Chapter 35: The City Lord's Arrangements
Page 1 of 3 — The Wheel of Heroes
By the time Aisha returned from the witch’s hut, Li Mingxing’s work on the city had already entered its fourth day. His fierce demon slaves had cleared roughly five hundred mu of land nearby, and both the city hall and the marketplace had been completed.
The harpies had also settled in. Li Mingxing had completely shrouded the forest within his city in darkness, and he was currently laying down an Yin Talisman Formation there—a formation he had only recently learned and was still far from mastering.
The moment she saw Li Mingxing, Aisha reported all the information she had gathered over the past few days. She also told him that the witch was quite displeased that he had taken so long to complete the task she had assigned him.
Li Mingxing paid no attention to the witch’s dissatisfaction. What concerned him was how the witch viewed this newly established city of his.
Judging from what Aisha had learned, however, the night elf witch did not care whether Li Mingxing had truly built a city. What mattered to her was how much of Dragon City’s plans he could disrupt and how great a loss he could inflict upon it.
After hearing Aisha’s report, Li Mingxing turned his gaze toward the construction site nearby. Only after a long silence did he say, “Abandon the plan to form an alliance with the night elves. At certain points in the future, they will become our enemies.”
“Why? They seem quite friendly at present.”
“Their friendliness is based solely on our ability to help them deal with Dragon City. If our strength surpasses theirs, they will move against us at the first opportunity.” Li Mingxing spoke with absolute certainty. “We have only one year. If we cannot establish a powerful force within that time, we will have no choice but to abandon this inner world.”
“What should we do, then?” Aisha grew somewhat tense after hearing this.
“What is there to worry about? At worst, we will stake everything on one attempt. I have already contacted some people. This city of ours will bear not only the name of the elves, but also that of the dark elves.” Li Mingxing’s voice was harsh.
Aisha naturally knew that Li Mingxing had several dark elves under his command, but their numbers were far too small.
As she was thinking about this, Li Mingxing’s first follower, Yin Haitao, approached. Behind him were five elite dark elf thieves, along with the three Blood Knights.
As soon as he reached Li Mingxing’s side, Yin Haitao said, “My lord, you should have called me here sooner. If I had been present, your losses would not have been so great.”
“Spare me that. What happened to the dark elf troops I told you to buy? Did you fail to bring back even one?” Li Mingxing glanced at him.
“There was nothing I could do. Although the dark elves are considered a major race, they are still an insignificant minor race within the Dark Alliance. I asked many apprentice heroes, but either they had no such troops or they were unwilling to sell them to us. What could we do?”
“Forget it. I never intended to use an army composed entirely of dark elves. Such troops are suited only for fighting underground. In a forest, they would merely become playthings for the elves. I intend to bring several nearby races under our control. You will serve as city lord here for the time being—two years should be enough. That should not be difficult for you.”
“But my lord, I am currently managing your intelligence network. Spending a day or two here would be no problem, but one or two years…”
“That is my order. If you do not wish to do it, I can appoint someone else.” Li Mingxing fixed Yin Haitao with a cold stare.
After becoming an apprentice hero, Li Mingxing had earnestly studied the ways of emperors. He understood that before his subordinates, he could never relax even for a moment. If any subordinate showed signs of disobedience, he had to suppress it forcefully. Excessive leniency would only make them believe that he was weak and easy to bully. Only by combining favor with authority could one truly control those beneath him.
Sure enough, after hearing Li Mingxing’s words, Yin Haitao’s expression changed. He was no longer quite so arrogant, no longer convinced that controlling Li Mingxing’s sources of information meant he could control Li Mingxing’s actions.
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Although the change in Yin Haitao was slight, Li Mingxing noticed it. Satisfied, he said, “Very well. It is settled for now. Guard this place for two years. First, make a trip to the Crystal City. Take the gemstones with you and tell the Sword Saint that I have finished building the city. As for what you trade the gemstones for, use your own judgment.”
Yin Haitao said nothing. He simply withdrew and began organizing the goods and personnel needed for the journey to the Crystal City.
As he left, Aisha smiled from the side. “It seems he has been quite formidable in the real world lately.”
“I hope so. But what he said was not wrong. We have spent too long in this inner world. If we delay any longer, the advantage I originally possessed will disappear. We must complete this mission as quickly as possible and return to the real world. At the very least, we need to begin the next mission.”
“What will happen to things here?”
“Let Yin Haitao handle them. Next time, I will choose a mission involving something like a Dark Magic Diamond so that I can increase the number of my followers. I am beginning to feel that we do not have enough manpower.” Li Mingxing spoke casually of his plans.
Aisha did not notice that while he was saying this, Li Mingxing’s eyes remained fixed on her.
“Yes, my lord. You should recruit more followers. In every story, a hero has people beside him to fight his battles, offer him advice, manage his finances, and run his errands.
“But you have only one person helping you manage money, and none of us are particularly good fighters. So you still have to work harder.”
At this, Li Mingxing understood that Aisha’s state of mind was entirely different from Yin Haitao’s. After undergoing a certain kind of training, and after Li Mingxing had saved her twice, she had come to regard him completely as her master. In that respect, she was like Mida Ling—someone he could trust.
Li Mingxing turned to her and said, “If I left you here to manage this city, what would you do?”
“Have you not already chosen Yin Haitao?” Aisha asked in surprise.
“I am only asking what you would do.”
“If it were me, I would choose to stay. I would also work hard to find a way to improve my strength within this inner world.” Aisha thought for a moment before answering.
Li Mingxing immediately understood why she thought that way. She had come from Russia, where the Western way of thinking prevailed—a philosophy centered on the law of the jungle. In her mind, aside from obeying Li Mingxing unconditionally, the only thing that mattered was constantly increasing her own strength.
To her, strength was the most important thing. With sufficient power, she would have a place at Li Mingxing’s side and would not need to remain constantly at his heels like the others.
Li Mingxing was quite satisfied with this attitude. He waved a hand and sent Aisha off to attend to her duties.
Just then, one of the harpy witches under his command flew over. After reaching Li Mingxing, she hesitated for a moment but said nothing.
Li Mingxing was displeased by her attitude, and his tone grew heavier. “If you have something to say, say it. I do not have that much time to waste here with you.”
“My lord, it is like this: we would like to take a group of people out for a while.”
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“Only for a stroll?” Li Mingxing looked at the harpy witch.
“No.” The harpy witch seemed to have made up her mind. She took a deep breath and said, “We want to retrieve some eggs.”
“Did you not already bring back all the eggs you had hidden?” Hearing this request, Li Mingxing asked another question out of curiosity.
The harpy witch hesitated before answering, “Those are not the eggs of harpies. They belong to a race that once lived alongside us. Their entire race was wiped out, and only we know where their eggs are hidden.”
“What race? Can they fly like you?”
The harpy witch thought for a moment before finally replying, “Yes. You could say that we are distant relatives. We were transformed from eagles, while they were more fortunate and were transformed from swans.”
“Swanfolk?”
“No. They considered themselves exceptionally noble, so they called themselves the Red-Crests.” The harpy witch spoke with evident disdain.
From those words, Li Mingxing could tell that the relationship between the two races had not been particularly close. “Then why do you want to help them? You have only just secured your position in my city. This is hardly the time to help others.”
“That is because we are desperately short of manpower, while the Red-Crests happen to be the best candidates for priests. As long as you give them a god—even an evil one—they can draw all kinds of divine spells from it and put them to use.”
“Oh? Are they truly that powerful?” Li Mingxing was somewhat surprised.
“They are. I once heard their matriarch say that they have no other particular talents, but each of them generates seven to ten times as much faith as other people. The purest maidens among them can even generate a hundred times as much faith for a single god.”
“Faith? What is that?”
“I am not entirely sure. It is simply something the gods seem to like very much.”
“If they had such powerful backing, why were they exterminated?”
“My lord, that is not quite correct. Their entire race was not exterminated—only the branch of them living in this world was destroyed. The main reason was that they refused to join either of the two elven cities. Now that they are gone, we can retrieve their eggs. That would give you the opportunity to gain another force of followers.”
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