Chapter 427: Arrival of New Residents

On this day, Xia Duo presided over the housing allocation for the final batch of territory residents. With this, all residents of Daxia Territory had achieved "a roof over every head," and even the slaves had been rearranged into brand-new shelters sufficient to survive the cold winter.

Next, there was one small goal, which was "a pot in every home." Although the canteen's communal meals would not stop for a long time, having a pot at home, even if just occasionally used to boil some water to drink, was still good.

Xia Duo had already placed an order at the blacksmith shop in Savile Town, which could only be fully delivered next year. However, as the territory's population grew, this order would gradually turn into a long-term one.

After allocating the houses, Xia Duo and Laidun walked through the village while chatting, "Have the winter supplies been distributed?"

"They have all been distributed. Besides firewood, leather clothing, and blankets, everyone was also given two large bags of mantou."

Laidun always struggled to pronounce this new term derived from the Chinese language, and his accent was still a bit awkward even now. Xia Duo did not mind and continued, "A batch of new residents will arrive soon. You can arrange their accommodations directly when they arrive. Pacify the existing residents and do not let them discriminate against the new ones."

"Is it the Langasi from the north?"

"Yes."

About two months ago, Xia Duo received news from Lady Patti saying that the people sent to the north were already on their way back, accompanied by two small Langasi tribes.

Xia Duo had told Laidun when he received the news back then. Calculating the time now, those people should be arriving soon, but he did not know why there had been no news at all during this period.

"By the way, does Dongzhi have any objections to being assigned to the South District?"

"No."

"Very good."

Dongzhi's house was allocated relatively early. Originally, Xia Duo thought that since he needed to train and look after the hunting dogs, placing him in the south near the Military Camp would be more convenient.

Now it seemed it was quite a coincidence, just right to let him live with his Langasi compatriots and help them integrate into Daxia Territory.

However, in the future, perhaps there would no longer be any distinction between Langasi and Netherese, let alone any distinction between civilized people and barbarians; here, there would only be one name: Daxia People.

Unknowingly, the two had walked to the brick kiln area.

Winter had arrived, and the ground was gradually freezing hard. The expansion of farmland outside the fences of Linshui Village had temporarily stopped a few days ago, but the wooden house workshop and the brick kilns here had not ceased work.

Approaching this area, waves of heat rushed toward them, with no hint of the cold winter at all.

"Has there been any progress with the brick kilns recently?" Xia Duo asked Laidun.

"A few days ago, someone found a new type of stone by the Linshui River. After making it into brick blanks, the effect of the finished bricks was much better than using ordinary stones."

Xia Duo remained silent. In fact, he preferred to make brick blanks entirely out of mud rather than adding any stones. However, this hypothesis of his had been proven unfeasible after many attempts.

Burning bricks in a world of Magic was ultimately different from Earth, but considering the existence of a spell like Turn Mud to Stone, theoretically, it should be feasible without adding stones.

Perhaps certain conditions had not yet been met. Xia Duo planned to study this aspect after he learned the Turn Mud to Stone spell himself; for now, he would just watch how the residents performed.

Just as the two were about to walk elsewhere, Xia Duo suddenly received a prompt from the Tower Spirit, "Agent Xia Duo—"

With almost no hesitation, Xia Duo immediately ordered the Tower Spirit to perform a guided teleportation. After returning to the Tower of Time, he did not stop at all and continued to teleport to the Projection Hall on the Plane Exploration Layer.

"Projection!"

However, there was no response from the Projection Hall, and at this moment, the Tower Spirit's prompt continued, "Agent Xia Duo, the External Affairs Mage has sent word that the Silaiwen Chamber of Commerce's ship has returned, and there is a ship full of Langasi on board."

Langasi?

Xia Duo realized he had been too agitated. Having had no news from the Projection Plane for nearly two months, he had been a bit impatient. As soon as he received the Tower Spirit's prompt, he had teleported back eagerly, fearing he would miss the short projection window of the Projection Plane.

Fortunately, knowing his new residents had arrived was not bad either.

Arriving at the port, Xia Duo saw Fulaike, the president of the Silaiwen Chamber of Commerce, standing on the pier from afar, though his expression did not seem very good right now.

Beside him were two middle-aged men who looked like stewards. One of them was hanging his head as if he had just been reprimanded, while the other stood a bit further away, also appearing unhappy.

Although only the Silaiwen Chamber of Commerce's ship went north this time, in fact, several other chambers of commerce had also contributed. Most importantly, each had sent a Mage guard, and among them, Lady Patti's Liyadun Chamber of Commerce had additionally provided a Communication Magic Tool capable of transmitting messages from the Northland to the south.

Looking at the situation now, Xia Duo knew without asking that something might have gone wrong, but he hoped it would not affect his new residents.

"President Fulaike!"

"Ah, Lord Xia Duo, why have you come?!"

"Was the trip smooth?"

"S—smooth!"

Xia Duo could see that Fulaike was somewhat insincere, but he did not continue to press the matter. It seemed it likely had little to do with his new residents.

After a few pleasantries, the two boarded the ship, and the two stewards followed.

Once on the ship, Fulaike turned his head and said heavily, "Boen, why don't you introduce the situation to Lord Xia Duo!"

"Yes, yes, President." Boen knew that he had lost the Mage from the chamber on this trip. Even if the president was his brother-in-law, it was impossible for him to get off easily. The chamber of commerce was not his brother-in-law's alone, and he had to be accountable to other investors.

Now his hope was pinned on Lord Xia Duo. If he could satisfy Lord Xia Duo, perhaps he could avoid this trouble. Thinking of this, Boen could not help but look at his brother-in-law with gratitude, and then he recounted the experience of this Northland trip with vivid detail—

"My Lord, we visited a total of seven Langasi tribes this time, but in the end, only one, the Kewu Tribe, agreed to join Daxia Territory."

"Wait." Xia Duo immediately noticed something wrong, "Wasn't there news sent back earlier saying there were two tribes? Why is there only one left?"

Boen was not surprised that Lord Xia Duo noticed this. There were indeed two tribes when they sent the news back earlier. Later, an accident occurred, and the Communication Artifact happened to be unusable, so they did not send word immediately. Later on, they only sent word that they had found the people and were returning.

Now that Lord Xia Duo asked, Boen explained immediately, fearing it would cause the Lord's dissatisfaction:

"My Lord, the autumn and winter seasons are often the time for slaughter and annexation between Langasi tribes. The tribe we had agreed upon earlier had already disappeared by the time we notified them on our return journey, and the current Kewu Tribe was in a very urgent situation at the time; they were almost wiped out."

"..."

Xia Duo's understanding of the Langasi was limited to the few words he had seen in books and the account of Dongzhi, the Langasi in the territory. Judging by the "Blood Trial" and tribal annexation, it was not unjust for the Netherese to call them "barbarians."

Of course, the Netherese were not as civilized as they themselves believed either.

(End of chapter)