Entering the Mountains

Chapter 18: Entering the Mountains

Romain changed into hunting attire that allowed for easy movement. His thick hair, which cascaded over his shoulders, was tied back with a headband, giving him a wild and untamed aura, like a mighty lion, and sharpening the angles of his face.

Romain didn't have Green and Aaron fully armored. Instead, he had them change into clothes suitable for moving freely in the mountains, equipped with weapons. Aaron was also made to carry an iron shield on his back.

By the time the sun began to rise.

Mol was waiting for Romain's latest endeavor in Sigg Town—or rather, his agricultural guidance.

To his surprise, he saw Romain arrive on horseback, a large bow on his back, dressed in sharp, practical gear.

He heard Romain say, "Summon the Sigg Town guards. I'm taking people into the mountains."

"Huh?" Mol stared blankly at Romain, his mind a muddled mess. "No... Master, why didn't you tell me beforehand?"

Romain frowned. "Why would I tell you?"

Yeah, why would I tell him?

Could I even stop him?

This truly is a troublesome ancestor!

Mol was anxious and had to remind him, "Those people are very dangerous!"

Romain narrowed his eyes. "Oh? So I should just let them run amok on my territory?"

Mol felt like crying. At this moment, he truly loved this self-willed, overbearing lord.

Romain clearly saw the conflicted expression flickering across Mol's face. Before this, no matter how bizarre or absurd his actions were, Mol would only accept them silently, as if he had nothing left to lose, as long as he wasn't demoted to the pigsty.

Only for this matter did Mol show considerable resistance.

So, Romain brought Mol along.

When he announced this, Mol turned to stone, his eyes filled with despair, as if he had accepted his fate.

Sigg Town had 30 guards. Romain only called away 20, bringing sufficient supplies and leaving 10 guards for Sigg Town.

Today's production task was to replicate yesterday's work. The stewards of Sigg Town were capable of supervising.

Romain first asked them if they had relevant experience and how familiar they were with the deep mountain environment.

The probability of him, Green, and Aaron getting into trouble was very low, but that didn't mean the guards also possessed extraordinary physiques. The chances of them getting injured or killed were high.

According to the results of his inquiries, as long as they were cautious, they would be fine.

Even before Romain arrived, the residents here would enter the mountains or forests to collect timber.

This was also Romain's greatest means of oppressing all the residents of Sigg Town through noble authority—though Romain was merely finding an excuse.

After training the farmers to obey him instinctively, Romain would open up logging rights for a period.

He truly didn't think these people could cause any waste of natural resources.

The farmers had no axes or woodcutting knives, only simple wooden tools, and could only fight nature with their bare hands.

The efficiency of this was naturally extremely low.

Traces of logging from the current year were covered by nature's metabolism by the second year.

When Romain found suitable iron ore and smelted it into sharp axes and machetes, he would personally show them what efficiency truly meant.

Smashing wood with stones?

NO!

Here, have this (hands over axe and saw).jpg

But before that, Romain still needed to conduct a basic survey of the area to find suitable mining veins.

Most of Romain's territory was undeveloped, what is known as wilderness.

Even though the total arable land of Sigg Town might be tens of thousands of mu.

It was still a very small portion of the entire basin.

This was a common occurrence in this era.

Vast land, sparse population, natural dangers, and rampaging beasts made pioneering a very difficult undertaking.

Over a hundred years ago, the Conqueror Emperor, with his status as an uncrowned king, issued a law.

Any pioneer would become the owner of the pioneered land and be granted the status and title of a pioneer lord.

This grand pioneering movement, which lasted for nearly twenty years, was a shining moment for all of human civilization. It ended when the Conqueror fell gravely ill in the Nether Sea, and his massive fleet was caught in a storm.

Thus, the policies died with the ruler.

Without the Conqueror's strong suppression, the nobles and other kingdoms began to stir. In a very short period, they incorporated the labor that commoners had painstakingly developed over twenty years into their own territories.

Those who volunteered as pioneers were often people with nothing. They lacked resources and military strength, unable to resist.

It wasn't until three Grand Dukes returned from the Nether Sea with their remaining forces that the chaos of dividing the spoils finally stabilized.

But the impact of this event was extremely far-reaching.

For example, countries no longer actively reclaimed land but relied on natural population growth to slowly expand human living space.

Moreover, the reclaimed land was enough for everyone to fight each other on this continent and consume their populations, so there was no need to expand outwards.

Sigg Town was a product of this passive development, slowly growing from a few hundred people to its current size, having reclaimed tens of thousands of mu of wasteland.

Romain couldn't be bothered to comment on the matter.

He focused a portion of his attention on the interface of [Tale of Survival].

[Tale of Survival] viewed his territory as an "Origin Farm."

However, the map was vast, and it would take his personal efforts to slowly illuminate all of it.

During this illumination process, it would mark logging areas, quarrying areas, mining areas, hunting grounds, swamps, rivers, wastelands, and other geographical information.

Simply put, anywhere Romain passed through would reveal where minerals were located, similar to having a full resource vision map.

However, this vision was only for specific resources; it wasn't real-time satellite surveillance.

Furthermore, Romain had tried it.

[Tale of Survival] could not affect the real world!

In fact, because the farmland in Sigg Town was not cultivated by Romain, [Tale of Survival] did not recognize those thousands upon tens of thousands of mu of land as 'farmland'—only the land Romain cultivated was considered 'farmland.'

Of course, this resource surveying function still saved Romain a considerable amount of effort. As long as there was a mineral vein nearby, its exact location could be marked, saving him the time of surveying.

Mol said earnestly, "Lord Romain, the mountains are full of desperadoes. You don't need to risk your life personally; your safety is paramount."

Romain replied, "If there's someone in the mountains who can kill all the guards and two knights, then let him kill me."

His reply was casual and composed, but it didn't stop Mol from breaking out in a cold sweat.

The mountain paths were difficult, and he weighed nearly two hundred jin, making such aerobic exercise quite taxing.

Romain said, "Alright, you can tell me about these mountain dwellers."

Mol clearly knew something.

Mol wiped his sweat and complied, saying, "I'm not entirely sure myself. Some of them have lived here for a very long time. They were already living here before my father died of illness and I became the Agricultural Officer."

Fierce magical beasts, treacherous environments.

And certain extremely dangerous bandits and wanted criminals.

These were also the reasons Mol refused to venture deep into the mountains, as a single misstep could truly cost one's life.