[Chapter 73: Just One Battalion]

“Four hundred people!”

David was very happy, and he didn’t even try to hide his happiness. Fording wanted to remind David to control his expression, but Van Cleef had already noticed David’s happy mood, and it seemed too late to remind him.

“Four hundred people are not a small number.” Van Cleef was not angry with David. He had been angry for a long time, and the most angry moment had passed. Now he was even in the mood to explain to David why there were ‘only’ four hundred people: “These four hundred people include the leaders of the Stonemasons’ Union and all the senior craftsmen, and the rest are family members and a small number of ordinary craftsmen and miners.”

“I didn’t complain about the small number, do I look like I complain about the small number of people?” David pointed at the corner of his mouth that had been raised all the time. At this time, he took a tube of lipstick to paint his lips red, and then he could go to Gotham to plot against Batman: “What are you going to do with the rest of the people? Do you want to keep people there for a long time so that they can be supported in the future when needed?”

Of course, there are not only so many members of the Stonemasons’ Union, not to mention that these four hundred people also include family members. At its peak, the Stonemasons Guild had hundreds of senior craftsmen, and many low- and middle-level craftsmen. If the workers who built Stormwind were included, the number would be even greater.

Even though the Stonemasons Guild later rebelled, and some people did not want to work with Van Cleef and chose to leave their group, the number of people left was still astonishing.

If the various bandits and robbers that were later absorbed were included, the Defias Brotherhood currently has thousands of members in the West Wilderness, and many members are scattered throughout Elwynn Forest.

If Van Cleef could gather and bring everyone here, Winter Village could even develop directly in the direction of Winter City.

But that was impossible. Not to mention that David did not look down on the Defias bandits and thieves who currently accounted for most of the number, even the craftsmen and miners he wanted to poach were not all willing to follow Van Cleef to live in the other world.

Just as David had expected, many low- and middle-level craftsmen felt that they would not attract any attention at all. If Van Cleef did not lead them to continue to fight the Storm Kingdom, they would just go back and continue to be ordinary civilians in the Storm Kingdom.

There is also a group of people who want to leave Stormwind Kingdom but do not want to go to another world. The invasion of the orcs brought a huge shadow to the people of Azeroth, and many people resisted this kind of thing from the bottom of their hearts.

Van Cleef finally decided to leave the warships that he originally wanted to use to destroy Stormwind Kingdom to these people. These people can take a ship to the Kingdom of Lordaeron, or go directly to Kalimdor to open up a new home there.

“The craftsmen will leave the Defias Brotherhood. It is no longer the organization that was originally established to seek justice.” Van Cleef used the simplest words to tell all the things that happened during this period, the decisions and arrangements of his own people: “Everyone, like me, has no nostalgia for it.”

In other words, the members who originally established the Brotherhood with Van Cleef will take this opportunity to leave the Brotherhood and cut off contact with this criminal organization.

Among them, those who are willing to continue to believe in Van Cleef will come to Winter Village, and the rest will find their own place. Anyway, they will not stay in Stormwind Kingdom, so naturally there is no need to leave someone to watch the Western Wilderness and pick up those who want to come later.

This was a good thing for David. Fording only needed to spend some time to pick up these 400 people, and then he could get out of the Deadmines and do his own thing.

“However, even if you leave the Brotherhood, the organization will still use your name to continue to do evil.”

Van Cleef sneered, as if he had thought of this a long time ago: “It doesn’t matter. It’s a fact that I led people to fight against Stormwind City. Even if I do nothing, those nobles will still throw dirty water on me.”

His reputation is already very bad, how bad can it get? Besides, he no longer cares about how the people of Stormwind Kingdom view him.

If he has any obsession with the world of Azeroth, it is that he can’t help his brothers get the justice they deserve. In addition, the loss of control of the Defias Brotherhood makes him feel that he is a very failed leader.

“They will all come to Winter Village and will be your subjects in the future. I hope you can treat them well.” Van Cleef’s look of entrusting everything to others makes people suspect that he will hit his neck with a cruel hook in the next second.

Fortunately, just when David suspected that Van Cleef was determined to die, the top architect in Azeroth brought up a new topic, which made David realize that this guy had not lived long enough.

“For the next period of time, I will have to ask Lord Fording to help me. I need to look around and think about how to plan and build your city.” “

Is it too hasty? Shouldn’t we consider building houses to accommodate everyone first?” David is most concerned about the population and these craftsmen. After taking over, he will immediately properly settle them, let everyone adapt to the new life as soon as possible, and have a good impression of Winter Village.

Before that, he was not in a hurry to urge everyone to start work – he had to give everyone a taste of the sweetness first, and then let the motivated people start working. David felt that he was doing the right thing in this regard.

But Van Cleef thought that he could only wait in the village dryly. Having nothing to do would make him entangled in the various mistakes he had made. It would be better to be busy to avoid his own wild thoughts.

“I see…” David stood up and returned to the cabin, taking out a textbook on the common language of Azeroth. This was a finished product that Laura helped to print in batches after it was written and sorted. “You can learn the language here first, and then you have to teach this language to everyone.”

“Language…” Van Cleef finally realized that this was another world after all, and it certainly had its own language, just like the orcs and elves had their own language.

It was just that he had mainly come into contact with Fording from the Kingdom of Lordaeron, and David also knew the Common Language of Azeroth, so he ignored this problem.

“This is indeed a problem that needs to be solved first.” Although Van Cleef saw that David’s village had only a few dozen people at most, he brought 400 people with him, which seemed to make the Common Language of Azeroth the ‘mainstream’ language of this village.

But what’s the point? Could it be that everyone would never come into contact with other people in this world? The language of this world still needs to be mastered after all.

“Then I’ll learn a new language while observing the surrounding terrain.” Van Cleef was still not ready to give up his plan, and insisted on investigating the terrain and environment around Winter Village: “As for everyone’s residence, I noticed that two large houses have been built in the village, and a few more similar ones can be built, so that everyone has a temporary shelter.”

As for better houses, of course he had to wait until he had investigated the surrounding environment before deciding how to build them.

“You can decide for yourself.” David did not persuade him. For the time being, there was indeed no work to be arranged for Van Cleef, so he let Van Cleef do what he wanted.

“Believe me, we can definitely build a city more perfect than Stormwind.”

“…” David blinked, suspecting that he had heard it wrong: “Well, for now, building a town is enough.”

Van Cleef ignored David, his eyes were shining, and there was a fire burning in them.

Seeing Van Cleef’s look, David felt that the leader of the Stonemasons’ Union might want to express his dissatisfaction with the Storm Kingdom in another way. This should be a good thing for him. He decisively chose to shut up and wait until Van Cleef finished inspecting the environment!

Maybe then the top architect of Azeroth would calm down. Not to mention how much materials are needed to build a city more perfect than Stormwind, manpower alone is a problem. Where can Winter Village get enough workers for him to mobilize?

Turning his head and chatting with Fording for a few more words, Fording said that it would only take a few days for all the 400 people to come to Winter Village, and during this time, everyone’s residence must be built as soon as possible.

“I will give priority to bringing craftsmen and strong miners here. With more people, the construction will be faster.”

“Well, that’s also a solution.”

David’s original idea was to send a batch here first, and then quickly build houses, so that while building, people can be transported here to ensure that everyone has a place to sleep.

But after Van Cleef noticed the abnormality of the Brotherhood, he chose to cut off contact with the Brotherhood as soon as possible under the advice of Fording, so everything had to be done quickly. Even everyone did not bring too much luggage, only some important items to ensure that they could leave the Defias Brotherhood in the shortest time.

In the end, it became like this, 400 people poured into Winter Village at once.

“Houses, food reserves, daily necessities.”

400 people are not too many, but not too few either. David went from being a small village chief who was only responsible for more than 30 people to managing more than 400 people, and he really felt a little pressure.

When Van Cleef and Fording went back to be responsible for “transporting” people over, David took a notebook and started writing non-stop, for fear that he would miss any details.

“What is he writing?” After helping Eva build a house for a day, Peggy and Sharon were taking a walk to relax when they saw the village chief writing with his head down, scratching his head from time to time, just like a poor student doing an exam.

“Fordin has already convinced Van Cleef. There will be about 400 craftsmen, miners and their families coming to Winter Village. I’m looking at what I need to prepare to accommodate these 400 people.”

“Oh~” Peggy and Sharon suddenly realized. They both knew that David asked Fordin to go to Azeroth to recruit craftsmen, and it seemed to be going smoothly. Sharon was even more eager to try: “Four hundred people, about a battalion! It shouldn’t be difficult to manage.”

(End of this chapter)