Watching Spark rush off so brashly, Li De was also a little curious.
“Do any of you know this Grandmaster Murray?”
Everyone shook their heads in unison. Clearly, this name was completely unfamiliar to them.
Li De thought about it and, finding no such name in his memory, gave up on the matter. Perhaps this was just some old friend of Spark’s.
After all, this teacher of convenience had an enormous network of contacts in the Nolan Royal Capital, so it was hardly surprising he’d have a few mysterious acquaintances.
“Forget about this. Let’s get back to the matter of the undead.”
An unkempt old man going to meet another old man wasn’t nearly as compelling as news that the undead had returned.
“Yes, my lord.” Laurent continued, “Because of your last order, in this period the Golden Wheat Merchant Guild has been developing extremely rapidly with Miss Vina’s support.
Especially our branch network, now we have as many as forty-five branches. Practically every important city in the Southern Province has our Guild’s banner flying.
Since Solins City borders the Radiant Empire, vast quantities of magical materials circulate there every year. Naturally, we sent people to establish a branch.
But that branch sent this message just one sun-hour after being set up.
Hundreds of thousands of undead troops are besieging Solins City, and more undead are flooding from the Radiant Empire’s border in an unending stream. Our frontier is facing a tremendous crisis.”
Radiant Empire? Li De’s brow furrowed. Glory was simply too vast, just the Southern Province alone was boundlessly wide.
He had been in Glory for nearly a year, and he hadn’t even finished exploring Green City. Everything he knew about other regions came from his subordinates.
“Do you have any more information? How were these undead created, what are their aims, and what impact will they have on us?”
Hearing Li De’s questions, Laurent’s face turned bitter. He only knew the news about the undead invasion. Although the Golden Wheat Merchant Guild was already a major guild, it didn’t yet have the capacity to investigate matters in such depth.
“Lord Li De, I will need more time to have our people look into it.”
Seeing Laurent’s expression, Li De realized he was being a little unreasonable.
If the Golden Wheat Merchant Guild really had that kind of ability, why would he have needed the Dark Pact to build an intelligence network?
“Fine. Keep a close watch on any news of the undead. If there are any new developments, report to me at once.”
“Yes, my lord.”
After Laurent had withdrawn, Li De fell into contemplation.
Green City lay nearly one thousand five hundred kilometers from the Radiant Empire’s border. Even if there were disruptions, they wouldn’t affect Green City in the short term.
What struck him as odd was that there was something suspicious about this undead matter.
In the Glory Main Plane, after several disastrous wars, undead had basically become a rarity. Ordinary folk hardly ever encountered them anymore. That was why when he tied Witherbone up in Dawn Square, so many people had come to watch.
But now, these undead, long absent from any news, had suddenly appeared again, and in such overwhelming numbers.
Coupled with the internal beta test that had just begun, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this had something to do with the players.
However, he had no energy to spare for this. As terrifying as an undead invasion was, given the Nolan Empire’s power, it wouldn’t cause any major upheaval for now.
The most critical priority was still seizing more population.
“Lord Li De, perhaps we should expand production.”
Hmm?
Vina, who had remained silent all this time, interrupted Li De’s train of thought.
He turned his head slightly, looking at his little maid, signaling for her to continue.
“I’ve read many ancient texts,” Vina lowered her gaze slightly, her eyes showing a trace of contemplation.
“Once undead form a large force, they are very difficult to eradicate quickly, because behind them there will inevitably be powerful undead beings controlling them.
Undead develop extremely fast. As long as they capture a city, they can gain hundreds of thousands of undead soldiers. And when their numbers reach a certain scale, high-level undead lifeforms will inevitably emerge among them.
For so many undead to pour out of the Radiant Empire, there is only one possibility: the Radiant Empire is facing a Death Scourge ten times more terrifying than anything outside.
Moreover, given the unique nature of undead, once they overrun the Radiant Empire, they will inevitably spread in all directions. Though the Radiant Empire borders four empires, to the south lies only our Nolan Empire.
Therefore, the Nolan Empire will inevitably face a massive war.
And magic scrolls have always been indispensable consumables in wartime.
We can continue expanding production capacity. The magic scrolls we produce will bring countless nobles to our doors with Gold Pucks in hand, begging to buy them.
No one is willing to watch their own lands be overrun by undead, that would mean losing everything they possess.
At the same time, we should also increase our efforts to purchase and stockpile a large quantity of magical materials, because the coming war will inevitably impact the supply of magical materials.”
Simply from this one piece of news, she had deduced so much. Li De couldn’t help but greatly admire her.
Although not every deduction might be entirely accurate, simply daring to make such a far-sighted judgment was worthy of praise.
Ever since he had decided to nurture her, his little maid’s growth had far exceeded his expectations, surprising him more and more.
Vina, along with Harrison and Stanley, these three intelligent managerial talents held a place in Li De’s heart no less important than any combat unit.
High-level combat power could be trained or captured, but this caliber of management talent required innate gifts, and such gifts were even rarer than spellcasting aptitude.
“Vina, you can manage the Crimson Mage Tower however you see fit. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, I’ll be here to back you up in everything.
I trust you.”
Hearing Li De’s words, the beautiful girl with long, softly curling hair felt genuine joy and delight welling up from the bottom of her heart.
“Vina will not disappoint you.”
Little Isha stood to the side, her bright eyes watching them, feeling an inexplicable envy toward Vina.
Isha also wanted to help Teacher.