This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

Some knowledgeable people gradually began to realize that this kid was probably not the low-level mage mentioned in the intelligence. What low-level mage could cast a dozen fireballs and still be full of energy?

This kid is at least a mid-level cultivator, and he has quite a few magical items on him!

The attackers on the right flank were the first to break down. Most of them were bandits, used to bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and had no courage to fight a hard battle against the regular army.

Therefore, seeing that the situation was unfavorable, they immediately abandoned their employer and prepared to flee, but unexpectedly, the cavalry had already outflanked them and launched an attack.

Although the terrain in the forest is not suitable for cavalry warfare, these cavalrymen are all highly skilled riders and fierce men wearing standard plate armor. They charge forward at a controlled speed and still sweep through thousands of troops.

The attackers on the right flank quickly collapsed. Several ringleaders tried to escape, but were hit in the knee by darts thrown from who-knows-where, and fell to the ground and were captured.

On the left flank, although fewer in number, they were far more elite than those on the right. Judging from their fighting style, they were well-trained "hunters." Seeing that the operation had no chance of success, they decisively retreated, even taking the bodies of their fallen comrades with them.

Once everything had settled down, Dick jumped off the carriage and ordered his private soldiers to treat their wounded, clean up the battlefield, and capture a few live prisoners to bring over.

At this point, the private army's attitude towards Dick had changed drastically.

When Herman and others were still around, they followed suit and showed little respect for this "joke boy of the Duke's family," even telling vulgar jokes in private.

But now the situation is different. Several of the knights in charge are dead. At the critical moment, the Fifth Young Master remained calm and commanded everyone in battle, displaying extremely high magical skills. He was a one-man cannon, killing a large number of enemy soldiers.

The private soldiers then realized that this fifth young master of the duke's family, the new governor of Lagug, was a mage who was treated like a father on the battlefield! His outstanding strength also easily won him the respect of the private soldiers, and now no one dared to disregard him.

Before long, his men finished cleaning up the battlefield, pulling out a total of seventy-two corpses and four prisoners from the woods. On their side, seventeen were killed, twenty-two were wounded to varying degrees, and eleven escaped in the chaos, their whereabouts currently unknown.

In terms of casualties, the Duke's private army did not win, but they lost five knights who were the primary targets of the enemy's first wave of attacks.

Dick ordered the remains of his fallen comrades to be collected, cremated, and brought back to the territory for a proper burial. He spoke with a sorrowful voice, especially when he saw Herman, who lay dead with his eyes wide open.

"What a pity, Sir Goring could have been my third sister's husband."

After the group regrouped, Dick gave his carriage to the seriously wounded and rode the warhorse left behind by Herman to the front of the group.

It must be said that Hermann's horses are truly excellent. They are purebred Ashra mares, entirely black except for their golden-black manes, and are very tall and robust.

Unfortunately, Dick wasn't big enough, so he didn't look very imposing on the ride.

After the attack, the group traveled for another five days before finally entering the territory of Laguge.

After crossing the Mupa Mountains, which span the northwestern border of the empire, the climate suddenly turned from early autumn to winter, with the temperature dropping by seven or eight degrees.

When the troops spent the night at the pass, it even snowed lightly in the latter half of the night.

"And this is only the end of September!"

"My lord, this year's Laguge seems to be colder than in previous years."

Beside Dick was a follower from Laguge, who was fairly knowledgeable about the local situation.

He told Dick that the registered population in the area was indeed only around 50,000, but there were actually many "wild man villages" hidden in the mountains.

They were all poor people who could not bear the oppressive rule of the empire. They lived in the mountains by farming and hunting, and occasionally they would bring out some mountain products to trade with the local villagers in exchange for supplies such as salt that were not available in the mountains.

No one knows how many savage villages and "savages" there are in the entire Laguge area. In Dick's view, these are extremely valuable "human resources" that should be won over and utilized as much as possible.

Three days later, the entourage arrived at Lagogburg, where local officials and gentry organized a welcoming ceremony, summoning several thousand emaciated commoners to line up at the city gate to greet them.

Looking at the sea of ​​poor people kneeling on the ground before him, Dick frowned slightly. He didn't see the point in this kind of exhausting activity. It was one thing for people to come out and have some fun when they were well-fed and clothed, but the way the locals were behaving... they all looked like they couldn't withstand any more hardship.

Before Dick could even tell everyone to get up, they saw someone in the crowd faint from kneeling with their head down.

"Get up, everyone! It's harvest season now, so go back to what you were doing. Disperse!"

Upon hearing the new governor's words, the common people who had been forced to participate in this ridiculous welcoming ceremony immediately dispersed, expressing their gratitude profusely. Those who remained were mostly wealthy locals and officials who stayed behind. Dick rode up to them, introduced himself with aristocratic courtesy, and then asked each of them their names.

Having had his intelligence team gather information beforehand, he knew that most of these people were insignificant figures, with only two truly influential ones.

One is the local Saxon knightly family, whose fief is Hot Spring Village. They are essentially manor owners, and the current head of the family, Jonah Saxon, is also the leader of the local militia, commanding about two hundred unorganized militiamen. This militia organization, formed to maintain order, is now precisely the source of Lagug's biggest security problem.

Another person worth noting is David Porter, who is currently the acting governor. Strictly speaking, he is somewhat related to Dick. He is the second nephew of the second Duchess and the second cousin of the third Miss Finney. If we're talking about seniority, Dick would have to address him as well.

Before Dick came to Lagug, he had been the acting governor here for three years. Because Lagug was the Best family’s fiefdom, none of the duke’s sons wanted to come, so the second wife arranged this job for her second nephew.

This man was almost thirty years old and had spent three years in this harsh, cold place called Laguge. He was actually quite well-preserved. Dick observed his expression. If he didn't like staying in this awful place, then his arrival to take over his position would be a perfect solution, and there would be no need for any conflict between them.

But if he can't bear to give up the profits here and doesn't want to leave...

As Dick observed the crowd, the crowd in front of him was also observing him.

Many people were secretly pleased to see that he was young and handsome, thinking that he would be an easy kid to fool. However, some people had received advance notice and knew that this kid had elven blood, that he was just young-looking, and that he was also a talented magician.

After entering the city, Dick went straight to the main castle and immediately ordered his officials to bring him the account books and documents from the past three years so he could review them.

The staff members looked at each other, about to find an excuse to brush it off, when they saw a group of soldiers carrying account books over, completely acting first and asking questions later.

Seeing their less-than-pleasant expressions, Dick smiled and explained that he had only informed them. In fact, as soon as he entered the city, he dispatched a squad of soldiers with his own edict to the document storeroom.

When former acting governor David saw this, he thought to himself, "As expected, good people don't come here." Just as he was about to speak, Dick took out a parchment scroll stamped with red ink and handed it to him.

This is the official document of appointment of officials by the Empire. It was given to Dick by Duke Rune when he left the Empire, as a "thank you gift" to David for his three years as acting governor.

"This is?"

"Letter of recommendation: Father thanks you, Cousin David, for your outstanding work over the past three years and recommends you, in his capacity as Duke, to join the Third Legion of Hessian. You'll be a centurion there. It's a good position, Cousin. Do your best, and you might even be knighted."

The Third Legion of Hessen was known in the empire as the "Legion of Noble Young Masters." Almost all of its lower-ranking officers were sons of noble families who had no right to inherit the family business, hence the name "Legion of Second Sons."

The Duke's letter of introduction to David was quite generous, but the problem was that once you joined the legion, you would be bound by military regulations. Even in the legion of the second sons, where young masters were plentiful, there were still people in charge of discipline, and it was rumored that bullying was rampant there.

The perks a centurion could get were certainly less than those of a fiefdom governor.

So when Dick handed the letter of introduction to David, the latter clearly hesitated, but eventually accepted it silently and then excused himself, saying he had something to do at home and had to leave first.

After the other party left the study, Dick asked Tia, who was disguised beside him.

"Did you notice anything?"

"Greedy, cowardly, he didn't want to leave."

"Hehe, it seems that even in a harsh and cold place, there is still money to be made."

“This David is just a minor character. You need to be careful of the Saxons. Their patriarch is very hostile towards you and is truly intent on killing you.”

As a spy, Tia has a "special ability"—mind reading. But unlike the ability of the goat god Anya, Tia's mind reading is more like a professional skill developed after mastering psychology. She can know the deepest desires of others just by looking into their eyes.

So when entering the city, Tia followed behind Dickma and looked at all the nobles and dignitaries present.

Upon learning that the Saxon knight intended to kill him, Dick thought to himself that it was probably related to the previous assassination attempt, and that the mastermind behind it was either the First Lady or the Third Lady.

They all wanted to prevent Dick from becoming the governor of Lagug, and the only local resource worth mentioning was "cold iron," an important military supply. Dick suddenly felt that the clues were becoming clear.

"Befa, draft a document for me. A martial arts tournament will be held in three days. On my way here, I was attacked and almost all of my knights were killed or wounded. I urgently need to recruit strong men who are skilled in martial arts and can command troops. Direct appointment would be unfair. I also want to give talented people from the common people a chance to stand out. A martial arts tournament will be held, and the winner will be appointed as a trainee knight on the spot... Write it like this."

Dick organized this martial arts tournament simply as a formality, so that the Black and White Gunner, who had not yet made a public appearance, could legitimately take over the private army and manage the military on his behalf.

Given the weak influence that Earthlings have left on the Sunrise Continent over the past half-century, as long as the contract emblem is not revealed, no one would ever imagine that such powerful individuals are "summoned ones".

Incidentally, the girls around Dick all have their contract crests hidden in very discreet locations, usually in places that are not easily visible.

For example, Tia's crest is on her right outer thigh, while Black and White Gunner's is near her chest.

The white-armored archer from the Northern Hemisphere has its emblem in the Southern Hemisphere trench, while the black-armored archer from the Southern Hemisphere has its emblem in the Northern Hemisphere trench. As long as the plate armor and the inner bodysuit are not removed, no one else can see them.

In addition to letting Black and White Gunner take over the army, Dick also plans to replace the original internal affairs team. Those guys are all David's men. After screening, Dick will keep some of the more honest ones, and the rest will be gradually cleared out of the team in the next two months as internal affairs are handed over.

The secretariat team is replaced by Rita, Belfast, and Joel. Tia and Lily from the spy team assist the secretariat team on weekdays and are sent out when there is intelligence work. Kasumi, Ayane, and Momiji from the ninja team continue to go undercover.

In order to govern his fiefdom well, Dick will continue to summon more anime girls with excellent professional skills and constantly expand his "pink cabinet".

Meanwhile, on the other side, inside the Saxon family's manor, the patriarch Jonah, who had just returned home, tossed his coat to a maid who came over, sat down by the fireplace, poured himself a glass of ale, and drank it all in one gulp.

The old man's expression was not good, simply because someone who shouldn't have arrived in Laguge alive had appeared before him today, which made him very unhappy.

Just then, a languid voice came from the attic, and a young woman with an exquisitely beautiful face and figure came down from upstairs, wearing only a fox fur coat, exposing large areas of her skin.

The woman looked to be in her early twenties, but she gave Jonah, who was older than her father, a flirtatious smile and spoke in a coquettish voice in her still somewhat broken Hessian language.

"Oppa! Why are you only getting back now?!"

Seeing the young woman's beautiful body, old Jonah licked his dry lips, but quickly remembered that there were more important matters to attend to, so he suppressed his desire and spoke to the woman.

“Ai-jung, call your brother Park Deok-yong over. I need him to do something for me.”

Chapter 007: This is my territory

Although he was the lowest-ranking nobleman, old Jonah was also fashionable. After he had some spare money, he followed the example of other nobles and spent money to get himself a summon.

The old man was lucky; he summoned two at once, a brother and sister, a man named Park Deok-yong and a woman named Park Ae-jung. They claimed to be from the Great Cold Netherworld, the number one super-developed country in East Asia and the second largest in the world, second only to the United States.

Old John didn't understand this, but he really liked Park Ae-jung, who had a delicate face, big breasts, and a perky butt. That very night, he exercised the power of the slave contract, allowing Park Ae-jung to experience what it meant to be vigorous even in her old age.

The brother and sister became servants of the Saxon family. The sister was deeply loved by old Jonah, and the brother, because of his intelligence and the opportunity to flatter, became a highly valued lackey.

Old Jonah once tried to test Park Deok-yong by saying he wanted to break the slave contract and give him his own freedom.

This was naturally impossible, as the slave contract was an unbreakable, permanent contract, but that didn't stop old Jonah from teasing the magic-naive Park Deok-yong. Without a word, Park Deok-yong knelt and begged his master not to abandon him, declaring that there couldn't be two suns in the sky, and that he only had one master in his heart: old Jonah!

Although Old Jonah despised Park Deok-yong's inherent servility, he also liked this clever and cunning lackey. Especially when it came to disciplining the serfs in his household, this guy, who claimed to have trained in the South Korean army for two years, always came up with some amazing "punishments".

Soon, Park Deok-yong came in from outside, panting, carrying a wet leather whip. He was probably "disciplining" the disobedient serfs.

Unlike his beautiful and graceful sister, Park Deok-yong was an ugly man with a rough and uneven face that looked like a toad that had come to life.

Sometimes, even old Jonah couldn't help but wonder if the two, who looked so different, were really siblings. Of course, the old man didn't know that Park Ae-jung didn't look like this three years ago. Her brother had spent a fortune to take her to the hospital to get her the latest trendy look.

Park Deok-yong's decision to have his sister undergo plastic surgery was not out of love for her, but rather to make money off her after the surgery. He planned to first get her into a girl group, and then try to seduce wealthy people in the conglomerate.

But things didn't go as planned. Before the brother and sister could even begin their plan, they were both recruited to another world. Park Deok-yong's expensively acquired appearance for his sister finally came in handy.

After entering the house, Park Deok-yong ignored his sister who was applying "pus-draining" medicine to Old Man Yue and went straight to asking the head of the family what his orders were.

The other person squinted and spoke after a long while.

"I need you to do something..."

Meanwhile, in the study of the main castle, Dick was leading several of his smartest female subordinates in checking the accounts from the past three years.

Most of the ledger data matched, which showed that David hadn't been ambiguous about it, but Dick didn't think that such a person would be honest.

Soon, the spy team he had sent out to gather intelligence returned.

After Dick's men arrived at Lagogburg, he gave his private soldiers and followers extra pay and a day off. The pay was distributed in the main castle square, with Dick sitting on a platform beside him, two open chests of money, one of gold and one of silver, gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight.

All the soldiers and their entourage lined up and came forward one by one to receive their rewards.

When someone comes to Dick, they must first loudly announce their name, and then Dick will reply with "XX, please accept the reward," and personally take the money from the box and hand it to the person.

Each attendant received five silver coins, and the wounded received one gold coin.

Each soldier received one gold coin, and the wounded received one gold coin and five silver coins.

Those who kill the enemy in battle will be rewarded with one gold coin for each head they take.

Finally, the deceased's name was announced in public, called out three times, and the compensation was announced.

Five fallen knights, each worth fifty gold, totaling two hundred and fifty.

The seventeen soldiers who died were posthumously awarded the title of Imperial Guards and given a pension of ten gold coins.

The entire process of awarding and compensating soldiers was completely open to the public. Dick personally handed the money to the soldiers in real gold and silver, and would also shake hands and pat them on the shoulder to show encouragement.

Throughout the ceremony, Dick spent over 1,200 gold coins, but he completely secured the loyalty of the 500 or so people he brought from the Empire. This also allowed the locals of Lagug to see that their new governor was a generous man who never hesitated to reward his subordinates.

After receiving their rewards and leave, the soldiers and their entourage immediately flocked to local taverns, bars, and other entertainment venues, boosting the local economy to some extent. Meanwhile, the two spies used disguises to infiltrate these establishments and gather intelligence in places like the taverns.

According to local miners and ordinary people, David had indeed done a lot of unethical things over the past three years.

The empire officially monopolizes Cold Iron, but at least they actually pay for it.

A normal miner's annual salary should be twelve gold and five silver coins. This income is more than enough to support a family of three in the countryside, as long as one doesn't live in a big city like the capital.

The criminal labor camps didn't pay wages but provided meals, with a standard of one copper coin per person per day. It seemed like a small amount, but because it was communal and collectively purchased, the food might not have been good, but it wouldn't have meant going hungry.

The highest earners are the blacksmiths who smelt cold iron. They are genuine highly skilled professionals because smelting cold iron is far more difficult than refining pig iron. It requires certain alchemical techniques, and the superior properties of cold iron are enough to make it a special alloy even on Earth.

Therefore, the smelters of cold iron have an annual salary of up to fifty gold coins, and there are only fourteen master craftsmen in the entire Lagug who receive this salary.