Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 5 Choosing a Territory

On the snow-covered land, a group of more than forty knights slowly approached Frostspear City.

In the center of the procession, a black carriage moved smoothly forward, with a crimson banner with a crescent moon pattern hanging from its roof.

Such a grand display naturally attracted the attention of the city gate soldiers, who all watched the newcomers warily.

As they approached the city gate, a tall and slender young man slowly alighted from the carriage.

He raised his hand and removed his hood, revealing a handsome face: "I am Louis Calvin, the Imperial Baron of the Frontier, here to pay my respects to Duke Edmund."

The soldiers looked at each other, their eyes showing surprise.

The Calvin family is one of the eight great families of the Ironblood Empire, and they are well-known even in the North.

Although they didn't know the young man's status in the Calvin family, he was someone these ordinary soldiers couldn't afford to neglect.

A soldier turned and went into the city to report.

A short while later, a middle-aged official hurried over and said, "Lord Louis, the Duke has learned of your arrival. Please come with me into the city."

Led by the officials, Louis and his party passed through the heavy city gates and entered Frostspear City.

Although the streets in the city were wide, they were full of potholes, and the snow and mud mixed together, leaving a trail of muddy footprints after each step.

Most of the houses are built of stone and wood, rough and dilapidated, and you can even see ruins that have collapsed in the wind and snow.

The streets are sparsely populated with pedestrians, which can be roughly divided into two categories.

One type is the Northern soldiers wearing fur coats, their faces etched with weariness, their eyes carrying the cold indifference that comes from years of battlefield experience.

The other group consisted of ordinary people dressed in coarse cloth, their expressions blank, focused only on their journey.

Louis's gaze swept over the scene, but his heart remained unmoved.

Given the scarcity of resources and frequent wars in the North, maintaining the current order is already quite remarkable.

“The Duke of Edmund is inside.” The official led Louis and his party to the governor’s office.

The interior was not decorated with much luxury, with only a heavy table, a few old bookshelves, and a dark blue military flag hanging on the wall.

A middle-aged man sat behind the desk. He had a hideous scar on his face, which ran from the corner of his left eye to his jaw, making his already hard face look even more angular.

Its imposing presence is like an unyielding fortress, exuding a suffocating sense of oppression.

This man was none other than Duke Edmund, the ruler of Frostspear and the de facto controller of the Northern Province.

“A mid-level formal knight…” He scrutinized Louis, his eyes filled with disdain. “A Calvin kid?”

Louis remained expressionless and nodded slightly: "Yes."

“He is quite good-looking.” Edmund’s lips curled up slightly, his tone laced with disdain and mockery. “Compared to your illustrious elder brother, he certainly looks more like a nobleman.”

Louis was not surprised by his dismissive attitude.

After all, this is a dog-eat-dog world, and strength is the most powerful proof.

It's normal for someone with such weak strength to be looked down upon by a renowned top knight.

So he didn't bother with pleasantries, took out the pioneering certificate stamped with the royal seal, and said, "I'm here to register my pioneering territory."

Edmund took the pioneer certificate, glanced at it casually to confirm Louis's identity as a pioneer lord, and then pulled a map from a stack of documents on the table and spread it out on the table.

“Apart from the area marked in red, you can select any other area.”

Louis looked down and saw a detailed map of the northern provinces.

The Northern Provinces are vast and boundless, roughly half the size of Russia in my previous life. However, the map only shows a dozen or so red circles, marking them as unselectable areas.

There were so many places to choose from, which excited Louis.

For this pioneering project, the Empire issued a complete set of "Northern Frontier Reclamation Orders".

One of the explicit provisions states that all newly appointed pioneering lords must go to the governor's office to register and select their initial pioneering site, with those who arrive first having priority.

It seems I am one of the first pioneering lords to arrive.

The other noble scions sent by their families were probably stalling for time, not wanting to arrive in the North, hoping to delay as long as possible, and didn't take the matter seriously at all.

This is actually fantastic news for me.

Louis stared at the complex map, lost in thought.

For the past few days, he had been sorting through all the intelligence provided by the system, all for this moment.

The various pieces of information brought by the daily intelligence system quickly intertwined in his mind. He constantly filtered and compared them, searching for the most suitable territory for development.

In fact, he already had several ideal goals in mind.

Therefore, the selection process did not take much time.

He stretched out his hand, circled a location on the map, and looked up at Edmund: "This is it."

Edmund looked down at the spot Louis was pointing to, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

Located in the southeastern part of the North, at the junction of the Blue Rock Rift and the Gray Moss Tundra, 75 kilometers from Frosthowl Fjord.

This kid actually picked a great spot right away?

This region, with its relatively warm temperatures, is one of the few places in the North where some cold-resistant crops can be grown, except during the harsh winter.

This alone makes it much better than most places in the North.

Moreover, there is a stream nearby, which ensures a sufficient water supply and allows people to fish for a living.

More importantly, some cold iron ore veins, although extremely difficult to mine, still have great development potential if suitable methods can be found.

In the frigid North, a land perpetually frozen and resource-scarce, this place is undoubtedly one of the few "rich" areas.

The duke raised his head and looked at the young man in front of him again.

I thought he was just an ordinary playboy nobleman, but I didn't expect him to know how to choose the location of his territory. It seems that he is not as simple as he appears.

Duke Edmund stared at Louis with interest, and unusually praised him, saying, "A good choice."

Louis did not show any pride when he heard Edmund's praise: "Thank you for the praise, Your Grace, but I was just trying my best to make the most appropriate judgment."

Edmund admired Louis even more, and patted him on the shoulder: "If every pioneer lord had your vision, the North would be saved."

He casually picked up a steel stamp and stamped it heavily on Louis's pioneering lord registration document, officially confirming Baron Louis's sovereignty over this territory.

Louis took the document, his fingertips brushing against the steel stamp bearing the Frost Halberd emblem.

He appeared calm on the surface, but inside he was already celebrating wildly.

This land, selected based on the daily intelligence system, could not possibly be an ordinary territory.

If Edmund had known its true value, he would never have let it fall into the hands of others so easily, but would have kept it firmly in his own hands.

(End of this chapter)