I'm not a lord

Chapter 131 The Duke and the Earl

According to the notes of Warcraft scholars that Lin En had read, Warcraft were not rare creatures in the North two hundred years ago.

At that time, the Warcraft trade in the North was also very prosperous.

The noble knights worked together to hunt magical beasts, and most of the skins and magic stones they peeled off were sold to the southern border.

Both nobles and merchants made a fortune from the Warcraft trade.

The desire for magical beasts also indirectly led to the birth of the three duchies.

Under the temptation of gold and land, a large number of impoverished nobles and landless knights came to the North by boat, and continued to go deeper into the North along the Jing River and its tributaries.

They expelled the barbarians, hunted monsters, bought slaves, recruited immigrants, and opened up scattered settlements along the rivers.

The six existing baronies in the White River Basin were all gradually established under similar backgrounds, and they are scattered among them, like shining pearls strung on the White River.

During this vigorous northern frontier development movement, countless barbarians were slaughtered, and the treatment of the monsters was almost the same.

According to the notes, it was mainly the Three Saints Church in the southern region that was buying up magic stones on a large scale.

The priests called the magical beasts the "relics of the saints" and the magic stones the "gifts of the saints".

The 'divine magic' they cast might have come from the power of the magic stone.

But the good times did not last long. Due to large-scale, purposeful and organized hunting, the number of monsters in the north decreased rapidly.

Magical beasts cannot reproduce; their birth is the result of acquired mutations of ordinary wild beasts.

According to scholars' speculation, the number of monsters is closely related to the number of humans.

The more people there are in a land, the fewer monsters there are.

Moreover, Warcraft possesses high intelligence. After being hunted on a large scale, they began to consciously migrate to more remote mountains and forests, completely away from humans.

Fifty or sixty years after the establishment of the Northern Kingdom, magical beasts became extremely rare, with only one or two occasionally appearing to attack human territory.

Hunting them has become extremely difficult and no longer profitable.

Against this backdrop, the once prosperous Warcraft trade quickly declined.

The Warcraft hunters that were once ubiquitous in the North gradually disappeared, replaced by mercenary groups serving the war.

When he had just conquered the Shallows Territory, Lin En looked through the recent documents and records of the Shallows Territory, and asked the territory's governor, Robert, to confirm that no trace of magical beasts had been found in the Shallows Territory in the past thirty or forty years.

Lin En hunted down two magical beasts as soon as he arrived in the White Bear Territory. This was probably because he was lucky enough.

Or maybe it's because the White Bear Territory is more vast and sparsely populated than the Shallows Territory, so magical beasts occasionally appear.

The winter hunt will last four to five days. Lin En will command the army to set up camp in the forest and skin the animals on the spot.

After eating some fresh barbecued meat, he lay down in the tent and called out the panel to observe the map.

The blue-haired man representing old Thorward has now appeared on the north side of the salt mine.

Lynn compared the distances.

Lao Suo's current location is nearly 200 kilometers away from the salt mine, and the straight-line distance to the White Bear Territory is more than 230 kilometers.

The road was full of rolling hills and snow-covered forests, making it difficult to travel. Furthermore, Lao Suo had been moving north all day, so he probably hadn't reached the tribe closest to the salt mine yet.

When Lin En recalled the notes, he naturally thought about whether he could go to the wilderness to hunt monsters?

The area of ​​the wasteland is no smaller than that of the Northern Kingdom, but it only has a few hundred thousand or even tens of thousands of scattered inhabitants.

If the scholars' speculation is true, then there should be a large number of magical beasts in the wasteland.

With enough magic stones, Lynn can not only quickly improve his own attributes and become a true hexagonal warrior, but he can even add points to his followers.

As long as he can create a few loyal, high-attribute, strong-character talents who can understand his ideas, his burden will naturally be much lighter.

But looking at old Thorward's attitude, it seems that hunting in the wilderness is indeed a bit difficult.

After passing the White Bear Territory and heading north, the depth of the White River can only support water transportation for a maximum of 70 to 80 kilometers.

Transporting food and supplies by land, with the productivity and transportation level of today, the losses are unimaginable.

This is also why the Northern Kingdom did not expand into the wilderness, because the benefits were not proportional to the cost.

To the north, there is only rotten land that is not even as good as 1/1/1, and transportation is extremely difficult. As long as the barbarians do not move south, the Northern Kingdom will not bother to pay attention to them.

On the same cold night, Riverbend Castle in the Crown Territory was brightly lit and bustling with people.

Since occupying this sturdy river island fortress, the Duke of Swamp has designated this place as his own direct jurisdiction and resided in the castle, commanding battles and entertaining his ministers.

In the crown territory, there were three earls who defected to him.

He held a dinner party today to welcome back Earl Hanfeng who had just returned from the battle.

The Duke of Moorland was a man in his early forties, with a sturdy build and an imposing bearing, and a thick beard that reached down to his chest.

After three rounds of drinks, he took Earl Cold Wind to the terrace of the castle to enjoy the breeze and chat.

With their physical strength, they would not be afraid of the cold wind in early winter.

The Duke turned and looked directly at Earl Frostwind, who was half a head shorter than him. His dark green eyes were deep and sharp. "How long has your second son been away from home? Have you contacted him during this time?"

Earl Frostwind lowered his eyebrows, carefully chewing on the meaning behind these questions. At the same time, he did not dare to hide anything and answered truthfully:

"Your Excellency, my second son, Roman, left home at the beginning of this year to inherit the White Bear Territory in the upper reaches of the White River. I haven't had any correspondence with him during this period."

"You have a bad relationship with him? You are obviously father and son, but you have not contacted each other for a year. Isn't that strange?" After saying this, the Duke held up the wine glass and drank the scarlet wine, but his eyes were always fixed on the Earl.

"Roman was quite well-behaved and cute when he was little. Apart from not liking to study, he had no shortcomings. But as he grew older, he began to show ambitions for land and wealth that were inconsistent with his ability and status. We had several arguments because of this." Earl Frostwind's answer was flawless.

He guessed that perhaps Roman had done something wrong in the White Bear Territory, which led to the Duke's questioning.

But judging from the Duke's tone, it shouldn't be a big deal.

But the Duke's voice suddenly grew heavy. "So, you abandoned him to White Bear Territory? That was my barony, and you let a clumsy, ambitious man inherit it?"

"My Lord, Roman is but a foolish boy. If he makes a mistake and angers you, I will take the blame for him."

Earl of Cold Wind did not ask what happened specifically, but instead expressed his attitude and took the blame.

(End of this chapter)