People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

At least, barring any unforeseen circumstances, with the orders they've secured during this period, they won't have to worry about bankruptcy for the foreseeable future.

Kal'tsit was delighted; this was probably the most joyful thing for her in recent times, aside from the fact that the Terran humans had finally taken their first step in exploring the stars. Moreover, compared to the various heart-stopping accidents that came with exploring the stars, signing some purchase orders, setting up some offices, and helping to deal with some infected people were all so safe, so safe that they moved her.

However, while she was moved, Manfred wasn't as touched.

As a member of the new generation of Sarkaz, Manfred did not experience the era when the Sarkaz were invaded by the four-nation coalition organized by Kal'tsit. His memories of Kazdel were limited to the military council scavenging through the land to slowly assemble the skeleton of that mobile city—however, just two days after that thing was built, Kazdel was engulfed in civil war and was also destroyed.

The establishment of a civilization takes a long time, but its destruction can happen in just a few days.

Theresis didn't hide it; he knew very well that the root cause of the civil war was the ideological clash between Theresis and Theresia. But Kal'tsit was the direct cause.

The powder keg is there, and it will explode sooner or later. Does that mean the person who lit the fire is innocent?

He had no affection for Kal'tsit.

But under Kelpie's protection, he couldn't do anything to Kal'tsit and Rhodes Island.

Manfred could only keep this to himself and report the information to Therese upon returning to Londinium, so the general could make a decision. As for Hadley, he was to remain in Sherag.

He seemed to be doing quite well here. The Sherag kids called him "Uncle One-Eyed," "Temperamental Teacher," and "He Dalei."

Manfred could understand the first one, but he didn't understand the last two.

I asked the people of Shelag, and they said it was because Hedley would always suddenly become sentimental while lecturing, and would start to sigh and lament, looking regretful, so the children thought he had a "weird temper." Hedley was his pseudonym in Shelag.

They seem to have quite a zest for life.

Watching Hedley's retreating figure, Manfred's lips curled into a bitter smile.

If there were no war, would the Sarkaz be living this kind of life?

Perhaps, the reason he joined the Military Council was precisely to create such a future for Sarkaz, wasn't it?

Perhaps sensing Manfred's gaze, or simply having reached their destination, Hedley stopped at Ernst's door and turned to remind him:

"Ernst doesn't actually have that much prejudice against the Sarkaz. As long as you remember not to threaten Sherag or offend Jeragand, he's quite easy to talk to."

Ersula waved her hand, somewhat amused: "Hedley, you weren't this fussy back in Kazdel, were you?"

“We just came here to get our things back. As long as he returns them to us as agreed, we won’t say anything more.”

Manfred nodded, agreeing with Ersula's statement.

When they first entered Sherag, they were unlucky and were caught red-handed by a muscular Caprini woman with terrifying fighting power.

Although Manfred tried to minimize his movements during that hasty encounter, the mace was not an easy opponent. After a fierce fight, he didn't dare to use his full strength and didn't gain any advantage. He was also discovered.

Subsequently, at Ernst's request and under Hedley's persuasion, the two were forced to "voluntarily" surrender their weapons. Manfred hid the Root of Tikkaz and handed over his sword, while Ersula had his pocket watch taken away.

The Root of Tikkaz was a secret weapon given to him by Theresis. This thing was fused into the bloodline of the Sarkaz, requiring the infusion of fresh blood to activate. Normally, it looked no different from a bead, making it easy to hide. The sword itself wasn't particularly valuable; the Sarkaz who had taken over the Londinium Industrial Zone could easily forge a new one. The only thing he absolutely had to take was Ersula's pocket watch.

That was one of the fragments of the [Timeline] behemoth, a genuine [artifact].

Behemoths are immortal and indestructible. A level-two behemoth that has mastered the [Rules] will shatter into fragments upon death. A single whale falls, and all things are born. A behemoth with multiple laws can split into multiple fragments of a behemoth with a single law. Theoretically, these fragments can be resurrected by gathering together. However, a behemoth with a single law cannot be divided further upon death; it can only split its single law into several divine artifacts.

The Flame Giant split open the Artifact Levadin, while the Time Beast split open the Lock and Key and the Time Pocket Watch, one possessing the power of Subjective Time Slowdown and the other possessing the ability of Time Jump.

In Londinium, It was with this unknown artifact that Theresis was able to assemble his troops right under the noses of the dukes without being detected.

The Grand Dukes of Victoria, including the Dukes of Caster and Windermere, considered Sarkaz to be nothing more than a disorganized rabble, largely because it was merely an isolated city with only a few thousand soldiers who had been brought in as mercenaries. Under constant surveillance by intelligence agents, they were incapable of expanding and therefore posed no real threat.

Little did they know that, just as they were smugly believing that as long as the time was right, they could send a few high-speed warships to surround Londinium and fire a few shots to make the Sarkaz flee in disarray, the Sarkaz's size in the city was constantly growing. The Scavenger King, the oldest of the current Sarkaz royal courts, had even begun to gather the entire Scavenger army.

Once their forces have assembled, they will be more than a few high-speed warships can handle.

And the key to turning the tide was undoubtedly that magical artifact.

Manfred wasn't worried that Ernst would force him to keep the pocket watch, since he probably couldn't use it anyway.

[Chronology] The behemoth was killed by the Blood Lord, which is why some of the gold coins it dropped ended up in the hands of the Sarkaz. And given the behemoth's arrogance, it certainly wouldn't listen to just anyone.

The Blood Demon Lord killed Him, gaining His recognition of His strength, which allowed Him to serve the Sarkaz. But Ernst, what right did He have? The behemoths didn't care about any of those things, like world kingdoms or summits; they weren't swayed by such notions.

In His hands, it was just an ordinary pocket watch.

Hedley knocked on the door, and a soft reply came from inside: "Come in."

The three men pushed open the door and entered the room. Ernst was looking at a report in his hand.

Those were reports submitted by several construction sites in Shelag, mainly concerning a shortage of manpower.

With Rhine Life's personnel withdrawing, construction in Kjerag slowed dramatically. As per the contract, Nast had indeed trained a considerable number of skilled workers for Ernst, but for a nation, these workers were far from sufficient.

Even if each of these skilled workers were to become a contractor and lead a construction site, it wouldn't be enough.

There is a shortage of skilled workers and a shortage of basic labor.

Currently, only Tukarim in Shelag has a relatively high level of development, but Shelag has more than just this one place.

There are still many settlements within the Shivaish territory, and they can now travel by train along the loop line to Tukarim for trade, but what about the more distant areas? What about the territories of Perrochi and Brantau?

The development is still too slow. It would be better to speed it up, to urge people to run.

Ultimately, the biggest reason is the lack of labor, or rather, the lack of qualified labor.

He felt it was time to bring up the issue he had discussed with Horhyah and Kal'tsit some time ago.

Just then, as he was pondering this question, Hedley arrived with Manfred and... cough cough, Ersula.

Ernst knew perfectly well what the two men were there for.

"Leaving already? Is Chairman Theresis urging you to leave?"

Manfred shook his head: "Now that the objective has been achieved, there is no need to stay here any longer."

"We just wanted to retrieve the things we had entrusted to you before we left."

Ernst nodded, stood up, took a large box from the cabinet behind him, and asked:

"How have you been feeling in Kjerag for over a month?"

Seeing Ernst open the box, take out the sword and pocket watch, and place them on the table, Ersula's expression relaxed, and her tone became more relaxed:

"Not bad. It's quite rare to be called a demon while walking down the street."

“I haven’t received any reports of you causing trouble either.” Ernst nodded. “The Sarkaz aren’t incapable of peaceful coexistence, are they?”

“Unfortunately, not everyone thinks that way.” Manfred stepped forward, picked up his sword, examined it, and then grasped the [Time Capsule], feeling the power flowing within it.

Yes, no problem, it's the original product.

Although it seems to lack a bit of spirit, it's not a big deal; this has happened before.

[Chronology] The giant beast is a very special giant beast. What makes it special is that it is extremely lazy. If you don't communicate with it for a month and ask it to do something, it is entirely possible that it will fall asleep.

As long as it's genuine, there won't be any problem. Just wake it up when the time comes.

Ernst did not switch the items.

Manfred had considered that as a Sarkaz, he might have things hacked as usual, but Ernst didn't actually do that, which surprised him.

He pursed his lips, and seemingly uttered a sentence from the bottom of his heart:

“The Sarkaz are not entirely untrustworthy.”

"So, Mr. Ernst, whether you believe it or not, just consider this my opinion."

"Watch out for Kal'tsit."

Ernst nodded, neither confirming nor denying.

Manfred fastened his sword back to his waist, handed the pocket watch to Ersula, nodded slightly to Ernst in farewell, and then turned and left the office.

Watching his retreating figure, Ernst nodded thoughtfully.

Kal'tsit, how did your reputation get so bad? Even the Sarkaz are wary of you.

Is the next step to have the King of Hell offer you a toast, or will Satan tattoo you on his body?

Hedley had intended to take his leave as well, but just as he lifted his foot to walk out, Ernst suddenly called out to him:

"He Dalei, wait a moment."

“Prime Minister Ernst?” Hedley turned around, looking at the smile on Ernst’s face, and for some reason, felt a little uneasy.

Ernst chuckled and rubbed his hands together, then asked:

"It's okay, don't be nervous. You've done a good job this time, so I won't do anything to you."

"Later, you can go to Hinterlea and have her take you to Manju Academy to find my sister. Have her give you your name to the great god Yeragand."

Hedley was slightly taken aback.

Of course he knew what this meant.

The great god Yeragand is the patron god of Kjerag, and the Manju House is the religious institution of Kjerag. Although it is now basically only responsible for religious affairs, Hadley, who has lived in Kjerag for so long, still knows that the Manju House has a hidden function.

Registering a household.

Previously, there were four population registers in Sherag: one compiled by the three major families themselves, one from the population of their respective territories, and one from the general register of the Manju Academy. After the establishment of the unified government of Ernst's Snowfield, the general register of the Manju Academy became the primary one, with each family making corrections and additions to create an official population register.

Both the Manju Institute and the Sherag government have a copy of this document. Apart from newborns in Sherag being automatically enrolled, other foreigners who want to join Sherag must go to the Manju Institute, report to Jeragand, and obtain His approval.

This is both the final process and the final test.

Lying before the gods is not so easy.

Even though the great god Yeragand does not require every Sheragite to believe in Him, such as Vina and Horhyah, the most basic requirement is that they must not harbor malice towards Sherag.

Ernst sent him to Manjusin to ask Enya to report to Jeragand on his behalf, which meant that he had already gotten past the Sherag government!

Ernst is willing to raise his flag!

As everyone knows, the great god Jeragund treats every Sheragite equally, only some are treated more equally than others. He has almost never refused any of Ernst's requests.

Therefore, this basically means that, if Hedley is willing, he can officially become a Sherag from a stateless mercenary.

Hedley was somewhat stunned, while Ernst shrugged:

"Of course, I won't force you. If you don't want to, I can still officially grant you your teaching certificate."

“I…” Hadley opened his mouth, hesitated for a moment, and said, “I have two other people…they are still elsewhere, so…”

"And brought family members?" Even Ernst was taken aback.

Goodness, I never would have guessed! You, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, have a family?

Hedley blushed and quickly waved his hand: "No, no, no... they're my comrades from when I was a mercenary. And a child we found."

"If possible, I'd like to find an opportunity to bring them over. It's just that the child... is a bit mentally unstable."

Even with Hedley's level of education, he simply couldn't find the right adjectives to describe W's personality, and could only conclude it this way.

Ernst rolled his eyes. "Alright then. We'll talk about this later. If the great god Yeragand has no objections by then, I can take charge and make all the arrangements."

After he finished speaking, he paused, offered a sweet treat, and then naturally began to make his demands.

"However, Hedley, there's something else I need to discuss with you."

Hedley immediately said, "Please speak."

Hey, we've come to rely on you.

Ernst smiled. "That's right. I wanted to ask you if you know any other Sarkaz people?"

"Of course, I don't want those troublesome troublemakers. But if you have fellow Sarkaz people like you, with a skill, who want to stay away from war and live a peaceful and stable life, Sherag would be happy to open a door for them."

“They can start as temporary workers, just like you. I will arrange for someone to assess them, and as long as they pass the review period, Sherag will grant them citizenship.”

Ernst paused, then emphasized:

"I hope you can think it over carefully and make a thorough selection. There are limited spots available, and this opportunity won't come around often."

He does indeed lack a lot of labor, but scarcity makes things valuable, and he's not going to bring just any intruder to Shelag. Giving out these positions at once makes it more competitive, doesn't it?

Chapter 352 Mudstone: Why don't you just call me by name?

Kazdel, the scar market.

Terran historians refer to the first city established by the Far Exiles as the First Kazdel. Legend has it that the ruins of the First Kazdel are located in the wilderness of what is now southern Colombia, a majestic and imposing place, a land of demons.