New Mayor (2)

[Frozen City Constitution]

[Law 1 - Youths below 25 years of age will be conscripted to the Frozen City Knight Order. If an individual fail to complete the physical tests and possess the ability, the individual will be allocated to administrative work. Otherwise, the individual will be sent to work in the Red Stone Mine]

[Law 2 - All crimes are to be judged by Drake Moonfall who will be receive advice from 5 judges elected by the Frozen City inhabitants. The judges will change every year. A judge cannot be re-elected in two consecutive years]

[Law 3 - Merchants will have to pay a 20% tax on all the items they sell. Special privileges can be provided based on the loyalty and goodwill of the said merchants towards the Frozen City]

[Law 4 - No one can leave the city without consulting Drake Moonfall beforehand]

[Law 5 - Any abuse can be reported to the Judge Court in the City Castle (in construction). Heavy compensation will be asked if the report turns out to be false]

[Law 6 - Drake Moonfall's orders must be obeyed by all means, and has priority over all the laws above]

A year passed already since Drake issued those 6 laws. At first, inhabitants were skeptical. Drake had basically killed the city's guard order, and now he created laws enabling him to become a bloodthirsty tyrants. The inhabitants had become tied to Frozen City. They could not even escape it.

Families saw their sons and daughters conscripted to the army or labour.

Merchants were forced to pay absurd taxes.

But...

Somehow, now that one year had passed, the inhabitants grew to respect Drake.

The reason was simple.

Propaganda and actions.

Drake pressured the Wooden Merchant Union and various establishment owners to spread the message of his goodwill and greatness. But most importantly, he used them to spread the news of his actions.

Of course, propaganda alone was not enough to gain the hearts of citizens.

Actions spoke louder than words.

And he defended the city better than anyone.

More accurately, instead of just defending the city, Drake organized hunting parties. Frozen City once had white walls, 6 meters-tall. Now, Frozen City had blood-filled walls, with skeletons of beasts hanging.

In one year, Drake had wiped out 16 goblin tribes, killed over a hundred winter wolves and he had hunted 8 Yetis, which were low-grade magical beasts with physique on par with knights. Wild beasts no longer dared to come near the walls seeing all of these skeletons.

Of course, the flesh of these beasts was not wasted.

Drake made sure to turn them into blood crystals.

He would then consume the high-quality blood crystals, and make experiment with the low-quality blood crystals.

In a year, his research bore fruit.

[Task [Conversion of low-quality Blood Crystal into high-quality Blood Crystal] completed]

Training, meditating, and drinking exclusively Frozen Leaf Tea, Drake's growth was incredible. However, his actions reached the ears of the main family. And they were seemingly unhappy with his way of doing things.

In order to supress him, they sent an individual Drake both loathed and wished to kill, an individual who had tried to kill his parents, the one who had pledged to take his own life if his parents were not punished accordingly: Benjamin Moonfall, beginner acolyte, known as the Steel Raven for his innate spell was a defensive one, allowing his skin to grow steel-like feathers, protecting him from normal attacks.

However, the family had waited too long.

In one year, Drake's roots had gained the heart of the citizens, and the Frozen City Knight Order was completely under his control. In their eyes, Drake was a war hero, and a benevolent monarch. His laws might have seemed forceful at first, but Drake didn't have much interest in personal wealth. What was the use of gold coins if they were not used?

Drake constantly invested the money he earned from taxes into city development, which included farms, food supply, routes towards other cities as well as deals with officials from other territories. As the supply of red stone increased, Drake made tons of profit in the city, and improved the city's defence, by adding layers of defence to the wall, improving the sturdiness of architectural designs on the tower.

With the conscripted workers, the manpower he possessed was almost terrifying. Although only youths were conscripted, many older workers started to volunteer seeing those changes. They wanted to be part of this 'great wave of changes'.

One year.

It only took one year to transform the Frozen City made of Ice Blocks into a sturdy city made of Red Stones and reinforced with ice. The poor inhabitants could now afford two meals a day, as well as a home. Beggars were given jobs, and became workers. Houses were lent to homeless people.

Criminals were enslaved as well. Any criminal was taken down by the Knight Order. The streets became clean and safe. As more people worked, they managed to afford more stuff. Merchants might have paid a lot of taxes, but more people bought from them. As a result, they made more money than before. Such an active city attracted more merchants as well. This meant more money rolling in the city.

In one year, many neighboring villages started to migrate towards Frozen City.

When Benjamin Moonfall arrived at destination, he couldn't believe his eyes.

Skeletons of 3-meters-tall yetis, hundreds of goblin skeletons, exceptionally well-built walls and houses made of Red Stone rather than Ice Blocks, a castle visible from kilometers away...A Knight Order Temple as majestic as the the training grounds that could be seen in Everlasting City, the capital of the fief...

Benjamin could not believe his eyes.

'Is it really Frozen City?'

As he arrived at the entrance, he was stopped by guards.

"Don't you see my crest? I am Benjamin Moonfall. Open the gates!", Benjamin shouted arrogantly

However, the guards remained unfazed: "The Mayor informed us of you coming in the city. Like all acolytes, you will be surveilled. Be aware that the act of killing is strictly forbidden. If you kill a citizen, be prepared to be killed in return"

"Surveilled? Tell me your name, if you want to live!", Benjamin shouted as his face turned red, "How dare a mere commoner threaten me?"

As he approached the guard instinctively took a step forward, his hand ready to unsheathe his sword. Benjamin sensed danger and retracted the hand he was about to use in order to punch the authoritative guard.

'He...This man is a knight? No, he isn't. He is too young. He must have reached the peak of the preparatory knight realm! It doesn't make sense. I made sure the family only sent trainees of soldier standard to him'

Little did he know, for Drake personally trained the Frozen Knight Order.

Daily beatings, healthy diet and life and death battles had tempered the physique of those knights. Of course, blood crystals also helped to raise their physique. Out of the 100 trainees, Drake had diluted them in the 150 conscripted citizens.

Out of the 250 members of the Frozen Knight Order, 50 had reached the preparatory knight realm, while the rest reached the standards of veteran soldiers. More than twenty showed potential to reach the knight realm in the following years.

As for the Frozen Knight Order Captain, he was a veteran knight, the only knight who hadn't been killed in the blood bath. He had guarded the walls of Frozen City for the past ten years, and plan to do so until the day he died.

Drake offered him the opportunity to continue to do it. Of course, it took a few beatings for the 50-years-old man to accept his suggestions, but he eventually yielded. Drake's hunts and strength then earned his loyalty.