Solmere’s Lord had spent years forcing rapid territorial growth: mines seized from neighbors, repeated raids, resource wars and core challenges. Every successful victory made the man greedier.
He had reached Orange quickly, then tried to push toward Yellow before his territory could support it.
Three neighboring Lords formed an alliance after getting tired of his antics. The Core War lasted twelve days but Solmere’s Lord died on the eleventh, and the Territory Core shattered on the twelfth.
Antony looked over the crowd.
"How many survived?"
Edrin’s jaw tightened.
"We don’t know."
Antony’s expression softened slightly.
"How many came with you?" He asked.
"Six hundred and thirteen."
"Families?"
"Many."
"Soldiers?"
"Seventy-eight trained. Another hundred with some combat experience."
"Craftsmen?"
Edrin looked surprised.
"Yes."
"How many?"
"Several dozen."
"Builders?"
"Twenty-three."
"Healers?"
"Nine."
"Farmers?"
"More than a hundred."
Antony nodded.
Edrin stared at him, his gaze filled with confusion.
"My Lord?"
"You came here for asylum."
"Yes."
"Why?"
The Dawnwing Angel hesitated, then looked toward the walls.
"We heard you don’t raid weaker territories."
Antony said nothing.
"We heard your roads are safe."
Still nothing.
"We heard your people eat regularly."
Alric glanced sideways at Antony.
Edrin continued.
"And we heard that when your population grew, you built more houses instead of simply taking more soldiers."
That one made Antony uncomfortable for reasons he couldn’t explain.
Edrin lowered his head.
"We don’t ask for luxury."
Antony looked toward the refugees again. A little girl with golden-tipped wings was sleeping against her mother’s shoulder. An elderly couple stood behind one wagon. Several injured soldiers leaned on spears being used as walking sticks.
Antony sighed.
"You’ll be screened."
Edrin immediately nodded.
"Of course."
"Anyone involved in crimes at Solmere will answer for them."
"Understood."
"Your soldiers surrender their weapons until Commander Seris clears them."
Edrin hesitated.
Antony patienly waited for the man to decide.
A few seconds later, the older Angel nodded.
"Agreed."
Antony looked at Alric.
"Temporary housing?"
"We can manage four hundred comfortably."
"And the rest?"
"We’ll need tents."
"No."
Alric frowned.
"No?"
"Use the unfinished western residences."
"They don’t have interior walls yet."
"They have roofs." Antony turned toward one of the nearby administrators. "Move construction crews there first."
"My Lord, that delays the warehouse expansion."
"The grain isn’t sleeping outside."
The administrator immediately nodded.
"Understood."
Antony looked back toward Edrin.
"You’ll be fed tonight. Registration begins tomorrow."
Edrin’s eyes widened as gratitude filled them.
"You’re accepting us?"
"Provisionally."
"My Lord..." Antony raised a hand. "Don’t thank me yet. You’re going to work."
For the first time, Edrin almost smiled.
"We expected to."
"Good." Anthony glanced toward the hundreds behind him. "Welcome to Urelias Territory."
The arrival of the Dawnwing refugees accelerated problems Antony had already begun facing.
Population management, employment, housing, food distribution, crime records, work assignments, public disputes, residency, taxes and trade permits.
Antony had once been able to recognize most people he passed in the market but that stopped being possible.
Eventually, Oren walked into Antony’s study carrying eleven separate document bundles and dropped them on the desk.
Antony stared incredulously at them.
"What is that?"
"Your punishment."
"For what?"
"Refusing to create departments three years ago."
Antony looked at the documents, then at Oren.
"I was managing fine."
"You were managing fewer than four thousand people."
"We don’t have that many more."
"We crossed five thousand yesterday."
Antony stopped.
"What?"
Oren smiled.
"Five thousand and eighteen."
Antony leaned back, that had happened faster than expected. Some growth came from refugees. Some from smaller migration groups. Some from workers deliberately recruited through merchant caravans.
And some... Antony had begun noticing the first effects of Roxanna’s territory trait.
Pregnancies were slowly increasing,not dramatically enough to create suspicion yet, but enough that healers had begun commenting on it.
Oren tapped the documents.
"You cannot approve every work permit personally."
"I don’t."
"You approved forty-three yesterday."
Antony stared at the documents as though they had done something wrong.
Oren crossed his arms.
"You need departments."
He heavily sighed.
"Fine."
"That was easier than expected."
"I’m tired."
"Fatherhood?"
"Government."
"Which one is worse?"
Antony considered it.
"Government doesn’t smile at me."
Oren froze for a moment as he stared at him.
Antony smiled faintly.
"Michael started genuinely smiling a few days ago whenever I entered the room."
Oren laughed.
"So fatherhood wins."
"By a lot."
The administrative restructuring began the following week. They created a resource Department, construction and Roads, trade and Commerce, agriculture, security, health, civil Registration and education.
Antony kept the structure simple. He hated bureaucracy but he hated doing everyone else’s work more.
Skilled refugees and residents were appointed where appropriate rather than simply handing positions to soldiers. That caused some resistance from older Angels.
Antony ignored it.
"Can he do the job?" Antony asked.
"Yes, my Lord," the older Angel replied.
"Then he gets the job."
"But he arrived only two months ago."
"And?"
"He hasn’t served Urelias Territory long enough."
Antony looked at the elder sitting across from him.
"How long should someone live here before they’re allowed to be competent?"
The elder went quiet.
Antony leaned back.
"We are not building a territory where loyalty means being useless for a long time."
The elder sighed.
"You phrase things terribly."
"I’ve been told."
Territory development affected Antony himself more than he initially noticed.
It began with small changes; his mana recovered faster, his senses expanded farther while standing inside his borders and his wings became stronger.
One evening, while Michael slept against his chest and Roxanna sat beside him reading through a report, a system notification appeared.
[Territory Development Threshold reached.]
[Lord-Territory synchronization increased.]
[Personal attributes updated.]
Both of them looked up at the notification.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Apparently the territory likes me today."
"How generous."
Antony summoned his status.
[Lord Status]
[Name: Antony Urelias]
[Race: Mist Angel - Lord Variant]
[Age: 26]
[Territory Core: RED]
[Personal Combat Evaluation: HIGH ORANGE]
[Lord-Territory Synchronization: 38%]
[Strength: 67]
[Agility: 63]
[Endurance: 71]
[Mana: 89]
[Perception: 74]
[Willpower: 82]
[Authority: 56]
[Primary Affinities: Mist, Light, Wind]
[Skills]
[Mist Dominion Lv.4]
[Light Spear Lv.3]
[Wing Burst Lv.3]
[Territory Sense Lv.4]
[Lord’s Reinforcement Lv.3]
[Bloodline Resonance Lv.1]
[Family Skills: 1]
[Family Territory Traits: 1]