Here’s the second one, sorry for the delay, something unexpected came up. Enjoy it.
As Petrov walked out of the cabin, his nose didn’t perceive the smell of rotten wood one would expect, the trestle at the side of the ship was obviously new, but the old wharf had been expanded to twice its former size, and walking over it no longer made a squeaky sound. Stepping on the pier gave out a reassuring sound—apparently the joints between the planks were very reliable, and the materials were also rather thick.
Immediately after leaving the boat and walking down the docks, several uniformed guards came over. The man at the front observed the emblem hanging from the Lionheart’s mast and said, “May I ask who you are? Are you Lord Hull of the Honeysuckle family?”
“Yes,” Petrov nodded in acknowledgement, receiving such inquiries filled him with joy, “I am Petrov Hull, I came here by the request of His Highness.”
“Sir Iron Axe has already informed us, follow us, please,” the guard made a gesture with his hand.
“On foot?” He was slightly startled.
“Yes, the stables have been dismantled,” the guard was a little embarrassed and answered while smiling, “Rest assured, the town’s road is in good shape.”
Petrov soon understood what the guard meant by saying “good shape”.
The dark-colored streets were flat and wide, there was no snow over the road, and neither did it have much water on it—the paving seemed to be formed by many black stones, with small gaps in between them, that after being soaked in water, gave out a clean and smooth appearance. And to his surprise, there was more than one road, every other hundred steps he could see a straight fork, forming neat squares and making the town have a high degree of organization. Even after walking for fifteen minutes, he could not see a spot where the road was muddy.
Petrov was amazed at the discovery of the town not resembling the one in his memory.
“My lord, is this really… Border Town?” Seth had his eyes wide open as he looked around, “Didn’t you say this was only a makeshift residence put in place in order to work at the mine?”
“That was true before,” the guard answered with a smile, “but ever since His Highness came, everything started to change. Like the roads in the town, the construction started six months ago, and required a thousand people busily working every day, finishing almost a road a month.”
Petrov noticed an undisguised pride in his tone, making it obvious he was feeling proud to be a member of this town.
However… this was simply unbelievable! On both sides of the street there were trees arranged evenly, making him imagine a scene in the summer season, with the lush foliage casting its shadow and sheltering the people from the scorching sun. Then there were the houses—the small mud houses and shabby wooden shacks had disappeared, and instead were replaced by sharp-cornered brick houses, each one being two or three stories high, each designed almost identically, making it obvious that the same group of stonemasons worked together on these buildings.
In only one year, how could he turn that old barren town into this?
With both surprise and confusion, Petrov followed the guard into the castle area, after arriving, the guide was replaced by a knight that was donning armor. He left his attendants outside the walls as he proceeded.
When he set foot in the lord’s castle, Petrov found himself having similar feelings to which he had a year ago.
Nothing seems to have changed much in here, comparing it with the duke’s castle in the stronghold, the prince’s castle is obviously smaller in size.
The knight pushed open the door of the reception room, and made a gesture as if inviting him to go inside, then he soon saw the figure of the prince, sitting at the main seat of the table.
His Highness Roland Wimbledon.
“Welcome to Border Town,” Roland said while smiling, “Mister Ambassador.”
There seemed to be no change in His Highness, this gave Petrov an inexplicable peace of mind. He raised his hand to touch his chest, and respectfully saluted, “The Honeysuckle Household pays respects to you, Your Highness.”
“Sit down,” Roland nodded, “I asked you to come here because of a very important matter. This issue concerns the future of the western region, and naturally, it also includes Longsong Stronghold.”
“Please, continue.”
“I plan on establishing a city here, it will range from the Concealing Forest to the west, to Longsong Stronghold at the east, and it will include half of the western region. By that time, the stronghold will act as a fortress east of the new city, and it will be the first line of defense against the Church’s army, rather than acting as an independent city as it has been up until now.” Roland methodically explained, “In this vast territory, the same laws will have to be implemented and abided by, and it will be unified under the management of a new city hall. Therefore, no nobles will be able to meddle in the affairs of the city, the five big noble families of the western border will be no exception.”
Petrov felt his heart shaking fiercely! A year ago, he also had the idea that Duke Ryan would move the defensive line against the demonic beasts to Border Town, allowing him to use the land in between at the same time. But unexpectedly, a year later, the prince would also adopt this method, and he’s being more thorough than what he imagined. But turning Longsong Stronghold into part of the city? Just by imagining it, he could understand that the scale of the city would be astonishing!
He unconsciously tried to raise a question, but before he could articulate the words, they were swallowed back—since he spoke about it himself, there was no doubt the decision had already been made, and nobody could prevent him from carrying out the plan now.
Petrov never thought of going against the prince… Duke Ryan’s fateful defeat had left a deep impression on him, making him believe that this grey-haired man could never be defeated, at least… he himself could never achieve it. The only thing he could do now, was to seek his own interests amid these great changes.
“You said, the five noble families would not intervene in the affairs of the city, then how will the Honeysuckle household be of use for you?”
The prince was silent for a while, and as he saw Petrov showing a slight uneasy expression, he chuckled, “You really surprise me, Mister Ambassador, whether it was the time I offered you to surrender Longsong Stronghold, or the positive attitude you just showed me, it is rare for nobility to make such wise decisions.” After saying this, he restrained his smile and said in a serious tone, “As long as the Honeysuckle household is willing to accept my rule, you can continue to assist me in the management of the Longsong area.”
“Either me or my father, we will always comply with your will—”
“I’m not talking about individuals, but the territory.” Roland interrupted him, “Henceforth, it is to accept it as me offering shelter to the nobles, only conceding ownership over the territory, but no government rights over it—whether be it the law, the enforcement of it, or any other policies and regulations, they will be subjected to the decrees promulgated by the city hall.”
“Such…” Petrov hesitated to speak.
“The territory will be able to be inherited by generation, just like a knighthood, your family will also be able to run farmlands, workshops, or other businesses. These industries, together with the land, will belong only to the Honeysuckle family, and others won’t be able to meddle in them—this will be a gift granted by me. Apart from the government rights, the land you own will not have any change, and even under the stimulus of the new policy, it will only grow more prosperous.” the prince continued, “Of course, you can also choose to return to your own territory, and live like a traditional noble. However, when I complete the establishment of the new city, and start expanding outwards, the occupied areas will cease to belong to their original owners.”
I can’t wait for him to really start making moves on the grand scale. Gonna be exciting.
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Thank you.
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“the occupied areas will cease to belong to their original owners.”
Uh…. who the original owners?
Please explain?
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The nobles own the land they live in, and they manage it as they please, as long as they pay taxes to the king, that’s the current system of that world.
That works?
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The 5 nobles, anyone that previously “owned” the land as a noble (lord/duke etc).
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Thank you for te chapter!
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Thanks for the chapter
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Thanks!
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just wo. thank you for your hard work
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Those remaining nobles will surely plot something against roland’s plan.
Thank you very much for the chapter!
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Thanks for the chapter.
I’ve just stumble upon this place this morning, really weird state of translating of rtw- The hell is volare and qi doing? Welp, whatever makes readers happy.
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Volare has gone on hiatus due to reasons, it has been planned for a while.
Qi is attempting a hostile takeover like they have done with a lot of popular novels (recently Monster Paradise fell to them), I wouldn’t be surprised if they started sending join or piss off “contracts” this way.
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Agrarian reform
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WOoo progress!!!! Finally!! Thanks for the chapter!!! Hope that unexpected problem is solved soon! Good luck! Take care!
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so fast!! thanks for the chapter~ 😀
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Thank you for this chapter.
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I didn’t expect to read 2 chapters today, thank you! Looking forward to see how advance the border town become!
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TY for the translation!
Roland is slowly tearing down the old infrastructure, or should I say rapidly? hes only been here a year, and already massive changes have happened.
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Now lets see of petrov get that this means that money stands now above title and that having noble standing doesnt mean this much anymore
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Thanks for the chapter
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thx for chapter and where is paper ?
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In tomorrow’s chapter
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Papers, please.
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Scissors!
Do I win?
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The teasing!!!!!
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Thanks for the chapter.
Commenting right now doesn’t seem to fit. I’ll wait for more chapters for more information to state my views. A lot going on in BT alone.
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ARIGATOU!!!! Thanks for the chapter!! 😀
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Keep up the good work Seki. Thanks for the chapter!
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thankyou for chapter, semoga tetep update
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Lol, if seen from different angle, Roland firstly gave honey trap to him to calm the nobles, then after everything ready, he swept them all.
Quite standard tactics on Civilization and Heart of Iron.
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Gotta keep one trading partner alive while you nuke the rest of the world for the diplomatic victory :3
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woah!! a Grandscale project 😀
Thank You Very Mochi
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Thanks for the chapter~
Whoa doble update! So happy~
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Thanks bud
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Roland is like “How are you gentlemen!! All your base are belong to us”
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Thanks for the chapter Seki! Major expansion going on next. Wonder how he’ll choose to populate such a large area.
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3 days to travel by river between border town and longsong stronghold, that will be a big fucking city.
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its 3 days upstream, so its less than it sounds, also most of it is going to be farmland
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You’re the best, Seki!
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It is quite aggressive move.
Thanks for the chapter.
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can someone explain to me roberts suggestion?
he wants to apply his law and such to the land of the nobles. but wants the nobles to retain the rights. does this include the collection of taxes? if not, what exactly does ‘the nobles still own the land’ mean? can they sell the land to their people, including the ones currently residing there? or can they just throw out the people currently ‘living on their land’? i do understand, that they can build their own companies and such on THEIR land, but the transition from servedom to a more modern economy is not very well explained i have to say.
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Its pretty simple. They own all the land they had, so they can still do whatever they want inside their territories except they no longer have any control on the of government policy. They cant make new laws that only apply in those territories and they have to follow the prince’s law.
And yes, they can lease or sell individual plots in their owned territory to collect rent/sell. Taxes, however they will not collect unless Roland make a specific law that says that individual territories can charge for taxes.
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Thanks for the chapter. Well, as far as Roland is concerned, feudalism is dead and dying. But what is he replacing it with? Benevolent dictatorship?
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for now yes. he stated plans to abolish the royalty but concluded that it is impossible to do so at the current state. A transition into a english parlament sistem with the crown losing power over serveral generations is probably his plan. (europe took serveral centuries for the process as well)
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a good dictator is sometimes better than a democracy
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i swear this novel is like a drug
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thanks for the chapter
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Hi Seki,
Thanks for the chapter.
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Thanks for the chapter… ^_^
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So he’s turning all the nobles into glorified landlords?
Damn, time to work for the rent. Time to pay your rent serfs!
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aw… no Paper, was waiting her story. guess later?
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Paper the new witch did not show up?! 🤔
The Prince will go nuts. 🤗
Thanks for doing this chapter! 😁
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Thanks for the chapter. Petrov is quick to adapt as usual. What happened with the witch in his family?
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Looks like Qidan is using your translations or another MTL. I say MTL because the general gist of it is the same as what you from MTL and if they edited, some of the edits are rather… interesting. If they’re editing what you’ve already MTL’ed it’s not interesting in a good way, whoever the editor is, they are not good and are trying to make it different as possible
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So in other words, petrov is gonna be rich
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Autor: “Sigh~ I have a logical hole in the industry chain.”
“Well, I guess I just need a new witch! >:3”
*Adding a new girl in the harem…*
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So… Qidian picked this up… Are you gonna a stop this? Just asking.
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what the h…
chapters so short. lol
thanks!!
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the big five family get an offer they can’t refuse from godfather roland
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”
“Well, I guessing I just penury a fresh beldame! So in other(a) words, petrov is gonna be ample
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