The Witcher: Make Witcher Great Again

Chapter 417 Territory Governance
Of course, Lynn also knew that not everything in this world would operate according to his wishes.

Queen Calanthe was, after all, the ruler of a country.

Let alone a stubborn mule like Queen Calanthe, even a wise king like Istrad would have to carefully consider if Lynn suggested that Istrad build a fortress somewhere.

After all, building a fortress requires a considerable amount of money.

Not to mention the subsequent maintenance costs and the expenses for those hundreds of garrison troops.

Therefore, Lynn also had a plan B.

If, he meant if...

If Queen Calanthe refuses to heed advice, then at least when she hears that the Nilfgaardian army has crossed the border and is marching into the Manada Valley, she must not leave the city to fight, but instead hold Sintra and wait for reinforcements.

In the original storyline, if the main force of the Sintra Royal Kingdom had not been wiped out in open battle, the city of Sintra would not have fallen so quickly.

Therefore, if Queen Calanthe is truly unwilling to build a fortress in the Manada Valley, then preserving the precious royal forces and holding out for reinforcements might give Sintra a glimmer of hope.

……

After Mossack left, Lynn took out the communication box and extended invitations to Triss and Fringilla respectively.

He is now nominally only the Grand Duke of Kovir, but in reality, the territory he controls is comparable to that of kingdoms like Hidaris, Viden, Brug, and Soden.

He invited Triss and Fringilla not only to serve as royal advisors, but also to grant them fiefdoms.

Sorceresses are human too, and naturally they also have the same thoughts as people of this era—to obtain a piece of land of their own.

Since humans landed on this continent, no king has ever granted land to a sorcerer.

Even the "pure white" Rafald, who held the highest position in the court, was merely the regent of Temuria.

In name, he owned the entire country, but in reality, he was neither a nobleman nor did he have any directly controlled land.

After his death, his descendants had nothing to inherit.

Now, Lynn is allocating land to the sorceresses, even if it's just a piece of land the size of a count's territory, which is tantamount to binding them to his chariot.

Lynn was not worried that Emhyr Enris would not release him.

Emhyr was just a mortal, even though he could pave the city of the Golden Tower with magic-blocking gold to prevent his warlocks from harboring rebellious intentions.

He couldn't possibly put magic-blocking shackles on every warlock and then remove them when needed.

Even the Nilfgaardian Empire wouldn't do that.

Therefore, if Fringilla wanted to leave Nilfgaard, Emhyr couldn't stop her at all.

However, once they actually leave the empire, they will be considered traitors, and will not only be unable to return to Nilfgaard, but will also have to face assassins sent by the emperor from now on.

But does Fringilla care about any of this?

She doesn't care.

So she secretly escaped from the Nilfgaardian Empire.

We arrived in Kangon.

Lynn personally selected a fertile piece of land for Fringilla.

Similarly, she was provided with administrative staff so that she could both be a hands-off manager and enjoy the status and power of a countess.

Fringilla's arrival not only meant that Lynn had gained another sorcerer, but also made it possible for Lynn to form a magic-based army.

It's important to know that while the Nilfgaardian Empire may not have as many renowned sorcerers as the northern kingdoms, it has far more magical soldiers.

This mainly stemmed from a proposal that Fringilla later made to Emperor Emhyr:
This means conducting magical aptitude tests on all civilians under the age of eighteen throughout the country.

As long as there is a possibility of magical aptitude, the commoner can enroll in the Imperial Magic Academy, and all expenses during this period will be paid by the Imperial Ministry of Finance.

However, after graduating, this commoner must join the imperial army and serve the emperor.

Its service life is ten years.

The Imperial Magic Academy doesn't care how far a student can go on the path of magic; what it considers is how to help that student develop combat power as quickly as possible.

The concept of "late bloomer" simply doesn't exist in the Imperial Magic Academy's dictionary, and the academy doesn't train scholar-type sorcerers.

All courses at the Imperial Magic Academy serve only one purpose: "war".

This teaching philosophy is the complete opposite of that of Aretusa Academy and Ban Ade Academy, which is why the Imperial Magic Academy rarely produces top-notch sorcerers.

Top-tier sorcerers like Fringilla and Aisire primarily derive their skills from family lineage rather than from the Imperial Magic Academy.

Now that Fringilla has arrived in the north, Lynn can also train a large number of magic soldiers on his own territory.

Fringella was very satisfied with the territory that Lynn had carefully selected for her.

To express her gratitude to Lynn, Fringilla hosted him for three days and three nights in her magically constructed manor.

If it weren't for Triss's timely voice transmission...

Lynn might stay at the manor for another week.

After Lynn returned to Kangon, he met Triss at the lord's mansion.

But to his surprise, Triss did not come alone.

"Hi, Lynn, it's been a long time. I heard you're a Grand Duke now, so perhaps I should address you as Your Excellency."

Standing next to Triss, Keira Metz smiled and performed a nobleman's bow.

"Ms. Kayla, what brings you here?"

Kayla did not answer.

Instead, he looked at Triss with a smile.

The red-haired sorceress sighed.

"Just say what you want to say, you don't need to worry about my expression."

Then Kayla said with a grin, "Lynn, you don't mind having two sorceresses at your service, do you?"

“Of course,” Lynn glanced quickly at Triss, who remained expressionless, and nodded. “Of course I don’t mind.”

The sorceress smiled and bowed again: "That's settled then, Kayla Metz, at your service."

"This……"

Lynn looked at Triss in disbelief.

Is there such a good thing?

How could he not be happy?
It should be said that no king... or duke would be unwilling to have multiple sorcerers serving in their court.

Seeing Lynn's eager expression, Triss immediately snorted and crossed her arms, saying, "This woman resigned from Foltest after hearing that I was planning to come here. If you refuse her, she'll have nowhere to go."

Kayla said, "If Lynn really doesn't want to accept me, that's fine too. There's no need to feel pressured. At worst, I can go back to teaching at Aretusa Academy. After all, Margarita often complains that there are too many students and not enough teachers."

joke.

Now that they're here, how could Lynn possibly let them go?

Kayla is not the same as Philippa.

If it were Philippa, Lynn would definitely refuse.

Because this woman is either causing trouble, or on her way to causing trouble.

Even if both of her eyes were gouged out in the future, it wouldn't change her personality.

As for Kayla, although she also has the common sorceress's tendency to crave pleasure, then again, people aren't machines, and who wouldn't want to live a good life? Moreover, Kayla is never ambiguous on matters of principle.

Therefore, after some pleasantries, Lynn, with his silver tongue, managed to please both sorceresses, and they both stayed, with each of them being given a fiefdom.

Of course, to avoid them fighting, Triss and Keira, as well as Fringilla's fiefdom, were all separated by a considerable distance.

Furthermore, if they were to travel on foot from their respective fiefdoms to the city of Kangon, they would not pass through any of the women's fiefdoms.

Although the three women don't have any conflicts now, it's always good to be prepared.

Next, Lynn traveled back and forth between Novigrad and his own territory countless times.

Finally, enough bureaucratic clerks were recruited.

Then, without delay, he arranged for them to be placed in his own territory and the territories of his vassals.

However, only a few of these people were experienced and had served other nobles; most were merely educated and had not actually gained work experience that matched their major.

Therefore, quite a few problems arose at the beginning.

But all of this was within Lynn's expectations.

Fortunately, although the Duchy of Humphries is quite large, it is located in the far north and is sparsely populated. There are not many villages or towns with a small population, so it is relatively easy to manage. Even if something goes wrong, the impact is not significant and it is easy to correct.

After a period of adjustment, this group of officials finally accumulated enough experience. Some of them who were really incompetent were replaced by Lynn, and a new group of capable people were selected to take their place.

At this point, even without his intervention, things shouldn't get much more chaotic.

So, taking advantage of this opportunity, Lynn left Kangon and returned to Kaer Morhen, where he found Tisaya alone.

He then informed the other party that he had already taken over the Humphries Alliance.

Lynn hadn't forgotten what she had promised the other party.

Aretusa Academy is one of the two well-known magic academies in the North, located in Temuria.

Temuria is located in the central part of the northern kingdoms.

If war breaks out between the North and the South, Aretusa College may be forced to take sides.

Therefore, Lynn made a suggestion to Tisaya: to relocate Aretusa Academy to her own territory.

Looking at the map, his territory borders the Duchy of Talgo to the west, the Duchy of Arc Coast, a vassal state of Redania, to the south, and Isparden, his nominal fiefdom, to the east.

To the north of his territory lies the Flying Dragon Mountains, stretching from Povis in the east to Isparden in the west, which can be described as crossing from one end of the known world to the other.

This location is practically tailor-made for Aretusa College.

A magic academy that chooses to settle on a small island in the middle of the continent, rather than in a remote mountain, is bound to attract unwanted attention.

If the Academy of Aretusa were to relocate to the Dragon Mountains, it would be far removed from the vortex of conflict, free from the worries of the kings' messengers and spies gathering in Goth Velen...

On the other hand, moving Aretusa into one's own territory is tantamount to binding her to one's own war machine.

Of course, Lynn wouldn't force Aretusa to fight for him like Radovide later forced Newburgh University.

However, it's important to know that this magic academy doesn't only train combat sorcerers; it also trains alchemists, scholars, and other non-combat talents.

Or to put it another way, turning sorcerers, who have countless possibilities, into cannon fodder only useful in war is a tremendous waste of talent.

After working together for so long, Tissaya finally became certain of Lynn's character.

She believed Lynn that even if Aretusa moved to Lynn's territory, Lynn would not forcibly conscript students from the academy.

Therefore, Tissaya agreed to Lynn's plan.

The most troublesome part of moving the entire academy from Shand Island to the Dragon Mountains was not the moving process itself, but how to do it discreetly.

It should be noted that although King Foltest was not as fanatical as Radovid, he always respected the Academy's position.

But what if Tessaia or Margarita told him that the academy was moving out of his country...?

Even Tissaya, who wasn't particularly politically astute, could guess that King Foltest would most likely not allow them to pass.

Even if all the tangible benefits are forfeited, Aretusa's departure will severely damage the reputation of the Kingdom of Temuria and King Foltest himself.

For this reason alone, King Foltest would certainly not agree.

It is conceivable that King Foltest would put pressure on Aretusa and Lynn himself afterward.

In the worst-case scenario, it's even possible that Temuria could form an alliance with Redania, who are equally envious, and launch a joint invasion.

However, Lynn is not worried if that situation really happens.

He has three thousand regular troops under his command and can also request aid from Istrad.

With Temuria and Redania having come from afar, and his side having rested and prepared, he is sure to defeat the allied forces.

Moreover, the possibility of this happening is extremely low. Even if Foltest hates himself to the point of grinding his teeth, it is impossible for him to unite with the King of Vizmir.

Because Temuria is too far from the Duchy of Humphries, and there is Redania in between.

Even if they could gain some benefits, the King of Vizmir would intercept them, and Temuria would get nothing.

While King Foltest may have issues with his personal conduct, he is certainly not mentally unstable.

I won't do something that benefits someone else.

……

Tisaya left Kaer Moham.

Since the decision has been made to move the college, it's not acceptable for her, as the former dean, not to be personally involved.

Lynn provided the necessary ships for the relocation of the academy, because the fastest and most convenient route from Isend Island, where Aretusa is located, is to take the sea to Praxida Bay and then follow the Bra River into the Duchy of Humphries.

It's much better than traveling by land.

(End of this chapter)