132: Five years

The 31615th year of the dawn calendar, the 14th year of the star sea calendar.

Five years have passed since the conference at Glory Fortress. With the help of the fivefold time dilation of the breath of life and seventh-grade potions, Linn has broken through to the Intermediate Sky Rank, and Destiny has successfully entered the Intermediate Legendary Rank.

Linn's progress in cultivation is indeed not as fast as Ocean, Elise, and the others, breaking through only one minor stage despite such vast resources. However, the main reason is that for these past five years, he has personally handled the affairs of the Star Sea Territory, leaving plenty of cultivation time for his subordinates.

These five years have been a period of leaping progress for the strength of the Star Sea Territory.

Now, besides Linn, the Star Sea Territory has four new Sky Rank combatants: Ocean, the legion commander of the Star Sea Legion; Yilman, the legion commander of the Po Jun Legion; Batu, the legion commander of the Orc Legion; and Wind Wing, the Griffin King.

They are all at the Elementary Sky Rank. Two years ago, Linn developed a seventh-grade potion that helped Yilman restore his arm and allowed him to break through from the Peak Earth Rank, where he had been stagnant for decades, to the Sky Rank.

As for those at the Earth Rank, there are even more: Elise (Archmage, Head of the Mage Corps), Clay (Commander of the Guard Army and the Griffin Knights), Augus (Deputy Commander of the Orc Legion), Shirei (legion commander of the Star-Moon Legion), and Evan (legion commander of the Dragon Scale Knights) have all reached the Peak Earth Rank.

Carl (legion commander of the Star Shattering Legion), Payson (Governor of the East Sea Prefecture), and Angus (legion commander of the Divine Arrow Army) have reached the Intermediate Earth Rank.

Hogan (Deputy Commander of the Star Sea Legion), Alexander (Deputy Commander of the Guard Army), and Spark (Deputy Commander of the Star Shattering Legion) have reached the Elementary Earth Rank.

The number of combatants at the Peak Gold Rank, including the griffins, has broken through to around thirty.

Among them, the most outstanding are Linn's nine knight attendants and their griffin partners.

The administrative system has also been fully perfected.

Payson (Governor of the East Sea Prefecture), Morton (chief executive officer of the Star Sea Territory), Ronald (chief executive officer of Star Moon City), Fellan (chief executive officer of Shattered Star City), and Lawrence (deputy chief executive officer of Star Sea City) are the ones supporting the operation of the entire Star Sea Territory.

The Star Sea Merchant Guild, led by Barton, with the assistance of Hebrew and Carlson, has seen its trade network expand increasingly.

It is a new year, and everyone has gathered in the ceremonial hall of the expanded Lord's Castle.

Elise sits beside Linn, with the military representatives led by Clay sitting on the left, and the administrative representatives led by Morton sitting on the right.

Morton stands up to report on the territorial affairs as he has done before.

"Young Master, colleagues, I will now report on the administrative affairs of Star Sea Island (one year ago, Linn officially ordered the renaming of Shattered Star Island to Star Sea Island)."

"At present, the number of Freemen on Star Sea Island has broken through to 800,000, with the permanent population of Star Sea City being approximately 400,000, and the permanent population of Star Moon City and Shattered Star City being around 200,000."

"Among them, besides the original residents, there are many merchants and Freemen who have come from other regions to settle down."

Morton adjusts his gold-rimmed glasses and continues: "According to the 'Slave Labor Treaty' signed by the Lord two years ago, the number of human Slaves on Star Sea Island is currently around 100,000; the majority of those who are diligent and hardworking have been set as Freemen, and those with strong physiques have joined the army."

"The remaining approximately 100,000 Slaves, along with 70,000 alien Slaves composed of Orcs and Goblins, are jointly developing all available resources of the Star Sea Archipelago."

Before the crowd could be surprised that the population of Star Sea Island is approaching one million, Morton immediately reports on the economic situation of the territory.

"Currently, the annual tax revenue of the Star Sea Territory is around 150,000 gold coins, and the annual surplus from trade in minerals, potions, grain, and warships is around 500,000 gold coins."

"Excluding the military expenditure and territorial construction expenditure of the Star Sea Territory, as well as various welfare policy expenditures, the annual surplus is around 300,000 gold coins."

"Due to the purchase of 400,000 Slaves from Nocturne and the support for the construction of the East Sea Prefecture, the current gold coin surplus on Star Sea Island is around 600,000 gold coins."

"In terms of food, the output of Star Sea Island is completely self-sufficient, and at the same time, it can sell accumulated grain every year to obtain huge profits."

The figure of 600,000 gold coins surprises everyone immensely.

This sum of money could at least purchase 200,000 Slaves, but everyone knows that all of this stems from the unique resource support of Star Sea Island.

Linn nods to signal Morton to sit down, and after he sits, Payson stands up to report on the affairs of the East Sea Prefecture.

"Lord, colleagues, I will now report on the administrative affairs of the East Sea Prefecture in my capacity as the Governor of the East Sea Prefecture."

"Two years ago, the Lord signed the 30,000 kilometers of land in the eastern part of the Great Wilderness Forest to be the East Sea Prefecture, with East Sea City as the administrative center."

"Currently, the East Sea Prefecture includes one main city and two small cities. The number of Freemen who have migrated from various places has reached 300,000, officially becoming legal citizens of our Star Sea Territory and enjoying the protection of the Star Sea Territory, along with the 400,000 slave population accepted four years ago, of which 100,000 have performed well in these few years and obtained the status of Freemen."

"The current permanent population of East Sea City has reached 200,000, and the other 200,000 Freemen are distributed in the two sub-cities and various villages and towns."

"Currently, the East Sea Prefecture, excluding the 400,000 Freemen, also possesses 300,000 human Slaves and 100,000 Orc Slaves, who are jointly constructing and reclaiming the 30,000 square kilometers of land in the East Sea Prefecture, as well as various mineral resources."

"In terms of gold coins, the tax exemption policy for the East Sea Prefecture has just ended, and the first tax revenue of 50,000 gold coins was collected at the end of last year. The trade network has not yet been fully perfected, mainly focusing on iron ore and timber. The annual income is around 100,000 gold coins."

"In terms of expenditure, due to large-scale construction and welfare policies, the annual expenditure is around 500,000 gold coins. The gap is basically covered by allocations and support from Star Sea Island. In terms of food, the East Sea Prefecture has achieved preliminary self-sufficiency."

After listening to Payson's report, Linn cannot help but frown slightly; this means that there is a gap of nearly 350,000 gold coins every year.

"The construction of the East Sea Prefecture cannot stop. The goal of the East Sea Prefecture is to build the most prosperous economic hub in the north of the kingdom, but it must also develop its own pillar industries and lead the Freemen to engage in trade together. Within three years, I want to see the East Sea Prefecture turn from a loss to a profit."

Linn looks at his brother with hopeful eyes.

Payson speaks with confidence and guarantees: "Rest assured, Lord, the development and construction of the East Sea Prefecture are about to come to an end, and all factories have been established. It won't be long before we can sell high-value goods such as weapons and warships to the outside world."

"In addition, the East Sea Prefecture has a vast territory, and I request the Lord to assign someone to assist me in handling affairs."

Linn knows deeply that the construction of the East Sea Prefecture requires a large number of personnel; for these past few years, he has been handling everything by himself, which has caused his cultivation to not grow.

Linn looks at Lawrence below, "Lawrence, as Morton's deputy, your ability is obvious to all, and you were also one of my knight attendants. I now officially appoint you as the Deputy Governor of the East Sea Prefecture to assist Governor Payson in developing the East Sea Prefecture. You will enjoy the same treatment as the chief executive officers of the main cities."

Lawrence looks solemn, "I accept the order!"

Although he and Fellan have left the army, in terms of administrative affairs, they are now basically on equal footing with the various legion commanders.