Chapter 76: Migrating Refugees

Without mentioning Donald’s return to the North County territory, Bi said that after the black-robed mage suffered humiliation and setbacks at the auction, he fled in panic back to the Mage Association. Filled with anger, he went to the fifth floor of the mage tower, where his teacher—a Grand Mage—lived, and poured out his grievances.

That Grand Mage was an old man with a thin frame and withered skin. Though he appeared to be on the verge of death, that was just an illusion; his aged body concealed terrifying power. Although the stronger a spellcaster became, the longer their lifespan tended to be, mages who focused on spiritual cultivation were known for their physical weakness. The more advanced a mage became, the stronger their mental powers, but their bodies became increasingly frail due to the erosion by magical forces.

Especially those mages who were stuck at a bottleneck for some reason and couldn’t advance for years—even if they eventually reached the rank of Grand Mage—would struggle to recover the lost time unless they relied on external help or advanced to the legendary realm. It would be even harder to go further from there.

This Grand Mage was clearly such a case. Due to the collapse of the Banedi Empire and the loss of magical heritage, the path to advancement for mages had become increasingly difficult. The other Grand Mages in the Mage Association were in a similar situation. That’s why these powerful yet dying mages began to adopt extreme measures, leading to the gradual decay of the Mage Association.

After listening to his disciple’s complaints, the Grand Mage remained silent for a while before slowly saying, “So, you planned to misappropriate the association’s funds and use your silver-level power to pressure them, only to fail not only in getting the Silver Moon Coins you wanted but also lose face in front of everyone?”

Hearing the angry tone in his teacher’s voice, the black-robed mage broke into cold sweat and anxiously explained, “It’s all because that old bastard of the 15th generation ordered his guards to intervene. That Grand Mage’s strength prevented me from putting pressure on those youngsters, so I had no way to resist—hence my failure! That man is also a Grand Mage; I’m sure you know him too. It’s absolutely despicable that he refused to help those youngsters despite our friendship!”

“If you make a mistake, sincerely repent—don’t look for excuses!” The old mage’s dim eyes lit up as his tone changed. “And are you saying this to make me go and help you save face? You should know that person isn’t some Golden Mage, nor is he a guard of the fifteenth generation—he’s an ancient monster who’s lived for hundreds of years. Even if several Gold Mages from our association joined forces, they’d still be no match for him. You beast, do you want to kill your own teacher?”
“Not a Golden Mage? Could it be…?”
The mage in black was drenched in sweat immediately and hurriedly begged for mercy, “Teacher, save me! I know I was wrong…”
The old mage took a breath and said irritably, “Don’t worry! Given that person’s magnanimity, he won’t go after you, a junior. For now, you’ll stay in the sealed chamber of the mage tower to train—don’t go out again. It’s also a punishment for damaging the association’s reputation. Otherwise, I won’t be able to explain it to the other elders.”
Only then did the mage in black suppress his fear with relief and leave, still shaken.
With the goblin airships for transportation, it became much easier for Donald to travel around the kingdom. Compared to the seven days or so it took to travel by carriage between the capital and the North Counties, flying on goblin airships was much faster—reducing the time to one-tenth of that, allowing him to reach his destination in just half a day. The round trip took only a day and night, with time to spare.
Before leaving, Donald had already summoned the Human Town Hall, choosing the site of the former lord’s domain. The area there had flat terrain, with a plain covering over ten kilometers square—currently the only part of the territory not completely covered by forest vegetation.
The primary human architectural structure, the Town Hall, manifested in this world as a quaintly styled European-style town. The town covered one hectare in area, surrounded by red brick and stone walls. At its center stood a two-story villa-like Town Hall. In front of this nearly thousand-square-meter two-story European-style building was a bluestone square large enough to accommodate thousands of people.
The building at the center of this Town Hall was Donald’s lord’s residence. Besides the lord’s residence, the town had all necessary facilities such as streets and houses—only without any residential homes.

Of course, the town that took shape was only a rough outline and couldn’t be too large. At first glance, it was about half the size of Red Maple Town. But with a more compact layout, it could easily accommodate three to five thousand people, which was more than sufficient. After all, Dalarn currently had few subjects, and even if it developed in the future, it could expand gradually from both sides of the town outward. Anyway, Donald’s territory, to say the least, wasn’t short of land. The towns in his territory were already fully developed; all that was left was to bring in the townspeople, who could then choose their own houses in the planned areas.

Of course, with the commercial planning knowledge from his past life, Donald also left space for two main streets that crossed at the center of the lord’s manor and the square, intending to turn them into the town’s commercial streets and storefronts. In the future, he planned to rent out those shops and become a real estate businessman. After all, with the example from his past life, economic development could attract people to settle there. Those involved in real estate or those who owned multiple properties could make huge profits. Behind the lord’s manor would also be a private area, accessible only to those in his household, to ensure security.

After returning, Donald used the remaining resources to build four watchtowers at the four corners within the town walls, going so far as to upgrade them into arrow towers that increased both defensive and offensive capabilities several times over. Compared to the original single manor, this town was his true foundation in this world, so it naturally received greater attention and couldn’t afford to fail.

A mysterious tower was also erected in the backyard of the lord’s manor. It was one of the three defensive structures at the provincial level for human watchtowers. This magic defense tower, which had effects of magic feedback and mana consumption, together with the four arrow towers, formed a defensive circle that covered the entire town.

“Although the mysterious tower’s offensive power is relatively low, it can effectively counter most low-level spellcasters. It’s likely that spellcasters below bronze rank will find it hard to cause trouble in the town. Perhaps in the future, it can be transformed into a truly powerful mage tower.”

“As a mage myself, I must build a mage tower to have true deterrence!” The Ansel family was very efficient and quick. On the third day after Donald returned to his territory, the border mountain people they had promised to bring over were soon escorted there.

It was a manager from the Ansel family who escorted the mountain people. This female manager was in her thirties, still attractive, but sharp and capable, working diligently without much fuss—no wonder she was highly valued by the Ansel family.

“My lord baron, Windsorley has been ordered to escort the mountain people. Along the way, fifteen of them died from illness, leaving a total of 975 people. Please accept them, my lord!”
“Very good!”
Donald took the roster of the mountain people from steward Windsorley, nodded in satisfaction, and said to the butler behind him, “Butler, go help Steward Windsorley temporarily settle the refugees in the town square, then conduct a headcount by household!” “Yes, young master!”
Butler Cord went to carry out the order, while Donald began to organize the development plan for his territory, which was not yet complete.
The new territory was vast, and even with a powerful artifact like the Book of Truth, it was impossible to take care of everything at once. So he decided to focus on developing the plain area of the former lord’s domain first.
Donald named the newly built town Dusk Town, and the forest located between the manor and Stone City, in the southern part of the territory, was named Dusk Forest.
As for the area north of Dusk Town, which belonged to the Green Cloak Forest, it was named Moonlight Woodland.
Since forests made up the majority of his territory, he came up with these names. He then went to the noble administration office in Stone City to register them with Sir Jesse, and from then on, these became the official names of the two forests! Such minor matters did not require approval from the noble council like changing the family crest; it was essentially decided by the lord alone.
Both names were from the forests in the game from his past life. Although he was just an ordinary player among many, that did not stop him from loving that game.
The Life Tree was rooted north of the manor, west of Dusk Town, in Moonlight Woodland between the two forests. He originally thought this would allow him to detect any magical beasts entering the manor in time. Moreover, thanks to the nourishment of the natural barrier, the once barren lands of the manor were gradually regaining vitality, and it would not be long before they could be cultivated.
Initially, Donald decided to put the large manor aside for now and focus solely on managing the smaller one, waiting until he found the source of the anomaly here to resolve it completely. Now, with the Life Tree present, it seemed there would be no major problems.
The newly built Dusk Town, along with Darknight Manor and the Life Tree to the west, formed a triangular area. The flat terrain and relatively fertile land in this area would become the core for the future development of the Dalaran territory.
Due to the influence of the natural barrier, Moonlight Woodland was lush with greenery, and as it was the location of the Life Tree, Donald planned to use it as a settlement for the elves he would summon in the future.

Three days later, the mountain people were temporarily settled properly. The refugees were both shocked and delighted by this quaint and beautiful town.
Due to the constant threat of orcs, the people of Marquis Ansel’s domain were fierce, especially in the border areas, where life was harsh and resources scarce.
Apart from the mountain people, only bandits and thieves hid there. Among these mountain people, there might well be a few such individuals as well.
However, hearing that their new lord was a powerful mage and that the domain was located in the far northernmost part of the North County, free from orc attacks, most of the ordinary mountain people who had lost their homes were satisfied with moving here—at least they no longer had to fear orcs.
As for those of unknown origins hidden among the refugees, Donald didn’t pay much attention. If they didn’t behave properly in his territory, he would have ways to deal with them later.
These more than 200 new households totaled over 900 people. After they were all registered, they officially became subjects of the Merlin family’s territory.
To prevent these subjects from forming cliques through deliberate incitement, Donald established a strict registration system, dispersing them around the towns.