Actually, as soon as Rocky had made his identity known, Old Jack and Lin Feng had already anticipated the suggestion he might make, so when he finally voiced it, neither of them showed much surprise; instead, they both fell into silence.
This reaction was certainly a good sign for Rocky since their hesitation to immediately refuse meant they were considering it.
In fact, this was indeed the case; Old Jack and Lin Feng were seriously considering Rocky’s suggestion, not because it was particularly good but because Backhill Village had very few options left.
If they disregarded Rocky, then Backhill Village would inevitably face the next wave of attacks from the demons, and no matter how quickly the village tried to repair or even hire other mercenary groups to help, nothing could guarantee the village’s survival from the next wave of demon attacks.
However, if they agreed to Rocky’s proposal, it would mean that everyone in Backhill Village must give up their homeland and move to an entirely unfamiliar environment to live, and in this strange environment, they could no longer dictate their own terms, which posed a great challenge to the people of Backhill Village.
Therefore, making a choice was indeed a significant dilemma.
“Commander Rocky… rather, Lord Rocky, could you give us some time to think…”
After a moment of contemplation, Old Jack glanced at Rocky.
However, Rocky shook his head, “Village Chief, we don’t have much time. I only have ten skyships; if you really wish to relocate, then we must hurry as no one knows when the demons might attack.”
Rocky’s words were not untrue; Backhill Village had over a thousand villagers, but he only had ten skyships. So even if they didn’t bring anything else, just transporting these villagers to Thunderhawk City would take two or three days, indeed leaving no spare time to overthink.
Moreover, Rocky harbored his own motives; now was when Backhill Village was most helpless and desperate. Under such circumstances, Old Jack and Lin Feng were highly likely to agree to his proposal. But if they delayed too long and the two of them thought of another solution, then Rocky’s attempt to take all the villagers to Thunderhawk City would become difficult.
Thus, from the beginning, he had not planned to give Old Jack and Lin Feng much time to think; they had to make a decision immediately and stick to it.
Under these circumstances, Old Jack thought for a long time and even whispered with Lin Feng for a while before they finally came to a decision.
“Alright, Lord Rocky, we agree to your suggestion…”
With a hint of reluctance, Old Jack delivered the final answer; he agreed to relocate all the villagers of Backhill Village to Thunderhawk City!
Excellent! Enjoy new tales from empire
Hearing this answer, Rocky merely nodded outwardly, but internally he shouted in triumph!
If it weren’t for the presence of these two men, he would have loved to fiercely swing his fist right now, for this would mean the population of Thunderhawk City could potentially double!
A doubled population!
In today’s age, the size of a Sky City’s population directly determined its rank. This was not without reason, for the larger the population, the greater the productivity, and the greater the productivity, the stronger the Sky City would become; also, a larger population could form a bigger army, and a larger army naturally meant greater strength—it was a simple fact.
And thus, the population has always been the scarcest resource. Although there could be population movements among the Sky Cities, a small city like Thunderhawk had no chance of attracting new inhabitants from other cities. For Thunderhawk, not to mention doubling the population, even increasing it by ten percent was extremely difficult!
But now, once the villagers from Backhill Village were relocated to Thunderhawk City, the city’s population would instantly double, which would undoubtedly play an enormous role in the city’s future development.
So, having confirmed this matter, Rocky immediately set to work on arranging the relocation, acting as though he feared Old Jack might have a change of heart.
On one hand, he had Old Jack and Lin Feng explain the situation to the villagers, while on the other, he personally oversaw the task of organizing the skyships for transportation.
Just like that, the day after the great war had just ended, Backhill Village became busy.
Old Jack and Lin Feng gathered all the villagers, including Rocky, introduced Rocky’s new identity to everyone, and also explained the situation facing Backhill Village, thereby mentioning that everyone would be relocated to Sky City.
Upon hearing this news, the villagers were naturally filled with astonishment, and some were even unwilling. Therefore, Rocky delivered a speech, which was almost identical to what he had used to persuade Old Jack and Lin Feng.
With the clear outline of the pros and cons, and with the assistance of Old Jack and Lin Feng by his side, the villagers of Backhill Village had eventually accepted the result.
After that, the great migration kicked off in full swing!
Under the arrangement of Rocky, ten skyships began transporting villagers to Thunderhawk City continuously. Although these ten skyships were strictly speaking warships, and also small-sized scout ships, with a carrying capacity incomparable to cargo ships, each skyship carrying twenty villagers was still achievable.
Thus, ten skyships could transport two hundred villagers at a time, and going back and forth five or six times was enough to move all the people of Backhill Village.
Of course, it wasn’t just the villagers who were to be transported; other items from the village, like the warehouse of Backhill Village, were also to be moved.
In the warehouse of Backhill Village were not only food supplies but also Gold Coins, and even demon cores from Demons! Could Rocky possibly give those up? Of course not!
Furthermore, the necessities of life needed by the villagers were to be transported as much as possible. Thunderhawk City originally had just over a thousand inhabitants, and now that number had suddenly doubled, which made accommodating the additional people a big issue.
Next were the spoils of this mission. Although after the migration began, Rocky’s biggest gain from this mission became the populace, he did not want to forsake the commission that was rightfully his, especially the bodies of hundreds of Demons, and several thousand pounds of Yellow Scale Ore!
There’s no need to mention the bodies of the Demons, after having gone through two major wars, the number of killed demons had reached into the hundreds, and the majority of these bodies had been recovered inside the village. Rocky definitely wanted to take as many as possible.
As for the Yellow Scale Ore, normally Rocky, after completing a mission, could only take away five hundred pounds of Yellow Scale Ore. But now, with the villagers of Backhill Village following him, the freshly mined ore naturally belonged to him as well.
You should know that even if mining in Backhill Village had only been conducted for twenty days, the excavated Yellow Scale Ore amounted to several thousand pounds. These ores could be sold to any Chamber of Commerce for tens of thousands of Gold Coins. How could Rocky possibly give them up?
Given the circumstances, he had to make arrangements as efficiently as possible, first using the skyships to transport the villagers, then the spoils and items from the Backhill Village warehouse, and finally the necessities of daily life, in that order.
However, the relocation of over a thousand people was definitely a major project. Though simple to arrange, serious difficulties arose when it actually came time to act, so Rocky promptly had Voss come down after the first batch of villagers had been transported, hoping to utilize his experience to help with the migration.
Upon arriving at Backhill Village, Voss didn’t disappoint Rocky’s hopes; always based in Thunderhawk City, he might not have known what had happened, but after quickly understanding the situation, he immediately took over the coordination work from Rocky. Under his command, the speed of the migration improved significantly.
Time passed by day by day, and on the third day after the start of the migration, all the people of Backhill Village were successfully transported to Thunderhawk City, where Aileen, who was stationed there, was responsible for settling them in.
Then, within three more days, the bodies of hundreds of Demons, several thousand pounds of Yellow Scale Ore, and the warehouse of Backhill Village were also emptied.
Meanwhile, during these days, the Demons did not appear, it seems they were just as Rocky had previously thought. The Demons, already scarce around Break-Sky Mountain, had been exhausted in the last fight. Although it wouldn’t be long before more Demons would appear, at least before the completion of the migration, the Demons would not come.
Thus, the work of migration was nearing its conclusion. Three days later, the necessities of life packed by the villagers were also transported to Thunderhawk City by skyship, trip by trip. By the time the skyship came to Backhill Village for the last time and took Rocky and others away, Backhill Village had already become an empty village!
In the whole village, besides the houses that could not be moved, everything that could be taken was taken by Rocky!
After that, Rocky left Backhill Village with the last trip of the skyship. Standing at the prow of the skyship, watching as the village became increasingly tiny in his sight and now completely empty, he couldn’t have been more satisfied!
PS: Three updates delivered! Please recommend!!