142: Refugees and Level 4 Lords

The next morning, in the side hall on the first floor of the Mage Tower, Gorebest's high-ranking officials and relevant personnel were all present.

"The enemies gathered in the north and south directions have exceeded 800 people! And humans, Kobolds, and Goblins are constantly joining them!" The scout's words made the operations command room buzz.

"Didn't they say there were only less than 600 people?" 查理斯·卡贝, the councilor, shouted, his fingers trembling with nervousness.

Ryan glanced at Damon and Kliir, the former elite members of the Black Claw Mercenary Group.

According to them, there were only about 600 grassroots mercenaries in the Black Claw Mercenary Group at that time, and he had eliminated a portion of them a few days ago, so it should have been less than 600.

"My Lord, Edmund and the others did indeed say over 600 at the time, please believe me," Damon began to sweat on his forehead.

Councilor Charles stood up directly, slapped the table, and shouted, "Then why are there over 800 bandits now! And! The number is still increasing!"

"Perhaps the escaped Goruk and Edmund have gathered more people," the Holy Knight stood in front of Damon and Kliir.

"That's very likely," Ryan decided on the matter. "The situation has changed now. The urgent task is to find out how many troops the enemy actually has! And, how we should respond."

"Indeed, we need to discuss emergency countermeasures," Kovenreid, the Flame Fist commander, echoed.

Everyone discussed for a whole morning but failed to come up with an effective plan.

Several suggestions proposed by Ryan were also rejected by most of those present.

The young Lord was also helpless, thinking to himself: Since North City doesn't adopt my suggestions, I'll just manage South City well!

It's just that the news of bandits attacking the city has been spreading like wildfire these past few days, and it's not safe outside the city either.

People with connections these past few days have been pulling strings, trying to enter noble castles for refuge.

But the population taken in by the nobles was less than five-thousandths of the total city population.

Many people also flocked to New South City, most of them residents from the slums.

By this time, Wizard Town had already taken in over 2,000 refugees.

With so many people, food and land suddenly became strained again, and Ryan had no choice but to tighten the admission requirements.

Those who hadn't entered were required to swear allegiance to Lord Ryan before being allowed in; all men who had already entered had to work, and only then could the women, children, or elderly in their families receive food.

At the same time, the previous retainers were arranged to register the household registration for all new arrivals.

The former tax official whom Ryan had met in the city hall when he first arrived at Gorebest was also among them. The young Lord had seen him from afar a few times these days and found that his work ability was indeed good; he was very serious and methodical in his work. Ryan ordered him to be promoted to a small leader.

This tall, thin man was now leading several subordinates at Gorebest's original South City Gate, verifying the identities of those entering one by one and registering them in the ledger.

Although there were many chaotic things, they handled them in an orderly manner.

Inside the Mage Tower, Ryan was too lazy to listen to these people bickering back and forth, so he used the excuse of inspecting the city defenses and left with Randall and the others.

"Randall, bring 30 guards over, we're going to requisition grain," the young man said.

"Requisition grain?" The Holy Knight was a bit confused.

"The grain merchants in the city are desperately raising prices, disregarding the lives of the people," Ryan looked north. "We need to teach them what it means to put the people first."

A short while later, Randall, accompanied by Grom the Barbarian, Damon Iron Oath the Warrior, Ruth Mo Ying the Warrior, John and George the Holy Knight attendants, as well as Flame Fist and other subordinates, a total of thirty people, exited the Black Panther Mall.

On the way, Ryan handed an empty Storage Pouch to Ruth, telling her to use it to collect grain later.

Although Randall had agreed that this was for the good of the people, it was indeed a bit too much to have a Holy Knight personally seize someone else's grain.

Their first stop was a grain caravan from Baldur's Gate.

Old Hather had basically settled with all the caravans in the temporary market a few days ago, and most of their goods had been bought by the Black Panther Mall.

This grain merchant had only sold a very small portion of their grain. Originally, Ryan hadn't paid attention to this small matter; whether they sold their grain or not was not forced.

However, this caravan had advertised high-priced grain in the refugee camps north of the Old South City Gate and at the easternmost part of New South City a few days ago.

Making a profit from refugees at this time, and in his own territory, Ryan had no choice but to intervene.

When the young Lord stood in front of this caravan's tent, the guard squad had already surrounded the tent and the goods shed behind it.

"In the name of the law! The Green Valley Caravan is suspected of colluding with bandits, hoarding grain during an extraordinary period, and extorting wealth from the people at high prices! They are to be arrested. The suspect's property will be immediately seized by the Gorebest South City Police Department." The Holy Knight proclaimed loudly, "After investigation, if found guilty, illegal gains will be confiscated; if innocent, their assets will be exchanged at market price."

"No, it's not! Sir, you've made a mistake..." The caravan leader, being escorted out by the guards, repeatedly cried out his innocence.

Ruth didn't pay attention to what the man was shouting, excitedly going to complete the task her Lord had given her, putting all the grain from behind the tent into the Storage Pouch.

The next stop was the largest grain store, the largest bakery, the largest grocery store in the North City that also sold grain at high prices...

Then, other grain stores and food shops along the way.

They did not touch any shops that were not hoarding or selling grain for excessive profits.

This intelligence was reported by the current Thieves' Guild after careful discernment.

Ryan would not directly distribute these confiscated grains to the refugees.

Within New South City, materials are currently insufficient, so Ryan had the men among the refugees compact roads according to his plan, dig deep foundations, dig dry toilets, dig underground sewage channels, clear garbage...

He had the women and half-grown children assist the Forest Nymphs and Water Sprites in treating the refugees and supervising them to maintain hygiene.

The elderly women formed a hygiene inspection team to check and fine behaviors such as spitting, urinating or defecating outside designated areas, and damaging green plants.

Those who worked well also received rewards.

Of course, both rewards and penalties were in the form of grain.

Doing this, firstly, gave the refugees something to do, providing relief through labor;

Secondly, it helped them develop good hygiene habits. With so many people densely gathered together, Ryan wanted to prevent the outbreak of plague as much as possible.

For those unwilling to follow the rules, it was simple: the gate was over there, good riddance. Your name would also be removed from the household register.

If you wanted to come in again, sorry, there were more people outside who couldn't get in, so get back in line.

Even if it was your turn, you might not be accepted.

But even under such harsh conditions, the number of refugees in New South City continued to rise.

And Ryan's Lord level had also risen by two levels—

Lord Level: Level 4 (Note: When the Lord's personal profession level is greater than Level 5 and the number of retainers is greater than 5,000, they can upgrade.)

Lord Prestige: 70

...

Number of Retainers: 2,750 people

Retainers include: 1 Holy Knight, 2 Holy Knight Attendants, 1 Business Manager, 80 Villagers, 2,516 Townspeople, 56 Temporary Laborers, 66 Other Mercenaries.

Temporary Retainers include: 3 Red Canyon Villager Helpers

Territory Officials: 1 Chief Steward and Defense Manager, 1 Business Manager, 1 Village Chief, 1 Police Captain, 1 Household Registration Team Leader, 2 Medical Team Leaders, 1 Inspection Squad Leader,

Invisible Influence: Shadowblade Thieves' Guild

...

[Lord Special Abilities]:

Host's spell power, weapon power, and checking advantage are increased by 8%, and by 16% within the territory.