"Alright! Everyone, get up! You are all my people, and it is my duty to protect you!"
Mako pulled his scattered thoughts back together and spoke to everyone with a steady, strong voice.
Then he ordered Bobby Lee, the leader of the thugs, to bring out all the wine stored in the castle. He planned to make today a holiday to celebrate the unification of Skagos Island.
Westeros also had a holiday called the Harvest Feast, but Mako didn't want to celebrate that.
He wanted all the Rockborn to remember this day. This would increase his prestige and also allow everyone to remember his achievements, treating this day as a national day of celebration.
This would make the Rockborn more cohesive and better able to serve Mako loyally.
Wine was something that only existed in legends for the Rockborn. Many people were seeing it for the first time tonight.
Watching the three chieftains desperately gulping down the wine, many Rockborn found it strange. So, after a young man tentatively took a sip, everyone started drinking one after another.
The unique fruity aroma of the wine quickly captivated everyone. Coupled with the warmth that followed the first few sips, the Rockborn immediately fell in love with the feeling.
The one hundred-plus barrels of wine in stock were completely consumed within two hours. Many who hadn't had enough looked expectantly at Mako.
Mako waved his hand, indicating that he had exhausted all his stock. However, he told them that there would be more and better wine next year.
Because when spring arrived, Mako would expand the port and trade with merchants from outside, and then he would obtain a large amount of supplies.
In the following hours, everyone sat around the campfire, chatting and singing until late into the night. However, Mako stated that songs sung in the ancient language were truly awful, their strange intonation sounding like a saw cutting through iron.
After returning to his bedroom, Mako couldn't wait to open his personal information panel.
He had known this morning that his Gold resources had arrived. Moreover, the system informed him that the Gold reward for his skills was calculated at 500. Furthermore, starting this month, his skills would generate 500 Gold every two weeks.
Hero Level: 4
Hero Skills: Basic Offense, Advanced Leadership, Diplomacy... (omitted)
Special Abilities: Kingly Demeanor, Comprehension of All Things.
Owned Buildings: Village Council Hall, Militia Hut, Blacksmith, Fortress, Tavern, Market, Archer Tower.
Building Level: 7
Owned Soldiers: Thugs 190, Archers 9, Footmen 3, Griffon 1, Priest 1, Unicorn 1, Populace 34,223 (Special).
Owned Resources: Gold 4690, Wood 30, Ore 35, Crystal 0, Mercury 0, Gems 0, Sulfur 0.
Mako then clicked on the quest reward from the King's Hall, a treasure chest. Upon opening it, he found a magic scroll inside. This item would allow the hero to directly learn a spell.
Mako examined it closely, surprised to find that the spell was 2nd-level Light Magic, Vitality Regeneration.
Light Magic (Vitality Regeneration, consumes 8 mana, can be used on non-undead, mechanical, and elemental creatures, can heal injuries. The recovery rate depends on the Light Magic level if the target is not dead.)
Original: Target recovery time is 7 minutes.
Beginner: Target recovery time is 5 minutes.
Intermediate: Target recovery time is 3 minutes.
Advanced: Target recovery time is 1 minute.
Mako's heart clenched when he saw this spell. There were very few life-restoring spells in the Heroes of Might and Magic game series.
Besides "Raise Dead", "Reincarnation", and some units, healing spells and abilities were scarce. Though this was due to the game's design, it was a source of great frustration for Mako in reality.
Mako had originally thought he might only encounter this type of magic after he had enough Gold to buy an artifact or train paladins. He never expected to learn this spell at level 4.
With this in mind, as long as he didn't court death or get poisoned, he could be considered "immortal" on Westeros.
Composing himself, Mako turned his attention to the building list.
Barracks
Town Level Requirement: 3
Construction Prerequisites: Blacksmith
Resource Requirements: Gold 1500, Wood 10, Ore 10
Griffon Tower
Town Level Requirement: 6
Resource Requirements: Gold 2500, Wood 10, Ore 10, Mercury 5
Mako fell into thought as he looked at the mercury requirement for the five units behind the Griffon Tower. He was currently most lacking in these rare resources, and there was simply no way around it!
Resigned, he clicked on the build option and started constructing the Barracks first. He had to build the Griffon Tower before the end of the month; otherwise, his plans for action in the spring would be affected.
Unable to resolve the issue for the time being, Mako had no choice but to give up. He prepared to rest in his bedroom, as he had to get up early tomorrow to investiture his three chieftains.
Mako intended to imitate the customs of Westeros and investiture them as his knightly lords, making them landed knights.
His own strength was still relatively weak. In front of those northern nobles, he could be considered at most the level of a count. He could only develop cautiously for now.
Mako hoped that within three years, he could convert all of the more than 3,000 troops under his command, with the minimum requirement being thugs.
However, he was currently severely lacking in resources, so he decided to go to the tavern to try his luck after completing the investiture ceremony tomorrow.
"By the way, gather some intelligence on Skagos Island," Mako said to himself. He didn't like going into battles unprepared. Now that he was the lord of Skagos Island, he needed to understand everything about it.
He didn't want to end up like Emperor Joe, mysteriously wiped out. Although Skagos Island was isolated, traders and whaling ships still came here to do business.
Everything he was doing on the island had certainly caught the attention of some people. To say the least, Roose Bolton had long been eyeing this place with covetousness!
The next morning.
Mako was up early again. After getting up, he built the farm, an auxiliary building for the militia hut.
Because he initially wanted to build the Griffon Tower first, Mako hadn't built the farm. Since it only cost 1000 Gold, Mako had been putting it off.
At first, he was afraid of any changes in the King's Hall, so he hadn't expanded the auxiliary buildings of the militia hut.
Now that the population had increased, he also had to build another peasant hut to serve as a supply point, and the function of the farm was to expand the scale of the farmland.
After some calculations, Mako had already spent 4,000 Gold resources here. However, since he had promised to feed and clothe the Rockborn, Mako wasn't too bothered.
Although the castle's inventory was enough to support 30,000 people until the end of next year, Mako was a bit of a perfectionist. When he played games before, if a building wasn't built, he would try to use other buildings to replace it.
Mako had just left his room when he encountered the priest Caspar-Ed and the Bloodstone Elder. They were currently in charge of the literacy education for the children in the castle.
As a transmigrator, Mako naturally knew the importance of education. He didn't expect them all to be successful. What he needed was for everyone to understand his orders and official documents.
Especially since he would have more land and population in the future, having this group of basic talents would make ruling much easier.
Knowledge on Westeros had always been in the hands of a few, which was not conducive to centralized rule. Mako wanted to build a powerful empire.
Not a feudal state like the Seven Kingdoms. Just look at the fate of House Targaryen, and you'll understand. Mako always believed that "being strong yourself is true strength."
In Mako's view, House Lannister was the family that played the game of power best. "The Old Lion" Tywin Lannister had always known that "the army and Gold" were the foundation for a family's continuation, so he had planned a lot for his family.
Unfortunately, the younger generation wasn't up to much. The few young people in the clan were more useless than the last, and the only one with any intelligence was a dwarf.
Mako would also learn to be like Tywin, controlling vast wealth and armies. Only then would he be qualified to stir up trouble in Westeros!
The third floor of Griffon Fortress had a super large hall that could accommodate over 2,000 people. It was spacious and bright, making it perfect for a classroom.
Looking at the tribal children constantly saluting him along the way, Mako was very satisfied with the work of the Bloodstone Elder and the others.
Mako believed that "etiquette" was the beginning of a nation's civilization. Plunder and slaughter would only lead to death and destruction. Holding a flower in one hand and a sword in the other, that was true strength.
After arriving on the first floor, Mako met Bloody Hand Blackstone and Bobby Lee again. They were now in charge of the castle's logistics and farm work.
Mako and the others were people, not just data in a game. The issues of eating, drinking, and relieving themselves were also a constant headache for Mako.
Fortunately, those magical buildings in Griffon Fortress had a complete set of living facilities. The moat beside the castle was the water source, continuously supplied with fresh water by the magical fountain on the castle.
The market, blacksmith, tavern, and militia huts were all surrounded by numerous residential buildings, all of which had a complete sewage system.
To prevent the residents from haphazardly dumping their "night soil," Mako also arranged for people to collect it uniformly. Five woolly rhinoceroses pulled a large cart daily, transporting the waste to the farmlands for processing.
Mako built several fermentation pits near the farmlands specifically for producing fertilizer, which also conveniently dealt with the "night soil.