“Begin placement of Human Race castle?”

The endless notifications in his mind made Richard’s face light up. His initial judgment had been correct; he could only place the system’s castle upon a foundation of existing castles. At last, he had justified the painstaking effort it had taken to secure Boulder Fortress.

However, Richard was in no rush to place the castle. First, he needed to send everyone away.

“Qiel, take some men and search the castle once more. Ensure that no unimportant person remains in Boulder Fortress.”

“Yes sir.”

“Father, you and Uncle Second and Third take the peasant soldiers back. Do not delay the planting season.”

This wasn’t only a maneuver to send Viscount Souter away; the northern lands were about to begin their spring planting. If they missed the season, it could jeopardize the harvest next year, so Richard had no choice but to be cautious.

“You aren’t returning?” Viscount Souter seemed perplexed.

“I’ll lead the personal guard and city guards to receive and reassure the villages of Wil territory. This will be our territory from now on.”

“Then take care.”

With that, the viscount turned to gather his men and depart.

Not many peasant soldiers had entered the fortress to begin with, and under Viscount Souter’s supervision, they quickly departed Boulder Fortress.

“Sir, everyone from Boulder Fortress has been escorted away, and there are no stragglers,” Quiel reported after a short while.

“Good. Have the City Guard take over the villages. Let everyone in Wil know that the House of Wil is no more, and that the Hunter family is in charge.”

“Yes, sir.”

Richard’s orders were carried out swiftly; shortly thereafter, the City Guard assembled under Quiel’s command and began advancing toward the villages outside the fortress.

Standing atop the fortress, Richard watched the retreating army of farmers and Quiel’s departing City Guard.

“Finally, everyone has been sent away with suitable reasons.”

Perhaps there were some gaps in these reasons, but no one in Hunter had any intention of questioning Richard, who had made nothing but correct decisions since he took over the territory’s administration. Even if his orders seemed nonsensical, everyone assumed there was some deeper meaning behind them, and they carried them out without hesitation.

“Ron, let’s go. You should also take a look around.”

By this point, aside from Richard, only the soldiers produced by Heroes of Might and Magic remained within Boulder Fortress.

Ron followed closely behind Richard as they descended from the fortress walls.

After arriving at a clearing, Richard confirmed the System’s prompt to build the human castle in his mind.

Three buildings appeared within Boulder Fortress with no warning. Despite being mentally prepared, Richard couldn’t help but let out a gasp of amazement.

Ron and the System’s soldiers, however, remained unfazed, leaving Richard feeling like the inexperienced one.

After some inquiry, Ron solemnly responded, “The power of the gods is boundless, and we will follow the Chosen unto death.”

The other soldiers echoed his sentiment.

Fine, these guys usually acted like normal people, requiring basic necessities like food and shelter, possessing their own personalities and experiencing emotions, and in Tie Mu City, even receiving salaries like the City Guard. With their pay, they could go to taverns and restaurants, though, of course, their unscrupulous landlord Richard didn’t offer them particularly high wages, especially the swordsmen and Ron, whose salary didn’t seem to match his abilities as a knight.

Yet whenever it came to anything related to the System, they would abruptly start acting like tools produced by the System, leaving Richard somewhat baffled.

In his mind, Richard could see the status of the castle.

Boulder Fortress

Available buildings: Pikeman Tower, Crossbow Tower, Boule Chamber, Fortress.

Available resources: Wood 20, Stone 20, Gold 1500, Other 0.

The system had kindly provided an additional 1000 gold pieces on top of the 500 Richard had initially placed in the treasury. (Gold pieces will not be converted for now, as there’s a chance it may be subject to inflation, so they will be treated as equal to the gold pieces of the game.)

This week’s available construction points: 1.

The initial buildings released by the castle were quite good. Aside from the Boule Chamber, there were also Pikeman and Crossbow Towers, which trained those two classes. After closer inspection, Richard noticed that Boulder Fortress’s walls had also undergone some changes, and the fortress itself had been built upon the existing structure.

Richard approached the Pikeman Tower, and recruitment options appeared within his consciousness.

A total of twenty pikemen awaited recruitment, priced at two gold pieces each. Although this was a bit pricier than expected, considering the pikemen’s loyalty and combat strength, it was an acceptable cost. The system’s pikemen also enjoyed a bonus from Richard’s elementary offensive maneuvers, making them a worthwhile recruit.

The Crossbow Tower had ten crossbowmen ready to be recruited, priced at five gold pieces each. After witnessing the system’s crossbowmen’s capabilities firsthand, Richard deemed this price reasonable.

Recruiting 20 Pikemen and 10 Crossbowmen cost Richard 90 gold pieces. After plundering the wealth accumulated by generations of the House of Wil, he now had at least 3,000 gold pieces, which gave him quite a bit of wiggle room.

The soldiers emerged from the Pikemen’s Barrack and the Crossbowmen’s Tower one by one and lined up before Richard. This time, he didn’t feel much curiosity and instead turned them over to Ron’s management while he began researching the buildings in the castle.

Only one structure could be built per week, so Richard first examined the list of structures he could build. He could upgrade the Pikemen’s Barrack and the Crossbowmen’s Tower, or he could construct a Griffin Tower. The Magic Guild remained grayed out, unbuildable, but Richard had no way of figuring out why at this time, so he simply removed it from his options.

After a brief consideration, Richard chose to construct the Griffin Tower. He wanted to acquire a unit capable of aerial combat, understanding full well the advantages of possessing such a force on the battlefield.

After spending 100 gold pieces and five units of stone, the Griffin Tower was completed, and Richard recruited six griffins. The cost of recruiting a single griffin was high, at ten gold pieces each, but when six gray griffins appeared before him, Richard deemed the cost worthwhile.

Each griffon was nearly three meters long, with a lion’s body, a hawk’s head, and a sharp beak. They looked ferocious, but when Richard reached out to touch one of their gray feathers, the griffon carefully tucked its claws and rubbed its head against his hand, showing a surprising gentleness.

However, their sharp beaks and claws would surely be the bane of their enemies. When these griffons swooped down and grabbed onto adversaries, no quasi-knight would remain unscathed upon impact.

Most importantly, though they could not speak, they could understand Richard’s intentions, allowing them to communicate in simple ways. These creatures were practically heaven-sent spies. Griffons could fly eighty kilometers an hour and maintain flight for hours before needing rest, making them far more effective at reconnaissance than any scout or spymaster.

These buildings and creatures bore a striking resemblance to the game’s models, but reality differed from the game in some key ways.

With some anticipation, Richard entered the Boule Chamber, the most important building in the game. It was important because it provided a significant amount of gold each week, making it an essential source of income.

Boule Chamber: Provides 50 gold pieces per week to the lord.

This was unsurprising to Richard. Before the war, a weekly income of fifty gold pieces would have made him quite happy indeed. After all, the annual income of the entire Hunter fief was no more than a thousand gold pieces. The Boule Chamber’s annual income alone would be more than twice that amount, a significant increase.

However, after seizing the vast wealth of the House of Wil and annexing a large chunk of their territory, Richard’s ambitions had grown. His sights were set on bigger prizes.

Instead, it was another function of the Boule Chamber that caught Richard’s attention.

Lord’s Quest: Eliminate the Snow Pirates (100)

The region once ruled by the House of Wil has descended into chaos following the great battle. With no new order yet established, roving snow pirates have seized the opportunity to plunder at will. Eliminate them and let everyone know who is the true master of this land.

Reward: 1,000 experience points, random resources or soldiers.