Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 310 - 16: Adding Fuel to the Fire

"She said that?" Roman sat on the throne, looking at the parchment letter in his hand.

The letter had been sent by Nillie.

She had led her troops to land at the Sea Castle and had quickly quelled the chaos there, standing upon the Deep Sea Altar, displaying the Deep Sea Secret Power she possessed. The Bloodline of the Sea Castle’s lords from generations past had awakened within her, and everyone knelt at her feet.

Days later, she had won the war and established the foundation of her rule, and her reputation was now soaring.

But the Sea Castle had long suffered from a decline in production, and there was much to reconstruct. Resources acquired during the war were urgently needed for the rebuilding effort.

"Yes, the new Lord of the Sea Castle is quite prestigious now."

A raven with jet-black feathers perched on the table, answering Roman with its hoarse voice.

These birds were highly intelligent, capable of mimicking human speech, and the soul of a Beast Witch was lurking within it.

"How prestigious?" he pondered Nillie’s appearance.

Her delicate face was tender and lovely, her deep blue eyes shimmering like the sea, and her hair and waist moved slightly like the tide.

How could such a girl be prestigious? He hadn’t seen it before.

"Glowing with health!" the raven squawked, "Those people nearly think she’s an ancestor resurrected. She says she can’t build a shipyard just yet and wants to first rebuild the Sea Castle’s infrastructure."

"That’s good," Roman nodded gently.

He also cared greatly about the livelihood of his people. Without a good environment, any work would be doubly hard.

"How did she do it?"

"Not much different from what you’ve done. First, build a kitchen, then gather the workforce to construct houses, and when the Sea Castle lacked enough clay, she had soil transported from other regions. Back and forth she went..."

"Foolishness," Roman criticized.

One cannot simply imitate others when the environmental conditions differ.

"She doesn’t do that anymore," said the raven. "But her subjects are willing to go along with her follies, and no one opposes her."

Roman no longer concerned himself with these matters. Development would face all sorts of issues. Bump against enough walls, and eventually, you learn which path to take.

"This is a gift from Lady Nillie to you."

The raven dropped a cloth bag in front of Roman. It had crossed mountains and trekked thousands of miles for ten days during winter if it weren’t for the protection of the amber in its feathers, it would have frozen stiff in the wild long ago.

The cloth bag was also frozen stiff, and the remnants of ice and snow trapped in the gaps from the flight had yet to melt.

Roman pulled open the bag and found twenty or thirty sparkling, translucent, and supple white pearls lying quietly inside.

Each one was of high quality, and the luster was astonishing, the pearls alone represented a considerable fortune.

No one disliked such glowing, round treasures, and Roman took a liking to them immediately.

"Your Highness, may I have one?" the Beast Witch pleaded, having guessed what was in the bag long ago and itching for it the whole journey.

Roman glanced at it and casually took out a pearl, handing it over.

These things were abundant in energy, perfect for beautification.

Precious indeed, but of limited use compared to amber and Moon Stone.

If used in Magic Potions, they would belong to the category of Recharge Medicine and Recovery Potion, but being special products of the Sea Castle, it was normal for them to be offered as a tribute to him.

"Thank you, Your Highness," the raven’s voice was sharp and hoarse, especially unpleasant to hear.

Roman took another look at the parchment letter.

Perhaps Nillie was as energetic and heroic in the Sea Castle as Shalulu had said. But the level of their Relationship had not decreased; in fact, it had increased from 82% to 85%. Perhaps it was out of gratitude, or for mutual benefit, or maybe it was for... deeper reasons.

The letter explicitly stated that she had recruited four thousand soldiers at the Sea Castle, which were now showing promise. Out of the one thousand troops Roman had dispatched, seven hundred could return, but a full Infantry unit must remain.

Furthermore, she had sent six literate maids from the Sea Castle to serve in the school, to learn the order of Origin City and, if possible, hoped to receive the blessing of the River Valley King.

Roman could tell at a glance that Nillie had ulterior motives.

This was not about seeking knowledge; it was clearly about obtaining knowledge.

But he did not care about the little schemes in Nillie’s heart.

The school was indeed lacking in teaching staff at the moment.

Since Nillie’s departure, the school management had become somewhat chaotic; to date, only a little over two hundred students had graduated in the autumn and winter.

Theoretically, with the first batch of graduates, the second batch should also not be far behind.

So from Roman’s perspective, the graduation rate was too slow.

A few more people capable of managing the school should be able to speed things up.

But among the two groups mentioned in the letter, he was more concerned about the first group.

"Seven hundred veterans are returning..." Roman muttered to himself.

These veterans had not been idle at Sea Castle;

Earl Bailey was one of the main culprits behind the downfall of Sea Castle. No one wanted an enemy neighbor, so they dispatched troops immediately.

Upon learning the news, other powers made decisive moves, summoning their armies to suppress them to prevent Sea Castle from making a comeback.

This time they decided not to sell her out but to display her decapitated head as a warning, completely cutting off all paths of survival for Sea Castle.

However, what no one expected was that when their armies attacked Sea Castle, attacked that frail-looking woman,

a fist the size of a sandbag suddenly appeared behind her seemingly fragile figure, knocking them to the ground.

One thousand armored soldiers clad in armor and weapons appeared, capturing Earl Bailey in the war, and exchanged for a large amount of ransom supplies. Then they began to deter all directions.

Because initially, Sea Castle could not defend itself and relied solely on these old soldiers to maintain appearances.

Anyone who dared to mock them got slapped, and anyone who reached out had their hand chopped off.

In just half a year, Sea Castle underwent conflicts over a dozen times, captured over two thousand enemies, and lost only forty or fifty of their own, which could also be considered battle-hardened.

"They still come from the north; the winter roads are definitely not easy to navigate," the dark crow interjected.

Roman had appointed her as the head of the intelligence department, responsible for conveying intelligence; right now, she was the sole commander of her department.

Roman nodded, "I understand."

"This year is colder than previous ones, some places have rain, others snow; heavy rains, heavy snows. When I passed through the Northern area, I discovered many people frozen to death, with no one to collect their corpses, their families frozen dead too, a father holding his wife, his wife holding their child, three generations lying frozen on the roadside... marching on such roads is no easy feat," the Beast Witch said.

Roman nodded again, "I understand."

The Beast Witch didn’t care about that; she simply shared a piece of her journey, then went on to say that those forces could quickly return.

In fact, once these veterans heard that Origin City was under siege, each and everyone wished they had grown wings to fly back. But they were worried about leaving Sea Castle behind, so they stayed until now, unwilling to delay any longer.

Nillie had contacted the pirates, and they were returning on the longboats of North Ice, aided by the northern winds, making their return very swift.

...

The crow completed her task, clutching a pearl with her beak, flew away into the icy and snowy wilderness in search of her real body.

Roman sat alone on the throne, quietly observing this snow-filled world.

Nations in unrest, the earth shaking, the Northern region suffering from large-scale warfare, many were left homeless, their houses burned or fields destroyed, only to become refugees, then freeze to death by the roadside.

This was the added hardship on poor families.

When Alster had first conferred him, although not exactly peaceful and prosperous, at least the land wasn’t utterly unbearable.

Now there wasn’t even the bitter lot to chew on!

Damn it! How did it all change so dramatically in just three years!

The River Valley King rose angrily from his throne, slamming his fist powerfully onto the table!