It was already night when Richard returned to Twilight City.
The clear moon shone down from the sky, and the moonlight was like water. It covered the entire territory.
It looked like it had a remarkable layer of beauty.
In the square in front of the Lord's mansion, the residents who had just finished dinner actively attended literacy classes and learned new knowledge.
Everyone started learning from literacy, and the class only taught a little profound knowledge.
The "Shining Era" was unlike the Modern Era, where information exploded. The aristocrats monopolized the rare item, knowledge. How could ordinary people have the right to acquire it?
Only the great lord of the great Twilight City could be so kind and generous.
At this moment, he could display it in front of them so straightforwardly and let them learn as they pleased.
The residents, who had realized the value of knowledge, were hungry for it.
It was impossible to imagine how high the desire for knowledge of ordinary residents was without experiencing the background of this "Shining Era".
In this world, knowledge represented power, authority, social status, and class... It represented everything.
Even if enemies forced them to leave Twilight City one day, they could find a job without worrying about food and clothing with their strong literacy skills.
Not to mention, his lordship had also promised that those who studied well would have the opportunity to be specially trained.
These residents who couldn't even find a way to learn before had put in a lot of effort after they got this opportunity.
And the cohesion of the people's hearts with this policy was far beyond his imagination.
Some of these residents worshipped him as a god and almost wanted to build a church for him.
When Richard looked at the crowded square, he quietly dismissed the soldiers. He did not disturb the residents in class.
After he brought home Emily secretly to the Lord's mansion, he arranged for two people to take care of the centaur that had turned into a five or six-year-old girl under the surprised gazes of the maids.
After a sumptuous dinner, Emily couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. She was so sleepy that she kept yawning.
The centaur was nervous and unwilling to let go while it held Richard's hand. It said,
"Father, you won't leave me, right?"
Richard looked at the figure who sat on the carpet and gazed at him with a face full of dependence.
He felt a little strange in his heart.
Why did it feel so wonderful to be called father?
While he looked at a figure who trusted him without any reservation and looked at him helplessly, he felt something strange.
He touched its head.
"Emily, be good and go to sleep. I'll take you to collect honey tomorrow morning."
The little centaur's eyes immediately lit up. It pursed its lips as if it were reminiscing the taste it had just tasted.
"Father, is it the very, very sweet food we ate today?"
Richard smiled.
"Of course."
When the centaur looked forward to collecting honey the next day, Emily reluctantly went upstairs to rest with the maidservants.
Karu, whom Richard had summoned to the side, didn't feel as uncomfortable as the other heroes who had seen Emily's power like the god of war.
Even though she looked only 15 or 16 years old, she was still very young.
However, he still had many doubts in his heart.
"Lord Richard, how did Miss Emily become your daughter?"
Richard shrugged and leaned back in his comfortable chair. He recounted the day's events.
He finally said.
"I'm guessing that the collapse of the land of the broken laws caused Emily to lose all her power and also damaged her soul to a certain extent. It caused her to lose a large portion of her memories."
Therefore, its memory and thinking levels are only at the five or six-year-old child level.
Karu nodded thoughtfully.
After he thought for a moment, he hesitantly said, "My Lord, I suggest that if you have a way to help Miss Emily regain its memories, there is no need to rush."
"What do you mean?"
"We can let Miss Emily live in Twilight City for a while and build up her relationship..."
Richard shook his head.
It's still a question of whether she can recover or not. There's no point in thought about this. With Emily's current condition, it's probably going to be difficult.
It wouldn't be bad for the centaur if it could never regain its memories.
At least the other party could start over.
In the land of broken laws, he had dropped from a demigod to level 15. And he was even ordered around by a level-12 lord of the half-murloc.
When he thought about this long period that spanned hundreds of thousands of years, it was not a happy experience.
Now that the land of broken laws had collapsed, it wasn't bad for the other party to return to its carefree childhood.
How many people would dream of returning to their childhood...
The old gray-haired Karu nodded and did not say anything more.
He believed Richard knew better than he did.
"Lord Richard, the gray-colored dwarf is looking for apprentices to make alchemy bombs. Master Brown has proposed to me to build an alchemy workshop."
"We don't have a drawing at the moment, but Master Brown said he knows how to build it and doesn't need drawing."
It humored Richard's curiosity.
"Do you agree?"
"This still needs your decision."
"Let him list the resources we need. We will start construction tomorrow. On the 15th of next month, the territory will experience a striking war..."
Richard explained the dungeon mission to Karu.
"Therefore, we prepare sufficient war supplies in the shortest time possible."
The old gray-haired Karu immediately realized the urgency of the matter.
"My Lord, we need to defend against the enemy's attack. The most important thing now is to build the city wall.
"We also need to build targeted fortifications."
Especially the alchemy cannons' installation point.
"The alchemy cannons will be very useful to the defenders. They can deal a massive blow to the enemy if they are appropriately set up"
"The artillery needs to cover the entire territory, not just one direction.
"We haven't even formed a proper defense system yet..."
Karu's words pointed to the biggest problem of Twilight City–they had power, but they did not have a defense system.
The way they dealt with the enemy now was based on the brutal power of the troop.
It was far from the geographical advantage it should have in a city defense war.
In the end, the core problem was the lack of city walls.
All other arrangements would not be effective without the city walls.
Richard had a headache.
"I already know about this problem. I'll think of a way to solve it."
Building a city wall required a drawing. But he could only find one of an ordinary city wall in the market.
It was okay if the quantity was small, but the price would start from 300000 units of resources, which was sky-high.
He had spent all his savings to recruit a troop type, and he had enough resources to buy them now. He could only wait.
They didn't dwell on this and changed the topic.
"Has any progress in the distillery and food workshop come up these past two days?"
The two B-rank heroes converted by the proof of hero had taken over the two buildings for some time. But he heard no good news.
Karu shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Lord, the research and development will take a long time, especially since this is their first time. I'm afraid they'll have to wait patiently for a while."
Richard knew these two projects could not benefit him until the dungeon opened.
Richard didn't exhaust too much thought about it. He was already mentally prepared. He was afraid this required long-term investment to see the output.
"You can leave now. Call Adele over."
"Yes, my Lord."
Not long after Karu left, Adele entered the hall in a hurry.
"Good evening, my Lord."
After the bow, the girl looked at him with bouncing curiosity.
"I heard that you brought home a beautiful centaur daughter. Where is that Miss Emily?"
Richard didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Emily went upstairs to sleep."
Adele's mood went even sky-scraping.
"My Lord, how do centaurs sleep? Do they sleep on the bed too?"
"Centaurs naturally can't sleep on the bed. So I asked the maidservants to bring a few blankets and put them on the ground..."
Richard waved his hand. He beckoned to cut off the gossiping girl and get down to business.
"You'll see for yourself later. Now, let's talk about repairing the extraordinary hunter."
As he said that, he had an idea.
The 15-meter-tall extraordinary hunter appeared in the hall.
He almost touched the tall ceiling.
After the intense battle with Emily, the duration of the extraordinary hunter is reduced to 20 minutes.
The armor got increasingly broken.
Richard was worried they could not fight a second battle if they didn't fix it.
If this killing machine were to collapse like that, the losses would be huge.
It was his strongest trump card at the moment. There was no other.
After he looked up and sized it up, Adele frowned.
"My Lord, can't mithril repair an extraordinary hunter?"
Richard shook his head.
"No, one can still repair it. But the speed at which the extraordinary hunters devour mithril is too slow."
As he spoke, he took out a piece of mithril from the system space and placed it at the feet of the extraordinary hunter.
Under the girl's gaze, the extraordinary hunter emitted a faint light that enveloped the ore.
After that, it began to devour the mithril in the ore at an ultimately sluggish speed.
It looked like a snail that crawled, enough to make the most patient person anxious.
Adele looked at the ore thoughtfully.
"There are a lot of impurities in mithril. Refining it into pure mithril will speed up the absorption. Lord Richard, let me try it."
Richard nodded.
"That's why I called you here."
Then, he seemed to have thought of something and continued.
"How's the forging of the dragon-hunting crossbow?"
There was a little pride on Adele's face.
"Lord Richard, the first dragon-hunting crossbow will be ready by tomorrow! I definitely won't let you down."
Richard's mood improved.
"Not bad, you've done well, Adele. You've never let me down.
"Speed up the forging process and try producing more before August 15."
Twilight City lacked powerful heavy crossbows.
The dragon-hunting crossbow was a blueprint he had obtained from the treasure vault of the Scarlet Council. It was a 4-stars weapon.
It was extensively deadly.
In his defense plan, the giant alchemy cannons with soaring damage were responsible for clearing the enemies on the ground, while the dragon-hunting crossbow was for killing the enemy heroes.
Two-pronged approach.
He still had more than 20 days, and he had to raise the defenses of Twilight City to the maximum.
At this moment, he already looked forward to the arrival of the dungeon.
