A newly established territory yields 1 experience per hour.
A Barony yields 10 experience per hour, a Viscounty 50, an Earldom 200-300, a Marquisate 500-600, a Duchy 1000-2000, and a Kingdom 10000-30000.
Although Your Majesty Ron had restored his kingdom, its territorial area had not yet reached that of a regular kingdom, so the experience yield was still calculated according to the Gray Mist Territory's standard.
"530 experience per hour is already quite good."
Your Majesty Ron did not have high demands for this.
Compared to experience, he needed more prestige.
Prestige gain was not tied to territory size but was calculated based on population and faith level.
If he were to build a country from scratch, Your Majesty Ron would undoubtedly be a king revered by all.
For a territory taken over midway like this, given some time, he could also make his people sing his praises daily.
But unfortunately, he did not have the time to slowly build the image of a benevolent ruler.
To maximize benefits in a short period, he could only throw money at it.
Your Majesty Ron closed the panel, looked up at Afulai, who was respectfully standing before him, and said, "Go and count how many refugees are in the Gray Mist Territory, as well as the people in the slums of various towns. Gather them all."
"Yes." Afulai nodded in response, wondering about Your Majesty Ron's intentions.
Your Majesty Ron pondered for a moment, then continued, "Before evening, I want to see all the knights and soldiers of the Gray Mist Territory gathered in Rinwind City. Remember, have them wear their armor."
After giving these instructions, and disregarding Afulai's speculations, Your Majesty Ron left the Lord's Mansion, departed Rinwind City, and headed towards the Mercenary Association.
The news of Your Majesty Ron leaving Rinwind City quickly reached the Lord's Mansion butler, who immediately found Afulai, who was lost in thought in the mansion.
"Lady Afulai, that villain has left. Please take this opportunity to escape."
Afulai was stunned by the words.
Then she scanned her surroundings nervously, and only after confirming that the person was not there did she dare to whisper, "He can control the gray mist. Can I escape?"
"You must escape even if you can't, otherwise if that villain forces you to do something to betray the Emerald Kingdom, Lord and the others will not let you go when they return."
"But..."
Afulai hesitated to speak.
If she was discovered trying to escape, she might not even live until her father returned.
"That villain hastily restored his kingdom and declared himself king, without even preparing the basic ceremony. Lady Afulai can pretend to curry favor and go into the city under the guise of ordering a royal robe. Even if he discovers you, he won't blame you."
"I will have someone prepare a carriage at the city gate first. When the time is right, you immediately get into the carriage and escape the Gray Mist Territory to seek help," the butler suggested, planning it out.
"...Alright."
Afulai remained silent for a long time, finally making up her mind.
She followed the butler's arrangements, pretending to go to town to select materials for making a crown.
When the butler said, "Lady Afulai, we should go back now," she subtly moved closer to the city gate.
Finally, she seized the opportunity, rushed out of the city gate, and safely got into the carriage the butler had prepared.
The carriage sped towards the border.
And she was not the only one who had thoughts of escaping.
More merchants and travelers, fearing being implicated by Your Majesty Ron's outrageous actions, were packing their belongings, planning to leave the Gray Mist Territory.
...
Mercenary Association.
Appearing at the registration counter again, Your Majesty Ron no longer needed to display his strength with money; the counter lady quickly stood up respectfully: "Your Majesty Ron."
Although she appeared very respectful, her tone was still somewhat forced.
Clearly, she still did not fully acknowledge Your Majesty Ron's status as king.
Your Majesty Ron paid no mind. He took out another high-grade magic crystal and said, "I want to post a commission task."
The counter lady carefully took the high-grade magic crystal and asked, "What kind of commission task do you wish to post?"
"Doing errands and running tasks for me, for three days. This is the deposit," Your Majesty Ron said calmly.
"This..." The counter lady looked a bit troubled.
The Mercenary Association indeed accepted all kinds of tasks; even interfering in wars between two countries was acceptable if the payment was sufficient.
Only the War of the Gods was something the Mercenary Association dared not meddle in at all.
Because the Three Great Churches had issued a clear divine oracle: those not from a chosen nation must not interfere with the War of the Gods.
With a high-grade magic crystal as a deposit, plus his illegitimate position, the content of Your Majesty Ron's commissioned task was obvious just by thinking about it.
Seemingly sensing her concerns, Your Majesty Ron added, "I will not use it for war against the Emerald Kingdom; it's just for miscellaneous tasks."
"This..." The counter lady still dared not register this commission.
"Misha, please register it for Your Majesty Ron."
At this moment, a voice came from deeper within the Mercenary Association.
"Yes."
The counter lady immediately registered the task for Your Majesty Ron and posted it on the task wall.
Your Majesty Ron looked back at the people in the hall.
Wherever his gaze fell, everyone averted their eyes.
In their view, Your Majesty Ron's act of restoring his kingdom was utterly absurd. Who would restore a kingdom so hastily?
Just one person dared to restore a kingdom, and on the territory of the Emerald Kingdom at that? Was he truly acting as if the Emerald Kingdom didn't exist?
Anyone with a bit of intelligence could see that Your Majesty Ron would only be arrogant for a short while and wouldn't last long.
They didn't need to offend the Emerald Kingdom for a dying man.
Seeing that no one was tempted by the life-buying money he offered, Your Majesty Ron sneered mockingly, "A bunch of cowards, what are you doing being mercenaries?"
"What did you say, you brat?"
Five mercenaries were provoked, slammed their tables, and surrounded Your Majesty Ron.
"We give you face by calling you Your Majesty; if we don't, you're just a kid who hasn't even grown hair yet..."
Before they could finish their shouting, Your Majesty Ron impatiently waved his hand, and the five mercenaries slumped to the ground.
This scene, witnessed by the mercenaries present, sent shivers down their spines.
Seeing that there were no other defiant individuals, Your Majesty Ron snorted coldly and was about to leave the Mercenary Association.
"Isn't this Your Majesty Ron?"
At this moment, a rough voice came from the entrance.
Byron walked in with his four girls, stepped forward, and said, "You still have the leisure to come to the Mercenary Association to play? If you don't go back and manage your territory, your people will all run away."
When Byron was halfway through his sentence, Ruiji, beside him, kept nudging his thigh with her elbow, signaling him not to continue.
But Byron acted as if he felt nothing and still finished his sentence completely.
Ruiji angrily stomped hard on Byron's foot, then cautiously observed Your Majesty Ron's expression. Only when she saw that Your Majesty Ron was not angry did she dare to breathe a sigh of relief.
The person before them was no longer the Mr. Barrett from before; the five mercenaries lying in the mercenary hall, whether dead or alive, clearly showed his cruel nature.
"Your Majesty Ron, he did not intend to offend you. Please..."
"You still owe me five martial skills," Your Majesty Ron interrupted Ruiji.
"Ah... right," Byron asked, "Do you want to learn them now?"
Your Majesty Ron shook his head: "No hurry, we can learn them slowly when there's time later. I currently need people to do things for me, the remuneration is generous, do you want to come?"
Hearing about the generous remuneration, Byron immediately became interested: "What kind of work? I won't do murder or arson."
"Just some errands and transportation odd jobs."
"No problem!"
Byron readily agreed, even though Ruiji's elbow beside him was almost raw from nudging him; he didn't hesitate.
Left with no choice, Ruiji could only speak up to salvage the situation for Byron: "Your Majesty Ron, it is a great honor that you chose us..."
She had just finished her polite pleasantries and hadn't even had time to say more when she heard Your Majesty Ron's cold voice: "Are you trying to trick me?"
The killing intent in his gaze made her heart tremble, and she lowered her head in fear: "No... I wouldn't dare."
"The task is over there. Finish accepting the task quickly and come out. I'll be waiting for you outside."
Your Majesty Ron snorted coldly and walked out of the mercenary hall.