This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

"Haha, don't worry about that. Dwarves never drink alcohol while working."

Because of the two barrels of wine, the dwarves' enthusiasm for Dick increased significantly, inviting him to see the ongoing improvements to the mining area.

"Your Excellency, I'm not exaggerating, but the engineers at the mine were absolute liars. Apart from the earliest mine shafts, No. 1, 2, and 3, which were relatively reasonable, the other five were dug haphazardly. Mine shaft No. 5 was seriously off-center from the ore vein, and shaft No. 7 even dug through the underground river, causing part of shaft No. 8, which was connected to shaft No. 7, to be flooded. Damn it, it was utter chaos!"

"And what about your renovation plan?"

"We'll backfill tunnels 7 and 8 and discard them. We'll keep tunnels 4 and 6, and backfill two-thirds of tunnel 5. We'll then dig a new branch tunnel from a less desirable location. Don't worry, production will absolutely not be affected."

"I trust professionals to handle professional matters. I don't understand mining and I won't interfere."

"I really appreciate people like you. If all the human nobles in the empire had your level of awareness, that would be great."

Seemingly recalling the terror of being dominated by laymen, the dwarven engineers now found Dick increasingly agreeable, each patting their chests and guaranteeing they would not betray their trust. Furthermore, during their exploration, they discovered some associated minerals of cold iron, all of which were highly valuable for mining.

Leaving the dwarves' workshop, Dick received a great deal of praise wherever he went in the mining area.

Not only did the miners praise him highly, but even the lowest-ranking slave laborers were deeply grateful to him.

What Dick gave them was simply the treatment they already deserved.

Undeducted wages and meals suitable for heavy physical labor, that's all!

In a country where everyone is willing to show their utter lack of morality, simply being a human being is enough to make you a saint in the eyes of the working class.

That night, Dick stayed overnight in the mining area, and the person in charge voluntarily gave up his own accommodation.

Dick initially wanted to decline, but after seeing where the guy lived, he suddenly realized that the guy's flattery was actually an attempt to demonstrate his "integrity".

The room wasn't large, and the decor was simple but warm. Apart from the fact that the mattress and bedding on the large bed in the bedroom had been replaced, none of the other items looked like they had been moved recently.

The former head of the mining area also lived in this room, but the room was filled with many valuable luxury items, there was a wooden box full of gold coins under the bed, and there were even two naked male children chained to the head of the bed like domesticated dogs.

Dick immediately had Rita use a sickle to cut the scrambled eggs in half... vertically!

After the former head was executed, the current head moved into this room, but handed over everything to the governor's office, leaving only one item hanging on the wall.

That was the leather whip that had been broken in two by the former person in charge, a reminder to myself to be dutiful at this moment.

Dick was fairly satisfied with this guy. He wasn't the kind of subordinate who simply wanted to do his job well, but rather an ambitious striver ready to climb the corporate ladder.

In some ways, he's a lot like Dick!

"not bad."

"Yes, this mattress is indeed quite good."

Lying in bed, Dick saw Rita smiling at him, gently flicking the tip of his ear with a finger. The tingling sensation made Dick's ears twitch like cat ears.

Seeing Rita getting more and more engrossed in the game, Dick said somewhat speechlessly.

"Is it fun?"

"I could play all day long."

Grabbing Rita's defiant little hand, Dick pounced on her like a tiger, flipping her over and pinning the maid beneath him. Rita, playing along, feigned weakness. Even without her Valkyrie armor, Rita possessed impressive physical abilities, deliberately mimicking a struggle that ultimately ended in resignation.

The acting skills are undoubtedly superb, and it's hard to say whether they were used in the wrong way.

Although Rita was one of the maids Dick summoned in the third batch, she was the first to take advantage of Dick and lose his virginity.

Belfast was tricked by Rita, who deliberately used a little trick to get rid of her so as not to get in her way. By the time Belfast realized something was wrong and rushed back, it was too late. So, without even grieving for her master's lost virginity, she joined the battle in a fit of rage.

However, Dick could also see that Rita's willingness to offer herself to him wasn't a simple romantic relationship between a man and a woman. She was different from Belfast, who was the perfect maid who wholeheartedly devoted herself to her master, while Rita, in her original world, had more or less that kind of flaw.

Therefore, her sacrifice was both an expression of her approval of Dick as the summoner and an element of having fun, and it cannot be ruled out that she did it to provoke Belfast.

However, as time went by, their feelings for each other deepened, and their compatibility, both spiritually and physically, grew stronger.

Compared to Belfast's service, Rita's actions seem more like playing around.

On the warm bed, a passionate kiss is the signal that a night of passion has been ignited, and Dick is the arsonist who pours gasoline all over Rita's body, traversing mountains and valleys from her alluring red lips to her most intimate spot. Her soft, elfin ears become tickles to enhance the pleasure, rubbing back and forth against Rita's sensitive and delicate inner thighs.

In terms of breast size, Rita, though also large-breasted, is slightly inferior to Belfast, but her beautiful legs are absolutely stunning! Therefore, after the two established that kind of relationship, he was often taken advantage of, and every passionate night with Rita inevitably became a sweet burden on Dick's shoulders.

After a thrilling melee, the two took a "halftime break" and snuggled together. Dick casually used a "Moisture Absorption" spell to clean up the battlefield.

Rita's face was flushed, her luscious lips parted slightly from her still-breathing breaths, and in her watery eyes was a rare tenderness in this "bad woman."

Dick met those eyes, then suddenly hugged Rita tightly and whispered something.

"Rita, I love you."

"Master, really, who confesses at a time like this?"

"Also, I have to say sorry, I'm a womanizer."

"Pfft! What kind of womanizer are you, passively getting devoured like this?"

"Hey, that's hurtful!"

After being teased by Rita, Dick thought about it carefully. Although he could be assertive at times, in terms of relationships, he was indeed the one being pushed around more often.

These older women all harbor rebellious intentions and always want to ride on his back!

Moreover, this trend is currently intensifying. Apart from the few whose relationships have already been finalized, the rest of the people are also showing signs of wanting to make moves.

Who knows, one day someone might lose control of their wicked impulses, suddenly attack him until he kneels, and then drag him back to their room to be a star...

Thinking of this situation, Dick couldn't help but sigh.

One must be strong to succeed. Expanding one's power certainly requires summoning more talented people, but one cannot neglect one's own magical cultivation, otherwise one would be disgraced by the blessing bestowed by the Winter God.

Moreover, after breaking through to the Saint rank, both martial artists and mages have one advantage: their racial bloodline will be significantly strengthened.

In this respect, each advanced intelligent race has its own characteristics.

Human bloodline enhancement is the least distinctive, but also the most stable: it's all-round enhancement, like building a well-rounded character with no outstanding strengths or weaknesses, emphasizing balance.

The enhancement granted to the Elf race is "Fairy Transformation," which allows them to transform into incorporeal elemental fairies. This form grants them complete immunity to physical damage. However, transforming into an elemental fairy means focusing on a single element; therefore, while emphasizing that element, it also amplifies the corresponding weakness.

As for the third bloodline in Dick's body, the succubus bloodline, since this race has never produced a powerhouse above the Saint rank, no one knows what kind of bloodline enhancement they will receive.

As mixed-race individuals with three bloodlines, they are endlessly despised by those who believe in bloodlines as "bastards." However, some famous Saint-level powerhouses and even demigods have emerged from this group.

Some people only received the corresponding enhancements from the race with the strongest bloodline concentration, while others received enhancements from multiple or even all bloodlines, but these were all weakened versions, resulting in something that was neither high nor low, and not as balanced as the human race.

The thought that even his bloodline enhancement had to rely on luck, like playing a gacha game, left him speechless.

Meanwhile, Rita had already turned over and taken over, the fallen blankets completely exposing her fair skin, which was gilded with a golden light in the fireplace glow.

Dick admired the "beautiful scenery" before him, and with Rita's guidance, his hands climbed up the two soft, plump fruits hanging high on the branch along her slender waist that seemed so delicate that it could be grasped in one hand.

Deeply sensing Rita's inner passion, Dick suddenly had an idea: he couldn't just focus on becoming stronger himself; he also needed to find a way to help the girls under his command improve their strength.

Chapter 034: Dick's Ambitions

Upon returning to the castle from the mines, Dick immediately convened a military meeting, summoning all his officers of the rank of sergeant and above to summarize the combat experience gained in the annihilation of the Vulture Gang.

Most of the lower-ranking officers believed that poison gas was incredibly effective! What was expected to be a tough battle turned out to be surprisingly easy, resulting in an astonishing record of zero casualties.

The only injured person slipped and fell while climbing the mountain, breaking their head on a block of ice under the snow.

Seeing the excitement of his officers, Dick thought to himself that he hadn't expected it. The use of poison gas had made many of them a bit arrogant, thinking they could rely on this trick forever. That's why Dick had called a military meeting so quickly—to suppress that kind of thinking.

It's important to understand that poison gas is a double-edged sword, and its use is subject to certain limitations.

The reason we used poison gas against the Vulture Gang was because their hideout was indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the enclosed cave environment allowed the poison gas to work most efficiently. It might not have been as effective in a plain.

Lily does indeed have the ability to create more lethal poison gases, such as mustard gas, a substance that struck fear into the hearts of soldiers on both sides during World War I. However, Dick does not intend for his army to rely too heavily on chemical weapons; he still needs to focus on improving its own capabilities.

Seeing everyone's enthusiasm for the poison gas, Dick stepped in to pour cold water on it, explaining its limitations and drawbacks.

The simplest question is: poison gas is carried by the wind. What if you happen to be downwind when two armies are fighting? What if the enemy has enough mages who can use wind magic to blow all the poison gas back to you? How would you deal with that?

"So the purpose of this meeting today is to tell everyone that poison gas must be used with extreme caution. Strengthening military training for soldiers and improving our weaponry is the right way forward. I can now tell you some good news: an application I submitted to the Duke has been approved."

"What application?"

"Han Tie, I've applied for a quantity of 100 kilograms."

Everyone was somewhat surprised to hear that the governor had requested a batch of cold iron.

Cold Iron is one of the world's most superior natural magical metals. It is lightweight yet extremely tough, and possesses exceptional magic resistance, capable of negating over 70% of the power of ordinary magic.

Lagug is the main production area of ​​cold iron, but this magical metal, which can be called vibranium in the magical world, is a type of military strategic material controlled by the Empire. It is a capital offense for ordinary people to possess more than ten grams. Although the mining area is on the fiefdom of the Best family, only the Imperial Royal Family has the sole right to purchase the cold iron produced.

The Best family's wealth and status were due not only to their ancestors being founding heroes who helped the emperor establish the nation, but also primarily to their offering of Cold Iron to the imperial family.

Of course! While bestowing wealth and honor upon the Best family, the royal family also exercised restraint.

The Best family has been a noble family in the capital since the founding of the country. Although the family has many fiefdoms, they are scattered all over the empire. Governors are appointed to manage them, and direct descendants must stay in the capital. The old duke has the title of war marshal and serves as a military minister similar to a "minister of defense", but he has never left the capital since he ascended the throne. Most of his sons have joined the Royal Guard.

On the contrary, Dick, as the youngest son, was more free because he was born out of wedlock. He was able to leave the capital and become the governor of Lagug.

On the surface, he was exiled for taking the blame for his elder brother, but wasn't this also a kind of freedom?

Returning to the topic of this valuable commodity, cold iron, according to the Empire's military supplies control regulations, all cold iron produced in Lagug must be purchased by the Imperial Family. The mining area has a fixed annual production quota, and if the quota is not met, everyone from the miners to the governor will be punished.

However, the royal family also knew that they could not keep everything to themselves, so every year they would take out the excess portion beyond the quota as rewards and share it with the meritorious nobles. The Best family, in particular, received 300 kilograms every year, the most among those below the royal family.

It's easy to see from this that David was truly blinded by greed and made a terrible mistake back then!

Previous governors had all embezzled cold iron, but as long as the quota was met and the amount stolen was not large, the higher-ups turned a blind eye and tacitly accepted it as the governor's bonus.

But David was different. He was the kind of guy who squeezed the higher-ups dry. During his three years in office, the number of workers in the mine increased, but the amount of cold iron he handed over each year was barely up to standard.

The Duke wasn't stupid. Just by looking at the problematic production figures, he knew that this guy was recklessly flirting with death. So he replaced his illegitimate son with the governor of Laguge.

The Duke's idea was to save face for his second wife's family and give his nephew some dignity. He wanted the nephew to step down honestly, and he could pretend that the sordid things of the previous three years never happened and let bygones be bygones.

As it turned out, David himself didn't want to be dignified, while the Duke's youngest son, whom he didn't usually value much, began to show his talent and decisiveness after arriving in Lagug.

And so David was gone. His death was tacitly dismissed by all sides as a simple bandit ambush, a hasty conclusion drawn. Meanwhile, Dick wrote a detailed report and, using a storage ring, sent the several thousand tons of ore seized to the Duke's mansion by a special envoy.

This incident made the old duke re-examine his youngest son and immediately realize that the boy had been enduring for the past eighteen years in the ducal mansion. His feigned bookish personality had fooled everyone, even the old duke himself.

But the Duke was not angry; on the contrary, he began to admire his unloved youngest son.

This was also the "truth" that Dick deliberately revealed to the Duke after fully analyzing his personality from a psychological perspective. It helped him gain the Duke's favor and make his position as governor more secure.

So Dick tried requesting some cold iron, mainly to test the Duke's attitude towards him. He actually got it, and was given 100 kilograms—enough to make at least ten sets of heavy plate armor!

Because the average person in this world is physically stronger and there are warriors who practice martial arts, they can wear very heavy armor. The armor of a regular heavy infantryman weighs more than 40 kilograms, while that of a heavy cavalryman is lighter but still weighs more than 30 kilograms, not including the armor on the horse.

In ancient times on Earth, this carrying capacity would be absolutely top-notch.

The so-called "cold iron armor" is generally a composite armor plate, with cold iron only used on the outermost layer. Therefore, the amount of cold iron used to make a set is about 8 to 10 kilograms.

Those armors made entirely of cold iron are family heirlooms of royalty and grand dukes, because the materials used are simply too extravagant!

However, of the 100 kilograms of cold iron approved by the higher authorities, Dick only planned to use half to make six suits of armor as a reward for the most outstanding contributors in future bandit suppression operations, and he intended to use the rest elsewhere.

At the end of the meeting, Dick decided to make some adjustments in response to the attack on the liaison officer.

Previously, in order to speed things up, there were usually two liaisons assigned to one "Green Village", with the two taking turns to carry out liaison tasks, and they always acted alone.

He now decides to gather the existing liaisons into three teams, connect all the green villages (safe villages) and yellow villages (potential recruits) on the map into a line, and have the three teams travel along this line. This will create a cycle where one team has just set off, one team is halfway there, and one team is resting at the castle.

In addition, the Green Village, which is completely under the administration of the Governor's Office, has a population of more than 300, and is located at an important Papal node, should establish its own guard force. All Yellow and Green Villages should set up beacon towers and build a simple early warning system. It is not necessary to make it perfect now, just enough to make do.

Dick knew that the temperature would continue to drop, and those bandits were also human and needed food and firewood to survive the winter. But when they were short of food, they wouldn't obediently spend money to buy it. The heavy snow that closed the mountains couldn't stop the starving wolf pack.

Some bandit villages marked in red on the map will also choose such times to temporarily change their identities and attack the weaker villages around them, committing evil deeds that are no less than those of professional bandits.

The previous governor, however, held his position without doing any work and never paid any attention to it.

Whenever Dick thought of the banditry in Lagug, he felt an urge to curse.

Laguge is territory that the empire has existed since its founding. It is not a colony, and the local people are not foreigners. However, because the previous governors were incompetent and levied exorbitant taxes, the people were filled with resentment and some ordinary people began to hate the government and turned to bandits.

By the time of David's rule, the private army in the castle and the self-defense force controlled by the Saxons were already enjoying the same treatment that the Japanese and their puppet troops received in North China around 1943.

Dick didn't want his private army to get bogged down in counterinsurgency, and besides, Lagug shouldn't have been a place for counterinsurgency warfare in the first place—it's not like it's abroad!

So Dick took a two-pronged approach: on the one hand, he trained troops and formulated a plan to suppress bandits, launching a heavy crackdown on the bandits and their collaborators. On the other hand, he tried to win over the people by purging the criminal elements from David's era and actively treating patients with cold-related illnesses, aiming to bring as many people as possible to his side.

After the military conference, Dick then convened the internal affairs staff to discuss how to proceed with the spring backyard campaign the following year.