Chapter 481 (1/2)

Chapter 481: The City of Neverwinter

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

On the designated Groundbreaking Day, Roland got up very early.

He shaved the stubble on his face, tied up his long gray hair with a simple band, and used a small pair of scissors to trim his brows. After a year of living in this world, he was very experienced in grooming himself and did not need a maid’s help.

Looking at his blurry reflection in the silver mirror, he felt that he somehow had the divine manner of a reclusive Taoist priest, if he put on a wide robe.

Roland nodded in satisfaction and left for his office.

There was Barov waiting for him in the room.

“Your Highness,” he said with a bow, “a flying messenger has already been sent to Longsong Stronghold and will probably arrive at the Stronghold castle in half an hour.”

“Uh-huh, is the venue set up?”

“It was all completed by yesterday afternoon, and right now it seems enough to hold the entire population of the town,” replied the City Hall Director.

“Great job.” praised Roland, and he slowly walked to the window.

The Impassable Mountain Range and the Misty Forest in the distance were still blanketed in white, and the rising sun scattered rays of golden light onto the snow. He saw moving figures on nearby town streets heading for the rubble city wall area in the West of the town.

As a defense line against demonic beasts last year, this rubble city wall that was hastily constructed with concrete played a principal role in the fight. However, it had now become a border between the inner and outer areas of the town. Roland didn’t like this kind of clear separation between the rich and the poor, so he decided to tear it down sooner or later, except the symbolic gap area and gate tower. However, before that, he could still utilize it. He chose the middle section of the rubble city wall as the site for the Groundbreaking event since it could hold far more people than the square.

According to his plan, in order to strengthen the impact of the Groundbreaking event on citizens of both cities, Longsong Stronghold would hold a Groundbreaking announcement at the same time, which would be synchronized by flying messengers. When the first messenger reached Petrov, Roland would step on to the stage to give a speech.

“Right now, the gray falcon carrying the news must be soaring among the mountains and over the Redwater River, with a paper slip fastened to its claw as usual,” thought Roland, “but it doesn’t know the significance of the news it’s carrying. From the moment it lands, Border Town and Longsong Stronghold will become history.”

“Let’s go.” He collected his thoughts and turned around.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Barov said with a smile.

…

Petrov Hull walked slowly onto the constructed wooden stage and looked around.

There were not that many people on the square, at least not as many as during the oatmeal distribution last week.

This was not surprising, since people were mainly only concerned with food and clothes. Compared to the free oatmeal, a Groundbreaking ceremony would not matter that much.

It even seemed rather unnecessary to Even Petrov himself.

The Months of Demons had ended, but the City Hall still did not receive as many applications for job as they had expected. The notice calling for handymen and construction workers was put up a week ago, but the number of recruits hadn’t even reached half of the target amount. Meanwhile, Rats seemed to rise back from the ashes, as the police department received more and more reports every day and only verifying these reports was a painstaking amount of work. His friend Rene Medde complained to him that the arresting team needed twice the men to handle its workload.

This actually met Petrov’s expectations.