Upon hearing the news, Hammuradi's sickly pale face showed no fluctuation. He called the only survivor and asked him about what happened again in a flat tone. Then he raised his hand and made a sliding motion, and the elf's head rolled to the ground like a ripe fruit on a branch.
"A truly noble elf would never flee in fear of a battle."
Seeing Hamradi execute his men so casually, Yitzhak remained respectful on the surface, but he complained in his heart that the superiors in this world, no matter what race they were, were particularly fond of killing people to establish their authority. If it were an ordinary earthling living in a peaceful country, he would have been scared to death, but as a professional executioner who killed people like crazy, he did not feel much of agitation.
However, this tranquility was soon broken when his eyes inadvertently swept to the plants in the pots in the corner of the room.
Isaac almost trotted over to the meter-tall plant, got closer to carefully identify the leaves and stems, and finally asked in a tone that was visibly trembling with excitement.
"Where did you get this corn seedling?"
Seeing Yizhak asking the question, the elves present first looked at Hammuradi, and only started to explain after getting the other party's permission.
"This is a newly introduced crop in Laguge, called corn."
"Where did they get it?"
"How should I know? It was brought by the new governor. But the locals don't trust it, so not many people grow it. It's mainly the prisoners in the collective farms who grow it. We managed to steal a few, but we don't know whether it bears fruit or ears of corn."
“Izak, do you know this crop?”
Seeing Hamradi asking questions, Yitzhak quickly explained.
"Of course I recognize it. This is an Earth crop, and the yield is quite impressive. No wonder the young governor has the confidence to challenge the grain merchants. With this good stuff in his hands, Laguge will no longer be short of food in the future. Maybe in a few years, their grain production will be so much that they can sell it outside!"
"Is it so powerful... I remember that I did hear some people from Earth say that."
"Excuse me, sir, but I suspect that this Governor Dick Best should have some Earth talents in agriculture around him. If he happens to be a breeding expert, I suggest you don't miss him."
074. Dick's Perfect Preparation
In the eastern part of Lagoge town, Dick was inspecting the results of the street renovation. The entire main street had been drastically renovated in accordance with his requirements. The old houses on both sides of the street were demolished, and the street, which was originally very crowded even for one-way traffic, was expanded to a width that could accommodate four carriages in parallel.
The residents who originally lived on this street were dispersed and relocated to other streets in the town.
There are many vacant houses in the town of Laguge, and the properties basically belong to the Governor's Office. If Dick wants to demolish a house, all he needs is a word.
The renovated East District Street will become a new commercial street in Laguge in the future. Special land for building shops is reserved on both sides of the street, while the original old commercial street will be used as a residence and storage area for foreign caravans.
Dick just disliked those unscrupulous businessmen who engaged in speculation, but he was very welcoming to businessmen who did honest business.
Accompanying Dick on the inspection was Ruby Eyes. The female devil had a relatively simple disguise done on her face, making her originally stunningly beautiful face look a little more ordinary. She also chose a loose robe that did not show her curves. At first glance, she looked like a chubby country girl.
Like agricultural upgrades, the commercial street was originally one of Dick's ideas. Later, Ruby Eye took over to modify and improve the details before starting work.
The two of them were strolling on a street that was twelve meters wide. When many workers around them saw the Governor and the "Madam Chief of Staff" inspecting together, they put down their work, stood up, bowed and greeted the two of them.
"Master, what do you think? Are you satisfied?"
"I am very satisfied. In the future, the four main streets in the east, south, west and north can all be built according to this specification."
"In that case, the whole town would have to be expanded."
"The urban area must be expanded. Even though the town is still so empty now, it will definitely be the most prosperous city in the entire Northland in the future!"
"But our population growth rate is not optimistic. Less than 200 pioneers have moved in this month, but there are quite a few newborns. In the past two months, the cumulative increase has reached thousands. For this reason, I have a suggestion. Can we open a specialized obstetrics and gynecology hospital in our territory? I have done a survey and found that the local rates of difficult labor and infant mortality are very high."
Ruby Eye said, and took out the data report that she had prepared long ago for Dick to review. It listed in detail the number of newborns and the number of survivors in each village in the Laguge territory in the past ten years. It was not difficult to collect this data. All you had to do was go door to door and ask, how many children under ten years old are there in your family? How many died in infancy? Then you could integrate the data.
You wouldn’t know until you see the result: the local infant mortality rate is more than half!
On average, only out of every 1 children survives.
This is still the overall average. The situation of poor families is often even more miserable. Only one out of every four to five children survives to adulthood. Therefore, the poorer the family, the more children they have!
There is no way. The abnormal natural environment of Laguge in the past was too harsh, but even so, the locals could only grit their teeth and continue to live here.
After hearing Ruby Eye's suggestion, Dick hesitated for a moment. He admitted that he had indeed been negligent in his previous supervision. All his energy was focused on military affairs, and he was busy training soldiers and suppressing bandits everywhere.
However, things have their priorities. If the bandit problem is not resolved, there will be no stable social environment, no initial funds to be obtained for free, and no thousands of free laborers, and it will be difficult to carry out other projects.
Now that his chief of staff had mentioned it, Dick immediately said that there would be a maternity and children's hospital and a school would also be built.
Speaking of schools, there are currently only some basic literacy classes for ordinary people in Laguge, and the best teaching staff is in the orphanage run by Dick.
The orphanage run by Dick has adopted more than 600 children, the youngest is less than three years old, and the oldest is no more than 12. Because the boys over 12 years old are already able to work and can start earning money to support themselves.
These children taken in by Dick were subject to quasi-military management in the orphanage, using strict rules and moderate corporal punishment to eliminate the wildness of these orphans.
Dick also discovered some talented kids among these children and divided them into two top classes, magic and martial arts, according to their talent types. Dick would take some time out every week to inspect the orphanage and teach the children in the magic class, cultivating them as high-end talents.
These children who once slept on the streets are now well fed and warmly clothed in the orphanage, and have teachers who teach them how to read and write, practice martial arts, and even learn magic.
Dick is not only their benefactor and their elder brother, but also their idol whom they respect the most!
Referring to the model in the orphanage, Dick next plans to establish a public school for the children of ordinary citizens to implement simplified basic education and vocational and technical training.
As for how to attract children from ordinary families to enroll in school, Dick plans to adopt a two-step approach of coercion and inducement.
On the one hand, legislation stipulated that children aged five must go to school and receive three years of initial (compulsory) education. On the other hand, it stipulated that the selection criteria for grassroots bureaucrats in the Governor's Office must be graduates who have received three years of secondary education.
It is like using "system" to lure people to study!
As for the "advanced education" further up the ladder, it is still to be determined, as the teaching staff Dick currently has is not able to support such a large scale.
In short, just take it step by step. As long as you keep moving forward, the road will extend!
Dick was chatting with Ruby Eye about future schools and school district housing when a strange feeling suddenly came over him, causing Dick to shudder.
Dick immediately realized that this was his sixth sense giving him a warning. The magician's extraordinary mental power would also enhance his perception.
Realizing that someone was secretly watching him, Dick remained unmoved on the surface and pretended to casually raise his hand to fiddle with his right ear.
This action was to warn the female ninjas hiding nearby, and the one on duty as guard today was none other than Hongye, the most experienced of the three ninjas.
After giving the warning, Dick suddenly took Ruby Eyes' hand and walked straight to a newly built shop on the roadside that had no merchants yet moved in, saying that he wanted to go in and take a look at the interior.
Ruby Eyes was stunned for a moment at first, then she quickly realized that Dick was holding her hand and squeezing it a little harder twice, and she immediately realized that something was happening around her.
As soon as the two entered the store, Dick immediately hid sideways in the blind spot by the wall, took out a magic wand from the space bracelet, and then took out two sets of amulets that had been tied up in advance, handed one set to Ruby Eye, and urged her to put it around her neck quickly.
"Be prepared, there might be a fight soon!"
075. Centralized protection
"That little man is the Governor of Laguge."
On a clock tower not far from the New Commercial Street, Hamuradi and Yitzhak were spying on Dick who was patrolling with Ruby Eyes not far away.
The two sides were hundreds of meters apart, and Hamuradi could see clearly with his eyesight alone, but Yitzhak was, after all, a mortal earthling, and one of his eyes had been injured when he was young, so his vision was slightly impaired. Therefore, he brought a monocular telescope, and it was a little difficult for him to see.
Hammuradi had no intention of attacking Dick himself, but after learning that he was the son of the Duke of Best and a half-elf, he brought Isaac over to take a look.
Although Isaac had never seen Dick in person before, as the spy chief under Count Hoffmann, he had sent people to collect a lot of intelligence about Dick some time ago, and had also seen the sketches brought back by his subordinates, so he identified the target from a long distance.
"Sir, do you want to take action?"
"No, just came to take a look."
"Just to take a look?"
Hearing what Hammuradi said, Yitzhak couldn't help but feel a little confused, but he didn't ask any more questions. Hammuradi looked at Dick not far away, and he didn't know what he was thinking.
As they were watching, they saw Dick pulling the "fat girl" into a building facing the street. Before Yitzhak could figure out what was happening, Hamuradi suddenly grabbed Yitzhak by the back of his collar and lifted him up like an 80-kilogram kitten.
"We've been discovered, let's go."
As Hanmuradi spoke, a red light flashed in his eyes, and he took Yizhak and hid in the shadow of the clock tower. Less than three seconds after they disappeared, a light breeze blew towards the clock tower, and then Hongye appeared, looking around vigilantly, looking towards the place where Hanmuradi and Yizhak had stood before, but there was no footprint or other trace there.
So Hongye spit out a leaf from her mouth and blew two short whistles to notify Baiqiangdai, who was ready to throw his lance a few hundred meters away, that he could put his weapon down first.
"Ran?"
"Maybe he's here to investigate."
"That's very interesting. With your skills, Hongye, you were discovered by the other party. It's very likely that the person here is that Hamuradi."
After hearing Hongye's report, Dick immediately guessed that this was just a reconnaissance, and the person who came was the famous Hamuradi.
However, it should not be him who exposed his sight just now. As a Saint-level master and an assassin, he should not make such a low-level mistake, unless he did it on purpose.
Realizing that it was a super big fish, Dick felt both regretful and relieved.
It’s a pity that the other party ran away, but I’m also glad that we didn’t really fight.
Because if a war really breaks out in the city, with Dick's overall combat power, it would not be difficult to forcibly keep Hammuradi. The difficulty lies in how to reduce the damage to the town and reduce casualties.
After returning to the castle, Dick immediately convened a "cabinet" meeting to inform everyone of what happened during the afternoon inspection, and especially reminded a few girls who had no fighting ability and were easy to be targeted.
"It's not just Marikawa Shizuka, Tia, Lily, and Ruby Eyes. You guys are also likely to become targets of the enemy. Even Yoel can't be careless, your magic resistance is too low."
"Master, I have a suggestion." Rita suddenly raised her hand to ask for the floor.
"speak."
"In order to better protect the VIPs, I suggest that during this period, everyone should not sleep in separate rooms, but gather all the important personnel together. How do you think?"
"I agree! Let's choose the location in the young master's bedroom. There is a lot of space and it's no problem to sleep on the floor."
"It's a bit like a pajama party! I agree!"
Without waiting for Dick to say anything, the girls agreed with Rita's suggestion one after another, then stood up and went back to their rooms to get bedding.
Dick was confused, thinking, I am the boss, you requisition my room without asking me if I agree or not? But then he thought, it seems that Rita's suggestion is indeed feasible.
So that night, there were more than a dozen beds on the floor in Dick's room. The girls were wearing pajamas of different styles and were as excited as a group of high school girls who came out on a school trip in a Japanese comic.
To be honest, it's really noisy, but it's also really pleasing to the eye.
Natasha was dragged here by her roommate Shizuka Marikawa. If she was alone, with her personality and thick skin, she would never dare to enter Dick's room in the middle of the night in her pajamas. But if there was a group of people, it would be acceptable.
But after really coming over, Natasha found that she was still careless!
There are about ten people in the team, and there are all kinds of people. Each one of them is more charming than the other in his pajamas, especially those unrestrained older sisters, who even brought some wine.
"With this atmosphere, I'm afraid no one wants to sleep!"
Ruby Eyes and Natasha were both older sisters with stable and serious personalities, so they naturally gathered together and hid in the corner of the room to watch the others making a fuss.
At this time, Dick, who had just finished taking a bath, pushed the door open and came in. The originally noisy room became quiet in an instant. More than a dozen pairs of eyes looked at Dick. The half-elf boy, who had just come out of the bath, had fair and rosy skin. His crystal clear feeling was no less than any other girl present. With his beautiful face, the older sisters present were all moved and wanted to hug this little cutie into their arms and rub him hard.
Dick, who was being stared at by a group of older sisters, felt a sense of crisis like a tiger entering a flock of sheep. He stood at the door and was hesitant to take a step forward.
"Master, it's still quite cold at night, please don't stand at the door."
Befa's gentle voice came from behind Dick, and two soft and elastic giants pressed directly against the back of his head. Dick's body was immediately pushed forward by a gentle force, followed by the sound of the door closing and locking.
I don't know why, but Dick suddenly felt a little panicked.
076. Ladies' Night
Dick was pushed by Befa to the center of the room, and the girls slowly came up and formed a circle around him.
This scene reminded Dick of his past life, when he visited a zoo and watched a keeper feeding crocodiles in the reptile house. To increase the viewing experience, the keeper hung a live rooster upside down in the middle of the crocodile pool, and the crocodiles swam around in a circle, and then the poor little rooster was eaten clean in a physical sense.
At this moment, Dick felt like the chicken that was about to be eaten.
At this moment, Dick suddenly remembered that Rita had specifically asked him to do so, saying that everyone wanted to have a "Ladies' Night" in the evening and asked if he could prepare some snacks and drinks to bring into the room.
Dick didn't doubt it at the time and agreed without thinking.
Finally, he understood it now.
So I am a "snack"! Are you polite?
Dick considered himself not the kind of vegetarian noob who was afraid to eat meat even when it was in front of him, but as the old saying goes, everything should be done in moderation. He really liked to play, and it was not bad to be played with occasionally, but the situation before him made him feel vaguely that he was going to be severely "abused".
So Dick coughed lightly to hide his inner timidity and pretended to be calm.
"Well... this is an extraordinary period, everyone please be patient and go to bed early."
"Master, with so many beauties in front of you, can you really resist going to sleep?"
Among the crowd, the persistent female supremacist, the uncensored riding king, Hei Qiangdai, was teasing Dick with a smirk on his face. She was wearing an almost transparent open-chested nightgown, paired with black silk long gloves and garter stockings. When she spoke, she deliberately leaned forward and squeezed inward with her arms, presenting Dick with a deep valley that could arouse a man's strong desire to explore.
This bad woman is obviously a guard, but she came here in this "night combat outfit" openly, which shows that she is here to "murder" her own master!
