Arcane Lord

It feels like an extremely long time to wait for news, but this matter will eventually have an outcome.

That day, Xia Duo confirmed the supplies provided by the lord from the town hall. As soon as he returned to the mage tower, he heard some apprentices discussing the development of territory.

Xia Duo casually grabbed an apprentice with "Buzi" written on his clothes and asked: "Apprentice Buzi, did you just say that the Mage Tower will send mages to rotate in the Green Bead Forest?"

"Yes, Master Mage." The apprentice named Buz was suddenly asked by an official mage. He looked a little nervous, but after finding out it was Xia Duo, he relaxed again.

With admiration in his eyes, he said respectfully: "Lord Xia Da, not only the official mage, but also the apprentices have received recruitment tasks, but the number of places is very small."

"Do you know me?" Xia Duo asked doubtfully.

"Yes, I once heard Edrich tell you about your deeds. In that arcane competition, you defeated the foreign mage. We all admire you!"

"Yes, yes, me too!" Several apprentices nearby also agreed.

Even though Xia Duo had a good psychological quality, he couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth after being praised so face to face. After a few words of encouragement, Xia Duo returned to his residence in a doubly good mood.

Now that the Tower of Time has prepared for the rotation of mages, it means that the elf mages no longer attack spellcasters who enter the Green Bead Forest.

Of course, it is also possible that the elf mage only attacks the mage apprentice, but this chance is very small, and besides, Xia Duo is not a mage apprentice.

Now the countdown to the development of Daxia Territory has truly entered.

…

The next day, Shado first went to the Liaton Chamber of Commerce to find Steward Arman, and learned from him that the Savile Territory had been mobilizing supplies very frequently recently, and it looked like they were going to do something big.

"Chief Arman, how many people have been recruited so far?"

Xia Duo asked almost every day about the recruitment situation of the people in his territory, but the number of people recruited every day was getting smaller and smaller, but because there were fewer and fewer, he was particularly concerned.

What is the foundation of a territory? There is a saying on earth that can be well described, "If the land is saved and people are lost, both people and land will be lost; if people are saved and land is lost, both people and land will be saved."

The lords of Netheril value territory more, but Shado values ​​people more. Only people can create productivity. In the magical world, only the more people can there be more spellcasters.

Hearing Xia Duo's question, Steward Arman, who had long been accustomed to it, skillfully opened a stack of documents and said cautiously: "Sir, due to the expansion of the Savile Territory recently, there are fewer and fewer manpower available for recruitment, isn't it? Everyone has the courage to work hard from scratch.”

"How many people are there? Tell me!"

"After your Excellency left at noon yesterday, we recruited two more people. Today's recruits haven't reported yet, but -"

"I know." Xia Duo understood what he meant, it might not even happen today!

Xia Duo frowned and murmured to himself: "There were two yesterday, and together with those recruited before, there are only 56 in total. Not to mention developing such a large territory, it would be difficult to build a small village!"

If he were the Grand Arcanist now, he would be able to fool at least a thousand people if he went to the mainland and shouted casually, not to mention tens of thousands!

Too bad he wasn't.

"Arman is in charge, the recruitment cannot stop." After thinking about it, Shado still mentioned the slaves, "Does Liaton Chamber of Commerce have any special channels to get people?"

"My lord, you mean——" Arman meant something.

"It's the one you think of! Is there any?"

"Sir, the Liaton Chamber of Commerce has never run this kind of business." But seeing that Xia Duo was unmoved, Arman gritted his teeth and said, "I can think of a way."

As one of the main managers of the Chamber of Commerce, Arman is very aware of the current situation of the Liaton Chamber of Commerce. The elves suddenly lost contact. Today, the Chamber of Commerce is just an empty shelf with gold coins but no actual industry.

Although he didn't understand why Mrs. Patty would take such a big risk to invest in a territory with nothing, but now that he had decided, he could only do his best.

"Very good!" Sha Duo nodded with satisfaction. He was becoming more and more interested in Arman. During this period, he was responsible for all the connections between the Liaton Chamber of Commerce and Sha Duo.

He works conscientiously, responsibly and in an orderly manner. It would be even better if he could recruit Da Xia Ling.

As soon as the words changed, Sha Duo asked another key question: "By the way, Manager Arman, are the ships I need ready?"

"Sir, it is impossible for the local chamber of commerce to sell boats, and renting them is also very unrealistic. Mrs. Patty has arranged for someone to go to Shiboden to buy them. The shipbuilding industry there is developed. If everything goes well, we should be able to go to Savile in the next few days. Got it.”

Arman calmly took out a few more pieces of parchment and handed them to Shado, "The crew has been recruited. They are all locals from Savile, and the captain has experience at sea."

Xia Duo took it casually without paying much attention to it. It was unlikely that these people would join the Great Xia Territory and could only be regarded as hired workers.

"Hmm -" Xia Duo's casual browsing movement suddenly stopped, and he turned to the previous page as if he didn't believe it. After confirming that he had read it correctly, he closed the information again.

"Chief Armen, this captain named 'Owen' is almost 60 years old this year, right?"

A 60-year-old captain is rare even on earth, let alone a Netheril who is considered to have a long life at 50 years old!

And judging from this information, Captain Owen is just an ordinary person. Xia Duo doubts whether he can still board the ship at his age!

"Sir, Captain Owen is a bit old, but I guarantee that he can do the job of a captain. Besides, it's not so easy to find a captain in his prime!"

There was a hint of dissatisfaction in Arman's words. The Liaton Chamber of Commerce had never been engaged in water transport trade and could not recruit a normal captain. Even this Owen was found with great effort by him.

How could you deny it like that!

"Okay, I believe you, just this Owen!"

According to Armen's always reliable performance, Sha Duo didn't question anything anymore. Anyway, he had to meet with Owen, and it couldn't be true.

He actually hopes that Owen can really continue to work, otherwise, it will be troublesome to find the captain!

…

Next, Xia Duo looked at the latest bill, and the series of numbers already made him a little numb. After leaving Liaton Chamber of Commerce, Shado went to the military camp.

The delay in picking up a group of soldiers supported by Lord Savile for so long was actually to save money. Although the lord supported his group of soldiers, Xia Duo had to pay the wages himself.

Not only wages, but also food, housing, training, equipment, etc. are all his responsibility. Calculating, maintaining a team of 10 ordinary soldiers requires at least 20 gold coins every day.

It has been almost half a month since the deal was reached with the lord. If the soldiers were taken first, hundreds of gold coins would be lost.

But now that the territory development is accurate, all it takes is the arrival of the ship to start the operation. Then the group of soldiers can be brought back first, and they can get familiar with it.