Chapter 21: Support
Inside the study on the third floor of the lord’s manor castle.
After reviewing the final sales list, Su Xiao signed the approval document and stamped it with the lord’s seal. Seeing this, the fox-tribe man Piro, who had been respectfully waiting nearby, gathered the lists and official inquiries from the table.
As the saying goes, clothes make the man, and the same applied to the fox tribe. The current Piro showed none of his previous dejection or depression; he had regained the spirit of his former days as the financial officer of Eternal Ring City. Though his eyes were not sharp, no one dared to offend him—at least, not within the fiefdom of Twilight City, where no one would risk crossing this god of wealth.
“How many gold coins are left in the fiefdom’s finances?”
Hearing Su Xiao’s words, Piro, seated across the table, wore a pained expression and said in a low voice, “Still about 4.9 million gold coins.”
“That much? How much did that batch of crystal resin sell for?”
“It sold for 3.2 million gold coins, but as an additional condition, we gained quite a few conveniences from it. Now, when all is calculated, the total revenue comes to 4.8 million gold coins. Adding the original 60,000 gold coins in the fiefdom’s accounts, that’s a total of 4.86 million gold coins. The value of grain supplies and daily necessities isn’t included here, but…”
Piro looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. Su Xiao pretended not to notice, long accustomed to this behavior. Even when the fiefdom’s finances were flush, asking the financial officer for money always resulted in an expression suggesting the coffers were empty.
“How much can be mobilized?”
Hearing this, Piro’s face showed difficulty. He winked and gestured at Urginn, Harvey, and Viper, who were sitting near the window. The three all lowered their heads to sip tea, pretending not to see, because they all knew this request for funds was for the salaries of six legions. Naturally, these three wouldn’t speak up for Piro at this moment.
“My lord, ever since the old lord of Twilight City fiefdom passed away, the financial situation here has been terrible. Twilight City and the other nine major cities all need money everywhere. Take Twilight City alone—the steam heating pipes haven’t been repaired for years, and the same goes for the water supply and sewage systems, as well as…”
Piro listed a host of places needing funds. In short, the fiefdom needed money everywhere right now, so at most, he could allocate 1.2 million gold coins to the six legions—enough to cover the back pay owed and then issue a recent salary payment.
Hearing this, Urginn immediately spoke up, starting on how difficult things were for the beast-tribe legions. Harvey and Viper also chimed in, the three unusually united in opinion. At this moment, Urginn seemed to have lost his rebellious streak, Harvey had set aside his coldness, and Viper was no longer a fence-sitter.
“You want 3 million gold coins?! Why don’t you just rob a bank? Do you have any idea how many places in the fiefdom need money?”
Piro glared at Urginn, who wore an expression of complete incomprehension, as if to say, “I don’t know what you’re talking about; the legions are about to march, and they need a big salary payout.”
“My lord, you be the judge. Them asking for 3 million is just ridiculous.”
“…”
Su Xiao said nothing, acting as if he hadn’t heard. He was using the lock hook in his hand to adjust the internal structure of the Mysterious Eye. He didn’t care how much the fiefdom’s various repair costs were, nor how much the legions needed for their campaign. That was Piro and Urginn’s area of expertise. Let the two sides argue first; once they’d quarreled enough and each made concessions, he would simply sign the approval.
Unnoticed, time passed until noon. The people arguing in the study had grown from a few to two factions. One side was the legion faction led by Urginn, with him at the forefront. The dozen or so people present were all commanders from the six legions.
On the other side was the power faction led by Piro, composed of fiefdom officials. As for the noble faction representative who was also present, that old noble didn’t dare say a word—none of the people speaking here were people he could afford to offend.
In the room, the rich aroma of spirits mixed with the scents of cigarettes and cigars. Also a lord, Gurv, sitting on a small chair beside Su Xiao, frowned slightly and even secretly leaned sideways behind Su Xiao to stifle a yawn.
Click, click~
The lock hook made precise, faint sounds as it adjusted the internal parts of the Mysterious Eye. At that moment, Su Xiao felt Gurv lightly nudge him with her elbow. He turned his head to see her staring at a small note beside the approval document on the table. Opening it, he saw Gurv’s elementary-school-level handwriting: ‘When do we eat? I’m so hungry.’
Su Xiao put down the Mysterious Eye and lock hook, then said, “Everyone.”
The moment Su Xiao spoke, the previously heated debaters all fell silent, waiting for his order.
“It’s already noon. You must all be hungry from arguing. Go upstairs and eat.”
Su Xiao stood and walked out of the study, with Piro and Urginn following behind, and behind them, the legion commanders and fiefdom officials.
Lunch was quite sumptuous. The servants who had been dismissed due to the manor’s financial issues had now been rehired, giving the lord’s manor a bit of life, no longer as cold as before.
In the afternoon council chamber, the dozen or so people on both sides of the table exchanged forced smiles as they stared at each other. After a morning of debate, Piro and Urginn had finally reached a fund allocation that satisfied both parties. Su Xiao reviewed the approval, confirmed there were no issues, signed it, and stamped it with the lord’s seal.
Urginn, Harvey, Viper, and Evil Fang not only received a 2.3 million gold coin allocation but also 300 units of grain, 400 units of meat, 90 units of alcohol, and finally 180 units of various daily consumables.
“Urginn, give me a clear time. When will the six legions set out for the main battlefield?”
As Su Xiao spoke, he had already switched his title to War Lord.
“Tomorrow morning… no, tonight!”
Noticing Su Xiao’s gaze growing increasingly ‘benevolent,’ Urginn quickly changed his answer.
“Those are your own words. Take the approval and get lost.”
Su Xiao pulled out the signed document. Urginn immediately bent low with a flattering smile. When he picked up the approval from the table, he could barely hold it together—his hands trembled, shaking with excitement, because once this approval took effect, he would officially become the legion commander of the Twilight City fiefdom.
After Urginn and the others left, Su Xiao turned to Piro. If Urginn’s legions going to war represented aspects like fungal carpet, evolution points, and insect-tribe enhancement, then Piro’s responsibility for fiefdom construction and repairs was tied to completing the main mission.
[Main Mission: Fierce Winter (Second Ring).]
Mission Brief: Ensure the fiefdom evaluation reaches Grade C or above.
Mission Reward: Determined based on mission completion.
…
Currently, the fiefdom evaluation had reached C-. Su Xiao estimated that, before the mission deadline, with Piro’s ability, the evaluation would at least reach Grade B. If it reached Grade A, the mission reward would be absurdly high. As for reaching the highest Grade S, that was unlikely.
Just as Su Xiao was about to close the fiefdom list, the evaluation jumped from C- to C, and notifications appeared one after another.
[Notification: Your Main Mission·Second Ring has entered a completable phase.]
[Verification: No judgment for subsequent main missions.]
[Predicted Release: Main Mission·Third Ring (Root Out Hidden Threats) has been completed early. You have indirectly killed the lord’s steward and successfully repelled Voodoo Sorcerer Herui.]
[Predicted Release: Main Mission·Fourth Ring (Legion Deployment) has completed its preparation phase early, and it is estimated that deployment to the main battlefield will occur before tonight.]
[Predicted Release: Main Mission·Fifth Ring (Conquer White Hoof Port) has been completed once by successfully occupying the central building of White Hoof Port.]
[As subsequent rings of the main mission may lack judgment, the main mission content and reward range have been appropriately adjusted.]
[Reward range has been increased from a cap of 100% to a cap of 180%.]
[The main mission has now been revised.]
[Main Mission: Fierce Winter Lord (Final Ring).]
Difficulty Level: Lv.87.
Mission Brief: Ensure the fiefdom evaluation reaches Grade B or above.
Mission Deadline: Before leaving this world.
Mission Reward: Determined based on mission completion.
Mission Penalty: Forced execution.
…
A flood of notifications appeared. After reviewing them, Su Xiao understood the situation. In short, although he was currently on the second ring of the main mission, he had nearly completed the fifth ring as well.
As a result, once the second ring was submitted, the subsequent rings would be completed in succession, leading to a rather peculiar final ring. Consequently, the main mission was revised, the reward cap was significantly increased, and the fiefdom evaluation became the final ring of the main mission.
It might seem like fewer opportunities to receive mission rewards, but as long as the final fiefdom evaluation was high enough, the total reward would certainly be greater than completing the rings one by one.
Regarding fiefdom construction and repairs, Su Xiao knew little, but fortunately, Piro and his subordinates were highly skilled in these matters. What Su Xiao needed to do was find ways to acquire more gold coins and other resources the fiefdom required.
In this regard, Su Xiao planned to start with the fungal carpet. His six legions would set out tonight. Given the beast-tribe legions’ marching speed and the ability to use giant teleportation arrays along the way, they would likely reach the main battlefield by the morning after next.
Currently, Urginn and the other three had all inherited a certain degree of the War Lord title’s effects through the [Command Potential] ability.
[Command Potential (Passive·S-Grade): Can inherit the aura, war-related abilities, etc., of the commanding unit, applying 95% of these effects to subordinate soldier-type units. This ability remains effective even at extremely long distances from the commanding unit (ability grade ranges from E to S-Grade).]
Not only the 95% title effect, but also the fungal carpet, which could be deployed at any time, would enhance the combat power of these six beast-tribe legions.
[Fungal Carpet Lv.30: Bio-energy and soul energy absorption efficiency +50%. All allied/friendly units on the fungal carpet gain +25% movement speed, +35% stamina recovery rate, +5 true stamina. When an allied/friendly unit falls to a dying state, their life recovery speed is increased to a certain extent.]
The beast-tribe legions of Twilight City were already exceptionally powerful. With the stacking effects of War Lord and the fungal carpet, their combat power would undoubtedly reach the top tier among all beast-tribe legions.
Thus, Su Xiao’s order to Urginn was: first attack White Hoof Port, then Ancestor Lighthouse, followed by Floating Light Island in the sea-tribe territory, and then Sleep Island. They could stop after taking Sleep Island. Su Xiao suspected that Wolf Grave had a decent chance of being on Floating Light Island or Sleep Island.
To boost morale, Su Xiao also arranged for the Abyss Dragon’s Firstborn to accompany the legions—both because the Firstborn always sought to escape and because riding this colossal creature was an exceptionally unpleasant experience.
Su Xiao had ridden quite a few dragons in total: the Black Dragon Midis, the Storm Dragon, the Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos, the Storm Flame Dragon Dis, and the Abyss Dragon’s Firstborn.
If combat power were set aside and only riding experience considered, the ranking was: Abyss Dragon’s Firstborn < Black Dragon Midis < Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos < Storm Dragon < Storm Flame Dragon Dis.
When it came to riding experience, the best was the ninth-rank overlord Storm Flame Dragon Dis, cultivated in the previous world. Having invested so many resources into its development, it was only natural that Dis ‘willingly’ signed a permanent summon contract.
Initially, as a ninth-rank overlord creature, Dis refused. But after repeated ‘persuasion’ from Su Xiao, Amu, the Platinum Archbishop, and the Red-Eyed Girl, Dis was beaten… ahem, persuaded to the point of being unable to bear it, and ultimately signed the permanent summon contract with Su Xiao.
Su Xiao planned to summon Storm Flame Dragon Dis and, based on Dis’s attitude, decide whether to awaken its ultimate ability [Dragon Devour]. This ability was quite formidable, allowing it to enhance itself by devouring the flesh and blood of same-rank overlord creatures.
At this stage, Su Xiao was handling matters related to the legions, fungal carpet, and evolution points. Once this was on track and no longer required his behind-the-scenes manipulation, he would immediately head to the tribal faction’s territory for three reasons.