Wubei Territory has been bustling with activity lately.

To be precise, after Ronin led the victorious battle to annihilate the Polante Thief Gang and became the Count of Wubei, the Wubei Territory gradually began to thrive.

First, many Free People learned of Wubei Territory and inquired about its population policies. In pursuit of a better life, quite a few Free People made the long journey to Swamp Town to apply with Wilson to join the territory.

Wilson, the Civil Affairs Chief, accepted every single one of them without exception.

Second, Rogner has already led the ten thousand people from Splendid City and the twenty-five thousand from Wiggin back to Wubei Territory.

Following Ronin’s prior instructions, Wilson and a few assistants assigned these people to Mountain Forest Town, Sanfang Town, and Black Earth Town.

Once everyone is settled, the population of all four towns in Wubei Territory will exceed ten thousand people.

Third, in addition to the Free People who came on their own and the people Rogner brought back, a considerable number of Professional Knights, drawn by the territory’s reputation, have also arrived recently. Although most were Basic Level Knights, Krami screened them and retained those with clean backgrounds.

To date, the number of Professional Knights stationed in Wubei Territory has increased from the original seven to the current twenty-two.

In response, Chahar, now the Finance Officer, couldn’t help but complain that Wubei Territory’s finances wouldn’t be able to support such large-scale recruitment of Professional Knights.

However, he was only voicing his concerns and didn’t actually try to stop the expansion.

Wubei Territory is a Count’s Domain. A standard Count’s Domain should have at least one Knight Order. Ronin hasn’t even assembled two full Knight Squads yet, so he’s still a long way off.

To generate more revenue, Chahar staffed the various workshops while actively reporting to Elron, who was overseeing Wubei Territory. He hoped that the Magic Potions the honored Mage was researching could be put into production sooner.

Elron felt rather helpless about this.

He wanted to mass-produce some simple Magic Potions, but he simply didn’t have enough people.

Besides himself, there were only two other Mages: Jenny and Erin.

Left with no choice, Elron had to recruit a group of quick-witted commoners to intensify the study of Herbalism. He planned to first sell herbs for disinfection, staunching bleeding, and treating fevers to earn some initial profit.

Chahar, for his part, prepared in advance. Under Rogner’s guidance, he rented a shop in Pasture City’s Trade Zone to prepare for selling herbs and, eventually, Magic Potions.

"Honored Mage, there is someone outside who wishes to see you. They say they want to join Wubei Territory and serve the Lord."

A guard knocked on the door to Elron’s study. As the second-in-command of Wubei Territory, Elron now held a very high position. Even Wilson and Chahar were extremely respectful toward him.

Elron was pricing several herbs, writing on the very same yellow paper Ronin had created in the mountains using his Papermaking Skill.

At first, it felt a little strange, but after using a few sheets, he discovered how convenient and inexpensive this paper was.

Every time he picked up a sheet, Elron couldn’t help but marvel at what a genius the Lord was.

"This is the sort of thing you can leave to Krami. You don’t need to come to me," Elron said without looking up.

"Krami was the one who sent me to inform you."

The guard said respectfully, "The visitor is said to be Yusuf Rive, the eldest son of the Viscount of Lingchuan City. He is a Senior Mage."

Elron quickly looked up, a flash of surprise in his eyes that was instantly replaced by delight.

’Wushan Territory has three great Viscount’s Domains—Pasture City, Lingchuan City, and Sharp Horn City. Marvin Viscount of Pasture City sent his second son to pledge allegiance to Ronin, clearly optimistic about Ronin’s future prospects. And now, Sandro Rive, Viscount of Lingchuan City and also the Leader of the Fourth Knight Order of Wushan Castle, has actually sent his eldest son to serve Ronin in Wubei Territory. What does this mean? It seems he’s also optimistic about the Lord. Sending his eldest son is both a way to smooth over relations and, like Marvin Viscount, a plan for the future. Ronin is not only powerful and full of potential, but he also has the Marquis’s favor and support. Many who were previously watching from the sidelines will start making their choices. It’s just that, generally, it’s the second sons who are sent to Wubei Territory. For someone like Sandro to send his eldest son directly is a rare occurrence.’

"Quick, take me to him."

Elron stood up.

Yusuf’s arrival would not only be a significant help in his research and production of Magic Potions, but it also signified that Wubei Territory’s influence had reached a new height.

Aside from the changes in personnel, several of Wubei Territory’s industries had also begun to expand.

The Ironwood Workshop grew more crowded with each passing day. Batches of Ironwood Armor produced each month were being shipped to Pasture City to be sold through the Ironhoof Clan’s commercial channels.

A Papermaking Workshop had also been built, where workers were busy collecting and boiling fibrous materials.

Additionally, following the creation of the first loom, Master Dan built two more and brought in apprentices to increase their number.

With the help of the looms, Leia and others joined in the work of reeling silk and making silk cloth. In addition, the flax collected from Mountain Forest Town was processed into linen thread here, to be later made into linen clothing.

Purple Fruit Village was subtly showing the potential to become a textile hub, which was just what Ronin had hoped for.

According to his plan, Wubei Territory would later leverage its advantage with the looms to gather more flax from the outside world for processing, thereby lowering the cost of producing linen garments.

Whether they sold finished clothing themselves or produced it on behalf of other nobles, Wubei Territory was set to earn a handsome income.

It wasn’t impossible that they could one day trade clothes for warships.

Besides all this, progress was also being made on the horse manure fertilizer processing plant, and the reclamation of paddy fields and arable land was in full swing.

「Meanwhile, in the south of Wushan Territory.」

Macken, along with Civil Servant Sailin, had already taken control of Giant Stone Territory and Chishan Town. Not only were the territorial affairs getting on track, but Macken had also taken the opportunity to recruit several Knights.

Over at the Chishan Town Iron Mine, Carlos and the others from Wubei Territory were deep within the Iron Mine, beginning construction on a blast furnace for smelting iron.

With the help of Artisan Feng Si, it was believed the blast furnace would be operational soon. Cheaper iron farming tools, and even iron weapons and armor, would then be produced.

Away from Giant Stone Territory, Ridder, who was stationed in Shore City, had also formally taken command of Wushan Castle’s new Fifth Knight Order.

Although Ronin had left the territory, the tasks he’d assigned were proceeding in an orderly fashion. This was partly because the people responsible for these affairs were all individuals he had personally trained. They didn’t have complex backgrounds, and there was no internal competition or power struggles among them yet.

This allowed them to focus all their energy on achieving Ronin’s goals, creating a unified effort from top to bottom.

Of course, the bigger reason was that the strongest combatants in these places—Elron, Macken, and Ridder—were all 100% loyal to Ronin.

With them in charge, Ronin’s plans would be carried out even if the territory were to develop into a complex, major city in the future.

After all, military strength is the foundation of a stable territory.