While Kayal returned to Red Leaf Ridge and busily began to establish the academy that had been delayed for so long, Artoria watched as groups of captives were escorted by knights to Black City, and then from Black City to Bradford.
Because the order was to directly acquire the Scottish population, the knights executed it very diligently.
Scotland is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea on one side; if roads weren't built, it would be impossible to enter, and building roads required free labor and funds.
Kayal, who only intended to use Scotland as a grain reserve base, had no great plans to develop Scotland itself.
He only intended to turn Scotland's fertile fields into planting bases and had no great desire to develop the local Scottish economy.
Therefore, his main goal was to relocate the Scottish population to enrich Camelot's population, and then, after annexing the Scottish population, develop Scotland's cultivated land.
Since Scotland is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the only side faces cliffs by the sea, Kayal was not worried about anyone appearing in Scotland.
After Kayal had prepared everything, he returned to Bradford in a hurry, this time to accompany Wise Wolf Holo, whom he had left in Bradford for a long time, to inspect the soil and land quality of Scotland.
Holo, originally from the far north (Kayal guessed it was likely Russia), was not afraid of such freezing weather.
Her long fur could shield her from wind, snow, and cold, and her large body was not afraid of strong winds and gales.
Holo, completely transformed into a wolf, was even a head taller than Kayal riding a Unicorn, her pair of large eyes carefully scrutinizing Kayal's face.
She was satisfied to see no fear on his face, as if Kayal had shown no fear the first time they met?
Despite her satisfaction, Holo still couldn't help but ask, full of curiosity, "Hmm, why aren't you afraid of me?"
Kayal chuckled, but it was the Unicorn he sat upon that glanced over disdainfully and snorted, making Holo bare her fangs and claws: "Wah-yah-yah-yah! How dare a mere horse mock this Wise Wolf! I'll eat you!!"
"…" The Unicorn elegantly trotted, as if disdaining to argue with Holo, who was looking at him like a clown, completely deflated.
"Good girl~" Kayal chuckled, stroking Holo's lowered head; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to reach her.
"Speaking of which, Kayal." The Unicorn and Holo galloped across the snowfield at a trot, and Holo's words made Kayal turn his head.
Kayal wore a thick white velvet suit and gloves made of snow fox fur, while the velvet cloak behind him was made from the fur of a white bear (polar bear).
White bears often cross the Arctic to hunt and sometimes reach the British Isles.
Hunting a white bear is extremely difficult (it is said to be the most ferocious bear species in the world) and the cost is immense.
Just by looking at his clothes, one could understand Kayal's status.
The Unicorn, however, felt no cold at all; he was naturally strong-boned and also served as Kayal's magic filter.
Through their cooperation, Kayal's magic often achieved two to three times its normal power, so when Kayal and the Unicorn were together, they would mostly achieve a magical cycle through shared magic.
After more than ten years of this, not to mention their cooperation, the magic within the Unicorn's body alone could replace two Kayals (after all, his bones, muscles, and flesh were much stronger than Kayal's, allowing him to store much more magic).
Having been constantly bathed in magic for so many years, his body was probably a fiery hot core, right?
Even running on this cold wasteland, he probably wouldn't feel it.
The British Isles are already close to the Arctic, with a latitude roughly on par with the Alps, making them inherently very cold; going towards Scotland makes it even colder, especially now in winter.
It's like the distance from Beijing to Heilongjiang… Fortunately, they weren't going to live here.
Here, it was covered in white snow and dense forests, including dangerous magical beasts and wild animals that would prey on humans when food was scarce.
There were no other problems—it was just that there were too many mountains near Scotland!
Many mountains meant many magical beasts, and many magical beasts meant many wild animals, creating a developed ecosystem.
As the lowest rung, humans, if not organized into armies, simply had no way to cause any harm to the magical beasts that descended from the mountains to prey.
It was winter now, and apart from the fat brown bears that had gone into hibernation, the other animals were all hungry.
Although the large number of fresh meat on the Sunset Plains could feed animals within a radius of more than ten kilometers, the entirety of Scotland was simply too vast!
Animals constantly descended from the mountains to prey on the slaves in order to survive the winter.
Even with knights constantly on alert, this phenomenon could not be prevented, and eventually, everyone numbly watched as a slave was bitten by three wolves and dragged into a nearby bush.
Eerie sounds continuously echoed, and all the Scottish people, their hands and feet numb with cold, could only think: As long as others fill the bellies of the wild beasts, we will survive, right?
Only by reaching the next town as quickly as possible, where more than a dozen makeshift shelters distributing clear soup and black bread were set up outside, could they guarantee their survival.
After the proof provided by the one hundred thousand Gaul slaves, these unpaid slaves were used for all manual labor and dangerous tasks.
Except for agriculture, textile, manufacturing, and processing industries, which they were not qualified to touch, they handled road construction, land reclamation (i.e., cutting trees to create fields), road excavation, stone crushing, firewood chopping, and so on.
With this labor force, they provided the necessary conditions for the people of Camelot to focus on farming.
Just like Kayal's decree on the national economic crisis, it clearly stated that the country did not have much money to improve everyone's lives, so everyone needed to strive for themselves.
This open and enlightened policy made many people very understanding of the country.
These shelters that appeared along the roads and towns, offering a guarantee of more survival for the slaves, were spontaneously organized by Camelot's wealthy population.
Under the guidance of merchant guilds and agricultural cooperatives, they gradually developed their thinking, based on the idea that "if one of them dies, we will have to put in an extra unit of labor."
They began to provide slaves with clear soup and black bread.
Although the so-called soup was nothing more than something brewed after adding a large handful of greens and a large bone, for slaves who hadn't eaten anything all day, it was, without a doubt, a lifesaver.
However, according to Artoria's orders, not only were the slaves heading towards the Royal City, but many young and strong Camelot citizens were also heading towards the Royal City…