171 Verification is sufficient. (1)
The dwarves were terrified and shouted at the same time.
“My Lord! One month is not enough!”
“Hey, what’s wrong? The dwarves, who are known as the best engineers, are talking weakly. You said you’d do whatever I wanted? It’s difficult when you change your words like this.”
“Ugh… … .”
The dwarves looked really troubled.
Usually, people make demands within the level of common sense they think of. They were confident that they could meet the conditions with their own skills.
To be honest, I admit that I said a lot of things because I was a little excited. But I never thought that I would end up falling for all those words.
‘No, isn’t it normal to accept it with a certain amount of humility when someone speaks nicely? And it’s even more so when they’re a noble?’
This is the first time in my life that I have ever seen a person who accepts everything given to him.
It was a situation where I had to work while reducing the time I spent eating, pooping, and sleeping.
‘Young lady, I spoke out for no reason. I should have just stayed quiet.’
The dwarves were crying. In any case, it was true that they had already promised, and from the looks of it, it seemed that they would not accept a rejection.
But since he had never worked like that before, Galvarik tried to joke around and leave Giselle alone.
“My lord, we have too much work to do. If we try to finish it in a month, we’ll all die from overwork.”
“You’ll die even if you don’t do it.”
“Yes? Why? Are you going to kill us?”
Since they were legally slaves, they had nothing to say even if they were killed for not listening.
Jiselle shook her head and answered.
“We’ve been targeted by the Earl of Desmond, the High Lord of the North. There’s going to be war. If we don’t finish what I tell you to do in a month, we’ll all die.”
“… … .”
“Honestly, have you been leisurely living under the nobles? You won’t be able to survive in this harsh north with such a lazy mentality.”
But the name of Count Desmond was not very familiar to the dwarves.
‘Even if war breaks out, we won’t be in danger… … .’
Dwarves don’t particularly fear war between humans.
Because the lords would never kill valuable and useful dwarves.
If they weren’t at the level of carrying weapons and running wild on the battlefield, they were usually taken as loot.
But it’s not like Giselle doesn’t know that.
“If we are not ready within a month, the dwarves will be at the forefront of the assault force when the war comes.”
‘Wow, is this guy really crazy?’
The dwarves sighed and glanced at Giselle.
How can they be sending them to war when their ransom is so low? No lord would dare do something so bold. It must have been an empty threat.
Giselle smiled faintly, ignoring the suspicious stares of the dwarves.
“You just got here and you don’t know much about me yet? I’ll give you some free time today. Once you find out what kind of person I am, you’ll get a feel for what to do. I really want to go well, but no one really believes me.”
With those words, Giselle left.
The dwarves looked at his back in bewilderment, then burst into laughter one by one.
‘Did you really think that kind of threat would work on us?’
The dwarves, who had experienced all kinds of nobles, were not afraid at all.
“Ahem, but I’m still not used to the atmosphere here and I don’t know much about the territory, so let’s take a quick look around.”
At Galvarik’s suggestion, the dwarves went around the territory and asked about the lord.
People readily told me what they knew.
“Oh, you’re the lord? Once you make a decision, you’re the type of person who pushes ahead without looking back.”
“He’s the one who gathered troops without telling his father and went into the Demon Forest. Even during the war, he went out and defeated the enemy without permission. A few days ago, he raided the forest in his father’s territory.”
“That’s right, that’s right. And even though Count Digald and his vassals surrendered, they just killed them all.”
“You know the Marquis of Branford, right? He’s the one who bet his life with him.”
The more the dwarves listened to the stories of the people of the estate, the more they realized that something was wrong.
The stories I heard were all abnormal. Only a crazy person could act like that.
The results were good, so he was praised by the people of Yeongji, but if you look into the process, it was quite disturbing.
And finally, they were shocked when they saw the wizards working at the construction site.
‘What kind of wizards… … are so cunning?’
Looking at the way he was swaying, it was hard to tell if he was a wizard or a construction worker.
Alfoy, dressed in tattered robes, stood with his legs crossed and looked the dwarves up and down.
“A month for the work? That’s plenty. Why did the Lord give you so much time?”
“… … You said that was enough?”
“Why, what? We made a hundred mana concentration camps in two days? And we couldn’t do that in a month? Hey, dwarves aren’t that great.”
“No, does that make sense?”
“Why doesn’t that make sense? We made all the runestones to plant in the fields in a week. Hundreds of them!”
As Alfoy spoke proudly, the wizards smiled and nodded their heads in satisfaction.
Galvarik asked cautiously.
“Are you guys really wizards?”
Then Alpoy straightened his posture and raised one hand to create a fireball.
“I am the successor of the Red Flame Tower, the Northern Best Tower. I am also known as Alpoy, the Flame Man Who Never Gives Up.”
The dwarves stared intently at the fireball Alfoy had created. They had never heard of such a nickname, but it seemed that he was indeed a real wizard.
Galvarik couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked.
“Why is someone who is the successor to the Magic Tower living here?”
Alfoy suddenly slumped his shoulders and explained the circumstances of his being confined to the Fenris domain.
The dwarves were shocked again when they were forcibly taken without knowing what they would be doing, and were told that they were now slaves and could not run away.
A territory where even the successors of the Magic Tower and magicians cannot escape and must work themselves to death?
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They were finally forced to accept the truth they had been trying to deny.
‘Ah, Yeongju was really crazy. It was because he was crazy that he could create such ridiculous things.’
Alfoy grabbed Galvarik’s shoulder and said.
“You said you were going to be deployed to the construction site, right? Let’s do our best. I don’t know about other places, but they really give us a lot of food. We can eat until we’re full.”
It was a line befitting a person who has perfectly adapted to life in the realm.
Alfoy and the wizards, exhausted from their busy work, have now reached a point where they are satisfied with just eating a lot of food.
The dwarves took a step back with a disgusted expression as they looked into the eyes of the wizards who seemed to have a strange madness in them.
‘I have to run away. If I stay here, I won’t be able to die. I have to run away no matter what.’
Alpoy, who had seen through their minds, spoke seriously.
“Don’t even think about running away. Even if you run away, you’ll be caught anyway. The lord’s specialties here are pursuit, surprise attacks, and annihilation. Even I, a wizard, couldn’t run away, so do you think you can? So don’t run away and let’s stay together for a long time.”
Alpoy’s words were full of sincerity in every word. It was only natural that more hands would provide some breathing room.
He continued to speak as if comforting the dwarves.
“Come and gamble and drink with us sometimes. It’s more fun to stay here than you think. If you don’t know how to gamble, I’ll teach you.”
“… … .”
There was an awkward silence for a moment.
After thinking for a while, Galvarik looked back at the dwarves and opened his mouth with difficulty.
“… … Let’s get started quickly. There’s no time.”
If we didn’t want to be dragged off to war as a shock troop, we had to somehow finish the work within a month.
* * *
Jiselle was lost in thought as she reviewed the plan she had made.
‘If you want to fight the Duke, there’s no point in becoming stronger only here.’
No matter how fast Fenris grows, it will be difficult for him to immediately catch up with the power of the Duke, who already has tremendous power.
That’s why he didn’t even drag in the pro-prince faction.
The Ferdium territory currently guarding the North must also become as strong as Fenris.
Only then can we endure the coming war together.
‘I have no choice but to raise that one as quickly as possible. While I’m at it, I should also have Ferdium learn the mana cultivation method.’
Jiselle immediately loaded dozens of wagons with food and headed to the northern fortress where her father was.
Northern Fortress, Kaipillar.
This is the northernmost front line of the Kingdom of Rutania and is guarded by the Count of Ferdium.
Except for a small water source near the fortress, most of the surrounding area was barren and extremely desolate.
The Counts of Ferdium have been fending off barbarian invasions for hundreds of years from this forlorn fortress.
Because of that, the Ferdium estate became endlessly poor.
However, the honorable heads of the clans took the loss and defended the fortress, which soon became the pride of the clan.
Count Zwalter Ferdium, who was guarding the place that symbolized Ferdium’s honor, appeared very angry when he heard the news of Giselle’s arrival.
Next to him was the equally angry Knight Commander Randolph.
Zwalter screamed as soon as he saw Giselle.
“Giselle! I already heard the news! I gave you leniency because you had done so much, but you’ve crossed the line! How can you destroy the forest of the spirit world without permission?”
Although Homer had exaggerated the news a bit, it was true that Giselle had raided the forests of the Ferdium domain.
Zwalter was determined not to forgive this time.
No matter how well he did his job, he could never tolerate anything that infringed upon his authority as the lord and head of the household.
Because in order to guard the North and lead the people, one must maintain that authority.
Zwalter put his hands on his waist as if he was about to draw his sword.
Jiselle said with a slight smile.
“I’m sorry about that. I needed the wood urgently. In return, I brought you a little more food.”
The wagon that Jiselle had brought was loaded with a huge amount of food.
There were so many that it seemed like the entire force stationed in the fortress could last for several years if they ate their fill every day.
“We also sent food separately to Yeongji. Perhaps the Yeongji people will be able to survive without worrying about food until next year.”
As Giselle spoke with a leisurely smile, Zwalter wiggled his eyebrows.
“Do you dare to try to get away with something like food?”
… … there was too much food to be scolded like that.
However, it was not something that could be done by just turning over one’s hand just to give them some food. If one did that in a place with so many eyes watching, one’s authority would fall to the bottom.
But I couldn’t refuse food. I was really sick of starving now.
A once in a lifetime crisis.
But who is Zwalter? He is a veteran who has fought countless barbarians.
He immediately winked at Randolph.
Randolph had been with Zwalter for decades. He knew what he was talking about.
He smiled brightly and grabbed Giselle’s hand.
“Oh, my Grand Prince. What kind of food did you bring? It’s really cold here. Let’s go inside quickly before we catch a cold. Oh, brother. What are you doing? We won’t be using wood anyway. Eating is the best. Isn’t that right?”
“Ahem, really? Then should we just let it go this time?”
“Yes, even if we sold all that lumber, we wouldn’t be able to buy this much food. But I paid a good price for him because he was my son.”
“Ahem, good. I’ll let it slide this time, but be careful how you act next time. Let’s go in.”
After saying that, the two men stumbled into the fortress.
As Giselle shrugged her shoulders, the knights and soldiers beside her laughed quietly.
Unfortunately, since they had been together for so long, their acting didn’t work.
Zwalter, who had moved to the office, asked directly.
“Yeah, what’s going on here? It doesn’t seem like you just came here to give food and apologize. Do you have a marriage partner?”
As soon as she saw him, the nagging started. Jiselle sighed and said.
“… … That’s not it. I came because I have something important to tell you.”
Zwalter and Randolph flinched for no reason at Giselle’s words. Whenever ‘important words’ came out of her mouth, something big happened.
Zwalter spoke in a serious tone.
“I don’t know what it is, but can we just not talk about it? I really like the peace we have now.”
His voice was full of sincerity.
Now I can finally make a living. I wanted to live like this forever without any problems.
Life has been too hard to be greedy for anything more. People need to know the limit.
Jiselle opened her mouth, neatly ignoring her father’s pleas, which were full of the enlightenment and simple wishes he had gained throughout his life.
“I need to change my family’s mana cultivation method a bit.”
Zwalter’s expression suddenly crumpled.
