To say there was no resentment would be a lie.

As people were added progressively, the personnel tally was completed way sooner than Archer had anticipated.

By the time he was relieved from the duties of a registrar,

He noticed that the number of mercenaries had been drastically reduced.

The records of these mercenaries were handed over as soon as they were completed and were distributed immediately.

The first ones to be allocated were clearly those with more specialized skills or whose abilities were more one-dimensional.

Especially those proficient in farming and construction were prioritized for selection.

The latter were already allocated tools and began construction with the building crews.

The remnants here were mostly Combat Profession Practitioners.

Compared to ordinary people, they were more valuable, with higher pay, and would be subject to stricter management.

In the end, Archer was assigned to a longboat, and not to a lowly position either, but directly to first mate, assisting the captain.

On this boat, five mercenaries were allocated altogether, the rest being Tesser Immigrants.

It was estimated that other boats would follow a similar arrangement.

While employing them, measures were also in place to guard against them. Changing this situation would require proving their loyalty — loyalty to Duke Gaven.

There were many ways to prove one’s loyalty.

Military exploits were just one of them.

The simplest method had been told by Duke Gaven himself: relocate one’s family here to demonstrate the intent to settle.

In the short term, no mercenaries would do this.

Because such a move carried great risks.

Not just because the place was in need of development, but also because it had captured the interest of the Sambia merchants.

Based on their knowledge of these voracious wolves, the merchants wouldn’t stop after just one failure. They would try a second time, a third, and countless more.

Until they had completely stripped the place clean.

For Gaven to hire them temporarily was not difficult, but turning them into new residents of the Three Rivers Region was not a task that could be completed in a day or two.

After getting the mercenary recruitment in order, Gaven left with Zalanda to complete their initial plan—taking her to tour the entire Three Rivers Region.

The act of extracting memory projections from the Dragon Corpse had reminded Gaven that the simplest way to persuade others to immigrate to the Three Rivers Region was to let them understand it, to see its developmental potential, and to witness his own strength.

Inviting representatives to visit in person was a reflection of this line of thinking.

Representatives, after all, are few and the process is rather cumbersome, far less efficient than directly creating projection images for the immigrants themselves to watch, which is simpler and more intuitive.

This method is not only applicable here in Zalanda.

Regina can also make use of it, advertising throughout the Valley and even Sambia to attract those potential immigrants, allowing them to come on their own initiative.

The difficulty in creating Memory Projection Crystals isn’t particularly high, nor is it particularly low.

Only two conditions are necessary.

Firstly, a suitable medium is needed. This medium is not limited to crystals; some gemstones, diamonds, can be used as well, it’s just a matter of how much memory they can hold.

At the Ghost Grape Wine Auction, there were numerous suitable materials traded.

But Gaven has access to an even better material, that’s right, the Spirit Crystal Stone.

Spirit Crystal Stones are inherently related to spiritual energy, which makes them professionally matched as carriers for memory images; a Spirit Crystal the size of a thumbnail can contain as much memory as a crystal ball the size of a fist.

Spirit Crystals have another advantage over other gemstones, which is ease of manipulation.

Even ordinary people can use their mental strength to activate the pre-set phantoms on them, the only issue being the duration of the activation.

Secondly, there must be spellcasters capable of casting phantom spells to pre-set the corresponding phantoms into the Spirit Crystals.

There are far more types of phantom spells than Gaven imagined.

Silent Phantom is just a first-level spell with no sound, smell, temperature, etc., just an image.

Lesser Phantom, a second-level spell, is similar to Silent Phantom but includes some sounds and is relatively weak.

Greater Phantom, a third-level spell, not only has sound but also includes smells, temperatures, etc., making it somewhat difficult to distinguish from reality.

Pre-set Phantom, Eternal Phantom, Permanent Phantom, etc., belong to the sixth-level spells. These spells are not simply about copying images but creating characters and scripts that the naked eye cannot distinguish as fake.

For Gaven, Greater Phantom is good enough.

For Daphne, casting it is a piece of cake.

Under Gaven’s personal guidance, an advertisement for the immigration recruitment of the Three Rivers Region was soon freshly released, lasting five minutes.

Though the time is short, it is enough to introduce the Three Rivers Region in all aspects, such as the region’s financial resources, immigrant incentive policies, and natural geographic environment.

After reviewing the effects of the finished images, Gaven felt that his cooperation with Regina had gained a new aspect.

That is, the joint development of Felen’s projection industry—the entertainment level of the Felen populace is about to climb several steps.

Throughout the latter half of July, Gaven lived a life hopping back and forth between two places.

Today in the Three Rivers Region, tomorrow in Thacel, and the day after back to the Three Rivers Region.

During this time, Gaven personally experienced Zalanda’s influence in Darama; the things she wanted to do needed only a word, and responses were plentiful.

For instance, she needed skilled carpenters to create water wheel-driven Nicole Spinning Machines.

Put up a recruitment notice in the morning, and by noon, two squads of skilled carpenters could come over, many of whom temporarily closed their own shops to come.

For instance, she wanted to dig canals to guide the water of the Is River to power the Nicole Spinning Machines.

Once the citizens knew of this, there was no need to convene them; many volunteered, bringing their own food and tools, showing up on their own to offer their labor for free. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs N(o)vᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt

Zalanda wouldn’t let them work for free and paid them no less than the market wage for their labor.

In such circumstances, it would be hard for her not to succeed.

While Zalanda didn’t have the Three Rivers Region’s fantasy scenery of multi-racial cooperation,

She had the magical sight of collective cooperative effort, and under her multi-faceted approach, the large-scale hydraulics spinning mill began to take shape in just half a month.

Felen, a place of favorable weather, goes without saying; on the day of his return to Thacel, a suitable piece of land was already picked and prepared.

This time, the citizens were not rallied, but the military was directly brought over; with thousands of soldiers engaging in the work, the tilling of the land was completed within the month.

This area was planted entirely with potatoes that could mature in two months following Gaven’s suggestion, allowing for two plantings before winter, effectively alleviating Darama’s food crisis.

Shipwreck salvage and repair work.

Mir Forest intelligence gathering work.

Moving to Battle Valley large-scale immigrant motivational propaganda work.

Also began at the same time.

Whenever he had time, Gaven would join Zalanda in Darama, making frequent public appearances.

There was no need for deliberate publicity; the whole of Darama knew his name.

That’s him, that man!

The recent series of changes in Darama were all connected to him.

He brought enlightenment to the Treants currently salvaging the shipwrecks, enabling them to possess a great number of transport and fishing boats in a short time, and to harvest more from the Is River, alleviating the food crisis.

He introduced brand-new spinning equipment, giving many citizens new job opportunities.

He is the new Lord of the Battle Valley Three Rivers Region, right by a river several times larger than the Is River, possessing mountains of food enough to feed tens of thousands for several years.

There, vast fertile lands lay uncultivated by anyone.

There is a land of peace and tranquility, without warlord lords, only endless calm.

The owner of this land promises that the houses built and lands cultivated would belong to the individuals, tax-free for three years, and after three years, a tax rate of ten percent, never to be increased.

The only obstacle isn’t the distance of 1,300 kilometers, but the will to go there.

As long as there is a willingness, Lord Zalanda will organize the military to collectively escort those who wish to go.

This matter has become the hottest topic in Darama.

It serves as a warm-up period, giving the Darama People time to think and prepare.

On the other hand, the Three Rivers Region has once again fallen into a state of war.

However, this war is unusual, the enemy is not Humans, nor even humanoid creatures, but birds and beasts.

The Weizemay Vineyard grapes have ripened.