Chapter 230 - Into the Prairie

Chapter 230 - Into the Prairie

The next morning, Zhao Hai followed the plan they'd agreed on yesterday and released two blood-colored Eagle Virtuous Phantasms and gave them his Ghost Cane. Then he ordered the blood-colored eagles to fly in the direction of Ironwall Fortress[1].

Ironwall Fortress was very far from the Black Waste. If one were to travel by saddled horse carriage, then it would take about half a month to reach it. By horse it would take around ten days. Of course, this was assuming one were traveling leisurely and without haste.

This Ironwall Fortress was the first line of defense for the Purcell Duchy against the Beastfolk Prairie. It was the firmest defensive line in the Purcell Duchy and garrisoned 20,000 elite Benniu Guards[2] the whole year round. These 20,000 elite Benniu Guards, when facing the non-elite beastfolk army, could stand against 100,000 of them. They could even hold that defensive line for several days.

The most important part was that the Purcell clan kept a magician corps inside Ironwall Fortress. This magician corps couldn't actually be called a corps, but instead a squad. Altogether, there were only 50 Rank Four to Rank Six magicians in the corps, and around 200 Rank One to Rank Three magicians.

There were many Rank One to Rank Three magicians on the continent. Some of those magicians could only drift along with a mercenary group and wouldn't have many good days. As such, defending Ironwall Fortress was comparatively better. The allowance was good and so long as there wasn't war they would be very safe.

Although the number of magicians in this corps didn't amount to much and were of low ranks, in a war they wielded a might that was quite powerful. A common soldier wouldn't be able to do anything while a magician would be able to cast area of effect offensive magic techniques. With regards to a battle, this was very useful.

Drawing on a modern analogy, a common soldier could be compared to a millet and rifle soldier. They could only attack one at a time like a single-shot rifle. A magician, on the other hand, would be like a machine gun. When they were connected, magicians would be able to cause mass destruction. This was the difference[3].

The reason Ironwall Fortress was called such was due to the brilliant record made by the Purcell Duchy's elite Benniu Guards. With 50,000 soldiers they were able to block a 500,000 strong beastfolk army's offense for half a month. When the Aksu Empire's reinforcements finally arrived, the 50,000 strong elite Benniu Guard was down to a mere 5,000 and the walls of Ironwall Fortress was dyed with blood.

Due to this service done by the Benniu Guard, they became famous. As such, the Purcell clan, after this battle, obtained the position of a Grand Duke household. This was the time when the present Purcell Duchy was established.

It could be said that Ironwall Fortress wasn't only famous for the Terrans, but also for the beastfolk. The beastfolk had tried many times to invade, but was always blocked by Ironwall Fortress.

Zhao Hai and the others sat in the living room, watching the scenery shown on the screen. To be honest, Zhao Hai didn't know much of the Purcell Duchy[4]. These days, he only understood the situation in Casa City. He'd only travelled from Black Mountain Fortress to Casa City, so with regards to the foundations of the city, he didn't know much.

Now he had the opportunity to gain a better understanding. Although he could only take a glance at everything since the Eagle Virtuous Phantasms were flying, it was still better than nothing.

By the time the sky turned dark, the blood-colored Eagle Virtuous Phantasms had left the boundary of the Purcell Duchy. They had not officially entered the Beastfolk Prairie and was now over a hundred kilometers[5] away from Ironwall Fortress[6]. They hadn't seen any beastfolk tribes yet, but this wasn't surprising. Beastfolk tribes wouldn't be so close to Ironwall Fortress, otherwise the garrisoned troops would rush out and exterminate them. This was due to a fear that the beastfolk might spy on their military.

With regards to this situation, the beastfolk accepted it since the Terrans couldn't arbitrarily send many armed soldiers into the Beastfolk Prairie either.

Now that the eagles were over a hundred kilometers from Ironwall Fortress, Zhao Hai took the blood-colored Eagle Virtuous Phantasms back. They were preparing to travel on via carriage starting tomorrow. After all, they were now in the Beastfolk Prairie. If they wanted to do business with the beastfolk, then depending on the flying blood-colored eagles wouldn't be enough.

In the evening, Zhao Hai went back to the Black Waste to continue improving the land. With relation to the Space's recent upgrades, he could now improve more land each day. He improved 700,000 square meters[7] of land, which wasn't a small area.

Zhao Hai, however, was very careful. He improved the land that was covered by the smog while those outside the area stayed the same.

After such long use of Spatial Water in the irrigation process, the outer perimeter of Fort Iron Mountain could now be planted with ordinary vegetables. In addition, the corn within the valley was about the mature.

This was very good news for Zhao Hai. The Spatial Water could be used to irrigate and unexpectedly it could also reduce the maturity time for the crops. For Zhao Hai, this was very important.

Laura was also very busy. She hadn't been to the Black Waste before, but since this was her home now, she naturally had to understand the Black Waste.

Laura understood that the Black Waste was a really large place. This excited her and increased her enthusiasm. She was ready to regulate the Black Waste and go all out.

Zhao Hai was tolerant of Laura's enthusiasm. He didn't have any reason to block it anyway. It seemed that right now, Laura had found a new and novel toy and was fiddling around with it non-stop. If he wanted to stop her at this time, she would definitely not comply[8].

Fortunately, Zhao Hai still came out of the Space the next morning with three people, Laura, Meg, and Nier.

With three beauties accompanying him, Zhao Hai was of course happy. Some time ago, Meg hadn't been very happy after she'd determined the relationship between Zhao Hai and Laura. Zhao Hai didn't have much time back then as he'd had a lot of matters to deal with, so he wasn't able to have a discussion with Meg about it all. Afterward, no one knew what Laura had told Meg, but Meg was now happy. Although Zhao Hai didn't know why this was, since she was happy he also felt relieved.

The four of them now sat within Laura's original carriage. Snowflake celestial foals[9] pulled the carriage and the wagons behind it. All of these were once the property of Laura's original stores. Since Laura was leaving, then naturally the wagons would be put to use.

Since they were now venturing into the Beastfolk Prairie, those wagons were loaded with food. There was a long way to go so there wasn't much food loaded onto the wagons themselves. Each wagon held half a tonne of commodities. 50 wagons total held 25 tonnes[10].

25 tonnes of food. With regards to a small tribe, it wasn't a small amount. For a medium sized tribe, however, it wasn't much.

Those 50 wagons were all manned by undead. They drove the wagons and also protected them at the same time. The remaining undead were all placed in the Black Waste by Zhao Hai.

When the four of them appeared in the Beastfolk Prairie, they weren't that surprised. The scenery in the prairie was pretty much the same as the Space's. Since the Space now had a prairie as a background, and it was also more stunning than the Beastfolk Prairie, the scenery around them didn't have much of an attraction.

Aside from the undead driving the wagons, Zhao Hai also released a hundred blood-colored Eagle Virtuous Phantasms. These weren't used for attacking, but for scouting the area. Since the Beastfolk Prairie wasn't that safe, those blood-colored Eagle Virtuous Phantasms were there to act as insurance.

Zhao Hai looked around at the prairies while Meg stared at Zhao Hai. Her gaze was filled with the infatuation of one that was charmed[11]. When she looked at Zhao Hai's appearance, Meg remembered what Laura had said a couple days ago.

That day when Laura and Zhao Hai had secretly talked, Laura saw that Meg had followed them and seen what had happened between the two of them. She also saw Meg's expression becoming odd. Laura was clever and understood that Meg was worried.

Later on, Laura searched for Meg and spoke with her. Laura knew from looking at Zhao Hai that he also held affection for Meg[12] and that he couldn't forget his feelings for her. Laura, however, had decided to marry Zhao Hai. Naturally, she hoped that everything around Zhao Hai would be fine and that unpleasant things wouldn't appear. The rear court especially couldn't catch on fire[13].

Presently, their foundations were too thin and there were many issues that had happened. If a fire started in the rear court, then it wouldn't do any good for Zhao Hai if every day there was a fire.

As Zhao Hai's wife, Laura thought that she should fix this unstable factor and nip it in the bud. Therefore, Laura looked for Meg and thoroughly discussed things over with her.

Laura didn't say much. She just told Meg that during the time Zhao Hai had proposed to her, he'd also told her that he would certainly marry the two of them, so she told Meg to not be worried.

Meg didn't think Laura would be this frank and direct. This made Meg somewhat embarrassed. At the same time, she also accepted Laura. As such, after they spoke, their relationship became better.

These two women were in love with the same man, so they would naturally and wholeheartedly consider everything for the sake of this man. On the Ark Continent, men had the right to marry several wives, and this was normal. Thus, they weren't jealous, and for Zhao Hai, this solved a lot of trouble[14].

Zhao Hai didn't know any of this. To be honest, his feelings with regards to this was really dull. Fortunately, there was Laura. Otherwise the problem would have been troublesome.

Due to their conversation, the knot in Meg's heart was untied and the last of her worries vanished. Therefore, she was very happy.

For Meg, status wasn't important so long as she was beside Zhao Hai. After Laura told her Zhao Hai intended to marry her, everything else was ignored.

Laura also noted Meg's performance and didn't say anything. Her heart, however, felt slightly sour, but she didn't have any means of mending it. After all, Meg had known Zhao Hai a lot longer than she[15]. Even if she was angry, it was useless since her heart was already firmly tied with Zhao Hai.

At this time, a blood-colored eagle Zhao Hai had ordered to fly to the east suddenly flew back and alerted them. It kept circling Zhao Hai's head. Zhao Hai now knew that a situation had occurred in the east.

Notes:

-This chapter was MTL'ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice. Thanks.

-Please support the author if you love this novel.

-Please check out the Editor's footnotes, thanks.

Footnotes:

[1] 铁壁要塞 - Tiě bì yàosài. ↩

[2] If people remember from long ago, we'd decided on Benniu. The equivalent names were just plain bad, such as Rushing Bull. Just treat Benniu in the same line of names as Taoyuan and Higanbana. ↩

[3] And is also Fantasy Logic 101. Who is he explaining this to? ↩

[4] We just had 20 chapters of him saying he didn't know anything about the Beastfolk Prairie but knew about the Purcell Duchy, and now we get this. Zhao Hai, go back to school. Go to 'Nobles Academy for Dandies' or something. ↩

[5] It said a few hundred li (里), a li being half a kilometer. A hundred kilometers is about 62 international miles. ↩

[6] So basically, after that long ass infodump on Ironwall Fortress, we don't even get to see it. *applauds genius author for super duper excellent amazing writing skills* I don't care if it comes up later, it was still an unnecessary infodump. ↩

[7] The original RAW said 1000 mu. Since we decided before that mu would only be used in the Space, this was then converted into square meters, which is 666666.7. Rounded up to a clean number of 700.000, but remember that it's really 666666.7. 1000 mu is 165 acres. ↩

[8] What the hell? What was the point with this paragraph? Author just demoted her to a little kid with a new toy and Zhao Hai the understanding parent, for what reason? ↩

[9] 雪花神驹 - Xuěhuā shen jū. I hope this isn't a thing, cause this name is horrible… Anyways, Snow + Flower = Snowflake. Divine/God/Celestial + colt/foal = whatever. ↩

[10] Alrighty, so the original numbers for each wagon was 1000 jin, with jin being half a kilogram. As such, 1000 jin meant 500 kilograms. 500 kilograms was also half a tonne, so using some math, for the total we get 50,000 jin = 25,000 kilograms = 25 tonnes. Oh yea, it's 'ton' for people in the US. Anyways, 50,000 jin = 55,000 lbs. ↩

[11] Author, please note that just saying a person fell in love is the weakest way to write a romance… us readers find her love so random that we didn't even realize it until you stated it the fifth time. ↩

[12] Well, he also straight up told this to you… ↩

[13] In ancient China, the Emperor would hold sessions with his government in the front court while the harem would stay in the rear court. The Emperor was in charge of the front, the Empress in charge of the back. The harem would have to be kept under control of the Empress, else you get chaos and all that. Well, I'm just assuming this saying had ties to this concept. Don't kill me for my flawed history please. ↩

[14] I just give up on Author and his wish-fulfillment thoughts on love. ↩

[15] I think the author forgot that a good portion of that time was spent with Adam the dandy. Did that phase have 0 effect on her feelings??? Or did author just not realize it was a big part? It wasn't even a slow progression from her dislike of Adam to love of Zhao Hai… OH! I remember! Zhao Hai threw her into his brainwashing Space and then she suddenly fell for him. If you don't believe me, go back and check!! Damn brainwashing Space…