The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

At night, in the governor's mansion of the gray-collar workers, Lena lay on the bed, gently stroking the brand-new Melt-Cut Sword.

Although it's called the governor's residence, it's actually just a slightly larger one. It's a house that was originally under construction and was only slightly modified. After all, even if Lind still wanted to live in a tent, the Lars family and his men wouldn't allow it.

The Melting Blade in Lena's hand was different from the disposable sword that Laurie and the others were about to get; it was a real magical blade.

Rather than a product of industrialization, it is more like a crystallization of laboratory work.

With its sleek single-edged design and gleaming black blade, even without the runes on the hilt and blade, it's clear that this is a sword capable of cutting through iron like mud.

After pulling the trigger on the hilt, the runes on the sword began to emit a faint glow, but this was quickly masked by the flashes of light emitted by the heat.

Unlike mass-produced melt-cut swords, this sword's blade doesn't turn a bright red like it's been forged after activation; instead, it's a dark red. This is due to the composite refined iron properties of the blade, which not only provides sufficient heat but also prevents damage to the blade.

"Like it?"

After asking the question, Linde wanted to try it himself, but although the sword was more powerful, it was also much heavier, and ordinary people could not use it.

"Hmm, I didn't expect you to actually make it, brother."

These were merely idealized creations that Lena had considered in her early designs; Linde never expected that he would actually realize these idealized creations.

Of course, it wasn't entirely achieved; the weight was much heavier than expected.

Moreover, the process of achieving this is fraught with difficulties.

Not to mention how long it would take to experiment with this composite material, the power supply problem had been troubling Lisha for quite some time.

After all, the melting and cutting sword is not a ray gun, and the difficulty of maintaining a continuous power supply is much greater than firing one shot and running away.

Fortunately, the transmission and supply of magic power are also the main research topics in the territory. When breakthroughs are made in the research, the power supply problem is naturally solved.

Primary sand can store far more magic power in the same space than magic stone, and it naturally has the potential to be made into a magic battery. However, because its isolation effect is too strong, it is difficult to continuously inject magic power into primary sand. It is generally used as a toy for spellcasters to practice on, or as a backup force in critical moments.

The original sand itself also needs to be remelted at high temperatures to carve rune arrays, which is why the original sand has never been able to replace magic stones as the main means of energy storage.

But now at least remelting is not a problem. The steel production capacity of the gray and white-collar workers has long been excessive, and they have even begun to consider exporting. It is not difficult to use some of the production capacity to smelt raw sand.

The remaining challenge lies in how to store magic into the primary color sand.

Linde doesn't want wealthy and capricious high-level professionals to treat the original sand as a practice toy, occasionally infusing it with magic. Instead, he wants to mass-produce original sand magic batteries.

Despite immense pressure, Linde still spent a large sum of money to build a magic focusing array. Although it was not yet completed, the idea was feasible, judging from the original sand magic battery used in the Melting Sword.

With the power supply equipment, the research pressure on the power mechanism was greatly reduced. They only needed to consider which magic would be the most efficient as the initial power source. The chainsaw sword was constantly experimenting with different magic sources as the initial power source. The rest was just a matter of burning money.

Listening to Lind complain about how expensive the research was, Lena took out a bunch of keys from her pocket and put them in Lind's hand.

"Brother, this is my little stash of savings. You can use it if you really need it."

Whether it's expanding the army or researching production, these all require money. In addition, Linde has also reduced the taxes in the new territory to the minimum, so Lena has long noticed that the territory is now somewhat insolvent.

"No need. Maintaining the basic operation of the territory is not a problem right now. As long as industrialization begins, all the current efforts will be worthwhile."

Lind wasn't lying. All of Winterhold's resources were now under Lind's control, and the nobles' assets would last for quite some time. Moreover, the remaining nobles could still be squeezed dry. Although taxes were lower, they had essentially returned to normal levels.

In addition, the western part of the North was already quite prosperous due to the rule of the Champagne nobles, and because production was quickly restored, commercial tax revenue was even higher than before after the taxation was unified.

Lind pushed the key back into Lena's hand and began discussing future plans after industrialization.

Although Lena didn't seem to understand, she kept nodding. Just as Lena had said before, she would believe whatever Lind said. Lena was probably the only one in the entire territory who truly believed that Lind was not a descendant of the old empire.

Realizing he was starting to go too far into the subject, Lind glanced at Lena, who was already lying in bed, and then remembered that he had come to report to Lena on the situation in the territory that day.

Although Grand Duke Lars was dead, Lind no longer needed to pretend to talk to Lena about the details of the territory, but it had become a habit. If he didn't do it, Lind would feel uneasy, and Lena wouldn't be able to sleep every night.

However, this was the first time Linde had reported to Lena in her room. Previously, it had always been in the lord's tent, where Lena would fall asleep while they were talking.

Linde steered the conversation back to the main issues in the territory, namely military reform. He also briefly mentioned the current production situation in the territory. Before long, cement roads would connect most of the western part of the North, which would greatly improve transportation efficiency and allow the materials ordered by the Shining Gold Alliance to reach Gray and White Collar more quickly.

After discussing today's work, Linde discovered that Lena was still awake.

Perhaps because it wasn't in the drafty tent, but in a room, Lind felt he could smell the soap scent on Lena even by the bedside.

"Brother, I think I know where the problem lies in the military."

Just as Linde was wondering what suggestions Lena would have, he found himself meeting Lena's gaze without realizing it.

Lena grabbed Lind's hand and said, "Please don't go."

......

Lena is a terrible sleeper; several times during the night, she would fall asleep and then snuggle up to Lind, leading the two of them to discuss the issue of the magic focusing array transmitting magic to the primary sand several times that night.

When it was time to get up in the morning, Lena, still half asleep, unconsciously hooked her legs around Linde, like a kitten afraid of being abandoned and feeling insecure. As a result, both Linde and Lena woke up very late, which was unusual for them.

Looking at Lena sleeping soundly beside him, giggling in her sleep, Linde found it hard to reconcile the Lena who had been so affectionate last night. But this brotherhood was over.

When Lena finally got up and awkwardly put her hair up in front of the rarely used dressing table, Linde instructed the maid waiting outside the door, "Turn my room into a study, then there's no need to continue the renovation."

Regarding the issue of military structure, Linde issued a statement following Lena's suggestion last night, establishing Lena's position as the supreme leader of the army. Although it was only a nominal position, real power was still in Linde's hands.

Of course, the key point of this statement lies in the subtle change in how Lena is addressed, which can be considered an official confirmation that Lind and Lena are no longer in a Schrödinger's cat relationship.

Later, Lind and Lena invited some knights from the Lars family army to a military conference. After Lena's appearance, the pressure to promote military reforms suddenly decreased a lot.

Linde originally wanted to at least hold a formal wedding, but Lena desperately stopped him. The weddings of nobles are long and complicated, especially for Lena's current status. The etiquette steps may be more numerous than Lena's etiquette score back then. Just listening to those bald elders explain the process once made Lena feel like her head was going to go bald too. Those bald elders even dug up records of governors' weddings from the old empire and planned to add those as well.

So despite Lena's strong opposition, everything proceeded exactly as usual.

There was no wedding of the century, no special announcements, and no one even found Lena's updo strange; it seemed to be the natural way it was supposed to be.