Live Stream: I Am A Lord In Another World

“This is delicious!”

In one of the restaurants in Richard’s city, a noble was eating a bowl of noodles, eyes shining with delight.

It was just a bowl of ordinary noodle with meat sauce.

But people in this world had never tasted such things before.

Moreover, this world didn’t even have MSG, let alone soy sauce and other seasonings.

This restaurant was also run by Richard.

As the city’s population grew, Florencia City had become completely prosperous.

The area around the square had turned into the city’s commercial center.

Additionally, two streets perpendicular to the main avenue leading out of Richard’s castle had become popular food streets and shopping streets.

One street was lined with numerous restaurants and snack shops. The other had clothing stores, grocery shops, and more.

Most of the shops on these two streets were owned by Richard.

However, a small portion of the shops were rented out by him, earning him rental fees and commercial taxes.

Richard had hired a group of the most loyal older women from his territory to create various delicious dishes. These women were then assigned to different stores to manage them.

In addition to the head chefs, each restaurant had several assistants and helpers, which also addressed staffing issues.

“Not to mention, the food this lord has created is extraordinarily good.”

“Yeah, had I known there was such good food here, I wouldn’t have gone to Westgar City. You don’t know, I lost a cart of goods during the escape and ended up with a loss of several dozen gold coins.”

“Really? That’s a shame.”

“…”

In the restaurant, a group of nobles chatted and ate happily.

After staying in Richard’s city for two days, these nobles were completely won over by the city’s cuisine.

Every day, they sought out various foods in the city, and after eating, they would go to the other street to buy beautiful clothes and luxury items, feeling almost euphoric.

Richard had even set up a special shop for them, decorated in a lavish style with a golden theme that looked extremely luxurious and high-end. The items sold there were intimidating to ordinary citizens, with the cheapest costing 1 gold coin.

The nobles frequented the shop daily, spending a substantial amount of gold coins.

Initially, the nobles had some concerns about the city’s defenses, but seeing that Richard’s forces included Minotaurs and Centaurs eased their worries significantly.

Moreover, their concerns were moot since they had nowhere else to go.

“Master, according to the scouts, the rebels are attacking Stone Fort City, and there are also smaller groups of rebels sweeping through noble territories.”

After the nobles arrived, Richard dispatched numerous scouts to investigate the movements of the rebels. Every day, a steady stream of intelligence reports came in.

Richard’s cavalry had not yet been fully assembled; there were only about three hundred cavalrymen at present, and due to the need for extensive training, their combat effectiveness was not yet fully realized.

However, they were still useful for reconnaissance.

As for combat, the Centaurs and Minotaurs would handle that.

The rebels essentially had no cavalry.

They had no resources to form cavalry, and with the threat of starvation, it was better to use horses for food.

Of course, if the rebels captured several cities and obtained food, their situation might change.

But that was not a concern for now.

As long as the cavalry scouts were not ambushed or surrounded, ordinary rebels couldn’t catch them.

Gazia continued to oversee the intelligence gathering, though Richard occasionally checked in.

Gazia assigned two horses to each scout, rotating them to ensure the horses remained fit and that the messages could be delivered as quickly as possible.

Additionally, due to the demi-human’s natural ability to communicate with some animals, Gazia was experimenting with communicating with ravens.

Yes, ravens, not pigeons.

Richard wanted pigeons, but there were none around his territory.

While live pigeons could be bought online, transporting live animals was impractical.

Ravens were actually smarter than pigeons.

In terms of intelligence, a raven’s IQ is about ten times that of a pigeon.

Moreover, ravens are much faster than pigeons, can fly at higher altitudes, and are less likely to be shot down by arrows.

However, ravens are not easy to tame and do not have the homing instinct of pigeons. They can even get lost right at their own doorstep.

Nonetheless, with careful training, demi-humans could use ravens effectively. For example, some of the large tribes in the Beast Kingdom use ravens for communication.

Interestingly, Miwei had shown a remarkable talent for this.

In fact, when Miwei drove off the python last time, Richard had noticed her talent for communicating with animals.

One day, Richard and Miwei spent most of the day in the forest to the north, which was now part of the Beast Kingdom, capturing several ravens.

“There seem to be fewer ravens now,” Miwei said.

Richard had noticed the same.

The last time he went to rescue the Fox tribe and passed through this forest, he had startled a large number of ravens. But now, only a few could be seen.

“This indicates that other demi-humans have come here for hunting.”

“What kind of demi-humans?” Richard asked.

“It should be goblins,” Mia replied as she returned from another direction. “I found goblin footprints. Goblins have been active in this area, but they likely aren’t staying long; they’re just hunting. There aren’t many prey here, so they left quickly.”

Mia elaborated on her observations.

“Ah, will they attack master’s territory?” Miwei asked with some concern.

“No need to worry, Miwei. Right now, ordinary goblin tribes pose no threat to master. However, master should increase defenses,” Mia said.

Richard nodded slightly.

Upon returning to his territory, he increased the defenses to the northeast and stationed two scout teams there.

Miwei then began training the ravens.

Her training quickly yielded results. By the second day, the ravens were already capable of carrying messages.

With the ravens, message delivery became much more convenient and faster. Reports from the scouts Richard sent out came in continuously.

The rebels’ strategy for attacking Stone Fort City was still based on overwhelming numbers.

Because Stone Fort City received advance warning, the city’s governor hastily recruited several thousand militia to defend the city, making the rebel attack less successful.

However, the situation at Stone Fort City remained grim.

“I hope they can hold out a little longer,” Richard said, looking towards Stone Fort City.

The farther Stone Fort City can hold out, the more time he has to prepare for battle.

Richard wasn’t overly worried. He recalled several thousand bandits and workers to dig a moat not far from the city walls. He also planned to build some low walls to create multiple layers of defense.

These low walls, about two to three meters high, were not very tall but still difficult for ordinary people to climb.

Their purposes were manifold: they could form multiple layers of defense and deplete the rebels’ ladders.

Richard planned to place large amounts of barbed wire between these low walls.

The moat could be filled with water from the Kava River using pumps.

【Anchor, make the moat a bit wider.】

【Better add some crocodiles in it.】

【Great white sharks would work too.】

【Just kidding!】

【Throw yourselves in instead.】

【…】

In recent days, the popularity of Richard’s livestream had been increasing.

Every day, viewers were glued to their phones.

When the stream went live, it quickly reached over a million viewers and soared to four million within minutes.

The number of people tipping in the livestream kept growing.

Richard had already withdrawn all the tips from last month, amounting to tens of millions.

With this money, he bought a large amount of food and weapons in the past few days.

The new soldiers were finally fully equipped.

Additionally, Richard purchased a substantial quantity of arrows.

The preparations for battle were thorough.

Soon after, a large number of refugees appeared outside the territory.

“Where are you from?” Fred asked the refugees.

“Sir, we come from Baron Henry’s territory. Baron Henry’s land was attacked by the rebels, and many people were forced into service. We didn’t want to join them, so we had to escape,” one of the refugees replied.

While the rebels were attacking Stone Fort City, they had also sent small groups to raid the noble territories.

Although called “small groups,” they were still quite large, numbering at least a few thousand.

Fred said, “All of you need to register here. You will stay in the observation area first. After the observation period and registration are complete, and your backgrounds are verified, you will be moved to the official refugee area. Any costs incurred during this period will need to be repaid with your future work earnings.”

The refugees were overjoyed to find that Richard’s city would accept them and cooperated fully with the registration process.

In the following days, more refugees continued to arrive.

Most of these refugees were from noble territories in the northeast. After their lands were attacked by the rebels, many were forcibly recruited, and those who did not wish to join the rebels had no choice but to flee.

Of course, some people actively joined the rebels, especially those who were out of food and had a history of troublemaking.

“Master, the number of refugees is increasing,” Mia said softly, looking down from Richard’s castle.

Richard nodded.

His city was quite large; although many areas were still under construction, it was designed to accommodate around two to three hundred thousand people.

Accommodating the refugees was not an issue.

If the population grew too large, the city could always be expanded further.

Currently, refugees were being housed in tents. They were placed in different areas.

Newly arrived refugees were initially placed in the observation area. After a few days, once all registration and background checks were complete, they could move to the official refugee area.

Some of the earliest arrivals had already been working for Richard for a few months.

As they moved into better areas, some refugees even had their own housing.

With the influx of refugees, other nobles also began to escape to the city.

Those who were slow to escape and were not well-informed were overtaken by the raiding rebels, who seized their castles and killed them.

The nobles who managed to escape were those with better information.

Some nobles did not know about Richard’s city.

However, with the rebels and even demi-humans everywhere, these nobles hoped to hide in the border regions and stumbled upon Richard’s city.

They were overjoyed and wanted to enter the city.

Compared to hiding in the wilderness where they could be discovered by rebels or demi-humans at any moment, the safety of a city was clearly much better.

Upon their arrival, Fred charged them a protection fee of 10 gold coins per noble, as per Richard’s earlier instructions.

“10 gold coins per person and only allowed to bring 10 guards? Isn’t Florencia City just a baron’s territory?” one noble complained.

Fred replied calmly, “Even if Lord Richard is only a baron, since Florencia City belongs to Lord Richard, you must follow his rules if you want to enter. If you are unwilling, Lord Richard will not force you.”

Fred then added, “By the way, I was also a baron before, but now I serve under Lord Richard.”

After hearing Fred’s words, the nobles, after some hesitation, generally paid the protection fee and had their excess guards disarmed.

After all, each armed guard meant an additional 1 gold coin, and the nobles were reluctant to spend more.

A few nobles were unwilling to pay and chose to hide at the border with their guards, as they felt that Richard’s city might not be entirely safe.

However, these nobles would soon regret their decision.

The border was frequently patrolled by demi-humans, and their small number of guards were insufficient to deal with the threats.

With the increasing number of refugees, the population in Richard’s city grew further.

Soon, the population of Richard’s city exceeded 50,000.

Under Fred’s management, everything was running smoothly.

Richard also established a city guard of several hundred men to maintain order.

Any bullies among the refugees who abused others were immediately hanged.

Even one noble’s guard who mistreated civilians was hanged, and the noble was fined ten gold coins.

Under such strict measures, no one dared to cause trouble.

The arriving nobles also began to restrain their own guards.

The later-arriving nobles quickly discovered the many marvelous things in Richard’s city.

Thus, they followed the example of the earlier nobles, spending gold coins every day to sample the cuisine, buy the “luxuries” prepared for them, and continuously contributed their gold to Richard.

In fact, among the fleeing refugees, besides nobles and merchants, there were also quite a few relatively wealthy individuals.

Especially those who had originally lived in the Westgar City.

Many poor refugees didn’t even attempt to escape; those who did escape were usually those with some assets, afraid of having their wealth seized by the rebels.

These people spent significantly in the city each day.

Among them were many skilled workers.

For instance, Richard recruited over twenty blacksmiths at once, who had previously worked in the official weapon workshops in Westgar City, specializing in weapon forging.

Richard offered them high salaries, provided housing, and retained these blacksmiths.

Besides blacksmiths, there were also many stonemasons and bricklayers whom Richard attracted with high wages.

There were also several well-educated individuals whom he hired.

Many of these people had some talents, and Richard even recruited a few assistants for Fred to help with various tasks.

As the city expanded, the demand for skilled individuals increased. If Richard did not want to be involved in every detail, recruiting talented people was essential.

Overall, the turmoil was a good thing for Richard. It led to explosive development in his territory.

With the rebels disrupting all order in the northeastern region, once the refugees experienced the conveniences of Richard’s city, it was unlikely many would want to leave.

Richard also continued to expand his army.

The elite legion still consisted of 3,000 men.

The centaur warriors still numbered a thousand, while the fox archer units had increased to 300.

Richard had increased the number of crossbowmen to 1,500. When the rebel army charged in, the crossbowmen merely needed to load their bolts and pull the trigger; it didn’t require much technical skill.

The number of other militia continued to grow steadily.

Richard didn’t blindly expand his forces, as he believed that quality was more important than quantity.

“Master, Stone Fort City has fallen!”

A few days later, Richard received a report from Gazia.

After besieging Stone Fort City for five days and nights, tens of thousands of rebel forces finally captured the fort city, the second largest city in the northeastern region.

Meanwhile, Richard’s scouts had already discovered a sweeping rebel army not far from his territory.