Chapter 370 (1/2)

Chapter 370: Rhythm

Translator: Meh/TransN Editor: – –

Three days later, Roland received an affirmative answer from the eldest son of the Honeysuckle Family.

“I’m willing to continue serving you, and so is the Honeysuckle Family,” he said, bowing his head. “I’ll convince my father—he’s a little… different from the other families.”

“Is that so.” Roland suddenly felt quite cheerful. “That’s great to hear.”

“In the past few days, I’ve witnessed all the extraordinary changes that have taken place in your town, and I realized that this was the city I wished for all long,” Petrov confessed. “If the Honeysuckle Family can flourish like this, Father won’t mind merging with the new city.”

This struck a chord in the Prince’s heart. He originally only had two reasons for bringing Petrov here: The first was that it was more sincere to share such momentous news with Petrov in person, and the other was to observe his attitude towards the decree. Roland never imagined that Petrov would react this well. Roland nodded and said, “Of course. In time, every inch of land in the Kingdom of Graycastle will be home to the people.”

“Then I must return to Stronghold as quickly as possible and relay this news to my father.”

“Don’t forget the other four noble families and all the nobilites of the Western Region.” Roland added, “Any family who wishes to accept my terms will be welcomed unconditionally into the new city, regardless of past conflicts. You can hold a banquet in the Stronghold to spread the word.”

“You mean you want me to tell them?” Petrov asked, stunned.

“Yes,” the prince said, smiling. “This time… you can act as my ambassador.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” the eldest of the Honeysuckles raised a hand to his chest and said.

Just as he was about to leave, Roland stopped him and said, “By the way, you did a great job with the witch incident. There’ll be no more hiding from now on. After all this universal education, if anyone is still blindly hanging onto the church’s teachings, they should be removed from the Western Region. You can decide how exactly you want to do it.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After Petrov Hull left, Roland stretched and yawned, and then continued flipping through the data that the City Hall had compiled on various construction projects.

Due to the heavy snowfall, the construction of the Kingdom Main Street had to be halted, and the construction of houses had been slowed down as well, so there were only a few indoor maintenance projects underway. Fortunately Lotus had constructed a series of cave dwellings to shelter the refugees before she left. Even if more refugees came, they could be distributed among the current caves—this was the advantage of using heated brick beds.

According to the Ministry of Construction, at least more than 60% of the workers were currently employed, so any last-minute recruitments from the City Hall were always snatched up quickly, such as clearing the snow off the streets, transporting goods in the Blast Furnace Zone and so on. If this were in any other city, having this many eager workers during the Months of Demons would be unbelievable. Winter was already the most difficult season for civilians, so most people usually shut themselves in their homes and survived by their fall harvest. However, Roland felt dissatisfied with seeing all this manpower being idle, so he racked his brain trying to think of something that could utilize it all.

After all, Margerie’s Chamber of Commerce had bought the last batch of steam engines manufactured this year, and the City Hall had more than enough money and grains, so that he could carry out many of his plans.

At this thought, Roland had his guard summon Karl Van Bate, the Minister of Construction.