From Baron to Lord

"A truly wonderful performance, my warriors! The results are in. In the first two competitions, the Minotaurs achieved first place with three points, and third place with one point, totaling four points."

"The human warriors achieved second place twice, totaling four points!"

"The Centaurs achieved first place once and third place once, totaling four points!"

Allen sat on a stool to the side, eating fruit while watching Marco announce the scores.

"Now, the three sides are tied. This means that the next result will be your final result. Warriors, please take this seriously!" Marco said loudly, "We will now take a one-hour break, after which we will prepare for a five-hundred-person group tactical battle. I hope you all achieve good results."

As soon as Marco finished speaking, the three camps erupted in noise, seemingly all selecting five hundred suitable people.

Soon, after an hour, all three camps had selected their five hundred people and began a chaotic battle of understanding.

Allen watched from a short distance away. Although the Orcs were very powerful in some aspects, they all shared a common trait: they were relatively simple-minded.

The Centaurs were better; they knew how to dodge and understood some basic tactics.

The Minotaurs, on the other hand, were completely reckless. When they fought, their eyes turned red, and they were single-minded. Anyone who dared to stand in their way would have to endure the Minotaurs' fury.

The human warriors were the most shrewd and agile of the bunch. They completely avoided head-on collisions with the Minotaurs and instead often led the Minotaurs to charge into the Centaurs' ranks.

Soon, the two Orcish races were locked in a fierce battle, while the humans constantly delivered finishing blows from the periphery.

The result was obvious: the humans won. The Minotaurs, relying on their recklessness, took second place. The Centaurs fared the worst, having been mostly knocked down.

"Marco, announce the results."

Seeing that the time was right, Allen immediately instructed Marco to announce the end of the competition.

"This year's competition results are: First place, human warriors! Second place, Minotaur warriors! Third place, Centaur warriors!"

Upon hearing this result, the two major Orcish races were completely unable to accept it.

However, they had no choice but to accept it, as it was the result witnessed by everyone.

"Does anyone dispute this result?"

At this moment, Allen slowly stood up and walked to the front, speaking.

None of the warriors spoke up. Although they were not entirely happy with the result, they accepted their defeat.

"Very well. I believe that after this competition, you should all have a better understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses. Orcish warriors, you should now have a sufficient understanding of human warriors, and human warriors, the same goes for you."

"None of you are perfect. You all have your own strengths and weaknesses."

Allen's tone was calm but serious.

"But, please remember, who are you fighting for!"

As soon as Allen finished his question, the warriors in front of him responded loudly, "We fight for the Lord!"

"We fight for the Master!"

Allen was very satisfied with their response.

"Very well, warriors! You are all my warriors! In the future, you will all charge into battle with me, becoming the nightmare of our enemies!"

"Therefore, I hope that you can put aside racial prejudices and view everyone as brothers who can entrust their lives to each other. Only in this way can we conquer all enemies, because we are united enough, because we are strong enough!"

"The purpose of bringing you out to compete today was to let you see each other's strengths and weaknesses, to learn more about each other, so that you can further integrate…"

"Alright, everyone is tired today. Get a good night's rest. Starting tomorrow, whether human warriors or Orcish warriors, you will eat, drink, and train together, and rest together."

After Allen finished speaking, the warriors from the three camps looked at each other.

"Human warriors! You are very strong and have earned our respect. We Minotaurs are willing to fight alongside you!" A leading warrior from the Minotaurs suddenly said loudly.

The Minotaurs' thinking was very simple: they admired the strong.

The humans' victory made them worthy of respect. "We Centaurs feel the same!" A voice came from the Centaur camp.

The human warriors immediately smiled.

"Minotaur warriors, you are also very strong and are natural warriors. In a head-on confrontation, we are no match for you."

"Centaur warriors, you are also the same, you are natural archers, very powerful."

A human warrior said, "Let us fight together for the Lord, for ourselves, and for everyone to gain glory!"

"Glory!" The Minotaurs echoed.

"Glory!" The Centaurs also shouted loudly.

Seeing this scene, Allen was slightly surprised. He had originally thought that it would take some time for the warriors of the three races to accept each other.

He did not expect that in just one day, the warriors of the three races would accept each other.

1.7 Even Marco was astonished by this scene.

"Lord, you are truly amazing! You solved a thorny problem in just one day. Unbelievable! Is the friendship between men really forged through fighting?" Marco was somewhat puzzled.

Allen did not explain much about this. He simply handed these warriors and knights over to Marco, letting them begin a five-day unified training session, which would only allow them to cooperate more seamlessly.

Allen himself returned to Skywolf City.

ps: Chapter 2, requesting flowers, requesting evaluation votes, requesting monthly tickets, requesting self-subscription. Regarding the tourism industry, this was originally prepared for the nobility... After all, it's based on river development, and only nobles can travel along the river by boat. Of course, there's always a portion of wealthy commoners who can also spend money. Also, since it's the tourism industry, there will definitely be fun, beautiful, and delicious things. Hmm, I won't say too much, saying too much will make it less interesting...

Chapter 158: The Road of Commerce Completed, the Dwarf Tribe is About to Arrive (3, requesting subscriptions, requesting self-subscriptions, requesting monthly tickets!)

Six days later, Allen was helping Lucy water the second batch of ten plants being cultivated when the notification sound in his mind rang again.

"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for completing the side quest, The Road of Commerce."

"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for receiving the reward: 50,000 experience points, and a Dwarf tribe from the East."

The system's notification sounded, and Allen immediately revealed a smile.

"Allen, what are you smiling about?"

Lucy's face suddenly appeared, almost touching Allen's face.

Allen didn't care about this at all; this wasn't the first time Lucy had done this.

"I'm happy."

Allen rubbed Lucy's head.

"Happy?"

Lucy tilted her head, staring at Allen with a pair of pure and flawless big eyes: "Happy about what? Very happy about the beauty pageant in a few days? Oh right, oh right! Can I participate in the beauty pageant?"

Lucy suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke.

Allen immediately revealed a helpless expression.

"Lucy, your task is to take good care of these little guys. As for those beauty pageants, I only created them to promote swimsuits and plan the development of the southern Nicaea harbor."

Allen certainly didn't want Lucy to show her face in public. Firstly, the more Lucy appeared in the public eye, the more dangerous it would be. After all, she was a Holy Fairy 25. Although Allen hadn't heard of anyone possessing a Holy Fairy, that didn't rule out the risk of Lucy being recognized.

Although the probability of this was extremely low, Allen still wasn't willing to take the risk.

He now clearly understood Lucy's value. A Holy Fairy was likely an existence that would alarm the entire empire. If he made a mistake, he might face an empire-level force.

Usually, when taking Lucy out, Allen would put a hat on her to cover her pointed ears. Although others might not necessarily be able to determine Lucy's identity based on her ears alone, Allen naturally wouldn't be careless if he could be a little more careful.

The second reason was that Allen himself didn't want Lucy to wear a swimsuit for others to see. If anyone was going to see it, shouldn't it be him alone?

"Hmph! Allen, you just don't want to let me have fun! I've heard about it; that beauty pageant seems to have rewards!"

Lucy said, pouting her lips.

Allen was speechless. He sighed: "It's not that I don't want to let you have fun, Lucy. Your identity isn't suitable for public appearances. Also, although you can't participate in the competition, you can be an audience member with me."

"Also, as for those rewards, hehe, I'll give you as much as you want."

Allen's words made Lucy think for a moment: "Alright! Then I'll go back to work."

Saying that, the Holy Fairy girl continued to bury herself in watering the plants, sending life energy to them.

Allen, on the other hand, put down the watering can. Now, according to the system's prompt, the Road of Commerce had been completely opened, which meant that Allen's Direwolf Territory had a complete system of roads.

This was undoubtedly extremely beneficial to the development of the territory.

Merchants could also easily travel to various places for trade.

To think that just a few months ago, this place was still a wasteland, with hardly any villages.

Now, there were already a dozen small cities, countless towns, and a complete transportation system.

The Direwolf Territory had almost developed.

Now that the Road of Commerce had been resolved, Allen naturally needed to mobilize this batch of construction teams to fully construct defensive fortifications.

Soon, he summoned Marco and handed over the original construction team that had built the Road of Commerce to Marco.

Now that it was six days later, Marco had long since returned to Direwolf City with the soldiers.

The beastmen also returned to the Treant Factory to start working. After all, Sparro had received many orders and still had to work hard.

"Lord."

Marco stood respectfully before Allen.

"How is it? You just returned yesterday, and I haven't had a chance to ask you. Tell me, how are my warriors doing?"

Allen said with a slight smile.

"Lord, progress is very good. After the competition, everyone is getting along very well."

Marco revealed a smile. At the same time, he increasingly admired Allen in his heart. This lord was simply a genius.

"That's good. Alright, Marco, I have something for you to do. The Road of Commerce should have been repaired. Take the previous road construction team to the north to build defensive fortifications."

"Also, there's one more thing. Have the centaurs form a few ranger teams to patrol the edge of the Direwolf Territory. Report back immediately if you discover any suspicious individuals."

Allen said quickly.

Marco nodded upon hearing this: "Yes, Lord, I'll go now."

Marco quickly retreated. Allen was now more looking forward to the Dwarf tribe that the system was rewarding.

Dwarves were natural blacksmiths, skilled at making weapons, armor, and even magic weapons.

A tribe of dwarves would surely have some who could forge magic weapons.

Allen's current knight armor was still the gift he had received from Count Albert of the Thistle Flower.

During the previous national war, he had also obtained many magic weapons, but magic knight armor was relatively rare.

Moreover, it was even rarer to find one that suited his body and characteristics.

Allen had considered customizing a set through the Roland Merchant Guild before.

However, the Roland Merchant Guild said that there were many people customizing knight armor recently, and the masters who could make magic armor were all in the kingdom. It would take a lot of time to go back and forth, plus there were many people ahead, so Allen thought about it and didn't cut in line in the Norton Kingdom.

Because in his heart, besides the Roland Merchant Guild, he also had a second option, which was the side quest reward, the Dwarf tribe.