There was no doubt that King's City was a great treasure house.
Although it was very backward as a city, and those seemingly magnificent buildings were not worth mentioning in Roland's eyes, it was still the brightest pearl in the Kingdom of Graycastle.
In terms of population, the number of nobles in King's City was far greater than that of any other city. Any nobles who had lost their fief would first come to King's City to seek opportunities. Coupled with the Landless Knight and Sir, the proportion of nobles in King's City was even higher. For example, nearly 20% of the residents in the Inner City were nobles, and they usually had elementary education and could read and write. For Roland, they were all potential officials worthy of training. After all, without land and family property, they would not be too resistant to the new policy, and they had good insight, so they could accept new things faster than ordinary civilians.
In terms of industry, King's City was also very successful. In addition to merchants and craftsmen's guilds, it also had the largest Alchemist Association and the unique Astrologer Association. These talents were the targets of Roland's desire. He summoned Barov and Kyle Sichi to recruit them as much as possible.
Finally, there was the wealth … the various kinds of materials collected in the palace were enough to match up to ten Dukes of Ryan's. Gold royals, jewelry, and gold and silver handicrafts were piled up in several warehouses. In addition to the other ministers who had fallen along with Timothy, the final tally was bound to be an astonishing number. If all their properties were confiscated, Neverwinter would not have to worry about food and clothing for the next two or three years. However, Roland did not intend to move them all. It would take too much time, and taking over King's City would cost a lot of money to maintain stability. There was no point in piling up money in the basement or splashing it out needlessly. It was the right thing to let it circulate according to its own value.
If possible, Roland hoped to spend half a year to properly digest these gains. However, time waited for no man. Compared with King's City in the Central Region, Fallen Dragon Ridge and Southernmost Region, which were connected to the Western Region, were more important.
Shortly after Iron Axe left, a guard reported, "Your Majesty, there's a businesswoman who calls herself Margaery outside the palace. She wants to see you."
Roland's eyes suddenly lit up. "Bring her to me."
When the female merchant walked into the hall, he stood up from the throne with a smile and walked up to her. "We meet again."
"I didn't expect that we would meet again in Graycastle Palace." Margaery pulled up the corner of her skirt and curtsied. "You always surprise me, Your Highness Roland … No, I should call you Your Majesty now."
"It doesn't matter. I haven't held the coronation ceremony yet, so I'm not a real king yet," Roland said, waving his hand.
"You're not anxious at all. As expected of a king." Margaery covered her mouth and said, "It seems that the capital will be full of business opportunities in the future. For the sake of our old friend, you have to take care of me."
"Of course, even if you didn't come looking for me, I would have come looking for you," he laughed heartily. "You may not know, but Border Town and Longsong Stronghold have merged into one big city. The steam engine factory has opened several more production lines, and the output has almost tripled. There will be a lot of new products in the future, and I promise that they will be unique in the Four Kingdoms. "
"I've fully experienced your creativity, and we can talk about it slowly." Margaery nodded. "But today I'm not here for this, and I have something else to ask of you."
"Oh?" Roland said with great interest. "Tell me about it."
"Can we … talk about it somewhere else?" She looked around and asked in a low voice.
The Chamber of Commerce couldn't solve it with their financial resources, and they had to hide from the public. Did they really encounter some big trouble? The prince thought for a moment and said, "Then let's go to my study."
…
The study on the top floor of the Crown Tower originally belonged to Wimbledon III, and it was also the place that Prince Roland longed for the most when he was a child. Only here could he see his taciturn father. Roland chose this place simply because the terrain was high enough, so it was not easy to set up a secret passage, and there was only a ring of stone steps leading to the top of the tower, so it was easy to defend and difficult to attack.
"Can you tell me now?"
Only he, Margaery, and Nightingale were left in the room.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I've been entrusted by someone, so I can only tell you …" She bowed solemnly and said, "Lord Thunder wants to see you."
"Thunder?" Roland was greatly surprised. "The most outstanding explorer in the Fjords? Didn't he … die in a shipwreck? "
"Although a real explorer believes in the Three Gods, he won't easily fall into the arms of the Three Gods." Margaery shook her head. "He doesn't want to reveal his whereabouts, especially not to Lightning. This is why I have to tell you secretly. Lord Thunder originally planned to contact you through Her Highness Tilly, but he didn't expect that you would occupy King's City so quickly, so he changed his decision at the last minute. " The female merchant paused. "He also said that he found an incredible scene west of the Shadow Islands, which is likely to be related to the ruins of hundreds of years ago. You will be interested to know about it."
"Wait … he's in King's City now?"
"Yes, he just arrived yesterday. After meeting me, he made this decision."
"You don't seem to be surprised about his resurrection," Roland said strangely. "You already knew about it?"
Margaery nodded.
"So, the first time you went to Border Town to trade was not because of my guards, but to find Lightning?"
"I'm sorry that I didn't explain it to you at the beginning," she said with her hand on her chest. "Lightning is wearing a Magic Stone. Lord Thunder used this method to confirm her location. He sent me there just to confirm whether she was safe or not. After learning that Lightning lived in your territory, he decided to hide his information and let his daughter stay away from the path of an explorer. "
"So that's how it is," Roland immediately understood. At that time, he didn't ask about Thunder's death in detail, and Nightingale's answers were, in a sense, all true. Therefore, Nightingale didn't find anything strange and only concluded that Nightingale didn't have any hostility towards witches. It turned out that there was a reason for this "chance encounter". If it wasn't for Lightning, I'm afraid that my steam engine trade wouldn't have been able to open up the trade route so quickly.
"Now that King's City is still in a whirlpool, it's unlikely that I'll leave the palace," Roland replied after thinking for a moment. "If Thunder wants to see me, you can bring him to the palace. I can promise not to reveal any information about him to Lightning."
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty," Margaery said gratefully and bowed again. "I'll tell him the answer as soon as possible."
After asking the attendants to send the female merchant away, Roland just returned to the hall and heard a guard report. "Your Majesty, a noble has arrived outside the palace. He claims to be your old friend and is clamoring to break into the palace."
This news slightly surprised him. The small nobles who hadn't been affected by the spring offensive would sooner or later come to inquire about the situation, but he didn't expect it to be so soon. Logically speaking, they should wait for a while to see which way the wind blows. Now that Timothy hasn't been executed, they shouldn't take the initiative at this time … Moreover, he was originally a prince. How could he be so familiar with a small noble? "What's his name?"
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