Wearing brand-new boots, a well-ironed uniform, as well as an imposing and beautiful badge and armband, Warden Maximin held his head high as he walked through the corridors of the prison. The man in his thirties had his hair neatly combed and his beard trimmed to perfection. He wore a reserved smile as he walked, his keys and baton clinking against his belt.
This was a newly built prison, which was as new as the 'government office' in the city. There were broad and bright corridors and sturdy and beautiful cells in the prison. One of Maximin's daily tasks was to patrol all the corridors and cells with two prison guards to make sure that there were no escapees, self-harming, sabotaging facilities and private fights. It was a rather boring job, but for Maximin who liked rules and order, this job was very much to his liking.
Everything was normal in the regular control zone. Those locked here were basically petty thieves and drunkards who caused trouble. Some of them were not even worthy of being locked in the prison, and were only locked here for a few days because of the limited space in the Security Office's temporary cells. They would not dare to go against the wardens, nor would they engage in private brawls to prolong their time in custody. As such, patrolling this zone had always been the easiest and most comfortable.
After walking past the regular control zone, Maximin led the two wardens to the Extraordinary holding zone. Before he reached the stairs that led underground, the warden glanced at the working heat exchanger and ventilation system on the wall beside him.
After confirming that everything was normal, Maximin could not help muttering softly, "This is really a good era … prison is so comfortable."
After walking down a flight of stairs and passing through a gate, there was a heavy alloy gate. Arriving in front of this gate, Maximin tidied up his belt and uniform as his expression turned slightly solemn.
Behind the gate was the deeper level of the prison, a room specially used to hold Extraordinary criminals.
Starting from this zone, there were detection runes and alarms everywhere in front of him. The cells were also far sturdier than other zones, and there were many mechanisms and traps specifically designed to counter spellcasters. Although there had been no Extraordinary riots since this zone was built, Maximin, who had faced Extraordinary individuals on the battlefield, instinctively raised his vigilance and became serious.
He subconsciously touched the scar below his chest — it was a wound cut open by an Extraordinary's scorching blade. After recalling the burning pain, he turned on the shield generator at his waist and pressed the mechanism at the back of his baton to ensure that 'Counterspell' was always on standby.
The two wardens who accompanied him also checked their equipment before stepping forward and sticking two keys on both sides of the gate.
As the mechanical device creaked, the heavy gate slowly opened in front of Maximin.
The warden turned his head slightly and ordered his subordinates, "Check the defenses."
The two wardens separately went to check the integrity of the defense runes, while Maximin walked past the gate and took a look inside.
The cells used to house Extraordinary individuals were obviously much fewer than the ordinary cells outside. There were only four cells in total, and at this time, there were only two prisoners in the whole zone.
The first cell on the left was the one that was just locked in yesterday. A reckless arcanist shot an arcane missile to kill his neighbor's dog when he was seriously drunk, because he mistakenly thought that the dog had challenged him to a holy duel. This terrible action caused him to have to stay here for a week after paying the legal compensation, but Maximin suspected that at least half of this week would be used by the arcanist to sober up.
After all, he was still drunk. Chances were that he would mistake the wardens who came to check the cells as another duelist and shoot an arcane missile at him too.
The 'guest' in the second cell on the right had been here for a long time. He was a Druil of unknown origin who was locked in here for the crime of casting spells without a license and smuggling. In Maximin's eyes, this taciturn Druil was a safer guy, although he was a bit gloomy.
After making sure that the drunk arcanist was still talking nonsense, Maximin went straight to the cell called 'Bard Wendell' Wendell '. Outside Wendell's druid cell, Lucien knocked on the bars with his baton and said, "Hey, it's time for a ward round."
In a small cell, a middle-aged man in a gray-white prison uniform sat on the bed with his back to the cell door. Hearing the movement behind him, his arm twitched. Without turning his head, he said, "Wait a minute, I'm almost done with this problem."
"… Ha, you're living in your own home." Maximin was both annoyed and amused. "I shouldn't have found you a set of math textbooks to relieve your boredom. Look at what you've drawn on the wall!"
In the small cell, almost all the walls and floor were painted with dazzling numbers and symbols. There were also some improvised poems and short sentences. It was very lively. Writing and drawing on the walls was a 'reserved hobby' of many prisoners, and the wardens had always turned a blind eye to it. But this was the first time Maximin saw someone writing equations and sentences on two walls. This was the most special prisoner he had ever seen.
Maximin, who had been a knight's apprentice for a short period of time, was literate, but what Bard wrote on the wall was still beyond his comprehension. He could only instinctively judge that the prisoner inside the wall might have some kind of background, but how many extraordinary people didn't have a background?
In the cell, Bard, who was sitting on the bed, finally finished solving his equations. The middle-aged man with messy beard and hair stood up, put down the draft paper and pen in his hand and said, "Don't worry, sir. I'll erase it later."
"Of course you'll erase it. Because you still have to write new equations!" Maximin glared at Bard. "I'm here to inform you that your detention time is up. You can leave tomorrow. Once you're out, go to the Government Office and register a migration …"
Before the warden could finish his sentence, he saw Bard take out a small piece of hard bread from under his pillow and throw it at the wall not far away from the bars. With his amazing wrist strength, the small piece of bread hit the wall like a stone bullet, and the wall rippled with a layer of protective light. Then, an alarm sounded...
Maximin and the two wardens who had just walked in had no time to stop it.
"Damn it! You can't use this method to prolong your detention time every time! " Maximin shouted angrily. "This is a prison, not a hotel for you to stay in every day! Did you hear me or not? What are you two doing? Go and turn off the damn alarm! "
The two alarms hurriedly turned off the alarm. The drunk arcanist, on the other hand, started talking nonsense in a room not far away. Inside the cell, Bard shrugged and said to Maximin, "It's fine here. I'm not going anywhere."
"Next time I'm going to search your room. I'm going to take away your pen and your bread," Maximin said angrily. "Let's see how you're going to make trouble."
Bard thought for a moment and said seriously, "I'm not a weak sorcerer. I can set off the alarm with my boogers."
Maximin was speechless.
For a moment, the warden couldn't think of how to respond to this flawless answer. He could only watch as the despicable Druid slowly walked back to his bed and laid down like an animal preparing to hibernate. He slowly covered himself with the blanket, as if there was no one else around. It made the warden's teeth itch.
"You're wasting the Empire's money!" Maximin finally couldn't help but shout, "Listen, I'll report this to the public security bureau and the government office. This loophole will be fixed soon. You can't stay here forever!"
Bard's voice came from the bed, "I believe in your responsibility, sir. But before that, I just want to have a good sleep."
In the end Maximin left in a fit of anger, as he had done on the two previous occasions.
The heavy alloy gate closed little by little along with the sound of the mechanical device operating. The holding area quieted down once again. The drunkard's muffled mumbling in the neighboring cell gradually faded away. Wendell opened his eyes to take a look and then slowly closed them again.
For so many years, this was the only place where he could sleep peacefully.
Maximin finished patrolling the entire prison and returned to his office, somewhat annoyed.
As a person who started off as a knight apprentice, joined the first generation of the Cecil Battle Army, experienced all the territorial defense battles and the war to unify the Southern Territory, and had already adapted to the basic environment of "every ordinary person working hard", he could not understand why there would be a Transcendent willing to sink into such a state.
A few minutes later, the warden picked up a pen and paper on the table and began to write a report.
At the very least, he had to find a way to get Bard out of Wendell Prison. I need to get Wendell out of the cell. Otherwise, Wendell will stay in this prison longer than I, the prison warden, am afraid that he will stay here longer than I, the warden!
…
"This is the latest report from Noris from the Holy Spirit Plains. Ancestor, please take a look."
In Gwen's study in Cecil City, Heti put a thick report on the desk and briefly explained the contents of the report.
"Investigators sent by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Holy Spirit Plains Temporary Reconstruction Office have entered the southern part of the Fertile Woodland and made a rough count and assessment of the towns and farmlands along the way. The working group believes that the most polluted areas are further north, probably around Boulder City and Solin Castle. In the areas discovered so far, more than 50% of the farmlands can be reclaimed within a year. Noris also emphasized that these reclaimed lands are not only lightly polluted, but may even be more fertile in the coming year due to the vegetation burning and recuperation. "
"This is good news." Gwen relaxed his brows. "The crystal cluster pollution was stopped in time, and the crystal dust and associated plagues did not have time to soak into the soil too much. The land can be reclaimed directly, and next year's food shortage crisis can be solved."
"The key now is the destruction of towns, roads, water sources, and other infrastructures." Heidi nodded. "All the original residential areas were the areas where the Crystal Cluster Giants wreaked the most havoc. They were bombarded and burned down by the concentrated artillery fire. The infrastructures were completely destroyed. If we only rely on the government office to organize a team to rebuild and relocate the population, I'm afraid it will take a long time and consume a lot of resources. We may not even have time to rebuild the farmland that has not been completely abandoned."
Gwen rubbed his chin and said thoughtfully, "This is indeed a problem. The Holy Spirit Plains is too big. Even if it's only the eastern part of the plains, the area is almost half of the Southern Territory."
"Noris has made a suggestion."
"Oh?" Gwen raised his eyebrows. "What's the suggestion?"
Heti slightly organized her words. "Noris has encountered many refugees in the less polluted areas. They were all refugees who had escaped the polluted areas and wandered outside of our control. Finally, they heard that the war was over and wanted to return to their homeland. After asking, and with the rough statistics of the southern, western, and eastern passes of the plains, these people may account for about one-tenth of the total population of the eastern part of the plains. This is more than we thought."
Gwen blinked.
After the disaster, a large number of refugees had left their homes and wandered in the Holy Spirit Plains. This was what Gwen had expected from the beginning. The Cecil Order was indeed efficient and strict, and could effectively manage the population and rescue the refugees. However, the premise was that an effective administrative structure had to be established at a high price. After all, the Holy Spirit Plains was not the Southern Territory. It was impossible to manage it well by relying on the limited resettlement team and the temporary government office. This would inevitably lead to the emergence of a large number of refugees.
One-tenth …
This was a shocking number. The once prosperous eastern region of the Holy Spirit Plains was now completely empty.
But at least there was still one room that was not empty.
"These wandering refugees need to be settled. Moreover, it is very dangerous for them to wander in the polluted areas without any organization. Noris suggests that we form a 'Joint Reconstruction Team.' With the highest government office as the lead, the recruits of the Construction Corps and the official Pioneer Group as the core, we will set up several reconstruction teams. Then, we will attract, gather, and recruit the refugees through various channels. We will also encourage those who intend to return to their homeland and have temporarily settled in other places to join the team and come back to rebuild their homes …
"The refugees only need the most basic survival guarantee. Not only can we provide them with survival guarantee, we can also give them construction tools and provide guidance. With the motivation to return to their homeland and reclaim their land, there should be a lot of responders. Using the experience of building New Cecil, and organizing a group of young clerks and government office newcomers who need experience, plus the Construction Corps as the core, the scale of the reconstruction team is enough to take back more land from the wild grass and jackals before it is completely abandoned. "
"Taking back the land from the hands of wild grass and jackals … This can be used as a good propaganda symbol," Gawain nodded. While he was satisfied with these proposals, he was even more gratified by the growth of government officials like Norris over the years. "Norris's proposal ends here?"
Heti nodded. "Yes."
"Then, let me add. After the reconstruction team rebuilds the cities and social order, they can set up a government office and complete the construction of transportation, communication, and commerce."
The eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plains was already a piece of white paper. Gwen wanted to use the complete Cecil Order to cover it directly. When the wasteland was rebuilt, the fertile land in the eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plains would become a 'new land' like the Southern Border. And this new land would go from the Firmament Fortress to the north, directly connecting to the Captical Saint Sunil, the Northern Border, and the Eastern Border …
The wasteland that was once burned to ashes would eventually grow new buds. The new flesh and blood after the rotten flesh was shed would be healthier and stronger than before.
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