147: He became a big fat man in one bite

When Renn had completely finished clearing out the remnants of the Dragon Legion and gathered all the refugees to prepare for the migration of people and supplies to the Red River Territory, Melissa and Anatolis returned.

"Kid, isn't this old lady amazing?"

Dragging the corpse of the Dragon Hawk, Melissa showed off to Renn in an exaggerated tone.

The petite Melissa and the massive Dragon Hawk, the beautiful young girl and the hideous beast; the sheer incongruity of the scene left Renn dazed for a moment.

"You are truly amazing, Ms. Melissa!"

"Hahahaha!"

"Alistair, I've avenged you. I've slaughtered this monster."

Seeing Alistair approach, Melissa immediately went over to show off to her.

"Aunt Melissa, you aren't hurt, are you? Is everything okay?"

Alistair cared much more about whether Melissa was okay than about the life or death of the Dragon Hawk.

"How could anything happen to me? If it hadn't been two against one last time, I would have slaughtered it then. This time, I let it taste what it's like to be outnumbered."

Melissa said, giving the Dragon Hawk's corpse another kick.

"Renn, is it finished on your end too?"

Anatolis asked casually, looking over the battlefield where the fighting had ended.

"Yes. Senior Anatolis, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just a bit drained. I'll be good after a nap back home."

"That's good then!"

Although the battle was over, Renn's work was far from finished.

The Dragon Legion had captured a significant number of people, making the original column very long. Since the main force of the Dragon Legion had been at the front, once they were routed, the monsters and magical beasts responsible for guarding the captives in the rear vanished without a trace.

Over a hundred thousand people stood in long lines across the wilderness, unguarded. Some ran off after seeing their captors flee, but most didn't know what to do and stood there in a daze.

Renn led the Guard Army to round up these people, but because the crowd was so massive, many problems arose, leaving Renn overwhelmed and frantic.

Through everyone's efforts, this massive group of people began to migrate toward the Red River Territory. Renn only breathed a sigh of relief once the column was moving smoothly.

As long as the column was moving, the rest would be much easier to handle.

Renn had Alistair collect the spoils from the battlefield; whether it was Dragon-blooded Monsters or magical beasts, they were all valuable resources.

They could yield monster cores and provide energy-rich flesh, both of which were resources Renn desperately needed.

After the migration column was underway, Renn also joined the ranks of those collecting supplies. Currently, only he and Alistair could collect materials efficiently.

Renn had Anatolis lead the Wolf Pack to protect the migrating column, while Melissa went ahead to Red River Fortress to rest and swap places with Kapdo, who would then help Renn collect the battlefield resources.

The three of them were like busy little bees, constantly filling spatial rings, returning to Red River Fortress to empty them, and then coming back to continue hauling.

This place wasn't far from the Red River Territory, and since all three were Gold-rank Professionals, their hauling efficiency was extremely high.

Eventually, Renn even revisited all the blackstone mining areas in the Blackstone Territory, sweeping away every bit of blackstone ore in the mines.

Blackstone Territory had fallen so quickly that the blackstone ore couldn't be transported out. The Dragon Legion had no interest in the blackstone; they had only plundered the people and left the ore behind. This time, Renn hauled it all away at once.

Renn even visited the ruins of Blackstone Fortress once. The fortress, destroyed by the dragons, was a complete wreck, but Renn still found a good amount of useful resources.

After scouring the area, Renn left, feeling satisfied.

The migration of the population lasted seven days. It was only after seven days, when the last batch of refugees entered the vicinity of Red River City, that the migration operation finally concluded.

Renn had also spent those seven days scouring the Blackstone Territory. Having gathered a large amount of supplies and ensuring nothing was missed, he returned to Red River Fortress with the final group of refugees.

As soon as he returned, Fornal sought him out.

"Lord, too many people have migrated here this time. Red River City can't hold them all anymore."

"First, arrange for twenty thousand people to go to the four villages outside the city. Have Johnny lead men to expand and renovate those four villages, turning them into four small towns."

"Additionally, restart the other four villages along the river, as well as the two villages in the eastern region of Red River City. The Engineering Department's construction teams will rebuild and expand these six villages so that each can accommodate two thousand people."

"Furthermore, you can continue repairing the farmland outside the city."

Renn's arrangements kept Fornal busy, and indeed, kept everyone in the territory busy.

They couldn't afford to be idle now. With over a hundred thousand people flooding in, there were tasks to be done everywhere across the territory; everyone was so busy they barely had time to eat or sleep.

Renn had originally planned Red River City for a population of one hundred thousand, and its scale upon completion was roughly that size. With a bit of a squeeze, it could house maybe a hundred and fifty or sixty thousand.

But no one, including Renn himself, expected to reach that "squeeze" point so quickly.

Once all the refugees reached the Red River Territory, the census work began. The final count reported to Renn was 111,100 people.

This number made Renn very excited, and it left Fornal and the others so moved they couldn't sleep.

The spoils of this Dragon Legion's southward campaign had basically all been seized by Renn.

Not only were these people numerous, but their quality was also high—they were all able-bodied young laborers, with not a single elderly or weak person among them.

The population of the Red River Territory instantly doubled from one hundred thousand to two hundred and ten thousand.

Red River City was now bustling with noise, with crowds of people everywhere.

Johnny led the engineering teams to build everywhere, and residential buildings rose one after another.

Since the dragon threat was temporarily lifted, Renn also took the land inside the city originally planned for farming and started building apartments, while restarting the farmland outside the city.

With an abundance of labor, more engineering teams were formed. Many sites were under construction simultaneously, and the progress of residential building was fast; every day, many people moved into new homes.

Renn wasn't worried about housing now; it would all be settled in a few days.

Currently, Renn was a bit worried about other supplies, especially the shortage of winter clothing. A gap in food supplies had also appeared; while there was no immediate shortage, the grain reserves of the Red River Territory certainly wouldn't last until next year's harvest season.

Renn planned to contact the Salak Merchant Guild after the start of spring to purchase a batch of daily necessities.

Although winter clothes were scarce, fortunately, Renn had brought back enough blackstone this time. He had the Forge Workshop produce a large number of stoves, burning blackstone for heat to ensure the territorial citizens wouldn't suffer from frostbite.

While Renn was busy with the 111,000 newcomers, a group of people traveled north from the south, crossing the Blackstone Territory and entering the Red River Valley.

They were astonished upon seeing the majestic Red River City. They looked at each other in disbelief, as if they had seen a ghost.

After confirming they weren't mistaken, one person in the group made a specific note. Then, they led the group further north to patrol the entire Red River Valley before heading south again to leave the area.

However, they didn't notice that while they were patrolling, a pair of eyes in the wilderness had been watching them and followed them all the way south.