Chapter 84 Protection Fees
After the negotiation with Augustine, a meeting took place in the snow-white room.
Lautner and the rest of the subordinates had dumbfounded looks. "My lord, are you serious? Did… did you really agree to the proposal of the Iron Dukedom building a military fortress?"
In all seriousness, Odom said, "It will not be a big deal if we reject them now. But if we agree, when their large army arrives, we will be in grave danger."
William raised his hand to stop the others from speaking. Instead of keeping a serious look, he smiled. "Tell me. How long would it take for you to construct a military base with a capacity of thousands of people?"
"Er… it depends on the number of people with me. If there are few workers, it will take at least half a year." As the assistant city lord, Odom had always been in charge of constructing. He knew the level of difficulty of this task.
A military fortress was different from a city, in particular.
All the buildings in a military fortress had to be equipped with defense. The walls had to be high and thick. It should have accommodation for installing arrows. There had to be enough space inside to operate catapults. Furthermore, two warehouses were needed to store goods and rations. If people were simply staying inside, they did not need to go through so much trouble.
"That's right. Will the Iron Dukedom use our people to build this military fortress?"
"Definitely not. There is no doubt about this."
"Even if he is able to gather thousands of people to build this military fortress, it still would take them three to four months. Furthermore, they need logistical support too. Not only is the journey long, but they also will incur losses every time they transport goods."
"There will be no problem if I allow him to build the military fortress."
"When the Iron Dukedom will be done building the foundation and could no longer give up this place, then I will start charging protection fees every month."
"All their gold coins, slaves, and food will be given to me."
"If they don't, I will cut off their supply of food and people."
"Do you think they will pay up?" William's eyes became filled with greed and cruelty as laid out his plans.
Many of his subordinates were shocked, as they had not expected William to have such an idea. But Odom slightly hesitated. He worryingly said, "Yes. They will definitely give you the goods you want to build this military base. But the retaliation that we would have to face in the future…"
"That will only happen five or six months later!" William gradually narrowed his eyes. "If the fortress would not have been built by then, we will just eliminate them and steal their goods."
"This… are we really going forward with this plan?" Lautner wasn't sure about it. He could not understand why his Lord was doing this. It clearly meant declaring war.
William laughed coldly. "Is it possible that they are going to settle down near the City of Dawn? Believe me. When we raid their new home, we will gain a large profit. Then, we definitely will be able to inflict heavy casualties in the Iron Dukedom."
"Furthermore, considering the situation they would be in then, they will not be able to invade us easily."
Alec did not know what to do.
At that moment, they could only listen to his commands.
They did not know that the plans of the Iron Dukedom had to be completed within half a year.
Within that period, William would send people to destroy the military base. At that time, the military base would definitely be very empty. There might be many soldiers present on the city wall, but it would just be an empty show of strength.
The military base being destroyed would mark the beginning of the game Beta. Also, the situation between the Iron Dukedom and the Black Lava Dukedom would be tense then. War would be just a hair's breadth away from breaking out. Would the Iron Dukedom dare to attack the City of Dawn so easily then?
As for the question of them being able to the military fortress, it should not prove to be a large obstacle.
Elven rangers had strong observational skills. If they could not even realize that a large group of men and horses were walking out of the fortress, then it was a problem.
Meanwhile, he still had to follow that group of bastards and track down people using clues. They would head towards the snowy mountains near the East Sea to see whether they could obtain any benefits.
In conclusion, this was a crucial battle that could determine his future direction for development.
He would be called a king if he was successful, and a bandit if he failed. Why not take the gamble?
Time flew, and as usual, William completed the missions he had.
If he did not have any missions to do, he would work towards increasing his affinity.
For some recently, the three dimensions of Sia had started to change again. William was dumbstruck.
In particular, she had developed an interest in researching magical tools that could kill!
"She is clearly a water-wood double-type mage. Rationally, she would not enjoy such things. Is she heading in a new direction? In the future, it would be good if she could do research on magical cannons."
That day, William walked around in the city and observed all of the new slaves. Oh, they should be called civilians now.
The 50 thousand slaves from the Iron Dukedom had arrived.
He waved his hand and eliminated their Status as criminals and slaves. He allowed them to become civilians. They had become residents of the new district. However, this new district was separated into two areas, the elf district and the human district.
The new district was still under construction. When the civilians were resting, they liked to come to the city and walk around.
Of course, the rest of the gold coins and goods had also been sent over.
The Iron Dukedom had also sent an army and thousands of slaves to construct the military fortress.
The previous day, William had also issued a magical transmission to Augustine requesting for the current month's 'protection fees'. In name, this meant that William would send troops to attack the mermen and Vhouls. They would protect their allies and prevent them from getting injured. And hence, they had a reason for asking the fee, kind of a compensation for their aid.
William even said that if he did not send any protection troops, the Iron Dukedom would suffer heavy casualties…
In conclusion, they had to pay him 10 thousand gold coins, 50 thousand kilograms of grains, and 2000 slaves every month!
After they received the transmission from William, Augustine and Goethe Nasis started to curse.
In particular, Goethe cursed 18 generations of his ancestors multiple times.
They scolded William for being a base and shameless person who was very greedy.
But they also sighed in relief. When facing a greedy fellow like him, they first had to feed him well. It didn't matter in the long run, as they would take back all their profits and capital. At the same time, they would also gain control of the City of Dawn. In the end, a true benefit for them.
This was like how they dealt with some aristocrats in secret.
They needed to endure. It would not result in a loss!
Hence, the Iron Dukedom obediently paid this month's protection fees to the City of Dawn.
William came to the mysterious fortune-telling shop again. Moses, again petting his cat, saw him walk over, but his expression still remained natural.
The affinity between them had exceeded 500, but they still did not talk with each other much. It was said that relations between gentlemen were as sharp as alcohol. This was very appropriate for alcoholics like them.
It was very obvious. William had found one of Moses' interests.
To be accurate, he already knew this interest of Moses. However, they did not have enough affinity, and his level was not high enough for that. He did not even have the right to drink with him.
But now that their affinity had gone past 500, he could finally go drinking with a big shot.
"So many slaves at once! Aren't you afraid that there will be trouble in the city?" Moses was curious.
William waved his hand nonchalantly. "Everything is under control."
Moses drank the alcohol in his cup in one shot. He did not say anything else.
He still wanted to see how far William could develop the City of Dawn.
If the current rate of development was taken into account, the City of Dawn had a lot of potential. But progressing too quickly would tend to be harmful. It would turn them into targets…
Moses rubbed his chin. "He is still too young. But if the city is facing destruction and people are being killed, should I save him in that case? After all, I have a good feeling about his fellow. He has some potential. He might be able to help me in the future."
