Don't Mess with That Dragon-Chapter 472 - 026: Urban Undercurrents

The rapid spread and development of Neutral City’s reputation is quite normal.

Not to mention anything else, just the powerful military power controlled by the Dragon Nest Tribe allows Pioneer City to stand steadily in this lawless Wilderness. In this region of chaotic warfare, carving out a stable and peaceful area is enough to attract a large number of wise humans and beastmen suffering from various conflicts.

A peaceful and stable life is ultimately one of the most important needs for survival.

Especially in this lawless Wilderness.

Conflicts between humans and humans, conflicts between humans and beastmen, wars between beastmen and beastmen.

This land relies on the Kawa Great Forest for its abundant production, but at the same time, it is also caught in a state of chaotic conflict.

Especially in recent years, a large number of war refugees from the Central Earth World have been flocking south.

Various mercenaries, adventurers, destitute nobles, bankrupt merchants, landless peasants, etc., while injecting a large amount of human traffic and vitality into this place, also make the external regional conflicts more intense.

The influx of a large number of people has squeezed the living space of the beastmen originally living here, with brutal conflicts and slaughter continuously spreading.

Trade caravans venturing out might not be seen the next day.

Farmers who went out to reclaim wasteland might encounter beastmen and become skeletons on the barbecue of the Beastman Tribe.

The settlement points established along the border might one day become a pitch-black ruin.

Beastmen who go out to hunt for survival might unknowingly be captured by humans to become slaves or end up as skeletons lying on the roadside wilderness.

It’s not just the conflict between beastman natives and human outsiders.

The infighting between human forces has also never ceased.

Conflicts and wars between major cities, the exploitation and oppression of remote rural settlements by powerful town forces.

Everywhere you look, frequent wars occur, where besides the flames of war, is there any stable land at all?

Even those large cities established relying on the Border Great Wall, due to their proximity to the Border Great Wall, have thus gained long-term stability.

But the city lord nobles inside, greedy for pleasure, decadent and depraved, due to the chaos of the Central Earth World, the so-called noble principles maintained in the past have completely vanished. The nobles, free from the last insignificant shackles, severely oppress the peasant merchants beneath them.

Due to the relationship of routes and supplies, the traveling merchants and adventurers wandering around the outskirts of the Kawa Great Forest, relying on forest resources, can barely endure, and even if they can’t, they have no choice but to bear the exploitation of those greedy city lord nobles.

But for the large masses of war refugees from the Central Earth World moving southward, who don’t have half a copper coin in hand, this is simply a disaster.

For these Pioneer Cities established relying on the Border Great Wall, they are not lacking in populace at all.

In fact, due to the large influx of war refugees moving south, various policies have been issued to drive away the excess population, pushing them into the vast wilderness.

Greedy beyond measure, utterly inhumane.

It is precisely under this contrast that the Pioneer City established by the Dragon Nest Tribe in the deep outskirts of the forest,

a city with no restrictions on population entry, low transaction taxes, a policy of unconditionally gathering wise lifeforms, offering various benefits for joining the city and becoming city residents, and producing a large number of highly profitable commodities,

is like a lighthouse lighting up in the darkness, drawing the attention of countless wise beings surviving in this war-torn region.

The great development of commerce and the large-scale absorption of population have allowed Neutral City to rapidly develop day by day.

In the trade in Neutral City, traveling merchants gain substantial profits, adventurers and mercenaries have delicious wine to indulge in after hard and exhausting work. Moreover, in the center of the city, the giant Elf Theater, whenever there is a performance, it’s almost a citywide event where everyone flocks to it. There are storytellers whose narratives exceed the old-fashioned stories of minstrels, restaurants producing gourmet delicacies, a grand lucky draw roulette, newly developed card games...

Because of all these, even the most self-disciplined mercenary adventurers have to admit that coming to this city after grueling protective explorations is the best place for relaxation and leisure.

In the Pioneer City on the outskirts of the Kawa Great Forest, due to the powerful suppression by the Dragon Nest Beastmen, there are basically no audacious individuals daring to attack this colossal entity, ensuring peace all around.

Within the city, mercenary adventurers and people from all walks of life also behave themselves under the suppression of the Dragon Nest Officers.

As a result, Neutral City is developing at an increasingly rapid pace.

With the influx of a large number of displaced refugees and various bankrupt beastman tribes from the wild, after training and transformation, it is enough to form a large militia army.

Subsequently, using these militia forces as a whole, step by step, various pioneering work is carried out outside Neutral City.

The scope of power control expands outward bit by bit, gradually devouring a large amount of land.

As such, it’s natural to arouse the apprehension of other nearby forces.

Among these forces is a massive beastman force of tens of thousands remaining from the former Beastman Alliance, cities established with the official backing of the Border Great Wall, and various gathering areas set up by Central Earth nobility creating private armies...

Due to the existence of Neutral City, these forces have seen signs of a significant number of their populace fleeing.

The powers of each family are continuously being drained by the presence of Neutral City, their lifeblood slowly ebbing away.

Being able to establish a foothold in such a place, establishing a power in the deep outskirts of the chaotic war zone that is the Kawa Great Forest, naturally, these aren’t just simple fools.

Therefore, some probing has also begun to occur secretly.

Such as bandit raids, chaotic battles by stragglers, commercial route blockades, and beast tide attacks...all sorts of things, are actually the secret machinations of those nearby forces.

The so-called bandits and stragglers, when clad in armor, become the elite soldiers of those forces, and when dressed in ragged clothes, become bandits. The intricate details, not meant for outsiders, are seen yet not exposed.

However, those behind-the-scenes forces who are envious of Neutral City’s prosperity and want to secretly cause trouble, they think they have already overestimated the power of Neutral City, but in reality, they have grossly underestimated the organizational and execution level of the Dragon Nest Tribe’s Pioneer City.

Relying on the bustling traffic of Neutral City, the Dragon Nest Beastmen have secretly planted numerous spies, weaving a net.

Because Austin, due to collecting a large amount of knowledge from the Spiritual Energy Awakening Plane, has processed it such that the Dragon Nest Beastmen in charge of intelligence are almost overwhelmingly ahead of the noble city lords, who are still at a Western medieval level, by several blocks.

Long before their intricate layouts, there was already an awareness in terms of intelligence.

As a result, these secretly noble city lord powers suffered heavy losses, almost losing everything.