Fairy Tale Survival with Ability Copying

Levi's third strike was the reorganization of the original militia groups.

These young and able-bodied men selected from among the refugees, after receiving training, would take on simple patrol and public security duties.

After all, once the original residents of Coldwind Keep Town were included, the total population had already exceeded ten thousand people.

And once the population increased, conflicts naturally followed.

Which meant patrols and public security became absolutely essential—

At least if Levi wanted his territory to maintain proper law and order.

And in truth, the members of the militia groups had performed fairly well. At the very least, they had not caused many serious incidents.

However, as the refugee management system underwent restructuring, the militia groups had also reached the point where reform became necessary.

Levi needed a stronger military force to safeguard the security of the territory.

That naturally imposed higher requirements upon the militia.

So after a brief period of consideration, Levi used Detection to select more than three hundred of the better-performing members from the original six hundred-plus militia personnel. He also selected sixty outstanding members from the garrison force, then recruited more than one hundred additional people from among the free residents of the territory.

In the end, he formed a five-hundred-man military combat regiment.

Sky Knight Rune became its commander, responsible for training and commanding this fully professional military force.

As for the remaining militia members, along with those eliminated from the garrison selection, Levi recruited another hundred or so residents to form a five-hundred-man public security corps.

Their duties were to maintain order within the territory, handle disputes, and deal with criminal matters.

The public security corps would take over most of the original militia's responsibilities, while the military combat regiment's mission became training and defending the territory against external threats.

One handled internal affairs.

The other handled external threats.

It had to be said that maintaining an army and a security force consumed money like bottomless beasts.

Things were completely different from before, when all they needed was enough food to survive.

Now the system had become professionalized, the number of personnel had increased, and all sorts of expenses had risen alongside it.

Uniforms, armor, longswords, batons, leather boots, and various other supplies were now required in quantities numbering in the thousands.

Those demands turned into massive orders, most of which were directed toward the Sea Serpent Merchant Guild and the Sword and Flower Caravan, while a smaller portion was deliberately reserved for local tailors, blacksmiths, and carpenters.

The local craftsmen possessed limited individual capabilities, so the lord's manor thoughtfully provided advance funding, allowing them to establish workshops, recruit workers, and begin scaled production.

The purpose was to cultivate the local market.

Even if the quality of the early products could not compare to the goods transported by the two merchant organizations, Levi was willing to pay the price necessary for that cultivation process.

After the Sea Serpent Merchant Guild and the Sword and Flower Caravan received Levi's orders, the joy on their faces became impossible to hide.

They had also witnessed the transformation of Hornreach and could sense its enormous potential.

Most importantly, through Bittervine, they had begun suspecting that a mysterious and powerful wizard stood behind Levi.

After all, nearly every major power across the continent had wizards backing them.

The Sea Serpent Merchant Guild and the Sword and Flower Caravan were no exception.

And a Hornreach backed by a wizard possessed far greater value than Silverclaw Territory.

Naturally, they were willing to display goodwill.

Of course, another important reason was much simpler:

Trading with Levi's territory was profitable.

The money they had failed to earn from sperm whale brain oil could easily be recovered through this new trade.

Following Levi's requests, they urgently redirected shipments from other regions. One massive cargo ship after another arrived in Hornreach loaded with goods, then departed again carrying barrels upon barrels of whale brain oil.

Money and goods circulated continuously between all sides.

And the entire territory changed with each passing day, spinning like a rapidly rotating top.

Everyone remained busy.

Some worked in the fields planting crops.

Some labored at construction sites.

Some bought and sold goods in shops.

Others mediated disputes and maintained public order.

Yet despite their different tasks, all of them shared the same thing in common:

A light of hope in their eyes rarely seen in other territories—

And genuine support for Levi as their lord.

Everything had begun moving onto the proper track.

On the military side, Sky Knight Rune kept a close watch over matters. Recently, he had begun personally training several promising candidates in knightly techniques, claiming that one or two true knights might eventually emerge from among them.

As for internal administration, Yalina took full responsibility. She recruited several literate personnel, then incorporated some of the castle's original staff to form an administrative management group.

On the industrial side, Levi synthesized more than a dozen additional cement kilns, along with brick factories and pottery workshops.

Every day, they continuously devoured enormous quantities of raw materials before producing modern cement and blue bricks for storage, preparing construction materials for the future city.

Though in truth, it was no longer merely preparation.

Following Levi's instructions, Jeff had already begun constructing walls with modern cement and brick, building three-story houses.

To ensure structural stability, they adopted a wooden pile foundation technique, driving oak piles deep underground before pouring cement foundations over them, then constructing the buildings atop those foundations.

Jeff had already completed several such small buildings.

After witnessing the miraculous properties of modern cement, he repeatedly exclaimed that it was a miracle itself.

A blazing fire burned within his eyes.

With this miraculous material, he truly believed he could construct Levi's unbelievable city.

And because people like them now existed, Levi himself could finally free himself from endless trivial affairs and shift his focus back toward his own training.

After all, he had not forgotten that Nightingale Miss Odelle was running out of time.

During this period of time, Nightingale Miss Odelle constantly felt as though someone far away was calling out to her.

And once she returned there, she likely would never come back again.

That person was stronger than Levi.

Levi could not simply follow Nightingale Miss Odelle and storm their doorstep. For now, the only thing he could do was raise the level of Nightingale Polymorph as quickly as possible.

Because according to the information provided by Detection, once Levi's Nightingale Polymorph reached the level of a Third-Ring Spell, he would be able to remove the curse placed upon Nightingale Miss Odelle.

Of course, he would also gain the ability to curse others into nightingales.

Or, if he were willing to pay a far greater price, he could even transform them into Night Demon Owls or Greater Demon Owls.

But something on the level of a Two-Headed Demon Owl was impossible.

The price was simply too great.

Even as a Third-Ring Wizard, Levi would still be unable to accomplish it.

Recalling all this information, Levi turned his gaze toward Nightingale Polymorph.

It still lacked a little more than one hundred experience points before leveling up.

For Levi, that merely meant several more days of practice.

So, with a thought, he cast Detection.

A Third-Ring Spell-level Detection intelligence scan.

One piece of information after another appeared before his eyes:

[Information One: Deep within the Whispering Forest, the Seven Dwarfs have discovered a rich mithril ore vein. They will mobilize together and head to the mine to excavate it. The Magic Mirror Queen has learned of this matter. If nothing unexpected occurs, the Queen will seize the opportunity three days from now to travel to Snow White's location and kill her.]

[Information Two: The aura emanating from the depths of the Mist Swamp is becoming increasingly terrifying. More and more magical creatures are migrating toward the outer regions of the swamp. The pressure of survival will drive them to attack human settlements. If nothing unexpected occurs, multiple Kobold tribes will launch attacks against your territory ten days from now.]

[Information Three: A high-ranking Inquisitor of the Church will arrive at your territory five days from now.]

[Information Four: The witch of the Magic Castle will summon Nightingale Miss Odelle back in three days. Odelle will refuse to reveal your information and will be brutally killed by the witch.]

[Information Five: Certain existences within the ocean have begun paying attention to your territory.]

...

The information detected by Third-Ring Spell-level Detection differed enormously from before.

Previously, Detection mostly uncovered events currently happening or things that had already occurred.

But now, the information it revealed concerned the future.

Although these were projected intelligence results, the probability of them occurring was extremely high.

Naturally, this made their value to Levi vastly different.

Levi carefully examined the five pieces of information.

The first one did not matter.

As long as Snow White remained there attracting attention, the Magic Mirror Queen would not think about Levi anytime soon, so after one glance, he shifted his focus elsewhere.

Information Two caused Levi's expression to change slightly.

In ten days, the territory would actually come under attack from magical creatures.

Just what exactly was hidden in the depths of that swamp?

His brows furrowed faintly.

Immediately, he summoned Yalina, Sky Knight Rune, and Jeff, the chief designer responsible for constructing the new city.

"Starting now, Jeff, your highest priority is building the city walls first. The walls must be tall enough, thick enough, and sturdy enough. I'll provide you with the additional construction specifications later. Also, the key focus is the section facing the Mist Swamp."

"What happened?" Yalina sensed something was wrong and immediately questioned Levi.

"I received intelligence that something has happened inside the Mist Swamp. The swamp kobolds may attack our territory," Levi said after a moment of silence.

Jeff's face instantly turned pale.

He had long known there were kobolds living within the Mist Swamp.

But the problem was that kobolds rarely left the swamp willingly.

And now that the new lord had spoken this way...

If the kobolds truly emerged, a small number might still be manageable.

But if their numbers were large...

Deep worry surged within Jeff's heart.

Rune's expression, on the other hand, remained far steadier.

"My lord, approximately how many kobolds are we talking about?"

He did not question the authenticity of Levi's intelligence.

As a mysterious and powerful wizard, the reliability of Levi's information was extremely high.

Most importantly, Levi had no reason to lie.

"I estimate over a thousand. Possibly more. We'll need further confirmation before determining the exact number," Levi said after a pause.

"That's troublesome," Rune said, his brows tightening slightly.

At present, Hornreach's military combat regiment was little more than a hollow shell. Aside from himself, there was not even a single true knight among them.

Facing over a thousand kobold magical creatures...

Things would probably go very badly.

"That's why we need city walls," Levi said.

Although he was a wizard, it was inconvenient for him to personally take action, especially with the Church watching nearby.

If even a high-ranking Inquisitor possessed such strength, then what about the deacons, bishops, and archbishops within the Church?

How terrifying would their strength be?

Levi had no desire to barely escape the Magic Mirror Queen's pursuit, only to immediately attract the Church's attention and end up hunted by them instead.

Though technically speaking...

He was already being hunted by Church personnel anyway!!!

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I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> /TitoVillar

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