Divine Kingship

Chapter 528: I'll catch you if you take one look! The true legend of the brave

Conch Island, the pirates' lair.

Pirate King Baroque fell silent.

Of course, he didn't think highly of Rand. As a duke, Rand was certainly more powerful than a pirate like him.

But compared to the Borun Kingdom that rules the ocean, Rand, the little Duke, is obviously not good enough.

The reason why the Pirate King supports Rand is not because he thinks highly of Rand, but because he cannot resist.

Rand Nicholas can control the monsters in the water, and the defense and secrecy of Conch Island are useless to Rand.

It would be easy for Rand to kill them, and it was impossible for these pirates to surrender to the Kingdom of Bollen, as the Kingdom of Bollen simply looked down on them.

So when Rand requisitioned their pirate ships, they had no choice but to obey.

Even if they backstabbed Rand, the Kingdom of Boren would not thank them.

After some time, Rand returned the ship to them.

As for the outcome of the war, Rand did not tell them. Everything was as usual, and the money and food promised to them were supplied as usual.

It was impossible to tell whether Rand had won or lost the battle, and they were not qualified to go to Crescent Moon Harbor to see the situation.

Then things started to get weirder.

Now the pirate ship is sailing outside. It has clearly lowered the pirate flag and hung up the family flag of Rand's faction. It is delivering goods to Rand instead of robbing him according to his request.

But now when we encounter caravans on sea routes, some of them will still come to pay tribute.

What is even more bizarre is that some pirates from other forces would come over and offer tribute when they encountered their transport ships.

The dangerous inland sea where you killed me and I killed you, and you robbed me and I robbed you, has become friendly.

At least for these pirates who were forcibly ruled by Rand, things became more friendly.

Of course, not all pirates and caravans were friendly to them. According to Baroque's observation, only the forces related to the Ice Sea were friendly to them.

Now, the pirates of Conch Island have carefully kept the flag issued to them by Rand, representing the Nicholas family, and will lower it when they arrive at the port. If there is any loose thread, it will be repaired immediately.

They certainly don't think that their current treatment is caused by their bad reputation, although many times they still doubt whether Rand Nicholas's reputation is really so exaggerated?
They began to doubt the outcome of the war between the Kingdom of Bolen and the Dukedom of the Moon.

But now, they should just honestly complete the delivery task given to them by Duke Rand.

In any case, Rand at least gave him enough money and food, but he was still not used to being a sea transporter after being transformed from a pirate.

……

Rand was arresting people.

Rand actually considered leaving a group of people from the Kingdom of Bollen to do hard labor, but after thinking about it, he decided not to do so in order to avoid being discovered too early.

There are still many people in the Kingdom of Bolen who don't know that the actual winner of that war was Rand.

Also, although the Kingdom of Bollen agreed to "cede" the land to Rand, Rand was sure that the Kingdom of Bollen still had a lucky mentality.

For example, when will it be taken back?

If we had a clear understanding of Rand's progress, it might have been a stumbling block.

So Rand finally decided not to let the people from the Kingdom of Bolen get close.

However, this did not affect Rand's arrest of people and their forced labor.

The area destroyed by the undead is actually not in a bad location, with fertile soil and convenient transportation, otherwise it would not have become the area originally built by the Kingdom of Bolen. It is said to be bad, but it is more dangerous and more difficult to rebuild.

What Rand is good at is construction. For Rand, reconstruction is definitely easier than building from scratch.

As for wandering monsters, bandits, and undead, Rand can let adventurers take over.

Adventurers are suitable for these odd jobs.

Rand walked on the charred village road. This side was completely destroyed by the undead, but some villagers escaped the disaster of the undead and now returned to the village.

The dilapidated village seems deserted, but in fact the golden color of crops is already exposed in the field of vision.

It is obvious that someone is taking care of it. If no one is taking care of it, the food crops will not be able to compete with the weeds for nutrients.

Rand signaled to the members of the special operations force, and soon, all the villagers hiding in the cellars and houses were brought to Rand.

An old villager trembled and walked up to Rand: "Great lord, noble, please let us go. We, we really have nothing to offer you."

The villagers all knelt down before Rand, looking at him sadly and earnestly. They certainly knew the cruelty and greed of the nobles, and they also knew that their pleas were meaningless.

Rand smiled and without explaining, ordered his subordinates to take these bereaved villagers away. Ordinary villagers did not need to be sent to labor reform, but had to obey the assignments and do the work.

He is now the lord here, and these villagers are of course his property.

Unfortunately, their numbers were small, and the rampage of the undead still plunged most of the villagers into eternal silence.

Rand continued to lead his men to recruit villagers.

They also encountered a group of bandits who were robbing villagers.

Rand stopped and watched. The robbers should also be villagers. They couldn't survive so they resorted to robbery. Now, the scene before him should be two groups of villagers fighting?

In short, it is village war.

Back then, there had been village wars in Crescent Moon Territory. It was through war and other means that Rand unified the poor and remote Crescent Moon Territory and thus had the capital to develop gradually.

If no one takes care of this place, maybe some force will develop?
However, there are too few people so it is unlikely to develop.

The village fighting soon stopped.

The villagers who were originally fighting had already discovered Rand's arrival. Of course, what they discovered was not only Rand Nicholas, the nobleman in gorgeous clothes, but also the silent and well-armed army behind him.

The villagers from both sides who were originally warring quickly gathered together and prepared to cooperate to fight against the powerful foreign enemy.

Rand paid no attention to the villagers' pitchforks and hoes. He walked up to them and said, "Surrender. I still need some subjects here. Of course, you can also choose to resist. The result of resistance..."

Rand paused: "The consequences of resistance are actually nothing, just getting beaten and then working for me." "The difference is whether you get beaten or not." Rand concluded.

The villagers quickly compared the difference in armament between the two sides. It was obvious that pitchforks and hoes could hardly cause any damage to the armored infantry.

As for kidnapping the lord who was so close...

If the villagers think from their own perspective, they can clearly judge that there must be some legendary elite strongman around this lord.

That was something that ordinary villagers like them could not compare to. They had also heard that some lords used golden hoes to cultivate the land. Now looking at the appearance of this young lord, it might be true.

The villagers and bandits soon learned their lesson and gave up resistance.

Rand continued his patrol.

According to the area allocated to him by the Kingdom of Bolen on the map, it is roughly the same size as the Full Moon Territory. If he takes over all these territories, then the size of the Dukedom of the Moon Phase will be qualified as a dukedom.

And because of Rand's strong military and administrative capabilities, after the development of this land, the economic, cultural and population of the Duke of the Moon's territory will be at an upper-middle level among the duchies, not counting the strong men in the Sanctuary and Rand's abilities.

A very core issue needs to be mentioned here. Rand's current population of 4.6 only counts Rand's core territory, not its governing area. If Rand's vassals are included, the population that Rand can manage is about 14.

It's just that the vassals don't have the same population density and combat elite as Rand. If Rand recruits them, there will be about 600 knights, which is a very considerable combat force. When Rand fought against the invasion of the Kingdom of Bollen, he naturally mobilized the forces of the vassals.

The Frost Moon Kingdom is a big country, but it actually has a population of only over three million.

The population of some small principalities in this world is only about 10 people.

This small principality is certainly no match for Rand.

The population of the kingdom is basically in the millions. In the past, there was a country in the Southern Kingdom with a population of 1300 million, but it later split into three countries with a population of several million.

If we refer to the Western Middle Ages, before the Black Death, England and Wales had a combined population of 300 million, France had much more, reaching 1700 million, and cold countries such as Denmark, Sweden, and Norway basically had a population of 30 to 50.

This world used to have larger countries with populations of tens of millions, but today, the powerful White Kingdom has only 500 million people, while the Griffin Kingdom in the south, for example, has a population of nearly 900 million.

The population of the Southern Kingdom is generally larger than that of the Northern Union. After all, the Northern Union has to constantly face the disasters of orcs, and the food that can be grown in the cold land is not as good as the warm land in the south.

However, a small population does not mean weak combat effectiveness. National strength is something that needs to be considered comprehensively. Even in the absence of Lady Borland, the White King, if the Griffin Kingdom and the White Kingdom are brought together to fight, the White Kingdom will most likely win.

In Rand's previous life, the Middle Ages, during the Hundred Years' War between England and France, the population of Britain was only 20% of that of France. In short, France had 1400 million people, and Britain, including Wales, had only 300 million people.

Compared to these kingdoms with millions of people, the strength of the Principality of Rand is certainly weak, but then again, looking weak does not mean it is really weak. Rand's current population is expanding very fast, and the formerly strong neighbors, the Kingdom of Bolun and the Kingdom of Lensa, have now become weak neighbors.

If this situation continues, Rand will soon expand to the level of a powerful duchy, or even a kingdom.

Of course, this will happen very quickly, and it will definitely take five or even ten years.

These are all things that happened in the distant past. Rand is now concentrating on developing the land that was "ceded" to him by the Kingdom of Bollen. Rand plans to name this land the Holy Moon Territory.

As for why it is not Nest No. 6, there is naturally an obvious reason. In the past, it could really be called Nest No. 1, but now the Duke of the Moon Phase is no longer a makeshift team, so the naming cannot be careless.

In five or six days, Rand had visited most of the territory. After counting, he had captured about 400 people. These people were all senior villagers. As long as they were well fed and clothed, they would quickly get into the role and did not need labor reform.

As for the rest, Rand will need blood transfusions from the territory.

Rand estimated that he could catch dozens more people in the subsequent sweeps. Although it would be a small amount, it would add up to a lot.

Rand can use more than just humans. There should be some wandering monsters like centaurs or minotaurs in this land, who can also be captured and used. Rand has a special department to recruit monsters like minotaurs and centaurs.

As for other monsters, Rand currently has neither the interest nor the ability to recruit them.

Rand watched as the construction of the Holy Moon Territory slowly began to start, and asked the secretary Olenna beside him: "What's going on now?"

"Yes." It was not Olenna who spoke, but Lysa.

The Elf Forest has undergone tremendous changes, but Lysa is not interested in this, as if she had expected it.

Except when she was on the wooden rack or under the whip, Rand had never seen Lysa show a surprised expression. Even if she did, it was mostly pretended.

Lysa is mysterious and unpredictable. Although Lysa rarely hides anything from Rand on purpose and Rand already knows a lot about Lysa, the mystery around her still remains in Rand's eyes.

Maybe this is what perverts are like, they can never let anyone know what they are thinking.

Recently, Lysa has been very interested in Vanilla and is trying to teach her some etiquette, but Rand doesn't know the progress, or to be more precise, he didn't ask.

"What's the matter?" Rand's eyes narrowed slightly and he looked at Lisa seriously.

Olenna and Ellie also looked over seriously.

The high-level officials of the Sanctuary, as well as Rand, all knew of Lysa's strange personality, but at the same time, everyone also completely believed in Lysa.

Lisa is very reliable, thoughtful and flexible, and everyone is willing to listen to Lisa's opinions.

Her arrogance and mystery do not affect everyone's trust.

"Recently, some legends have emerged among the people. It is said that a true hero is about to be born, and then the hero will defeat the conspiracy from the sulfur world." Lisa said that she had finished speaking.

"We haven't promoted it this way yet, have we?" Rand confirmed seriously.

The top leaders of the Sanctuary all nodded. Rand's propaganda strategy was taking effect. However, without more evidence and targets, Rand did not start promoting Grand Duke Vladimir's plan of advent.

The previous anti-vampire craze also returned to normal levels with the death of the Blue King.

What is this legend about.

"I looked up some information and investigated some ruins." Lisa twisted her white hair and muttered, "It seems to be true. When encountering a major crisis, a hero will be born."

Of course Rand believed what Lysa said.

However, he didn't know who this brave man was.

As a cloud player of Deep Moon, he knew too little about this, and Rand didn't know the subsequent plot.

However, Rand guessed that this hero was basically one of the three protagonists, either Elsa, Ellie, or Quirrell.

Ellie and Elsa are purely family, and Rand has already established a good relationship with Quirrel.

If a brave man really appears, then that should be considered as Rand's help?

(End of this chapter)