Chapter 42 — The Camp

"Simpleton! A duke has the right of coinage!" Amber's eyes went wide, and she whipped around to Gao Yang. "So you were already scheming back then to melt down the antiques here?!"

"You could say that," Gao Yang admitted without the slightest pressure. "I am now an unprecedented duke without land—my domain is for the moment zero, and I have to break the ground myself. But even without territory, the various privileges attached to a duke's identity are, in legal principle, 'naturally inherent.' The right of coinage is merely one of them."

Amber stared at Gao Yang, eyes bulging, and in the end could only sigh: "You ancient great nobles really know how to play. These clodhopper nobles nowadays who know nothing but digging pits in their domains to extort tolls from passing merchants—they truly can't compare with you."

To that, Gao Yang had only one answer: "Set your sights further. Even this entire vault is nothing worth mentioning compared with the future."

Then he instructed Byron and Rebecca to each pack a portion of the crystals and coins, and made ready to leave the place for now.

This vault was already in hand, but there was still no way to put everything here to use just yet. First the camp below had to be established; then trustworthy soldiers would transport the vault's contents—above all the weapons and equipment—to the camp in batches. At the same time, guards would have to be arranged for the vault. Though the magic gate protected it, now that he had come here himself, he could not go on leaving the vault untended in the mountains.

And that ancient warrior outside the ruins needed to be buried anew—a heap of rubble hardly counted as a proper grave. Now that people from the civilized world had returned to this land, a warrior who died in battle deserved a proper burial.

After sealing the vault once more with the platinum disc, Gao Yang left the place.

The camp near the riverbank was still being raised in frantic bustle, though it was nearing completion.

The two knights, Byron and Philip, had purchased a great quantity of tents in Tansang Town—in truth, only the canvas and timber needed for pitching tents. Once on site it still had to be worked up on the spot before it could become temporary shelter; but the first batch of the advance party were all skilled hands, and they raised the tents with flying speed, with Hedy lending some auxiliary spells to help besides. The camp had already taken rough shape.

Following the plan Gao Yang had left in advance, all the tents were pitched on the south side of the Whitewater River, roughly forming a fan shape. Grain, iron tools, and other vital supplies were stacked at the center of the camp, while the prefabricated timber they had brought was piled by the riverbank. The flatbed carts and covered wagons used in transport, once emptied, were drawn up around the camp to serve as a temporary barrier until a wall could be built—the mana tide had receded, true, but this was a desolate mountain wilderness where civilization had broken off, and who knew what savage beasts might come charging out?

Beside the tents at the center of the camp, Gao Yang found Hedy, her face thick with weariness.

He trusted those ancient crystals could lift the weary lady's spirits.