[Chapter 22 Iron Tree Castle]

Captain Gregory looked at David’s pioneering order. In fact, he couldn’t be sure whether it was true or false, but that was not his job.

As for the alert mission, their team was sent here and stationed at the northern outpost again. The real defense was not against humans. This was also the main reason why David and Laura were not questioned and were directly put into the outpost.

“I didn’t expect that there was actually a team building a village in the north. I heard from those who gave up how bad the environment on this plain is.” Gregory was in charge of stationing the northern outpost, so he naturally had to have enough knowledge of this area: “Didn’t they say that the land on this plain can’t grow food?”

“We are lucky. We found a wild crop that can be grown.” David took out a few potatoes from his backpack. He and Laura brought some of this thing, not as food, but as a voucher: “Would you like to try it? It’s delicious.”

“Newly discovered crops?” Gregory took the potatoes and looked at them for a few times, and even smelled them a few times. It looked like something pretty good.

But the necessary caution made him not rashly agree, but returned the potatoes in his hand to David, and the reason was very reasonable: “These are to be shown to someone, right? Don’t waste them here.”

“Well, this thing is easy to grow. If Captain Gregory is stationed here for a long time, there will definitely be a chance to taste it in the future.” David put the potatoes back. Captain Gregory’s precautions were completely understandable – if he was not a cautious person, he would not be stationed at the border post.

Then he asked why this long-abandoned post was reactivated?

“In fact, the reactivation of this post is related to the pioneer team.”

Gregory gave a simple explanation, so that David and Laura understood what happened? And the main reason for the reactivation of the northern post:

some things are similar to what David had previously speculated. The pioneer team heading to the northeast did not really build a village, and they even gave up earlier than the team in the west.

The reason why this pioneer team gave up, in addition to the harsh living environment, was that they were attacked.

“According to the survivors’ description, they were attacked by a strange race that was taller and stronger than humans. Those guys had brown and khaki skin and huge fangs…”

Listening to Gregory’s description, David slowly had an image in his mind. The more he listened, the more he felt that he was talking about orcs.

Is there orcs in this world?

He had never heard of it before, but this cannot be used as a reference. After all, David is just a young hunter and it is normal that he has little experience. However, judging from Gregory’s description and reaction, the captain also did not know about the creature “orcs”.

However, David did not interrupt, but just listened quietly. After all, his judgment was not necessarily correct. Maybe it was a creature similar to the giant monster he encountered before?

The pioneer camp in the northeast was attacked and destroyed. After the survivors ran back to Iron Tree Castle, they reported the situation.

After learning that there was such a force in the northern plains, Iron Tree Castle sent soldiers to conduct reconnaissance. In the end, they found that the race they did not know at all had built a village where the pioneers had been stationed before, and seemed to have the idea of settling down for a long time.

At this point, Iron Tree Castle still didn’t care too much. After all, not every pioneering team can succeed. There are countless teams destroyed by various forces and even ferocious monsters in history. The destruction of this team is not worth their excessive attention.

But then another team also failed. Although the failure to successfully build a village this time was more related to the harsh environment, the attack of the elves was also a factor that could not be ignored.

Considering the hostility of the elves to Iron Tree Castle, Iron Tree Castle paid a little more attention this time: Gregory was sent to lead a team to station at the North Post.

It sounds a bit strange, because the Iron Tree Forest is next to Iron Tree Castle, and the North Post is located in the northeast of the Iron Tree Forest.

Even if you are worried about the attack of the elves, it seems unnecessary to restore the North Post?

David thought carefully and realized that restoring the North Post was not to warn the elves, but to monitor the entire northern plains.

The elves and the humans of Iron Tree Castle are neighbors, and the friction between the two sides has never stopped, so Iron Tree Castle has never lowered its vigilance against the elves.

If a third party suddenly attacks from the north when a conflict breaks out with the elves, Iron Tree Castle will easily suffer, so a team of people was sent to station here – the main purpose is to warn Iron Tree Castle when it encounters an attack, leaving Iron Tree Castle with reaction time to mobilize troops, so only a small team was sent.

After knowing why the northern outpost was restored, David’s mind drifted to the mysterious force in the northeast.

“Do you think my start is too easy? Arrange an opponent for me?”

If you are playing a farming game, this sudden enemy is equivalent to your main competitor in the early stage. As for the group of giants at the door? That’s at most the novice teaching level at the beginning.

“I wasn’t in a hurry at first, and I thought it was okay to develop slowly. Now it seems that it’s better to develop a little faster.”

According to David’s original idea, it would be quite successful if the village could be developed to the size of a town within a few years. As for going a step further? Turning Winter Village into Winter City? I’m afraid it will take many years to achieve.

The most critical issue is people. It is not easy to increase the population, and the population of the Iron Tree Fort area is not that large.

“It would be great if we could bring some people from other places.”

Laura and Mark didn’t talk about it. As long as Fording could bring people from the world of Azeroth, the population would no longer be a problem for David.

The reason is simple. Fording was expelled and lived in seclusion, which means that the world is not far from the plot of Warcraft 3. In that story, Arthas Menethil, the former prince of Lordaeron who became a death knight, led the Scourge to sweep across the Eastern Kingdoms, bringing great destruction to many countries and countless people.

Although the Scourge is very powerful and terrifying, many Lordaeron people have successfully survived the disaster and became refugees without a home, not to mention many elves in Quel’Thalas, who are not only excellent mages but also top hunters.

If David could lend a helping hand to the refugees from various countries in Azeroth at this moment, it would be a good thing for both sides.

“What a pity…”

Without dwelling on it for too long, David quickly put the matter aside and focused on the matter at hand.

After resting for a night in the Northern Outpost, David and Laura left the outpost early the next morning and headed towards Iron Tree Castle along the road between the Tilan Mountains and the Iron Tree Forest.

This journey was also not safe, after all, the Iron Tree Forest was right next to it, and the elves could rush out and launch a sneak attack at any time.

So Laura and David walked as fast as possible, and would remain alert when resting at night to ensure safety.

In this way, after a total of thirteen days of trekking, Laura and David finally arrived outside Iron Tree Castle, two days faster than the shortest time previously expected.

“Is this Iron Tree Castle?” Laura looked at the tall walls in front of her, a little surprised that the defense of Iron Tree Castle seemed to be much stronger than she had imagined.

“No, this is just the northern pass.” David introduced the general layout of Iron Tree Castle to Laura: Because of the bad relationship with the elves, and the initial precautions against the vast land in the north, when Iron Tree Castle was established, a pass was built at the northern passage, and it was connected to the fortress wall on the west side, which was considered the outer defense line of Iron Tree Castle.

More than half of the troops of Iron Tree Castle were stationed in the pass and the fortress on the northwest side, led by Ismael Sosa, the most trusted knight of Iron Tree Castle’s lord Dudley Morgan.

After passing the pass, you still have to walk a distance before you can reach the outer city of Iron Tree Castle.

The so-called outer city is the civilian area of Iron Tree Castle. After the core area of Iron Tree Castle was established, countless ordinary people who migrated here gathered around the “Iron Tree Castle” and gradually formed a large residential area. Then various shops targeting these civilians were born, and eventually became the outer city of Iron Tree Castle.

The outer city area is huge, but there is no planning at all, and the quality of the buildings is uneven. The entire outer city area is synonymous with chaos and dirt. Even at a considerable distance, Laura has already smelled the not-so-nice smell.

“Oh, my God~ This smell…”

David couldn’t help but smile. He had expected Laura to have such a reaction, but seeing it with his own eyes was completely different from his imagination. It would be more interesting to see it in reality.

As the distance continued to shorten, various details of the outer city area appeared in Laura’s eyes-the outer city area had no city walls, which was also the reason why the outer city area could continue to expand.

Looking at the environment in front of her, which was even worse than the worst slums, although Laura had long known that the living environment of the “backward civilization” was not very good, after seeing it with her own eyes, she still felt that her knowledge was refreshed.

“I suddenly understand why you joined the pioneering team now.” Laura tried to breathe through her mouth, but various smells kept rushing into her nose, making her suspect that her thinking was beginning to be affected.

“Well, that’s indeed one of the reasons.” Instead of leading Laura to the city, he turned south at a distance and said, “I’ll take you to see someone. We can stay at his place tonight and go into the city tomorrow to do business.”

Noticing that Laura was a little hesitant, David gave her a reassurance: “Don’t worry, that person’s residence is relatively remote… The environment is a little better.”

(End of this chapter)