Wizard Farming Guide

Chapter 76 Setting Off Again

Contrary to Rhodes's expectations of enthusiasm, the atmosphere after the first Round Table Council meeting was terrible.

In the council hall, the Knights of the Round Table took their seats.

They leaned back in their chairs, discussing amongst themselves.

They each divided themselves into their own small circles, clearly defined.

When the twelve knights at the very center arrived, apart from the subordinate knights who were expanding their territories nearby, the others simply watched coldly.

Every now and then, a few muttered curses could be heard, making it impossible to discern the direction from the crowd.

Prince Cumberland entered the council chamber.

Seeing this scene, he sat down in the head seat with a headache.

He knew the reason.

Ultimately, it was the twelve principal seats that failed to play their leading role.

Many of them also used their family power to seize resources in the Broken Dragon Fortress.

This has resulted in many non-Knights having to pay higher prices when purchasing supplies.

More than five months have passed since the Royal Decree to expand the territory was issued.

Many pioneering knights came full of dreams, only to end up in a miserable state, disappearing from the scene forever.

When others saw this, they thought of themselves and, feeling a sense of shared fate, inevitably began to have opinions about the twelve principal seats.

However, the kingdom is rife with factions, and the third prince, Cumberland, can at most represent the nobles of the central territory.

The twelve knights from the Great Plains and the East Sea Port would not care about the opinion of a prince.

They continue to do things their own way and develop on their own.

Fortunately, not long ago, Prince Cumberland received a message from the capital city of Revival.

This is enough to reignite the passion of the pioneering knights.

Once everyone was in place, Prince Cumberland rose and solemnly announced:

"I have good news to share with you all. The King and the nobles of the capital have recognized your contributions and have enacted a new law—the Territory Expansion Exchange Act."

"As long as the pioneering knight holds the territory for more than three years, the court will send officials to assess its value, at which point it can be exchanged for territory in the western plains!"

When he finished speaking, a commotion arose among the knights at the long table.

"The Western Plains? Isn't that the royal family's private territory? How could the king be willing to give it up?" a knight from East Harbor asked incredulously.

Prince Cumberland smiled and nodded.

Then, he had the documents containing the contents of the bill delivered one by one to the knights.

Rod took a copy, curious to learn more.

The Western Plains lie between the southern Great Plains of the Kingdom and the Duchy of Northern Frost.

It was a new land that King William developed along the way when he expanded the northern border thirty years ago.

It was separated from the southern plains by the Wheat River and had previously been neglected by the kingdom.

Who knew that I wouldn't know until I went? I was shocked when I got there.

Vast plains suitable for growing crops were discovered and quickly became the focus of the kingdom's development.

According to the new law, these pioneering knights would hold out for three years, and their territory would be valued and converted into an equivalent land reward in the western plains.

Of course, how exactly this so-called equivalent conversion is calculated is up to the king.

But even if it's just a village of a few dozen square kilometers, it's still a baron's domain.

For most Trail Blazers, that's a huge profit.

After all, a lord's strength depends entirely on the resources of his territory.

Many border barons of the southern plains prospered because of their abundant arable lands and the presence of friendly trading nations nearby.

Their power even surpasses that of many established earl families, and for a long time they have been indifferent to the king.

The previously quiet atmosphere of the roundtable council instantly became lively.

"A storm is brewing." Unlike the others, Rhodes saw a heavy burden of pressure in this grand gesture.

Were the territories of these pioneering knights important?

It was of great significance that the castle's greatest function was not defense, but rather serving as a supply point connecting the front lines.

The expansion war thirty years ago was forced to stop because the kingdom stretched its battle lines too far and its logistics couldn't keep up.

The current king has clearly learned from the lessons of his predecessors.

Before the official start of the war, they wanted to establish a logistical supply line for the North by building castles for the pioneering knights.

This was to avoid the dire situation of supply lines becoming disconnected once they ventured deeper into the north.

But this level of importance is a bit excessive, Rhodes thought.

Before the war even started, the royal family had already revealed their trump card: the western plains.

Now that things are like this, what about the rewards and honors for military merits after the official start of the war?

This is not the normal pace of expansion, unless the king knows one thing.

The cost of the failed expansion into the North lay far beyond, on a western plain.

After the most important swap bill was announced, the subsequent parliamentary proceedings were lackluster.

Near the end, the third prince asked all the knights to return and measure the boundaries of their territories.

The specific territorial boundaries were drawn out and submitted to Parliament, after which the Parliament session was declared over.

Rhodes left with the five knights of the Alliance.

After leaving the temple, Charlie suggested that the six of them go for a drink together.

However, everyone was quite busy, so they ultimately declined.

Before leaving, Rod reminded them, "This winter is unusual. If you have gold coins, you'd better store up more food."

Byrne and the others looked at him with a puzzled expression, but nodded to show they understood.

Charlie waved his hand dismissively and said:

"Could it be that some nobles from the Great Plains are secretly trying to seduce you, Knight Rhodes? Don't be fooled by those heartless vampires. They're just trying to create the illusion of a food shortage so they can take the opportunity to raise prices."

"Perhaps, but it's never a bad thing to store more food in the territory, is it?" Rhodes replied, without offering any further advice.

Some things are best mentioned only briefly; too much of anything is as bad as too little.

"That's right, we came here to resupply anyway, buying some food is fine too."

After all, they are familiar allies, and they should continue to unite and take root in the North.

Charlie saw that he was being persuaded, and not wanting to lose face, he shrugged and chose to accept.

The six people parted ways here.

After leaving, Rhodes went to find the head of the Sword Tomb Chamber of Commerce.

Over the next few days, he purchased as much grain as possible through the Chamber of Commerce.

From the cheapest potatoes, to peas, broad beans, rapeseed, and then to grains such as rye, barley, oats, and wheat.

The price of these grains was still between 2 and 8 copper coins, which wasn't too expensive.

Rhodes currently has 210 gold coins in his treasury.

He took out 150 gold coins, prioritizing the cheap and filling foods, and purchased over 300,000 pounds of various grains.

In addition, it is necessary to replenish coarse salt and purchase a large number of training arrows to meet the daily arrow consumption of the Divine Arrow Camp.

Various miscellaneous supplies were replenished, and money flowed like water; another 50 gold coins were spent.

According to Rhodes's inventory, including the purchased supplies, his territory currently holds over one million pounds of various grains.

For at least the next three months, the more than 5,000 people in his territory will not have to worry about food and supplies.

The plan to cultivate farmland in the territory needs to be accelerated, Rod thought.

The fact that the Demon Fields were not yet sufficient to provide enough food to guarantee self-sufficiency in food kept him from feeling at ease.

At this moment, the head of the Jianling Chamber of Commerce came to his side with a letter.

"Sir, this is a letter from your family."

Rod took the letter with a puzzled look on his face, wondering if his father would be so petty as to write a letter specifically to scold him.

Upon seeing the childishly drawn angry face on the envelope, he finally understood and couldn't help but chuckle.

He knew who had sent it to him.

Rhodes opened the envelope and began to read.

"You jerk, Rod! It's been five months and he hasn't sent me a letter! He doesn't care about his sister at all, you big bad guy!"

Through the words, Rod can sense the anger of his sister Alice.

After the initial anger subsided, the subsequent content quickly turned into concern for him.

Rod imagined Alice writing this letter in his mind.

The girl was lying on the bed with her cute little feet sticking out in the air.

After angrily writing the first sentence with her pouting lips, she immediately buried her face in the pillow.

Unconsciously, she hugged her pillow tightly, worried about his situation, and felt disappointed that she hadn't received a letter.

Rhodes thought to himself that he really should have sent a letter to Alice sooner.

Busy as I am, I still need to take care of my younger sister.

He then unexpectedly discovered that there were 20 gold coins inside the envelope.

Alice didn't mention it in her letter, but Rod could imagine how she had been tormenting her mother, Elena, for the sake of gold coins.

A smile appeared on his face.

"Please trouble the Chamber of Commerce to send this letter back." After writing his reply, Rhodes handed it to the head of the Chamber of Commerce.

Besides letters, the contents included healing potions, nutritional potions extracted from high-quality barley, and various agate gems from the North.

The castle isn't built yet, so all we can do is send Alice some Northern specialties to comfort her.

Having finished his business at the fortress, Rhodes slowly drove out of the gate with a wagon loaded with supplies.

On his way back to his territory, he looked up ahead.

Heavy snow had been falling for several days, covering the roads with a thick layer of snow.

An abnormal surge of icy magic power was emanating from the sky.

In the distance, on the snow-covered plains, something seemed to be stirring in the hazy depths.

"I won't die here."

The image of the knights' dejected exit flashed before his eyes, and Rhode muttered to himself.

His agitated mood gradually calmed down, and he led his team into the snowfield, disappearing into the vast expanse of snow.

(End of this chapter)