Wang Lun seemed to have spent all his energy yelling his announcements earlier and now, he placed his hand on his hip to catch his breath.
"Next," Wang Lun said, "I will conduct a census of all the households in the city. The city hall will hand out an additional fixed monthly allowance to any household that has young or old members without adults."
Wang Lun seemed to be about to say something else, but he chose to stop and instead added, "Well, that's all we have to announce for today!"
Wow!
As soon as the refugees were finally allowed to speak, they instantly burst into cheers.
They had never been treated this well before. They didn't even dare to imagine or ask for half of what they had received thus far.
"Long live the city lord!"
"Long live the city lord!"
The people gradually went on their knees and began to worship the amazing man before them.
Wang Lun didn't request for them to rise because this was the way the world should be.
"Hmph, just a bunch of untouchables! This city lord sure is enjoying their kneeling and worshiping, huh?"
"He'll surely regret his decision!"
The group of merchants scornfully gazed at the scene ahead.
"Come on, there's nothing more to see here. We'd better head back and watch the slaves fight!"
One of the merchants gave a long stretch, turned around, and left the scene with his guards. The rest of the merchants left as well.
"Hallmark!"
"Yes, my lord!"
Hallmark immediately hurried forward.
"Start working on the training of the newly-recruited guards."
Wang Lun had begun to feel exhausted. Even though there were seats available for him, he had stood for most of the time.
Hallmark noticed Wang Lun's fatigue and quickly responded, "Yes, my lord!"
"Good!" Wang Lun turned around and left, yelling: "Lucy, come with me!"
Without any hesitation, Lucy followed after him closely.
There weren't many guards in the city hall. In addition to Lucy, the only other people there were the odd-job servants, who had followed Wang Lun the moment he entered the hall.
"This is Lucy, who is now my personal assistant."
Wang Lun sauntered toward a few of the maids and introduced Lucy to them.
On the other hand, Lucy knew her manners as she quickly greeted the maids with the most common courtesy.
"Hello everyone, my name is Lucy. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Several of the maids smiled and nodded in response.
Wang Lun continued. "Lucy used to be a princess. From now on, she will be the one to teach you everything about etiquette."
A few of the maids frowned and said in unison, "My lord, why should maids like us learn etiquette? We won't get to use it."
Wang Lun replied, "So what if you're a maid? In the future, Yale City will be a civilized city. And as personnel of a civilized city hall, who is going to learn etiquette if you aren't?"
The maids exchanged looks with one other with smiles across their faces.
This baron intends to civilize Yale City? He is underestimating the difficulty of this task and biting off more than he can chew.
They had worked in the city hall for many years and had witnessed the many changes of city lords in Yale City. However, they had never met a city lord who truly believed that this city could be rescued.
But since this man was the new city lord, it wasn't like they, as maids of the city hall, had a say in things.
"Yes, my lord."
"We're pleased to meet you, Miss Lucy!"
Wang Lun grinned. "It sure is easy for women to establish relationships."
Wang Lun arrived at his room after being escorted through the largest building in the city hall. At that moment, the maids consciously came to a halt, turned around, and left.
"Miss Lucy, let's go!" One of the maids took Lucy's hand.
"What's wrong?" Lucy wondered.
"The lord's room is off-limits to us. This is as far as an outsider can go," the maid explained.
It was also at that moment that Wang Lun reacted to the fact that Lucy was a newcomer.
He said, "Oh, it's a rule that I set. No one is allowed to set foot in here without my permission."
Upon hearing his words, Lucy politely bowed and left with the maids.
Wang Lun pushed the door open and entered the room, before securely locking the door.
"Phew! There's no time to lose. Let's get started…" Wang Lun soliloquized.
"Space—transmigrate!"
As soon as his words sounded, thin, shiny threads or rather, cracks, appeared in front of him.
If one were to witness the cracks in the air, one would surely be dumbfounded.
The shiny threads gradually metamorphosed into crisp, hissing lightning bolts that circled to tear apart a black dot at the middle. The black dot began transforming into a circular surface and at first glance, it resembled a…
Black hole.
It kept making sounds that didn't belong to this world. However, Wang Lun wasn't afraid at all. He leisurely stretched his back and walked into the black hole.
"Another world that belongs to me. Here I come."
Wang Lun lifted his arm before him and reached into the black hole. His arm was gradually engulfed, followed by his head and entire body.
In just a few minutes, a living person disappeared into the other side of the black hole. But of course, there was no end in sight.
It was several hours later when Wang Lun returned to his room in Yale City.
But just in those few minutes, his room had been filled with many packages that didn't belong to this world.
Wang Lun weighed several packages in his hands. There was the eye-catching word 'rice' written on some of the packages, while the others contained 20 swords, guns, spears, and bows respectively, as well as other weapons.
"This training program should be useful, right? After all, this is the ancient method of training soldiers."
Wang Lun took out a piece of white paper written with black letters and muttered under his breath.
"By now, Hallmark should have returned with the new guards." Wang Lun estimated the time.
Pushing open the door, Wang Lun walked out of his room and encountered a male servant outside the meeting room.
"Cole, go and get Hallmark to meet me."
The male servant responded: "I'm afraid Knight Hallmark isn't back yet, my lord."
Wang Lun said, "What? In that case, find some people to come to my room."
The few servants who came to the room didn't reveal any exaggerated expressions when they saw the weapons all over the floor.
The previous city lords had also acquired weapons for the guards.
"Move these weapons to the guard's warehouse," Wang Lun ordered.
The servants couldn't recognize the weapons, but the veteran guards who saw them were instantly stunned.
"I've never seen such weapons before!" One of the muscular men exclaimed.
"My lord, did you personally procure these weapons? The blacksmith who forged them must be the best!" Someone was brave enough to speak his mind.
Wang Lun casually replied, "They were indeed made by a master blacksmith and are many years ahead of the weapons you own today."
"Try it, Edgar." Wang Lun picked up a sword and handed it to one of the soldiers.
The soldier smiled and wiped his hands on his clothes before accepting the sword.
"The sword isn't for ornamental purposes," Wang Lun chuckled.
"If that's the case…"
Edgar gripped the hilt of the sword with both hands and brandished the blade at an upright wooden club.
Clang!
In the blink of an eye, the wooden club was hacked into two parts.
The soldiers instantly cheered.
Edgar, who held the sword in his hands, stared blankly on the spot.