Ryan's Development Plan and the Second Opening of the Planar Gate

Ryan's Development Plan and the Second Opening of the Planar Gate

Winter in Northwind Province lasted four months, while winter in Frozen Earth Territory lasted another half month longer.

Four and a half months—Ryan had already wasted about half a month. In the remaining four months, he had much construction to complete.

First were the three fields. They had to be finished before spring arrived so there would be time for planting.

Second was mapping the entire area surrounding Frozen Earth Territory.

Even now, he only knew that Frozen Earth Territory lay in the northernmost corner of Northwind Province. Beyond that, he knew nothing. That was absolutely not a good thing.

Winter's arrival meant danger had arrived as well.

The Empire stood at the northernmost edge of the warm southern world. Though powerful, it also faced threats from foreign races.

Those orcs, starving through the winter, would surely head south.

Although Northwind Province was not the only province that would suffer such attacks, it was certainly one of the least affected. Frozen Earth Territory itself seemed never to have suffered an orc raid, perhaps because it was so poor that even orcs felt there was no food or profit to be found here.

But Ryan was unwilling to leave everything to experience and habit.

So he needed to understand exactly what the broader environment around Frozen Earth Territory was like.

This was the second priority, second only to farming.

The third matter was Frozen Earth Village, currently under construction—the model for the future Northgar City and a crucial step toward stabilizing all of Frozen Earth Territory.

With houses, they could start raising chickens and goats. Those with a little more wealth could even keep a cow.

Further away beneath Rhino Horn Mountain, they would even have their own fertile fields, and most of the grain grown there would belong to them.

Once they had all this, Frozen Earth Territory would gain unprecedented cohesion. Ryan knew full well that his main means of increasing the population would come from the Other Plane, and those who had traveled so far needed to be given a sense of belonging in Frozen Earth Territory.

Once they had a sense of belonging and cohesion, Ryan could move on to the next step: creating more needs for them.

That was right. Ryan had thought it through clearly, and the plans recorded on the birch bark had already filled many pages.

If he did not want his subjects to muddle through life in idleness, he needed to create needs for them—things they wanted: better houses, more livestock, perhaps even a shop or workshop, as well as blessings, the Knight Breathing Technique, and so on.

By creating needs for them, Frozen Earth Territory's development could continue advancing rapidly in the direction Ryan wanted.

Beyond those three matters, the fourth was the military.

Ryan had never believed farming was a particularly secure undertaking.

After all, his first capital had come from Knight Walter's contribution. Without powerful military strength, even farming could not be done in peace—much less here in the Northlands, where food was scarce.

It could even be said that in the Northlands, military strength was the most important thing.

But why had Ryan placed it fourth?

Because his current territory could not support more Knight Retainer soldiers.

If he wanted soldiers who met the standards, Ryan had to grant them blessings. The spirituality required for blessings was not much of a problem to him. At worst, he could simply make another trip to the Other Plane.

The key was still the very first condition.

Food.

A slave consumed less than half a jin of food a day, perhaps even less.

A commoner consumed nearly one jin a day, and commoners often had to go hungry.

Just like when Ryan had first arrived in Frozen Earth Territory—the villagers here had been sallow and emaciated from frequently not having enough to eat.

But how much would a soldier, a soldier with the physique of an Apprentice Knight, need to eat?

Ryan had asked Brandt, and the answer was three jin.

Under normal circumstances, with two or three hours of training each day, every one of his soldiers consumed three jin of food per day.

From time to time, soldiers also needed meat. Ryan was generous; even though he had little in storage, he ensured they ate meat once every three days.

If he wanted his soldiers, his army, to maintain peak combat strength, he had to pay this price.

So the daily consumption of the forty-odd soldiers under his command was no small figure.

It was not that he did not want to bless more retainers. With a light touch of his finger, he could give someone the equivalent of two or three years of training. Faced with such a good thing, he wished his army numbered in the thousands or tens of thousands.

With the 778 points of spirituality in his hands—reduced by ten after granting the Bain Family one blessing—if he could build an army of one hundred Apprentice Knights, he would dare claim everything within a thirty-li radius around Rhino Horn Mountain as his own.

But food simply would not allow it.

If he truly did that, the slaves would have nothing to eat within days, and commoners would begin starving to death within a month or two.

In short, in a place like the Northlands, food was the foundation of everything.

Even if dragons came, they would first have to fill their stomachs.

These were the four most important matters. Beyond them, there were many lesser ones.

For example, Frozen Earth Territory still needed plenty of cold-resistant clothing. His soldiers needed standard-issue Iron Swords and armor, as well as warhorses.

As the territory developed, farming households would need chickens, ducks, geese, goats, cattle, horses, and salt.

He also wanted to build a road that could pass directly from Frozen Earth Territory through the Mountain Forest and swamps to the south, rather than forcing them to cross mountains and ridges every time.

Finally, Frozen Earth Territory needed to develop its own economy. Even Haton Baronial Territory, the territory closest to his own, was far wealthier than he was.

For the sake of these plans, he could not even spare attention for his own Baron's Castle.

Ryan was truly poor.

Under the current development plan, there was not even a single crop that could serve as a cash crop. In other words, even if he completed all these major and minor plans, Ryan would still have no money.

After completing them, he would merely have narrowed some of the gap between his territory and those of other Barons.

"The Northlands probably cannot support me expanding farther for now. So my destination still has to be the Other Plane."

He looked at his Spirituality Panel.

Spirituality: 778

Divinity: Deer Spirit's Blessing

"It still costs one hundred spirituality to open the Space Gate and maintain it for twenty-four hours. The destination is still the Axeniel Continent, a plane where the Deer Spirit is worshipped."

"If I can find one or two villages and bring their people back this time, it will be worth it."

With that thought, Ryan called out to Brandt, who was outside.

"Brandt, bring ten soldiers and come with me."

One hundred points of spirituality vanished, and the Space Gate opened. Even though Brandt and the others had experienced it once before, they still could not help feeling astonished.

This time, Ryan did not bring Beard. The Old Steward had recently become the busiest person in Frozen Earth Territory, as Ryan had entrusted him with supervising everything.