nownovels Chapter 68: Ash Horse
Chapter 68: Ash Horse
On the way to Ashwood, Grayson kept telling Harland about the developments in Ashwood.
"I know, Ashwood has a construction mage after all, so it's normal for it to develop faster. There's no need to keep telling me!"
Harland looked at his knight commander with a hint of helplessness.
While Harland remained in his territory, Grayson's primary responsibility was to monitor the development of Ashwood.
Therefore, he knows best how fast Ashwood is developing.
Because Haaland required him to report monthly, and this month's deadline hadn't arrived yet, he hadn't told Haaland about the changes in Ashwood Territory.
"I know Ashwood is building the outer city wall, and there are builder mages involved, which is normal," Harland said irritably.
Grayson shook his head and said, "My lord, it's not about building city walls, it's about..."
Before they could finish speaking, they passed through a low-lying valley and slowly climbed to the horizon, where they could see the five-kilometer-long mud-brick city wall.
"When did this place get here..." Harland didn't finish his sentence, his eyes suddenly widening as he pointed at the mud-brick wall and said, "That's a wall, a wall that long?"
Grayson nodded.
"That's what I wanted to say. The construction of Ashwood was incredibly fast, beyond our comprehension. They completed a five-kilometer-long earthen wall in just ten days."
Harland pointed to a round building about a kilometer from Ashwood town: "And what's that?"
Grayson said somewhat uncertainly, "That's a castle that Lord Ron built in a week; it must be a castle."
"A castle!" Harland accepted this statement; only a castle could be built in the wilderness, and it even had four watchtowers.
Harland couldn't help but exclaim, "Ashwood is expanding! This is developing at an incredible pace!"
"Didn't you say that Ashwood Territory had gained several thousand people? Have they all been settled so quickly?" Harland suddenly remembered something and asked with surprise and uncertainty.
Grayson said, "It should be settled. And I suspect there is another town outside Ashwood territory, because during this period of surveillance, my subordinates discovered that large-scale military and convoys were coming and going every now and then. Trading with De Gea territory does not require so many troops."
Harland pulled on the reins and headed towards the round building: "Let's go, let's go see the castle first."
A castle in Blackthorn Wasteland is definitely a symbol of power, after all, building it requires a lot of building materials.
Although Blackthorn Wasteland has no shortage of sand and gravel, it still requires building mages to continuously condense materials.
Over the years, Harland has only trained three apprentice architects, and the amount of solidified square stones each month is only a few hundred. Although one of them is equivalent to dozens of red bricks and far surpasses red bricks in hardness and other aspects, the quantity is simply too small.
After all, their monthly trade volume of red bricks with Ashwood Territory has exceeded 20,000. Adding the red brick trade with De Gea Territory, Haaland estimates that Ashwood Territory's monthly red brick production has exceeded 50,000.
Construction of Harland Castle has now begun. The outer structure is made of square stone blocks accumulated over the years, while the interior is mainly constructed of red bricks.
When the cavalry was less than 100 meters from the Fujian Tulou, someone on the watchtower fired an arrow at them. Taking advantage of the watchtower's height, the arrow landed directly in front of the cavalry as a warning.
As the arrows fell, the bells of the Fujian Tulou (earthen buildings) had already rung. The women working around dropped their tools and ran into the Tulou.
This is an order from the lord: if danger is encountered, retreat back into the earthen building immediately. Don't worry about tools; as long as you're alive, that's all that matters.
Because of the protection of the city walls and earthen buildings, the surrounding farmland has begun to be cultivated.
Harland was not surprised to see that most of the people entering the Tulou were women.
This is the current state of Blackthorn Wasteland.
Goblin tribes only use women as reproductive tools, while men are mostly treated as food.
Therefore, the people rescued from the goblin tribe were mainly women.
Harland has been in Blackthorn Wasteland for so many years and still hasn't been able to solve the problem of more women than men, let alone Ashwood Territory, which has only been in Blackthorn Wasteland for two months.
Grayson immediately gave a wink to a knight beside him, who immediately understood and ran towards the Fujian Tulou, carrying the banner of Harland.
"We are the Knights of Harland. Our lord is a friend of your lord. We are just passing by and have no ill intentions."
Upon hearing this, the people of Fujian Tulou secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The person in charge of the defense of the Tulou was named Sharva. She was a member of the first batch of women's team. However, she was the oldest and was found to have no talent after the test. Mrs. Moriel saw that she had a calm personality, so she gave her special tutoring. Sharva worked very hard and quickly mastered simple reading and writing. Under Mrs. Moriel's guidance, she also showed good management talent. Therefore, she was appointed as the owner of Tulou No. 1.
Sharapova is responsible for managing the daily operations of the Tulou and the reclamation of the surrounding farmland.
The key point is that out of the three hundred people in the entire earthen building, there wasn't a single man.
Sharapova stood behind the firing port on the third floor of the earthen building and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Guests of Harland! Our lord said that distinguished guests should use the north gate! We do not receive guests here!"
Haaland was quite surprised to hear that the person who answered was a woman.
However, Harland didn't pay too much attention, because soon a troop of cavalry arrived.
Harland immediately recognized that the cavalry were riding the wild horses unique to the Blackthorn Wasteland, known as Ashbringers.
Grayson was also very surprised, exclaiming with delight, "It's the Ash Horse!"
Ash Horses are wild horses born for the wastelands, with a robust physique and unparalleled endurance. Occasionally, a king horse with the bloodline of a magical beast is born, making it an extremely rare existence.
The Ash Horse stands about 1.4 meters tall at the shoulder, a head shorter than a warhorse, and its gray-yellow coat blends seamlessly with the wasteland.
With narrow, hard hooves that can grip scree slopes, their most distinctive feature is the crisp "clatter" sound they make when running. Their endurance far surpasses that of ordinary warhorses, but they are extremely difficult to train.
Horse King will only follow knights he approves of.
The reason Harland and Grayson reacted so strongly was that the Ash Horse was the most suitable horse for the Blackthorn Wasteland. Its endurance and speed far exceeded those of ordinary warhorses, and apart from being slightly short in stature, it was the dream horse of every knight.
As Harland watched the cavalry approach, he suddenly remembered the real purpose of his trip.
"Grayson, did you bring the Border Lord's invitation?"
"I brought it."
"That's good!" Harland urged his horse forward. "Let's see Ron first, then we can talk about the ball."
As for the round castle, once the ball is arranged with Ron, he'll have a chance to visit it; would he really refuse?