King of Technology

by Stayrr

Chu Yi dies in a car crash and becomes Landon Barn, the illegitimate son of king Barn, ruler of Arcadina. Because his mother was a maid and the king’s greatest disgrace, his father had always despised him. The same could be said for his half-siblings. When he turned 15, his father had announced that the city of Baymard would be given to him, and would no longer be under the empire’

1. 1

Chu Yi dies in a car crash and becomes Landon Barn, the illegitimate son of king Barn, ruler of Arcadina. Because his mother was a maid and the king's greatest disgrace, his father had always despised him. The same could be said for his half-siblings. When he turned 15, his father had announced that the city of Baymard would be given to him, and would no longer be under the empire's control. It was a well known fact that Baymard's lands were barren, and poverty stricken... For god's sake, this was banishment. His deadbeat father had indirectly banished him from the empire. Chu Yi woke up in a carriage, on his way to Baymard with a system "So what if my father hates me? So what if I'm banished?... I will turn my territory into a modern society"

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I'm the King Of Technology #Chapter 1 What happened? - Read I'm the King Of Technology Chapter 1 What happened? Online - All Page - Novel Next

"Little Landon, little Landon, are you okay"

A panicked voice reached his ear. Chu Yi hears a soft voice and thinks

'who's voice is this? didn't I die? '

Just then a sharp pain pierced through his head.

"Ahhhhhh"

Chu Yi yells out while trying to hold his head. He opens his eyes to see a stunning woman and a beautiful girl in front of him. The woman is the definition of a goddess. Although she looks extremely worn out, her brown hair and elegant poise could make any person have a hard time breathing. Looking at the middle age woman more seriously it's clear that she has had a rough life.

On the other hand the little girl is extremely beautiful, if she were on earth she would be classified as 'a beauty that can destroy a nation'. From her black hair to her green eyes, everything about her screams miss world. observing her closely she looked to be no more than 15 years old.

The woman and the girl were crying while shaking him vigorously. Chu Yi thought,

'Am I not suppose to be a sick? Can you guys not shake me so hard?, I'm afraid I'll really die from this'.

Chu yi wouldnt have minded it any other day, but for now his body felt extremely weak. He couldn't take any more vigorous shakes.

"I'm fine, mom, Lucy, dont cry. I feel better already"

"little Landon your all I have, if anything happened to you, I wouldnt know how to live anymore"

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"Brother Landon please dont scare me like that, I thought you were dead...you have been resting for two days now"

Just then his belly made a sound

"grhhhhhh..."

The woman poked her head outside the carriage window and said

"please stop the carriage"

"little Landon let me make something for you to eat"

"Brother Landon I'll help aunty so you can get you food fast..you just sit here and rest"

"ok", he replied.

when Lucy and his mom left the carriage, he closed his eyes trying to digest the whole situation.

He was a successful 26 year old mechanical engineer on earth, he also knew some electrical engineering principles. He had just got a big raise at his job, and on his way back from work he had a car accident.

'ahhhhhh...just when I got a fat raise...'

Now he is in the body of Landon Barn a 15 old illegitimate prince of Arcadina. His mother Kim Obley, was a maid in the palace. when his Brother, the third prince James Barn was born, the king had too much to drink from celebrating. On his way back to his room he spotted his mother Kim and forced himself on her. Later on the King found out that she was pregnant. He told her to stop working in the castle and gave her a small room at the back of the castle because he didnt want her to bring shame to him. The king already had three wives who would always bully his mother when they saw her. Whenever his father saw him or his mother, he would look at him with disgust, and at his mom as if labeling her a 'gold digger', as if forgetting that he was the one who forced himself on Kim.

As for Lucy, she is also the illegitimate daughter of Baron Gustav. four months after her mother died, the Baron denounced her as his daughter. It was then that Lanton's mother took her in as a personal maid for Landcome. Kim always heard of how Lucy would beg for food on the streets for hours. She took pity on Lucy and wanted her close by so no one would abuse her or hurt her. she loved Lucy like a daughter. Lucy moved In at age 10 to Landon's home and has always been with him ever since.

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His father had 6 children including him, 4 boys and 2 girls. Eli Barn, the first prince age 19 from the first wife. Jennette Barn, the first princess age 18 from the third wife. Connor Barn, although younger than Jennette also age 18 was the second prince from the second wife. Cary Barn, the second princess age 17 from the first wife. James Barn the third prince age 16 from the third wife. And then there's me, the illegitimate prince Landon Barn. They all bullied Landon excessively, treating him like a slave. Because of all the hate, Landon became very mature, calm and introverted.

A month ago when Landon turned 15, his father publicly declared that he was the owner of the fief 'Baymard'. It was also announced that Baymard would no longer be considered part of the empire. it was public knowledge that Baymard was a baren land, where the people died from hunger and extreme cold. Although Baymard was the third largest city on the empire, people migrated out of the city due to hunger.

Baymard is situated at the outskirts of the empire. At the front of Baymard is the empire and at the back is the endless sea. The king basically exiled him and his mother far away from his sights. Also the fact that Baymard is no longer part of the empire means.. even if war breaks out there, the empire will not help the citizens.

'what a cunning old fool, now I am Landon Barn, no longer Chu Yi. what I need is to develop the place'

Chu yi thought. Just as Landon was about to get up he heard a voice

"Host selected..."

"system analyzing..."

"20 percent complete "

"35 percent complete"

"71 percent complete"

"100 percent complete

Landon was shocked

" I never thought those system stories on earth were true.."

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The voice was coming from inside his head. It was a very emotionless mechanical voice.

"Ding! Do you wish to Bind with System?"

"Bind"

"Ding! Binding of Technological System has been completed. Host must work hard in order to bring advanced technology and development into this world." An instant reply.

Landon was stunned, he was excited inwardly. "System why did you choose me?" Landon blinked curiously while asking.

"When host was on earth, host had an IQ of 260. Currently host was the smartest dead person available from earth, allowing the system to bind with host. With the host's high IQ level, it will be easier to access the knowledge the system will provide. The system has a minimum IQ requirement of 250."

"So I was the smartest dead person..that makes sense...Ww..wait? what? System, are you sure?"

"Answering to host, Yes. There are smarter people back on earth, but they are all still alive. Due to hosts fortunate death, host was the next best thing."

Landon almost coughed out blood...'fortunate for who? for you or for me?... anyway there's no need thinking about it anymore. What's done is done'.

"system, how do I use you?"

"System will give you a task based on the situation of your Kingdom. If host is lacking the right raw materials for development, system will provide it as a reward. Once the task has been completed, host will be rewarded. Also host can buy basic equipments from system that will be helpful towards host's missions. "

"Buy basic equipments? "

"Yes, host can buy these equipments with experience, technology and bonus points. Experience points are gotten when host used the knowledge from the system to better hosts kingdom. Technology points are gotten when advanced technology is created. While Bonus points are gotten when the hosts uses his own intellect to create new inventions or solve major issues. The system has unlimited levels. The higher you go, the harder it is to complete the levels.'

A screen popped up in front of Landon showing him his current information:

'Host name: Landon Barn

Age: 15

Status: Banished prince of Arcadina (New King of Baymard)

Level: Beginner

Current Sitaution: Stupidly weak. If the host were to stand out in the wind for a long time, the host be will blown away (Poisoned with Nolat Wisp).'

Landon didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 'Was it my father, the King? or my half siblings? Damm.. I just arrived and I'm already poisoned? No wonder I felt like dying when mom and Lucy shook me earlier. I almost thought those two were undercover body builders. To think I was poisoned when leaving the kingdom. I was already banished...why couldn't they just let me be? Tchh. Who ever you are, let this daddy not catch you..heheheh.' Suddenly, a box wrapped like a gift popped up on the screen startling him;

"System Starter Pack: Knowledge on the Introduction to Farming (Host needs to develop his land before creating advanced tools to aid his people). As an additional bonus, system will cure host completely while giving host greater strength than the average person."

Landon clicked on the package and immediately felt a wave of knowledge burst through his brain. At the same time he could feel his body getting stronger. Once he was done digesting the information, he looked at his wrist and was shocked. His hand which recently looked like a ghosts body started changing. As time past his hand looked more and more human. Once he was done assessing his body, he looked at the Mission tab. There were two main missions, he clicked the first one;

"Mission: Is your land really Barren? Use your knowledge on farming and fix the problem of food shortage. Your empire must be strong enough to protect its future technology. For the empire to be strong, the people need to be strong.

Sub-Mission: Use the system to map out territory for future purposes.

Reward: Host will also get knowledge on gun powder and canon making. Host will also receive 100 development points.

Deadline: No specific time frame needed."

Landon thought it was reasonable. If people grew hungry in his territory, no one would want to work or fight to defend his kingdom. He needed food first before anything else. He clicked the second mission;

"Mission: Gather enough points to complete level 1

Requirements: 2000 experience points and 10,000 technology points needed.

Deadline: No specific time frame needed

Reward: Level Two Unlocked."

Landon shrugged. 'I would do it anyway so it really isn't a serious mission. Besides I'll need so many points...it will take at least 5 missions or more before I level up.'

"System, can you tell me about the current world?"

"Answering host, the current world is called Hertfilia, comprising of 9 continents. The continent the host currently lives in is call Pyno. Pyno has 5 empires; Arcadina, Carona ,Deiferus, Terique and Yodan.Each empire has at least 15 major cities and 30 minor cities. The hosts current fief is called Baymard. It is the third largest city in Arcadina."

"System, tell me the Situation with Baymard" he asked curiously.

"Baymard occupies 6000 square kilometers. The system has assessed that there are currently 1582 individuals living there. Minor cities in the empire have at least 10,000 people living in them. Host's empire falls short as a major city. Host empire is currently not even able to reach the requirements for minor cities in the empire. Baymard has almost no food in the territory. The people mostly get their food from fishing. But it is never enough for the total population. The winters on Baymard are extremely cold resulting to multiple deaths."

He was satisfied with his overall situation. At least now he had a plan and he knew what to do. He looked at the interior of the carriage more carefully. One could see that it was worn out and looked like a carriage commoners used, not that he minded anyway. But he was still shocked at how a father could treat his child like this. The King didn't even want to spend money to send them off. 'What a stingy man', he thought while shaking his head.

Just as he was about to get out and look for his mom, Lucy came in. She looked at him and was startled, while blinking several times. 'Brother Landon is looking like his old self again', she was genuinely happy.

"Brother Landon, you are looking better already. Would you like to eat inside the carriage or outside?" she asked smiling.

"I'll eat outside"

He stepped out of the carriage and followed Lucy.

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There where 10 groups of people sitting on the floor. Each had at least 30 people gathered around a pile of food. As he walked by, they knelt on one knee, giving him a proper salute.

"Greetings Your Highness"

"You should all sit down and not bother yourselves with such formalities," he said while smiling.

The men were relieved and sat back down. He continued to follow Lucy while shaking his head. When he saw his mother, he made way towards her and sat by her side. she looked at him more seriously, turning him from left to right and right to left. She then hugged him, and then put her hands on his head as if checking his temperature. At the same time Lucy held his wrist as if trying to feel his heart beat. she then turned his face left to right, and then right to left as if convincing herself that he is truly fine.

'I'm a king for god's sake, you guys keep treating me like a child...What will my men think when they see me like this?...So you know shaking me like this would make me dizzy?' he thought.

"Little Landon, are you feeling any better? Although you look better when we get to Baymard we will look for a physician. Here eat more food.." As his mom spoke, she took out a large plate and kept adding food on the plate.

Landon's eyes nearly popped out, he looked around and noticed that his plate was the biggest in the group. Forget the group, it was the biggest plate he had ever seen in his life. 'How can someone use this plate to eat? Tell me the truth, are you trying to kill me with a full belly?'

"Brother Landon here take some of my food.."

As Lucy spoke she also kept adding more and more food on the plate. His mother kept adding so much food to his plate. When she finally stopped, she held his spoon and scooped the food towards his mouth. 'Oh my God, now our trying to feed me toooooo?' he couldn't help but exclaim inwardly.

When Kim saw that he wasn't eating the food on the spoon, she thought it was probably because it was too hot. So she did what any mother would do, she blew the food on the spoon.

"Whuuuhhh..Whuuuuh, here ...little Landon it's cold now quickly eat up."

Landon was speechless, he quickly looked at the group of men in his group. It was clear that they were trying not to laugh, in fact one of the men's eyes were turning funny mixture between red and violent. He looked at them as if saying 'help me', but they shrugged their shoulders and continued eating while holding in their laughter's.

'Is this what it feels like to have a mother?... it feels very nice...Fine, I'll allow you to feed me now..but this is the last time...afterall, I'm considered as a sick man, so it's not that strange..right?...' he couldn't help thinking.

In his previous life he was an orphan, who never had parental love. But in this life, although he has a bastard father, his mom is an angel. He's also surrounded by people who genuinely care for him.

Looking at Lucy, he Suddenly felt his heart skip a beat. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and coupled with the fact that she spent her time taking care of the old Landon, always standing up from him when he was bullied. She was loyal, caring and somewhat strong...he secretly vowed that he would take care of her and protect her from now on.

Although he was touched by his mother and Lucy, he couldn't help thinking, 'Do I look like a baby pig to you women? Three grown men could eat what's on my plate and there would still be leftover's. Isn't this too much?' Even though he thought that, looking at Lucy and his mother's encouraging faces, he decided to eat everything.

'I guess this is the day I die from over eating'

When Landon and his mother had left the capital, they were given just three hundred and thirty knights. Most Barons and Dukes had at least three thousand knights under their care. When his brothers were all fifteen, they were given prosperous cities to rule with no less than ten thousand Knights under their wings. Even his sisters were given more knights than he did. Although his sisters were given mansions in the capital and not cities to rule, they were given six three thousand knights under their rule and command.

The knights that followed him were either deemed by the empire as having the worst talent for knighthood, lacked the proper training or were seen as a nuisance to the king. All and all, these knights were actually good people who were just bullied by people in the empire.

But among these men, there were five outstanding knights. Lucius was a 'Knight Commander' having one of the highest honors in the empire. It came as a shock to a lot of people when he resigned, stating that he would follow Landon to Baymard. Of course not to him, he knew better than anyone based on his memories.

Lucius had taken care of him as a father ever since he could remember. It's clear that Lucius has feelings for his mom, but she's too dense to see it. He couldn't help thinking, 'do I need to set them up together?...afterall mom deserves happiness too.' While he was thinking he continued to eat and look around.

He looked at the three men sitting by Lucius. They were Josh, Mark and Gary. They were all loyal disciples of Lucius who followed him everywhere, of course they also treated Landon as a brother. They all worked hard and attained the position of 'Knight Captain'.

Lastly he looked over to Trey Parsy who is his personal knight and bodyguard. Trey is extremely loyal to Landon that you would think it's an addiction. He always stays close to Landon, protecting him at all times. They usually play together and crack jokes here and there. In Trey's heart, Landon is his brother. Although Trey is only 19, he is extremely strong and attained the position of 'Knight Lieutenant'.

In the empire, knights were ranked after assessing their achievements and strengths. A knights rank starts from the least rewarding position; a squire to a page then Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Commander, Master Commander and finally a Provist.

After they all had their full, their continued to journey towards their new home. Baymard.

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As they neared closer towards the city, Landon couldn't help but gasp. The city was almost as big as the Capital. Although its said that the lands are 'baren', only an idiot would truly give it up. 'Probably my father had only heard of the crises going on here and never stepped in the city to check it out...truly a fool', Landon thought.

Baymard was surrounded by extremely high city walls, which looked to be about 16m high. There was only one outer gate post for entry and exit in Baymard. It looked exactly like a medieval city in the movies. As they drove through the city, people looked at them curiously. He could almost hear whispers.

"Is that the new lord and his family?"

"Do you think they would help us?"

"I heard that the new lord isn't favoured in the empire "

"Really, Aiiiiiiiiiiy...Do you think we're finished then?"

As they drove by, Landon started accessing the situation in this new kingdom. These people were extremely poor and didnt have the money to afford anything right now. They get their food mainly from fishing and occasional hunting. If he had to run the kingdom, he needed money...a lot of it.

Luckily his mother and the old Landon were smart. His mother started saving all her coins, since he was born. While he, Landon started saving at age 7. Royal Prince's start having their monthly allowances at age 7 because that's when they start their knighthood training as a Page.

when they were in the Capital, the wives of the king had a monthly allowance of 500 gold coins, while his mother would only take 200 gold coins. Once his mother found out she was pregnant, she knew it was only a matter of time before they kicked her out. So she saved all her money, never spending more than what she needed.

As for Landon, when he started training as a Page in the royal family, he recieved 50 gold coin per month (if he were a commoner it would be 700 copper coins), while his brothers had received 300 gold coins per month. He gave all his money to his mother to save. They didnt need much in life.

Since they eat and lived at the back of the palance, never needing any anything else. They were able to save quite a few gold coins.But all of that is about to change.

Before, they had only themselves. But now, they have an entire kingdom to feed and wages to pay for their Knights and servants, which is fair. Before all these people took their salaries from the empire. Now, Landon would have to step up.

He quickly calculated that their savings should be able to take care of everyone for at least six months. (Based on the currency 1 hundred copper coins gives 1 silver coin. Similarly, 1 hundred silver coins give 1 gold coin). The average salary pays up to 250 copper coins, while a knights salary pays 700 copper coins minimum, depending on their ranks.

He also took into account that he may need to build new equipments and buildings. He quickly remembered the starter pack he received. Once he waited for food to grow, he would have to fish the kingdom.

When they arrived at the only castle in the city, maids rushed out to greet them.

"Good day your Highness and highnesses" they said while curtsying.

"Be at ease. I am your new Lord, Landon Barn. This is my Mother Kim, my friend Lucy, my loyal retainers and my staff...Now, let's see our new home shall we?" he said with a smile on his face.

Once they were introduced and shown the entire castle. Landon all they staff gathered and waited for further instructions.Looking at the group of people, most were in their early twenties, while some were in their late teens and a few in their early teens.

"How many people work in the castle?" he asked.

A girl in her early twenties stepped forward and spoke, "Answering my lord, 30. There are 12 gardeners, 4 stable boys and 3 cooks and 11 maids."

"Good... Nathan, Daniella, please step forward " he said.

"My lord", they said while stepping forward.

Both have been loyal to his mother for many years. Nathan is a 47 year butler while Daniella is a middle age woman. They are actually married and their only child is actually Gary.

"Nathan you are to train the boys, while Daniella will train the girls. You all will be paid at the end of the month. your salary will be 350 copper coins. Use it to take care of your families. If you all have any difficulties, please inform any of us present... Afterall, we are all family."

As the servants heard this, they were stunned and then very excited. One should know that, there was no money around to even buy food. Their families had had a very hard life here. They all knew that the average salary is 250 cooper coins, but his highness offered 100 more copper coins... What did this mean?... 'His highness is so kind and compassionate. we must serve him loyally', they all thought.

Once he dismissed all the servants he decided to discuss with his retainers.

"You all have served my household loyally for years. This is our new home, our new life. The empire has sent us away for good..."

As he said that he looked at hsi retainers. They were all angry. They then continued

"They might have thought that they'll have the last laugh... They might even think we would all die without their help... They think we are weak, defenceless and a nuisance to the empire. But I dont believe so. We will turn this place into heaven and deny them access to it."

As he spoke, the knights were getting very excited. They're blood were boiling. Most of them were told they were useless all their lives. they are called trash and looked down on many times in the Capital. Even Lucy and his mom couldn't help it, as they blood boiled.

"Are you all with me?"

"yahhhhhhh", they replied

"I said are you all with me!"

"Good, because I need super knights who would train efficiently, so I will only pay the salary for a super knight. All Page's will get 1000 copper coins, Squire's will get 2000 coins, Lieutenant's get 3500, Captain's get 6000, Major's get 9000, Commander's get 12000, master commander's get 15000 and finally Provist's get 18000 copper coins a month."

Everyone was shocked. The amount was definitely too high for the various professions.

"This is a new era, a new time, a new home, and...a new King"

"Long live the King"

"Long live the king"

He knew he would change the way the knights trained, but he had to start gradually.

In this era, they didnt have any form rigorous training like the one's established on earth.

In fact, when he turned 18 he had served his country for two years before settling before he worked as a mechanical engineer. He knew more than anyone else, the importance of all those military routines.

Since the system would eventually reward him with all knowledge on canons and gunpowder making, its safe to assume that he would be making his very own machine guns soon. Hence, he needed to train the men's reflexes and physical conditions so they could efficiently work guns or any other military equipment's.

Although he didnt have any guns presently, it didn't mean he would neglect the benefits from that kind of training. Those routines helped soldiers build confidence in themselves, their subordinates and their Companions.

It also helped the soldiers improve their leadership skills, develop a sense of belonging, pride, compassion towards others and of course extremely strong body.

What he needed, were soldiers who were loyal to him, the people and the kingdom. And not men who did things for merit or money.

He scanned the soldiers seriously, ensuring that he met almost everyone with his eyes. He gave off the aura of a well accomplished soldier.

"Tomorrow morning before the dawn of day, all knights will assemble at the inner castle for training. This training sessions will involve new routines, as well as your normal sword practices...All those who arrive late will have no breakfast and lunch for the rest of the day. More than 3 Absences without a good reason will result in no food for a day and intense punishment...now...DO YOU UNDERSTAND!!!!!!"

All the knights immediately yelled back,

"Yes My King"

"Excellent...now divide yourselves into three groups. In can be in any order, but each group must contain at a hundred men." Once he finished speaking, he walked towards his mother and Lucy.

"Mom, we will need enough food to feed all the knights, our workers and ourselves... How much much do we have?" he asked. His mom thought for a while an answered,

"We brought 3 Wagons filled with wheat, 1 wagon filled with beans, 1 wagon filled with peas, 1 wagon filled barely, rye and oats. And finally a wagon filled with various seeds needed for farming."

"That's good...Mom, Lucy...tommorrow morning, could you all make sure that the kitchen makes enough food for all the knights? I need all the food delivered to the inner courtyard at day break every morning. " He asked softly. Afterall she was his mother not some soldier in the army, and Lucy was someone he cared about deeply.

Lucy looked at Landon's handsome face and blushed. 'Since when did Brother Landon look so cool and handsome?...'. Lucy continued to blush as she observed Landon.

On the other hand, Kim looked at her son's handsome face. She smiled and thought, 'When did my little baby grow up? he's so cute, acting all tough and manly. Pinching his checks gently she said,

"My little boy has grown up. Of course I'll do it. This our home now. what ever you need me to do just say it."

"Brother Landon, do you even need to ask? I'll do anything you need me to do". Lucy said.

Immediately as she realised what she just said, her blush intensified. Kim noticed and couldn't help giggling. Landon was confused so to why his mum kept giggling.

"Thanks mom, thanks Lucy"

Looking at them, he felt that he was truly blessed. Even though he felt like that, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

'woman, why can't you take me seriously? Although I may look 15, I'm a full grown man for pitsake. Can't you see that this is a serious military moment? you just said I've grown up. Yet, here you are, pinching my cheeks in public?. .. ..huuhhhhh, I give up. luckily no one saw you do it or else this serious atmosphere would be a joke.'

Once he finished speaking to his mom, he looked around and saw all his soldiers split into three main groups, excluding Commander Lucius. He walked towards them with a serious look on his face.

"Since we have three Knight Captain's in our kingdom, all knights will be grouped under these Captain's. All the Knight Captain's will in turn answer to Commander Lucius. Captain Josh!"

Josh stepped out of the crowd and gave a salute.

"My King", he said still on bended knees.

"You will lead, train and take care of all men in the first group"

"As you wish my King"

Josh moved towards Lucius, gave him a salute saying, "Commander" and walked towards the first group.

When he arrived in front of them, they all shouted

"Captain!!"

Josh then stood in front of them and faced Landon. Landon then continued on with allocating the other teams to Mark and Gary, repeating the same scenarios.

Once everyone looked satisfied with their various groups, they all faced Landon and yelled, "My Lord".

They felt like they truly belonged here as compared to when they were in the Capital. No one had ever paid so much attention to them as Landon was doing.

"You all will take each other as family, as each others brother. Your will eat together, work together, grow strong together and build this kingdom together. No Knight will ever be left behind."

They were stunned and equallysuprised. no one would be left behind?...this was the first time that they heard such a phrase. In this world the strong rules and the weak perished. That'sjust the way things were. But since most of them were considered as weak in empire, so they were heavily affected and touched by Landon's words.

"For Now we will do an inspection on the land. Commander Lucius, what do you think?" Landon asked while looking at Lucius.

"My King, it's an excellent idea. I propose that we all go for the inspection, so to know how to protect Baymard." Lucius answered immediately.

"I agree. Afterall, we need to have a clear understanding of the situation here. Based on the information we gather, we will be able to appropriately allocate duties and responsibilities to everyone...For now, let's go look at Baymard". Everyone needed.

As he was about to move out with his men, Lucius stopped him with a smile on his face.

"Little Landon, does your cheeks still hurt?"

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As they left the castle, Landon quickly checked on the system.

'System, how do I use you to map out the territory?'

'Answering host. Host just needs to look at the map of the empire, stored in the system and highlight the territories that belong to host.'

'Just like that?', Landon asked almost not believing the system.

'Yes!'

'so what happens when I want to expand my territories?'

'If that were to happen host just needs to highlight more regions on the sytem map.'

Landon nodded as he listened to the system.

'This is also very useful, as the system will inform host if any there any enemy attacks or unwanted guests in the Host's territories.'

'That's good then'

Landon looked at the map and decided to draw a circle around Baymard. He made sure to add at least 20 meter difference between the city walls and the surroundings.

Once he was done, a pop-up screen appeared.

'Would you like to view your selected Territory on the Monitor?'

He was excited. With a monitor could check every area in Baymard without being there in person. This is extremely useful for times when he might have to leave the territory for urgent matters. He clicked on yes, and viewed the city.

Looking at the monitor, it resembled a regular flat screen T.V.

He could sea people fishing on the sea coast, people farming inside the city, people going out to hunt, the city walls, the castle, and so on.

He was satisfied with this 'mapping' function in the system.

Baymard was divided into 3 regions; the Upper regions, the Central regions and the Lower regions.

As he passed through the upper region of the city, he saw various estates. There were 16 estates, that each had at least 6 stones mansions and 10 small buildings on them.

These mansions were extremely huge, having their own courtyards and servant quarters.

Each estate was surrounded by a 4 foot fence. A person standing next to the fence, could see the entire estate without stressing themselves.

If it were back on earth, each of these mansions could be used to open a major University. They were big, but not as big as his castle.

'At least there are no nobles in the city to bother me'

The City lord used to stay in Landon's castle, while these other estate belonged to the Barons and dukes.

Once they heard that Baymard will no longer be under the protection of Arcadina, they all fled to the Capital.

They didnt want to serve Landon, so they left. What a joke, serving a 15 year old prince who has no power. In their eyes he was trash, a prince with only 330 soldiers? They were all way stronger than him physically and had a larger number of knights under their wings. In his world strength is everything.

They knew that Landon had been exiled along with his family to Baymard. Staying, would only bring the Wrath of the King onto them.

Choosing to serve Landon would be stabbing the king in his back.

Besides, they didnt want to lend any of their knights to aid in protecting Baymard. If a war broke-out between Baymard and any neighboring cities, there would be no reinforcements coming in to help them.

Coupled with the lack of food in the territory, it was not a risk they were willing to take.

They knew that the King was Indirectly saying 'I want Prince Landon out of Arcadina, and if anyone helps him, they would face the consequences.'

Once Landon and his men left the upper region, they arrived at the central part of Baymard. This region was where the villagers lived.

As the group moved through the city, they greeted the villagers and aided any who needed any form of assistance. Landon kept observing his surroundings.

Compared to the houses in the Capital, these ones could easily be destroyed in harsh weather conditions.

From his memories, the houses in the Capital were all made from stone and wood, making them sturdy and long lasting.

But the houses in Baymard were made of sticks, straw and mud. They all had frameworks made of Timber. Their walls are made of a dried mixture of woven twigs and mud. And their roofs made of straw. This houses were typically called Mud-Brick houses.

'No wonder it was reported that Baymard had the highest death rate in Arcadina.' He thought.

Looking at the roads here, they were not as good as the ones In the upper region. There were patches of mud on the ground and a lot of pot-holes on the roads.

On their way to the lower regions, they saw a group of men carrying bows and arrows hoping to get some meat for their families, women carrying water and children running around and playing.

Once they reached the lower levels, it was all vegation and farmlands.

Landon could see over a three hundred fields, but only about 5 people on them. It was clear to see that even the people believed that their lands were barren.

Looking west from the fields, Landon was surprised to see two giant estates.

He then turned to the east from the fields and only one gigantic estate there. Landon's interest was piqued. He turned to the Lucius and the group.

"Why would nobles leave the upper region to build their estates here?, dont you find it very strange?"

"indeed my King", Lucius said and everyone else nodded.

"My King, maybe they found something valuable in this lower region and decided to stay here." said a shy knight.

The knight had blond hair and dark brown eyes. If he were on earth he would look like a K-pop artist. He had no muscles and looked incredibly weak, like a twig. Landon was not worried because once he started training them, they gain a lot of muscles.

The knight's voice showed a hint of shyness and fear. It was clear that he lacked any confidence in himself.

"What's your name, age, rank and Captain?", Landon asked.

"Billy Vein, age 17, Squire under Captain Mark. My King"

"Billy, that was an excellent suggestion. They might be things there that could help us better the kingdom. EXCELLENT." Landon said while smiling.

Inwardly Landon was shocked that Billy was 17 years old. He really looked like a 14 year old boy.

Billy was extremely excited to be complimented by the king. One had to know that when he spoke he was shaking like a leaf. Seeing his highness in high spirits, he felt more confident in himself.

The other knights also nodded and thought that what Billy said made sense. Afterall, even the villagers didnt stay here. So why would noble's? It all seemed very sketchy and questionable.

"Lets go West first. I'm curious to know why they needed two estates there, compared to the east."

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The first estate they stepped into was located on a hill.

As they stepped in, Landon was stunned by what he saw. It looked a pack of ferocious lions clawed their way out of the estate.

The courtyard had several pieces of broken equipment on the floor.

The left boot of a shoe was found floating in a pond at the center of the countyard. A trail of grain could be seen from the courtyard trailing into the estate.

looking at the floor more closely, he spotted a woman's undergarment by the trail of grain, a ripped painting in the flower beds and what looked like roasted fish.

'Where they so scared of my father's wrath that much that they had to throw away their meal?'. He thought

Landon and is men were all stupidly confused.

'Just what is going on? Nothing here adds up.' They thought.

In one of the courtyards, they saw large quantities of ash scattered all over the floor and traces of twigs and swords with blood stains on them could also be seen.

They searched through every mansion on the estate and couldn't find any thing valuable. Just as they were about to leave, Landon saw a cave at the back of the estate.

Once they reached the entrance of the cave, the men put their hands on their sheath in preparation for any sudden danger.

The entrance of the cave looked like it came straight out of a 'Lord of the rings' movie. Landon was just waiting for 'Samuran the white' to pop-up from thin air.

The cave had Molybdenum, Trona and Feldspar stones on the walls and ceilings. The people in this continent only knew the uses of Molybdenite.

Molybdenite was used to increase the corrosion resistance on swords, armor and any silvery objects.

This was the era of swords. Thousands of swords were forged daily in this world. Is was for sure a rare treasure.

On the other hand, people used Trona and Feldspar as decorative stones in the continent. In their eyes, the these two were just regular stones. Completely worthless.

But to Landon who came from earth, they were priceless. Trona could be used in glass making, paper, detergents, textiles...the list is so long. This was truly a huge win for them.

The cave was so big that Landon thought they would easily get lost if they kept going forward. So they decided to leave.

The second estate stood on another hill, 700 meters away from the first.

Walking in, the estate was far cleaner than the first. It was truly stunning. Landon was in awe.

They found bags of planting seeds and wheat in the kitchens, a ton of armour, swords and also a courtyard scattered with ash and blood stains. Moving towards the back of the estate, they found another cave entrance.

Once they stepped into the cave, they saw a lot if Iron ore's. This was an iron ore mine. To think they had such things here.

Everyone become excited again and kept wondering why no one in the empire knew of this mine.

They looked around for a while before deciding to head to the other estate on the other side of the farms.

The estate was a lot smaller compared to the other two out West.

Searching the mansions, they still found; a lot of seeds, armor and swords. Like the other two estates, they found a courtyard with a large quantity of ash on the floor and a cave at the back of the estate.

This cave had a lot of mineral pigments and ion oxides on the walls and ceilings.

Looking at the walls, Landon could see Red Ochre, Yellow Ochre, Unber. Saltpeter and Limestone's.

In this world, people used these ore's to make various pigments for paint. Only royalty, potential women for selected for harems and wealthy people could have their portraits painted.

Some peasants could live out their entire lives and never have their portraits taken.

Everything about painting was expensive. If people in the empire knew that Landon had this, they would cough out blood heavily and wage a full-scale war against him.

As the men all thought of the benefits of having paint, Landon had his own thoughts.

'System, are the other mineral ores important?'

'Answering host. Saltpeter is the main ingredient for making gunpowder. It can also be used in making; fireworks, rockets, food preservatives and can also be used as plant fertilizer. For the other ore's, they can be used as pigments for cosmetics and future inventions. Limestone can be used as soil conditioner, aggregates in concrete animal fillers, and so on. Host the possibilities are endless.'

Landon became excited after listening to the system. He looked at the cave and thought,

'Oh My God, there's actually large quantities of Saltpeter on the walls and ceilings'

Looking at the white crystalline cones on the ceiling and the walls, he felt like scrooge Mcduck. He even started smiling stupidly.

In truth, Saltpeter ores looked like frozen snow cones on the ceilings in winter. He was reminded of the Disney movie 'Frozen' when he saw this. There was no way he would 'let it go'.

This people on the continent didnt know what the uses of these ore's were. But thanks to the system and his previous life, he now knew the importance of these ore's.

Although he was happy now, he knew he had a long way to go... especially when looking at the ores.

He needed to find ways to extract the elements from the rocks. On earth, these ores would have been processed using very acidic compounds. There were no distillation columns, pipes or tanks here. This was very stressful to him.

Even thinking about it, he couldn't help but knit his brows.

Take cosmetics for example. Although he had the pigments for it, he needed to produce caster oil, glycerin, hydrolyzed corn starch, water, sodium chloride, Oleyl alcohol and so on. He needed at least 12 different ingredients here. He truly felt cheated.

For every major invention, he just had one ingredient here. ..But he needed to be grateful for what he had at least. He started thinking of how he could use the ore's.

'Ahhhhhhh that's right, I saw a lot of slate stones around the territory. Now that I have enough raw materials, I can make a chalkboard...hahahhha'. He thought as they walked in deeper.

When they exited the cave, Landon faced his men and asked.

"What do you all think about this situation?"

"The reports dont say anything about these three mines that we found. From the looks at it, the Barons and the city lord might have been the only one's who knew about it", Gary answered.

"That may not be entirely true, since they needed workers for the mines. Do suppose they used the villagers?" Josh asked.

"No..no...they would be digging their graves if they did that. Remember! they went through a lot means to painstakingly hide the resources from the empire so that they could fill their pockets." Lucius said.

"Right. If they told anyone else, they would be dead men walking. As it stands right now, they wont be able to tell the king about the resources in Baymard any longer", said Mark

"Why?", asked a young knight

"They've been here for many years, and in that time frame they never reported any resources they found in Baymard. Lying to the king is the same as taking the king for a fool. The penalty is death." Mark answered.

All the other knights gasped.

"Also, if King Barn knew that he had bestowed a land of fortune to our King Landon, he would kill them for sure." Josh added

"I'm guessing if he really knew, he wouldn't have given the land to King Landon." Said another knight.

Everyone nodded

"They probably brought in their own workers, in fear that their secret would be found out...If the villagers knew of it, they would probably fight for some resources so they could sell and feed their families. " Said Trey.

"That may be the case. Afterall, since we've been in the lower region, we haven't seen any people walking around...Since the people believe the land is barren, they don't come here anymore. And even if the did come, the mines are a great walking distance from their farmlands." Said Lucius.

"Also dont forget that the Entrance and Exit from Batmard is located in the central region, so no one really needs to be here." Gary added.

Everyone agreed as well

"My guess is that, they burnt all the workers when realised how serious their situation was." Landon said.

"That would explain all the blood stains and ash we found in all three estates... Afterall, there's no guarantee that the workers would keep their secret forever. The only way to bury the secret was silencing the workers permanently. " Trey added.

They had to admit, the city lord and the Barons put a lot of thought into their plans. They didnt think there would be a day when they would have to leave Baymard for good.

They truly didnt see it coming.

"Since we are done, let's move to the sea coast."Landon said.

The Central region of Baymard was like the mid point of a compass.

Moving Eastwards from the central region, one would reach the Upper regions of Baymard. And In the West, you would reach the Lower region.

Likewise, to the north of the central regions was the entrance/exit to Baymard. And in the South, the sea coastline entrance.

Once they arrived the coastline, Landon and his men saw a lot of villagers fishing, while some where carrying baskets of fish on their heads.

They spoke to the villagers, aided them and left to inspect the City walls and the forests by the entrance of Baymard.

Once were outside Baymard, Landon looked at the walls carefully. He had to admit, the walls were pretty formidable. The walls were in perfect conditions.

Moving into the surrounding forests, they heard a shrilled shout and the sound of a sword hitting aingst something.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh"

'ting..ting...'

There was a little boy who looked not older than 8, trying to kill a giant wild boar. The boy had light bright eyes and deep red hair.

Just as the wild Boar was about to strike him down, the boy shut his eyes tightly, as if accepting death.

He waited and was surprised... He didnt feel any pain...

Opening his eyes, he was stunned to see a group of knights and a dead wild boar on the ground.

"Thank you sir's", the boy said.

"Whats your name?", Landon asked smilingly.

Once the boy saw Landon's genuine smile, he knew they were friendly.

"My name is Momo Lye...sir, who are you?" Momo asked curiously.

"Im the new King and Lord of Baymard, Landon"

The boy was shocked and frightened.

"My King, sorry for not greeting you earlier"

"Its alright, besides I'm more worried about you."

Mosely was shocked. 'His highness is worried about me?...' he thought.

"Mono, why were you here alone? dont you know how dangerous it is?", Landon asked.

"I live alone with my elder sister, my king... Our parents died when I was just 4 summers old. Sister told me they died because of the cold...Sister recently got very sick. I know that for her to get better she needs a lot of meat, so I came to hunt."

Landon and the men were sad on hearing this. Although they were some of the men were bullied in the Capital, none of them had ever starved or seen someone die of cold.

They vowed that they would work hard in order to protect the people.

Infact Landon took pity on them too. In his previous life he orphan, so seeing Momo struggle, he felt he should assist him

"From now on, your sister will be my adopted sister, you will be my adopted brother and I will call you little Momo. You and my new sister will move into the castle immediately. From now on, that will be your new home. " Landon said

Momo couldn't believe it...this was the king. Although Momo was 8 years old, he knew when people were kind or tried to help him. He could tell that Landon was a good person.

Landon introduced Momo to Lucius and the other knights. Everyone started teasing Momo, making him blush.

"Little Momo, let's go take my sister my new sister home."

They carried the boar and left the forest.

Landon, Momo and the men stood outside a tiny house. They could hear tiny cough sounds coming from inside. Landon went in with Momo, Josh and Lucius.

"Sister, sister, I brought food for you"

Momo yelled as he ran into the house. Landon and group waited in the living room area.

When Momo stepped into the bedroom room, he saw a frail but extremely beautiful girl laying on a straw bed. She had fiery red hair, light brown eyes and a petite frame.

"Sister, the King is here to see you"

Grace nearly fell out of the bed when she heard Momo.

"Momo, did you get into any trouble? why would the king want to see me?" Grace asked questionably.

Momo then narrated the entire story to Grace.

"Then let me thank his Highness then" she said as she tried to stand up.

"Sister, he said that when your ready he would come in."

She nodded and Momo went out. A few seconds later, Momo, Landon, Lucius and Josh walked.

"Your highness", she said as bowed her head.

Looking at the tiny girl in front of him, Landon was sure she was 19 years old. In truth she looked like a mini-version of 'Erza scarlet Titania' from 'Fairy Tale'.

"Please be at ease, your my big sister afterall."He said gently with a smile on his face.

Grace was taken aback by his words, and after a while she relaxed. She found that what Momo said was true. He was ready a kind fellow. He was somewhat cute, with his big white eyes. He looked like a cute bunny rabbit, she thought.

"My name is Landon.This is Commander Lucius and this is Captain Josh. May I know your name elder sister?"

As Josh looked at the girl in front of him, he almost forgot to breath. Although she looked sick, she was incredibly gorgeous. Her red hair and petite frame made her look like a fairy. The more he looked at her, the more he blushed.

The same thing could be said for Grace, she had a hard time taking her eyes of Josh.

She had never felt this way before. She blushed so hard that her already light red face turned deep red.

Of course Lucius and Landon noticed all these and couldn't help chuckling inwardly.

"My name is Grace Lye."

"Grace, since I already take you as part of my family. I cannot bare to let you stay here with Momo on your own. For the safety of you two, please move into the palace with us." Landon asked.

"Your highness..."

"Please call Little Landon", Landon said smilingly

"Little Landon I'll go with you."

Momo was so happy, that he jumped on the bed and gave his sister a big hug.

"Captain Josh, help sister Grace pack up here. Commander Lucius, Little Momo and myself will pack up in the dining area"

Josh was stunned. He turned and saw Lucius and Landon chuckling. He turned his head back to Grace. She keep looking towards the floor, but it was clear that she tried to hide her blush. She was so cute.Josh smiled and thought,

'These bastards,they even have the nerve to give me a thumbs up...Haha .Luckily she didnt see anything...It would have been so embarrassing.'

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Once they got home, Landon told his mom and Lucy all that happened. They warmly welcomed Momo and Grace into their family. Little Momo and Grace were given rooms close to each other. They were also close to Lucy and Kim's rooms.

Landon gave the job of training Momo as a Knight Page to Josh. Momo was 8 now, so it was the perfect time to train him. (Although 7 years old was the appropriate age in the continent.)

He sat on his bed and tried to go to sleep. Tomorrow was a busy day for him. He had to train with the men in the morning, and then head out to the farms to solve the barren land situation.

As he laid on his bed, his eyes became heavy with fatigue and his mind drifted to sleep.

-THE NEXT DAY-

Landon stood in the center of the inner courtyard facing over 300 men. He was impressed. If he were back on earth, it would be about 5 A.M now, and yet all the men were up and ready.

None of them came late. Even Momo showed up early. He knew that for his plan to work, he needed to discipline them well.

He looked at them coldly, giving off an aura of an old war veteran.

"Line up in straight lines of 10!"

He started counting out loud: "1...2...3...4...5...6...7...52"

They all formed their teams under 52 seconds waited for his next command.

"Too slow. Line's should be formed by the time I count to 5. From today onwards, anyone who isn't fast in lining up will run 10 laps around the courtyard before training begins. Is that understood!!!"

"Yes King Landon!!!!!"

"During training, I will be your Commander and not your King. When Answering to me you will all say :Sir, yes Sir. Say it!!! Landon yelled.

"Sir, yes sir", they yelled back.

"There are four Military Disciplines to follow while training. These rules are to be followed only when you are in training. First: I am the Law here; second: obey my orders; third: Unconditionally obey my orders; fourth: When I am not around, Obey Commander Lucius' orders !"

The men were taken aback by his opposing aura that sent chills down their spines.

"Is that understood?!!

"Sir, yes sir"

He did warm-up exercises with them for 10 minutes and stopped. He watched and waited for them to catch their breaths. After 1 minute he yelled:

"Line up behind your assigned Knight Captain's"

They immediately got up and looked for the Captain's in a flash. No one wanted to be punished. They all lined up behind, Josh, Mark and Gary. Momo lined up behind Josh since he was told that Josh would train him.

Infact Lucius was impressed. He had always struggled when disciplining young knights. This was a real eye opener to him.

"After these exercises, you all should have realized how weak you are physically. You all lack stamina and strength."

At this point, they all came to the conclusion that their king was a demon trainer. He had joined them in training earlier and yet, he stood there looking back at them as if this was a casual walk. They had to admit, their king was pretty strong.

Actually, when the system cured him previously, it also gave him extra strength when he took the system starter pack.

Staring at their tired faces without any hint of emotions, he continued:

"Captain's Josh, Mark and Gary, Step forward"

They stepped out and looked at Landon.

"You all will lead your teams in becoming stronger. You will face challenges together and ensure that no soldier falls behind. If anyone in your team fails, it would mean that you also failed. Do you understand!!"

"Sir, yes sir", answered the three.

They steppep back and stood in front of their respective teams.

"Listen up!! Everybody squat down with your feet in a wide stance, hands clasped behind your back"

Although they were confused, they hurriedly did it. Even Lucius who was standing by the sides, decided to join in. He wanted to experience this new exercise.

"Holding this squatting position, jump to move forward. You are all to do this 10 times around the courtyard. Little Momo will be required to do only 4 rounds."

Hearing this, the soldiers thought that this exercise would be a breeze. Even little Momo and Lucius was doubting the effects of this kind of exercise.

How could Landon not know what they were thinking of? Back on earth,he thought the same thing too, the first time he saw how the 3xercise was done.

Landon walked to the very back of the lines besides Lucius and squatted down. Then he yelled coldly:

"Start!"

Once they started, everyone was was excited. They thought they would finish it fast, and be done.

After a while, they were breathing heavily and their throats were dry. Most of them were proud of their strength before, but now they couldn't help but look at their weak bodies. Even Lucius started to feel the burn, but he knew he couldn't stop.

Gary felt like he was about to die. His heavy arms and tired legs started wobbling.

Momo felt the burn in the legs and thighs. 'Does this mean I'm weak?, he thought.

From the back, seeing people feeling tired, Landon spoke out:

"If you give up so easily, are you real soldiers?Are you real men? Get up!!!! This is an order. My command is law"

When they heard him at the back, they all had one thought:

'Demon Trainer'

As the training progressed, their thighs felt numb. Everytime they wanted to quit, they would hear the devils voice from behind:

"Those that give up will be face my wrath. If you want to see...heheheh..Try me"

As they looked at little Momo, they were truly envious of the fact that he had finished his rounds.

Trey truly felt like his legs were going to RIP off his circuits. As he thought of his bestfriend Landon, he wondered were he had learnt this sort of demonic training from. Trey thought that Landon made the training up on the spot.

Infact, no one suspected that Landon was different. He had always been a very weird child. He was always too quiet growing up, a little introverted. When people would bully or insult him he would just watch. He never really cared about how they treated him. He never cried or showed any form of worry. So they all thought this was still him.

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As the exercise progressed, everybody gave it their all since no one wanted to do any of the devil's punishment's.

Once they were done they all dropped to the floor like flies...Every one was dead tired. Their thighs felt sore and their hands felt heavy.

Some were lying on the ground, while others were kneeling down trying to catch their breath.

Some even tried to sleep for a minute. While the ones that were awake, started looking at the main culprit who caused them to be in this state.

In fact, they almost thought he wasn't human. He had been doing these exercises with them and yet he looked the same as he was before the exercise.

Once every one caught their breaths and became more relaxed, Landon spoke.

"Line up"

Once they heard the devils call, they all jumped for their lives, lining behind their Captain's.

Even those who were almost asleep woke up and acted like shinobi's, as they desperately tried to find the Captain's.

Infact Landon was sure that after this day, most people would literally stick closer to their Captain's like glue. Landon chuckled secretly.

The men followed him in training for the next 45 minutes. They did sit-ups, duck walks, leg stretching, front kicks, normal kicks, side kicks, back kicks and roundhouse kicks.All these exercises were new to them.

When they were done he allowed them to rest for a bit. While they were resting, a maid came over and spoke to him in a very low whispery tone.

"You will all follow me in straight lines for breakfast. Your breakfast will be served every morning at this exact time. If you are absent for breakfast because you were of your duty or sickness, you need not worry. The staff will make sure to deliver your food wereever you are in Baymard... . Now follow me"

As they followed him into the dining area, they saw 12 maids, his mother, Lucy, Grace and 12 giant pots of food. On the side of the pots were a lot of plates and spoons.

The dining hall looked exactly like the meal hall in 'Harry Potter', If not, bigger.

"You have an hour"

As soon as they heard the demon king, they quickly rushed up one by one to get their meals.

With 12 pots stationed and 12 maids serving the food, within 20 minutes everyone had food on their plates. Water was then brought out and served to the men. Those who finished their food earlier, could go for a second round it they weren't satisfied.

The only issue was that it had to be done within the time frame Landon had set for them.

He brought little Momo with him and joined Lucius, Lucy, Grace and his mom for breakfast.

Looking at the cute tired Momo, Lucy, Kim and Grace lightly pinched his cheeks.

"Little Momo, is it too stressful for you?, you dont have to work that hard, aunty will take care of you." Kim said while smiling at him.

"That's right, when sister gets strong she will feed you and take care of you" Grace said while nodding her head.

"You just tell big sister when you want to stop, okay?" Lucy added.

"Aunty, elder sister, sister Lucy, I'm fine...brother Landon took good care of me when we were training. I want to get strong." Momo replied.

"My cute little Momo...so cute.." kim said while rubbing his head

"My little man is so cute..." Grace said while lightly pinching his jaw

"Little Momo you are so adorable..." Lucy said while lightly pinching his other cheeks.

Momo turned and saw Lucius and Landon holding in their laughter's.

He felt wronged. No man wanted to hide behind women forever. What would people say? He looked at his arms and thought: 'Cute?...Adorable?...No! No! No!...Bother Landon was right. Right now I'm too weak'.

Once the time was up, Landon yelled:

"Line up and move out"

In the minds of the men, the words 'line up' was their devil commander's favorite words. And their worst. They were pretty sure they would have nightmares of the King chasing them while saying: Line up.

When they returned to the courtyard, Landon continued.

"Two weeks from now, all teams will compete with each each. The strongest in each team, would be made second in command to their team Captain's. Also, those who prove themselves will be promoted on the spot."

Everyone was surprised and excited.

"Everyone is required to practice their swordsmanship for at least an hour a day. There will be three sessions; one after breakfast, one after lunch and one right before dinner."

He looked at them seriously and continued

"For today, we will train in swordsmanship now. And right after training, Commander Lucius will give you all your responsibilities. some of you might need to guard to entrance, checking for spies, while others will work in the city."

Everyone listened attentively.

Landon took his sword from the ground and smiled at them, making them extremely confused.

"As of now I am not your Commander, Commander Lucius is. Right now, his word is the law. I am just a knight in training."

They almost coughed up blood.

'who are you trying to deceive with those innocent looks? One minute your a demon and the next minute your an angel?...Ahhhh thank goodness...At least now we dont need to be alert all the time.'

They all sighed from relief. Some even tried to sit on the floor. Lucius looked at them and knew that they needed disciplined.

"And who said you could sit? Those who broke out of formation. Step out and give five me 100 push-ups each. Captain Josh, start training Page Momo. The rest of you take out your swords...Let's train" said Lucius

"Sir, yes sir". They all yelled back including Landon.

The couldn't help but sigh. From the 'frying pan to the fire'. From one demon King to another.

At the sametime, Lucius was happy with the positive responses he was getting. the men were more attentive and did things more diligently.

'I can get use to this', he thought.

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By the time training was done, it was already 9 A.M. The men all went to their assigned posts.

Landon decided to take Momo, Lucy and Trey to the farmlands in the lower areas.

Looking at the farms, he could roughly estimate that there were at least 300 farms.The whole place looked like one of those industrial plantations on earth.

There were three farmers on the land. When they saw Landon coming over, they rushed over to meet him halfway.

"Good day my lord", they replied with a hint of fear in their voices

"Good day to you all...I wonder if you guys can tell me about the land here? I was hoping that I might be of assistance to you all." Landon said while smiling.

"My lord, may we ask who you are?", asked an elderly man.

Landon could see that this man was like the leader of the pack. Everyone sort of hid behind him while talking.

"I am the new King of Baymard, King Landon.This is my personal knight Trey, my friend Lucy and I'm guessing you all know little Momo here...Please be at ease. I only wish to help."

The farmers looked at Landon curiously . This was the first time they had ever seen or heard of a king who wanted to aid in farming.

"May I know your names as well?" Landon asked

"Your Highness. My name is Pat, this is Lyore and this is Waldo. We are farmers here in Baymard." said Pat as he introduced everyone.

Pat was a strong 42 year old man with rich black hair and and light green eyes. On the other hand, 37 year old Lyore had blond hair with light brown eyes. And 36 year old Waldo had ink black hair with dark brown eyes.

"Your highness, we have been farming in this land for more than 20 years now. The land is very barren. The growth of our crops are stunted and our yields are sparse." said Pat

Searching through his mind, he knew he had to determine the soil type in order to fix the problem.

"Hmm...dont worry. By tommorrow I will give you the solution to the problem. Meet me here, same time tommorrow morning." Landon replied

"Yes, Your highness"

Although they agreed, they really didn't believe that he had a solution. Afterall, they had been farming all their lives while he had been living in luxury.

Their fathers farmed on this land and now they did too. Since they could remember, the land had always been barren.

They chose to keep farming because they genuinely loved everything about it.

It felt like an accomplishment seeing something they planted sprouting out of the ground. Although the yields weren't high, they felt joy in doing their profession.

So when his highness said that he would give them a solution, they were taken aback and of course had doubts about this so called 'solution'.

They decided to wait and see.

Landon walked away from the men, poured some water onto the soil and waited. He observed that the water drained quickly. This was a good sign.

He then grabbed a handful of soil and softly compressed it in his fist. The soil felt smooth and could hold it's shape for a short period of time. 'So far so good', he thought.

Landon then took 3 handfuls of top soil from the ground and went back to the castle.

Once in the castle Landon filled a white jade wine basin with water and poured the soil into it. He then stirred it vigorously, until all clumps of soil had dissolved. He then decided to place the basin by the window overnight.

Infact it would have been best to use a transparent glass jar. But too bad... glass hadn't been invented yet.

He decided that in the future, he would teach the farmers and villager's everything he knew about farming. 'Knowledge is power', he thought.

The more people that knew the right ways to farm, the better the crop yields in Baymard.

"System, can you give me a copy of the farming book from my starter pack?"

"Answering host. No. If host wants a copy, host should write it out his self". The system replied.

"Aren't you suppose to be an all powerful and mighty Technology System?" Landon grumbled.

"It is exactly because the system is all powerful and mighty that your request was rejected. The system is not a photocopying machine host."

Landon was speechless. 'What a shameless system', he thought.

"So how can you help me then?"

"Host can use the system's space time capsule's. Once host's eats the capsule, host will be transported into the system's space. 1 hour in the outside world is equivalent to 5 days in the system's space." the system emotionlessly replied

Landon was excited. With this he could write down the entire book in hours.

"System, I want to use the space time capsule", he said excitedly.

"Host does not have enough experience, technology or bonus points to use the space time capsule"

Landon didnt know whether to laugh or cry

"Then why did you tell me about the capsule?" Landon asked almost wishing he could kill the stupid system

"The system thought it was the appropriate time to tell the host"

Landon massaged the temple's on his forehead trying for calm down.

"How much time is contained in 1 capsule? and how many points do I need before I can use the capsule?"

"Answering Host. 1 capsule is equivalent to 1 hour in the real world. For host to buy a space capsule, host needs any of these points: 10 Technology points, 5 Experience points or 2 Bonus points" The system replied

"Since I dont have any at the moment, what do I do?"

"The system suggests that the host invent's something, so as to get the bonus points"

Landon's eyes lit up.

'That's it...I'll make a blackboard', he thought

-THE NEXT DAY-

After training, he went to his bedside window and observed the contents in the basin.

He took a spoon and carefully checked if the soil had any layers.

At the very bottom was sand, the middle layer had silt and the top layer had clay.

This was loamy soil.

It was the perfect soil for agriculture. It was a mixture of sand, silt and clay. If the problem wasn't with the soil itself, then it there could only be one reason

-Lack of nutrients and organic matter-

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As Landon looked into the basin, he realized that the water residue was clear in color and not a lot of organic sediments could be seen floating at the top. This was a bad sign.

Typically, rich soil leaves murky colored water with a lot of organic sediments floating around.

The solution is simple. The soil needs manure.

Actually this problem would been solved decades ago, if the people in this continent knew what manure was.

The most important thing to know is that soil is alive. The are more species of organisms in the soil than there are aboveground. These organisms convert soil minerals and organic matter to vitamins and hormones needed for the plant.

So for more than a decade these people have been starving the soil. Obviously these organisms would either die or move away. It's that simple.Soil needs to eat too.

Infact, Baymard wasnt the only place where the lands were said to be barren. There are so many small towns that had this problem.

The reason Baymard was well known was because it was the third biggest city in the empire. For more than 40 years, it had been barren.

From the reports he received, people claimed that one day, the land turned barren. Some people even said it was a cursed plan. Of course Landon didnt believe in all those stories. It definitely didnt happen overnight.

Everyone gave up on the place, as it was deemed worthless to the empire. As the saying goes -'The bigger you are, the harder you fall'.

Baymard's size was comparable to Tokyo Japan back on earth. Immagine if the entire Tokyo turnt to barren lands and there was no food too...Of course it make headlines.

Landon also wanted to introduce Crop Rotation. Doing this would definitely increase soil fertility, soil nutrients and crop yield.

Crop rotatation would also reduce stressful weeds and soil pollution.

It was a good method for maintaining the soil structure.

Having come up with a solution, he took a lot of bags and buckets, leaving again with Momo, Lucy, Terry and three other knights.

On their way to the the lower region, they stoped at the stables and got animal faeces and then got water from the wells.

They also picked up a lot of mosses, grass and dead tree skin and put in bags. As well as cooked discarded fruits, vegetables and vegetable peelings.

-Lower Region if Baymard-

"Mix everything together and put on the soil." Landon said

Everyone looked at him as if he was mad

'wouldn't doing this make the soil rotten?', they thought

Even though they were thinking that, they did it anyway.

"Water the farm beds. Remember not to flood it, doing so will make the soil hard."

They quickly went along to do what he said

"Now we wait...In the next couple of days, you all will follow the exact procedure done just now. When you get a process, come and find me." Landon said

everyone nodded as they too were curious to know the results of this little experiment.

Once everything was done. Landon decided find a carpenter for the blackboard.

Since it would take time for the crops to show any signs of recovery, he decided to open a school in the meantime.

For now, he decided to teach all the children and villagers on how to read and write in Pyron (language used in the empire) and how to do math.

He had already decided to ask Lucy to assist in teaching Pyron, while Kim and himself would teach Math.

Although both women knew basic addition and subtraction, multiplication and division would be hard for them to do.

Hence he decided to break Math into two parts; Math 1(addition and subtraction) and Math 2: Multiplication and division). Kim would Math 1 and him Math 2.

Of course Both math classes would start off with basic understanding of numbers. They would have to make sure the villagers knew how to count, before they started addition or multiplication.

He also planned on teaching both women math every night from now on. He hoped that one of them could take over his duty as the second math teacher very soon.

There were quite a handful of literate people living in the central region. From the reports, he knew there were a few alcamists, welders, and so on, who were literate.

It would be a good idea to find these people and use them in teaching others. Afterall, he cant teach everything.

He decided to follow the same schooling system that exists back on earth.

No matter how old or young the villagers were, those who were not literate, would begin at Kindergarten.

They were to learn how to read, write, simple add numbers and so on. As the saying goes: 'Your never too old to go to school'

Infact, Landon remembered that back in his university days, there was a 50 year old man who was in the class with him. He was was so astonished and had deeply respected the man.

Not everyone had the guts to go to school at such an age. Most people where either ashamed or very prideful.

The situation in Baymard was very tricky. Everyone went out to either hunt, fish, cook, farm and so on.

Because he didn't want to disrupt their daily lives, he decided to make a teaching schedule for the town. He would have morning sessions and late afternoon sessions.

All illiterate villagers were required to attend at least 1 session a day.

All villagers below the age of 18, were required to attend the morning classes. While those above 18 could choose to attend any session they liked.

Morning sessions would have 6 classes, 3 taking place at the same time.

He decided to break the children down into 3 groups: those below 7, those below 13 and those above 13.

Lucy would teach Pyron to those below 7, Kim would teach Math 1 to those below13, while he would teach Math 2 to those above 13 at the same time.

Once their classes was done, they would just take the next set of children.

Landon thought all these things as he made his way to the center region in search of a carpenter.

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Dear readers, let's join the telegram group Group to discuss more about the stories and report bugs so we can improve the quality of reading for you as best we can. Sincerely thank you.

Dear readers, let's join the telegram group Group to discuss more about the stories and report bugs so we can improve the quality of reading for you as best we can. Sincerely thank you.

--White-Wood city--

Standing by the castle walls of White-wood castle, a stilhoute could be seen looking over ther city.

The man had dark black hair and an overconfident smile on his face. however, hidden deep within his inky black eyes, a hint of anxiety could also be seen.

Eli Barn looked at his most trusted knight, Zarius half-kneeling in front of him and asked.

When Zarius arrived earlier he gave a letter to Eli while doing his salute. Without opening the letter Eli asked.

"Is it done?"

"Rest assured my lord, we made sure that his highness Landon was poisoned with 'Nalat Wisp' before he left the Capital." Zarius replied.

"Perfect...how long will it take for my trash of a brother to die?"

"My lord, this poison is a slow deadly one...there is no cure for this poison...it will kill him in 5 months time...by then no one would even suspect my lord for his highness Landon's death...I left no evidence my lord"

"Hahahhahahahahhah...good...zarius you have done well...that stupid brother of mine is the disgrace of my royal family...even if they found out I did it, so what?...father wouldn't care much..hihihi..he's already a dead man walking... afterall, everyone would think he got killed fighting over food or something...hihihihi" Eli said while smiling and laughing.

Zarius looked at his lord with a confused gaze...why had his lord gone through all the trouble just to kill Landon Barn...everyone knew he would die sooner or later so why the rush?

"My lord...why kill him?"

Eli looked at Zarius and smirked.

"I need his land as a secret base for my knights...I plan to be king within the next year and a half...the sooner that baffoon of a brother dies the better... as for father, he would never suspect me of anything..so I'll take advantage of that and kill him when he least suspects it"

A trace of violence flashed in his pupils as he spoke...Zarius looked at his lord in surprise. It was a genius idea... Even if they killed Landon Barn, they wouldn't let the empire know.

By doing so, they could secretly use his territory as a base to gather and train more knights.

King Barn sent his officials as spies to all parts of the empire. There are tons is spies in Eli's territory. The only way to train or get more knights without the king's knowledge was to use Landon's territory.

It was the perfect location. King barn had made his officials leave Baymard so as to prove that he wouldn't support the territory. The king believed that Landon would never pose a threat to him so he didnt see the need to send spies over there... hence making Baymard the ideal location.

Also King Barn had made sure that no one controlled more knights than he did in the empire... If the king knew Eli wanted to train and gather more knights, it wouldn't be long before he guessed what his son was up to...at that point King Barn would definitely kill Eli.

The funny thing is that Eli is already the crown prince and his father's most favored son. So doing all this was really unnecessary. Greed is a fatal human flaw afterall.

Zarius' entire body trembled while looking at his lord, Prince Eli. 'His highness sure is vicious', he thought.

"What about the assassins we caught earlier?" Eli asked.

"My lord, 5 of them killed themselves but 2 survived and 1 escaped...from what we gathered your second and third brother's are working together to get rid of you, my lord." Zarius replied

Eli smiled coldly

"So they plan to get rid of me first before killing each other over the throne?...hmm not bad brother's"

"My lord, should we send our men to retaliate against them?" Zarius asked.

Eli shook his head while saying...

"No need...doing so would only alert my father and make things difficult for us as well...dont forget our new goal...a year and a half before I become king...anyway, it's only my brother's. What harm could those Cub's pose to a full grown lion...Well...let's see how long they can keep this up shall we?..I dont mind being a star in their play..hahaha"

Eli remembered that he hadn't opened the letter in his hand yet...he opened it slowlyand began to read it.

"My sister Jenette wants to visit me from the Capital...My, my, my..this family just gets better and better", Eli said with a smile.

"My lord, do you think she knows that the assasination attempt failed?" Zarius asked

"I doubt that she would know...I'm sure my brothers haven't seen her yet and won't pass such serious information on paper...most likely she just probing to see if I'm still alive...I should reply here, no?

Zarius smiled and replied.

"Its only proper my lord"

Eli smiled while looking over the city once more and thought

'It won't be before I rule the entire empire. By then all of them would die for sure."

--Drapern City--

in a well lit fancy room. Three men could be seen talking to each other. Two of the men were sitting down while the other was half-kneeling as a form if respect.

"Are you sure the rest killed themselves?" asked Connar Barn

"Yes your highness. while escaping, I saw it with my own very eyes", the escaped assassin replied.

"You may leave now". Connar replied with a cold voice

"Yes my lords"

After they made sure that the assassin could no longer be seen they both looked at each other deeply.

"Second brother, what do we do now?..if father hears about this...he wouldn't let us off!!" asked James Barn

"Relax, I'll send first brother a letter saying that we want to come over for a visit...it would be better to be absolutely sure he doesn't suspect us of it." Connar replied.

"I agree", James replied

"Also, it would be best for you to stay in my territory for the time being..if he really knew, he would try to assassinate us together"

They both nodded and decided that this method would be the best way to find out whether Eli knew or not.

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Landon looked at the tiny stone building in front of him. It was one of the few stone buildings in the Central region of Baymard.

As he walked in, he observed a short looking who seemed to be fully immersed in making something.

The man looked to be in his late 40's, having deep green eyes and whiskers that curled at the tips. His over grown beard and mono-brow made him look like a dwarf fairytale character. Landon decided to sit and wait for him to be done while observing the tiny workshop.

There were also 6 other people at the back, who seemed to all be around the ages of 18-25. They were also fully submerged into their own works. Landon could tell that they were the old man's apprentices.

Once the man was done, he looked up and was shocked to see that someone was sitting down waiting for him. He hurriedly wiped his hands on his apron and rushed towards Landon.

"Sorry customer..I didnt see you there...I hope you didn't wait for long...I'm Tim Mayers, the owner of this workshop...How may I help you?" the man said with a forced smile.

Landon could tell that Tim was a kind hearted man. He could easily see that Tim felt guilty for making him wait.

"It's alright, I didn't wait for long anyways. I'm here because I want you to aid me in making school supplies", Landon said with a welcoming smile.

After observing that Landon was truly not angry, Tim visibly relaxed and had a genuine smile on his face.

"Are you talking about Slate-boards and slate pencils sir?"

"Yes...but I'm talking more about chalkboards."

Tim was confused. He didn't know what chalkboards were.

In this era, schoolchildren used slate-boards to practice handwriting and arithmetics without wasting paper. Slate-boards were made from slate stone. The boards were about the size of a laptop back on earth. They were portable, usable and disposable.

Since, paper was very expensive in this era, it was more reasonable to write on slate stones.

As for slate pencils, Landon really didn't need them as a planned to use chalk instead. Slate pencils were made from softer pieces of slate rock.

Slate pencils always left scratched mark's on the boards and the sound they make when used was just utterly terrible. It sounded like nails screeching on a chalkboard. Infact Landon thought that the sound was just like those shriek sounds in horror movies.

Also when slate pencils were used, the boards would need to be thrown away after a short period of time. That's were chalk has the advantage over slate pencils. Chalk could be easily used without destroying the boards.

At the same time, he noticed that teachers didn't write or show their capabilities. They just talked for hours trying to make the students memorize things.

Slate stones could only be cut into smaller pieces, so making a very large slate-board was near impossible. Hence, he really couldn't fault the teachers for their teaching methods because they didnt have anything like Chalkboards (also called blackboards). Of course in the future, Landon knew that he would upgrade to the popular whiteboards commonly used in universities.

Landon looked at the confused Tim and smiled.

"Dont worry...I'll guide you on how to make them."

Immediately as Tim heard what Landon said he nodded and felt re-assured.

"How many would you need sir?"

"I'll need 60 chalkboards and 2000 slateboards"

Landon planned to line up at least 3 Chalkboards in each classroom just like how his University did.

Tim was quite curious about this customer of his. Judging from his clothes he must be a knight. So why would a knight need all these?

"Pardon me for asking sir, but who are you?" Tim asked inquisitively.

"Ahh pardon my manners, I'm your new king of Baymard, King Landon... I plan to develop Baymard in all aspects of life. I want my people to all be learned. For this I will need your assistance."

Tim was shocked...weren't all noble's suppose to be snobbish. The young man in front of him was intelligent and very humble.

Landon spent the entire day explaining how he needed the Chalkboards to look like and what materials were to be used.

At the end they came up with a price range for all the products. Each slate-board would cost 7 copper coins and a Chalkboard would cost 4 silver coins.Landon thought those were pretty reasonable price ranges. It was also concluded that a month from now, all the boards would be available.

For the chalkboard paint and the actual chalk, he needed the mineral ores in the caves.

The next day he gathered 300 men and appointed Lock Wiggins as the supervisor for digging the ores out, making the paint and also making the chalkboards.

He agreed to pay each worker 400 copper coins, while chief Wiggins would get 600 copper coins per month. He also arranged for all workers to have meals during their lunch break which would be cut from their salaries. A plate of food would cost 5 copper coins...so they didnt really mind.

A week passed by and Landon realized that they had collected quite a lot of ores. It was finally time to show chief Wiggins how to make chalkboard paint and chalk.

From the group of 300, 20 men were selected to make blackboard paint while 80 men would make chalk. Chief Wiggins also appointed 3 new Supervisors under him.

Hail Verno would supervise ore extraction, Charles Mopey would supervise paint manufacturing and Javon Stern would supervise chalk making. Of course chief Wiggins would oversee everything. Their salaries were also upgraded to 500 copper coins.

The last estate Landon went to last time in the lower regions was cleaned and used as the storage facility for all ores and the manufacturing industry for both chalk and paint.

The ores were put into different buildings according to their types and the amount deposited registered at the end of everyday day.

Landon also appointed 5 cooks and 30 knights to guard and protect the workers in case of any unforeseen incidents.

Once the first batch of chalkboard paint was made, Landon sent it to Tim Mayers. As well as a sample of chalk.

Landon knew that this chalk would be used by both teachers and children. For now he decided that chalk should be free...but once the economy picked up, he would sell 12 pieces for 10 copper coins.

Time flew by very fast, and before he knew it..the last week of the month was here.

Just when Landon was about leaving the upper region of Baymard, he saw Waldo running towards him.

"My king, the plants have bore fruits"

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Ding!!!

"Congratulations to host for completing the first task", the system responded.

Landon decided that he would check his reward when he went back home at night. For now, he needed to see the results for himself.

Landon looked at the overly excited Waldo. Judging from his appearance, Landon could see that Waldo had been crying before. He assumed it was tears of joy.

Waldo knelt down in front of him and almost began crying again.

"Your highness...your idea was a success...with the soil not being barren any more ...w..we...(sniff)...we would be able to produce enough food to feed everyone. Thank you your highness...thank you..( sniff, sniff)", Waldo said while trying to hold back his tears.

"Please stand...you all are my people and my new family...it is my responsibility to take care of you all", Landon said with a smile.

Waldo looked at Landon and was filled with warmth. This is what a ruler should be like, he thought.

"Waldo, let us go to the farms and have a look at the fields"

"Yes your highness", Waldo said with a smile.

Once they got to the farmlands, Landon was shocked. He could see tall stalks of wheats, he could see bean sprouts, oats, peas, rye, and tomatoes. Infact, the farms all looked lucious and rich.

When everyone saw him coming over, they all smiled and rushed over to him. They were no longer afraid to speak their minds in front of him. In fact at the middle and end of every week, Landon made sure to come over regularly.

He always brought food over and spoke to them as if they were his family. The farmers were stunned at first, then they later realized that their king didn't care about appearances at all. All of them thought he was wise, intelligent, kind, generous and most of all humble.

"Your highness", they all greeted and gazed at him as if they were looking at a God.

"How are you all? I heard that there are a lot of goodies from the farm this time...you all should make sure not to overwork yourselves.. Taking care of one's health is the most important thing afterall." Landon said while smiling

They all smiled in return and Lyore stepped forward.

"My king, your methods were amazing. I feel like a toddler who is learning farming for the first time." Lyore said excitedly.

Landon chuckled while looking at their excited faces.

"Dont worry, in the future I will teach you all on everything concerning farming. But for now, we need at least 250 more people here. We will hire people irrespective of gender. Of course children below the ages of 15 and people above 38 will not be allowed to carry or distribute the goods. They can only work on the fields for health and safety reasons."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Afterall, it would be difficult for the elderly or very young boys or girls to carry those heavy bags of food.

"This Food industry will have Lyore as the overseer for all farming activities. Pat will supervise how to workers plant and care for the soil, while Waldo will supervise how much yields we make and the storage of the goods. Pat will be in charge of 150 people, while Waldo will take on 100 people."

Again, they all thought that was reasonable.

"At the end of the day, storage of all goods is to be kept in the second estate on the left of the fields, and the amount recorded. Also, Waldo it would be your job to distribute the goods to the local stores in the central region. We will set reasonable prices for all food items, so everyone can buy them. 10 wagons will be assigned to the farming industry. Use the wagons to send the yields to the estate and the stores in the central region."

"Yes my King", Waldo replied proudly.

"There will be also 5 cooks and 20 guards assigned for protecting you all and the fields. You all will also have your lunch breaks in the estate as well."

They were all happy that at least they had a place close by to get food. One needed to know that there was quite a good amount of distance between the farmlands and the central region of Baymard.

"Finally, everyone will receive their salaries from Lyore at the end of each month. All workers would earn 400 copper coins, supervisors get 500 copper coins and the overseer gets 600 copper coins. Of course your meals will be taken out of your salaries, it would cost 5 copper coins a plate.

Once more, they were truly shocked. All farmers in the empire were paid a measily 250 copper coins per month, but his highness gave them so much more... They were beaming with joy and really felt grateful towards him. They swore in their hearts that they would work twice as hard and make the best of their new lives.

Over the past few weeks, they've been hearing some of the miners brag about how grateful they were to his highness. He gave them food, jobs and made them feel safe and cared for.

They felt like they would hold their heads up high once again.

So what if he wasn't favored in the Empire? He was kind and very trustworthy towards all of them.

Infact, some people even thought that Landon was the reincarnation of a God sent to help Baymard grow.

Landon looked at their happy faces and smiled.

"Now, let me show walk you all to the estate that would represent the future Food industry"

Once they arrived the second estate, Landon showed them around while explaining how the estate would be used.

He told them about his future plans, so they would know that they were going to share the estate with others soon. Although they didn't understand half of his plans, they believed in him. Hence they didn't mind sharing with others. This was a man who solved the barren soil issue as if it was nothing...what more could they say. He was working his hardest to make sure that they had food in their bellies.

Landon planned to make a section for fishing, production of can foods and so on..but that would be in the future. Hence he needed them to understand that they share this estate with others.

He allocated some buildings to the farming department and told them to store foods in different rooms depending on the food types. He also showed them all the seeds he originally found in the estate and asked them to plant some more crops. He would need to get the rest of the seeds he found on the other estate's over here later. He thought.

Lyore had agreed that in three days time, he would gather 250 men to work for the farming industry.

Landon could only wait.

Once Landon went to his room, he decided to look at his reward for completing his first mission.

"System, show me my stat and rewards"

Host name: Landon Barn

Age: 15

Status: King of Baymard

Level: Beginner (Level 1)

Current Sitaution: Healthy

Fixing Barrren lands and mapping territory with the help of the system completed

Rewards: knowledge on gun powder and canon making. Host will also receive 100 development points.

Overall Points: 100 Development points (DP)

A pop of message showed up when he was done reading the information on his screen.

[ Receive Rewards: Yes or No ]

Landon accepted it and immediately felt a surge of information flowing into his brain. After using 30 minutes to digest the large amount of information from the system, he decided to view his next mission.

Mission: How can you protect your technology, if your kingdom defenses are so weak? Use your newly acquired rewards to create and test warfare cannons for the protection of your kingdom.

Rewards:

•Will your people keep living in thatched and mud houses? As the future kingdom for technological advancement,it's very humiliating. Hence, host will receive all knowledge on cement manufacturing.

•Host will also receive 20 Godly food recipes and 5 spice making recipes. In the future, if host needs to create toaster's, microwave's, oven's and so on, your people should know why they need them in their everyday lives. Hence they need to appreciate these various cooking appliances, so as to create new ways of cooking and satisfy their pallets.

•Lastly, host will also receive 250 development points (DP) and 1000 Technology points (TP).

Deadline: no specific time required

Landon looked at the mission and was completely baffled. The rewards for the new mission left him stunned.

It's not that he had a problem with cooking. But when anyone is asked about technology, they would think about A.I systems, laptops, cars and so on...No one would ever mention anything about cooking.

But now that he thought about it, if he could come up with different spices and dishes, people would want to eat them everyday. Hence they would ready appreciate cooking appliances like frying pans, ovens, grills and so on. So in a sense, it was still a technological improvement in this era. Afterall, people want things that make their lives better and easier.

Making them learn how to cook these godly recipes with their crude cooking methods, will make their pallets satisfied.

But once things like frying pans, microwaves, toasters, oven's and so on come out, they'll see how crude they're cooking methods were and understand the importance of technology. They'll see how using these appliances can save time, cook efficiently and open new doors in the cooking industry.

More importantly, those appliances would be available to all...not just royalty or large households. Peasants would be accessible to them, and sooner or later, they'll see these appliances as essential needs for everyday living.

For a moment, Landon thought this system was actually trying to brainwash people. I mean, he loved technology and all, and he saw its importance...but why couldn't he create these cooking equipment's first before introducing these godly dishes?

The system wanted these people to crave for the dishes. The more they craved, the more they'd try cooking them over and over again.

By doing so, they would spend lengthy amounts of time cooking a single dish. And when Landon makes cooking appliances that reduced the amount of time to used in cooking, they'd be hooked on them for good.

The system just wanted people to practically worship technology. At this point Landon wouldn't be surprised if in the future, a 'Technology Church' popped up as a religion.

In fact Landon observed that the people didn't really know about deep frying methods. They knew about frying food, but these fried dish's were only served in the palace and top class restaurants or large households.

Even the way they fried was terrible, it was like they were so afraid to fry anything else other than rice, eggs and meat. Landon thought this era was somewhat equivalent to the 10th Century Medieval times back on earth.

He just couldn't understand why they couldn't even fry vegetables or something else? What baffled Landon was that fish was often boiled, baked or roasted but never fried. I mean... if you could fry meat, why couldn't you fry fish? What kind of logic was that.

But he knew that he also couldn't entirely blame them too...Afterall, frying only became popular 60 years ago in the empire.

Landon's late grandfather who he never met, had gone on a sea voyage to one the empire's in Pyno, called Terique. He had tasted the fried meat there and instantly fell in love with the taste.

He later sent a group of chefs to learn about frying from them. These chef's returned after 6 months and taught the different chef's in the Capital of Arcadina. As time went by, these practices spread out to other chef's, but majority of the chef's never experimented beyond what they learnt.

Landon guessed that the few popular chef's who did experiment, failed when trying to fry vegetables, fish and other foods. So they concluded that these foods couldn't be fried. They probably fried them using the amount of time needed to fry meat as a basis. For sure, the results were catastrophic...The foods were burnt to a crisp.

The more he thought about it, the more he changed his mind. It's not that they didn't understand logic, it was just that they were ignorant. Afterall seeing is believing.

Back on earth, people believed that the world was flat until someone proved them wrong. They also believe that someone with a dying heart couldn't be saved, until some performed the first heart transplant in the world. If someone told Landon they could breathe in space, he would tell them to prove it first before he believed in them.

Humans believe what they see. So when those chef's failed in experimenting with frying, they only said what they saw and believed.

Afterall back on earth, it was only until the 13th century before people knew other foods could be fried. And only until the 16th century before people knew manure was good for crops. Unless you provide substantial evidence to support your claim, no one would believe you.

Coming back to cooking, most people just roasted or boiled food over the fire for long periods of time. Then they would add various leaves, honey and salt as spice's. Landon thought grills were an absolute must as well as fridge's. Some people didn't even use salt because salt was very expensive.

Some of the cooking appliances in this era eere not practical for everyday use. Their pots didn't have handles and were unnecessarily large. They looked like a witch's Cauldron in those fantasy movies.

The only thing that Landon found ok, was their baking methods. They could make sweet delicious pastries, pie's and a various types of puddings.

Their oven's were used in baking and also used in making mud-bricks. They were really expensive for peasants to use. So he already decided to make ovens that ran on electricity like those found on earth.

Most ovens only existed in large households and bakeries. In larger and flourishing cities, it was common for a community to have a shared ownership of an oven to ensure that bread making was accessible to everyone rather that private individuals.

'Ahhhhhh...I have a long way to go...I see why I need those dishes...I wonder when I'll be able to eat Pizza again?' Landon thought as signed helplessly when he thought about the backwardness of this era.

Just thinking about how much work he had to do in the future, gave him a minor headache. Why couldn't he transmigrate into an era which was close to the 18th century on earth or more? Truly tragic.

Landon decided to sleep early, as he had to give the knights their first military test in the morning.

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In the early hours of the morning (4 A.M), a large group of knights could be seen making their way towards the lower regions, in lines of three.

Looking at them, Landon couldn't believe how much they had improved by. Their muscles were bulging and they had much more discipline and strength compared to their previous appearances. They all had upright postures, sturdy physiques and unfaltering determination.

Little Momo was the only one that didn't have that robust physique, afterall he was still a child. Nonetheless, he had all the other qualities instilled into him, so he wasn't very lacking as a soldier. He seemed more mature and had looked very confident for his age.

As the group moved, their footsteps were so light that one would think they were assassins and not knights. Landon had taught them the importance of camouflage and giving the enemy the element of surprise.

In this era, knights fought proudly and with honor... liked to show off their flashy moves to prove that they were powerful. They thought sneaking around was an act of cowardice and showed lack of strength.

But Landon disagreed. In war, finding the easiest and safest way to eliminate your opponent while protecting your comrades, showed true strength. The less casualties produced, the better.

Infact, Landon had taught them how to set up Booby traps and come up with different war strategies. He especially taught them how to knock someone out by hitting all their pressure points, especially the back of their necks.

Since swords weren't allowed in the first phase of the exams, they would have to use their hands and their brains. Hence, he taught them basic martial arts and self-defense tactics.

Two weeks prior to the military Exam, Landon had located three mini hills that were far away from the farmlands or any of the estates. Each hill was surrounded by trees and a lot of bushes, making it perfect for camouflage and traps.some parts even had sand pits, while others had little streams that obviously led to the sea. It was perfect.

Landon had given each team a mini hill as their base and told them to build their own base wooden sheds and booby traps for the upcoming exam.

Although he didn't tell them the nature of the exam, they immediately understood that each team would face each other in the upcoming exams. So they started preparing for the exam.

Once they arrived, Landon looked at the men lined up in rows of 3 and was very pleased. They now looked and acted like the soldiers back on earth.

"There will be two phases for the exam: Phase 1 will include stratergy and enemy infiltration, while phase 2 will be on swordsmanship. Today we will only focus on phase 1, while tomorrow will be on phase 2". Landon said.

While he spoke Commander Lucius and butler Nathan placed boxes in front of each team.

"The boxes in front of you contain each teams headband,ropes and flags. Josh's team will wear the red headbands, Mark's team would use the yellow headbands and Gary's team will use the purple headbands. There are also 50 pieces of rope in each box for tying up prisoners... Each team should have 5 flags that have the same color as the team's headbands...Your headbands can be worn on your heads, wrists, arms and even on your legs...wear them anywhere you'd like...Now, put on your headbands!!!!"

The team captain's quickly carried their boxes and distributed each headpiece swiftly. Landon was impressed. The men didn't break up their lines and just waited for their team Captain's to give them the headbands. Some put them on their legs, others on their waist, arms, and so on. No one put them on their heads. Landon smirked. They were smart.

These so call headbands were just pieces of clothes cut from very old peasant clothes.

Once Landon saw that they were done, he continued.

"Tonight each team should come up with its offensive and defensive sides. Your goal is to gather at least 1 enemy flag or at least 50 enemy headbands. I will not give any advice or aid on how to hide your flags or engage in this battle. DO YOU ALL UNDERSTAND!!!!!"

They hurriedly gave a military salute and yelled out: "SIR, YES SIR"

"Good... During the battle, Cammander Lucius and myself will be moving between each camps to observe you all from the shadows. And at the end of the exam, everyone will all be graded." Lanon replied

Once they heard what Landon said, they were filled with more determination to prove themselves.

"Here are the rules for the battle: The use of weapons like swords or blade's is prohibited, only martial arts or self-defense tactics can be used to disarm your enemies. Finally, Knocking your enemies out is also not allowed."

They all listened carefully as they didn't want to miss any major details.

"Those who loose their headbands will be considered as dead...If you are captured and your headband is taken from you, you are considered dead...If you loose your headband by accident, you will also be considered as dead. Once dead, you cannot and should not continue with the battle. Aiding your team after pronounced dead is a serious crime in today's battle."

He looked at them and released a cold aura which made their spines shiver.

"Anyone who disobeys these rules will get a month worth of intense punishment at the end of the exam...You will also not rank up as a soldier for the time being. Hence do not disobey orders... Afterall, Dead men tell no tales and should not affect the battle in any way.

Everyone felt as if the headbands given to them, had the same worth as a mountain of gold. They secretly asked themselves whether the position they placed the headbands were secure enough and well hidden from their enemies.

"One more thing, the duration of the exam is 2 hours...Once the time is up, even if the you haven't succeeded in the exam, you are all to assemble back here immediately. Failure to do so will also result in a week punishment for all soldiers, Irrespective of what team you belong to."

They were shocked. So if some one in another team was late, then they too would get punished?

Infact Landon did this to ensure team work with his knights. He wanted all of them to be their brothers keepers, or so to speak.

"Good luck men, You Exam starts now!!!!" Landon said

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--Josh's camp--

Josh looked at his men whom he had successfully divided into groups of 5. The first group had 12 men, the second had 36 men, the third had 20 men, the fouth had 16 and the fifth had 15 men.

"Group 1 will constantly scout the perimeter of the base. There should be at least 3 people stationed at each checkpoint. If an enemy approaches, 1 person should rush back to alert us, another trails them quietly from the shadows. And the last should always stay on guard at the checkpoint, in case other enemies approach again. Remember, unless necessary, do not attack them...just observe quietly. Do you understand?"

"Yes Captain", they replied swiftly.

When they were building traps, they also built hidden bases and covered them with mud, leaves, grass and sticks, so they could spy on their enemies without being seen.

"Group 2 Will focus on infiltrating our enemy camps. Since you are 36 in number, 18 men will infiltrate Gary's camp, while the other half will infiltrate Mark's camp. From the 18, divide yourselves into 6 groups and infiltrate the camp from all entrances. Once your position has been compromised, escape and return to the base carefully."

"Yes Captain" group 2 replied.

"Group 3 will be stationed at all trap positions. Each trap should have 3 people guarding them. Once the enemy falls in to the trap, secure their headbands and take them as prisoners or free them. Once the prisoners and their headbands are secured, 1 person should rush back give little Momo the headbands. Once given, return to your positions by the traps. The other two should redo the traps and wait for another enemy encounter."

"Yes Captain" group 3 replied.

"Group four will be in charge of guarding 4 of the flags, I will keep one with me of course... Spread yourselves around the hill in groups of 4 and protect the flags. Remember choose a location that wouldn't give off your position to the enemy easily."

"Yes Captain", they also replied.

"Finally, group 5 will have 3 sub-groups in charge of: guarding our main base, protecting little momo and protecting myself. Remember little Momo is the one who will have all the enemy headbands in his position. If another enemy steals all the headbands we worked hard to get, then we will loose this battle. Although I'm confident in my own skills as a Knight Captain, we must plan for the unexpected. Hence, since I have one flag as well, it is your duty and responsibility to protect me"

"Yes Captain", group 4 replied.

--Outskirts of Gary's hill--

A group of soldiers hid quietly in the bushes and trees, carefully waiting for their preys to move closer towards them. They had planned to ambush their enemies.

They had painted their faces, necks and hands with mud and had stuck tree branches, leaves and grass all over their hair. It was clear that they had tried as much as possible to remove any and all shine from their skins. It would be extremely hard for anyone to spot them with this kind of army camouflage.

Berry Jax was one of these soldiers. He stood at the back of a tree, waiting for his prey to get closer, while holding trees branches as part of his camouflage. There were a total of 4 people walking into their territory.

Once the enemy was close enough, Berry and his team moved out quickly.

Berry arrived behind one of the men, and sharply pressed his fingers behind the man's ear, into the pit between the jaw and the neck. This region was the 'Parotid Lymph Node'. He then gripped of the ear in a fist, and dashed the lobe from bottom up, twisting the ear up towards himself.

The soldier who's ear was gripped, felt his entire body go numb...and he subconsciously fell on his knee's in defeat.

Berry, swiftly took off the soldier's headband and used his rope to tie the soldier as a prisoner. By the time his team was done, they escorted the captured soldiers to the outskirts of their base. They figured that since the soldiers were now 'dead', they would not be able to interfere with their camp anymore. Hence they freed them and returned to their main base.

As Landon watched through the monitors of the system, he took a mental note of Berry and his team. Especially Berry... When the enemies came, he was the one who signaled the men to attack.

If Berry had been a few seconds late, this ambush would have been a complete failure. Even Berry's quickness and decisiveness when dealing with his enemies was remarkable. The others in his team were good, but Berry was a natural. It was like he was born to be an assassin.

Landon was pleased.

--Josh's Camp--

As Trey and his team left Mark's camp, they decided to first observe the perimeter of Josh's camp. They knew that like all their Captain Mark, Captain Josh would also station people around the perimeter.

The team looked at the trees carefully, but didn't see anyone on them, so they ruled out the possibility of Josh's men using tree huts like they did. In their own camp, Mark had made camouflage tree huts with mud, grass and leaves on top of the trees.

Just as they were about move into Josh's territory, Terry spotted a heap of dried grass, leaves and twigs that looked suspicious.

The only reason Terry noticed it was because the grass seemed to be growing in the wrong direction, compared to the sorrounding grass.

"What do you guys think of that heap over there? Terry asked

"Hmmmm, it looks normal to me...do you think theres something weird about it?" One of his teammates asked.

"I think their knights are hiding in there." Terry responded while nodded.

The other 3 were shocked...The heap, is really small, how can anyone be under there? only a child could fit there alright?...

Terry wasn't sure if his hunch was right but it wouldnt hurt to double check.

"I'm guessing that they dug out holes there, jumped into them and placed the grass and leaves on their heads while waiting for enemies...Once the enemies passed through the checkpoint, they would get out of those holes and report what they saw to Captain Josh...I have a plan"

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Terry and his team walked in casually pretending to not be aware of the hidden knights in hiding.

Once they were out of view from the heap on the ground, they hid in the bushes and waited to confirm their speculations.

As expected, after 3 minutes...two knights jumped up from the ground. One went towards the left, while the other towards their direction.

Terry signaled for two of his men to capture the other knight, while the rest focused on the the approaching knight.

Once the knight passed their hiding spot, Terry quickly arrived behind the knight and covered the knight's mouth with his hand. While his teammate quickly weakened his pressure points and took off the knight's headband from his arm.

"Now you are considered dead, remember dead men tell no tales. So once I take my hands off your mouth, you cannot speak or scream...Understand?"

The soldier nodded understandably. Afterall, what could he do? He was just a corpse now.

They decided to check if there was any other person in that hole. They couldn't ask the captured knight because he was already considered 'dead'.

Terry decided to go for a surprise attack by jumping into the hole and taking out his enemy.

Once in the hole, the young knight was shocked for a while before trying to defend himself. They battled in the hole for 2 minutes, before Terry found and opportunity to secure the knights headband.

It wasn't that the knight was weak or anything. Infact, from a spectator's point of view, they were evenly matched in strength. The only reason why Terry won was due to the fact that he had way experienced in combat and battle than his opponent.

Just as he was done, his other teammates brought back the headband from that knight that went towards the left.

With just 3 headbands, they decided to continue until they got at least 10 more.

A while after they left, Lucius came out from his spot of hiding. He told the dead knights to go towards the meeting ground and wait there until the exams were done.

"Terry my boy, your biggest asset is your brain. This boy is already smart and observant enough to access his enemies potentials. Combined with his fighting prowess, in the future he will be a powerful force to behold." Lucius thought.

--Mark's Territory--

A group of knights were silently following their prey while waiting for an opportunity to seize their enemies flag.

At the start, they thought that these soldiers were looking for people to hunt down, so they decided to lay low for now. But after following for a while, they noticed that there soldiers were not hunting, but hiding.

This only meant that they had their camps flag with them and didnt want to get caught. They were 4 enemy knights in total. But his team only had 3 members. They needed to act real quick to accomplish their task.

Although it was risky, they were all willing to take that risk.

One of these soldiers was Billy Vein, who was a knight under Captain Josh. He was the shy knight that gave Landon a smarr suggestion during the city's inspection a while ago. But now, he was beaming with confidence.

The enemies located a good hideout and decided to stay there for a while. Just as they were about to lay low, Billy's team appeared swiftly.

Billy quickly numbed the first knight by hitting his pressure points and took his headband. By the time he was done another enemy came towards him. This one was strong. A began seriously fighting while observing his other two teammates from the corners of his eyes.

His teammates had been a little slower in attacking their enemies. Hence the element of surprise didn't go too well as they planned.

Everyone was fighting seriously, trying to snatch each others headbands. Billy had been thinking of how to get close enough to snatch his opponents headband tied around his neck, when all of a sudden he realized that his teammate was about to be 'killed' (headband taken off).

He hurridly kicked his opponent and successfully helped his teammate in the nick of time.

His teammate used the opportunity to quickly take the headband, while Billy returned to fighting the knight he fiercely kicked.

His teammate who he had just helped, decided to assist the other teammate who also had trouble finishing the job.

Billy fought for 7 minutes before successfully taking the headband from his opponent. He looked at his opponent and said

"Your good, I'm honored to have fought with you this time. I was just lucky to have won this time around, Thank you." Billy said while smiling

His opponent smiled back, but didn't say anything. Afterall he was dead. What could a dead man say?

Once Billy and his team were done, they decided to quickly leave and head back to Josh's camp. Walking around with the enemies flag was also too risky.

As Landon observed more, he was shocked at Billy's transformation. Wasn't this the boy who had once looked like a cute K-pop star? Now his body looked like a sexy 'Gong Yoo'. Even his shy attitude and aura had been replaced by a serious and manly one.

Landon really admired Billy's courage and fearless attitude. Although it was risky for their 3 man group to go against 4 enemies, they still took the chance.

And when Berey saw the helpless situation his teammates were in, he didn't even hesitate to help them out. He was loyal and hardworking.

Such a man could even die for his comrades in war. Although it was admirable, Landon didn't like them taking such risks as sacrificing their lives easily. What he wanted was for them to think various ways of rescuing their teammates and themselves safely.

If the chances of a soldier making it back was less than 70%, Landon didn't want them to take on the jobs. Like he said it was admirable, but too risky.

Take for example, if the empire was to send thousands of troops right now to kill him, his people and retainers, he would try to find a way to secure everyone's safety by letting them escape. What was the point of fighting to the death with no power.

Landon firmly believed in the 'Live today to fight tomorrow' philosophy.

Just because one couldn't fight his enemies today, didn't mean they would never crush them in the future. As for Landon l, the only thing he needed was time and the systems help to avert all crises coming his way.

And when he was ready, he would find out who poisoned this daddy here. Oh yes...he was still pissed about the poisoning that took place when he first got here.

Although he was cured, he was still a very petty person. If you were good to him, he would give you the world. But if you looked for his trouble, he would kill you a million times over. He was a very very very petty man, and he was aware of that flaw.

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Before everyone knew it, time was up. They had been constantly battling, observing and capturing their opponents for 2 whole hours.

Everyone assembled in straight rows of 3 behind their Captain's. No one was late.

Landon had put 2 bags in front of each team Captain. One bag was used to collect all headbands from their surviving team members. While the other, was used to collect enemy headbands and flags.

Once collected, Landon counted everything in front of everyone, so that they could know how they did as a team so far.

Josh's team had collected 2 flags and 19 headbands, Mark's team had 1 flag and 25 headbands, while Gary's team also had 1 flag and 27 headbands.

Their results were overall the same in Landon's eyes. Although Josh had the lowest amount of headbands, he had obtained 2 flags. While Gary and Mark were similar in their scores too. Everyone had successfully passed as a team in this exam.

Once the soldiers heard their results, they were so happy that they almost cried. One had to know that this was the hardest exam in their lives.

Most of them lacked battle experience and weren't all that familiar with battle tactics, but they persevered through and all their hardwork bore fruit.

They themselves had seen the changes in the bodies and their ways of thinking. They regarded each other as family, and for the first time had a deep sense of brotherhood.

Now that they thought about it, most knights in the Capital were very selfish, only thinking about how to get more power and wealth. If you were not strong you would be trampled on and even ridiculed there.

But here in Baymard, they had a new understanding of how life should be. The strong should always protect and provide for the weak...No matter how poor people are, it was not enough reason for anyone to treat them like trash.

Now was just 6:30 Am which was too early for their normal training sessions to end, so they knew that there was more to the exam than this.

"Since we time on our hands, we will move onto the next stage for today's exam. You can what you just did as 'Phase 1 part A' while this one will be 'Phase 1 part B'." Landon said.

"I need you all to form groups of 6 which will include 2 knights from each team. The last test showed how well you performed in your Captain's team, but now I need you to work well with other knights under other Captains. Remember we are all people of Baymard. No one is more superior or inferior to the other. There is always room for improvement, so keep working hard." Landon continued.

The men thought what Landon said was right, they were all for Baymard. It didn't matter which Captain they were under, provided they did their best for Baymard.

"Now...form groups of 6 as required. Of course the Captain's will be grouped together separately from you all."

They hurriedly form their groups and waited for further instructions.

"Over the last weeks, I have been training you all on how to use simple tools with your own bare strength, and then using them to climb hills and cliffs. By using your bare hands, you all have improved your physical stamina, flexibility, mental strength, muscle coordination, muscle strength and a sense of judgment for adaptability. Some of you have even conquered your fear of heights and death."

Landon looked at his men who were beaming with pride and confidence, and felt a sense of accomplishment within him.

A few days ago, he had paid some villagers had to assist him in building the exam set. For this test, Landon had set it up almost like the military drill sessions back on earth.

"You all follow me and I will show you were your next exam will be held." Landon said

Once they arrived, seeing what was in front o them, they were confused about how the test would progress.

For each team, Landon had put 5 stacks of wood separated by a very short distance. Only 6 people could jump over one stack at a time (he had used trees for this test afterall). The soldiers were all expected to jump over these wood stacks without touching them.

The next drill was the tire drill exercise back on earth... Soldiers would hop in several car tires while trying not to fall. Since there were no tires in this era, he made circular moulds with mud, leaves,grass and twigs. oldier's were required to hop through 20 tires without falling before going to the next exercise.

He later build a 5 row wooden jumping bar over some muddy water (Which had dried out now but it made the ground look mushy) for each team. The goal was for the soldiers to cross the muddy water by using the hanging wooden bars he built, without touching the ground.

Followed by a large wall made of net, hanging over the side of a 10 feet, sturdy and old tree.The men would run up to the wall, climb and slide down the tree like a pole and move on.

They would later crawl under several nets, that were pinned very close to the ground. And finally, they would have to rock climb the cliff at the side of the mountain to get to the top.

Once on the cliff top, they would meet Commander Lucius, get a block of wood from him and rush back to present it back to Landon. Mission complete.

"For your test, Baymard is at war and the only way to save it from extinction is to retrieve something very important from Commander Lucius and bring it back to this king. Your task is to pass through all the obstacles, get the item and successfully retrieve it without damaging it."

Landon looked at his excited men and continued.

"But there's something very important to note. When doing rock climbing, each team will only be given 8 ropes to use. You are to secure your rope as well as your teammates, before proceeding to climb. Commander Lucius will not give you the item if you are one teammate short. If one person isn't there, you all fail."

Everyone finally understood that they seriously needed to work well as a team.

"Also, going to Commander Lucius and coming back should only take 15 minutes. Once the time is up, your exam will end"

They were all worried now whether they could do it or not. As Landon looked at their worried faces, he decided to boost their confidence by letting their Captain's demonstrate it for them.

Infact, once Landon finished building all the obstacle courses, he had showed Licius and the Captain's how to perform the drills.

At first they were slow, but now they were pro's. Afterall, they didn't want to let the soldiers see them fail as Captain's, so they trained extra hard for this.

"As you can see there are 5 sets of obstacle courses in front of you. There are 3 net walls available for all to use, remember that.The only other thing you all share is the cliff...so 5 teams will perform at once. Now I'll let you see how it's done by letting your Captain's work as a team for this test."

As the men watched their Captain's work together very fast, they were amazed and looked at them with worshipping gazes.

The speed at which their Captains climbed the cliffs together amazed them, as they knew that they themselves couldn't be that fast as of now. But nonetheless, they were now confident that the test was within their capabilities.

When their Captain's returned, everyone clapped and said various honest heartfelt praises.

"Now...the first 5 teams, step up and begin. The Exam starts."

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Joseph Fig was very anxious and nervous as he watched the exam progress from the sides. He observed that some knights had their legs tangled up on the rope wall, while others couldn't jump swiftly over the stacks of wood present.

Most people fell when they had to jump through the circular stacks of dry muddy leaves. And few people were slow when doing rock climbing. Their king had taught them how to make decisive decisions on where to place their hands when rock climbing.

He also noted that for some people, by the time the reached the cliff top, Landon would say their time was up.

Others had collected the item from Lucius and on their way back to Landon, their time was up as well. Some people also damaged the item on their way back by dropping it in the mud, or letting it fall from the top to the bottom of the cliff.

This was also a fail to their king. Their king said the only thing he would allow to damage the item was blood. Carelessness with important items or even state documents, could lead to exposure and worsen your position with your opponent. If you get the item, one must secure it before proceeding to return.

But surprisingly, what Joseph was worried about was cliff climbing. When he climbed before, he was confident because he was alone on his rope. But now, other people might depend on him to climb up the cliff. Their security and lives were somewhat in his hands.

Their king had told them that in a military war campaign, when a rock wall, cliff or mountain side, was visible anytime, many people would choose to go around it. Joseph included.

This was the first time he had ever heard of a need to know how to scale hills, cliffs or mountains. No one had thought of this idea, but Joseph could see the wisdom in it.

No enemy would imagine that someone would willingly climb a cliff just to attack them, so they would leave that edge unsupervised. Giving room for them to invasion to occur.

And If you were not fast enough when climbing a cliff, the enemy might discover you and throw boulders down on you instantly crushing you. As their king always says 'You need to be swift as an assassin in war'.

Joseph decided to do his best and toughen up for the glory of Baymard and his majesty, as well as improve himself. Even if he didn't complete the exam, he needed to be confident in carrying his teammates through.

And Joseph was right. Although time was important in this drill, Landon's primary objective was on teamwork. He needed each knight to feel the responsibility given to them in a team. They couldn't act selfishly and they needed to make wise decisions that benefit the entire team as a whole.

When Joseph and his team ran towards the bottom of the cliff, Joseph took one end of a rope, knotted it around his waist and passed the other end of the rope to his next teammate. This was of course for safety measures.

Joseph realized that he was the safety climber (lead climber) of the group, while the others were supporting climbers behind him.

Joseph took another rope, tied it around his legs and butt as a harness and knotted both ends of the rope with the other team rope around his waist. His teammates did the same thing as well.

Of course his highness had said that each person must always have a daggar when climbing up a cliff or rock wall. One end of a new rope should always be tied to the dagger and the other end to the climbers waist rope.

Once they reach a dangerous height, the lead climber was to pierce the soil and rock cracks deeply as support and climb up the cliff. In this way, if all of them slip, the rope attached to the deeply pierced knife will save them.

Joseph looked the tall cliff in front of him and decided to start climbing it. He looked at a vine in front of him and hesitated whether or not it would be wise to grab it now.

When he did, nothing happened and he immediately became happy in knowing that he made the right choice for his team.

As they progressed up the hill, suddenly...grrrrrrrrrrrp...Joseph felt a tug on his team waist rope and looked down. He immediately saw one of his teammates dangling helplessly from the team rope. His teammate had slipped. Joseph thought fast.

"Use your daggar to stabilize yourself by stabbing it into soil and climbing back to your position. We will wait for you dont worry." Joseph said with a smile

The knight smiled bitterly with his face filled with guilt. He looked like he was about to give up.

"It doesnt matter if we don't make it in 15 minutes, what matters is that we work hard together and better our skills. You were the best at the other obstacle activities. So what if your slow in this one now? With his highness' help we will become professionals in no time. Preserver and dont give up easily. " Joseph encouraged while smiling with confidence.

"Yeah he's right, cheer up, I myself almost slipped there too. We are all learning, are we not? No one is as good as our Captain's now, so dont worry. Push on." Said another knight smilingly.

The knight looked at Joseph and the rest, and smiled more confidently as if he just had an enlightenment.

"Thank you all", he replied.

As Landon, the Captain's and Lucius heard them, they all smiled and nodded as if acknowledging what was said. It was the main point they were trying to drive home today.

Likewise, as the other knights heard this, they also had a stroke of epiphany and finally u understood what the real goal was for this exercise.

Once Joseph and his team reached the top of the cliff, their time was up. Although they had failed in the aspect of time, they had passed regarding their teamwork.

They held their heads high and didn't feel down at all. In their minds they were thinking of how to improve themselves more over time. Infact all the knights, didn't get discouraged, but aspired to improve and become as tough as their Captain's.

Once they were all done with the test, everyone went on with their daily duties excitedly in anticipation for the last exam. Tomorrow was the last day for this hellish exam.

Would it be a normal sword fighting competition? or something else? This question made them ponder deeply the entire day.

--'-zzzzzzzzzzzzz (snore)--' and finally everyone went to bed with anxious smiles on their faces and a sense of accomplishment in their hearts. They felt strong and confident.

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--The next day--

The soldiers had gathered at the training courtyard in the castle. Today was the last day for the exams.

Those who were proclaimed 'dead' yesterday felt like they had to do exceptionally well in today's test. They were so anxious such that they were literally shaking unknowingly.

For them, they had let their Commander, Captain's, teammates and his highness down. This alone was enough for them to want to prove their worth's.

Landon looked at his men and smiled.

"Today, Commander Lucius and I will test your swordsmanship skills. We will be looking at your reaction time, flexibility, prowess and fighting tactics."

"Each person will be given 4 sandbags weighing 4 kg each and a 15 kg sandbag to carry on your backs. You are to fight each either Commander Lucius or myself for 5 minutes, while wearing these weights. Two matches going on at the same time. Commander Lucius will fight in one match, while I, the other."

Landon knew that Lucius could last for 2 hours straight without even taking a break when wielding his sword.

Lucius was a war veteran. To get the his position, one needed to have slaughtered a lot of enemies in the battle field. In some war cases, Lucius had to fight for 4 hours straight before the war ended. Others lasted for 2 hours while some for 3 hours.

Breathing exercises were very popular for knights. In the battle field, one needed a lot of stamina and momentum to push on.

Landon knew that at the end of every match, it would take 1 minute for the knight to leave and a new one to come on stage.

For veteran knights, that one minute was perfect for breathing exercises and gathering momentum for the next opponent. Although Landon knew this, he still didn't want to burden Lucius that much.

As for Landon he knew that he couldn't last for more that an hour without getting tired, so he asked the system for help.

'System...do you have energy boosters that I could use?'

'Answering host, this system has everything, even instant Ramen noodles. Therefore, system will have energy boosters. One shot of energy from the system can last for 1 hour only and costs either 3 development points, 5 technology points or 1 bonus points. This energy shot revitalizes one energy level, bringing one's body to maximum energy conditions. All traces of fatigue and pain will disappear from the user. Does host want to use his development points towards this?' The system asked.

'System, can I use this shot on anyone other than myself?'

'Yes you can host'

'Good...After every hour, give Captain Lucius and myself energy shots. So for 4 hours we will need 3 shots each. In total, six shots will be used. Right system?'

'That is correct host...In total the host will use up 18 development points for the hourly energy shots'

Landon nodded and was pleased. He also decided to get some for Lucius, because although he knew that, although Lucius could really last long, he wanted Lucius to fight the young knights in his best conditions.

Others should not fight Lucius when he was tired, as that will also not be fair to the knights who fought him in his best condition previously.

The reason for the weights is to see how the men could fight in different scenarios. When facing an enemy, you might have to fight when carrying heavy items or even rescued civilians on your back.

What if you were carrying an unconscious princess and the minute you put her down, someone sneaks attacks you and kill her? Besides you might need to escape while fighting and carrying heavy items in your hand or a person on your back. Adaptability is key.

It is also important to note that your enemy might not carry any extra items or persons when attacking you. So they would be free and weightless compared to you. Hence Landon insisted that they fought with these weights on.

Landon realised that most of the young knights couldn't fight well when carrying weights on their backs and legs.

Surprisingly, the weights on their hands didn't disturb them all that much from wielding their swords. The problem was that they didn't know how to balance their center of gravity when fighting with these weights.

So most of the time, they would fall down, trip or even accidentally drop their swords. They were struggling to adjust themselves, but in battle, the enemy will not give you the time to adjust.

Looking at his men, Landon decided that he would start training them regularly with weights.

After 1 hour of battling, Lucius was surprised that he didnt feel tired at all. He assumed it was because of the breathing exercises he did during the battles.

Lucius looked at Landon and was deeply impressed. He had assumed that the young lord would get weak after an hour of multiple intense battles. He decided to see how long Landon could last before opting for a break from the exams.

2 hours went by and even 3 hours had gone by, yet Landon didn't even break a sweat. Although Lucius found it oddly strange that he wasn't tired. He now regarded Landon as a 'Monster' for wielding a sword so long.

Infact Lucius wasn't the only one thinking that. The young knights all thought Landon was not human. Lucius they understood, but Landon who had never gone to war before could last this long? They were all impressed by their king.

Once the exam was over, Landon informed the knights that they would get their results and rewards tomorrow morning before their regular training sessions.

After having breakfast, Landon made up his mind to check on the farmlands and mines today.

As he was walking out of the upper region with Terry, one of Tim's apprentices rushing over.

"Good day your highness, all the slate-boards and chalkboards requested have been successful made." Paul said while bowing

his head at Landon.

"Raise your head Paul, this is Wonderful news, Let's go see your master first shall we?"

"Yes your highness"

"Goodday Your highness, all your orders have been completed and are ready to go. If I must say your highness, these chalkboards and that strange white stone you call chalk are simply genius." Tim said while gazing at Landon with eyes filled with worship and adoration.

Landon chuckled

"Dont get too excited Tim, in the future we will create more marvelous products in Baymard. Afterall, although the idea was mine, you and your apprentices did all the actual work. So you all deserve most of the credit."

"No no no your highness, a true man doesnt take credit for what he did not do." Tim said while shaking his head.

Landon could only look at him helplessly.

Infact, as time went by...Tim had come to know of all the brilliant ideas and things his highness had done in Baymard. From making the land bear food, to producing chalk and so on.

How could a 15 year old have such profound knowledge? In his eyes, Landon had already become a wise sage who knew how to solve every problem in the world.

"Tim, are you and your apprentices literate?" Landon asked.

"Yes your highness, I taught them how to read, write and do Math." Tom answered confusedly.

"In the future, I would like you to teach more people about Capentary and construction. Would you be able to do that?"

Tim thought for a while and finally replied.

"I would your highness, but my workshop is too small to accommodate a lot of people here." Tim said while looking around his messy workshop.

"Dont worry about that for now...Tim, I want to open a school for everyone in Baymard. Once people know how to read and write, I want you to pick two of your apprentices or yourself, to teach them about Capentary and construction later on. You don't need to worry about anything else. I will give you an entire estate in the lower region consisting of 18 buildings for your new workshops."

Tim was shocked. Isn't an entire estate too big for just a tiny workshop. What is his highness planning? ...Landon looked at Tim and instantly knew what he was worried about.

"These buildings will be able to allow over 2000 people to work in them at once. I will put you in charge of these buildings and all construction projects in Baymard. Although we don't have a lot of people now, very soon this place will be filled with people."

Tim finally understood where Landon was driving at.

"Plus in the future, I will also teach you new never before seen techniques for welding, constructing materials or buildings and creation of new devices and equipments. You will be the first person in the entire empire to use these techniques. As for the new equipments, they will mostly be made from Iron. Of course you and all villagers under you will get paid for your services monthly."

The more Tim heard, the more excited he became. Right now, he hardly had any customers who in his workshop. His customers over the years, were the Barons and the city lord. They paid him a fair price for all his works, and he was content with the amount.

The only reason he cared about the money was to feed his apprentices and himself, as well as help some villagers here and there.

When he had excess money, he would drive a cart to the next village, buy food and share with some villagers of Baymard.

But now, he had the chance to let the villagers earn some coins, while he would learn new skills and techniques in his profession. How could he not agree to his highness' request?

"So once you understand the principles and methods that I teach you, I need you to also teach everyone coming later on into your workshops." Landon continued.

" Of course your your highness" Tim said happily.

Landon knew that he couldn't request Tim to teach the principals of construction now, or Wiggins to teach the principals of mineral ore extraction or anyone for that matter.

Right now, none of them knew anything about physics, chemistry or even biology. They knew math, but not the earth type of math. They only knew how to add, subtract and do basic division. The good thing was that they were all literate.

Landon planned that while the villagers were learning how to read, write and perform math, he would give each of the leaders books on all four subjects. Allowing them to study them first and then later teach their workers in all work departments.

Tim was happy...but also now extremely worried.

"But your highness, more importantly how are we suppose to get enough Iron for all these?"

"Dont worry, after you install these chalkboard to the various classrooms in the upper estate, I'll take you to a place."

Tim was still confused, but chose to believe Landon anyway.

Tim took three apprentices, put all the boards in a cart and followed Landon and Terry to one of the estate's in the upper region.

Once they arrived, they spent their time, dismantling the fancy designs and paintings on each wall... Afterall, Landon thought classrooms should be free of all distractions, so the students could better concentrate on their studies.

They attached the chalkboards to the walls in various rooms and used one room as a storage room for all slate-boards.

Landon decided to go to the lower regions so he could show Tim the Iron ores and also collect chalk for the classrooms.

On his way down, the system notified him for his reward.

'Ding!!'

'Congratulations host for creating chalkboard (blackboards) and chalk. You were rewarded 40 Bonus Points (BP) for the creation of the chalkboard and 10 BP for creating chalk.' The system replied.

'System show me my stat's.

Host name: Landon Barn

Age: 15

Status: King of Baymard

Level: Beginner ( Still Level 1)

Current Sitaution: Healthy

Overall Points: 82 DP and 50 BP

(* Note: DP is development points and BP is bonus points)

Actually Landon had forgotten about the fact that he could get points for creating chalkboards and chalk. His mind was very focused on starting his mission on cannon making and gunpowder.

He needed to teach chief Wiggins the alchamist, how to make gunpowder for the cannons fast.

Suddenly, the system gave him a new warning alert.

'Warning Warning...Host a ship is sailing towards the sea coast of your land.'

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Landon said his goodbyes to Tim and rescheduled with him for tomorrow.

Landon then made a U-turn with Terry back to the upper region. Terry was confused as to why Landon looked so flustered.

Immediately as Landon stepped into Lucius' office, he said

"Uncle Lucius, there's a ship coming towards the sea coastline of Baymard. Please gather 100 men and come with me towards the coast."

Lucius jumped up from his chair, took his sword and ran out. While they were running Lucius asked.

"How long do you estimate before they arrive?"

" 2 hours time." Landon replied.

Everything happened so fast and Terry was still confused, but he decided to wholeheartedly trust Landon's analysis.

He thought that when he and Landon made their way towards the lower region, Landon must have probably seen a tiny dot-like figure on the sea approaching Baymard. Afterall, one could see the seas from the central region clearly.

1 hour later, while they were gathering enough men, a soldier from the seaport ran up to them.

"My king, a large ship is approaching the coastline. It is estimated that they would arrive in an hours time." Said the knight.

"You did well soldier... Thank you for your report. Go back and tell the rest of the soldiers stationed there that we will bring enough men for safety before the ship docks on the coast."

As the soldier was about to leave, he turned around and realized that a lot of knights where already gathered in the courtyard with Landon.

'Did his highness already know of the approaching ship? or is there another training routine I'm not aware of.' the young knight pondered.

Just like that, 30 minutes more had passed by, and Landon started moving towards the sea coasts with his men.

Once at the seaside, Landon had the villagers go back for safety reasons and waited for this unexpected ship to dock.

The first time Landon came out here during the inspection, he knew something fishy was going on.

There was an already built ship dock here, and the most villagers had said that every after 4 months, Landon's father, the king of Arcadina who came to Baymard in the ship for visits.

Apparently the city lords and Barons had lies to the poor villagers so as to stop them from being nosy.

During the time when the ship docked, the city lord would always ban people from coming to the coastline or even going towards the lower regions.

Thhe city lord claimed that they would bother his majesty and get killed if they showed up to any of these places.

The villagers were so afraid to die that once the ship docked they would hide in the central region and only hunt for food in the forest outside the city gates.

At first, he didn't understand what the barons and city lord's plans were. But after visiting the mines in the lower region, he had finally completed the puzzled mystery.

There was no way his father would take time out every 3 months to visit Baymard. He would rather believe that cows could fly that believe that story.

The villagers had lived all their lives here and were simple people. What did they know about royal visits? sigh..they were really scammed out by those nobles.

It was clear that these were the merchants who traded with the city lord and barons. The emblem and flag on their ship shows that they're from the empire of Carona.

From Baymards location, Carona was its closest neighbouring empire compared to Terique. It made sense that these Nobels would trade with people outside the empire of Arcadina. That way his father would never know a thing, So Landon concluded that this ship must be a merchant ship.

As the shipped docked, a chubby 20 year old boy surrounded by his own knights walked off the ship towards Landon's direction.

He smiled as he opened his arms and loudly spoke:

"Ahhh where is Baron sylvain and city lord Augustus? have they fallen I'll? I have just finished trading with some cities in the empire of Yodan and decided to get my usual supply from here."

As Landon looked at the boy, he observed that the the boy was completely clueless about Baymard's current situation.

This boy was a jolly guy alright. Infact Landon thought that he was the smaller chubbier version of Santa Claus back on earth without the grey hairs and beards... Just looking at him would make anyone smile.

As he spoke, one could tell that his smile was genuine and he's cheeks would get turn rosey red. Such a cheerful guy, Landon thought.

"Sorry sir, but the city lord and Barons have been stationed in other cities in the empire. I am the new lord and new king of Baymard, king Landon." Landon said with a smile.

Mr. Santa Claus was taken aback, yes Santa... Infact Landon had already decided to call him that irrespective of what his real name was.

Santa's eyes almost popped out and his mouth opened widely. Landon really thought that this guy didn't have any poker face at all. Why so surprised?

"So you are king Barn's son Landon? Your nothing like what the people describe you to be. I can tell a person's true nature by just observing them. Hmmhmm I think your a good fellow bro...You give me good vibes." the man said while nodding.

Santa walked around Landon in a circular manner while constantly nodding. Landon and his knights didn't know whether to cry or to laugh. ()

'Sir, can't you see hes our king? can you at least not circle him as you like? Can't you do it without making it look so obvious?' The knights thought.

'Yup. I was right, no poker face at all... but I like it' Landon said with a smile.

"Ahhh where are my manners?" Santa said.

Everyone rolled their eyes heavenwards...().. even his own knights did it too.

"My name is Benjamin Hamilton...for short, you can call me Ben or what ever you like. Since we are already friends, I'll call you younger bro..hihihi infact you all should call me elder bro or little bro..hihihihi" Santa said while acting shy like a blushing maiden.

'Since when did we become friends with you? can you not be so shameless?' most of the knights thought.

"Since we are already friends, I'll call you Santa from now on...right santa?" Landon replied playfully.

"No no no what kind of name this that? Little bro, are you making fun of your older bro here?...hmhm Its weird alright?" Santa said while holding his jaws and shaking his head. ()

Landon couldn't hold it any longer and burst out laughing hard.

"Ayee... you said I can call you whatever I want, so are you going back on your words now?...Besides santa means a cheerful person (*he lied ) . I like you a lot that's why I gave you the nickname."

"Really?...I like you too bro...yayyy..." Santa replied while holding Landon's hands and shaking them vigorously.

One of the knights from Santa's side coughed and looked at Landon as if begging for him to forgive Santa for his actions.

Landon smiled back at him as if reassuring him that it was ok.

"Little brother let's talk business" Santa said as he held onto Landons shoulders and walked towards the lower region.

In conclusion, when it concerned Santa, Landon had just one philosophy to go by.

'If you can't beat him, join him'

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"Little bro, I won't even lie to you... I came here to buy some mineral ores from you...would that be possible little bro? Please..." Santa asked with pleading puppy dog eyes

"Of course it would...not only that...In the future, I will be making new unique and interesting products that'll be only available only in Baymard... Anyway, Just tell me how many tonnes you need and I'll provide them for you immediately."

Santa's eyes lit up when he heard the words unique and interesting...he was a merchant afterall

As they moved through the lower region, Landon purposely showed Santa the labs and chalk samples that he developed.

As they moved through the lower region going, Santa was stunned... 'He actually made the land bear food...this guy...' Santa thought with a smile on his face.

One could see fields of wheat, beans and all other foods covering up to farmalands. There were bananas and plantains growing on the sides as well as apples, tomatoes, lettuces, cabbages and spinach.

All the times he came to Baymard, 97% of farms didn't even have a single crop growing in them. But now these farms were overflowing with rich crops. How could Santa not be shocked? Was this still the Baymard he knew of?

And unlike the other nobles he met, Landon didn't disrupt the peace in the village just because he was passing through with a guest.

Santa observed that as they passed through, everyone on the farms greeted them warmly, especially Landon. And there were no false pretenses in their gazes. He noticed that most people looked at Landon as if he were a God.

This little brother of his even cracked jokes with the villagers and carried the little children who came to see their parents at work. The kids were all happy that they could touch or be carried by their king. He even did a little magic trick for them before they left.

This is how nobles should act, Santa thought. Infact, Santa was a noble himself. He was the third son of Baron Hamilton of Carona. Since he couldn't inherit his father's title, he chose to be a merchant.

Over the years, he built quite a name for himself and became known through out Carona as the 'Foolish noble merchant' by many.

They call him foolish because since he was young, he never liked following all those pretentious and fake Nobel rules. At an early age, he always liked doing things that regular people loved.

Once, he disguised himself as a peasant and worked in a bakery for 3 months. On the third month, his dad found out and gave him the beatings of his life. Because of his nature, he became a thorn in his dads eyes.

People would mock and laugh at the Baron saying that he had a peasant son, as if there was anything wrong with that

He later on bought a ship and successfully crossed the sea's bringing different thing s from different parts of the world into Carona. He became popular and the go-to-man for all shop owners and nobles in Carona.

But his dad was still constantly disappointed in him, as well as his two older brothers. For them, it was an honor for a noble to fight and go to war for his majesty.

The only people who loved him dearly were his mom and his three sisters. They thought he was cute, funny and very kind.

He just didn't like pretending and doing senseless things. Why couldn't people talk to each other regularly without the extra rules attached? That's why he secretly admired Landon, he could tell that Landon wasn't one who was also hung up on the rules of ettiquet.

As they passed through, the villagers didn't even bother with Santa at all...Their gazes were on full focus towards his highness Landon.

Was this the weak and dumb bastard child of king Barn. Infact Santa knew that he wasn't weak. The aura Landon gave out was that of a person who had experienced a lot of battles.

When he learnt that Landon would be creating items that have never been seen before, Santa was skeptical.

After after taking a tour in the laboratory and seeing this so called chalk, Santa was pleasantly surprised.

Although chalk seemed like a small matter, to Santa it really wasn't. It was genius. Do you know how many slate-boards are thrown away per year in his empire because they get scratched or destroyed?

Chalk was way better than slate-pencils and way cheaper. slate-pencils are like sticks which are used to scratch the boards for educational purposes. Chalk was the best solution for this problem, and it was only found in Baymard. How could Santa not want any?

"Little brother, is it possible to buy these chalk sticks now? I need enough chalk for 10,000 people in one go"

"Not for now Santa, these chalk sticks are barely enough for my people as it is. And we dont have enough man labour to produce such large amounts...but, If you can get me 3000 slaves or people who are genuinely looking for work the next time you come, then I'll be able to produce a huge batch for you...How about that?"

"That makes sense little bro...okay okay...at the end of each month, I will send one of my trusted aids to you with a ship containing 1000 workers in them. I will do this every month, until you have 3000 men from me."

"That's good... speaking of which..how much will you pay per tonne of ores? Landon asked

"I usually pay 1200 gold coins per tonne little bro. And I'll be leaving with 150 tonnes of these ores today."

'So I'll get 180,000 gold coins today...not bad..' Landon thought.

"Alright...so how much does it cost to get slaves?" Landon asked

"In the slave markets, slaves are gotten by how beautiful or how strong they are. The average slave costs 1600 copper coins per person" Santa said

'So for 3000 people I'll need 480 gold coins.' Landon thought.

"Do you have any rare seeds on your ship?"

"Of course I do silly... Wen I used to come here, the nobles would buy bags of wheat, beans and other foods from me. There would also be a few who buyed the seeds of these foods, although they knew that the lands couldn't bear anything. I'm guessing they still wanted to try their luck." Santa said with a smile

"Good...once we are done with your order, I'll take a look at your seeds."

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As the day went by, Landon, Santa and the knights loaded up all the ores unto Santa's ship and Landon gave him 12 chalk sticks as a parting gift.

Landon ended up using 300 gold coins to buy bags of dried apple seeds, pear seeds, watermelon seeds,peach seeds, grape seeds, orange seeds, pepper seeds, peanuts, rice and beans seeds.

He quickly looked for Lyore and carefully explained how the fruit seeds are to be planted.

The farmers who saw the seeds where curious about some of them. They had never heard of watermelon's and peach fruits before. They were now curious as to how the fruits will look and taste. Plus Landon was craving some himself too.

With 179,700 gold coins more in Baymard's pocket, Landon was thrilled. But this gave rise to a new issue he had...who would be in charge of government funds in the future?

For now he and his mom could do it...but later on, he needed to write Laws, procedures and violations codes for Baymard.

All his trusted aides were knights, and he couldn't use his mom or Lucy either.

The finance minister needed to be someone who was trustworthy and didn't show any characteristic traits of a greedy person. The chosen minister must also be well learned, with a mindset that always focused on the improvement of Baymard...This would be difficult. Landon thought.

--The next day--

On the training courtyard, Landon promoted some knights and rewarded them as lieutenant's under their various knight Captain's.

Mark, Josh and Gary where promoted from Captain's to Major General's for the army. Each Major had 2 Captain's under them. And each Captain had 4 Lieutenant as well under them.

Every knight was told about their strengths and witnesses, as well as recommended personal workout routines for them to do in their freetime.

The knights who got promoted were extremely proud of their accomplishments and felt that all their hard work paid off.

Those that didn't get promoted, didn't feel jealous or envious of those that did. They knew how hard those Captain's and Lieutenant's trained to get those rankings.

Berry Jax, Terry, Billy Vein, Joseph Fig and 2 others were promoted to Captain's under their various Major General's.

Once the training session was over, Landon took Tim to the lower region and showed him around the estate on the left side of the farms and the mines.

Tim saw both mines and was completely shocked... one had iron ore's while the other, molybdenite...the other ores in the caves held no importance in his eyes...but to Landon they were extremely rare ore's.

"Tim, I will put you in charge 350 men who will work in the estate. Out of the 19 buildings present in the estate, one will be used as a storage facility for keeping all ore stones extracted from the mines. Each stone type will be stored separately in different rooms."

"No problem your highness, this won't be an issue. " Tim said while nodding.

"The second building in the estate will be used for glass production. We will need to collect a lot of sand from the sea for that"

Glass!!!!!!!!! Tim was shocked. One had to know that glass was only produced accidentally by lightning in this era. Hence it was very rare and valuable. Sort of like a collector's item.

Tim had seen glass before, green colored glass and blue colored glass in the former Barons estate before.

In this era, sometimes when lightening striked the ground tubes of glass would be formed. The electricity in a bolt of lightening can melt the sand making it combine with other substances which later hardens into glass. Hence people thought that only the Gods could make glass.

Back on earth, glass was first man-made in the late 15th century. And before that, people only waited on lightening to do some well.

Obviously, Landon couldn't wait for the 10th century to move towards the 15th or 16th century for glass making be invented. He urgently needed laboratory test tubes, so as to make gunpowder.

He needed to isolate different compounds from the ores and accurately combine them to make effective products in the future.

He needed to complete his mission as soon as possible, as well as ensure Baymards safety for the time being. He hated the feeling of vulnerability towards his enemies.

Anyone could gather a large army and kill him presently. Ever since he was cured from the Whisp poison, he had felt something or someone wanted him seriously dead.

He ruled out his father because, although his father hated him, his father also couldn't bothered to kill him. His father was the sort of person that wouldn't waste his energy on an enemy that he considered to be weak. So that leaves his siblings in the mix. All of them were black-hearted and down right cruel. It had to be one of them.

He needed to make the cannons fast so as to protect Baymard, his mom, Lucy, his men and himself as well.

As Tim listened to Landon, he couldn't help but wonder if Landon was actually the reincarnation of a God. Either way, he was happy to be a part of the glass making process. This was history in the making.

"Don't worry Tim, I'll show you how its done" Landon replied with a smile.

Tim calmed his exited heart down and looked at his highness with reverence.

"The third building will be used in producing what I call war cannons...I will also teach you how to create them."

"The fourth building will be used to make construction tools like Pickaxes, construction rail cars and other mining equipments...as for the rest of the 16 buildings, keep them unoccupied for now...Soon, other things will be created in them." Landon continued

"Your highness how soon do you want to start?"

"As soon as possible. Out of the 350 men, 100 will work on ore extraction, 100 will work on glass production,100 on cannon making and 50 will work in producing construct equipments...Dont worry by the end of the month, Baymard will be expecting new workers so by then you'll have more people in the production line."

Tim nodded and listened attentively.

"You will be the overseer for all departments in the estate. I also need you to assign all 6 of your apprentices as supervisors for each sector and department." Landon said.

"The glass making department will have 2 sectors: Sand extraction from the sea and glass making itself...Likewise, ore extraction will also have 2 sectors: ores from the first mine and those from the second mine." Landon continued.

Landon later told Tim the salary for all workers, supervisors and overseers. He also ensured Tim that he would have cooks and guards around the estate for the workers.

Since the paint company had used up all the mining pickaxes available, Landon gave Tim enough money to go to the next city and buy 1000 more in preparation for the set of slaves coming from Carona.

Tim had agreed to go to the neighbouring town, the next day and return before the end of the week, so Landon had to postpone his mission for now.

Speaking of the slaves, Landon needed to make accommodations readily available for them once they came.

In the central regions, most houses were concentrated far away from the front gate of the city in fear of enemy attacks. Landon thought that he could use those empty spaces to build mud thatched houses for them. He would need to gather and pay a few more workers for the job though.

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--The next day--

Since Landon couldn't start the mission until Tim came back, he decided to open his school today.

The adults could attend classes anytime of the day, due to the fact that some of them worked at morning shifts while others worked at afternoon shifts. Landon forbade anyone, especially the miners to work above 9pm in Baymard. Mining while using lamps air candles was still too dangerous in Landon's opinion.

The children on the other hand, had to attend only morning classes.

After training, he asked the knights to gather all the villagers around the town square in the central region. Even the miners and farmers had to attend, plus the alchamists and fishermen. Everybody!!

He looked at the large crowd and climbed up the podium in the city square in the central region.

"Citizens of Baymard. Within this past month and a half, history has been made here in this glorious city. The farmlands have bored food, the people are healthy and the town is growing steadily...Some of you have had steady wages from working in the various jobs in Baymard, and can now afford to feed your families. You all need to feel proud because, this is the result of your hardwork." Landon said

Everyone nodded and felt warm inside, especially those who had been working in factories and farmlands.

"As you all know, Baymard is no longer part of Arcadina. The empire has rejected us because in their eyes we the trash of Arcadina. The empire abandoned us and left us for dead. But do we need them?..No we don't. We will make our own empire and make them regret ever throwing us away."

As they listened, they blood began to boil. For years now, they had been requesting food and assistance from their former king, Landon's father, King Barn.

But what did he do? Absolutely nothing. He neglected them for years and left them to their hunger.

"The empire laughed at Baymard thinking that we would always remain weak and die from starvation...But, haven't we proven them wrong? It is my dream to make Baymard a paradise on earth for you all. We will progress mentally, physically and financially together. We will fight and trample on our enemies together... I promise to make the city a holy land to all who see it. Are you all with me? Are you all with me!!!? Landon asked loudly.

"Yes" They yelled passionately.

"Good...In future, I will offer up more jobs to you all allowing all of you to make as much money as you would like and live better lives than your current states... But for this to happen, I need my people to become literate... I will teach you all and allow you to further yourselves in the world. My people must not be looked down on by anyone in the empire. I will make you all leaders of tomorrow and Baymard, the promise land for all. This is my promise to you."

They were stunned. His highness was willing to teach them? Their hearts were filled with joy and gratitude towards Landon. Their children would become literate and smart like people in flourishing cities. They vowed hat they were going to seriously learn and develop Baymard alongside with Landon. They also wanted to witness history in the making.

Landon explained the schooling system to them and had everyone register for a session.

He had Lucius and the three Major general's, write out their names on parchment papers. Lucius wrote down the names of all children, while the three generals Registered the adults. Gary registered adults for morning classes, Josh for early afternoon classes and Mark for late afternoon classes.

Registering, allowed Landon to know how many people would attend the classes daily. Just like that, the first day of class was set for tomorrow morning.

He also told them about the slaves and refugees that would come at the end of the month, and got 100 volunteered men and women who would aid in building houses for them.

He discussed the pay and also promised to provide them with food and guards while they were working. He wrote down their names and told them that they would start the next day.

And finally, he gathered 350 men and women in advance for the building and development of cannons. He also wrote down their names and told them to begin work Monday next week, since Tim would come on Friday.

Off the bat, he decided to let most of the women work with making glass, as that did not involve strenous digging for ores in the mines.

Although women could do the job, men had more raw strength and were just faster than women.

On earth, women could work in alot of jobs due to the progress of technology. There were machines that dug up the ground and carried raw materials for people. All one needed to do, was to control these machines.

But now, in this ancient and wayward era, there was no way he would allow women carry heavy stones and rocks all day. They'd get sick and damage their organs and bodies. Landon wasn't risking it.

But he could allow them to be a part of putting sand in sacs and letting the men load them unto carts that would transport them to the glass making factory. The women could also become alchemists or scientists if you will.

They could also weld and mold the cannons in a giant furnace...but he would never allow them to work in the mines.

The women who signed up were happy and excited. Women in this era only cooked, took care of their families, sewed, farmed, mold mudbricks or became maids for rich households. Even working as a blacksmith's apprentice was not allowed.

They were bored with these jobs and wanted something new, but now they could. And the best thing was, they got to earn the same salary as a man.

In this era, even in the same profession, men earned more than women. For example, In the same backery or farming jobs.

Even if a woman did exactly the same thing as a man, she'd still get lower wages compared to that man. They usually got frustrated because they too have families to take care of. Some of them were widows and some had husbands who were became bedridden with illness.

They became the bread winner in those cases, and had to support their slhusbands and children. But this era made things too hard for them.

Over the past month, Landon had been teaching Lucy, his mom Kim, Grace and little Momo math. Likewise, Lucy and Kim also taught Grace and little Momo how to write, read, count numbers, and also do basic addition and subtraction.

In Landon's opinion, Grace was very intelligent and had a sharp mind. With more time, Grace would definitely become a master in mathematics. In the future, he would let his mom teach math 2, while Grace thought math 1. But not for now...she had to continue learning properly.

Landon went down to the Alchemy department and transported a huge stack if chalk to the classrooms in the upper region.

Each student would be given 2 packs of 12 stack chalk sticks (24 pieces of chalk in total) and 2 slate-boards for free at the beginning of the term.

Once they lost or finished their school supplies, they could buy extra supplies from the school store or the local stores in the central region.

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After dinner, Landon decided to continue writing books on all the knowledge he acquired from: his past life as an engineer and from the system rewards.

Ever since he finished the farming mission a while ago, he had been writing daily on : Farming, Basic Chemistry and Mathematics.

He had been using the systems time capsule, for 3 hours a day in the real world (* 15 days in the time capsule) alongside a concentration speed pill.

1 concentration speed pill allowed him to concentrate and write super fast for 1 hour in the real world.

After taking the pill, he realized that in 2 hours (10 capsule days), he had written 5 books. Landon was pleased with the pill.

So far, he had written 32 copies of basic chemistry, 25 copies of introduction to farming, 39 copies of Basic Mathematics and 3,000 timetable parchment papers for each student.

Today, after his morning teaching session, he decided to continue making more copies. His goal was to have: 60 copies of basic Chemistry, 50 copies of introduction to farming and 60 copies of basic Mathematics by Friday.

Once all the copies were done, he would allocate them to schools and all industrial departments in Baymard.

He also decided to continue writing and re-adjusting the laws in Baymard, as well as the military rules for soldiers.

Baymard was sort of a ruleless city. Since the empire stopped caring about the place, the nobles who lived here before, just did what they wanted and also took what they wanted.

'They were just bullies'. Landon thought.

And just like that, Landon's week flew by fast.

He spent his days: writing, teaching, assisting in farming, building mud houses, fishing, training and building gigantic furnaces for different departments in the construction industry.

Occasionally, he would also visit the mines and the alchemy laboratory, to see how they were doing.

By the time it was Friday, he had accomplished all his goals.

Out of the total copies he had, he kept 30 Basic Chemistry books, 30 Basic Mathematics books, 30 Introduction to farming books and 2000 copies of the timetable in the school storage room.

In Baymard, every student would get 2 parchment paper timetables for free...But if the student loses them, he/she would have to buy one from the school or ships in the central region. 2 of them would cost 1 copper coin.

As for the rest of the books, he decided to distribute them to all supervisors and overseers within all the industries in Baymard.

On Friday, Tim came back with a large wagon filled with pickaxes. They were unloaded and neatly arranged in a tool storage facility for the workers.

Thinking about it now, Landon thought it would be a good idea to build a locker room where everyone could keep their tools in it. Of course building it, would be the duty of deoartment 4, when they start working.

Landon gave 10 copies of basic Chemistry,10 copies of basic Mathematics and 300 Timetable sheets to the construction industry.

Since all the supervisors already know how to read and write, as well as do math, he decided to give them the copies. Be it the alchemists or even Tim's group of people. All of then knew how do read

Hence, each supervisor was to keep 1 copy and read and fully understand them.

In the future, although these courses will still be taught in school, if the employee doesn't understand something at work, it is the duty of the supervisor to explain it to him/her.

Back on earth, supervisors and overseers knew the how's, the what's and the why's...Why they kept the temperature low in some procedures, why the pressure was high, the dangers of doing certain things, and so on.

Engineering itself is a very risky field. Some compounds and chemicals, can only be kept or worked on, at certain pressures and temperatures.

Higher pressure's, could cause explosions in the tank, killing everyone instantly. Afterall 95% of chemicals are flammable at specific entropys, pressure's and so on.

Hence, in Landon's mind, the supervisors and overseers must be knowledgeable enough to explain and assist the workers. They must act and guide all those under them.

He also gave 10 copies of basic Chemistry, 10 copies of basic Mathematics and 300 copies of the Timestable to the Qlchemy Industry.

As well as, 4 copies of basic Chemistry, 8 copies of introduction to farming, 4 copies of basic Mathematics and 300 copies of the timetable to the Food Industry.

His reason for giving the food industry Chemistry and Mathematics books, was simple.

Very soon, Baymard would start processing canned tomatoes, tuna and many more. As well process their own spices and food preservatives.

To make all this happen, chemistry plays a major part in it, talk less of Mathematics.

Once the night came, Landon jumped onto his bed and closed his eyes immediately.

--zzzzzzzzzzz' -- finally, the little king was fast asleep.

Again, the days flew by fast, and just like that, Monday was here.

'Let's make some glass' Landon thought.

Gunpowder was a delicate thing.

To make it, one needed saltpeter, charcoal and PURE sulphur. The purer the sulphur, the stronger the explosive effect of the gunpowder.

So far, there was saltpeter and charcoal available, but pure sulphur was a different matter on it's own.

Pyrite rocks (called the fool's gold) is formed when Iron ore and sulphur, fuse together naturally with time. Since Iron is silvery and sulphur is yellowish, the rock is a blend between the two colors and can easily be spotted in the mines. Hence the name fool's gold.

Most Pyrite rocks have 53% sulphur, in them.

If Landon just threw these pyride rocks in with the charcoal and saltpeter, the gunpowder it would produce would be trash.

He needed at least 97% of pure sulphur, for it to be extremely powerful. Hence extraction was the only way.

Landon could have used the clay pot method to extract the sulphur but that method was unsafe and not practical for industrial use.

Generally, when Sulphur is being extracted, a very poisonous and toxic gas called H2S is released.

When using the clay pot method, there is no real safe way to dispose of the H2S, making the workers breath the poisonous gas.

Large amounts of H2S can instantly damage your health, but small batches will not cause a lot of harm.That's why people only use this clay pot methods in small batches (5 to 6 stones) a time.

Landon didnt want to risk the health of his workers health, so the clay pot method was off the table.

How could he let them breath in poisonous gases? The workers would be producing gunpowder for god know how long. At leafy it should be safe.

Hence, he decided to build his own apparatus using Iron and glass. He wanted to create a safe way to dispel the H2S gas, as well as carry out an industrial scale batches (150-300 stones).

If he was going to build something, why not make it industrial scale? What's the point of throwing 5 or 6 rocks there, when you could throw 100's?

It didn't make anything sense for Landon, who had hired more than 100 workers to just through a few stones a day. He wanted a mass production of sulphur, not a tiny sample.

'Go big or go home', he thought.

He also decided to build it in a way that was easy to manually control for now...But when electricity would come...hehehe...he would attach temperature sensors, pressure sensors and other devices to a control room.

'Ahhhh...the future is so bright... I cant wait to build a food processing plant... oh wait!!...I miss toothpaste maybe a...no no no...I'll do an industrial paint making plant first.' Landon thought while drowning in his futuristic fantasies.

Little did he know, that dangerous forces where gathering in the shadows.Waiting to make their move.

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-- Riverdale City--

"So, your saying that you personally saw Tim Mayers leave with a wagon filled with thousands of pickaxes? And he didn't tell you why he needed them?" City lord Shannon asked with a cold and intimidating voice.

"Y...y..yes city lord... w.. we saw him." said one of the young men kneeling on the ground fearfully.

" W..we don't know why he nee...needed them my lord..." Another one said.

Shannon Lurp drummed his fingers against the table and carefully observed their reactions.

'druum druum druum' his fingers drummed.

'It doesn't look like their lying', he thought while sizing them up.

The 4 poor men were shivering under his ice cold gaze. They dare not meet his gaze. Everyone knew that their city lord was a tyrant. He killed when he felt like it. In their opinion, it was best not to anger this maniac.

It's just that they couldn't understand what they had done to wanton the city lords attitude towards them.

3 of them were just common welders while the other, was also just an ordinary merchant. They didn't even know Tim Mayers well enough...So why were they treated like this?

'Was he a criminal? Was he wanted in the empire? Did they accidentally sell goods to a fugitive? Is that why they were here?' they asked themselves worriedly.

"You all can leave... And... keep this conversation confidential... I don't need to remind you all of what I will do to you if this conversation gets out. Do I?"

"My lord, I swear on my life that I will never tell another soul..." replied one

"I swear too my lord" the other 3 said hurriedly.

"Go!!!" Shannon Lurp yelled.

They shivered as they stood up and immediately walked away as fast as they could. In their minds, they had just come out of hell...

They made up their minds that if they saw Tim Mayers again, they would stay as far as possible from him.

Once they left, a man came out of the shadows and sat beside Shannon Lurp.

"He knows" The man said.

This man was Baron Rogers who used to live in Baymard before Landon took over.

Baron Rogers was sent, 4 citys away from Baymard by king Barn. He was sent to the flourishing city of Prisdon.

As soon as he arrived, he realized that his stay there, would be far much worse than when he was at Baymard.

Prisdon was a moderately sized city with over 15 Barons and 1 city lord who controlled and distributed funds for all the nobles.

Part of the money he received from the Capital as a Baron, was cut away by the city lord of Prisdon. Apparently, he was not the only one.

The city lord of Prisdon requested for the nobles to give him 10% of their monthly wages given by the empire.

But Baron Rogers needed the money more, so he couldn'ta accept it.

He requested for his money to be returned back to him, but the city lord never even gave him a glance. 'What an jackass' he thought.

He looked at Baron Rogers as if, looking at a foolish child who didnt know what was good for him.

Baron Rogers was almost angered to death... For pitsake, he needed more money to take care of his knights and keep his household in check.

Back in Baymard, although the land was barren, the money he got from selling those ores was at least 4 times greater, than what he received in Prisdon as his monthly upkeep.

The worse part was, ever since his fight with the city lord, everyone isolated him.

Some barons constantly tried to pick fights with him and even tried seizing part of the money as well.

They even tried to buy his knights over, promising to give them more money than what he offered. How could he take this kind of insult as a man and as a Baron?

Living in Baymard for all those years, he had truly forgotten how nasty and horrible nobles and people in power could be.

His wife and children, who use to be to high up ( they were the one's who bullied and beat up the maids and citizens of Baymard), were now mocked and picked on, by the other nobles.

His sons had been constantly bullied in the Knighthood academy of Prisdon, and his wife constantly mocked because she didn't have the latest fashionable clothes. He felt really low as a man.

Hence he needed money fast, so as to secure his position in Prisdon.

Once he thought about the mines in Baymard, he started thinking about Landon's death.

For him, even if all the citizens of Baymard had to die for Landon to do die as well, he wouldn't give a damn... all he wanted was the money.

He couldn't just move his knights, who were 4 towns away, to come over and fight Landon and his 300 knights, everyone in the empire would be suspicious. Especially King Barn and that annoying city lord of Prisdon.

That's why he had told and made a deal with city lord Shannon about the mines and the land.

Since Baymard was very close to Riverdale city, city lord Shannon accepted the deal. For him, it was a great way to expand his territory and while making more money at the side.

Because Baron Rogers had to do it discreetly, he decided to leave Prisdon on the excuse of visiting an old friend.

If word got out that he was interested in going to Baymard, people would start wondering if there was any special treasure there in Baymard.

From there on, they would launch a full scale investigation on Baymard.

If they truly discovered the mines, he was sure that king Barn would surely execute him immediately.(*Off with his head!!)

As for Shannon Lurp, he had no intention of informing the king as well. Afterall, he too wanted the money made from the mines...

Once and if, king Barn found out about the mines, no one would benefit from it other than King Barn himself.

So they decided to find an opportunity to discretely deal with Landon without raising any suspicions.

If they Suddenly attacked Landon, people would want to know their motives. This would definitely bring the kings attention on them. So for now, they decided to play it safe.

"It doesn't matter whether he knows about the mines or not... We'll assassinate him... Assassination is the only way to get rid of him without raising any suspicions." Shannon Lurp said.

"I agree... but, If we're going to do it, we need to get 1 of the top 5 assassins in the empire... I think 'Dumbo the Butcher' would be the best candidate for the job." said Baron Rogers.

"Not a bad choice, afterall he's the closest one around presently... I reckon if we send a letter now, he would arrive here in a month and a half."

"WlThen, what do we do till then?" Baron Rogers asked anxiously.

"We wait... remember... right now, the capital is in an uproar... If we pull attention to ourselves, the other Prince's would surely seek us out... Waiting is the only option." Shannon Lurp replied, while sipping on a cup of wine.

Baron Rogers thought that what Shannon Lurp said made sense. The fight for power within the royal family was a well known fact to all the nobles in the empire.

As nobles, they had the option to side with any of the prince's in the empire.

But if the prince they choose, doesn't win in the fight for the throne, it mean't that their days where numbered. Or they would be hated and treated as trash by the ruling king.

It was a tough call for most nobles.

"Who do you think would win the fight for the throne?" Baron Rogers asked.

Shannon Lurp leaned on his chair and looked up to the ceiling. He seemed to have fallen in a deep trance.

The royal Barn family.

--White Wood City--

Eli stood at his castle balcony, watching as his little brother's: Connor and James, got off their carriages.

'So they finally came', he thought.

"Zarius, where is Princess Janette?"

"My lord, she is currently within the castle garden."

"Inform her about the arrival of my dear brothers." Eli said.

Infact 3 days ago, his younger sister: Jennette, also arrived at his castle. She had claimed that she missed him and wanted to spend more time with him.

When she had arrived, Eli could see a trace of disappointment and dissatisfaction in her eyes.

Knowing that the assassination attempt had failed, how could Jennette not be angry?

A month ago, when her brothers said that they would assassinate Eli, she was extremely happy and didn't wait to confirm if the assassination attempt would fail or not. Afterall, they had hired the "Golden Lotus" assassins who had a success rate of about 98% in all their missions.

Instead Janette wrote to Eli, saying that she would visit him soon. Her thinking was simple.

If he was still alive by by the time she got there, she would claim that she missed him dearly and wanted to spend more time with him... But if he was dead...hehehe

After delivering the letter, she got on her carriage 2 days later and headed to White Wood City. In her mind, Eli was already a dead man. She even started practicing her performance for his death in her head.

She could already see herself kneeling over his grave while shedding fake tears and screaming.

'Brother Eli...why did you have to go?...(sob sob)... why didn't I die in your place? No!.. I.. I won't allow this?... Let me go with you... I want to be with you brother Eli...(sob sob)'.

After that, she had also imagined how people would beg her not to take her life and live longer...In her mind, her performance had to be flawless, so she kept practicing in the carriage.

Since it would take a month from the Capital to White Wood, she calculated that her arrival would be faster than that of her little brothers Connor and James...

This was good... Afterall, she too thought of killing their father. So she urgently needed more knights, and funds as well.

She had planned to arrive early and secretly disguise the knights as slaves. Then, she would lead them back to the capital, and into her territory. For her, there was no need looking for another base.

If her father realised that the 5000 knights he gave her, had left the Capital, he would be suspicious. So she could only secretly gather more forces in the capital.

Even though her father had a lot of spies, she thought she could outdo him and secretly bring these men under his nose. (* stupid girl)

Why couldn't a woman rule a kingdom? Ever since she was a little girl, she had dreamed of being the fist ever queen to rule the empire.

She wanted to make history, but that old foggy father of hers wouldn't even bulge. He was so hell bent on her older brother Eli as ruler of Arcadina.

Wasn't she smart? wasn't she talented?...So what was wrong in her being ruler? This was not fair, she thought.

Her plan was to wait for all her brothers to kill each other, then, she would assassinate the last man standing.

On her way, she didn't want to contact her other brothers, for fear that the assassination plan would be leaked.

Little did she know that, they too didn't contact her when the assassination attempt failed, because they wanted to tell her in person to avoid other people from finding out about their schemes.

If they're father knew that they had tried to kill the CROWN prince, he would decrease their funds and take away half of their armies.

So, imagine her suprise when he she sees Eli receiving her when she arrives at White Wood city. Do you know how many days she spent planning that fake crying scene? tsk.

She immediately pretended to have missed him and asked him about everything that happened in white wood city.

Eli told her that someone tried to assassinate him, but he doesn't know who it was.

As she heard him say that, her eyes lit up and she smiled...

'So, he doesn't know?' she asked herself as she looked at his facial expression.

Janette had spend these 3 days gathering information.

Apparently, the assassins killed themselves in front of everyone, before they Eli had the chance to catch them. And only 1 escaped.

After constantly digging information from the maids, common folks and every other person she could think of, Janette decided to believe Eli, as all the proof showed that he really didn't know anything else.

Eli went down the castle, to welcome his beloved brothers who also missed him dearly...apparently.

At the site of Eli, both Connor and James smiled widely. If one didn't know any better, they would think that these brothers actually loved Eli.

Eli smiled as well and received them with a hug.

"Little brothers, welcome to White Wood... how have you guys been? How come you only write to your elder brother once in a year? Dont you miss me?" He said why pouting.

"Elder brother, that's not it... you know that we have to take care of our territories as well... How could you say that we don't care about you?" Connor said while hugging Eli tightly.

"Elder brother, I dont know how you do it... but for me, running my territory is so hectic. I have to run up and down all day. Of course we miss you... (sigh)... It's just that there's too much work in my territory right now, so of course I didn't have time to write to you." James said while hugging Eli too.

Three trio spoke while making their way into the castle. As they arrived Connor and James were shocked.

"What is she doing here? Was she the one that leaked information about the assassins to Eli?" they thought.

But they quickly dispelled those thoughts after they found out that she had also arrived 3 days before.

Once everyone was settled in their rooms, Eli went to his office with Zarius his head knight.

He walked towards his bookcase and Zarius pushed it open.

"Vrrruuumm"

There was a staircase, leading to a secret room.

Zarius lit a torch and walked down the staircase with Eli.

At the bottom, there were torture devices hanging on the walls and tables. And at the end of the room, there were 3 cells that held 2 chained up men in them. While the other cell, had a man who was treated as a king.

Eli walked passed the first two cells and finally arrived at the last one.

"Old friend, have you enjoyed your stay at White Wood castle?"

The man looked at Eli and smiled.

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