Alien world

Chapter 1839, Section 472: The Calm Before the Storm

What's the difference between a king and a lord?

Annan wanted to scratch his head, but felt that the action was not very steady, so he instead ran a hand through his black hair.

“These are the questions my father asked me. He said that a lord is responsible to his people, but of course, it’s up to you whether you are or not. Your family and your territory are all you have.”

Olmedo gazed intently at Annan: "By choosing to be king, you must bear the responsibility. The wealth and poverty, life and death of countless people rest in your hands."

"What did you choose?" Annan asked curiously.

"You should be able to guess."

Annan did remember Olmedo saying many times that all she wanted to do back then was to manage Breeze City well.

As for Olmedo's choice...

"Don't I have enough responsibilities on my shoulders?"

Olmedo remained noncommittal.

The burden of Free City rests entirely on Annan's shoulders, and they can only do their best to help share the pressure.

Oh, besides promoting the integration of different races.

Those thousands of miles away could only learn about Liberty City through magical images and newspapers. In their minds, Liberty City must be a vast and magnificent place like the royal city.

Given Free City's current development, hiding in the background and shirking responsibility is no longer acceptable. Its position in the Holy Council and its standing in Middle-earth must be elevated.

Olmedo added, "I'm just reminding you that you have to choose between being a free and uninvolved minor lord, or standing atop a high tower and becoming the decision-maker for the fate of the continent of Allen. The pros and cons are for you to decide."

“What do you want me to become?” Annan countered.

"I have no demands on you. If I had to say something, I would hope that you grow up healthy and find someone you love to spend your life happily..."

"Did the eldest sister say that?"

How could Olmedo possibly appear to be full of maternal love?

Olmedo nodded.

"And what about you?" Annan asked again.

"I……"

Olmedo opened his mouth, then hesitated.

"I understand."

Olmedo is ambitious. Perhaps not when she was still the Lady of Breeze. But after everything she's been through with Annan, she can no longer live a peaceful life.

Annan reflected on his past, present, and future, and suddenly asked, "What do you think the Empire hopes we will choose?"

……

With war imminent, all Liberty City soldiers, except for those necessary to guard outposts and the commercial district, were mobilized back to receive intensive training from Blackwatch instructors and be equipped with new gear.

Strangely enough, Commissar Frank was initially eager to equip all Hellfire soldiers with second-generation magic firearms. However, after equipping a few squads, he stopped, maintaining only five squads, totaling 500 men, which was only one-tenth of the original size.

Frank's response was that he had no doubt about the future of repeating muskets, but the frequent jamming of the second-generation magic muskets indicated quality issues. Rashly implementing them across the entire legion would only consume the blacksmith's limited production capacity. It would be better to select one-tenth of the soldiers to fight with the new weapon, then continuously gather feedback on the problems, which would be relayed to the blacksmith for improvement until the jamming rate was reduced to an acceptable and stable level.

Only the second-generation magic muskets at that time were qualified weapons that could be mass-produced and sold to the military.

Frank, a graduate of Liberty City University, insists on a scientific approach to problems, and his greatest strengths are his rigor and consistency between words and deeds. Those who have met Frank say that even if he hadn't become a political commissar, he would have been an excellent Liberty City official.

Currently, the blacksmith shop, having obtained a large amount of first-hand usage data, has made progress, and the improved second-generation magic firearm will be ready soon.

The legions were busy, and other departments were busy too. Ingrid led the nobles from the east to introduce the commercial layout of Free City.

Annam was still torn between being a king or a lord. He didn't want to take responsibility, but he couldn't bear to see people struggling in the mire.

Becoming a king and accepting tribute from vassals seems good, and it is indeed good, but it also brings a lot of trouble, especially at this time.

After all, you usually enjoy the service of your vassals. When the enemy comes, you should be sheltering them from the wind and rain, but instead you take a step back and protect your vassals in front of you.

Annan's choice to take on greater responsibility is tethering Free City to this place, making it difficult to escape as easily as before—the idea of ​​joining the Skaven or the Demons will truly remain just a dream.

As a result, the nobles, understanding the situation, went to Free City, bought land and houses there, and sent their clansmen there.

That makes things easier. If we can't beat them, we can just run away with them, right?

However, no matter who you are, don't even think about living in a manor in Liberty City; at best, you can only have a detached two-story cottage.

After all, land in Free City is incredibly valuable. You might be secretly amazed at how expensive it is to buy a detached house for a few hundred gold nars, but the same area would cost several thousand gold nars if converted into arcane cores.

By roughly speaking, you bought the house, but Annam still lost several hundred gold dollars.

Therefore, I must become king! Only by becoming king can I attract more wealthy people to settle in Free City, and only then can houses be sold at higher prices, filling the bottomless pit of arcane energy cores!
As for Annam's question, they already had the answer: it doesn't matter whether he is a king or a lord.

The important thing is that the empire needs help.

The empire was too large, so large that some things became a burden. Like a voyage fraught with reefs, the best vessel is not a large ship that can weather storms, but a small boat that can sail with a sail.

On the day of the decision, Annan asked Olin to tell Gandhi about it. Gandhi acknowledged the decision and told him to continue waiting.

What are you waiting for?
Annan had no idea, so he could only continue to frantically hoard firewood and game, just like the villagers who were about to be snowed in, to ensure their survival during the long, harsh winter.

If it weren't for the ongoing conflict in Old Val, where the rat carcasses were almost piling up into a mountain of hell, Annam would have thought the Empire was about to change its mind again.

Italia put Annan at ease, having reviewed the empire's history, which showed that whenever war envoys were dispatched, war subsequently broke out.

On this day, Annan was teaching the princess to read in the garden when Losi came over and said that the lords had all arrived.

There are thirty-four lords of varying sizes in the east, similar to Pearl Territory. Twenty-seven of them have expressed their willingness to become vassals of Free City under the threat of the rat horde.

Olmedo summoned them to discuss a joint defense against the forces of Chaos in the north.

Twenty-seven sounds like a lot, but in reality, they are mostly small knightly territories with only a handful of people, covering a territory of only a dozen miles. The entire territory, including the serfs, has no more than a hundred people.

Those who did not come were lords who were related to the Empire but did not need the protection of the Free City.

Why would someone who can latch onto the Empire's coattails want to latch onto the Liberty City's weaker side?

The diligent Deputy Lord of Olmedo had already taken care of everything. All Annan needed to do was show up, have Evelyn film a few clips, and then grab the hands of a few minor lords whose names he didn't know and shake them vigorously. That would complete his mission.

(End of this chapter)