Pioneer Lord: A Leisurely Imperial Life

Chapter 217 New Guests Arrive

Follow Zang Tianmin's pen and embark on an adventure in "The Pioneer Lord: A Leisurely Imperial Life" on Cola Novels.

Normally, a town should be bustling with people coming and going.

In fact, the more bustling the place, the more prosperous it is.

Richard certainly hoped that Chiffon Lane would be bustling with activity, but unfortunately, due to its extremely remote location, Chiffon Lane has only seen two and a half groups of customers in total.

Yes.

Two and a half batches!

The first batch of visitors are still fermenting and rotting at the bottom of the latrine, while the second batch consists of Charles, who passed by twice, so it should be counted as one and a half batches.

And today, finally, a new face has appeared.

How rare!

So much so that the lord, wanting to make a good impression on them, planned to personally entertain these guests who had come from afar.

...

"Are you here to die?"

The hospitable host frowned as he paced back and forth outside the east gate of the city, scrutinizing the eighty-odd orcs before him.

These creatures were generally a size larger than humans, with rough, dark green skin, fangs protruding from their thick lips, and covered in filthy animal hides.

At this moment, they all knelt on the ground with their heads hanging down, not daring to breathe, let alone look up and meet Richard's gaze.

Because around them were more than a hundred human soldiers riding unicorns, all wielding greatswords of azure blue, pointing them down at their throats.

The terrifying armor, emanating magical snowflakes and exuding an oppressive aura of extraordinary power, made the legs of these orcs, who had been struggling to make ends meet for years, tremble.

These green-bottomed creatures suddenly appeared at the eastern edge of the black pine forest and were spotted by the vigilant soldiers, who then arrested them all.

Seeing that no one responded, Richard kicked over the basketball hoop they had brought and said irritably:

"What, are you planning to plunder my territory first, then use these broken baskets to pack up your spoils and take them back?"

The feud between humans and orcs dates back to before the founding of the Star Empire.

In the beginning, these green-skinned creatures lived in the heart of the North. Taking advantage of the constant internal wars among humans, they frequently raided the borders, committing all sorts of atrocities such as burning, killing, and looting.

Later, when the empire's situation stabilized, the royal family, in alliance with Frostfolk, forcibly drove them to the barren Cape region to eke out a living.

Even so, they haven't stopped all these years. They would sneak across the border from time to time, grab a handful of loot in the eastern part of the North and run away, like annoying hyenas.

Richard truly never expected that chiffon cake would be "visited" by orcs. It was both novel and disgusting.

...

The leading orc was a mid-level transcendent, appearing to be the youngest and strongest, with bulging muscles, yet at this moment he resembled a tamed wild beast, his voice trembling slightly as he spoke:

"Honorable human lord, we, the Varg tribe, are now subjects of your empire and have done nothing wrong."

His voice trailed off, becoming increasingly soft and pleading.

"The Wag tribe just wants to go into the black pine forest to gather some food to take back so that the elderly and children can survive. Can't you please let the Wag go?"

The large orc tribes were quite powerful, and when they ran out of food, they dared to openly raid human territories.

The Kwag tribe was just a small tribe, and could only sneak in occasionally like rats to hunt some prey, dig up some edible roots and roots, and pick some wild fruits.

I never expected that such a frightening stone city would suddenly rise from the ground outside the Black Pine Forest this year.

And so many knights riding divine beasts and wearing magical armor—if we had known this would happen, we wouldn't have dared to come even if we had ten times the courage!

...

Richard's lips twitched slightly.

He simply couldn't understand what had gotten into the royal family that would accept orcs as subjects.

Even being classified as a second-class citizen or an unregistered vagrant would be better than this, right?

He shook his head and said:

"Even citizens of the Empire must abide by the Empire's rules! This black pine forest belongs to an owner. Your unauthorized mining is a violation of Imperial law, understand?"

"Even if I kill you all right now and hang your corpses in the forest, the Empire won't say a word."

That's actually a bit of a shameless thing to say.

The black pine forest was Frostfollicles' property, but Richard spoke with such conviction that it seemed as if the forest had been his from the very beginning.

Anyway, these bumpkin orcs couldn't possibly know the inside story.

Sure enough, these words struck like a bolt from the blue, and all the orcs' faces turned ashen with despair.

Several female orcs even secretly wiped away tears, letting out suppressed sobs.

...

Richard watched them wipe away their tears with indifference, feeling nothing at all.

Chiffon is too close to the black pine forest. This pine forest is a natural barrier for the territory. If we let these green-bottomed animals run wild in there...

Not only would it disrupt the entire defense system, but it could also threaten the territory and even attract a larger orc tribe.

This kind of thing must be stopped at its root; we must cut off their outstretched hands.

But before that...

Richard stared at the leading orc, his tone softening slightly as he asked:

"I ask you, do you know what kind of deal the Frost Duke made with those large tribes in your Cape Region that allowed the Empire to accept you as its subjects?"

Although he wasn't particularly interested in the Empire's policies, he was genuinely curious as to why the Empire would accept them. Was there some big news or scandal involved?

The orc leader shook his head blankly, his face full of confusion.

"Honorable human lord, we do not know. The elders in the tribe only said that the Star Empire has issued an order to make us its subjects, and that Lord Frostfox and Lord Wolf will send a large amount of food to the Cape Region next year."

This answer is even more baffling!

According to the feudal system, the Cape region should have been divided into countless small pieces, which were then granted to pioneering nobles to cultivate and manage.

Under these circumstances, it is simply illogical for the Frost and Wolf families to provide a large amount of food to the orcs!

He suddenly remembered that his elder brother was not in the Northern Territory, but had gone to the Cape Region, and Earl of Benlang had also gone to the capital. Could it be related to this matter?

Forget it.

Richard was too lazy to think about things unrelated to Chiffon right now; the key was how to deal with these green-skinned things.

He thought for a moment, then slowly raised his right hand...

...

Just as he was about to say something, an untimely gurgling sound rang out.

The sound came from inside the lead orc's stomach, and was exceptionally clear outside the silent city gates.

The raised hand suddenly froze.

This isn't the kind of noise you'd hear after missing a meal or two; it's the kind of groaning that comes from someone who's been on the verge of starvation for a long time, with their stomach grinding away in hunger.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Richard's mind like lightning!

He slowly lowered his hand and asked:

"How many people are in your tribe? How far is it from the Black Pine Forest? And how did you manage to find your way here?"

The orc scratched the grime-covered back of his neck, looking hesitant, as if weighing whether telling the truth would lead to even more terrible consequences.

Only when he felt the human lord's increasingly cold gaze did he hurriedly point to the rolling mountains to the east of Chiffon Wasteland and stammered in reply:

"There it is! The Wag tribe has more than 500 Wags. After crossing five mountains, it takes three days to walk to reach the tribe."

Orcs have far greater stamina than humans; what takes them three days to walk would take an ordinary human at least six days.

But if it were a unicorn, it could arrive in a day, and this distance made Richard's eyes light up instantly.