Shay has been very busy lately, not only having to settle the pioneers he manages but also planning future town construction and coordinating various matters—almost to the point of being run off his feet.
After all, establishing a settlement is always fraught with endless tasks at first; everything needs to be arranged properly to ensure the normal operation of the settlement, so it’s only natural that Shay is a bit exhausted.
Fortunately, after putting everything in order, he can finally relax a bit.
Currently, the pioneers in the settlement managed by Shay are still relying on setting up tents for temporary shelter, while the housing side is still in the groundwork phase and lumber cutting.
Speaking of this, Shay had to express his gratitude for the abundant timber resources in the Northern Territory and Perfikot’s permission to chop wood for building houses.
It’s worth noting that during Shay’s previous stay in the colony, one could hardly see stretches of forest, as timber had become a scarce commodity that needed to be imported from other places, truly giving Shay a sense of the world’s disparity.
The need for Perfikot’s permission is due to noble and lordly privileges. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel※fire.net
According to the laws and customs of Victory from ancient times, the trees, mountains, and rivers within a noble’s territory are sacred and inviolable lordly property; conducting extraction, logging, and hunting without the lord’s consent is deemed an infringement of lordly property.
In the past, if a lord was merciful, this might result in just a whipping.
But if they encountered not-so-merciful lords, the decision to cut off a hand or a head would just depend on their mood.
However, most lords don’t impose excessive restrictions in this regard; it’s usually permitted for the populace to chop wood and engage in fishing and hunting, albeit these activities are subject to taxes paid to the lord.
Perfikot also enacted certain relevant laws for the forests of the Northern Territory, such as prohibiting reckless deforestation.
Even though the doomsday winter is just two years away, this makes the protection of timber resources even more necessary, as once the doomsday winter arrives, no trees could possibly take root, sprout, and continue growing at temperatures below minus dozens of degrees.
In such an environment, timber resources would become non-renewable; the existing forest resources in the Northern Territory would become precious resources for the future.
As such, Perfikot does not allow indiscriminate chopping; even those like Shay, who need a large amount of timber for settlement construction, must register and report, with dedicated personnel coming for supervision and inspection to ensure no excessive logging.
Initially, Shay didn’t take this matter to heart, since he had done the necessary registration and reporting. Though there was supervision and inspection, as long as it wasn’t too excessive, chopping a bit more during logging wasn’t considered a big issue.
For most Empire officials, these non-principal issues would be overlooked, as long as Shay could work things out.
However, when Shay noticed that Perfikot actually dispatched the latest Flying Airship for inspections of settlements, he realized that certain matters might be more serious than he anticipated.
Therefore, Shay chose to stick to the quantity he applied for without trying to chop more.
After all, the Flying Airship being able to patrol also signifies that Perfikot might personally show up.
Though chopping a few more trees isn’t a big deal, it could still leave a bad impression, which isn’t beneficial for ambitious Shay.
Cutting a few less trees doesn’t affect settlement construction, so Shay naturally knows how to distinguish priorities.
However, more than this, the Flying Airship’s inspection indeed startled Shay.
Regarding the Empire’s new war weapon, Shay had heard about it before being ousted from the military; he’d come across navy friends in taverns who were full of envy and longing for being able to serve aboard the Flying Airship.
After all, in the previous war between the Empire and the Tri-Nation Alliance, the Flying Airship almost single-handedly stole the show.
Though thermobaric bombs are powerful, if not delivered by Flying Airship to enemy capitals, their intended effect can’t be realized.
So to serve aboard the Flying Airship has become something everyone in the Empire’s military envies and longs for.
Logically, the Empire’s newly built Flying Airships should be assigned to the military, but now they were given priority to the Northern Territory, causing Shay to secretly wonder about how influential and prestigious Perfikot must be in the Empire.
This also made Shay cautious and worried, fearing the Northern Territory’s pioneering plan might be more important than he imagined, or perhaps there’s some hidden secret within.
However, Shay didn’t delve deeper into potential secrets, but after noting this in mind, he focused entirely on the construction of the settlement.
He clearly understood that knowing the secrets of the Northern Territory wouldn’t benefit him.
On the contrary, it might invite unnecessary trouble.
In comparison, seriously doing his job and completing the settlement’s construction is what Shay should be focusing on now.
Only after accomplishing this can he earn Perfikot’s favor and gain the opportunity to become a Pioneer Knight.
For this reason, Shay became even more firm in his determination to bring his older brother to the Northern Territory.
Regardless of whether the letter he wrote before might still be on the way, he immediately grabbed paper and pen again, writing a more heartfelt letter, hoping to persuade his brother to come and help him in the Northern Territory.
Fortunately, there are Flying Airships patrolling the Northern Territory now; besides handling patrol duties, these airships also facilitate the sending and receiving of letters for each settlement and transport certain special supplies.
Even though they are light reconnaissance Flying Airships, they still possess remarkable carrying capacity, suitable for transporting much-needed materials to each settlement.
Because of this, Shay’s letters can be sent promptly instead of taking more time to first reach Beloburg and then be sent back to the mainland.
It’s worth mentioning that Shay’s settlement is about fifty kilometers from Beloburg; it took him and the pioneers a full three days to reach it.
If without the Flying Airship, Shay could only send someone on horseback or on foot, spending at least one or two days to walk from the settlement to Beloburg and then send the letter out.
Normally, the letter would follow the ships traveling between the Northern Territory and the Empire’s mainland or the New Continent colonies, drifting on the sea for one or two weeks before reaching the Empire’s mainland.
But with the Flying Airship, this aerial vessel can cross the ocean within a third of the time, delivering the letter back to the Empire’s mainland.
This is undoubtedly a significant advancement, also adding one more layer of aspiration for Shay towards the Flying Airship, as well as greater anticipation for his life in the Northern Territory.