Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Many "Gentlemen" of the Newly Reclaimed Land expected an "internal strife among the Rebels," but that did not occur.

Between the Iron Peak County Military and the Thunder Group County Military, what traveled was not cannonballs and lead shot, but messengers bearing green flags.

Richard Mason, stationed in Maplestone City, voluntarily sent freshly brewed beer made from the newly harvested barley to the troops of Thunder Group County and Riverside County stationed at the county border.

Colonel Skool symbolically gifted a pure white stallion to the Captain in return.

From then on, Richard Mason would daily ride the white horse gifted by the Colonel, traveling between the Siege Camp in the suburbs and the City Hall within the city.

Thus, the citizens of Maplestone City gradually calmed their anxious hearts, and the tense atmosphere within the Newly Reclaimed Land also eased accordingly.

However, Colonel Skool and Lieutenant Colonel Magash did not readily accept the proposal for joint governance of Maplestone City, instead solemnly expressing that a response would be given only after communication with Colonel Gaisa.

Nevertheless, due to vacancies among military officers stationed across the Newly Reclaimed Land and the deterioration of public security, the postal relay system originally established by the New Reclamation Legion had long become ineffective.

Though each military faction had set up small relay systems within their controlled areas, once external communication was needed, they would quickly revert to the inefficient "one person, three horses running the whole journey" mode.

At distances that could be reached within a single day, this communication method was still fairly manageable.

However, should one want to send a letter to a farther place—such as Mirror Lake County—the time cost would exponentially increase.

Moreover, the reliability would severely diminish, and situations might occur where "messengers departing later return earlier."

More crucially, since the division of troops at River Valley Village, letters sent to White Mountain County Military had only a one-way passage.

Using safety as a reason, Colonel Gaisa would accept the letters, but only provide a receipt proving delivery to send the messenger away, never allowing them to carry back a reply on their return trip.

And the most recent letter received from the White Mountain County Military was merely a notification that they had successfully traversed Snake Swamp and were advancing towards Bazenaur.

Winters closely monitored the developments in Mirror Lake County, but he had no patience to wait for the results of "communication."

After Bard led a large group of accounting cadets to Artemis, and Pierre presented the last seven gate keys of Vernge County, the briefly rested Iron Peak County Military moved once more.

Armored cavalry escorted civil personnel rushing to various parts of Vernge County to inspect land records and maps; loyal and reliable infantry units, organized by company, took over the checkpoints and outposts on main transportation routes.

Proclamations for civilian appeasement, signed collectively by Civil Guard Officers, were dispatched across the county, and even the bulletin boards of the remotest villages had at least one copy posted.

The section regarding taxation won the entire Vernge County's delight.

The reason was simple: the "Governing Committee" declared that from this day forth, all taxes and tax types within Vernge County would be collected according to the standards from two years ago.

Moreover, the "Governing Committee" specially allowed farmers to wait until after the autumn harvest to pay this year's poll taxes and acre taxes collectively.

Upon learning that all the special taxes levied and imposed after the battle of the Great Wilderness were being abolished at once, people of Vernge County, be they farmers, merchants, or artisans, rejoiced and spread the news with glee.

Previously, whenever Vernge County folks spoke of the term "Blood Wolf," they only felt fear and loathing.

But now, they would at least add "Your Excellency" to the term.

With the army of "His Excellency Blood Wolf" taking full control of Vernge County's checkpoints and outposts, and their pursuit of bandits within the borders, transportation within Vernge County began to recover.

Bold merchants hastily drove their wagons out of the high walls, aiming to taste the first fruits ahead of others.

To ordinary people, traveling alone to far places no longer seemed a fearsome ordeal—at least not akin to self-destruction.

With the army taking full control of Vernge County and the restoration of transportation within its borders, bold merchants again drove their wagons out of the high walls.

Harvesting of crops, resumption of transportation, stability of public sentiment... It seemed like the "good" days of the past were returning.

But no one knows for how long these "good" days can actually last.