The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

That night, Lind was just about to explain the territory's policies to Lena as usual when he received a message that an elven ranger outside the territory was requesting an audience.

This was the first time Linde had encountered this mysterious race in this world. After all, the original game didn't describe elves in much detail, mainly as foreshadowing for the sequel, and the second game hadn't even been released yet when Linde arrived in this world.

Perhaps because the original work has a Japanese-style world view setting, the elves are not as otherworldly as in traditional Western fantasy works, and there are no complicated branches such as tree elves and night elves.

However, unlike Japanese elves who are like perverts who haven't seen a man for thousands of years, or who are sold and enslaved.

Linde's first impression of the elf before him was that the other party seemed to be a human who had developed another kind of civilization.

"So, in other words, half of the magic stone vein we discovered today needs to be handed over to your country, right?"

Because the other party wanted far too much, Linde carefully confirmed it again.

Lena, who had been taking Linde's policy talk as a lullaby, suddenly snapped out of it, slammed her hand on the table, and loudly demanded, "Why? Didn't you say that the elves would only get 30% of the rare minerals from the Giant God Mountains?"

The ranger calmly replied, "Her Majesty the Queen said that the lord here will understand why."

He also gave Lind a knowing look.

Understand? Understand my ass! Linde hates riddle people the most. They take half of his mineral deposits without giving a reason, and then claim they understand.

However, the ranger immediately handed Lind a contract. After carefully reading the contract, Lind hesitated for a while before finally signing his name on it.

"I understand. Please thank Your Majesty for me."

The ranger seemed to have anticipated this, and without any hesitation, he put away the contract and disappeared from the lord's tent.

Linde didn't even have time to try and persuade the elves to stay and find out their exact attitude.

"Brother, are we really going to give the elves fifty percent of the magic stones?"

Although Lena didn't know what had happened, she could tell that Lind had tacitly allowed the elves to take half of the magic stone.

"It was a free mineral vein to begin with, so let's make it 50/50. Besides, the elves were originally supposed to get 30%, so we just paid an extra 20%."

"Twenty percent is not a small amount. How much can twenty percent of magic stone ore be exchanged for?"

After saying that, Lena even started counting on her fingers. It's hard to imagine that this girl was just now having an enthusiastic discussion with Lisha about the formulas and theorems in Derek's notes.

"Can 20% of the magic stones buy the support of the elves?"

Linde didn't play the riddle-maker and directly revealed the answer to Lena.

"We simply cannot mine this vast magic stone mine on our own, nor can we defend it. Once the news gets out, things may not be peaceful, and I estimate that many people will have their eyes on this magic stone mine."

"The contract with the elves states that this mine will be jointly mined by us and the elves. If anyone attacks the mine, it will be considered an attack on an elf ranger, and the elves will intervene directly. Of course, those elves will not actually come to mine; we will be the main ones in charge. The 20% is just protection money; other nobles may ask for more than 20%."

After Linde finished explaining, Lena retorted, "That's not right. With me here, who would dare to covet this magic stone mine? Whoever dares to come, if they can beat me, they'll fight me directly; if they can't, I'll tell Grandpa. Our Lars family isn't to be trifled with."

Lena exuded confidence, proudly standing with her hands on her hips, chest out, and head held high. Although she looked very confident and cool, Lind, who knew Lena well, felt that the gesture was a bit silly.

"What if other members of the Lars family want this mine?"

Linde countered with a question.

"Then... then so."

Lena suddenly hesitated. Lind was right. The Lars family was still fighting a succession war, and a magic stone mine could directly affect the final outcome of this war. It turned out that Lind really wanted to help her win the succession war.

"Rena."

This was the first time Lind had not addressed her as Miss Lars, but instead called her by her first name, Lena.

"What should we do if our territory's development clashes with that of Grand Duke Lars?"

This is somewhat similar to the classic "If I and your mom fell into the water, who would you save?" scenario, only the roles are reversed.

Lena answered almost without hesitation, "Brother, you wouldn't hurt me. I choose to believe you and help you explain things to Grandpa."

Linde was stunned. He hadn't expected that he held such a heavy place in Lena's heart. For a moment, Linde didn't know what to say.

After Lena left, Lind stared blankly at the candlelight for a while, then began to seriously consider his future plans.

There was one thing Lind didn't make clear to Lena: among the other Lars who would covet this mine, Grand Duke Lars was one of them.

But Lena's answer made it clear to Lind what to do.

Although everyone thought that Lena, who was abandoned by the royal family, was not qualified to participate in this succession war, things changed with the magic stone mine. After the news spread, Lena had no choice but to join the succession war.

Linde tried to put himself in the other person's shoes and think about how he would handle the situation if he were Grand Duke Lars.

The answer is obvious: confiscate the mine and hand it over to the Lars family for direct control.

Firstly, it can expand the family's strength, and secondly, it can protect Lena from becoming a target in the succession war or being directly involved in the war.

The gray and white-collar workers might be directly managed by someone else parachuted in by Grand Duke Lars, and Lind will most likely be sidelined or become Grand Duke Lars's lackey.

Linde could not accept either outcome. From a political point of view, the elves on the other side of the Colossus Mountains were far more trustworthy than Grand Duke Lars, who could remotely control the Grey and White Collar at any time.

The list of Grand Duke Lars's spies that had been compiled earlier finally came in handy. Linde called over Lila, who was working overtime because of the discovery of the magic stone mine, and all of Grand Duke Lars's spies were taken into custody.

Of course, it's not real control, but rather that all messages they send out must be reviewed, and they cannot reveal any information about the magic stone vein.

This alone is certainly not enough to keep it from Grand Duke Lars, but it will definitely buy time, allowing Grand Duke Lars to completely take control of the mine before he realizes what's happening.

The informants didn't resist much after receiving the notification, because this didn't cross the line that Duke Lars had set for them, namely Lena's personal safety. In fact, this operation might even be more in Lena's best interest.

The next question is what to do after officially entering the succession war.

Relying solely on the fifty knights that Lena brought was definitely not enough. Although each of those knights had extraordinary abilities, unique skills, and amazing fighting spirit and patience, their secret weapons were an unexpected surprise.

But fifty men couldn't even set up a defensive line.

Moreover, from Linde's perspective, the era of overwhelming opponents with powerful professionals is over; collective legion warfare is the future, especially after gunpowder can be successfully produced.

This might sound arrogant, after all, it's been several months since I transmigrated, and Linde hasn't actually stepped onto the battlefield yet.

But as Linde once thought, the advantage of time travelers has never been gunpowder and steam, but rather the mindset and vision that match gunpowder and steam.

A person in the information age may receive more information in a single day than a bard of this era does in a lifetime.

This is the greatest advantage of time travelers.

In fact, after entering a period of stable development, gray and white-collar workers have always been training soldiers.

Laurie, who hadn't appeared in a long time, was assigned by Lind to manage these soldiers.

Because soldiers receive extra work points and enjoy far better benefits than soldiers of other noble lords, and even more than private soldiers of nobles, a great many people sign up. However, because the requirements to become a soldier are also very high, the number of soldiers is actually not much more than that of Lena's knights.

For a territory with a total population of just over a thousand, having dozens of off-duty soldiers is already quite an exaggerated proportion. You should know that even some noble knights from small families cannot achieve complete off-duty service.

These dozens of off-duty soldiers were trained more as officers than as soldiers. In addition to basic training, everyone had to be literate, learn tactical planning, and be able to use and understand gunpowder.

The true soldiers are the citizens of the territory who conduct daily military training.