Chapter 881: Activity from the Giant Valley
After the Undead Tribe completely occupied the Giant's Ridge Mountains, they began assisting Yinbutu in constructing a new royal palace.
The new palace was chosen to be located between two rivers in the Rolins Forest… One of the major rivers was the border between Yinbutu and Giant Valley.
Logically, the palace shouldn't be built at the border, but for Yinbutu, where most bustling cities are by the sea, this location is most suitable for avoiding the Magicplague.
After all, being surrounded by the forest, and with the two massive rivers from the north and south, plus the Giant's Ridge Mountains to the east, provides innate defense.
Moreover, the palace they chose isn't luxurious; once this disaster ends, they can completely treat this as a forest villa and renovate a new palace on the old site… This is what Queen Yinbutu and the Crown Prince told the restless and discontented King.
But the nobles of Yinbutu are well aware that the Royal Family certainly won't burn money to build a new palace; only the King, who still lives in a dream, thinks their family still has money to burn.
Before the Undead Tribe arrived in Yinbutu, the Yinbutu Royal Family, which determined the palace construction task, had already received various architectural plans sent by these elves… The Undead Tribe maliciously entrusted this design task to the Tower of Dawn near Agleya.
Facing the Morninglord, dressed in bright yellow and red robes, even the King of Yinbutu, who wished to design a more satisfactory palace for himself, quietly chose the simplest design among the palace blueprints claimed to be meticulously drawn by the Lansendel Priests.
After all, these two architectural masters are to remain in Yinbutu during the palace construction.
The King of Yinbutu doesn't wish for Lansendel to suddenly take an interest in his tiny country… But the Lord of Dawn might demand the construction of his temple there, having seen his priests' work.
Yinbutu cannot afford the Lord of Dawn's favor!
They depend on the Dragon Lich!
The King of Yinbutu now only hopes this palace can be completed quickly so these Morninglords can leave… With the sole troublemaker among the client calming down, the palace construction will be much easier.
As for why the Undead Tribe performed such a crazy act, it was, of course, Queen Yinbutu responsible for paying… The Royal Family's property couldn't support the construction cost of a new palace; they've already exhausted funds by hiring the Undead Tribe to eliminate the goblins on the Giant's Ridge Mountains… Paid a sum hoping someone would help make the sole critic shut up.
Her own request was that it should be more suitable for the forest, fresh and natural… 'Snow Cloud Peak' took a long time to figure out that the Queen's requirement was as cost-saving as possible.
That certainly isn't a problem.
As for these Lansendel priests, it's easy for the Undead Tribe to invite them to act; they know very well what might captivate architecture enthusiasts… by packaging and sending those classic buildings sold to Hill from various countries to the Tower of Dawn, they instantly invited two high-level, currently idle architects!
The Yinbutu Royal Family was indeed daunted; the reason they didn't make any further requests was not just the fear of Lansendel, but the architects of the Dawn Temple aren't easy to invite.
The art masters of Toril come down to work for generally only two reasons: one is enough of a challenge, giving them new inspiration and achievements, the other is being showered with money until they're naturally inspired.
Rolins Forest is divided equally between Yinbutu and Giant Valley, but the forest on Yinbutu's side is relatively small, with most places being occupied by those two rivers.
The Undead Tribe very considerately constructed a 20-meter high wall along that river as a boundary, directly leading to the edge of the Giant's Ridge Mountains.
For the Yinbutu Royal Family, blocking ordinary magical creatures and newly bred goblins is enough.
As for other functionalities, they don't need them at all.
The Yinbutu Royal Family was indifferent about placing their capital so close to the border, not just because the troublesome goblins had been completely eradicated, but because of the unavoidable reality of this world… to the mighty who could break into their palace, where the palace is doesn't matter.
And ordinary enemies, unless billions of unkillable goblins appeared again, are of no use against the Yinbutu Royal Family, which has quite a few mages.
The reason they're currently struggling so much is due to the Magicplague's restrictions on spells.
Therefore, in the end, the greatest function of this wall might be to prevent flooding, as the waterproof capability of Blue Oak Rock is quite decent.
The Undead Tribe also constructed a wall on the Giant's Ridge Mountains… as a trade, the southeastern peak overlooking Giant Valley belongs to the Undead Tribe.
None of the Yinbutu Royal Family objected, having witnessed the battle between Celene and the Goblin Chief God, no matter how many beautiful fantasies they had, such as mining, in the past hundred years or so, they wouldn't recall them.
Teraxil Elves don't care about the wrath of Bane and Magnubiyeh, but the Yinbutu people can't… no one wants to court death by going to this mountain range.
The Giant's Ridge Mountains will be forever recorded in history along with the beautiful story of Bane and Magnubiyeh, and the Yinbutu people just hope when those deities think of this mountain, they won't associate it with them.
If not for considering national dignity, they would even let the Teraxil Elves, wanting a mountain peak, occupy the entire mountain range.
As for Giant Valley, targeted by the Teraxil Elves… it's none of their business, right?
The neighboring kingdom, a kingdom much more powerful than Yinbutu, is kind enough not to directly ask them to die. Who would care if they are unlucky?
The Yinbutu Royal Palace was built quickly, thanks to the number of Earth Mages from the Undead Tribe and the effective coordination of the two Lords of Dawn. The work was completed almost entirely in three days.
In the usual style of the Undead Tribe, they would normally give a bit more effort towards landscaping within the palace. Hill thought this was due to the habits brought by those Black Rose folks... Offering basic green space is almost standard practice for large construction firms.
But the King of Yinbutu, who heard the area was extremely safe, came over with his beloved mistress for a look. Though he didn't dare voice any opinions against the two Lords of Dawn, he could summon his son to scold him.
The reason he used was absurd... He accused Prince Holmes of not respecting him after becoming Crown Prince Regent by not proactively coming over to greet... Yet, this Yinbutu Crown Prince was plainly inspecting the city walls in the mountains.
In fact, the real reason was understood by the nearby Undead Tribe members at work... The impoverished language of Yinbutu rendered it obvious; he was displeased that the Queen only used marble as the basic building material.
Watching the King of Yinbutu holding his voluptuous mistress, yelling with a twisted face at his only legitimate son, the Undead Tribe gladly handed over to this king a pristine Royal Palace.
When communicating with 'Lu Huayu', the subtle remark was made: your country's king seems to have unique requirements for many things, so it's not appropriate for us to exceed our duties.
Prince Holmes could only muster a bitter smile.
Fortunately, as they had a decent relationship, 'Lu Huayu' agreed to build a small estate for the Yinbutu Crown Prince and his mother, the Queen, at the foot of the mountain.
Even though they were on the same line as the Royal Palace, at least one was to the east and one to the west.
Once those great nobility occupied the small spaces in between, he would only need to wait for the day Prince Holmes formally moved into the Royal Palace.
Before that, he should probably stay away from the palace... Yinbutu only needed the king's opinion for significant matters, after all.
In such a small and weak country, how many significant matters could there be?
Most of the government affairs could be handled at his estate.
Prince Holmes exhaled long; now that the substance was in hand, he could put the appearance aside for now!
He assigned all dealings with the Yinbutu Royal Family to 'Lu Huayu', while 'Snow Cloud Peak' and 'Rain Falling on Mortal Dust', along with most command group members, stayed on the southeastern hill to observe the movements in Giant Valley.
This nation isn't as inactive as the Yinbutu Crown Prince thinks; the ones sent to monitor the Undead aren't humans.
Rather, they are various magical animals... Especially numerous small animals.
Observing the little birds whose flight paths were clearly abnormal, the Undead Tribe sneered... Who could outdo them in using animal spies?
They could even have their bird friends act as photographers!
However, these birds were clearly under someone else's control, and 'Snow Cloud Peak' hoped to find this person's whereabouts, so they tirelessly monitored the forest on the opposite side.
"Something's odd here!" 'Rain Falling on Mortal Dust' muttered, "These birds seem like they're mimicking flight rather than flying on their own.
Even if they're controlled, they wouldn't forget their instincts!"
'Snow Cloud Peak' held his magical telescope... This thing allowed him to see within 20 kilometers, but unfortunately, the dense forest blocked most of the view with leaves.
He shook his head: "When liches control animals, they use necromancy. It's quite likely that the souls of those birds belong to some human!
Didn't you notice these small birds are all grouped and flying in similar paths?
Perhaps a flock of birds has only one mind directing them.
It seems this is something concocted by the liches' students."
'Rain Falling on Mortal Dust' scoffed, "Better to hide in the trees and watch ourselves; I can't believe they don't have an Eye of the Dead by now."
"Are you even thinking?" 'Snow Cloud Peak' absentmindedly responded to him, "The Eye of the Dead is a blatant giveaway! Those liches now only want to monitor our actions, not provoke us into direct combat.
We have two Lords of Dawn with us, don't we?
If they spot an obvious Eye of the Dead staring at them from the sky, wouldn't they loudly charge in the name of Lansendel?"