64: The neighbor is coming

"My Lord, is it really okay for us to do this?"

Ross asked Rean hesitantly while running with a redwood log on his shoulder.

"What's wrong with it? I helped them deal with so many foreign races; it's already good enough that I'm not asking for their thanks."

Rean finished his mining activities after three days in the iron mine area. On the fifth day, he went directly into the Redwood Forest, a unique resource point in the Redwood Territory.

He selected five hundred of the best-looking redwoods, organized men to cut them down, and moved them directly back to his territory.

The redwood log he and Ross were currently carrying was the highest quality among them, having reached the Bronze Rank level; it was the only one in the entire Redwood Forest to reach that rank.

Ross could understand mining salt and iron, and he didn't have any psychological burden about it.

But now they were stealing trees, and having just learned that the new lord of the Redwood Territory was Baron Parris from the former Border Defense Army, Ross felt a sense of guilt about taking things from an acquaintance.

"Ross, you're wrong. We snatched these redwoods from the hands of the foreign races. They're spoils of war; why shouldn't we take them?"

"We helped Parris eliminate so many foreign races and left most of the redwoods for him. We've done enough for him."

"Don't think too much. I've seen these redwoods; they're all excellent materials. It would be a waste to use them for shipbuilding. Once we're back in the territory, we can make many top-quality spear shafts out of them."

Rean had already decided to turn all five hundred redwoods into spear shafts to prepare for the knights' future weapon upgrades. Neither ordinary knights nor Magic Wolf Knights were suited for short weapons like longswords.

Ordinary knights or cavalry usually used lances, a modified type of spear, but Rean didn't feel this weapon was very good.

He wanted a polearm similar to a Ma Shuo or a Mo Dao; he would have to organize people to research it properly later.

By the time all five hundred redwoods were moved back to the territory, five days had quietly passed.

In these five days, Rean had transported back over a hundred tons of salt ore, over a thousand tons of iron ore, and five hundred high-quality redwoods.

The time was too short, so he could only get this much, which was far less than he had originally planned. However, the plan had changed, and with several months less time, being able to harvest this many resources was already good; it would suffice for the territory for a while.

"Have all those Kobolds been taken to the stone quarry?"

"They've all been taken there, my Lord!"

After three days of mining, Rean felt that these Kobolds were quite useful—very obedient, easy to manage, and they didn't eat much, making them easy to keep.

When given the black bread that was previously fed to the Serfs, the Kobolds not only ate it with great relish but were also extremely satisfied, calling Rean a merciful master.

The stone quarry and other resource points outside Red River Town were some distance away from the town. Normally, sending people to mine there required dedicated guards, and any lapse in attention could lead to casualties.

Coupled with the fact that the Red River Territory itself was underpopulated, Rean had already given up on some of the more distant small resource points and stopped mining them.

After subduing this batch of Kobolds, Rean tried letting them go to the outside stone quarry to mine resources.

Rean promised the Kobold leader that he would protect their safety and that they could come to him if they encountered danger. He also provided them with food—the same black bread they enjoyed so much—as long as they mined for him and provided a sufficient amount of stone ore on time.

After placing the Kobolds at the stone quarry, Rean didn't bother with them further, planning to check on them after some time.

As for whether the Kobolds would run away or stay and follow his arrangements, Rean didn't care at all; it was just an experiment.

If it succeeded, he would have a group of mining Slaves whose lives he didn't need to worry about; if it failed, it was just a few Kobolds running away.

"Just take them there. We'll see how it goes after a while!"

After five busy days, Rean was finally able to return to Red River Fortress to rest. Running back and forth these past few days had really exhausted him.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Just as Rean was about to lie down and rest, he was woken up by Yiven.

"My Lord, news has come from Lord Ross. A group of unknown knights has arrived outside the territory. Their strength is unclear, and he wants you to go take a look!"

Rean stood up abruptly.

"Unknown knights?"

"Have those people arrived? Weren't they supposed to come by water?"

Hearing about unknown knights, Rean immediately thought of the four new barons from the raging bear's side. However, logically they should have taken the water route instead of the land route, which Rean didn't understand for a moment.

A call rang out through the castle hall.

"Reck!"

...A familiar figure passed through Red River Town once again as Rean rode Reck south along the river toward the territory's border.

At this time, Ross had just arrived at the territory's border with the Cavalry Squad and saw forty or fifty strangers confronting Eric.

"Vice Commander, hasn't the Lord arrived?"

"There is a Silver Knight among that group of knights opposite us!"

Eric, who was out on patrol, was the first to notice the anomaly. Seeing that only Ross had arrived with men, he felt a bit worried.

"I received the news halfway and came ahead. The Lord should have received the message by now and will be here soon."

"A Silver Knight? Are you sure?"

Ross looked cautiously at the unknown group a hundred meters away.

"Certain!"

Ross hadn't seen the Silver Knight Eric mentioned yet, but he had already spotted a familiar flag.

"Is that the Thunder Flag of the raging bear?"

After confirming the flag repeatedly, Ross immediately stepped forward to communicate with the group.

A hundred meters away, Marko squinted at Eric and Ross.

"Captain, why aren't we negotiating with them?"

Marko said without turning his head:

"We represent Lord Alistair. Approaching them proactively would diminish Lord Alistair's dignity."

"That Wolf Knight before had too little vision and didn't see Lord Alistair's flag. Now that someone who understands has arrived, they will naturally come to negotiate with us."

Seeing Ross's movement, Marko gently nudged his horse's head, and his mount stepped forward unhurriedly for a few paces.

"May I ask, is that the bloodline of the raging bear, the Favored of Thunder, the Son of the Great Warrior?"

"We are knights under the noble Baron Alistair Rage Bear. Lord Alistair is indeed the Descendant of the Raging Bear's Blood, the Favored of Thunder, and the Son of the Great Warrior."

After speaking, Marko signaled the flag-bearer beside him to raise the flag high.

Ross dismounted from his magic wolf and bowed respectfully toward the Thunder Flag of the raging bear.

"I am Ross, the Vice Commander of the Red River Territory's Guard Army. My master is on his way. May I ask why you, Sir Knight, have come here?"

"My name is Marko, a Wolf Knight!"

After sensing Ross's strength, Marko showed respect.

"My lord is arriving soon and needs to pass through the Red River Territory to reach his own domain, the Rock Crystal Territory in the north."

"I am leading the Black Blade Knights to clear the way for my lord. We need passage through the Red River Territory and hope for your cooperation."

Hearing Marko's request, Ross understood.

"I cannot answer this question for you. My master will be here soon; he will answer your question, respected Sir Knight."

Marko nodded; he naturally understood that Ross could not make the decision.

"Magic Wolf Knights—I heard about them before at Rage Bear Fortress. I didn't expect to encounter one as soon as I arrived. As expected, a magic wolf is much stronger than a Black-Horned Horse!"

Marko looked enviously at Ross's magic wolf mount.

At this moment, a white figure rapidly approached from a distance, quickly catching the attention of both men.

"What a powerful aura!"

"Is that the Lord of the Red River Territory arriving?"