Chapter 381 The Nightmare Butcher's Ambition
On the day the delegation left the exile town, Anthony brought two people to lead them.
"If you walk east for about a day and a half, you should run into our road repair team, and then you can take a ride with them. These two are Adam and Gejier. They are going the same way as you, so they can lead you to the destination so that you don't miss it."
Count Dimos's gaze lingered on the dark-skinned big guy Adam for a moment, then turned to the black-haired young man who came with Adam.
The black-haired young man was not very old, but he looked decadent and listless. His temperament was totally different from the strangers that Count Dimos had seen in the Exile Town - even those disabled poor people with missing limbs were not as decadent as him.
What made Count Dimos frown even more was that the black-haired young man named Gejier had a very northern look.
Anthony knew that the Shiga royal family would be sensitive about Kenyan ancestry, so he took the initiative to introduce with a smile: "Gejier and I are from the Kenyan Empire, so he is our... um, guest."
Gejier was too lazy to look at his old fellow countryman Anthony. He led his horse past Andre who was staring at him suspiciously, and walked to the back of the team.
The big guy Adam laughed and said, "Don't mind it. This 'Kenyan guest' is not very happy to be our guest, so he has this expression."
Count Dimos and Andre looked at the big dark-skinned man with expressionless faces at the same time.
With short white hair close to his scalp and dazzlingly black skin, this guy looks like a Sokree from the south...
Don't you find it strange that a Kenyan (Anthony) and a Sokree call themselves "we" and "ours" in the territory of the Tarantan dead?
Anthony, the former thief, and Adam, the big guy, the former mercenary, didn't care what the Shiga people thought of them. They waved goodbye, and Anthony went back to the town to do his own thing. Adam, who didn't know what it meant to be polite, walked to Andre with his horse and said casually, "Let's hurry up and try to get to the road repair team's site tomorrow to eat the lunch prepared by the chefs of the logistics department."
As a descendant of a great Kenyan noble family and an official investigator of the Church of the Fiery Sun, Gejier is now awkwardly trapped as a prisoner in the wasteland of Tarantan. Naturally, he is not in a good mood and has no interest in chatting with others.
Adam, a former Sokri mercenary who had long ago transformed himself from a prisoner into an active civil servant (Department of Justice) at Innadri, was not as pretentious as him. When Count Dimos intentionally asked him questions on the way, he told him everything.
"…So you acquired a farm with just two years' salary?"
Count Dimos, who was riding a horse parallel to Adam, could not hide his astonishment.
"It's not really a farm, it's just a piece of wasteland that we contracted. We still have to pay for the house. The only benefit is that the people from the Land Bureau of the Agricultural Department of the City Hall will come and help us turn the land before spring planting." Adam seemed modest, but in fact he was showing off. "There are many people like me who use their salary to contract wasteland. The dozens of acres of land in the west of Westham were all contracted by people from the City Hall."
Because Nadeli is vast and sparsely populated, large tracts of land have not been developed. The city hall encourages the private sector to reclaim and develop wasteland, provides various policy conveniences, and naturally will not let its own employees go...
In addition to his fiefdom, Count Dimos owned countless farms and estates, so he was not surprised by a farm. What shocked him was that big Adam did not hide his experience - this Sokri mercenary did not join the Nightmare Butcher from the beginning, but was captured by the undead after he obeyed his employer's orders to rob the village of Westram.
It only took two years from being a prisoner to working for the Nightmare Butcher!
A foreigner who was a mercenary and started as a prisoner was able to obtain a farm after working for only two years. What kind of concept is this?
For an average small noble, owning several or even dozens of farms would be considered a good management business.
Big Adam excitedly mentioned that he had commissioned a familiar mercenary group to go back to Sokri to pick up his family before the fall of last year, and that he was going to Westham this time to settle his family and bring them to the farm he contracted. Count Dimos could no longer listen.
Count Dimos, who had seen countless people, had only chatted with the big guy Adam for less than two hours, but he had already realized that this guy was a fool with muscles inside. He was completely different from the elites such as Operator Barton and Clerk Shirley who were specifically mentioned in Brother Lowell's letter.
A reckless man who can only make a living by force would probably have no other way out if he were placed somewhere else, except to become a mercenary or to become a private soldier attached to a noble.
In the area controlled by the Undead regime, this idiot with only military power could actually become a formal operator of the Justice Department and actually build up a fortune...
Count Dimos couldn't help but think of Anthony, the Kenyan who had just separated from him.
Anthony, who used to be a tailor's apprentice and a bandit, looks like a muscular idiot similar to big Adam at first glance, but he is actually a thoughtful and organized person. If he continues on this path of banditry, he is very likely to become a bandit leader who brings trouble to the locals.
If there were such a "reformed bandit" in Count Dimos's territory, he would certainly not feel at ease. He would definitely treat this guy as a high-risk element and strictly order the Security Department to strengthen surveillance and control.
But the Undead regime was very confident in this guy with a fierce face and who did not look like a good guy. Not only did they allow him to move freely in their own lair, they even dared to let this thug take care of civilian women. During breakfast, Count Dimos saw with his own eyes that Anthony was collecting meals for the female worker he was taking care of.
After only one day of contact with this Kenyan who was originally a bandit, Count Dimos even unconsciously trusted this guy's ability to handle affairs. After being awakened by the undead last night, Count Dimos immediately asked Andre to send someone to question this guy.
The more he thought about it, the more Count Dimos's brows furrowed.
Mercenaries, bandits, the prostitutes and male prostitutes vaguely mentioned in Brother Lowell's letter, ignorant civilians, and even the men left behind by the former lord... The undead regime can be said to be indiscriminate in the appointment and use of these people.
Count Dimos asked himself, if he were the Nightmare Butcher, he would never allow the Undead Archon to act so recklessly.
But the Nightmare Butcher really allowed the Undead Archon to do so.
This made Count Dimos find it more unbelievable the more he tried to substitute the Nightmare Butcher's ideas into his own calculations.
How could he allow foreigners who were originally mercenaries to occupy land? Wouldn't it be more helpful to win people's hearts by giving it to the petty nobles who were dependent on him?
How could he allow lowly people of humble origins to occupy high positions? How could nobles who were proud of their status be willing to join him?
Count Dimos thought again of the civilians in the exiled town.
It is undeniable that these civilians expelled from the town of Kamor were indeed well taken care of by the undead regime. Even the disabled who could not take care of themselves had rosy faces and fat could be seen on their cheeks .
This benevolent behavior is commendable, but in Dimos's opinion, the governor of the Town of the Dead is too wasteful... There is no need to let these civilians eat the food provided by the Undead Canteen. Most of them can be fed with potatoes and corn alone; it is even more undesirable to make them wear high-quality and evenly dyed clothes. Civilians always need to work, wouldn't it be a pity if they were worn out?
This is the difference in values caused by the difference in productivity. In fact, the average daily consumption of civilians in the exile town is strictly controlled within 15 yuan. If you want to eat well, you have to pay extra. They are treated the same as the "NPC" of the investigation team. The clothes distributed to disabled civilians are all second-hand goods recycled by tons...
Count Dimos, who was unable to comprehend the power of the World Factory on Earth, could only think so... The Nightmare Butcher was too flattering to the civilians in his sphere of influence.
From this perspective, Count Dimos could barely understand why the Nightmare Butcher allowed the Undead Archon to tilt the resources in the territory towards those of lowly status.
So... Count Dimos naturally came to this conclusion: "Could it be that the Nightmare Butcher is trying to abandon the existing nobles within his sphere of influence and create a new group of nobles from the common people?"
With this thought, Count Dimos's confusion was swept away.
"I see. A noble family with a long history will certainly find it difficult to accept the rule of a black magician. If it is replaced by a new noble family created by the Nightmare Butcher, they will definitely obey his orders."
This practice is quite outrageous, but it is not difficult to understand given the Nightmare Butcher's usual domineering and extreme style.
Count Dimos couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the Rhine nobles, and secretly felt fortunate that the Nightmare Butcher had only taken away a group of abandoned civilians from the town of Camor, and had not caused any trouble on the border of the Principality of Shiga.
"Wait - is this the reason why Brother Lowell insisted on making friends with the Nightmare Butcher? In order to keep this man away from the Principality of Shiga and the Prosperous Church Parish?"
Suddenly thinking of this possibility, Count Dimos's expression froze.
Thinking about it this way...it doesn't seem impossible.
The Tarantan Wasteland borders the Principality of Shiga to the west and the Kingdom of Rhine to the east. For the Nightmare Butcher, who invaded the territory of the human kingdom with the might of the Undead Army and had the ambition to rebuild the new nobility, it would be suitable for development in either direction.
Thinking of this, Count Dimos began to sweat slowly on his forehead.
The idea of borrowing troops from the Undead must not be opened, otherwise it would give the Nightmare Butcher an excuse to get involved in the Principality of Shiga!
Count Dimos quietly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
" I'd better see the monk and make a decision... If it's impossible, I'll just do my best to complete the Pope's instructions."
After camping out in the wilderness for one night, the Prosperous Church delegation found the large construction site of the prisoners' road-building team before noon the next day.
Hal, who was in charge of the railway project, arranged a lunch for the visiting delegation and then sent these guests from afar on the transport vehicle of the Logistics Department.
Count Dimos, whose bones felt like they were about to fall apart from riding horses, got into the Wuling Hongguang, which was extremely crowded but at least more comfortable than riding a horse. After several hours of bumpy ride, he arrived at the station town at the junction of Westham and Tarantan Wasteland.
After resting for a night in the station town, the guests, who had traveled across the Tarantan Wasteland with great effort, boarded a train to Westham the next day.
"Finally it's here."
Brother Lowell, who had received a phone call from the station town last night, rushed to the town hall early in the morning to wait for news. When he learned that the train had entered the town station, he stood up excitedly.
"Finally I'm here."
At the same time, Yang Qiu, who had been sitting on the bench in King of the Rhine for two months, opened his eyes from meditation.
In the hall of the villa provided by the royal family, a vague figure is gradually taking shape.
Yang Qiu came out of the study, walked downstairs, and saw the person in the hall. A surprised smile appeared on his face: "It's you."
The guest who appeared in the hall raised his head slightly, and under the black cloak that wrapped his whole body, there was revealed... a smooth, jade-white skull.
"Long time no see, Yang."
