Every Step Was Just Right / A Girl's Blush Could Also Be a Fevered Flush

So, after picking and choosing, Warfarin selected just over six hundred people from the town according to his wishes over the course of the year.

Perhaps it was simply their nature, but this group of people who could barely be called kind all accepted Huang Cao's invitation and decided to embark on a journey into the unknown.

"Warfarin, long time no see! Let me check whether you've developed normally!"

Huang Cao kicked open the front door of his shop, looking every bit like a spoiled young master.

Warfarin, who had nearly been scared half to death, was both startled and delighted. Although he had frightened her, the worry in her heart vanished without a trace with his arrival.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?! We're not moving right away. We still have to wait another week before we leave. Are we not supposed to live through this week?"

Warfarin sighed and looked at the youth, whose appearance had not changed much.

This was the appearance the Banshees had seen. Long ago, Warfarin had met both of his bodies in person to coordinate their stories.

So she was not overly surprised to see him like this. She merely sighed that the fellow seemed to have become a little more handsome again.

"You said your race was the Grass-eating Demon, but I haven't tasted the blood of this race yet~ Come on! I'll draw a whole tube!"

"I'm afraid your big tube won't fit."

Huang Cao grumbled, but he still scratched open his skin with a fingernail and let a little golden blood drip into the test tube.

"Golden blood. That's quite rare."

"Come to think of it, is this really blood?"

"Or perhaps we could condense 'golden blood' into two words." Huang Cao spoke with a rather scholarly air.

"I suggest you don't!"

Warfarin's pale, pretty face flushed, and she glared fiercely at Huang Cao.

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Chapter 20: Every Step Was Just Right

"It smells nice, but somehow it doesn't feel quite normal."

Warfarin brought the bottle containing the youth's blood close to her nose and fanned the air around it with her hand. A strange fragrance drifted into her nose.

The scent was exceptionally bizarre, like a stew made from every kind of plant. She could detect all sorts of botanical aromas within it, yet they were not muddled at all. Instead, they were remarkably fragrant.

Driven by curiosity, Warfarin downed the golden blood in the test tube.

The blood tasted more or less like water.

And then nothing happened, just as if she had drunk water.

"That's it?" Huang Cao circled Warfarin with great curiosity. He felt that his blood had completely spread throughout this vampire's body, yet she had not changed in the slightest.

"My advice is, don't eat it next time. What if you turn into a tree?"

"Good point."

That night, Warfarin slapped a thick book down in front of the youth.

"Boss, I've worked diligently for you this past year. These are the records I made every day. Settle my overtime pay for me, will you? I haven't slept for more than half a year."

"You haven't slept for half a year? Wait, don't you normally not need to sleep at night anyway?"

"Although we Blood Demons do indeed prefer staying up at night, sleep is a physiological activity every living creature must have. Sleeping less doesn't mean not sleeping at all. That's not a reason for you to withhold my wages."

"While I was gone, couldn't you just take what you needed from the warehouse?"

"I'm only the steward. In Victorian terms, I'm merely an accountant. What employee pays herself?"

"It seems the people in this world aren't very good at cooking the books."

After sincerely sighing over this, Huang Cao decided to show his face in town a few days later. The honorary Royal Court title Theresia had granted him had also arrived.

It was a medal made of mixed silver and gold, yet it looked exceptionally plain and unadorned.

However, Theresia's name had been embroidered on the ribbon beneath the medal.

"Have all the invitations been sent out?"

"According to my observations, I sent them to a little over six hundred people in total. None of them could be called particularly kind, but at least they weren't the sort who would deliberately cause trouble. They're on the more honest side," Warfarin said.

"Although 'honest' among the Sarkaz isn't quite the same as what other races call an honest person."

The day after next, Huang Cao dressed himself in splendid clothes modeled after Lamian, the Lord of the Royal Court. He also attached the medal Theresia had given him to his outfit.

"That person is the shopkeeper's relative. I suddenly thought of a four-character idiom: refined and courteous." The townspeople below watched the youth giving a speech on the platform and could not help whispering among themselves.

"He looks dependable. Maybe this time he really can take us away from the war."

Every Sarkaz attending the gathering had received an invitation. Those who had not received one had already left the town.

As mentioned earlier, the resources around this town were already on the verge of running dry.

Those who wanted to leave had left long ago. Everyone who remained here looked forward to the new homeland Warfarin and Huang Cao had promised them, without exception.

Although one person's original idea had been to become a superior person and enjoy being a feudal noble in this world before its final enemy destroyed it.

But Huang Cao, whose mind was perfectly normal, had a very simple thought.

Without money or people, how could he live happily?

Everyone would have fun together, just with him having a little more fun than them.

In the ancient times of his former world, Huang Cao's current behavior and thoughts could absolutely be called those of a saintly ruler.

He enjoyed himself together with his people, just a little better than they did, without building his own pleasure on the suffering of others.

But this world was far worse than Huang Cao had imagined. Kazdel in particular was a complete mess, one that the pink-haired siblings had failed to sort out after several hundred years.

Even now, whenever Huang Cao recalled the events of Tower of Babel, he could never understand why the civil war several hundred years later had broken out.

If Teresis and Theresia cared about their people, why had the two of them ended up fighting a civil war?

It would be wrong to say they did not care, either, because everything they did was to give their supporters better lives and fulfill their ideals.

The two kings had been caught up in the will of the people, unable to advance or retreat.

War was always the worst option, so could the two of them not have sat down and talked things out properly, soothing everyone first?

And if a fight really had to break out later, could they not have staged a performance or something?

There was absolutely no need to fight to the death. Wouldn't people dying only hurt Kazdel even more?

In short, it was truly strange that this civil war had managed to happen. If only the siblings had been a little sharper and used time to heal their old hatreds as much as possible, perhaps history really could have been rewritten.

Of course, this was somewhat like playing the wise man after the event. After all, Leithanian was right beside them, constantly striking out of nowhere whenever it felt like it, making it impossible for the hatred to fade.

All one could say was that the civil war between the siblings was inseparable from this country's actions.

Huang Cao had no grand ambitions. As someone who loved pleasure and beautiful women, he had no desire to get involved in the so-called struggle over the Demon King.

Fighting and killing was so uncivilized. Whatever happened should be settled at the negotiating table whenever possible.

Of course, if someone provoked him to his face, he would not be afraid in the slightest.

Thus, early the next morning, after Huang Cao finished rallying everyone for the migration from atop the platform, he led all the residents who possessed invitations toward his fief.

They encountered no danger along the way. Traveling to the fief on foot, relying only on their own strength and the luggage on their backs, would take more than a month.

If the townspeople had been former soldiers before becoming mercenaries, this group's speed would surely have been much faster.

Unfortunately, they were not.

Fortunately, with Huang Cao along, they did not encounter any major danger. They did not even run into a Catastrophe.

A month later, everyone finally arrived at this land of birdsong and flowers.

"So it's real. You didn't deceive us."

After crossing the final valley, the first thing the townspeople saw was a giant tree that radiated golden light like a miracle.

Or rather, a tree whose appearance greatly resembled the Imaginary Tree.

Huang Cao did not know what was wrong with the appearance of this tree. He did not even know to what extent his body had been modified.

At the same time, Huang Cao's prestige among the residents continued to rise.

This was where the benefits of carefully selecting his subjects became apparent. The truly vicious would only think about claiming this place for themselves and would never listen to his guidance.

These residents, who were already tired of war, could only feel sincere gratitude. Their not-quite-bad character made them instinctively thankful.

Huang Cao had calculated every step perfectly.

"My subjects, let us begin construction now. Remember, we must develop the surrounding resources with gratitude, taking only what we need. We must protect the environment and build our Eden together."

Eden was the name Huang Cao had given his fief.

Chapter 21: A Girl's Blush Could Also Be a Fevered Flush

The normal development trajectory followed after that.

Although Huang Cao could directly spur plants into growth, why should he toil tirelessly to support all of them?

So, after arriving in his territory, the first thing Huang Cao did besides clearing farmland was to gather several hundred people to build him a castle.

After finally obtaining a real body, Huang Cao did not want to keep sleeping in the soil.

None of the Sarkaz who had followed him there had any complaints about their lord's proposal.

That was because the Sarkaz living in the town were all ordinary people, not members of any Royal Court branch.

In other words, they were commoners.

Aside from having horns and longer lifespans, they had no abilities whatsoever.

Theresia and Teresis had also been commoner Sarkaz at first, but for some reason, their combat strength suddenly became absurdly powerful later on.

Perhaps that was simply talent.

Wsheldale was also a very ordinary Sarkaz, but her talent and fortuitous encounters were both outrageously powerful.

Whether in the story or in the game's strength ratings, it would not be excessive to call her the official favorite daughter.

There was even a joke online: when you thought this was the first mini-boss you had encountered, you still had no idea that what came next would be her era.

When you pulled Wsheldale, this was how your brain changed.

Because of the preparations made earlier, all the construction materials for the castle had already been delivered to the area around the territory. Although building a castle now was somewhat extravagant, it could not be considered wasteful or harmful to the people.

More importantly, Huang Cao paid wages whenever he ordered people around, and he was exceptionally generous.

He also did not speak with that lofty, superior tone.

That was why the other Sarkaz found it puzzling. Their lord was clearly a noble of high standing and acted with the style of a noble.

Yet from the Sarkaz perspective, their lord seemed like a mischievous child. He was petty without being truly bad, and he genuinely considered their interests.

Going by age alone, Huang Cao was only a little over twenty, so he could not exactly be considered highly experienced among them.

Combined with his incredibly youthful appearance, everyone had developed a slight fondness for this somewhat eccentric new lord.

As time passed, the Sarkaz who had come to the new homeland experienced the taste of peace for the first time in ages.

In just one month, a castle exuding simple luxury appeared on the plains.

At the same time, more than twenty graceful maids were responsible for managing every aspect of the castle.

As for the head maid, that was naturally our Lady Warfarin, though she was not counted among those twenty-plus graceful maids.

"All right, it's still a little shabby."

Huang Cao looked at the castle before him. Its height was sufficient, but its footprint was not very large.

As expected, without the help of modern technology, even if every Sarkaz was tremendously strong, transporting huge stones and making decorative pieces was still somewhat difficult for them.

This would have to do for now. He should focus on developing production and construction in the territory first and stop making them work any harder.

I, Lord Huang, am a benevolent man!

Having a house isn't enough. Eating well, sleeping well, and having fun—that was the life of a noble.

And to accomplish all those goals, he had to ensure that his subjects also ate well, slept well, and had fun.

Only then would they refrain from causing trouble and do their best to provide him with emotional value.