Lord: Starting with Summoning the Regular Army of Earth

After a long while, the carriage rolled over the newly paved road and entered the main street of Jinshi Ridge.

The people who were busy in various places all looked over when they heard the sound of horses' hooves and wheels.

When they saw the wagon loaded with supplies, especially Conrad sitting on the shaft and Matthew lying on the cargo, their faces instantly lit up with genuine smiles and radiance.

"It's the lord and Knight Conrad back!"

"The lord has brought back so much stuff again!"

"Welcome back, my lord!"

"Welcome, Lord!"

People greeted each other warmly. Although their clothes were still simple and their faces were thin, their eyes were full of hope and gratitude.

They all bowed to the carriage, their voices not in unison, but filled with heartfelt respect.

Matthew waved, feeling an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

"He's actually a lord?"

Like two invisible ghosts, Shirin and the black cat silently followed the carriage into the territory of Emberstone Ridge.

Their figures blended perfectly into the shadows of buildings and objects, making them undetectable to people in the real world, who couldn't even hear them speak.

"This can be considered territory?" the black cat said lazily, looking at the dilapidated buildings around it.

However, when Shirin's gaze passed over the cheering citizens and landed inside Emberstone Ridge, she was drawn to the busy goblin figures.

She immediately took the black cat and, like a ghost, arrived at a high rooftop to gaze at the distant scenery.

A group of goblins were chanting and working together to erect a huge log, their movements as skilled as experienced construction workers.

The other team was by the blacksmith's forge, some were responsible for blowing air, and some were swinging hammers to forge, the clanging and banging sounds were very rhythmic.

Further away, a line of goblins, in neat rows, carrying shovels, ran in unison toward the hillside in the northwest corner.

Shirin and the black cat exchanged a glance, and their figures vanished from the spot in an instant.

When it reappeared, it was already in the shadow of a building near the blacksmith's forge. It stared at the goblins who were forging iron for a long time, and then in a flash, it appeared under the shade of a tree near the carpentry workshop.

"These... these goblins are a bit strange!" Shirin's voice was full of surprise and doubt.

The black cat also shed its previous laziness, its dark purple eyes filled with disbelief: "Goblins are synonymous with chaos and stupidity. Even the most powerful orc wizards cannot make them as disciplined as human soldiers!"

"Hmm, although these goblins are magical creations, probably created by that man using sacred artifacts, even if they are magical creations, a goblin is still a goblin, and can never be human!" Shirin couldn't help but glance back in the direction of the lord's mansion. "How on earth did that guy manage to do that?"

"More than that, I'd like to know his background." A very human-like expression appeared on the black cat's face.

And so, the man and the cat hid in the shadows, observing everything within Emberstone Ridge.

The more I observed, the deeper my shock and doubt became.

It can be said that the sights of Emberstone Ridge completely overturned their understanding of goblins, and even some common magical knowledge.

……

As night fell, in the council hall of the lord's manor.

The council chamber now has new tables and chairs, and even more luxuriously, candles, which are extremely precious to the poor, are now used, making the room exceptionally bright.

The heads of each group, along with language expert Lu Zhengyuan, are gathered here for today's work meeting. They are reporting on the current progress, discussing solutions to current problems, and sharing information.

Before arriving here, each group had already completed its own work report and summary.

Sun Zhengwu was the last to report on his work.

He first introduced the progress of the defensive fortifications, and it was estimated that the initial defensive fortifications would be completely completed in another day, which would basically achieve effective defense against threats within the Misty Mountains.

He also put forward a plan and reasons for setting up outposts all around Elmstone Ridge, which coincided with what Matthew had been thinking about during the day.

Finally, he talked about Lei Hu's plan to "exacerbate the conflict between the two goblin tribes," and then recounted the reconnaissance team's experience that day and Wang Xun's situation, giving a brief account and emphasizing that these people, as magical summons, would not actually die.

This delighted everyone, making them feel much less burdened and even giving them a sense of fearlessness.

Matthew then picked up where Sun Zhengwu left off, talking about the valuable books he had just acquired.

He first showed the illustrations and descriptions of the "Spiky Digger" from the "Handbook of Dangerous Creatures".

"Look, this is the monster that Comrade Wang Xun and his comrades encountered. This book records its habits and weaknesses in detail. If our people could understand this information, Comrade Wang Xun might have been able to avoid this danger."

The crowd gathered around. Although they couldn't understand the text, the clear illustrations and Lu Zhengyuan's brief explanation based on Matthew's retelling had already shaken them.

"Besides these, there's this one." Matthew picked up the other books one by one. "This 'Geography' tells us about the general map of the kingdom and the distribution of resources; the 'Chronicle' lets us understand the historical context and potential enemies of the Kingdom of Augustus; the 'Herbal and Mineral Atlas' is a treasure trove for resource exploration; and these few..."

His gaze fell on the three magical tomes, and he said solemnly, "These are fundamental magical texts treasured by the Will family, covering the nature of magic, material identification, and even basic runes. They may help us understand one of the most core power systems in this world."

Before Matthew had finished speaking, a low murmur of admiration and discussion arose in the council chamber, and everyone's face was full of joy.

They all understood the strategic value of these books; it was as if a modern army had been given an enemy's military deployment map, technology tree, and training syllabus.

With these books, their work progress can be greatly improved, and they can avoid many detours.

"But as you all know, language and writing are the biggest obstacles between us and this knowledge. Without overcoming this obstacle, these books are just a pile of waste paper," Matthew said with a serious expression.

As a linguist, Lu Zhengyuan was exceptionally excited and immediately said, "Give me this task. I will try my best to overcome the language barrier in the shortest possible time. However, this task is also very difficult, after all, this is a completely new and unknown language system. We need to build a basic database of phonetics, vocabulary, and grammar. Ideally, we would have systematic learning materials and a... well, a high-level native speaker to work with to overcome the difficulties."

"That's no problem. I'll have Will assist you; for now, the two of you will form the core of the language problem-solving team."

Lu Zhengyuan nodded emphatically: "Okay, Will and I can start with the most basic everyday objects and actions. We'll point to the objects and say their names, then imitate the actions and say the verbs, and create an illustrated dictionary."

Matthew looked at the head of the logistics team and said, "Professor Du Yucai, later give Professor Lu some more manpower to assist him and Will. They will be responsible for recording and organizing vocabulary cards, drawing diagrams, etc. We hope to build a bilingual corpus in the shortest possible time."

"No problem," Du Yucai immediately agreed.

……