Chapter 86: The Fortunate Viscount Mara
After making all the necessary appointments and distributing rewards, Owen saw the three people off. He then ate a steak before returning to his study.
Once seated, Owen carefully took out a large piece of parchment from a drawer and spread it flat on the desk. He then unscrewed the inkwell lid and placed it in the upper right corner. Finally, he picked up a quill and began to stare blankly.
He had originally wanted to organize his development plans for the future, but upon careful consideration, Owen realized that he had made things a complete mess, so chaotic that he didn’t know where to start.
There were messy branch bases, things that needed to be dealt with now and things that needed to be dealt with in the future, all jumbled together without any order or priority. He was completely lost.
Helpless, Owen could only start from scratch, complaining that the system wasn’t powerful enough. If it gave him unlimited progress points, he would have directly established a divine kingdom and created a pantheon of gods.
But his fantasy was quickly shattered by reality. Looking at the records on the parchment, Owen knew he had been a little reckless, but he didn’t expect to be this reckless.
“Am I a fucking money-burning idiot?” It is said that the sage state is conducive to thinking, but he obviously went too far and lost all his brains. It was only now that he came back to his senses that he began to regret it.
Owen, who had already reflected on this before, did not intend to waste any more time. He resigned himself to starting to write and draw on the parchment, planning to prioritize tasks and swearing that after deciding on a development direction, he would not be distracted until he achieved sufficient results. He would put an end to unfinished projects, starting with himself.
After careful consideration, Owen decided to focus on developing the overt strength of the territory and increasing his own strength in the coming period. The former is his protective umbrella, the foundation of all development, and the latter is the core of everything. Only if he is alive can there be a future. If he dies, everything will be in vain. Therefore, he decided to postpone the development of all branch bases, including the dungeon.
This decision was made because the territory’s current strength could withstand enough risks, allowing Owen to temporarily not worry about running away and hiding. He would wait until the territory developed to a certain extent and attracted more attention before considering developing those hidden strengths and enhancing his ability to resist various risks.
Of course, making this decision did not mean that he would ignore everything else except the territory. In fact, only the dungeon and the underground tunnel were truly stopped, because these two projects consumed too many progress points.
The scale of iron ore mining remained unchanged, because the quality of the iron ore was very high. Even if the manpower was not increased, the mined iron ore was enough for the territory to use, and there was a surplus as a reserve.
The wooden fortress could also remain unchanged. There was no foreign population, and there was no need to build houses. Just building wooden walls, arrow towers, and roads required enough timber.
The ruins could not be stopped. Enough stone materials had to be stockpiled for the construction of the city wall after the beginning of spring.
This way, the tasks of the goblin town were a bit heavy. Demolishing the ruins, building roads, and managing the farmland all required a large amount of manpower. Given the current shortage of manpower, even if the mechanization of puppets was not expanded on a large scale, necessary increases were inevitable.
However, the progress points required for these were still within Owen’s tolerance range, and he would not feel anxious because of it. After all, the first two did not require progress points. As he gradually became proficient in the alternative application of puppetry and mechanical engineering, his reliance on progress points was also gradually decreasing. Coupled with the fact that the super farmland could cultivate special plants and the iron mine produced high-quality steel, the consumption of progress points was even smaller.
But just as Owen finished dealing with these matters and was preparing to concentrate on developing the territory, he blankly discovered that he had nothing to do?!
There was no population to convert, no soldiers to train, no buildings to construct. The things he could think of were either already done or impossible to do.
This was a bit awkward. He had reflected, blamed himself, worried, and strived, but in the end, he was told, “Don’t bother, just rest.”
Owen, who felt his face burning with embarrassment, truly resigned himself to his fate. He might as well rest.
Of course, this was just a joke. It was just the right time to recharge himself and see if there was any way to strengthen himself. He was fed up with those two people dangling the magic-sealing needles in front of him all day long. It was time for a man to truly stand up!
While Owen was striving for the rise of men, Mara Town was in a panic. Light cavalry wielding scimitars patrolled the town, ruthlessly driving out any outsiders, including merchants who had cooperated for a long time.
With Viscount Mara’s shrewd business mind, he would never do this under normal circumstances. But Mara Town was at a critical juncture, and he could no longer care about business at this time.
“Are all the things packed?” Viscount Mara was resting with his eyes closed. Hearing the familiar footsteps of the butler, he asked without raising his head.
“My lord, the valuables have been packed and distributed to the trusted aides’ horses.” The old butler, who had served Viscount Mara for many years, did not panic because of the tense atmosphere outside. He still handled the matters assigned by his lord properly.
“Let the cavalry rest early tonight, and set off quietly for the Northland Ranch before dawn.” Although Mara Town was surrounded by hundreds of horse bandits, Viscount Mara did not panic. On the contrary, he had anticipated this day as early as twenty years ago.
Very few people knew that, besides Mara Town, Viscount Mara also had a nomadic tribe further north, managed by his daughter.
At the same time, most of the wealth Viscount Mara had earned over the years was not in the Northland, but in the Chamber of Commerce on the border of the Empire, managed by his two sons. Therefore, he was not panicked. As long as he escaped successfully, he had enough confidence to either make a comeback or retire.
The most important thing now was to get rid of those horse bandits and then join his daughter. As for whether to stay or leave, the initiative would be in his hands.
When the sky was darkest before dawn, Viscount Mara, who was still agile, quietly led his most elite cavalry team out of the town. They did not alarm anyone, including the residents of the town.
Although it was a pity to abandon the town, Viscount Mara knew that this was the price he had to pay. Only in this way could he prevent the enemy from pursuing them with all their might, because the goal of these horse bandits was not to kill him, but to seize Mara Town, which could continuously generate wealth.
Who would risk their lives to pursue him when they could get it effortlessly? This was also the reason why Viscount Mara did not choose to take the townspeople and livestock with him. But he was not reconciled!
“Damn horse bandits!” Relying on his familiarity with the terrain, Viscount Mara, who had escaped the horse bandit encirclement, spat fiercely and said with a ruthless expression.
Although he had been mentally prepared, having to abandon the foundation he had built up over half his life still filled him with resentment, especially now that he had escaped danger.
But what could he do? Viscount Mara knew the origin of those horse bandits very well. They were just horse bandits in name. Which horse bandit group could gather hundreds of people? The food consumed every day alone was not a small number, let alone being able to equip themselves with uniform weapons and leather armor. This was clearly someone behind the scenes.
But there was nothing he could do. Viscount Mara had no one to support him, so he could only choose to back down in the face of this powerful force. He even did not burn down the town to avoid angering the other party.
However, thinking about the constant replacement of the old with the new in the Northland recently, full of bloodshed and massacres, he was lucky to be able to escape with only these losses.
