Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

While Su Li was using the influence of the Church and alliances through the Knight Clan to continuously consolidate the territory over the Green Shore Plain of the Blue Mirror Territory, the 2000 Provincial Legion led by Marshal Oerstein had already swept through the Green Shore Plain and entered the southernmost border pastures of the Blue Mirror Territory.

This area was already near the Sand Shadow Forest to the south of the Blue Mirror Territory. Unlike the dangerous Blood Pine Forest, this was a relatively smaller natural forest with many thriving villages. The Beastman would often attack these human strongholds, so the local villagers were quite self-reliant and did not highly recognize the Blue Mirror Territory.

In such circumstances, Marshal Oerstein easily seized seven border pastures there, acquiring hundreds of cattle and horses, and thousands of sheep. He then coerced the villages to swear allegiance to the Hesse Territory.

The resistance from these villages was much less compared to those in the Kingdom Knight’s Territory. To them, to whom they paid taxes was all the same. After all, the lord ruling the local area would pay little attention and provide minimal military protection to this edge land.

They always lived on their own terms, only being remembered by the nobles from the castle during tax collection times, realizing there were a few villages in this forest.

So, facing the overwhelming force of 2000 elite infantry and cavalry, the local villages uniformly chose to change allegiance and swear loyalty to the Hesse Territory.

And Su Li did not care at all, as expected. He didn’t even bother to send tax collectors, as the petty taxes from each village might only provide a few Golden Crowns, not worth Su Li’s effort!

This is no exaggeration. If a herd of Roaring Beasts appeared locally, the cost of sending troops for rescue could offset their tax revenue for decades or even centuries!

Suppose a Knight Battle Group (60 men) and two Squadrons of Armed Attendants set out from Rapids Castle to confront hundreds of Beastmen, not considering the loss of military materials, just their month-long salary would equal the tax these villages could pay in hundreds of years combined.

It was just that this time, Marshal Oerstein happened to pass by with his conquering army and dealt with them on the go; otherwise, it would not be worth an army’s visit.

However, just when these villages thought life would continue as abandoned and forgotten like before, something different happened!

On that day, a knight shining with golden light—his armor gleaming, chest plate embossed with the holy emblem of the rising sun, and his warhorse draped with the same insignia—along with a nun dressed in a simple linen robe and yet with a gentle and firm gaze entered the village, breaking the long-standing tranquility and monotony in the border pastures and forest villages.

The villagers peeked from behind their simple wooden doors or through fence gaps, their eyes mixed with awe, curiosity, and deeply hidden fear. In the past, their only sense of ’lord’s presence’ came from the drunk old priest at the Manan Church monastery and the occasional, rough tax collectors collecting some grains, livestock, or leather. Today’s arrivals weren’t fierce soldiers nor high-and-mighty noble lords.

The Blazing Sun Knight didn’t immediately make a speech. He simply stayed silent, stationed in the village’s only slightly spacious ’square’ (actually just a well-trodden mud area). Sunlight reflected off his meticulously polished armor, emitting dazzling light, as if he himself were a miniature sun. His gaze, sharp like an eagle’s, swept every corner, the dilapidated monastery, and villagers’ hidden windows. He didn’t draw his sword, yet his armor symbolizing the Empire’s rightful order, light, and purification, along with the longsword and morning star at his waist bearing clear combat scars, was a powerful declaration on its own: new rules and power have arrived.

When the village chief was reluctantly pushed out, the Blazing Sun Knight finally spoke in a clear, loud, and undeniable voice: "By the order of Lord Hesse, Radiance of the Scorching Sun, Star of Tomorrow, Steel Mercy Father Su Li Zijinghua, this place now belongs to the Hesse Territory. I am Knight Veikem von Lorraine of the Flame Sun Knight Order, assigned to station here, maintain order, and eliminate threats, henceforth serving as the Resident Knight of this village."

He didn’t mention allegiance nor immediately demand taxes, only emphasized ’order’ and ’eliminating threats’. To villagers accustomed to being forgotten, this was strange and heavy information—someone was going to ’manage’ them now, and in a strong and serious manner.

Knight Veikem’s gaze finally landed on the dilapidated Manan monastery. "From now on, everything must comply with the orders of the Hesse Territory, and all past shall be swept into dim corners." These words, though not loud, struck heavy like a hammer in the hearts of every villager and the old priest peeking through the monastery door gap. He did not immediately expel the priest, yet his declaration and powerful gaze already marked the Manan faith as ’unwelcome’ and its future dim.

Just as the stern atmosphere brought by Knight Veikem nearly stifled the villagers, the nun named Eira from the Dawn Church stepped forward timely. She didn’t use fancy words, wearing a gentle smile on her face.

"I see many children seem to be coughing," her voice clear and calm, eyes resting on a few emaciated children hiding behind adults, "the abandoned granary in the east of the village can be slightly cleaned up to become a temporary shelter and treatment point. I brought some herbal seeds and simple ointment recipes. Any woman willing to learn can come find me tomorrow morning."