A Plane on the Verge of Death

A Plane on the Verge of Death

With over two hundred soldiers all at once, Ryan found that the pressure on his food supplies seemed to have grown a little greater.

But his courage had grown a little greater as well.

Inside the Baron's Castle, Ryan slowly put on the Mithril Armor before him with the help of old and young Beard.

In an instant, a majestic and powerful knight, with not a single gap exposed anywhere on his body, stood in the room.

Ryan did not feel that his vision was obstructed in the slightest.

Mithril had powerful magic-isolating properties, yet mithril itself was also a potent magical material. There was no contradiction between those two descriptions when applied to mithril.

When it came to negating magic, mithril could block ninety percent of spell damage below the level of a Great Mage. As a magical material, spells engraved and fixed onto mithril could produce two hundred percent of their normal effect.

This suit of Mithril Armor possessed three magical effects: Eagle Eye, Strength Enhancement, and Aura Burst.

Simple, yet immensely powerful effects. Eagle Eye let him see a moth a thousand meters away. Strength Enhancement allowed him to wield power comparable to a Bronze Knight while still at the knight stage. Aura Burst enabled a Bronze Knight or stronger knight with Knight Aura to unleash one hundred and twenty percent of their aura's power.

This suit of Mithril Armor alone was worth one hundred thousand gold coins.

The remaining nine sets only had Eagle Eye and Strength Enhancement, and were worth roughly five to seven thousand gold coins each.

But that was the price in the imperial capital, where countless powerful mages, alchemists, and all manner of mighty Transcendents gathered.

So when Ryan said the property sent by the count was worth two hundred thousand gold coins, that was the price for the count's family. As for other nobles, who knew?

There was also that carriage. There was simply no record of it ever being sold, because the Clayton Family had prepared it for the nobles of its own family. Its production cost was only a few thousand gold coins.

The significance of that cost was that most of its materials had been produced by the Clayton Family itself.

"Give each of the remaining ones to Brandt and those five from Clinton."

Ryan's sheer generosity directly stunned the Old Steward.

"Young Master Ryan, absolutely not."

"The value of a suit of Mithril Armor is something they could never buy, even if they offered up their lives."

Cold sweat streamed down the Old Steward's face. How could such things be handed out so casually?

After thinking it over, Ryan realized that he had been taking these windfall items a little too lightly. The last time he had gone to Zero Crossing City, he had sold all his valuables and only gotten a little over four thousand gold coins.

Indeed, Mithril Armor was still far too precious for Bronze Knights. It was something only Silver Knights should be considering.

"I've gotten carried away."

Ryan reminded himself. Having suddenly acquired such a large fortune, he truly did not know how to spend it. It seemed he would need to reflect on himself in the future.

"Forget it, then. Tell them that at the end of this year, we will hold a military tournament. The strongest knight in the territory will receive a suit of Mithril Armor."

Though he had reflected on himself, Ryan had no intention of treating this kind of war material as a collector's item.

"By the way, Beard."

Ryan looked at Little Beard.

"I have a task for you. Northwind Province is a complete mess after being raided by the orcs. I'll give you an army made up of one hundred soldiers and three hundred serfs. Go to Northwind Province and buy slaves."

"Prioritize craftsmen who know how to raise horses and forge iron. Next come serfs who can farm and grow fruit trees. Only then should you consider slaves who know a little of everything but are good at nothing. In particular, don't buy a single slave who has spent years in those mines."

"Oh, and we're building roads now. There should be quite a few orc slaves in Northwind Province, so buy some of them too."

"Thirty thousand gold coins. Use your own judgment."

At the same time, Ryan handed Beard Irina's discount card from Blade Rose.

"As you command."

Beard trembled all over. He had never managed so many gold coins before and could not help feeling a little dizzy. Yet at the same time, he made up his mind to make every single gold coin produce the effect of two.

After Little Beard left, the Old Steward could not help hesitating. He was excited too, for even he had never managed so many gold coins.

"Young Master Ryan, I'm afraid that boy won't be up to the task."

"I believe he can do it."

What Ryan trusted was the education noble households gave their stewards and servants, something that surely began in childhood and continued throughout their lives.

Besides, he also wanted to see whether Little Beard, his future steward, truly had the ability. After all, Lord Ryan's future would never stop here.

What did tens of thousands of gold coins amount to? If Beard could not even handle a matter involving a few tens of thousands of gold coins without making a complete mess of it, then he would likely be unfit to serve as steward of Frozen Earth Territory in the future.

"Go get Brandt."

Ryan gave the order. The Old Steward understood that Young Master Ryan was about to open the Planar Gate again.

Brandt brought ten soldiers and Harrington's five Bronze Knights. Then, just like everyone else back then, Harrington and the others wore identical expressions of overwhelming excitement.

Ryan had never intended to hide his power. It was only thanks to the peculiarities of this era and Frozen Earth Territory's location that his secret had never been exposed.

"We came to the right place—Frozen Earth Territory."

Harrington and the others exchanged glances, seeing the fervor in one another's eyes.

For people like them, who could never become nobles, only by following a lord with a bright future could their own futures become limitless.

Then, in the next moment, the biting cold wind extinguished the heat in their eyes.

"Hiss... Why has it become so cold? Shouldn't it be getting warmer?"

The instant he arrived on the Axeniel Continent, Ryan was confused. He clearly remembered that this plane shared the same spring and autumn seasons as his own world. Yet Frozen Earth Territory had already thawed, while this place remained bitterly cold.

"The war of the gods has plunged this plane completely into the Dead Silence of eternal winter."

Brandt felt somewhat heavy-hearted. This was, after all, his homeland, a world filled with countless stories he knew well.

"It seems this world is not far from death."

Ryan sighed. Perhaps it was because he had accepted the Deer Spirit, but in any case, this world had already sunk into the death of eternal winter.

Even he, a knight who cultivated the Blaze Dragon Knight Breathing Technique, could barely endure such a winter. How could ordinary people possibly survive it?

The food stored in their tents, villages, or ancient castles was likely all the time they had left.

"There are lights in the buildings ahead."

Wearing the Mithril Armor, Ryan could see far into the distance. Not even the wind and snow could block his sight.

He saw a tall tower. It seemed to be a noble's territory, and he could see several lights flickering amid the snowstorm.

Faced with a world on the verge of death, Ryan had no more reservations. He held the passage to life for the people here—perhaps even the only passage.