The Vastness of Magical Destiny

Large numbers of Half-Beastmen flooded into Mandu, and although the mines in the Mandu Region had ramped up to full operation, they were clearly unable to assimilate such a massive labor force. The Half-Beastmen could only continue south along the roads, pouring into Caucasus, which had already placed immense pressure on Muscat. Dragumo had twice sent urgent messages to the Lord, who had returned to his territory, stating that his one thousand Self-defense Army soldiers were completely incapable of dealing with this migration surge. The Half-Beastmen, struggling for survival and unable to find work in Mandu, began torrenting southward, heading straight for Muscat. Fortunately, having received advance warnings from Neptune and Dragumo, Puber had earlier instructed Baoling to lead three hundred of the Lord’s Guard to be stationed within Muscat Fortress. Although they couldn’t stop the inflow of Half-Beastmen, they could at least deter those who had just emerged from the lawless region of Leon and make them realize that Caucasus was different—any violation of the law would be punished.

The Holy Land of Santiago, located at the southern foothills of the Volt Mountain Range, faced the same problem. Half-Beastmen and Mortals from the Izmir region continuously traversed the small paths carved out by their kinfolk, crossing the Volt Mountains into Caucasus territory. The coal mine owners of Santiago, lamenting their lack of sufficient labor force, warmly welcomed these skilled workers. Not only did they fail to report to the local garrison, but they also concealed the migrants’ presence, directly recruiting them into their mines. It was not until other local civilians, worried about the trouble that these undocumented refugees from Leon might bring in the future, reported the situation that Ugru was informed of the refugees from eastern Leon beginning to cross over the Volt Mountains into Caucasus.

Komer returned at a time when Puber was most exasperated, with large numbers of Half-Beastmen entering—the influx amounted to over thirty thousand Half-Beastmen and more than two thousand Mortals into Muscat and Santiago just in the short time that Komer was away. Puber was forced to prematurely initiate the canal construction project from Santiago to Mattdam to alleviate the pressure of these refugees. These idle Half-Beastmen, unable to find work within Caucasus territory, still needed to be fed. If their stomachs were not filled, it could still lead to unrest. Instead of letting these fellows freeload, it was better to make them trade labor for sustenance. It was a massive project that both Puber and Komer had always hoped could be built with the investment from multiple parties, but now, the Caucasus Prefecture had no choice but to temporarily take on the burden.

While this initiative did relieve employment pressure, it also brought a negative effect, as the news about the Caucasus Prefecture recruiting labor to build the canal from Santiago to Mattdam immediately spread to Leon, attracting more and more Half-Beastmen who had lost faith in Leon to head south in large numbers—and Komer returned to Caucasus under these circumstances.

Maha Gummi was aware that his master did not wish to see a large influx of Half-Beastmen from Leon, perhaps a partial migration could ease the issue of insufficient skilled labor for the booming mining industry in Caucasus. However, in the long run, Caucasus could not accommodate the over three hundred thousand slave miners from Leon; the abandonment of Leon was not something the Lord wished to see. At first, Maha Gummi wasn’t quite clear about his master’s intentions for the lands of Leon, whether to let them drift on their own or to turn them into a vasal land relying on Caucasus, but after the Lord’s trip to the Great Swamp Area and his return, it seemed a decision had been made. The instructions for Maha Gummi became much clearer.

As Maha Gummi stepped through the doors of the Lord’s Mansion, he was like a docile lamb. The Half-beastman Guards stationed on either side of the gate were as menacing as ever, puffing their chests and swelling their stomachs. Their gleaming armor made their already towering and imposing figures appear even more formidable. The over three-meter-long halberd axes resting on the ground made one doubt whether the stone slabs could withstand their weight. Half-masks covering the beast heads of the Half-beastman Guards obscured half of their faces, revealing only a pair of sinister wolf eyes. Anyone passing through the gates of the already spacious Lord’s Mansion would feel the invisible pressure squeezing the breath out of them.

Even for a fellow member of their kind like Maha Gummi, who frequented the Lord’s Mansion, the Half-beastman Guards never eased their severity. Their fierce gaze would linger on Maha Gummi for a long time before they would consent to let him enter.

Sitting before his master, Maha Gummi always felt insignificant. Though physically the master seemed not so robust, especially compared to the Half-beastman Guards. Before him, Maha Gummi always held a sense of inscrutable awe. There were too many secrets hidden within his master’s body, and Maha Gummi felt he might never completely unravel his master’s thoughts in his lifetime.

Komer, as if deep in thought, stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing outside the window. It had been a week since he had returned, and this guy had not come to see him until now, having gone who knows where. However, judging by the other’s confident demeanor, it seemed he had likely made some significant gains.