The town’s sparse old houses had been completely torn down. Instead they had been replaced by construction sites and the already finished brick houses scattered all over the place. Furthermore, the latter were constructed in accordance with the development plan of the whole district, giving it a neat and tidy appearance — although they only occupied one-third of the former town’s land, they still offered enough space to accommodate the original two thousand indigenous citizens.
By the time they began building three or four layered houses, as well as opening the follow-up district, the number of people living on the same piece of land would only become more and more. By now still calling it Border Town was no longer consistent with the actual situation, no town had a population of nearly twenty thousand people and a professional army of about six hundred people. However, Roland intended to wait until spring next year before officially promoting Border Town to a real city.
With the support of Echo’s ability, Roland’s voice quickly quieted the crowd down.
“Today, is the day of Border Town’s award and honor ceremony, we will use this time to reward and encourage those people who had made a major contribution to all of us. More than half a year has passed since I have arrived here, since then we have defeated the demonic beasts, beat the Duke, and given this town its current appearance. To achieve all this, many people had to sacrifice a lot, among these, there are several outstanding people, they are not nobles, nor are they wealthy merchants, before they served me they were merely ordinary folk, just like you are!
He let his view wander over the people, and then loudly exclaimed, “But now they will be rewarded handsomely! Including a medal personally crafted by me, one hundred gold royals, and five acres of land!”
This news immediately stirred up the masses, sending waves of cheers through the crowd, not to mention the medal and the land, just the one hundred gold royals, was a sum to cause envy in the others.
“This isn’t a one-time ceremony — from now on we will hold this kind of ceremony each year, regardless of your birth, irrespective of your wealth, as long as you have achieved extraordinary merits you can all obtain this highest of honors!”
The moment Roland’s voice fell, Echo’s imitation of a gun salute suddenly resounded through the whole audience, and within the unceasing explosion, Iron Axe, Kyle Sichi, and Nana Pine arrived, escorted by the First Army, and entered the wooden stage.
Chapter 241 Liberation
At the moment, there were undoubtedly 2000 or more people gathered in the public square, yet their excitement didn’t differ much to that of a large gatherings of more than 10’000 people of the later eras. Roland inwardly sighed, Echo’s ability was indeed extremely handy.
The reason why he had chosen these three people was mainly in order to set an example for the masses — of the three of them not one was a noble, Iron Axe belonged to the Sandpeople and had came from the other side of the Southern Border; even though Kyle was an alchemist, he had been born in a common family and reached his rank after starting as an apprentice and climbing up the ladder step by step; while Nana, was a witch.
They were an alien, a civilian, and a witch; putting it in a way that modern civilization would have, this choice had been inspired by an impeccable sense of of ‘political correctness’.
Roland hoped that through this ceremony he would be able to impart his concept to all of his people — Border Town only focuses on your merits, it doesn’t pay any attention to where you might have come from.
The first person to come forward and receive his medal was Iron Axe, Roland had personally engraved the gold medal with an insignia of Graycastle’s tower surrounded by wheat ears and with an edge of pinions. The moment Iron Axe took the medal the members of the First Army in the audience, raised their hands in applause and many other people began to whistling.
“His name should already be known to all of you, Commander of the First Army’s Firearm Team, Iron Axe!” Roland turned to face everyone, “Before the arrival of the Months of Demons, he was just one of the many hunters in the town. But whenever there was a fight endangering Border Town, Iron Axe would never be absent, and in the previous month, he has also led the First Army soldiers to King’s City, saving those refugees besieged by the demonic plague from the Eastern Region! The recent 6000 people temporarily living outside of the city wall had all been brought back by him!”
Most people on the square were either Border Town’s natives or member of the First Army, while the number of serfs and refugees only accounted for a few hundred people, but under Echo’s sound transmission, the mood of the crowd didn’t become awkwardly silent. The moment Roland paused his speech, the fugitives at the scene all immediately began to cheering out loudly, and their intensity wasn’t the least bit weaker compared to the First Army’s.
Iron Axe also appeared to be very excited, most probably, with his identity as a member of the Mojin Clan living in another kingdom he would never have thought that he would ever obtain the Prince’s favor. He first presented Roland with the First Army’s military salute and then went down on one knee in Graycastle’s knight ceremony. In case Roland hadn’t stopped him with his hand, he would most likely also have gone through with the ceremony of the Sandpeople.
“Get up, as a soldier, just using a military salute is already enough,” Roland laughingly stated.
“Thank you… Your Highness,” he answered with a slightly trembling voice as if was making supreme effort to suppress his emotions.
The Prince patted Iron Axe’s shoulder in a consoling manner, placed a bag with 100 gold royals into his hand then signaled Kyle Sichi to come over.
“This one, you may be seeing for the first time, he came to Border Town from the kingdom’s Central Region, the former chief alchemist of Redwater City’s Alchemical Workshop, Mr. Kyle Sichi!”
Hearing his words, let the people exclaim in wonder.
“A chief Alchemist? Aren’t they people who even the king has to treat with respect and courtesy?”
“You mean just like royal astrologers?”
“No, the position of an alchemist is even higher than that of an astrologer, after all, no one can guarantee that the latter’s prophecy will become true, while the alchemist at least does something that is tangible.”
“Furthermore, he even came from Redwater City’s Alchemical Workshop; I heard that only the Alchemical Workshop in King’s City is comparable to it!”
“…”
In the Four Kingdoms, alchemists and astrologer all had a lofty status, and within the ranks of the civilian population they were also called sages, and were the only people worthy of lecturing the powerful nobles and lords. When he saw the reaction of the crowd, Roland was very satisfied, he stretched his hand out to calm the crowd then said: “Even though Mr. Sichi didn’t personally participate in the battles, but with the continuous improvement of the firearms, from single shot to salvo, it would never have been possible without his chemical laboratory, which was also an important factor in guaranteeing the First Army’s victories. Without these alchemical and chemical products, Border Town would not be able to win and obtain true peace.”
After taking a short pause, the Prince then continued, “Incidentally, the chemical laboratory is currently enrolling trainee alchemist, they will accept people who have completed the Primary Education course and also went through Border Town’s citizen inspection. After being accepted, you won’t only receive a generous salary, but you will also receive the chance to become an outstanding just like Master Alchemist as Mr. Sichi!”