Chapter 236: The Skin-changer's New Homeland

"Beorn, once a manor is built here, you can let Grim and Cress marry according to your customs." Allen, who was sitting on a tree stump at this moment, was in quite a good mood, and Beorn, sitting beside him, nodded with a happy expression upon hearing these words.

Allen had originally thought that the matter of the Skin-changers' migration would require more time and effort to negotiate; after all, this was Allen trading land in Mirkwood for the services of the Skin-changers.

With a single contract, these Skin-changers were effectively Allen's subordinates.

But the reality was not so; by the time Allen returned from Moria, the migration had actually already begun, and he hadn't even participated in the subsequent matters—Yamila and Beorn had negotiated everything, which could be said to have gone smoothly to an unbelievable degree.

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This was because Allen had not considered the living habits of the Skin-changers, or rather, he did not have a particularly deep understanding of this point.

As a people who love planting and animals, for the Skin-changers to have a comfortable living range, it meant they inevitably needed a sufficiently large piece of land to satisfy their daily needs.

Raising various small animals required large pastures or woodlands, and planting crops for brewing and baking also required vast expanses of land, especially for their beloved honey, which required entire gardens to keep the bees busy within them.

However, in Rhovanion, it could be said that every piece of safe land had already been branded by Allen; if they wanted to have their own home, they had to pay enough to exchange for it.

Yet the vast majority of Skin-changers did not actually have many precious metals to trade with; their tradition was just like that—self-sufficient and nature-loving. Perhaps only Wulf had received some rewards from Allen, but that was far from enough to purchase a piece of land, and buying and selling land in Rhovanion was a crime.

Because nominally, all land belonged to Allen. Allen had never made any promise that whoever cleared the fields would own them; it was just that whoever cleared them would be the one to farm and harvest them, while the ownership still belonged to him personally—at least for now.

As for private land ownership and the drawbacks and benefits brought by this reform, it was not that Allen hadn't considered it, but he felt that given the current state of Rhovanion—vast land and sparse population—plus the fact that everyone had just begun to live a stable life, such matters could be completely postponed, or even left for his descendants to do, or not done at all.

Because private land ownership might seem like a good thing for the vast number of commoners, as if they had more distributable property, but as time passed, other classes would certainly be added in between to sever the direct connection between the King and the vast majority of farmers. For someone in power, this was not a pleasant thing.

Moreover, with the current population and transportation in Middle-earth, working the land was basically one of the few ways for the general public to make a living. Allen did not want to see landlords of all sizes appear in his territory, only for his subjects to become tenant farmers to make a living.

It should be known that even the Knights east of Mirkwood were directly loyal to the King; only Fatis's fief was not under Allen's direct control. From this perspective, Allen was still very stingy.

Furthermore, the current land cultivation model and the way taxes were fulfilled were actually not much different from private land ownership, and Allen did not need to worry about his subjects lacking motivation or hindering the development of their families.

Because as long as they paid their taxes properly, officials from the Cabinet Ministry of Agriculture would provide the farmers with the best planting plans, and no one would forcibly take away their fields due to land development issues; at the very least, the compensation was very adequate.

Of course, the most important thing in all this was that Allen's territory was not large, and it was in a relatively simple management model: the King, the Cabinet officials, then the elders of each region, and finally the heads of each household.

According to the prestige the Cabinet held among the people, Rhovanion did not need to engage in any social reforms.

And the Skin-changers were not Allen's subordinates, nor were they Allen's subjects; the two sides were allies. Therefore, within Allen's ruling range, they did not have the right to occupy land. Only the forest where Beorn lived was promised by Allen to the Skin-changers. Although it was only a verbal agreement, as long as Allen was still alive, no one would question this.

It was just that that forest was still a bit small; four Skin-changer families staying there always seemed a bit crowded, and as time passed, the Skin-changers would also need to branch out.

In this era, as long as the living environment for Humans was not particularly harsh, having children was basically the first choice; only with a larger family could they have a better life.

So in this situation, if they did not accept Allen's recruitment but still wanted to have their own home, they would need to leave Allen's territory and restart their lives on land that had once been ravaged by darkness.

But having just come out of the Misty Mountains a few years ago, how could they make such a choice? Wouldn't that be returning to the precarious life of the past? One must know that the reproduction speed of Orcish is quite fast.

Therefore, when Beorn brought up Allen's suggestion at the Skin-changers' gathering, it quickly received a unanimous response: they were willing to exchange the cost of guarding the borders for a piece of land in Mirkwood, and this even included Grim.

Because Wulf and the others knew that they were not fighting alone when guarding the borders; behind them were tens of thousands of Humans as support. This was a completely different situation from when they lived in the Misty Mountains and faced the endless Orcish alone, so this suggestion was not particularly difficult for them to accept.

And Grim had originally been serving under Allen, and now he was an adult.

It should be known that although the lifespan of Skin-changers is longer than that of ordinary Humans, their habits in this regard are no different from Humans, and adult Skin-changers all need to live independently; they do not live with their parents for long, let alone this young Skin-changer who was about to start his own family.

So Grim was the first to support Allen's decision.

Under such circumstances, it was natural for things to go more smoothly. During the time Allen went to Moria to scavenge for Mithril, Beorn did not spend much time getting a positive answer from his clansmen, after which he found Yamila, and the two quickly negotiated some details.

Before the migration began, the Cabinet would dispatch officials to organize a large number of lumberjacks to clear open spaces and roads in Mirkwood, helping the Skin-changers complete the first phase of building their homes. Afterward, the felled trees would be specially treated to build outposts and defensive lines in Mirkwood.

Although they would not build a wooden Great Wall in the dense forest, they would help each Skin-changer family fence off a piece of land protected by wooden walls, so as to prevent their women and children from suffering sudden attacks by Orcish and Warg.

And according to Allen's idea, he would also arrange for some Animal Friends to assist the Skin-changers, letting these little children bring their little companions to live here for a period of time. On one hand, they could follow the Skin-changers to learn more skills, and on the other, they could strengthen the monitoring of the forest.

Of course, this was a follow-up plan; currently, everything was still in the initial preparation stage, and Allen and Beorn were just taking time out today to look at the construction site.

Based on Allen's existing manpower and resources, this work actually needed to be done for many years. After all, he was not the First Emperor; he neither had such a vast territory nor so many subjects, and more importantly, he did not have such ruthless determination to disregard the lives of workers to achieve a goal.

"Hahaha, yes, Allen, in the blink of an eye, more than ten years have passed, and even a young man like Grim is getting married. Too fast, too fast. But I am still very happy that you agreed to the marriage of the two of them." Looking at the bustling construction site, Beorn sat down on his butt beside Allen; his tall figure, even while sitting, was almost close to Allen's height when standing.

"You shouldn't thank me for this; this is the decision of the two young people. Being able to come together is their fate, and as for me? I just need to give them my blessings and prepare a generous dowry by the way, don't you think?" Allen said with a smile to his "in-law" about the marriage of Grim and Cress.

"What dowry or not, my family tradition doesn't need those flashy things. Being able to help them build a good house is already a very good wedding gift." Beorn's words were absolutely sincere, because his family tradition was indeed like that; in his hall, apart from necessary tools, there was almost nothing made of metal.

And hearing this, Allen smiled with a strange expression and nodded, not saying anything.

Perhaps Grim really didn't need these things, but Cress would definitely like them.

This girl would always take out her collection to admire under the light in the middle of the night. Although she hadn't accumulated much, she still had enough Jewelry to fill several boxes, most of which were rewards Allen had bestowed upon her over the years, and some were gains Cress had made on the battlefield.

With her current status and wealth, she would of course not cut open the abdomen of a corpse for gold teeth or gold coins, but Cress still liked some "little trinkets" that were pleasing to the eye.

Battlefield spoils, it's very normal.

Moreover, even if Cress married Grim and moved away from his side, Allen still left a beautiful room for these two young people in Winterburg; if they got tired of living in the forest, they could return to Fislate at any time.

Of course, James, Fatis, Desaiwei, Artimenner, and Alayen all had their own rooms, and as for Yamila, she lived with Allen.

These companions who had followed Allen to Middle-earth from the beginning could be said to have a share for everyone; even if some of them became lords and some started their own families, Allen still left a place for them by his side, welcoming them back at any time.

As for the work of clearing open spaces in Mirkwood, it was not being carried out simultaneously; only two of the four construction sites had started so far.

Grim and Cress's new home was the responsibility of the residents near Fislate, located at the westernmost end of the Old Forest Road. This place was very close to Beorn's garden, and the distance to Fislate was not far; Cress could arrive in a few hours if she rode on Grim, who had turned into a large bear.

And the other construction site was located at the easternmost end of the Old Forest Road, which belonged to Wulf's family, and the person responsible for this work was the residents near Heidelberg. Under the orders of the Cabinet, Alayen took on the corresponding responsibility; as a lord, he had the obligation to serve Allen.

However, Yamila still paid Alayen some supplies as remuneration according to the construction schedule, because this work would take a long time, and getting it all for free might affect the lives of the residents of Heidelberg, which was an undesirable behavior.

As for the residences of the other two Skin-changer families, they would start in the relatively slack winter, because at that time most people were in the agricultural off-season, and Rhovanion would have sufficient labor to carry out this work.

Allen and Beorn were satisfied with the current progress of the construction site, so they did not stay in Mirkwood for long and soon set off on the road home.

And the Orcish, Warg, and those Great Spiders were also extremely sensible and did not harass the sweating lumberjacks during this time.

Although they had been disturbed and were hiding in the dark corners of the forest, staring at the Humans chopping wood in the forest at all times, and had been planning an ambush for a long time.

But when Allen brought his Captain of the Personal Guard to this forest, these minions serving the darkness were like animals that had smelled the scent of a natural predator; in horror and fear, they fled in a panic toward the depths of the forest, leaving any plans or ambushes behind.

Only the birds taking flight in the forest proved their existence, and this also caught Allen's attention. Having just prepared to leave, he subsequently sent his Captain of the Personal Guard to scout.

It was just that Holimion did not catch up with those filthy guys, only bringing back a warning that there were enemies nearby monitoring the construction site.

Faced with this situation, Allen left behind the Noldor Rangers from his personal guard. These Elves with sharp eyes and superb archery skills were extremely adept at ambushing and scouting in forests back in the Pendor continent, and they also had the ability to move silently between grass and trees.

Even if the armor they wore had protection equivalent to Plate Armor, it did not affect their ability to hide among the woodlands. Allen believed that having these thirty-plus Elves scouting the nearby forest would greatly reduce the possibility of a sudden enemy attack.

And he could also rest assured as he took the others and set off on the road home.