[Congratulations, Master, for successfully fusing all the magical beasts. You have obtained 12,000 bronze-tier magical beasts and 4,000 silver-tier magical beasts.]

The sound of a system notification rang in his ears. Watson looked at the magical beasts that wors.h.i.+pped him with a calm expression. Then, he said, “Manor lords, listen to me. I have a mission for you. Hunt as many magical beasts as you can and bring them to Blackmoon Castle! In return, I'll give you the first batch of magical beasts. You can take them back to guard your manor, or you can sell them in Monte Town.”

Watson felt no pangs of regret after unleas.h.i.+ng over ten thousand magical beasts because those beasts were the first to run out of the Misty Forest. The number would only grow due to the constant snowfall. He could fuse them easily and earn hundreds of times more than that.

He did not want those magical beasts to fight with the giant rock golems, so he fused them. However, it was not only for that reason; he was not one to do useless things.

The magical beasts were the third thing that he wanted to launch after the Phoenix eggs and the giant rock golems. Compared to the first two items, the fused magical beasts were derived from natural elements. The fusion system did not consume any of his magic power, and that was a profitable business.

Initially, he planned to give the magical beast business to the manor owners after the winter. However, since winter had already arrived, he took advantage of the situation. He would focus on those three businesses and expand the other trades gradually. That was his preliminary plan for winter. He was confident that he could boost Blackmoon Castle's strength by several levels in three months.

“Thank you, Young Master Watson!”

All the manor owners looked at each other and thanked him in unison.

Norton trailed behind the manor owners and thanked him as well. He looked at the magical beasts around him, and his fat body trembled.

Many magical beasts around him did not recognize, but there were also many creatures that he knew. For example, there was a huge snow-white bear that was about five meters tall with blood-red claws and spiral-shaped patterns on its hands. There were also storm eagles that were more than ten meters wide when they spread their wings.

Those magical beasts were the ones that he had seen when he followed Watson to the Misty Forest. Watson had brought some of the manor owners to the Misty Forest because he had wanted to kill the Demoness Bandit Gang. He was fortunate enough to witness it when Watson fused magical beasts then.

That was the second time.

He was protected by a huge rock golem. Even though he knew that those magical beasts would listen to Watson after he fused them, he was still fearful.

He was a timid individual with little talent. His farm's major commodity was cheap milk, which could not be compared to other manor owners. He was thankful that Watson did not hate him, which enabled him to ally with Blackmoon Castle.

Many manor owners shared his beliefs. They were still concerned when they realized it was finally winter, and tens of thousands of magical beasts charged at them. They did not expect those magical beasts would come to Blackmoon Town, and Watson immediately domesticated them.

More importantly, Watson gave them those magical monsters after he fused them. Each manor could get about a thousand magical beasts, and that was a huge fortune. They had been worried about helping Blackmoon Castle expand its foreign trade at that time. What would they do if it were suddenly winter?

They were not afraid because they had giant rock golems, but what about their manors? Who knew what would happen if they came across a huge bunch of magical beasts? They might have to burn down their own manor if they wanted to get any benefit from Blackmoon Castle. It was not worth it. Then, Watson told them not to be afraid as Blackmoon Castle had already thought of a way out for them.

How generous and thoughtful of him!

They sighed from the bottom of their hearts; it felt great to be Watson's business partner.

That incident stunned not only the manor owners but also Watson's three brothers.

“Winter is a disaster for many but a blessing for Watson! I believe Blackmoon Castle will have many more a.s.sets after winter is over.” Zeke stroked the back of his neck. His eyes glowed as he looked about at the magical beasts. In his eyes, those were not magical beasts but moving mountains of gold.

“Do you have any questions? If not, please go on your way.”

Watson waved his hand, and the manor owners humbly bowed to him. Then they turned around and went back to Monte Town. They were no longer terrified. Instead, their expressions were filled with excitement and a fighting spirit. In the previous winter, magical beasts were a complicated problem that they could not solve. Swarms of magical beasts would destroy the fields and slaughter all living things. However, both the prey and the hunter's ident.i.ties had s.h.i.+fted.

Those magical beasts had become the prey. They could not wait to capture more of them so that they could hand them over to Blackmoon Castle in exchange for money.

Blackmoon Castle had informed more than a dozen manor owners of the platinum-tier giant rock golems and swarms of magical monsters. The news swiftly expanded to the neighboring manors, and they also formed an agreement with Blackmoon Castle. The remaining manors also decided to become partners, and they hurriedly dispatched personnel to rent the giant rock golems and begged Watson to a.s.sist them in fusing some magical beasts.

Some manor owners who had never signed a contract with Blackmoon Castle in the past were stirred by the news and were willing to send personnel to the castle. However, most of those manors were quite a distance away from Blackmoon Castle, and the magical beasts wreaked havoc on them while they were on their way over, so it would take some time before they reached Blackmoon Castle.

Time pa.s.sed in a flash. Two days pa.s.sed.

Time flew by in an instant. Two days had pa.s.sed.

At the city hall in Monte Town.

City Hall was an office set up by the kingdom. Monte Town was one of the only four towns on the border. There were dozens of ordinary office workers in the city hall. A records officer was responsible for recording the happenings in Monte Town every year for the kingdom. There was also a finance official who managed the town's taxes, plus a city defense official and the mayor.

Gerant was Monte Town's mayor. He was sitting in the highest-level office in the city hall at the time; he looked concerned.

Gerant's full name was Gerant Ptolemy. He belonged to the Ptolemy family branch of the ill.u.s.trious Grand Duke family in the Holy Dragon Kingdom. He became mayor of Monte Town when he was about 30 years old, thanks to the protection of his ancestors. Compared to the finance officer and records officer, who were both in their fifties and sixties, he seemed relatively young and promising.

However…

“Winter had just arrived, and the magical beasts had shattered Monte Town's East Gate. More than a hundred magical beasts had fled into the city; ten people were bitten, and three died tragically! Tras.h.!.+ A bunch of tras.h.!.+ Especially those from the City Defense Force. What did they do?”

Geraint threw the stack of doc.u.ments that he had been given over onto the table, enraged. His light golden wavy hair swayed in anger.

The Ptolemy family established itself in the Holy Dragon Kingdom's Royal City. He was not in Monte Town because his family did not like him. On the contrary, they admired his abilities. That was why they made him the mayor. When his ten-year term ended, the Ptolemy family would give him a position as a minister.

It was an unspoken rule for the n.o.bles to send their family members out to get some experience and then return to be appointed to key positions. Almost all the n.o.bles did that. Gerland was not dissatisfied with the family's arrangements, but Monte Town was at the border, so it was a little out of the way. Fortunately, there was not much work, and he had plenty of free time every day. The only thing he did not like about the winter was the cold weather.

That d.a.m.ned border. For some reason, many magical beasts would appear every winter. He would be overwhelmed every time he had to fight those magical beasts. He would not eat or sleep well; he would always be afraid that more people would die because of the magical beasts. As a result, his own performance would suffer.

Just as he finished reading the doc.u.ments, there was an anxious knock on the door. A guard in armor barged into the room.

“Something bad has happened, Mayor! The hole that the magical beasts caused at the East Gate has been torn open by a few powerful silver-tier magical beasts. More than 200 magical beasts had managed to get into town. The person in charge of repairing the city wall is also dead.”

What?

Gerant felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground. He took a deep breath and calmed down. He stood up and said, “I can't count on the City Defense Force anymore. Where are the people from the Mage Guild and the mercenaries in the city? Get them now!”

The Mage Guild and the mercenaries were actually stronger than the City Defense Force, particularly the North Wind mercenary group leader. The leader, Ron, was a gold-tier expert similar to the Mage Guild President, Audrey. Winter in Monte Town was a breeze because they were there.

“Mayor Gerant, the Mage Guild, and the North Wind mercenary group are away in a crusade against Blackmoon Castle. They haven't come back yet.”

“Why must it be now?”

Gerant's headache got worse. He walked toward the wall and took the longsword on the wall. “Take me to the damaged city wall first.”

He gave the order for the guards to lead the way. He gathered a group of guards and exited the city hall, headed straight for Monte Town's East Gate. He noticed numerous people on the street were chased and bitten by magical monsters. The screams were deafening, and he saw soldiers fighting the magical beasts in groups of twos and threes. Sharp swords pierced some of the beasts, and additional ones jumped on the guards and smashed their heads.

Monte Town was in a dreadful state. Gerant could not take it, so he quickened his pace and arrived at the East Gate's wall.

As he looked down, he almost fell from the top of the city wall. A few monstrous orangutans with enormous wings on their backs led a troop of thousands of magical beasts. They struck the city wall fiercely. Those monstrous orangutans had pure white fur and six strong arms; they were nearly ten meters tall. They picked up large rocks and threw them at the city wall; cracks appeared on the wall.

“It's a peak silver-tier magical beast, six-armed Herculean demonic ape. There are three of them! They would usually only appear during the end of winter; why would it appear now?”