Chapter 125 - Great Changes
Year 524 HR, first day of the third month, the Crawford Kingdom welcomed its busiest period in four centuries.
Many changes and activities were being carried out in the Capital, while supplies and raw building materials were being purchased from the surrounding cities and transported back to the Capital via steam powered trucks and vehicles.
The iron tower workshop of the Lancaster family was especially the busiest of all places. After the Lancaster family recovered the core components from the airship wreckage, the blacksmith was working overtime to produce a new body for the airship.
In addition to the production of the airship, they were required to produce mining tools and a variety of miscellaneous metal components for bridges and buildings, en masse and in large scale. There wasn't a single idle person in the workshop.
Furthermore, if the mining workforce manage to discover more levitation stones in the first underground floor, the production of additional airships would take priority and their workload would only increase as a result. The chances of it happening was quite high as the underground world was like a limitless treasure trove waiting to be explored.
The fifty senior blacksmiths, one hundred junior blacksmiths and apprentices weren't nearly enough to handle the workload. With the sky-high demand of items to be produced, it would take them dozens of years to complete.
In order to increase the work efficiency, the Duke seriously considered expansion of his workshop and workforce. As such, the Lancaster family began accepting commoners indiscriminately for apprenticeship and full-fledge blacksmith training.
However, blacksmithing wasn't a profession that could be easily mastered in a single night; thus, no immediate benefits could be seen from the large recruitment process and could only be seen with time.
The number of entry-level blacksmiths was expected to reach a thousand in one year and further expand to three thousand in the following year. The Lancaster family weren't going to hold back in sharing their blacksmithing knowledge.
It was due to the conservative nature of humans that hold them back from advancing forward. Since the Queen was willing to share cultivation techniques, the Lancaster family wasn't going shy away and share their blacksmithing knowledge.
The Queen had approved for the further expansion and opening of new workshops in the Upper North District, with the intention of transforming the Upper North District into a Heavy Industry District.
The nature of this great undertaking ensured that an astronomical amount of metal was required, but this was no problem with the newly accessible underground floor that contained rare resources and rich mineral deposits. It was also much easier to collect than the nearly depleted mines near the western mountains.
As such, the Queen had lifted the restriction on metal and the sky-high value of metal on the market was expected plummeted drastically in the foreseeable future.
Some nobles thought there was going to be a great business opportunity and began stocking up their wealth in preparation of a frenzy purchase when the low-price metal lands on the market.
However, these nobles were bound to weep at the loss, when they exchange all their wealth for metal and wait for an inflation that will never come. The value of metal would only continue to drop and not increase.
The kingdom was finally putting their steam powered technology to full use and bringing forth an age of industrial revolution.
After the Queen finished her arrangements for the Capital, she began to consider the expansion of the Shadow Guards across the kingdom and neighbouring kingdoms to establish an intelligence network.
The Crawford Kingdom had fallen behind the times and their understanding of their surroundings and neighboring kingdoms were too limited or rather nonexistent. It was uncertain whether the retainers of the royal family placed in charged of the surrounding cities were even still loyal to the crown. They had been out of contact for too long.
Fortunately, many people and merchants frequent between cities and kingdoms, thus it wouldn't be too hard to draw up a general overview of the situation after sending out the Shadow Guards to gather the related information.
However, the expansion of the Shadow Guards was currently just an idea without a clear framework. It would require further thoughts and refinement before the intelligence network could be establish and operate smoothly.
The Queen realized there were many problems; big and small within the kingdom. There many things that needed that a ruler needed to do, but she had shelved everything aside until now. She may have been a good wife, but she was not a good queen. Luckily, it was not too late to change that as the kingdom had not been brought to a point of no return.
Seeing how busy his mother was, Leon had to push back the meeting to a later date, however, Aria and her family shouldn't be staying in the temporary camp. He plans to fetch them and settle them in the guest courtyard of the Outer Palace, where the others had stayed.
Currently, the Lancaster family of three were all out, while only the Greene family were staying at the guest courtyard. Leon knitted his brows, when he realized his Mia and his adopted parents were missing.
Where did they go? Did they went out for a stroll after being cooped up in the guest courtyard for too long?
Leon did not think into the matter too deeply. Nothing could happen to them in the safety of the palace and his mother had not expressed any hostilities against them. He left the palace grounds and stopped by at the gang's headquarters in the Lower West District first.
Leon smiled wryly at the sight. It seemed that nothing was spared from Crazy Don's flames when he went to clean up all the spider carcasses and noxious fumes in the Lower Districts. Everything was reduced to ashes.
"Boss."
Doug and the gang members greeted when Leon arrived on site. The wealth of the Four Great Family was placed to one side, while the gang members were clearing out the ashes and dusts from the area. Leon didn't stay for long. After handing over a blueprint he drew up to Doug, he left.
"What did the Boss hand us, Doug?"
The core members circled around Doug and asked with curiosity. After opening up the blueprint, an exquisite building design was laid before them.
"This… is incredible! Such fine details and design! It seems the boss wish our new headquarters to be built in accordance to this blueprint." Doug concluded, while holding the blueprint in his hands.
"I didn't realize the boss had such talents for architecture." A member mumbled.
"Nonsense. The boss is almighty and all-knowing." A fervent core member said with worshipping eyes.
The blueprint was based on one of the buildings Leon had committed to memory from his past life in the Divine Realm, albeit with some slight modifications to suit the operation of the gang as he had envisioned.
Not only was it going to be the new headquarters for the Golden Lion Gang, it was also the main building of business operations. He was intending to complete the transition the Golden Lion Gang from an underworld gang to a legitimate guild, the Golden Lion Guild in one move.
Its operations would be like that of an adventurer's guild. Clients could post tasks on the mission board, and the guild members would have the choice of accepting the tasks to their liking and capability.
New members could register at the reception and undergo a test before becoming one of them. the guild would not just accept any body. They had to at least ensure there was no problem with their characters.
Leon could no longer wait for the Merchant Association to complete the task his mother had sent them. It had been many weeks and there had not been a single news of progress into the finding of the herb to cure his father. Rather than paying others to do the task, why not pay his own people? Surely it was the better choice of the two.
If someone from the Divine Realm had seen Leon's blueprint, they would had spat out the tea in their mouth because of the glaring similarity to that of a brothel.
…
Inside of the Solaris family, Marquis Wyatt stood at the bedside of his son with a dark expression. His son was asleep on the bed, while wrapped in heavy bandages. A servant was seen shaking nervously behind Marquis Wyatt. He was the one in charge of looking after the house, while the others had gone out to defend during the crawler attack.
"Didn't I tell him to stay home during the chaos? How did he end up in this state?" Marquis Wyatt said calmly, but anyone could tell that he was burning with rage inside.
"T-The y-young master was beaten u-up outside. This lowly servant d-does n-not know the d-details, but young master Carson s-should know." The servant stuttered nervously, while sweating profusely. He would wipe his dripping sweat every time he stutters.
"Carson? That kid from the Laguna family?" Marquis Wyatt frowned, before ordering, "Send someone to fetch that kid for me!"
"Y-Yes, my lord!" The servant complied, with a sigh of relief. It seems the lord wasn't going to pursue his responsibility.
Marquis Wyatt was not an unreasonable man. He knew that if his son wanted to leave the house, the servant would not be able to stop him.
Sometime later, a servant brought Carson of the Laguna family over. Carson was similarly wrapped in bandages, but his injuries was not severely enough to leave him bedridden.
"I heard you were looking for me, Marquis Wyatt?" Carson asked respectably, with some uneasiness.
The Solaris family head isn't going to blame him for his son's injuries, is he? He knew that if he never brought up the topic, Sean would've never gone to look for the Saintess. Thus, he could be considered the cause of Sean's injuries.
"I will ask you one question and you will me truthfully. Who hurt my son?" Marquis Wyatt questioned. He locked gaze with Carson and his pressure bore down on the later.
His son was a 3rd step Awakener. He couldn't be beaten so badly unless the other party was also an Awakener, but of a higher level and typically, Awakeners were mainly nobles or their servants.
When Carson heard the Marquis's question, despite the pressure bearing down on him, he only felt relieved instead of stressed.
"It was the Saintess that attacked us."