Louis draped in an overcoat, walked out of the castle's main gate.

The compacted dirt road underfoot stretched outwards from the central square.

Houses clustered tightly together, while campfires and chimney smoke swayed in the cold wind, sketching a lively scene.

This was no longer just that simple camp.

The residential area of the Red Tide Territory expanded outward from the castle like ripples, with streets, markets, warehouses, workshops...

Everything was growing rapidly.

He could clearly sense that this place was faintly taking the shape of a town.

Perhaps with further development next year, it could be called Red Tide City.

And as the population grows, the territory's prosperity might also attract potential coveters.

Perhaps it was time to start building a simple city wall.

He silently noted down this plan in his heart.

From afar, Louis saw a cloud of dust rising, with a team of knights approaching.

Leading them was a chubby youth on a black-maned horse.

"Boss!!" Yorn waved excitedly, nearly falling off the horse.

The knights escorted several heavy-laden carts, piled with sacks and wooden boxes, so heavy they almost broke the axles.

Louis hurried forward to greet them, "What brings you here?"

Yorn leapt off the horse, grinning like a child, and patted the grain cart beside him, "My old man was afraid I'd starve over the winter, so he especially sent a bunch of food over!"

He puffed out his chest with pride, his eyes sparkling with the pure glow unique to the sons of the wealthy.

"Especially since I won second-class merit on the front lines this time, the old man is ecstatic, he spoiled me with supplies, and you deserve ninety percent of the credit. Passing through your territory, I thought I'd drop by to see you!"

Yorn patted his chest, "Boss, want some? I have enough food for now, sharing a bit is no problem!"

Louis smiled and shook his head to refuse, "I've also spent money to buy a lot and still have some stocks, so there's no shortage for now."

And just like that, the two walked side by side in the cold wind, heading towards the castle.

Along the way, Yorn widened his eyes, looking around like a child entering the city for the first time.

The Red Tide Territory was completely different from other parts of the Northern Territory.

The faces of the people walking the streets were adorned with smiles.

Not the forced, stiff smiles, but genuine, heartfelt ease.

A row of semi-underground communal dwellings lined the road, crude but considered luxurious in the Northern Territory, all arranged neatly and orderly.

The roads were also cleaned spotlessly, not immaculate perhaps, but at least free of the usual mud and stench found elsewhere in the Northern Territory.

The most astonishing thing to Yorn was that whenever Louis passed by, the people would pause their work, stand straight, and bow with respect.

Some people shouted loudly, "Lord!"

Some children waved excitedly, shouting, "Good morning, Lord Louis!"

Faces alight with genuine smiles, warm as flames in the cold wind and snow.

Moreover, those gazes held not a trace of fear, only heartfelt respect and trust.

Yorn rode his horse with his mouth slightly agape, wearing a look of disbelief.

Everything here left him stunned.

His fief was a little north of Red Tide Territory, not far from here, but the situation was much worse.

The streets were muddy, the people's ramshackle houses were cobbled together haphazardly.

And his own food supplies and such were supported by his Count father far in the South.

Smile? Most were worn and morose, even too weary to speak.

Previously, he thought this was normal, the Northern Territory was too harsh for anyone to live easily.

He even suspected his 'fief' was simply a pile of junk and troublesome land.

But he had seen other lords' territories, and actually, the situation was similar, or some were even worse.

Especially after recent wars, everywhere had burned houses, broken fences, and hardly a stick of decent firewood to be found.

People wore numb expressions, tattered clothes, faces filled with the dazed and hopeless look of survivors.

In such a Northern Territory, in such times, he thought all places bore a scene of ruin.

But seeing all this before him...

Yorn swallowed hard, unable to hold back.

"Hey, Boss…" He pulled the reins tight, turning his head with a complex gaze at Louis,

"We both arrived in the Northern Territory around the same time, how did you manage this? How… how did you get the territory to be this good?"

Upon hearing this, Louis smiled smugly, as if this flattery struck him right in the heart, but he didn't answer immediately.

He raised his head to look at the people busy on the streets in the distance.

People carrying timber, repairing houses, children dressed in rough cloth robes chasing and playing nearby, the air filled with the scent of happiness.

Then he softly said, "It's actually very simple."

Yorn widened his eyes, ears perked, as if awaiting some heavenly secret technique.

"Just treat the people as real people."

"…" Yorn sat on his horse, mouth slightly open, stunned.

"That's it?" Yorn came back to his senses, looking at Louis with complex eyes.

"Yes."

Yorn's mouth twitched slightly, speechless for a long time.

This, this is too simple!

Yorn only felt that Louis was speaking the obvious truth.

Yet looking at the orderly surroundings again, he couldn't help but ponder the deeper meaning in these words.

As Yorn marveled, they rode leisurely forward on horseback, and soon the castle's gate came into view.

As he saw the castle, Yorn's eyes widened once again.

The castle of Red Tide Territory, rugged and massive, akin to an armored beast quietly crouching in the cold wind.

The earthen and stone walls seemed to grow naturally from the earth, exuding a primitive sense of oppression.

No gaudy decorations, no tall towers and carvings common in the South, only a stark, practical, and faintly wild strength, emanating the essence of the Northern Territory.

Yorn's expression nearly froze; he had never seen such a type of castle.

Louis… had already built the castle?!

While he still dwelled in a wood house, though carefully built, it couldn't possibly compare to a castle.

This gap was wider than the distance from Red Tide Territory to the Royal Capital.

"How is it?" Louis looked at him smugly, his tone carrying a hint of unconcealed boastfulness, "Not bad, right?"

Yorn, glancing up, swallowed hard.

After a while, he squeezed out a comment: "Astounding… but… built a bit ugly."

"…"

"What do you know!" Louis immediately retorted, "This is hardcore industrial style!"

Yorn looked at those thick and large columns, his mouth twitching slightly.

If this was industrial style, then the pile of rough wood planks he lived in must be rural art?

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