Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 699: Section 485: Knowledge Comes with a Price (Part 3)

Chapter 699: Section 485: Knowledge Comes with a Price (Part 3)

The elders of the Gnome tribe welcomed Queen Malin and her party at the town center. Truth be told, their houses were somewhat too small for Malin, so nobody minded that the queen of the kingdom stood in the wind and snow.

Winter had come again, and snow began to fall in the Farol region. Malin did not know how cold the northern regions would become, but she thought... it would always be a struggle.

The situation of the Gnomes was indeed somewhat dire, with summer drought causing widespread crop failure and reduced yields. This year, winter had come particularly early, and the state of these short-statured beings was not looking good; hunger was visible throughout the city.

As previously discussed, Queen Malin had exempted the Gnome tribe from this year’s taxes—of course, in return, the tribe would send adults to Malin’s semi-plane for reproduction—the sacred reproduction.

When the Gnomes entered the portal opened by Malin, carrying their farming tools, they also carried a sense of tragic determination about the unknown future. But once they entered Malin’s semi-plane and saw the huge tree shadows, the warm climate, and the fertile land suitable for farming, they immediately began to calculate how much land they would need to plant.

Then they came up with the idea, "Might as well invite the other tribes over."

In the end, Malin paid a sum of gold for professionals from the Mage Tower to establish a semi-permanent transportation channel. This channel had limitations; only Gnomes could enter, so in case of any trouble, they could escape through it.

After all, as time passed day by day, the day when those northern zombies would head south was drawing ever nearer.

Malin had previously tossed into the historical trash bin the Farole military’s plan of "gathering the nation’s troops in the northern front to hold back the zombies." A new strategy involved withdrawing a part of the reserve forces from the Farole legions to augment the city’s defense, while the front-line troops would defend along the old Rongma defensive line. The zombies had always failed at this line, and this time they would face even more terrifying firepower.

The Spencer family chose to surrender as soon as Malin’s legions reached their territory. They opened the gates unreservedly, only wishing that the fearsome war band would spare their people.

Malin forgave their transgressions, but the Spencer family was still stripped of their noble title by their queen. However, Malin granted a limited right of inheritance of the family title to a member who had served in her factory guard. This young man had performed remarkably well in the previous battles to the north and was very loyal to the group. So Malin told the Spencer family that as long as this child could grow up, the title would be passed on to him, and their clan would be able to return to their original lands. For now, the adults of their family would be stationed in fortresses to the far north, while the elderly and children could live in their ancestral lands.

It was a mutual compromise, and at the time the family chose to surrender, Malin found herself soft-hearted. She was not a competent tyrant. Malin sighed at such outcomes, but they also brought her relief.

Of course, the Spencer family had to pay a price for this, which was to serve as a warning to all nobles in the kingdom. The previous actions of Malin’s legions had already struck fear in many who had been restless—not that the southern nobles were country bumpkins, but the entire Western Human World had never seen such a fearsome army.

Neat formation, crisp uniforms, all kinds of never-before-seen weapons, and even the once-exalted knights and Transcendents died before them. Not long ago, these troops had even defeated the Black Orc warbands and slain forty thousand Black Orcs on the front lines. Moreover, Malin, the ultimate military force, was on call.

The Prince of Farol was no longer the laughingstock at noble balls but a walking embodiment of destruction in front of everyone’s eyes.

So lately, every noble, even a Duke, had to learn to greet Malin proactively.

Of course, Malin did not stoop down to their level, since respect is reciprocal. In Malin’s view, with the impending Chaos invasion, the strength of the human world should not be weakened by internal strife. This was why Malin had been desperately focusing on infrastructure over the past two years—once the invasion began, there would be no time for these projects; repairs would be a luxury, let alone new construction.

After arranging for the Gnome tribes of the Eastern Coast, Malin asked the Elves who had previously entered the semi-plane. They said that although the Gnomes were a bit noisy, the villages of both sides were far apart, so there was peace. Besides, the Elves had a good impression of the Gnomes—they were not like Kobolds or Goblins who always looked for trouble, and these little fellows could help them expand new plantations. As long as the Elves provided healing, the Gnomes were willing to work hard for them.

Meanwhile, among the Gnomes, they recognized that the tall Elves might be aloof, but if any of them had a headache or injury, they would still be willing to help the Gnomes and basically do it for free. This, the Gnomes, who were currently strapped for cash, were very grateful for. When the Elves asked them to help develop the plantations, they would complete the Elves’ requests with utmost speed.

Furthermore, the Crossbow Arrows provided by Malin were extremely effective. The two Gnome clans had already hunted dozens of deer. The yellow deer of the Semi-Plane, having no natural predators, had grown fat, and it was good that they were now being culled by the Gnomes. Having meat after a long absence, the Gnomes were very satisfied with Malin’s arrangements and deeply grateful.

Malin didn’t know if the Gnomes were truly satisfied, but he did know that the young Gnomes were no longer going hungry. Their parents might be toiling hard, but when Malin announced that the crops cultivated by the Gnomes would enjoy a tax rate of ten to two, the Gnomes wholeheartedly expressed that His Excellency Malin was truly generous with them.

Especially after hearing about the Half-humans’ foolhardy operations, these Gnomes immediately accelerated their pace in swearing allegiance—they had already made contact with a third clan. The latter had been somewhat skeptical at first, but after seeing the ten-odd yellow deer brought to them by the former, they promptly decided to join the effort.

And after entering the Semi-Plane, they were conquered by the scenery that seemed like paradise and instantly became the most loyal servants of Prince Malin Gaiate of Farol.

As usual, Malin would give them a settlement fee. All Gnome clans along the Eastern Coast and some scattered human villages would be moved by Malin, then the area would be handed over to the Sea Clan as their new habitat. Similarly, the Sea Clan would provide Malin with more marine resources as rent in return.

Among the sea’s offerings, the edible fish were considered Malin’s greatest resources. An even larger canned food factory than the one at Carterburg would be established on the Eastern Coast. The canned food produced here would be transported via the Eastern rail line to Regensburg or sold to the Eastern Kingdom—these fools sometimes displayed astoundingly foolish moves, but Malin had to admit, without them, the Great Wilderness would be facing enemies on two fronts.

Of course, the Eastern Kingdom couldn’t consume all those canned foods, so Malin decided to give away half and sell half to the Great Wilderness. The Church of Justice’s legions and the Punishers all had high praise for the canned food produced by Malin’s group, so Malin catered to their preferences. With them in the East, the Farol Principality at least didn’t need to worry that the Chaos hordes would cross the sea from the East.

Besides, Malin selected a small number of clever and skilled young people from the Gnome clans to join the workshops as Apprentices. This was to send a message to the Half-humans—those guys had recently been arguing fiercely with the Dwarfs, as both sides vied for the position of Great Craftsman. Malin’s status in the workshops was supreme, and the Great Craftsman was second to none, so they both aimed to edge the other out.

Once the Gnomes entered the workshops, they became a third power. Neither the Dwarfs nor the Half-humans could intimidate them, as both sides didn’t want to push this neutral little power into the other’s arms.

Malin was somewhat relieved by this—the foolish Dwarfs and Half-humans quieted down, which eased Malin’s mind that was on the brink of exploding. At least when he visited the workshops, he wouldn’t be followed by the incessant bickering and cursing of the Dwarfs and Half-humans.

The Gnomes did not disappoint Malin’s expectations, either. Although these young people couldn’t swing a blacksmith hammer like the Dwarfs or make the finest guns like the Half-humans, their talent in engineering amazed Malin—the Gnome team accidentally synthesized a plastic explosive fishing tool during their second encounter with creating explosives.

With its miniaturization, several-fold increase in lethality, and expanded radius of damage, Malin had to tell these Gnomes to take it easy. At least, they had to avoid making these engineering creations in the headquarters of the workshops—otherwise, if there was an explosion, they might achieve a feat, not even Chaos managed to accomplish.

The Dwarfs and Half-humans both agreed to move these little Dwarfs out, but their request was rejected by Malin—he gave the Gnomes an independent research lab, separate from the workshop and close to the seaside, after all, he was still awaiting the Gnomes to give the Dwarfs and Half-humans a good knock.

In addition, Malin continued to expand his war troupe. The few war troops under Malin’s command were seriously overstaffed. Nova sighed when she heard this news, saying it was her first time hearing about an organization being oversized.

It was also astonishing that there weren’t a few who thrived on military funds. Like Malin, stuffing the organization of three troops into one was truly a unique existence.

Malin’s actions had also been reported to his father-in-law, and in exchange for overlooking Linz, the things Malin did were treated by Goethe with one eye open and the other closed.

But it still wasn’t enough.

More legions, more personnel, more equipment, more cannons—no matter how much money was spent, it would all go. Thus, Malin was in poverty every single day.

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