Chapter 887 Building Territory
While everyone panicked from the information they got from the spies, Noel had gathered all the pillars of the family.
There were a total of twelve people sitting down, with Noel and Anna sitting at the tip of both ends as the master and mistress.
Noel said, "Alright. I have made a decision about the shape of the territory. I will be giving you instructions, so let me hear your thoughts on whether it"s a good or bad decision. I know that I"m inexperienced as a lord, but I"ll definitely do my best to build this territory."
The people in the room nodded their heads. That was the reason why they were here.
"Dimitri. I want you to take care of the immigration. We"ll need a lot of people in the territory. While it"s impossible to find all the spies, I want you to reduce it as much as possible."
"Understood. How many do you need, Master?"
"As for the number…" Noel glanced at Douglas while pointing at the map. "I want to create a city of this size. These are the four points."
"Actually, Master. I have a unique fort design if you desire." Douglas took out his blueprints, showing a fort that looked far unique compared to the ones he had seen so far.
Instead of a rectangle, the fort looked like a star.
"This is…" Noel frowned.
"I call this a Star Fortress. By taking advantage of these five points and filling up the area with ponds, it will be hard for any sieges or demons to reach it. Due to the pointy edges, we can force the demons to a cone-shaped area where we bombard them from three sides. Although I want to create a hexagram, I believe a star is enough for our territory. We have the natural shield on our west and east, so we"ll create a gate toward the south. The demons won"t have any choice but to break through from the north and…"
Douglas stopped. Although he was a good architect, he wasn"t a good general.
Noel should have understood the advantage of having these pointy edges as well. When Noel took a look at the design, he couldn"t help but ask, "Balott?"
"It will definitely be more expensive. But if we can fortify these edges, it"s indeed effective. Depending on the pace, our current fund can cover two edges currently… Of course, I have deducted wages, food, and other stuff."
"There should be funds for another two edges soon. As for the rest, we"ll use our specialty to gather more funds."
"Understood." Balott nodded in understanding.
"In that case, we"ll go with Douglas"s design. If that"s the case, the five points would be these…" Noel changed the location a little bit. "If we change it this way, how many people can live inside the fortress?"
"Depending on what you need… such as barracks, residential areas, and other stuff. But if I have to a.s.sume, it"s about ten thousand people. This is going to be a big project. The wall alone requires a few hundred people."
"Can you finish the two edges within two or three months?" Noel asked.
"If that"s the case, we need more men… around one thousand people. We have to work around the clock."
"Dimitri!" Noel glanced back as he got the answer for Dimitri.
"Understood. I"ll try to find two thousand people at first for both the walls and the early residents of the city."
"Charlotte will supervise everything."
"Understood." Charlotte agreed without hesitation. "I"ll definitely manage these people so that there won"t be any mistakes."
Harley suddenly raised his hand. "My lord, I believe that we need one district for mine. While it"s true that the red-light district is something to be frowned upon, my information network is centered around brothels. If we can get a red-light district, I can gather information inside and outside the cities, depending on the customers. The soldiers can relieve their stress, the townspeople will have fewer worries, and the merchants will enjoy the service. The red-light district is necessary to reduce crime rates."
"I agree." Howard nodded. As a soldier, he obviously knew the state of the city. Since Howard agreed, it would be best to consider Harley"s suggestion.
Fortunately, Noel had already prepared the answer. "I know. There will be one, but Douglas will decide the location."
"Understood." Douglas and Harley exchanged looks before agreeing with the arrangement.
"Then…Howard, I want to create a new system for the soldiers." Noel raised one finger and asked, "I want to create an elite soldier with runes on their bodies."
"Huh? Runes on their bodies?" Howard raised his eyebrows, confused.
"Yeah." Noel pointed to the side and said, "Try standing next to me and receive the power of the runes."
Howard followed his instruction and raised both hands.
"I"m not using anything other than the rune itself. This is effective against a Spirit Master, but depending on how you use it, a Spirit Grandmaster could be harmed as well."
"Please."
Noel activated the Rune Blast on his body, and a shock wave shook the entire room.
Dimitri dispelled the blast coming toward the people, while the rest was focused on the fact that Howard actually got pushed back two meters from his original location.
"This is…" Howard looked down. Even though he underestimated it a bit, he still didn"t expect this much power coming from runes. "Sir… are you going…"
"Yeah. I"ll grant this rune to the people who contribute. This is the new system. People who contribute will receive Honor Points. We"ll have several rewards for Honor Points. For now, I can think of several rewards such as money, runes on the body, or weapons."
"That would definitely make the soldiers excited. But how do you get the Honor Points?"
"We"ll issue a mission or training regiments. You have to note the people who contribute… While it"s true that it"s going to be a ha.s.sle, you can train them like this, making them independent."
"If you think about it, the people will have to be creative to get the honor points. If this continues, the soldiers will become elites who know what to do without being ordered."
"Yeah. While it"s true that monetary reward is one of the things that can be exchanged, we can train elites with less money this way."
"I don"t have an objection to the arrangement."
"Alright. I"ll give you the details about it later. I"ll also draw some runes on your body to demonstrate it to the soldiers."
"Yes, Sir."
After that, Noel turned to Livia. "You and Tristan will learn under me, but at the same time, I want both of you to create the Rune Academy. You will become the princ.i.p.al, and Tristan will a.s.sist you. This is going to be a heavy responsibility."
Livia seemed to understand why Noel forbade her from returning to the Greenwood Kingdom. It was indeed a huge responsibility, but the princ.i.p.al had to be the most knowledgeable about runes. It showed that Noel planned to pa.s.s everything to her. For the Greenwood Kingdom, this was a priceless opportunity.
Without hesitation, Livia nodded her head. "Understood. Leave it to me."
"Jasmine. How is the area?"
"The lands are fertile. We could stretch the farmland from this place to the foot of the mountain. I have several terraforming projects. If everything goes according to the plan, the territory won"t have any problems with food. We can even sell a lot."
"Work with the defense system. It will definitely become a target after all. As for the food supply before the first harvest, it will be handled by Balott."
"Yes, Sir."
"Sir Roel. You should have heard everything. I will be expecting you to provide the necessary equipment. In exchange, I will provide you with various runes to the point where you won"t feel bored for the rest of your life."
"Haha. You know me so well, Sir. But since I have become one of the pillars, you don"t have to be polite to me anymore. Just call me Roel like everyone else." Roel nodded.
After giving everyone"s direction, Noel finally turned to the last person, Anna. "Now that we"ve announced our engagement, everyone will hear about it sooner or later, especially that former alchemist. It"ll be time to formally recruit him in this territory."
"Got it. So, we"ll use the pills and the rune academy to generate income to build the rest of the fortress?"
"Yeah." Noel pointed at their location. "We have to create a strong fortress first."
"Of course. We have to defend this land and create a sense of security." Howard nodded in agreement.
"But the Supreme Devil Organization and the Royal Family won"t let us off, right?" Charlotte asked.
"Yeah. If we lose, everything will be destroyed. But if we win, we can use that opportunity to promote the security of our fortress. This way, a lot of people will think it"s better to live in this territory." Noel nodded.
"With a lot of people filling our territory, we can prosper."
"Indeed. I know that each of you will need subordinates. I allow you to get them yourselves." Noel looked irresponsible, but this was how he showed his trust. By giving them the authority, it would mean that Noel wouldn"t place any person who might be a spy under them just to watch their performance. He believed that the pillars would build this territory together.
Noel finally asked one last question. "How long do you need to complete our fortress?"
"The first harvest will take approximately nine months. We have to terraform the lands first after all." Jasmine raised her hand.
"I will make the soldiers ready in one month after we get a new batch of soldiers." Howard looked confident.
"We can operate at any time." Harley made a smug smile.
"In my original workshop, we had a lot of failed products. While I call them failures, they are still better than normal tools. I"ll just call someone to bring them to the territory. This should be enough for now." Roel explained his plan.
"I"ll need six months to finalize the curriculum and learn more from you," Livia replied with a bit of an unsure tone since she didn"t know much about runes.
Last but not least, Douglas. He was the one who would create the territory physically, so he said, "The wall will take one year… No, if we have more people, we can speed it up to nine months. I"m going to finalize the placements of the districts today, but I need a total of two thousand people if we"re going to speed things up."
"I"ll provide you with all those people as quickly as possible." Dimitri nodded, a.s.suring him.
"Good." Noel stood up. "We"ll build this territory properly, making sure that no one can shake it. I believe that all of you can do it… that"s the reason why I have no hesitation in choosing the people here as the pillars of my family."
They couldn"t help but smile after hearing that praise.
Noel then waved his hand, signaling them to start. "Dismiss!"