Time gradually pa.s.sed, and soon, five years had pa.s.sed in the blink of an eye.
Much had happened, and much had changed.
Within the Kutu Royal City, the King pa.s.sed away, and Princess Olivia and Prince Grith began to fight over the throne.
After a ma.s.sive battle, in the end, it was Princess Olivia who won.
With her many supporters" help, Princess Olivia won with a slight advantage, becoming the Queen of the Kutu Princ.i.p.ality.
In the course of this, Chen Heng had done much.
He had faced the Olis Kingdom"s three Knights by himself, and he had killed them all.
After this battle, he had been t.i.tled the new royal family Guardian Knight, and he took over Corripo"s position.
After becoming the Queen, in order to reward Chen Heng and her other supporters, Olivia stripped the territories from Grith"s supporters and gave them to her own supporters.
After that final battle, the situation in the Kutu Princ.i.p.ality began to stabilize.
As the Queen, Olivia remained within the Kutu Royal City.
As for Chen Heng, he mostly stayed in Sordar.
After five years had pa.s.sed, the current Sordar was much different than how it used to be.
If someone who had seen Sordar before Chen Heng went there saw it now, they would be completely shocked by how much it had changed.
Compared to five years ago, most of Sordar was still wilderness, but there were many forts now.
These were military structures that Chen Heng had based off the castles of this world. Even though their defensive powers could not compare to real castles, they were simpler to build and still had good defenses.
At the very least, Orc bandits without proper sieging tools could never force their way in.
The forts surrounded Sordar"s borders, blocking many Outlanders from the desert.
Because of this, the towns and cities behind them were able to develop well.
During these five years, the towns and cities that Chen Heng had established became more lively. Even though they seemed quite simple and there were not many people on the streets, they were still filled with life.
If one looked around, they would see that there were all kinds of Outlanders working in the fields.
These were the Outlander slaves Chen Heng had obtained from the desert. They were used for construction and labor.
Every year, they would obtain a large number of slaves from the battles in the desert, and these slaves had many uses.
Those who behaved well were allowed to work in the fields, and those who were dangerous were made to do dangerous things, such as being cannon fodder.
It was because they had these slaves that Chen Heng"s territory was able to develop so quickly.
What was ironic was that among these slaves, many of them had been sold by their own tribes.
Different to other rulers, after Chen Heng came here, while he resisted invasions from Outlanders, he also tried to find ways of forming relations.h.i.+ps with Outlanders.
He knew that even though the Outlanders had different appearances to humans, they also had self-awareness and intelligence; it was just that their civilization was less advanced than humans".
As long as they had self-awareness and intelligence, there was a possibility of negotiating with them.
After much effort, he had established contact and agreements with a few Outlander tribes.
These Outlanders provided Chen Heng with all kinds of desert specialties and slaves, while Chen Heng provided them with crops and food.
To most people of this world, Chen Heng"s actions were quite shocking.
In the past, perhaps some people had thought about trading with Outlanders, but most of them had died at the Outlanders" hands and become their dinner.
Most of the Outlanders ate people.
There were definitely not many people who had established contact and trade agreements with Outlanders like Chen Heng.
Just like that, he was able to obtain large amounts of desert specialties and slaves directly from Outlanders.
He could use the slaves himself to save on costs, while he could send the desert specialties to the south to earn high profits.
And the only thing that Chen Heng paid was some crops and food.
Other northern rulers might not have a large amount of crops, but now that Chen Heng had a trade route, this was not very difficult for him.
Over the years with Olivia"s lead, some other n.o.bles had also joined in the north-south trade, and there were some people who were successful.
However, with Chen Heng"s foundation, it would take some time before they would be able to reduce his market share.
As such, Chen Heng was still able to obtain ma.s.sive profits every year.
"Did Her Majesty kill people again?" Chen Heng asked while sitting within his silent room, looking at the person in front of him.
"Yes."
The person in front of him sighed and said, "This time, three families were deemed traitors and were suppressed by Her Majesty, and their territories were taken away…"
"Just what does Her Majesty want to do?"
Hearing this, Chen Heng could not help but frown.
Over the past few years, after Olivia had ascended to the throne, her personality had become more and more terrifying.
Back when she was only a Princess, because of her mother"s influence, she had taken to having lovers, and it was said that she had three or four.
It was said that after she became Queen, she had let loose and taken in beautiful youths from all over the land and kept them in her palace.
Even though n.o.bles were known for being quite unruly, this was a bit too much.
Of course, such opinions were subjective, and perhaps to other people, it was not a big deal.
However, after she took the throne, she became more and more tyrannical.
It was alright at first, but as time pa.s.sed, every now and then she would put someone to death. She would use all kinds of excuses to also take land from n.o.bles.
This caused many people to feel terrified.
Moreover, Olivia did not seem like she would stop, and this instead became more and more frequent.
Even Chen Heng began to feel quite concerned.