King of the North: My Lord's Diary Weekly Summary

The terrain of the cliffs in the upper part of the southeast is more advantageous than it is marked on the map.

As Wayne stood on the slope on the west bank of the Icemark River, gazing at the dark gray mountain road rising abruptly ahead, this thought involuntarily popped into his mind.

The cliff is very high, probably several tens of meters high; its top is flat, and the river below makes a sharp turn here, scouring the bottom of the cliff and forming a natural moat.

As Wayne walked up the mountain path, just as he had imagined—the view was excellent. To the east, one could overlook the entire valley; to the west, one could see the woodland in the direction of the outpost; and to the south, there was an open plain.

Easy to defend and difficult to attack, with abundant water resources and a wide view—this is simply the perfect place to build a castle!

"This place..."

Ronald also saw the advantage and couldn't help but say, "It's easy to defend and difficult to attack, has a wide field of vision, and also has a water source. It's much better than that watchtower in the woods."

Wayne nodded. Much stronger than that?

This is practically a natural castle foundation. As long as walls are built on the cliff top, or even crossbow platforms are erected, it will almost become a natural fortress.

But here's the question: why didn't the Duke's sentries set up a watchtower here?

"Let's go up to the top and take a look."

Wayne spurred his horse around to the side of the gentle slope. His attendants followed closely behind.

Above the mountain path, there seems to be a natural trail winding upwards, easy to pass through; the cliff top is quite large, covered with some cold-resistant shrubs and moss.

And it was right there on the cliff face, against the mountainside, that Wayne found the answer.

A cave.

The opening is about two meters wide and less than three meters high.

Looking inside, it was pitch black, and you could vaguely smell a pungent, unpleasant odor.

It smelled like rotten mud, but also had a slightly fishy smell.

"I see."

Wayne suddenly realized.

With such a large natural cave, it's really inappropriate to build a watchtower here—who knows what might be hiding inside? What if it's a bear's den, or something even worse? The sentries wouldn't be able to sleep soundly at night.

But looking at it from another angle...

"Is this hole very deep?"

He turned to ask an older servant beside him.

The servant's name was Garr, one of the dozen or so servants that Wayne employed from the Duke. He was said to have worked as a miner in his youth.

"My lord, judging from the wind and the echo, it must be quite deep."

Garr stepped forward, squatted down, and touched the rock face for a moment before patting the dirt off his hands: "The rock face is dry, so it shouldn't be connected to the riverbed below."

If it can be cleaned thoroughly, perhaps... it can be converted into a storage room, or even a bunker.

Upon hearing this, Wayne's eyes lit up.

bunker!

That's a very practical space that can be set up below the castle, used for storing valuables and as a refuge in times of crisis—this is a standard feature of many noble castles.

Here, they actually gave us a natural prototype!

"Shall we go in and explore?"

He was somewhat eager to try.

"My lord, be careful."

Ronald gripped the hilt of his sword: "It might not be safe inside."

"Ronald, we have torches, we have weapons, and we have you."

Wayne smiled. "Just a preliminary look. If there's any danger, retreat immediately."

He ultimately couldn't resist the temptation.

This place is fantastic—the foundation of the future main castle, plus a ready-made, potentially very promising underground space.

I won't be able to sleep tonight until I see it for myself.

Moreover, he knew Ronald's strength well—when wielding a sword, even the Grizzlies were no match for him.

But just as Ronald and his men tied up their horses and took out torches... Wayne's palms suddenly became burning hot!

"hiss--"

He gasped, and then heard the rustling sound of pages turning. The phantom of a silver notebook unfolded in his vision, the words flowing like water:

August 27th, Arthurian calendar 324

You walk through the cave and think to yourself, "This place is really nice; it would be great to turn it into a bunker."

You looked up at the top of the cave.

Oh dear, it's already full. The residents don't seem to welcome visitors very much.

Fortunately, you're only having snacks.

The text lasted for three seconds, then the blurry image of the pages closed up and retracted into the palm of the hand.

Wayne stopped in his tracks.

"grown ups?"

Ronald noticed his unusual expression: "What's wrong?"

"fine."

Wayne took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Residents?! What the hell is that?!

Born into a ducal family, he was a playboy for the first ten years or so, but he received all the education and worldly experience that a nobleman should have.

Treat yourself like a snack? Or a rare and exotic animal?

"Let's leave here first..."

Wayne's voice was already trembling slightly.

Only after Ronald untied the two horses and the group descended the mountain path did Wayne finally breathe a sigh of relief.

I almost died.

"Sir, just now..."

Ronald finally spoke, asking, "Have you discovered something?"

Wayne didn't answer immediately—he simply looked back again at the seemingly perfect cliff top.

How could there be such trouble right next to my house!

He forced himself to calm down and analyze the situation.

First, it's impossible for the sentries to be unaware of the dangers of the cave while they were stationed there.

But these man-eating creatures still exist—even not far from the watchtower.

So they were incapable of cleaning it up—and they didn't remind themselves of it either.

Second, the sentries couldn't possibly have the ability to control such things—since they… let's just call them “them” for now, the fact that they haven't been dealt with suggests that they wouldn't have come out on their own while the sentries were stationed there.

Third, there's nothing we can do for the time being; there really isn't one.

Wayne looked at the cave, his teeth itching.

Such a good piece of land, and there's this kind of thing here!

"There may be dangerous creatures in the cave."

Wayne ultimately chose to partially confess: "Just like last time when Kesa led a night raid, I'm quite sensitive to danger."

Ronald's expression hardened: "Danger? Should we call in more men? Or prepare bows and arrows?"

"No."

Wayne shook his head and turned to walk down the mountain path: "Leave it for now."

"Leave it there?"

Ronald chimed in, "But sir, if there really are dangerous creatures in there, close to us—"

"I know."

Wayne continued walking: "But we can't solve this now. Forcing our way in will only lead to our deaths."

Remember this place, and come back when we're able to.

Wayne certainly wanted to eliminate the hidden dangers now, but the prophecy in the journal had clearly shown the outcome of forcing his way through.

He could only wait.

We'll see if we can scrape together some resources to deal with them after the weekly settlement.

Alternatively, we can wait until we find an iron ore deposit before arming our personnel.

Thinking about armed forces...

Previously, Wayne had his own reasons for not requesting additional soldiers and weapons from the Duke:

Besides saving money to buy other resources, firstly, he doesn't lack military strength for the time being—he has the capable Ronald and loyal cavalry.

Secondly, Simon's words served as a warning and reminder not to try to amass too much military power, making him realize that deploying too many troops might not be meaningful—it would simply allow him to control his territory more quickly.

But speed means a lack of solidity, and it also means being coveted by others.

Therefore, in this situation, the soldiers hidden in the shadows are actually the real force – they have the cheat code reward of a detection pickaxe, so they can find iron with the pickaxe, make ironware, and build their own army!

The first step in this plan was to make the blacksmith obey him.

Therefore, he spent a lot of money to hire two blacksmiths instead of one—both to increase insurance against one of them abandoning their job and to pave the way for future small-scale military production.

He also has a high probability of not lacking iron—although he hasn't found an iron ore mine yet, he has found iron many times with his pickaxe on the way to the territory, especially near the mountains.

And his territory is not lacking in mountains and peaks.

The plan is perfect.

But Wayne now admits: he miscalculated.

He foresaw man-made disasters, resources, and even potential competition from other lords.

But he hadn't anticipated that besides these, there were also these creatures in the North, some of which were neither human nor ghost! And they just so happened to be squatting in the foundation of his future main castle!

Wayne suppressed his thoughts for the moment and turned his gaze to the opposite bank of the river.