In the Chaotic Lands, within Bella's territory.
"Judging by the time, Ayesha should be arriving at Sedona City soon." Bella looked in the direction of the Forbidden Mountains, a trace of worry in her eyes.
Beside Bella, the dog beastkin He'an spoke up, "My Lady, with Miss Ayesha's strength, there won't be any problems. Moreover, Obi and Nancy are with her."
"Ayesha has plenty of strength, but she lacks a bit of brains. However, with Nancy around, I suppose there's no need to worry too much." Bella shook her head, placing the two wooden swords in her hands back onto the nearby rack.
"My Lady, now that the number of beastkin in our territory has decreased significantly, shouldn't we consider expanding our territory?" The dog beastkin He'an's eyes flickered.
"There's no rush for that. We'll talk about it after Obi returns." Bella narrowed her eyes. It was time to prepare for territorial expansion, but it would be safer to wait until Obi got back.
Obi's trip to Sedona City this time wasn't just a simple escort mission. His primary objective was to purchase food and military equipment.
That's right, Bella had her eyes on the weapons and armor under Lucas's control.
He'an nodded and asked in a low voice, "I just don't know if Lucas is willing to sell weapons and armor to us."
"That will depend on Ayesha's capability," Bella said coldly. Before Ayesha left, she had vaguely mentioned the state of their territory and how they were in desperate need of weapons.
Currently, the weapons used by the vast majority of beastkin in the territory were nothing more than wooden clubs. They barely had any iron weapons, let alone armor, which was incredibly rare.
This time, Ayesha had returned and left with thirteen thousand beastkin, along with a massive amount of saltpeter. As long as they sold the saltpeter to Lucas, they could exchange it for wheat and some weapons.
If they could secure Lucas's weapon support, then expanding their territory would become much easier. After all, having only manpower without weapons made it extremely difficult to snatch territory from the hands of those nobles.
"How is saltpeter mining progressing?" Bella looked at He'an. After Nancy left, many matters had essentially been handed over to this dog beastkin to manage.
"We've already stockpiled several warehouses full. I'm arranging for manpower to transport it to Sedona City in batches," He'an said solemnly.
Bella said flatly, "Keep the men mining. Nancy said that they will buy as much saltpeter as we have."
"Yes." He'an nodded and then withdrew. He needed to go check on the saltpeter mining site.
Some things still required his personal supervision. If anyone was slacking off, they couldn't blame him for being ruthless.
The territory wasn't raising freeloaders right now. If you wanted to eat, you had to work, and mining saltpeter was currently the only option.
Tramp, tramp, tramp...
Twenty-five kilometers away from Sedona City, the beastkin immigrant caravan led by Nancy, Obi, and Ayesha was currently marching toward the city.
"We're almost at Sedona City," Nancy said with a sigh of relief.
After all, they had been away from their territory for a long time. Even though the massive increase in numbers this time had delayed them by a day or two, calculating based on their previous travel time, they should be arriving right about now.
"At our current marching speed, it'll take about another hour." Ayesha was eating a lollipop she held in her hand. Right now, she wished she could just sprint all the way to Sedona City.
"As long as everyone arrives safely, that's what matters." Nancy was also feeling a bit excited now. After all, they were almost at Sedona City. Being responsible for the safety of so many beastkin inevitably brought a lot of pressure.
"I wonder if my master has missed me." Ayesha's eyes darted around, her face turning slightly red.
"Ayesha really has fallen for Lucas, hasn't she?" Nancy muttered under her breath. Seeing Ayesha's lovesick expression, the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
"Looks like it..." Obi shook his head helplessly. A beastkin falling in love with a human—was this a good thing or a bad thing?
"Lady Ayesha, will Sedona City really take us in?"
"Yeah. I heard humans are all wicked and will capture us to be slaves. Is this so-called Sedona City really that great?"
"Lady Ayesha, don't let yourself be fooled."
"Exactly! Don't get us all killed."
"In Lady Bella's territory, we at least had a bite to eat. Why did we have to leave?"
"..."
Listening to the chatter of the beastkin around her, Ayesha was instantly enraged. How dare anyone doubt the master's good intentions!
Crunch!!
Ayesha bit down hard, shattering the lollipop in her mouth, and shouted angrily, "If you don't believe me, you can all leave right now!"
She had already been annoyed with these people. Back in her sister's territory, they did absolutely nothing all day except hold out their hands for food, and then they had the nerve to badmouth her behind her back.
"The City Lord of Sedona City has stated that as long as you are willing to work, having enough to eat will not be a problem. You will also be paid a minimum monthly salary of sixty copper coins." Seeing Ayesha lose her temper, Nancy immediately spoke up to silence the shouting beastkin.
"Furthermore, Sedona City is a miraculous place. There, beastkin and humans are equal. No one will capture you to make you slaves," Nancy continued.
"You'll see for yourselves once we arrive at Sedona City. For now, quiet down and focus on marching," Obi barked in a deep voice, brandishing the spear in his hand to intimidate the restless beastkin. If they hadn't been dragging this massive crowd along, they would have probably reached Sedona City ages ago.
"..." None of the beastkin dared to question them loudly anymore, though they continued to mutter quietly amongst themselves. Having traveled all this way, they were already thoroughly exhausted.
Tramp, tramp, tramp...
Time slowly ticked by. Soon, the checkpoint for Sedona City appeared in everyone's line of sight.
"Phew..." Ayesha instantly breathed a sigh of relief and said with a touch of excitement, "We're finally here."
Nancy and Obi also breathed sighs of relief. Seeing the checkpoint proved that Sedona City truly wasn't far away. It also meant they could finally relax and stop keeping their nerves on a razor's edge, constantly worrying about potential dangers.
"Lady Ayesha has returned! Quick, go report to Lord Lucas!" One of the soldiers stationed at the checkpoint yelled upon spotting Ayesha.
Quickly, a carrier pigeon was released into the air, flying straight toward the castle in Sedona City.
Because they knew a massive number of beastkin would be arriving this time, preparations to receive them had been made well in advance. Many soldiers were stationed along the checkpoint to prevent the beastkin from stampeding through the gates.
Step, step...
After passing through the checkpoint, the crowd laid eyes on the crop fields.
"Whoa! There's so much food here! Let's go snatch it! That way we won't have to go hungry anymore!"
"There really is so much! Look over there, there's wheat! Good heavens, such a massive field of it!"
The eyes of many starving beastkin filled entirely with greed. Some even tried to make a run for the crops, only calming down after Ayesha bluntly knocked a few of them unconscious with her Overlord Spear, coupled with the harsh reprimands of the soldiers.
"All of you, behave yourselves!" Ayesha shouted loudly, feeling a headache coming on. If any of the beastkin had actually managed to steal those crops just now, she would have been too ashamed to bring this group into Sedona City.
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