153: Territory Development Affairs

The ceremony for conferring the title of Viscount was not overly grand, but many important figures from the Rage Bear Territory were present, including five Counts and over a hundred Viscounts and Barons.

Under the gaze of the crowd, the Grand Duke of the Raging Bear drew his sword and placed it on Ren's shoulder, completing the knighting ceremony as Ren recited his vows.

After the knighting, a grand banquet followed. Although everyone was at the Iron Wall Fortress, the banquet's scale remained high, allowing Ren to experience the extravagant lifestyle of the nobility.

The banquet gave Ren a preliminary understanding of the entire Rage Bear Territory's noble circle. Many nobles he had only heard of by name before now became familiar faces.

The other nobles were also extremely friendly toward Ren. Coupled with Ren's habit of lavishing praise on everyone he met, always smiling and flattering, these nobles ate it up. Ren's popularity among this group of nobles skyrocketed.

When the banquet ended, Karl announced that after a day of rest, the army would return to Rage Bear Fortress, causing cheers among the nobles, who were also eager to leave the Iron Wall Fortress.

Ren left first, embarking on the return journey with the Magic Wolf Knights.

Before leaving, he managed to obtain some grain from Count Sena, filling his spatial ring with about a hundred tons.

Ren's current strength meant he no longer cared whether others noticed he possessed a spatial ring. His current power and status were enough to ward off most troubles.

One day later, on February 5th, 1239 of the golden calendar, Ren returned to Red River Fortress.

After storing the hundred tons of grain from his spatial ring in the granary, Ren returned to his room.

Just as he changed clothes and was about to summon Fornal, Bar, and a few others for a meeting, he saw Cecilia bouncing over.

"Big Brother Ren, I've broken through!"

"You've reached Silver Rank?"

"Yes!"

Cecilia nodded emphatically, sharing her joy with Ren.

"Our little Cecilia is truly amazing, breaking through to Silver Rank so quickly."

Ren's praise greatly pleased Cecilia, her face beaming with a smile.

Recently, Cecilia and Kapdo had been busy brewing dragon blood potions, providing Ren with a large supply of freshly made potions that continuously enhanced the strength of the Guard Army soldiers.

From the previous ambush on the Dragon Legion, they had captured many Dragon-blooded Monsters or Dragon-blooded creatures. These captured corpses were collected by Kapdo for brewing dragon blood potions.

According to Kapdo's preliminary estimate, they could eventually produce thousands of Bronze Rank dragon blood potions and hundreds of Silver Rank dragon blood potions.

This number was very encouraging, exciting Ren greatly, but it also meant that Kapdo and Cecilia would have to devote themselves entirely to potion brewing for the foreseeable future.

Under such intense work, Ren hadn't expected Cecilia to break through. This was excellent news.

For Ren, this meant that the production speed of potions in Red River Territory could increase significantly.

"Big Brother Ren, these are the dragon blood potions Grandpa and I brewed over the past few days."

"You and Master Capdo have worked hard during this time."

Ren took the potions and ruffled Cecilia's head.

"It's fine, Big Brother Ren. When Cecilia was studying Potionology at the academy, she brewed potions every day too. It's become a habit."

After chatting with Cecilia for a while, Alistair also arrived.

Cecilia greeted her politely.

"Sister Alistair!"

"Cecilia, you broke through? That's amazing, you advanced so quickly."

As soon as she entered, Alistair sensed Cecilia's breakthrough aura, which surprised her as well.

"Hehehe, it's nothing special!"

"I'm still far behind you, Sister Alistair!"

"Cecilia, you're only 15 this year and have already reached Silver Rank. It seems breaking through to Gold Rank is a sure thing, and you even have a great chance of reaching Legendary!"

After arriving in Red River Territory, Alistair first busied herself with repairing houses and arranging the castle, then started working as a teacher.

She taught the Mage Apprentices Ren had previously recruited at the Red River Academy's Professionals Academy.

Although Alistair was a Witch, her knowledge of magic was equally profound, more than sufficient to teach those Mage Apprentices.

The teaching profession gave Alistair a unique sense of joy. After a few days, she became even more dedicated. Ren was happy to see this and let her manage those Mage Apprentices.

Recently, neither Ren himself nor Kapdo and Cecilia had time to oversee those Mage Apprentices, so Alistair stepped in directly.

Looking at Alistair, Ren thought of the two fairies, Melissa and Ariya.

Melissa and Ariya had been holed up in the Medicinal Herb Field ever since, never coming out. After discovering Dora, both were deeply captivated by her, becoming her little fans.

With Melissa's strength, the Magic Array of the Medicinal Herb Field couldn't block her sight. Upon seeing Dora, Melissa was astonished and kept circling around her.

Ren didn't let Dora reveal her identity, always saying Dora was also a Fairy. After Dora advanced to Gold Rank, her disguise was impenetrable.

Melissa couldn't see through it either. When she saw Dora, she thought Dora was a Fairy with extremely high royal bloodline or from a special Fairy branch—an incredibly powerful member of their race.

Ariya was even more obsessed with the aura around Dora, obeying her every word.

Seeing how much the two fairies revered Dora, Ren had Dora take them to tend the Medicinal Herb Field.

Dora loved having underlings. She herself didn't like being busy all the time. With Melissa and Ariya, she was liberated, spending her days with the two fairies and a group of apprentices in the Medicinal Herb Field, acting as the commander, sitting on a large tree branch directing her underlings.

With the help of two powerful fairies, the output of Red River Territory's Medicinal Herb Field soared, with many magic plants showing signs of breakthroughs.

This also revealed that Dora, as the Spirit of Nature, had been somewhat lazy before, not paying much attention to the low-level magic plants in the Medicinal Herb Field.

Ren couldn't do much about it; he couldn't order Dora around. The fact that Dora stayed in the territory to help him without running off was already a favor to Ren.

After chatting with Cecilia and Alistair for a while, Ren left, leaving the two girls to whisper among themselves.

Ren summoned the territory's various managers and informed them that this year's winter would be extended.

This worried Fornal and the others.

"Lord, if this continues, the territory's supplies won't be enough!"

"Don't worry, His Highness the Grand Duke has promised me that once winter passes and the river thaws, supplies will be delivered."

"It's early February now. In previous years, it would start warming up from this point. Although winter is extended this year, it will only last an extra month or two at most. Summer will eventually come."

"We just need to hold on for a month or two!"

"Bar, organize the Farmers to start restoring the territory's farmland. This time, the scale needs to expand further. With the territory's current population, there will be at least seventy to eighty thousand people available for farming after spring."

"Based on this number, the territory's farmland needs to be cultivated to at least four to five hundred thousand acres."

"Although the weather is cold now, all preparations that can be made in advance must be done without delay."

Ren meticulously arranged all territory affairs, assigning tasks to over a dozen managers to implement.

Amidst the snowstorm, Red River Territory's development did not stagnate but continued to move forward steadily.