Soul of Burning Steel

After the second turmoil and change of owner, Moldavia is back on track, and the main city ushered in a rare and peaceful night.

The lights in the commercial area are still bright, even at night, there are still a lot of people, blacksmiths, grocery stores, pharmacies, and material purchases are doing brisk business, while adventurers, scattered mercenaries, or tourists are mostly sitting in the bar, toasting and drinking. In a more lively place, some people have even used the power of alcohol to wrestle their wrists and compete with each other amidst the booing of the crowd.

Riding a war horse, Joshua slowly walked towards Beppu in the dark, observing his own territory.

The total population of Moldavia is nearly one million, and the population of the entire Northland is nearly five million, which is almost one-twentieth of the total population of the empire. It sounds like a lot, but it is actually very small.

It clearly occupies a quarter of the northern territory, but the four territories add up to not have as many people as the big cities in the south. It seems that no matter what the world is, this is roughly the case, and the cold spots are always sparsely populated.

Of course, Joshua also knew that the millions of people under his name were not worthy of the name, and the population density of the Northland was smaller than everyone thought.

On such a vast land, there are only 420,000 humans under his direct control, and there are almost 400,000 dwarves, gnomes, and goblins living in the lava area. Halfling artisans, wandering adventurers, and mercenaries scattered all over Waiting for the number of floating population to be 70,000 to 80,000, plus some minorities such as elves and barbarians, the total number is indeed close to one million, but most of them pay taxes to him in name at most, and some simply live In the underground, there is no human figure on the ground.

Of the ninety-seven knight qualifications granted by the empire to Moldavia, only those in their early twenties can really have their own fiefdoms. Most of the others are military officers, stationed in various fortresses and small towns, looking forward to One day I will be able to make military exploits and be officially awarded.

Mixing multiple races is a big problem, but strictly speaking, it is not very important. Unlike the Eastern Human Federation, which pays attention to purity, neither the Northern Empire nor the Far South Alliance care about mixing. In the Far South, humans and elves often Intermarriage, the number of half-elves once accounted for one-fifth of the total population, and the empire, humans and dwarves lived in harmony without any discrimination or prejudice. Living together for hundreds of years made everyone feel that this was a matter of course. No one thinks there is anything wrong with having an elf or a dwarf neighbor at home, and at most they can curse at the group of goblin merchants in the shop.

Of course, there must be a reason for several different races to live in such harmony, and in the continent of disputes, the reason is the Black Forest.

【Tide of Hesse】

The mountains trembled, and thousands of beasts rushed out of the boundless forest, like the raging waves of the Black Sea.

Those who have never seen this scene can't imagine the despair. If it weren't for this terrible disaster, how could the integration of races be so simple? The fertile land and active magic power allow all races to fight for the continuation of their lives without worrying about food. In the millennium after millennium of wars, the blood of all races melted into the sand and scattered in the wasteland, and this is the Continent of Disputes The origin of its name.

In the west of the city, Joshua on the horse trembled slightly. He narrowed his eyes and looked towards where his residence was located.

"Silver, high-level, man, not young..."

He said to himself, in Joshua's field of vision when he had crossed all the obstacles, there was an undisguised, generous silver high-ranking warrior standing near Beppu, with green-gold fluorescence all over his body, and beside him Not far away is his divine machine.

"This breath feels like an acquaintance, deja vu."

Driving the war horse, Joshua is not patrolling his own territory. This city belongs to him, so there is no need to worry if he wants to see it. In the future, he can see it as long as he wants until he gets tired of it.

It didn't take long for him to drive to the side of the silver high-ranking warrior.

"Munster?"

Seeing the familiar windbreaker with red trim and black bottom, and the golden balance badge on his chest, Joshua knew that this was an examiner of an imperial noble court, and looking at that face, it was the judge of the trial a month ago. 'His acquaintance.

"Long time no see, the new lord, the young Lord Earl."

Bowing slightly, the middle-aged examiner named Munster sighed, "I've been waiting since the sun didn't set in the afternoon."

"I didn't make an appointment in advance, and I didn't send a letter. How did I know you would come back?"

After getting off the horse, Joshua touched the neck of the horse and looked at the plain-faced inspector, feeling a little headache: "Now that you're here, do you have any bad news to tell me?"

"Unfortunately, yes, but this is not a good place to talk about it."

Munster looked sideways at the silver-haired girl who was trotting over from Beppu, shook his head and said, "Again, this little subordinate of yours is loyal to his duty, and he won't even let me approach the yard."

"Owner!"

Running to Joshua's side, Ying looked at the two with some doubts: "Do you know him?"

"Ah, we do know each other, we can be regarded as acquaintances."

Patting the magical girl on the head, Joshua praised with a smile: "Good job, worthy of encouragement, how are you doing today?"

"Very good, I know most of the things at home, and I have learned how to cook."

"Oh? This is really good, you learn so quickly."

Munster looked at the two guys who had chatted naturally, and couldn't help reminding: "Ahem... are you going to stand outside and chat?"

"makes sense."

Joshua looked around, then nodded, he patted Yingying on the shoulder, and motioned: "Yingying, you take Hei to the stable first, I will take this guest to talk about something."

"Hei is so strong and mighty, it would be nice to call him the Black King, why must he be called Hei..."

"If it's a dragon, let alone the black king, it doesn't matter if I call it Nidhogg or Neltharion, but it's just a horse, so don't talk about it, let's go."

Hotaru led obedient Hei to the stable, while Joshua led Munster to the gate.

"She called you master?"

"Yes, Hotaru is my head maid."

The examiner of the aristocratic court shook his head expressionlessly and said, "Abusing child labor is illegal...I didn't expect you to have such a hobby."

Joshua opened the door, frowned and said, "She is the same age as me, why is she a child laborer?"

Yingying's core was made from his right wrist bone when he was born. If you have to be serious, the two are indeed the same age.

"I can't see it at all."

Munster seemed to be still thinking: "Could it be an elf hybrid? Does it grow slower than ordinary people? Or do you have fairy blood?"

During the conversation, the two had already entered the mansion and came to the reception room.

"Okay, please sit down."

Stretching out his hand to signal, Joshua simply sat down by himself. Sitting on the seat, he said with a solemn expression, "I really can't wait to tell you the bad news that makes you wait outside the door for a long time. want to know."

"Although this matter is important, it is not very urgent..."

Munster went up and looked back and forth at the black-haired and red-eyed warrior in front of him, and sighed a little: "Although I heard the rumors, I also felt this way outside before, but I really didn't expect that you actually advanced to gold. , just leaping from the high level of silver to such a point... It's incredible."

Isn't it level three? As for being so surprised.

"Accidentally, after running on the road for seventeen days, I suddenly became stronger."

Insincerely perfunctory, Joshua looked into the examiner's eyes, as if he wanted to see something: "Don't tell me that you came to the Northland from the Northwest Beastman Plain just to marvel at my advancement to gold. "

"Of course not."

Shaking his head, Munster hesitated to speak, as if he didn't know where to start. After a while, he simply talked about another topic: "My lord, I don't know if you know that the Ural Fortress has banned more than ten people Team pass?"

"Not long ago, the group of chamber of commerce told me."

"Then you should also know that there was a riot in the middle of the empire."

The examiner continued to question.

"That's true." Joshua tapped the armrest of the seat with his fingers, frowned, and said bluntly: "No need to go round and round, Munster, just say what you want to say, you and I were born in the military, Why do you have to be so cautious?"

After a moment of silence, the aristocratic court examiner, the spokesperson of the emperor's will, sighed, his face solemn: "The wind of black erosion started from the south, and the unknown plague spread in the depths of the black forest everywhere... It has crossed the The Ural Mountains have come to the North, which means that this year's Kuroshio will be earlier than before, and it will be more ferocious and unstoppable."

"The imperial capital judges that the severity of this black tide will increase by three levels, and it is even very likely that there will be multiple gold-level monsters."

Speaking of this, Munster's face was unprecedentedly serious. He reached into his arms and took out a small box: "Count, you have encountered such an accident just after taking office. It is really bad luck, although you advanced to Gold, but there should be a distance compared to your father... and here, it is the care from the imperial capital."

When he said the last sentence, Munster's tone of voice was already filled with the highest level of respect. Looking at his expression, although the examiner didn't know why the emperor treated the person in front of him so specially, he did not hesitate: "Take Let it be, this is given to you by His Majesty."

As he spoke, he handed the mahogany carved box covered with dense runes to Joshua.