Magical Girl's Knight Brother

Chapter 607 Threat to the Riverfront

The development plan for Black City wasn't devised by Tang Zijun alone; he had a team of experts from the Demon Supervision Bureau assisting him. Currently, if the hidden dangers on the river front erupt, it will inevitably impact Black City. Even if it's delayed indefinitely, it's a silent constraint on Black City's desire to accelerate its development. However, in the eyes of the experts, Black City's concerns are also the concerns of those on the river front.

The Riverfront is called the "Riverfront" because it is where the Mushi River flows into the sea, and it is surrounded by several large tributaries. It can be said to be the front line against the threats posed by the ocean. The main reason why the Riverfront was established was because of the war between humans and sea creatures.

Before the War of the Gods, this place was occupied by sea creatures. They established nests on the coast and constantly attacked human settlements, even harassing fishermen and boats. Eventually, they even moved inland along the river, expanding their influence.

Ultimately, their actions attracted the attention of the royal family, and humans amassed a large army to wage war against the sea creatures. After several years, they drove them back into the ocean. The river front was also the first line of defense, and that's how the name came about.

So, if Black City was attacked from both sides, then the river front was no different. In addition to defending against the gradually expanding Black City, they also had to guard against threats coming from the ocean. The death of the old city lord was partly due to the previous turmoil on the coast.

Therefore, the expert team advised against paying attention to the situation on the river front. No matter how much trouble they caused, they were, in a sense, still helping Black City defend against the chaos of the sea. With them around, the sea posed no threat to Black City, and while they might actively harass it, they didn't have that capability until the nobles had settled their score. Conversely, Black City could use this opportunity to rapidly expand, absorbing refugees from other regions and those fleeing the river front, thereby increasing its population. With a growing population, Black City's development would accelerate.

Perhaps for other cities, the increase in population brings great drawbacks, because these mouths can completely drag the city down. There are simply not enough jobs and positions in those cities to support these refugees and ordinary people. In peacetime, it would be fine, as these refugees could be driven to farm or mine. But now, most land is uncultivable, and the wilderness is very dangerous, which makes refugees a burden for ordinary cities.

But Black City is different; what Black City needs most right now is population.

When Tang Zijun first arrived, Black City only had a few hundred people, many of whom were mercenaries, and the rest were women and children. Getting them to work was no easy task. But now it's different. With the increase in population, job opportunities are being rapidly expanded.

The children went off to study, the mercenaries transformed into regular city defense troops, and various factories were built. Thanks to the machine tools that were brought over, Black City was changing almost every day. But all of this required a large population to accomplish.

Although the turmoil on the river front has imposed some restrictions on Black City, overall it has been more beneficial than harmful. For example, if the river front hadn't been so chaotic, those minor nobles wouldn't have come to Black City to teach the children of the commoners.

Meanwhile, due to the chaotic situation on the front lines of the river, many itinerant merchants have also come to Black City to do business. Tang Zijun was emphasizing to Grelando yesterday that the commercial street in the East District should be established as soon as possible. Even if it doesn't reach the scale of the market on the front lines of the river, at least the merchants should have a place to set up their stalls.

It's worth mentioning that Tanya almost cried as she watched the endless stream of traveling merchants coming to her door in Black City—this was all her faith power! Unfortunately, now that she no longer had divine authority, she could only watch that power flow away from her.

The traveling merchants were unaware of Tanya's existence as the goddess of commerce. After all, Tanya had been active among humans for a thousand years, and she was not as famous as Scáthach, nor had she left any mark on her followers. Therefore, the merchants could not possibly recognize her.

Her current task is to oversee the commercial management of Black City. As a former Goddess of Commerce, she is quite familiar with the business world. Although she froze to death because she couldn't sell her matches, she has seen many powerful merchants since becoming a god, and those merchants all worshipped her. Under the subtle influence of being around such people, she is adept at business. Under these circumstances, Black City's agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing industries have been boosted by the chaos on the river front, developing in a better direction. Therefore, Tang Zijun did not intervene. Gloria didn't object either. She had only offered her own idea. Since Tang Zijun didn't want to do it, there must be a reason. She just needed to follow orders. The two stood by the window, looking at the bustling scene outside.

Although the sky was still a gloomy, dark red, the smiles on the faces of the people under that sky had increased. People walked on the clean streets, and no one looked like a walking corpse as before. Instead, they were full of energy and purpose.

Gloria watched all this with a smile, a touch of warmth appearing on her resolute face. "Is it just my imagination? I feel like the disaster isn't as severe as it seems. It was quite cold before." "Perhaps," Tang Zijun smiled.

When people have enough to eat and wear, and have work to do every day, the impact of external climate change is not so great, because they gradually come to believe that human will can overcome nature. After Grelando left, Tang Zijun returned to her seat, picked up her oak cup, took a sip of water, and gently exhaled. At this moment, Scáthach suddenly emerged from the shadows in the corner.

She scrutinized Tang Zijun with interest, a smile playing on her lips. "It's hard to imagine. Even though those commoners don't believe in you, they can unleash such powerful faith, and this power is even starting to suppress Zaifeng. I didn't want them to believe in me; I just wanted them to strive to become better."

Tang Zijun put down his cup, leaned back in his chair, and looked at Scáthach as she slowly walked up to him before continuing to speak.

"Throughout history, gods have enslaved humanity and built wonders in the hope of gaining more faith through such means. But in reality, humans are very simple; they just want to survive. No matter how awe-inspiring a wonder may be, the goal of the humans attracted is merely to seek refuge and survive."

"Therefore, gods do not need to use external things to attract human attention and collect faith. They can do this by making human life better. But how many gods choose to coerce and entice? They always try to control humans with fear."

Scáthach listened silently and nodded subconsciously.

She had witnessed the developments in Black City during this time. It could be said that Tang Zijun's actions were completely unlike those of a god; he seemed more like a human leader, a king of a dynasty. However, it must be said that the gods' previous actions seemed to have gone astray. Whether it was Odin's race, who always looked down on Midgard, or the high and mighty Egyptian gods, even Zeus, who grew up in human society, followed in his father's footsteps after overthrowing him, frequently unleashing divine punishment upon humanity and attempting to restrict their use of fire. "Perhaps that's the reason," Tang Zijun shrugged. "Like I said, the gods only need to provide humanity with protection and the right path; the rest, humanity can achieve with its own hands, and will do even better."

Seeing Tang Zijun's humble yet smug expression, Scáthach couldn't help but chuckle.

She gradually learned this principle, but that was when she became the Queen of the Shadow Kingdom. There is a big difference between how a king treats his people and how a god treats his people. However, before she could learn how to get along with humans, she was drawn into the war of the gods.

Scáthach paused, then shook her head and said softly, "Now I understand why that impolite little girl fell in love with you." Huh?

Tang Zijun's expression froze.

The "rude little girl" definitely doesn't refer to Tan Zhixin.

Then Scáthach continued.

"Don't stay up late tonight, go back to your room early, there might be a surprise waiting for you..."