The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

The two former empire's remnants wandered the streets. Lucanos, seeing Cassius following behind, had no interest in gathering any secret intelligence. In fact, for Lucanos, the current state of the Anjou capital was the best intelligence available.

Population, prices, number of factories—these seemingly mundane things were actually what Lucanus was most concerned about.

Thanks to the influx of production equipment from the North, the economy and industry of Anjou flourished in a short period of time, and the streets were filled with more and more people, most of whom were busy workers.

Lucanus saw a worker hurrying towards them with a very young child, so he stopped them, squatted down, and asked, "Hello, little friends, what are you doing here?"

The child was carrying a ladder taller than himself and some tools, and his face was covered in dust and dirt, but he still grinned when he saw the candy Lucanus offered him.

The workers with the child were very unhappy. Seeing that Lucanus had stopped the child, they said urgently, "Don't block the way! We still need to clean the chimney for the Count!"

However, when the worker saw Cassius behind Lucanus, his attitude softened. Although he did not know Cassius, in the hierarchical society of Anjou, he knew from Cassius's clothes that he was not someone to be trifled with.

"My lord, we are on our way to clean the Earl's chimney, please do not interfere with our work."

"Oh? You mean even such a young child has to come with you to clean chimneys?"

After handing the child the candy he was carrying, Lucanus performed magic tricks for the child like a professional jester, while asking questions of the workers next to the child.

Since Lucanus wasn't asking anything confidential, Cassius didn't stop him.

"Yes, only children this young are suitable to go in and clean chimneys."

Lucanos nodded, his smile still seemingly etched onto his face. He pretended to think for a moment and asked, "But I remember there are special chimney cleaning tools for sale in the North, right? Don't we have them here?"

The worker noticed that Lucanos's clothing didn't resemble that of a local, and that he kept referring to the North, a term used only in Capet. So he guessed that Lucanos might be a merchant from the northern Capet who had allied himself with the nobles of Anjou and wanted to do business. Therefore, he explained, "Sir, other merchants have sold that stuff before, but no one here has bought it."

"The chimney cleaning tools in the Cape North are indeed very convenient, but it's cheaper for adults to let children go in and clean them."

"If you buy several batches of children, the money combined might only be enough to buy one set of that equipment in the North."

After listening to the worker's explanation, Lucanus had a look of sudden realization and said, "Oh, I see. Thank you, brother, otherwise I might have gone bankrupt."

Hearing Lucanus say this, the worker waved his hand warmly and said, "No need to thank me, it's all the same. I'm just curious, don't you have any children in Capet? Why bother with all these tools?"

The worker didn't get an answer, and Lucanus didn't stop him anymore. Instead, he apologized for delaying the worker, waved goodbye to the child next to him, and then said goodbye.

"Cassius."

Facing the direction the workers and children had left, Lucanus asked Cassius, "Is our homeland like this too?"

"I can't remember, Lucanus. History books don't record these things; I can't remember anymore..."

......

Caron has been summoned by Alberto more and more frequently lately, but fortunately Alberto has no intention of heeding the tower's warning and sending Caron back.

Caron was not surprised by the result. Although he was also curious about what his colleagues had done in the eastern part of Cape, at least the super-level magic was successfully activated and helped the demons successfully occupy the eastern part, which was enough.

Although the Tower's ban has been gradually issued, Kalon believes that no human can truly resist such temptation, especially since it is not a temptation but a threat.

Some small countries on this continent are even planning to achieve great things with small resources. If they can create super-level magic, they will have the capital to challenge these large countries.

As for how the Tower will treat these countries that have come into contact with super-level magic, the Kingdom of Avar doesn't care.

However, to avoid the limelight recently, Alberto gave Caron a leave of absence, and Caron took the opportunity to go to the port to welcome an old friend from the Kingdom of Avar.

"Auris has been confirmed dead. The demons only said that Oris accidentally got himself involved while using super-level magic, and they are demanding that His Majesty the King send two more people who can use super-level magic."

While waiting, the professional next to Caron was telling him about the intelligence he had recently received.

Whether Oris truly died due to a lack of skill is irrelevant, because the Kingdom of Avar gained an important landing port thanks to Oris's death.

Moreover, it seems that the Kingdom of Avar intends to engage in deep cooperation with the demon race.

"As for Altan, there has been no news of him for a long time; he seems to have forgotten his mission."

Judging from the fact that the Tower and the Northern Cape established a connection point, Altan is probably doomed. However, judging from Altan's previous posts on social media, he may be doing better than anyone else now.

As for other small countries, the Kingdom of Avar doesn't care about their attitude towards super-level magic; what it cares more about is the extent to which its retainers have infiltrated these small countries.

As the two discussed the current situation on the mainland, a passenger ship that could only be described as dazzlingly golden docked at the harbor. The massive, pure gold dragon statue at its prow gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight.

As the steps descended from the ship, an elderly man with white hair, wearing a black trench coat, stepped off. The man had several obvious scars on his face and a fierce expression, seemingly looking down on everything in the world.

Alberto did not open the port to the Kingdom of Avar, but he was not so stingy as to refuse to open the small boats that brought guests. This old man had just come from the docks of Anjou.

"It's truly barren land, but in terms of magic concentration, it's not bad..."

The old man looked around, muttered something to himself, and then looked at Caron and the other man.

"I heard you haven't won over the king of this country yet?"

The substantial pressure weighed on Caron, making it difficult for him to even breathe.

"My lord, the people on this continent are more rational than we imagined. Apart from the demons, no one has used super-level magic yet, but I believe that the king of this country will be here soon."

The old man seemed uninterested in Karon's answer and continued to ask, "Which of these two countries you mentioned is descended from that original country?"

"Both...both of them consider themselves heirs to the old empire..."

"Hmph, what a load of bullshit old empire! It's lucky it wasn't destroyed by my hand!"

The old man's voice was filled with resentment, which prevented Karon and his companion from raising their heads due to his powerful aura.

"If you ask me, why bother with all this scheming? Now that we have the port, let's just land and launch a full-scale attack! Destroy both of these countries, then go find those elves, that tower, and settle scores with my former people!"

The old man seemed to have harbored resentment for a long time, and he started babbling incessantly as soon as he set foot on this land, but Kalon could only bow his head and lie flat on the ground.

"I heard that my former clansmen even started some kind of Shining Gold Merchant Alliance. It's hilarious! Dragons are actually starting to do business with humans in a proper way. If you ask me, they've been domesticated by humans!"