Chapter 398: Chapter 378, Blackfoot Cat Joins_2
It gave off an unreal feeling.
Seeing Lorrey return, Fang Hao also relaxed a bit.
In these past few days, Anjia kept saying that Lorrey was not good at riding and could fall to her death, or she could fall into a river since she wasn’t very tall and couldn’t touch the bottom.
Fang Hao started to worry, tormenting himself with the idea that Lorrey could encounter some danger on the way.
Now that she had returned safely, his apprehensive heart settled down.
His gaze fell again on the elderly Blackfoot Cat.
The elderly Blackfoot Cat, about 1.3 to 1.4 meters in height, wore a grayish linen attire and had a tree-root walking stick in his hand.
It looked like he was the clan leader of the Blackfoot Cat Tribe.
“Good, you’re back safely. Make yourself comfortable,” Fang Hao also settled himself comfortably in his seat.
The two rose to their feet.
The old man carefully sat down on a chair.
Meanwhile, Lorrey picked up a glass, fetched two cups of fruit wine from the cellar, and placed them in front of the old man and herself.
“Lorrey, why did it take you so long?” Fang Hao curiously asked.
Letting Lorrey ride the Bone Dragon was not only to avoid danger along the way but also to save time.
Yet, Lorrey was gone for more than a week.
If she hadn’t returned soon, Fang Hao would have sent people out to look for her.
“Don’t get me started, my Lord. It’s all because of that damned Blackstone Tribe. If it wasn’t for being cautious of them, I would have brought everyone back much sooner. We wouldn’t have had to endure the harshness of the road,” complained Lorrey, swinging her small legs.
Cough, cough!
The old man gave a light cough and shot Lorrey a stare, indicating her to stop talking unnecessarily.
Fang Hao also caught the implication. It seemed that the migration of the Blackfoot Cats was due to some conflict with the Orc Tribe.
“Tell me more about your disputes with the Blackstone Tribe,” Fang Hao looked at the two.
Before Lorrey could answer, the old man was the first to speak.
“Lord, we used to live near Tasgo City. Some conflicts arose between us and the Blackstone Tribe. Out of desperation, we thought of moving to a new place to look for a stronger lord for protection,” said the old man as he set his walking stick aside, knelt down and bowed deeply.
Even though Fang Hao’s territory seemed dangerous, it was undoubtedly powerful.
It held a formidable military strength that a lot could fear.
Only Fang Hao had the capacity to offer them protection and not be threatened by the Blackstone Tribe.
“Is the Blackstone Tribe very powerful? How many members do they have? What caused the conflict between you two?” Fang Hao expressed the questions he had in mind.
Having assured Lorrey, Fang Hao would naturally not drive these people away.
Even so, he needed to know who he was about to face off with.
“My Lord, the Blackstone Tribe is a large Orc Tribe with tens of thousands of robust members. During a previous hunt, the young members of our tribe accidentally entered the hunting range of the Blackstone Tribe, leading us to be oppressed by them all this while. Helplessly, we thought of migrating to survive elsewhere,” the old man explained.
In the end, he didn’t forget to add, “But rest assured, Lord. The actions of the Blackfoot Cats have always been covert. We have been very cautious all the way, and we have definitely not brought you any trouble.”
That’s how it tends to be with the Orc Tribes.
Without fixed rules, the tribe with more strength and robust members would have absolute say.
If your village lacks strength and has a small population.
You would have to be at the mercy of powerful tribes.
If you were dependent on a reasonable larger tribe, that would still be bearable. But if you encountered an unreasonable one, your village would be done for.
Not all races could be like the Blackfoot Cats, decisively abandoning their original village and seeking a new settlement.
Hearing the old man’s words, Fang Hao instinctively glanced at Lorrey who was standing aside.
Lorrey was simple-minded with a straightforward look on her face and she couldn’t lie to Fang Hao because of their contractual binding.
Seeing Lorrey’s calm demeanor, Fang Hao knew that the old man was telling him the truth.
He wasn’t afraid of the Blackstone Tribe with just tens of thousands of members.
If they dared to chase them here, they would only be courting death.
Fang Hao didn’t press the matter any further.
Opening the topic, he said, “Have you chosen a settlement? The lands at Crescent Heights are fertile, and the population is scarce. It seems quite suitable for living.”
On hearing this, a joyous expression flickered across the old man’s face.
Just as he was about to agree, Lorrey jumped up like a startled cat.
“No, no! We’ll just find a place nearby,” said Lorrey, keeping on giving hints to the old man.
The old man also immediately perceived the issue.
Keeping up with Lorrey, he said, “Yes, we can establish a village nearby. Our village’s population isn’t large, so a vast place isn’t needed.”
“Alright.”
The few of them discussed about it while looking at the map.
Finally, the two of them chose a location in the northeast direction of the main city, where the gnoll camp was situated.
That place was the location of Fang Hao’s first battle after arriving, and after he had killed the gnolls, the camp had been vacant.
The location was fairly good, and all the buildings were ready-made.
There wasn’t much problem with the Blackfoot Cats wanting to develop a village in that area, especially since they only had a population of over 200 people.
Once the location was chosen, Fang Hao allocated some resources to them.
Lorrey and the elder took their people directly to the site of their new village.
…
After breakfast.
Fang Hao still had some work to do.
He went straight to the industrial zone, opened the Book of Lords, and found the blueprint for the “Precision Stone Processing Factory”.
“Precision Stone Processing Factory: Wood 3000, Tough Wood 1800, Stone Material 2200, Stone Brick 1200, Iron 420, Metal Parts 120.”
He found an empty piece of land.
And chose to build it right away.
A flash of light rose instantly, piecing together the outline of a precision stone processing factory.
When the light dissipated, the factory appeared before his eyes.
“Precision Stone Processing Factory”
“Placement: Workers 0/10.”
“Raw Material: Stone Brick 2”
“Producing: Precision Stone Brick”
(Description: Through processing, stone bricks can be made into denser products, precision stone bricks.)
Fang Hao immediately brought in ten skeleton laborers and tasked them with working in the precision brick factory.
The skeletons immediately got to work, moving stone bricks from the storage facility to the factory for processing.
Precision stone brick is a material required for the upgrade of a Level 10 Lord’s Mansion, which also means it will be used in large quantities for future building upgrades.
Whether for his own upgrades or for sale in the channel.
The demand is significant.
Fang Hao simply went ahead and built 20 more processing factories to increase production simultaneously.
For the purpose of increasing the speed of precision brick production.
After building the precision brick processing plants, Fang Hao went to the quarry area and constructed 5 large-scale quarries.
He demolished all the original common quarries, and transferred the workers to the large-scale quarries for stone gathering.
Upon completing the construction of these two new blueprint facilities.
Fang Hao increased the number of tile kilns to fifty to improve work efficiency.
Only when he had finished arranging everything did Fang Hao return to the lord’s mansion.
…
With nothing to do in the late morning.
After studying books in his room for a while, he used God’s Presence to check on the construction status of the Blackfoot Cats’ village.
The Blackfoot Cats aren’t tall, but they’re quite active.
The buildings in the village had already been cleaned out, and the village elders were instructing several male Blackfoot Cats to repair the broken village gate.
Actually, they had ample time. They were safe thanks to the protection of the Fief. Nothing posed a threat to them there.
There was no need to worry about the Blackstone Tribe, let alone any fearsome wild animals that wouldn’t dare come close to this area.
Whether they installed the village gate earlier or later made little difference.
However, the swift actions of these Blackfoot Cats did catch Fang Hao’s attention.
Most of the adult Blackfoot Cats had reached a level of five or six.
What’s more, like Lorrey, they had the ability to scale walls and leap over rooftops, displaying great agility.
They seemed to be an excellent choice for a scouting troop, capable of gathering special intelligence.
Knock knock knock!
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
He disengaged God’s Presence, got up, and opened the door to see Eira standing outside.
“Master, Scholar Nelson is waiting for you outside.”
“Oh, okay!”
Fang Hao then went downstairs and out of the lord’s mansion.
Outside, Nelson was silently waiting on a bench.
Upon seeing Fang Hao come out.
He stood up and said, “My Lord, the materials for the totem are ready, and we can start drawing at any time.”