Chapter 253: Dividing the Northland
With the magic circuit repaired and the energy supply stabilized under Emily’s maintenance, Owen’s world gate plan could begin.
Not long after, Owen constructed a portal in the square in front of the Great Tree Hollow Tavern and started selling tickets for interdimensional travel.
Traveling to other worlds through a portal was a novel experience even for adventurers. In fact, most adventurers hadn’t even experienced ordinary long-distance teleportation. It was rare and expensive. As a result, the newly built portal became a sight to behold. There was no shortage of those with sticky fingers who wanted to make off with something. After all, they were adventurers. This couldn’t be called stealing; it was just part of the adventure, like smashing jars and kicking open chests in people’s homes. For adventurers, it was a necessary process.
However, the portal was seamless and protected by a magic barrier. Forget petty theft, even a full-blown assault wouldn’t leave a mark. Besides, did they think the guards in front of the portal were dead? Touching it was fine, but if they pulled out a knife or a gun, did they think the guards wouldn’t dare to kill them?
Revealing the portal certainly had its risks, but Owen knew he had to give these adventurers some hope, otherwise who knew what kind of trouble they would cause.
Moreover, the mountain range held countless precious minerals. It would take him forever to develop them all by himself.
Adventurers might be annoying, but you had to admit they were incredibly talented at finding treasure and good stuff. No matter how deep underground it was buried or how many monsters guarded it, they would find a way to get it for you, as long as you posted a quest.
To this end, Owen had made ample preparations, providing everything adventurers needed, whether it be equipment, skills, knowledge, treasures, mounts, or pleasure. With both Green Shade Town and Ghost Valley Town under his control, he could ensure that the benefits stayed within his territory. And he only had to pay a small price for it.
Owen even set aside ten slots each month that could be redeemed with contribution points from the Green Shade Town Adventurer’s Guild. This greatly motivated the adventurers. After all, who wouldn’t want to see another world? It also increased their sense of belonging to the Green Shade Town Adventurer’s Guild. It was a win-win situation.
While Owen was busy dealing with the energetic adventurers in Green Shade Town, Mara Town entered a state of war readiness.
Mara Town had never let its guard down. After all, it was constantly facing the threat of rebels, and they had fought a major battle with the Mutants before. How could they relax? That would be playing with their lives.
After several expansions, Mara Town could now accommodate over a thousand people. The walls had been heightened and reinforced, and the arrow towers had been converted into artillery towers. With hundreds of soldiers stationed there, it was enough to resist three to five times the number of enemies. If you added the two military colonization camps on either side, no one would dare to attack with less than three to five thousand men, and even then, victory wasn’t guaranteed.
However, this time the opponent was different. They were a regular army.
A regular army meant well-trained and uniformly equipped soldiers.
These two points seemed simple, but not everyone could achieve them, let alone on a large scale.
The former required sufficient human resources, as well as training grounds, food, and equipment.
The latter represented financial resources, materials, and production capacity. Without sufficient power, it was impossible to achieve.
The army before them had two to three thousand men, over a thousand combat soldiers, a dozen knights, and the rest were auxiliary troops and laborers. In the Northland, this was a force capable of changing the world. Unfortunately, they had encountered Hydra.
Correns raised his telescope but didn’t see any banners or insignia in the enemy formation. Even the knights didn’t raise their pennants or wear badges, clearly trying to conceal their identity.
But he didn’t need to guess to know that these people were either from the Border Army or the forces of some Imperial noble. They couldn’t wait to start grabbing a piece of the cake.
Correns’ current problem wasn’t whether to fight, but how to fight.
If this had been the first two years after his arrival, facing this situation, Correns would have had some concerns. But now, with a single order, Mara Town would bristle with guns and cannons. The presence of the two military colonization camps on either side made them even more formidable. They were just waiting to devour their enemies.
The noble leading the opposing force turned pale. Not only were the defenders fully equipped with firearms, but they also had fortifications, obstacles, and trenches. It was simply unrealistic to try to take the town with his current forces, unless it rained or he used his trump card.
If a trump card could be used easily, would it even be called a trump card? As for waiting for rain…
The Northland was already dry, and it wasn’t the rainy season. By the time it rained, his army would have eaten him out of house and home.
This wasn’t the Empire. Relying solely on plundering for supplies wouldn’t meet their needs, because the Northland was sparsely populated. With the chaos caused by the rebels, people were resorting to cannibalism. Where would they find food?
So they still relied heavily on supplies shipped from the Empire. But the long distance meant that only about thirty percent of the supplies arrived. The rest was consumed en route. The transportation costs were too high.
Therefore, if they couldn’t achieve a quick victory, this battle wouldn’t just be a matter of losing money. They might even lose their entire fortune.
After weighing their options, the mysterious force ultimately chose to leave. Through the Nomad Alliance’s intelligence network, Correns learned that they had captured another north-south transit town similar to Mara Town and had captured many rebels. They were busy with construction.
After reporting this matter, Correns continued to strengthen their defenses and increased their efforts to capture rebels. He knew this was just the beginning. As various Imperial forces entered the fray, the Northland’s rebels would become a delicious piece of meat that everyone wanted to bite into. If they didn’t act now, they wouldn’t even have anything to eat later.
As Correns had predicted, many inexplicable forces emerged in the Northland. Some had hundreds of men, others thousands. They would fight if they could, avoid if they couldn’t. They would find a good spot, occupy it, and then start gathering refugees for construction. They acted as if they wanted to contribute to the development of the Northland.
Although these people didn’t announce their names, they seemed to know each other and acted in a coordinated manner. They rarely clashed, unless the stakes were too high. They would generally abide by the rule of first come, first served.
In a short period of time, over a dozen powerful forces appeared in the Northland. Each one was formidable. If not for their lack of foundation, each one would be a Northland Count at the very least.
Although Owen had the title of Viscount, his strength couldn’t compare to these forces. So it was true to say that they had the strength of Northland Counts.
However, the emergence of these forces also quickly pacified the Northland, because the influx of rebels had been divided up. Without people, there naturally wouldn’t be any chaos.
This was both good and bad, because it meant that the big cake of the Northland had been completely divided.
The various forces of the Empire had all made their moves in the Northland. The next step was a battle of wits.
The problem was, how could a battle between titans allow for spectators? Sooner or later, Owen would be forced to choose a side. But once he did, it meant he would be subject to infiltration and suppression from that side, as well as opposition from all other forces. He would be caught between a rock and a hard place.
Owen had anticipated this, so he chose another path. He would stand out as the leader of the Northland’s local nobles and claim a piece of the Northland cake.
To this end, he needed to join forces with the other two Northland Counts. Surely they wouldn’t just watch their life’s work be devoured by the hungry wolves of the Empire.
