Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 721: Chapter 520: The Expansion of Agleya Town

Many things about Hill’s Domain actually spread quite quickly, after all, it’s a rather distinctive place.

Especially since Agleya Town had been recognized by Toril, many merchants had already started cozying up to Lynn and Terry in the tavern.

From the Temple of Tyr to the Temple of Agleya, then to the Harpist’s building and the marshland between them and the sea had all become silvery-white beaches.

Viewed from the main road, it was truly beautiful.

What passersby regretted was that, apart from the internal staff of the three buildings and the family members and followers of the Silver Shield, no one else was permitted entry.

However, merchants didn’t see it that way. Turning such a beach into a harbour would be a hassle, the only solution being for the lord himself to make the alterations.

The beach was clearly formed under the auspice of Agleya, from the start, there was no intention of making it into a harbour.

But for the merchants, using such a prime location solely for scenery, they figured the lord of Agleya Town and the backing Main God must be somewhat mad.

They tried to influence Hill and Agleya through Terry and Lynn.

But Lynn was a romantic Half-Elf to begin with, and he favored that beach, insisting on walking on the sands under the moonlight each day.

And Terry, who the merchants particularly paid attention to, cared only about the money he could get in his own hands; even if Hill built a port, it wouldn’t mean sharing profits with him.

He would still have to work as a bartender. The tavern had plenty of customers now, and Terry was quite content.

A Golden Dragon wouldn’t strive for another’s treasury, not even for that of a Good Friend.

With that time, he might as well try to get some words out of his own father’s mouth.

All who were interested in Agleya Town knew that whether it was Tyr’s Paladins or the Harpists, they all lived quite at ease within Hill’s Domain.

At the very least, they had a certain degree of autonomy.

The Mage Lord of this place had no intention of restricting divine authority, nor did he plan to silence the forever loquacious Bards.

Whether it was Terry’s original intention to learn bartending or the Mage Lord’s appearance, in fact, they all spread throughout the whole Ferun Great Land through their unbridled songs.

If there were any ulterior motives, such people definitely wouldn’t dare to settle in a place where no secrets could be hidden.

After all, those Bards had never entered the ’Silver Shield’ residence, yet they still composed the passions of lovers into melodies.

Even when doused with bathwater, they didn’t change their tune, but rather added it to their own lyrics.

The only places in this town that could keep a secret were two, the Floating Castle in the sky and the Golden Dragon’s lair on the peak of the Sword Mountain Range.

Not even the Dragon People’s settlement was safe; their embarrassing plight at the livestock base couldn’t stay secret for a day before it got turned into a song.

Recently, the Bards have taken a liking to the tavern’s stage, particularly enjoying singing about Terry’s gold coin song in front of him—turning Terry’s expensive bartending fees into lyrics, and as Terry learned one, they added one more to the price.

It was odd that such a loosely managed place was right next to a Paladin renowned as ’Silver Shield.’

People of Ferun Great Land knew well that a Paladin Legion with such a title would mean its commander was at least of Demi-god Rank above level 29.

Even though that commander stayed mostly within the temple of Tyr, seldom venturing out, his mere presence meant sufficient deterrence.

In many people’s eyes, Agleya Town was really a place where secrets could be uncovered and judgments rendered all within a day.

Yet that Mage Lord was respected even by such a Paladin Legion; Black Staff Kelben of over 30 levels only dared to play tricks with him, not to directly confront him.

In these rumors, Hill’s Level kept skyrocketing, to the point that even he himself would be startled upon hearing it.

It was for this reason that the people who still wished to settle here were very sincere, simply desiring peace.

After some consideration, Hill agreed straightforwardly.

But there was one requirement: all who wanted to settle in the domain had to be tested for their alignment at the Agleya Temple, as Agleya Town was the terrestrial sanctuary of the Sea God Agleya, only welcoming those of a Kind Alignment.

Even with such a requirement, in the end, several hundred families came, and Hill was surprised to find that some even came from countries near the wilderness.

The fact that these Professionals could travel long distances with their families to Hill’s place in just half a month indicated their levels weren’t low.

It seemed they were genuinely worried that Mistral might bring about a terrible war.

People of Ferun Great Land were very sensitive to such matters, ready to leave at a moment’s notice, without reluctance.

Hill had no choice but to move back the large forest behind the family area.

He left several rows of large trees as a division wall to demarcate the area, and even though these people were willing to live near Tyr’s Holy Knights, being in the same community still deterred many.

Of course, if it was the only way to gain entrance to a safe place, many could tolerate it.

But since he had agreed to let them in, Hill wouldn’t make it tough for them; he didn’t have such a malicious sense of humor.

He relocated the flowers, plants, and trees back to the sides of the Forest Array, particularly the fruit trees which were moved mostly to the inner side.

Although he did not permit farming, Hill never refused residents who wanted to go to the forest to gather.

After that, there was still a portion of open land remaining. Hill cleared out the area, planting some annual shrubs and forage in the meantime.

He calculated that even if several thousand more settlers came, there would be enough space for them.

So, in the relatively large area beneath his floating castle, apart from adding some more shops, the rest will definitely be reserved for the Undead Tribe.

During this time, Hill had better research the spatial magic of the Toril World.

Hill would absolutely not waste the space crystals he held!

Unless William, who had already returned to Teraxil, would bring some more over.

Hill tried using the space crystal dust as spellcasting materials, casting some dimensional space spells. They not only formed instantly but the space inside was immensely large.

It’s best not if the God of Time and Space let the Undead Tribe bring these things to Ferun; it would spell disaster.

The Toril gemstones with similar functions come with a hefty price tag.

And in Toril, a single gold coin could fuel a murder case.

Thinking about it, Hill could nearly feel the blood and violence in the air.

These later settlers could not possibly receive the same treatment as those from the Silver Shield, and Hill didn’t have that much spare time.

Hill had built a large number of two-story standard buildings, all simple white stone houses.

Although they didn’t have as much floor space as the one-and-a-half-story courtyards in front, they also had three bedrooms of varying sizes, plus a living room, a kitchen, and two washrooms on different floors, which were completely adequate for a small family.

If it were a large family, Hill didn’t restrict the number of units they rented; they were free to rent multiple adjacent ones.

Hill simply asked Marsha to pay more attention to management center affairs, to prevent any trouble over fighting for houses.

Of course, he didn’t do any decoration for them, not even beds. The only décor was in the kitchen and washroom.

Besides the water pipes, Hill had connected each household to a heating array, so he had to make sure the stove was properly installed.

In his domain, it was out of the question for these residents to cut wood for heating, not to mention for daily cooking.

Hill even constructed a four-story apartment building at the end of the residential area, meant for those who could only afford to rent a single room.

Hill didn’t have any intention of segregating these people by their financial status, as the disparity in strength made him indifferent to the possibility of them banding together, but they ended up separating themselves.

The Half-Elves lived in the middle, a few scattered Elves settled at the very end near the Forest Array, and besides them, no one else was buying houses there.

Humans naturally took up residence near the Paladin’s family area.

In the vast neighborhood, the houses between these three sections were left empty.

When Hill noticed this, he simply situated the community exits at those three gaps and had them guarded by Puppets. Anyone without a key could only wait for someone with one to gain entrance.

The keys were bound to each resident and would dissolve naturally after 3 days away from their original owner, returning to the box they were formed from.

People had to register and pay a fee of one silver coin for replacements; with the rent being only six gold coins a year, most residents treasured their keys.

However, with more people came more issues.

Apart from a few who hunted for a living, most of the residents were artisans selling handmade crafts. Hill had set aside a shop for their goods, but even Marsha could not decide the pricing for these items and often had to consult him.

Every day Hill found himself sighing at the tasks at hand.

After Lynn noticed Hill becoming increasingly overwhelmed, he quickly made a resolution.

The Sheriff returned to Quelva once and simply resigned. He gave up the management of the Miliel Temple, even selling his beloved tavern.

Bringing all his belongings, he came to serve as Hill’s Mayor.

Pleased with this, Hill opened up another spacious street behind the row of shops on his side.

The three-story villa in the middle with a large garden was the Mayor’s home, filled with flowers and trees that the Gold Elves would surely love.

Even the villa’s interior was arranged tastefully by Hill, catering to Lynn’s slightly romantic personality.

Lynn’s minor gloom over leaving his life’s work behind finally vanished completely.

After all, he didn’t betray Hill’s initial intentions of taking on these troubles.

Whenever Hill tried to recall the terrible events caused by the fall of Mystra, he thought of two contrasting maps. In the reformation of the Ferun Great Land, many places to the east, west, south, and north had changed drastically.

Although many lands belonging to powerful beings over level 30 were preserved, they all had their ways of negating the instability brought by the spatial exchange.

However, many small towns and cities without such powerful residents seemed to have been flung to the far reaches of the world.

Even several federal states simply crumbled away.

Lynn’s Quelva probably couldn’t escape such a fate; having many temples was meaningless. The deities of Toril, at that time, could only protect themselves first.