While the allied forces rested in Barend, Richard finally received the bulk of the Flying Bear Army. Under the command of Quill, more than two thousand soldiers and ten bear-hunting crossbows joined the coalition, swelling its ranks to five thousand, the equivalent of a single flag group’s strength.

Moreover, this flag group was of extremely high quality; even the complete First Flag Group of the Northern Expeditionary Army would not have been a match for these forces. The First Flag Group’s soldiers might have had more combat experience, but they were no match for Richard’s elite forces.

Including the various lords’ forces, the allied army boasted nearly forty units of knight-ranked combat power, a number far beyond what a single regiment of the Northern Expeditionary Army could provide.

With both elite and basic combat power restored, Richard’s back grew straighter, and Baron Bandel and the other lords breathed a sigh of relief.

Eliminating several man-eating tribes in quick succession had indeed vented their anger, as well as prevented further destruction to their territories—but it had been a rather bold move that inevitably attracted some attention. Were a mid-sized tribe like the Ruth to attack, their defenses would have been stretched thin.

With their forces bolstered, the allied army had nothing to fear from the orcs for the time being. So long as they did not draw the attention of the main orc army, a few small tribes would pose no significant threat.

Grugesh directly commanded the main force of orcs, which was currently besieging Helm Fort while also keeping an eye on Flooding Snow City’s reinforcements and clearing out stronger lords in the vicinity. Neither Barend nor Hunter’s Dominion were major powers in the northern lands, so the main orc army had no immediate plans to engage them.

At least, until something went awry at Helm Fort, the allied army had nothing to worry about.

Aside from settling matters with Quill’s Flying Bear Army, there was another important duty Richard needed to attend to—it was the beginning of a new week.

Absentmindedly pacing around the camp, Richard’s focus was entirely on the System interface. He opened Boulder Fortress and recruited all the soldiers available this week, then moved on to studying the construction interface.

There were few buildings he could construct; it was mainly just high-level infantry towers, stables, and blacksmiths.

The building that produced the fifth-order troops, the Buddhist temple, was still unavailable for construction. The main requirement to build this thing was crystal, a rare resource that Richard had never seen since his rebirth more than ten years ago.

After much investigation by Yusi, he found that there was a valuable mineral called magic crystals that might fit Richard’s needs. However, these crystals had become rare even in ancient times, and with the vanishing tide of demons and the fall of the elven empire, magic crystals had not been seen for a long time.

Other than having Yusi keep an eye out for them, there wasn’t much else that could be done.

After some consideration, Richard built a stable. These functional buildings seemed to have gained certain new functions; the assembly hall, for example, could generate money and had the added function of issuing orders.

Richard’s soldiers were currently stationed outside Flooding Snow City. Even if he upgraded the sentry towers, he couldn’t upgrade his spearmen into halberdiers just yet. Thus, he decided to build a stable to test the waters.

Once the decision was made, an option for a stable appeared in the castle’s building menu. Richard clicked on it. The first function was similar to what he’d expected: it increased a hero’s mobility. In practical terms, this would mean increasing the army’s marching endurance—quite a useful function.

As Richard continued to scroll, his eyes lit up. Sure enough, the functional buildings had all undergone some changes, and there was more than one.

The second function of the stable provided Richard with ten well-bred warhorses every week. The Hunter family had always lacked horses, or, in other words, the entirety of the northern lands lacked suitable warhorses. The horses bred in the northern lands were small and lacked strength, making them more suited to plowing fields or pulling carts than to battle.

Well-bred warhorses had to be purchased at high prices from the Western Frontier. Warhorses were expensive, to the point where the northern lords’ cavalry forces were largely made up of the taller draft horses from the northern lands, with only a few exceptions.

Even Richard, who was somewhat of a perfectionist, had no choice but to grit his teeth and use some of the northern horses alongside those from the Western Frontier. Only a small number of senior officers rode the expensive, large warhorses from the Western Frontier.

If the stable could provide ten well-bred warhorses every week, even though it wasn’t much, it would definitely alleviate Richard’s most pressing emergency.

However, it was the third function of the stable that truly moved Richard: breeding. With blood samples provided by Richard, the stable could breed ten warhorses with other bloodlines every week, and the quality of these warhorses would be determined by the blood provided by Richard.

The human knights of this world were far stronger than the knights of Richard’s original world, but their mounts were rather lackluster.

Although the warhorses of this world were somewhat better, there was no qualitative difference; apart from dragons, which were bug-level mounts, the lower-level horses could not compare to the strength of their riders.

The “breeding” function thus opened a door for Richard into a whole new world.

This continent already possessed a plethora of strange creatures, so with this newfound ability, who knew what formidable steeds Richard could create?

The first idea that sprouted in Richard’s mind was to acquire a dragon and occasionally bleed it to produce some dragonblood horses—what a beautiful thought!

Of course, capturing a dragon would be no easy feat, so he would have to start with weaker creatures and experiment slowly. Nevertheless, several potential candidates popped into his head almost instantly.

Shoving aside his fleeting thoughts, Richard turned his attention back to the menu. Among the newly unlocked options was the Wood Elf Treehouses, which piqued his interest. Without hesitation, Richard decided to construct them.

This upgraded ranged unit would be able to fill the gap left by the marksmen, who were helpless against heavy armor.

Next, Richard took all the available recruits from the Forest City.

The total forces under Richard’s command were now:

Army: Centaurs (60), spearmen (119), sword dancers (30), marksmen (80), Wood Elf archers (6), imperial griffins (41), and crusaders (27).

On paper, his forces had grown significantly. However, the barrier troops remained stationed in the Forest City to guard against any potential harassment of the Hunter family’s territory by cannibal tribes passing through the ironwood forest.

The newly recruited castle soldiers from the human realm could only be temporarily housed at Boulder Fortress until Richard returned to lead them away.

“Good day, Master Richard,” said Baron Bandel, appearing before Richard without an appointment.

“Baron Bandel? What brings you here?”

Richard eyed the man warily, unsure of his motives.

“Master Richard, what are your thoughts on the future of the northern lands?”

Baron Bandel, however, chose not to clarify and instead tossed another question at Richard. “My lord, I’m not sure.”

Though Richard had a reasonable understanding of the political climate in both the northern lands and the kingdom as a whole, prudence dictated that one should not reveal too much to those he had just met.

Baron Bandel was different from Lint; the former’s status as a noble placed him on a pedestal, and Richard had no choice but to offer something concrete to entice him, whereas Lint, being merely a knight, had been easier to buy off.

“Order will soon collapse, and only the strong shall rise.”

Seeing that Richard was unwilling to engage, Baron Bandel chose to answer his own question. “My lord, if you wish to survive, you must either become strong or follow someone who is. Please send your constables and tax collectors to Boulder Fortress; the Bander family is willing to follow you!”

As he uttered his final sentence, Baron Bandel dropped to one knee, his tone solemn and sincere.

“Baron Bandel has done his homework.” The man clearly knew about Richard’s plan to send tax collectors and constables to other fiefs, and even more impressively, he had realized that he needed to align himself with Richard rather than the Hunter family.

After pondering for a few seconds, Richard strode forward and helped the man up, then clapped him on the shoulder. “Baron Bandel, you have many roads open to you.”