Chapter 517: New Holy City, Usage of the Dwarf Prince
After Rand returned to Crescent Moon Harbor, he soon met people from the Ice Sea Kingdom.
Ever since Crescent Moon Harbor was built, Rand has actually been in contact with the people of the Ice Sea Kingdom. He had previously transported people from the New Holy City, and Rand had also borrowed ships from the Ice Sea Kingdom.
However, the Ice Sea Pirates are not limited to the Ice Sea Kingdom. The Takagi Kingdom and even the White Kingdom all have the tradition of forming looting fleets and heading south to loot the southern kingdoms.
"This matter is too big. We cannot give you too much support at the moment. Don't be so impatient, young man. We can discuss this issue again when your fleet can stand on its own in the future." The man from the Ice Sea Kingdom said this and left.
The people of the Ice Sea Kingdom have been very respectful.
If it was not Rand who made this proposal, but some other noble, the barbaric pirate nobles of the Ice Sea Kingdom would only sneer and say, "You are not worthy, just leave without looking back."
Rand proposed to form a maritime alliance to fight against the Kingdom of Borun.
This is indeed a tempting proposal, but the leader cannot be a young person who has just entered the ocean.
Rand has indeed demonstrated his amazing wisdom and bravery, but the ocean is an unpredictable and ruthless world. Before Rand is familiar with the cruelty of the waves, everyone will reserve their opinions.
As for whether they would really consider participating in Rand's proposal...
Rand's abilities are indeed not bad, the geographical location of the Dukedom of the Moon Phase is also good, he is also the brother-in-law of the White King, and has a good relationship with the royal family of the Takagi Kingdom.
As long as Rand can prove himself, they will certainly be happy to see the destruction of the Bolan Kingdom's maritime hegemony.
Rand left Crescent Harbor.
The people of the Ice Sea Kingdom have made it very clear that they will not take any action until Rand can truly prove himself.
This kind of thinking is normal. If Rand were in their position, he would not believe a young lord who had just formed a weak fleet and entered the ocean.
…
The new holy city at this time.
Since the successful implementation of the Scorching Sun Project, the sewers under the New Holy City are no longer a gathering place for villagers.
All that's left are the remains of tents, feces, piles of debris, and corpses.
As a result, even a small number of undead and some rare monsters appeared, but as long as they did not come to the surface of the New Holy City, the Paladins had no intention of managing the sewers.
In the New Holy City, in the Cathedral, the Knights General are holding a meeting.
"How is the reconstruction work going?" asked the old new Grand Knight.
This old Grand Knight Commander missed the best evacuation time in order to cover the evacuation of his teammates during the implementation of the Scorching Sun Plan, and finally had to stay in the New Holy City.
Then, because of his high moral character, his advanced age and the fact that he was about to die, and his lack of factional connections and power, he was elected as the new Grand Knight Commander.
Of course, one of the reasons is that the New Holy City is in urgent need of a reliable and steady leader.
"Grand Knight Commander, the progress is steadily advancing," said the Knight Commander in charge of the project. "The damage done to the city by those untouchables is too great."
The Scorching Sun Project almost set the entire New Holy City on fire.
It is somewhat ironic that a city whose power lies in fire suffered severe damage because of fire.
"According to what I have learned, we do have unpaid wages to the workers." The old Grand Knight Commander responded.
After the coolies of the New Holy City escaped, the newly appointed Grand Knight Commander believed that he must recruit some workers to do the work, and the paladins and clergy must also work personally, otherwise the New Holy City would be a ruin and uninhabitable, and it would be inconvenient for them to maintain their image and continue to make money.
It was not easy to recruit workers. The old Grand Knight bought some slaves from merchants, provided many welfare policies, and... took the opportunity to arrange for some Rand people to enter the New Holy City, and barely gathered enough manpower to rebuild the New Holy City.
But up to now, only the main functional buildings have been built, and the rest are progressing steadily as the knight in charge of the project said.
Seeing the Knight Commanders in the meeting room fall silent, the old Grand Knight Commander spoke slowly: "Things are different now. It is difficult for us to capture a group of villagers to work for us. The slave market is not doing well now. If these remaining workers quit..."
The old Grand Knight Commander smiled faintly: "I guess you all don't want to do the work yourself every day."
The Knights General were of course well aware of the current situation, but they were emotionally reluctant to pay the untouchables.
"Anyway, remember to pay the wages." The old Grand Knight Commander set the tone. "Then is there anything else?"
"We have to consider the threat from the Novice Faction. As they become more active, our market share is gradually decreasing." Another Knight Commander spoke up.
The old Grand Knight Commander waited quietly for the Knight Commander to continue.
His task now is simple, to prevent these knight commanders who value money more than anything else from messing around, and to try his best to build up his own power to strengthen his voice in the New Holy City.
If there is a chance, try to persuade some Knight Commanders to rebel, but don't try if there is a risk.
The ultimate goal is to control the New Holy City for Rand's use, consume the New Holy City's opposition forces, and one day be able to bring the New Holy City back to the command of Archbishop Kahn and Rand.
Now the old Grand Knight Commander often prays to the Torch Goddess, praying that he can live to see the day when order can be restored.
"We should be cautious. The Novices have no intention of continuing to develop southwards. It seems that they are stopping at the Kingdom of Bolen and the Kingdom of Lensa. I think we should continue to go southwards to gain more markets. Although it is not easy to expand, it is better than confronting the Novices head-on now." The old Grand Knight Commander looked at the Knight Commanders in the conference room: "Do you have any opinions?"
When the New Holy City first split, its power was stronger than that of the Newborn Faction.
But now, without the Saint, the overall strength of the Novice Faction is stronger than that of the New Holy City. It can only be said that the Idealists have strong cohesion. Now they are also on friendly terms with a newly emerged Church of the Goddess of Harvest and Health. It is becoming more and more difficult to deal with them.
Avoiding its sharp edge is also a good choice.
Although it is a bit frustrating, expanding the market southwards now is definitely better than going northwards and going hard with the newcomers.
All the proposals raised by the old Grand Knight were passed.
The meeting ended successfully.
The old Grand Knight returned to his residence.
Someone is already waiting for him here.
"Grand Knight Commander, what's the situation?" This person was obviously Rand's intelligence officer.
"It went smoothly. Next, I will gradually strengthen my control over this place." The Grand Knight Commander said. After thinking for a while, the Grand Knight Commander added, "The Traitor Manual is very well written. It really helped me a lot. Please thank the author of the Traitor Manual for me."
Rand's agent nodded to indicate that he had made a note of it.
The spy then spoke again, "We have received intelligence that there may be major changes in the Elven Forest, and further south, the Skaven seem to have gathered in the southern countries. These all require your attention."
"Don't worry, I still have some energy in my old bones, I will take care of all this." The old Grand Knight nodded.
The spy bowed again after hearing this. This old knight was willing to do so many things at his age and was willing to take action for the right thing. He was very respectable: "Thank you for your hard work!"
In fact, when the Sanctuary's top leaders were making their assessment, they also considered the possibility that the old Grand Knight Commander might become corrupt after coming into contact with power. For example, he might simply use the power of the Dukedom of the Moon to strengthen his own political voice, but would not be willing to uphold "justice."
Now the spy is relieved, it seems that this situation has not happened.
At the same time, in other parts of the New Holy City, several Knight Commanders were also in talks.
"Do you think our current Grand Knight Commander is a little weak?" said a Knight Commander. "Not only do we have to pay the workers, but we also have to let the Newborn Faction grab the share that originally belonged to us."
"So what do you want to do? Let the Grand Knight Commander lead us to fight the Newborn Faction?" Another Knight Commander chuckled. "We chose him as our Grand Knight Commander not because we wanted him to be able to make decisions. If that were to happen, we would be in trouble."
The Knight Commander looked at the Knight Commander who had spoken at the beginning and said, "Why, are you planning to vote to elect a new Grand Knight Commander?"
The first knight commander who spoke fell silent. This was obviously impossible. When the original Grand Knight Commander was still around, the knight commanders of the New Holy City could barely maintain cooperation with each other, but now, there have been signs of open and covert fighting.
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The current Grand Knight Commander was elected with great difficulty. If he were to be replaced, it would be impossible to find a Grand Knight Commander that everyone could accept.
The knight sighed: "But I still feel something is wrong."
"Whatever you say." The other knight commanders showed no interest in this knight commander's concerns.
Everyone believes what the old Knight Commander has, after all, everyone has selfish desires, but the others...
Anyway, most of the Knight Commanders were barely able to accept the current situation, and they had no interest in investigating the old Grand Knight Commander.
He won't live long anyway, and he doesn't have any power.
…
In the Duke of Moon Phase's territory.
Rand was dealing with trouble.
The Dwarf Prince...
The last time Rand sent a fleet to the Dwarf Kingdom, the Dwarf Prince was thinking of escaping.
The leader of Rand's fleet cooperated with the Dwarf Kingdom's search, and the Dwarf Prince was also captured.
But now it seems that the dwarf prince has found a chance to escape.
"Lord Rand, the great and wise Rand Nicholas, please take me in! I don't want to go back!" The dwarf prince said respectfully in front of Rand.
Rand rubbed his brows helplessly, tapped his fingers, and rubbed his chin.
This matter is really difficult to handle. Rand needs to gain the friendship of the Dwarf Kingdom, and hiding the Dwarf Prince will obviously anger the Dwarf Kingdom.
But then again, if this dwarf prince was sent back, there was a high probability that he would become the dwarf king. At that time, Rand would have offended the dwarf kingdom again.
In other words, the appearance of the Dwarf Prince here is already a bit of a bug. If we don't send him back, we will offend the Dwarf Kingdom, and if we send him back, we will also offend the Dwarf Kingdom.
"Can I ask about your family situation?" Rand thought for a long time before asking seriously.
"I am the eldest son of this generation, that is, the eldest prince. I have some younger brothers and sisters, and my father also has some brothers and sisters." The dwarf prince had no intention of hiding anything.
"Then why... do you have to inherit the throne?" Rand asked again.
"My father said that the eldest son inheritance system cannot be abolished lightly, otherwise everything will be in chaos in the future..." The dwarf prince sighed, "And maybe it's because I have lifted the Hammer of Origin? I heard from my father that only the true dwarf king can lift the Hammer of Origin, and only the ancestor of the dwarf royal family can lift it."
Rand fell silent. If he were the father of the dwarf prince, he would also spare no effort to let the prince inherit the dwarf throne.
If he doesn't become the dwarf king, who will? Seeing the thoughtful look in Rand's eyes, the dwarf prince immediately realized what he should say: "Wait, wait, Lord Rand, I am very useful. My ability has been recognized by the dwarf engineering master, and I also know a little magic."
Rand was indifferent.
Rand does need a dwarf engineering master, and he needs an engineering master who knows a little magic.
But the problem now is not the ability of the dwarf prince.
Rand looked into the hopeful eyes of the dwarf prince, and always felt that if the dwarf prince's morals and bottom line were lowered a little, and his abilities in all aspects were strengthened, he would be Marcus.
Rand said helplessly: "Anyway, you stay here first. I will write to your father. I have no right to decide where you go."
The light in the dwarf prince's eyes suddenly dimmed.
Rand continued, "But I will plead for you. For example... a qualified prince should not stay in one place forever. It is necessary to practice and learn. I will also promise to arrange for someone to protect your safety."
The dwarf prince's eyes lit up. He had heard of Rand's deeds a long time ago. His father, the king, and his mother, the queen, had also heard of Rand's deeds.
If it was Rand who said this, maybe his parents would give him some breathing space outside? "Great Lord Rand, thank you for your understanding." The dwarf prince saluted.
Rand waved his hand to indicate that he could leave.
The dwarf prince then left and was taken away by a staff member to familiarize himself with the living environment here.
Rand turned to talk to Olenna.
"Is it really okay for a dwarf prince to stay with us?" asked Olenna.
"There will be problems, but I don't mind pleading for him. At least during this period, we can borrow some of his abilities." Rand replied, "As for what to do next... it depends on what the current dwarf king decides. I won't help capture this dwarf prince anyway. If you really want to capture him, just send a fleet yourself."
Olenna wrote down Rand's decision in the notebook in her hand.
"At the end of next spring, it will be time to release those elves. What decision have you made?" Olenna asked.
"Just release them. They will definitely come back." Rand didn't worry about this.
(End of this chapter)