The four village heads had not shown themselves earlier, but seeing the new lord’s authoritative stance, they were now anxiously loitering outside the castle. Danny quickly brought them before the lord.
Ivan found that all four were robust young adults, likely hunters from their villages.
“Let’s start with the refugee issue. The refugees have been screened by you, so I can trust you. However, they cannot use their original names. They need someone to guarantee for them, with each refugee requiring the guarantee and signature or thumbprint of three households of my subjects. If there’s a problem, you’ll bear the responsibility together. Can you manage that?”
He had chosen to turn a blind eye to the refugee issue in his new territory, which was a mess anyway. As the new lord, if he didn’t bother to verify whether they were refugees, other nobles wouldn’t be able to quibble.
“Rest assured, my lord, we will make sure of it.”
The four exchanged glances, with the head of Luxuriant Silk Village taking the lead in responding, and the others also gave their assurances.
“Those without a guarantor can roll out of my territory,” Ivan said unapologetically, looking at his brother Paul, “Brother Paul, I’m counting on you to oversee them.”
“Yes, my lord,” Paul agreed without hesitation.
Ivan had already announced that he would leave in a month and discussed with his family the arrangements for Mulberry Valley. They would move from Flying Fish Port to Mulberry Valley, with Paul temporarily taking on the role of sheriff and perhaps later being responsible for tax collection, while Leider was in charge of training the guards for the territory.
Beaman would leave; his ambition remained to join the Grand Duke’s Glory Knights Order. With Ivan’s baron status, he would find it easier to achieve his goal.
The only thing not yet considered was the Giant Shield Mercenary Group.
In comparison to a noble title, the mercenary group seemed insignificant, which was Leider’s opinion.
He planned to ask the mercenaries who would be willing to settle in Mulberry Valley, leaving the rest to Dayne, who could keep the situation under control.
Still, it seemed a pity, considering the loyalty the mercenaries had always shown to the Marichadon family, and they had never caused trouble over the years.
“Let’s leave it at that for now. If there are other arrangements, I will issue them directly in the decrees,” Ivan stated.
Ivan didn’t plan drastic changes; any ideas he had would be scheduled after dealing with the problem of Mulberry Ridge.
After sending the four village heads away, Ivan led a group to the foot of Mulberry Ridge.
Together, the two Mulberry Ridges covered an area of 1,200 acres, more than double the size of the barren triangular area in the middle. Without the two ridges, the Mulberry Valley wouldn’t be of much value.
Upon reaching the summit, he saw the surrounding mulberry trees were all dead, large and small without exception, as if they had been scorched by a fierce fire. Yet, looking at the ground, the growth of weeds and miscellaneous trees was surprisingly good. If the subjects didn’t regularly come to clear the area, the mulberry forest would probably become a paradise for weeds and trees.
Old Hank pointed at the tree stumps left behind after some trees had been cut down, explaining, “In previous years, it was thought to be some kind of contagious disease, so Lord Bart had ordered the cutting down of a large number of diseased mulberry trees.”
Ivan nodded slightly. He then looked closer in other areas but could not discern much from the appearance of the trees, nor did he find obvious traces of termites or insect bites.
“Are there any mulberry trees that haven’t died?”
“Yes, right this way, please.”
Following Old Hank, they came to a spot where the mulberry trees stood taller than the rest.
The surviving trees were all over twenty years old, with the oldest being one hundred and nine years. The sole centennial tree required four people to encircle it and was now barely alive, unable to sprout new leaves. These were the result of the Bart family’s efforts.
Ivan extended his finger and casually poked at a tree, his finger easily piercing the bark and sinking into the trunk.
It wasn’t that his finger was strong, but the trunk was excessively fragile, not resembling a tree of a hundred years, but more like one that had been drained of its nutrients.
‘Could it be a curse of some sort? Similar to the Curse of Demon’s Resentment.’
A sudden thought occurred to him, but he almost immediately dismissed it as impossible. After all, there was no known curse that only affected mulberry trees, and the trees in the Black Fog Forest on the other side were thriving just fine.
Could it be that some strange creature had escaped from the Black Fog Forest?
Next to him, Old Hank’s pupils contracted upon seeing this, not expecting that the young lord was also a knight skilled in Combat Energy. It was no wonder that he could become a baron at such a young age.
“Father, have you found anything here?”
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“No, the roots just died directly without any signs of gnawing, and there are no problems with the soil anywhere.”
After an unsuccessful search, Ivan told his family to take care of other matters and declared that he would handle the troubles of Mulberry Ridge himself.
Leider and the others had no objections. Unknowingly, Ivan had become the person calling the shots in the family. At first, he was somewhat uncomfortable with it, but as Leider and company deemed it only natural, given that it was the due weight of a baronetcy, he got used to it as well.
That night.
It was their first night in Mulberry Valley, and as the lord of the land, Ivan had no choice but to stay vigilant on Mulberry Ridge. His time was limited, and he had to resolve the hidden issues of Mulberry Ridge before leaving.
Ivan spread out a tiger skin beneath the century-old mulberry tree – a gift from the village chief of Luxuriant Silk Village, he just didn’t believe there would be no movement at all.
The night was never devoid of insect chirps and animal cries, mingling into a boisterous nocturnal symphony.
Beaman approached in the dark and sat down beside him, “I still can’t quite believe it, that you’ve become a sorcerer, become a lord just like that.”
“Yeah, I can hardly believe it myself,” Ivan noticed more lights on Mulberry Ridge and couldn’t help asking, “Aren’t they sleeping?”
Beaman replied, “With you, their lord, standing guard in the woods, who could go back and fall asleep? Peggy and Sean are searching with Paul over there, and even the four village leaders have brought people along, but no one has come here to disturb you.”
“It seems everyone is quite enthusiastic.”
With Mulberry Ridge scarce in underbrush, Ivan didn’t have to worry about the safety of his younger siblings.
Seeing that he didn’t even bring a light, Beaman asked curiously, “Is a sorcerer’s vision that strong?”
“It should be clearer than that of a Great Knight.”
“I actually took the test, but I don’t have the qualities of a sorcerer.”
“Practicing Combat Energy is pretty good.”
“But I haven’t even sensed the Life Seed yet.”
The two chatted intermittently, and Ivan could feel Beaman’s frustration.
Indeed, with his younger brother’s strength and career blossoming, he, as the elder brother, found everything stationary by comparison, occasionally feeling an intense sense of loss.
Ivan patted his shoulder, offering reassurance, “What’s the use of thinking so much? You’ll get over this hurdle eventually. Besides, you’re not in a hurry to go to the Capital City. How about you go back to Flying Fish Port tomorrow and help me buy materials for the Ocean Blue Potion? Also, bring a letter for Miss Pearney of the Hobson family — I need her help with something.”
Beaman’s words made Ivan realize that the problem with the family’s Goliath Frog Breathing Method also needed to be addressed. He planned to find a way to elevate the Knight Breathing Skill to level 4, and then start to resolve the issues with the Goliath Frog Breathing Method.
Besides, he had another bold idea related to the Spring Bud.
Hearing his request, Beaman had no objections.
As time moved into the deep night, Ivan issued a specific order that allowed the others to return for rest first.
Ivan continued to stay alert to his surroundings. He had an extraordinary sense of hearing, sharp observational skills brought on by spiritual power, and he could even detect changes in energy particles. Under the subtle pressure of spiritual force, frail creatures like mosquitoes and moths instinctively did not approach him.
But, despite his vigilance for most of the night, to no avail.
However, he wasn’t idle. He gathered a Spring Bud every half-hour and then chose a bug he had named a ‘freezing water midge’ to implant it into.
He had essentially given up on bubble leeches; facts had proved that the likelihood of bubble leeches bearing Spring Buds was quite small.
Just as he implanted a Spring Bud inside a freezing water midge, Ivan looked at the tree trunk in front of him and blinked several times. He thought he had just seen something strange – a moth perched on the trunk seemed to have been absorbed into the mulberry tree like water.
Could this tree eat bugs?
He suddenly stood up and retreated a good distance, watching the century-old mulberry tree with wariness.
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