Emperor of Steel

Chapter 60: Demon Sebastian 2

It had been a long time since the Volga refugees had entered the Viscount very safely.

After they had arrived, the Rakan Viscount had huge constructions going.

It was because seven villages were being built for the Volga refugees to settle, two near the lord’s manor and the devil’s castle, four on the northern plains and one under the Rockia mountain.

Tti! Tttik!

Kwang! Kwang!

“Hey, get some wood in here!”

“When will the bricks arrive?!”

“Be careful and don’t cause an accident!”

Loud noises and shouts of the construction chiefs were going all over the estate.

Suddenly there were massive civil construction projects and large staffing mobilization, and nobody was dissatisfied with it.

There was no reason to oppose the Volga refugees because they were being built their own homes. Not just the adults but the elderly and children too were extending their hands to help.

The local people liked it as they could earn money through civil engineering works.

In addition, the young people who went out to make money came back after hearing the rumors with light hearts.

Although everyone was engulfed in large scale construction, there still was a lack of finished houses for the refugees.

So, they were forced to say in the castle or a shelter or a tent on the empty grounds.

Thanks to the effort and cooperation, everyone seemed to be able to complete new projects and be done until winter.

Manor office room.

Luke was in a meeting with his retainers.

After a long time in the estate, the atmosphere of the retainers seemed exciting.

‘It isn’t bad.’

Luke gazed at his retainers and opened his mouth.

“How long will the town be built?”

At the question, the construction chief, civil engineer, and the mine developer had been called to the estate.

“For now there is around 30 percent fair rate. We have a lot of workers and materials right now and we will have a rough outline in a month.”

“It is a place where those people will become our citizens in the future. Don’t be in haste, and built it nice and good. And the facilities that I ordered?”

“Of course. Just as the Young Lord had asked, we are building various facilities in suitable locations.”

The construction chief unfolded the maps he was holding onto.

The map had the new towns which were under construction, and the existing towns, and the constructions which were underway.

“The blacksmiths and other workshops have been located outside the towns, and the public baths are being built next to the square. With the mills and the warehouses being built near the farming lands.”

“Okay, the wall to defend the town?”

“We are going to the regions. We are progressing and expanding it and repairing the existing ones.”

The walls surrounding the towns and roads were just needed to be piled up and solidified.

However, lots of hands were needed, however, instead of the hands, Gigants were being used for faster progress.

“We are dealing with one thing, and we are putting off the building of bridges to connect the southern estates because a considerable skill is required for that.”

The Rakan Viscounts were divided into the manor region on one side and rugged canyons on the south.

If anyone could manage to place a bridge from the canyon, one could easily go to the southern estates without any other routes.

“Let’s leave that out for the technicians later. I hope to leave it out to some good dwarves.”

No one objected to hiring the expensive dwarves because the estate currently had a lot of money.

If they didn’t have enough money, everyone would have asked the construction company to finish it off.

After a careful thought, the finance officer Dixon raised his hand and asked,

“Young Lord, there is one thing that doesn’t make sense.”

“What?”

“What is the reason for you to build a town below Mt. Rockia?”

In fact, the problem wasn’t just questioned by Dixon, but the other retainers too.

“Ah, that place? That is being done to develop the mines near Mt. Rockia.”

“Mines? There are mines over there?”

“Yeah, one of the Volga refugees has a lot of ideas about mine development. He has done a lot of exploration as he was definite that there were mines on Mt. Rockia, and he found traces of the mine used by the dwarves of the ancient time.”

“Uh! Is, is that really true?”

Dixon and the other retainers went shocked at the lie Luke had just told them.

Mine meant unconditional money.

If the gold and silver mines could be found, then it was amazing, even if the mines were iron or copper, they could earn enough money for one year finance of the entire estate.

“The dwarves mine hadn’t been found for a hundred years… ”

“I too went there to see it for myself, there was no road either, like a private land. Those people who eat money to find the mines would have never found it.”

“That, that is true.”

Dixon and the retainers held their heads down.

Last year, Luke had tried to develop mines with the debt of the Alon firm, but he hadn’t succeeded in doing it.

The retainers felt very sorry for their Young Lord because he was deceived by the falcons who only needed fortune.

“I’m glad that you have succeeded.”

“Yeah, I too am looking forward and waiting for the results.”

Luke was trying to hand over the 3 developed mines in Mt. Rockia to the Volga Refugees.

That way, the gold, and silver could be legally invested into the development of the estate.

With 300,000 pesos now, he didn’t have to worry about the financial crisis.

However, more money was needed to be raised if he had to go against the imperial family or the Veritas Magic Tower.

“And when the town is done, the farmland needs to be developed.”

At the words of Luke, all the retainers nodded their heads.

In order for a land to develop, food production had to be done at a significant quantity.

The high nobles were currently struggling in the Rhodesia Continent with large lands, there was currently a large population and army which needed a lot of food to support.

But, till the very time, Rakan Viscount had always brought in food from the other territories because they had no farmland.

Luke decided to clear out lands because he didn’t want to bring in food from outside, he needed to provide the refugees with jobs.

The problem was, it wasn’t that easy.

“At the north of the manor there is flat land, but water isn’t available there.”

The agriculture officer pointed to the map and said.

There have been numerous attempts to clear the land in the past too.

However, the reason for the failure was that rainfall was very low and there was no river passing through the estate.

Which meant that they had no choice but to draw out the water from a distance, around 20 kilometers from the nearest tributary of the Nair river.

Nevertheless, the rocks and the stones which blocked the way made it impossible to build waterways.

‘With the golems and monsters, the underground canal can be made.’

It would have been difficult to build waterways with humans.

There was a need for huge builds and strong power, so Luke decided to use the Golems until the mana supply was cut off.

“I’ll find out more about that problem.”

“I understand.”

“By the way, how is Count Monarch?”

At the question of Luke’s, Hans, the butler had responded,

“At the Imperial council, he has filed for a war stating that we had killed off his Scorpion Cavalry. This is just an assumption, but I think that the request would be denied soon.”

The moment the words of Hans were done, the retainers in the room began to curse the Count.

“That Pig! We have never even seen the Scorpion Cavalry!”

“That is right. We crossed just a little of their territory to bring in the Volga refugees, but never collided with the Count’s soldiers!”

The retainers were right, they had never met the Scorpion Cavalry.

Surely, Luke knew it too, he tried to calm down the retainers like he wasn’t aware of the situation either.

“Ah, calm down all of you. Didn’t we know that we’ll have to go to war with the Count anyway? How’s our preparation?”

Asked Luke to the Knight Rogers.

“We recently recruited more than 300 troopers, especially young men who have just returned home. The training isn’t that bad either.”

They could probably recruit a thousand more, but Rogers didn’t intend to do that.

It was because the modern warfare centered on Gigants or the cavalry.

Infantry was used only for rear security, searches, and patrolling so there wasn’t a need for many people in the situation,

“Sir Mute?”

“Thanks to the support of the young Lord, we were able to provide service to all the five scrap Gigants in the warehouse. As it was the young Lord’s orders to keep the matter of the Gigants a secret, no one but the retainers knows about it.”

The five Gigants weren’t being used for the civil construction which had been happening.

When the war burst out, he was planning to use them as daggers.

“Good work. Our estate has a lot of objective power. But you all know that war isn’t just about overpowering the enemy.”

In order to win, it is important to have strategies and tactics; make a good use of them to increase their power.

Unification, deception, and the ability to spy on an enemy were factors that figured victory or defeat.

“Don’t neglect anything until the moment we see our opponent on the other side.”

“We’ll follow the orders, young Lord!”

All the retainers rose and stomped their feet at the words of Luke.

They were very tightly knit for the first time since the estate had been born.

Luke, who was very satisfied with their actions, discussed another hour with them and went to the Devil King’s castle.