"This is the trouble. I have to go back at the end of next month."
Dick shrugged helplessly. As the governor of the fiefdom, reporting on his duties was another hurdle he had to overcome besides his cultivation.
092. “Root” cures all diseases
Grandol didn't stay in Lagug for long and left in a hurry the next day.
Dick and his men stayed there for two more days, built a simple camp, and left two hundred soldiers stationed there to guard the seven pirate ships they captured.
Dick planned to build a port here, and then send a group of craftsmen and shipmen to repair the captured ships.
These ships are all three-masted sailing ships with a displacement of about 400 tons. They are not as good as the paddle steamers that the Empire has now developed using Earth technology, but they are not unusable.
After this battle, Dick has made up his mind that his main naval force in the future will be composed mainly of ship girls who are loyal, reliable and capable, while conventional ships can be used for civilian purposes first.
It is worth mentioning that after capturing these ships, Dick sent people on board to search for the suspected artifact that could create fog. As a result, a group of people rushed up and searched for a long time but found nothing.
Just when everyone was wondering, someone noticed that the fog was slowly moving towards the open sea, and they immediately realized that someone was trying to escape with the treasure. Just as Belfa and the other ship girls were about to chase, they heard a shrill scream in the fog. Not long after, everyone saw a pirate rowing a small boat towards the shore at all costs, shouting at the top of his lungs while rowing.
"Help! There's a Kraken in the sea!!!"
After the pirate came ashore, he immediately surrendered to the surrounding army. They found a simple bronze lantern on his boat.
Grandol was still there at the time, and he recognized at a glance that the lantern was called "Siren's Phantom". It was indeed a divine weapon, but not an artifact of any real god. It was a creation of the evil ocean god, the Mother of Whirlpools.
According to mythology, this evil woman would create a terrifying whirlpool in the sea, and then use mirages to lure passing ships towards the whirlpool.
This lantern can actually do more than just create fog; it can also create many illusions at sea.
The one who tried to escape was the second in command of the Sea Tiger Gang and the distant cousin of the Blood Wolf Gang boss Woluf.
He had already taken the artifact and rowed out in the chaos, but halfway through he saw many thick octopus tentacles emerging from the water and mistakenly thought he had encountered a sea monster. When the pirate ship was forcibly towed ashore, the pirates on the ship thought it was the work of a sea monster because they could not see that it was Ding'an and Kashino towing in front. Now seeing these large tentacles further confirmed this speculation.
The thing these pirates feared most was encountering a sea monster. Legend has it that if one was eaten by a sea monster, even their soul would be chewed up. The second in command was so scared that he immediately rowed the boat in the opposite direction and ran for the shore for his life.
After hearing about his experience, Dick and several other ship girls all had expressions that showed they wanted to laugh but didn't dare to, because the sea monsters he encountered were obviously the two sailing ship girls, the Golden Deer and the Royal Fortune.
Because he was frightened by the sea monster, the second in command told everything he knew during the interrogation. Many important information about the Fjord Pirate Alliance was pried out of his mouth, including the hiding places of various pirate gangs of all sizes, just to buy himself a way to survive.
Three days later, Dick led his army back in triumph, causing a sensation again.
You have to know that the fjord pirates in the north are not like the mountain bandits on land. In the past, Lagug had no navy, so even if he wanted to fight them, he couldn't do anything to them. As a result, Dick not only fought, but also defeated the strongest Sea Tiger Gang and hung Tiger's head at the city gate.
After returning to the town, Dick handed over the subsequent processing work to his subordinates. The pirate captives who should be killed were killed, and those who should be sent to labor reform were sent to labor reform. As for the rescued slaves, Dick promised to restore the freedom of those innocent people after completing the identity verification.
You have to know that not all of these people are good people. Some of them were actually captured by gangs.
Tia was the one in charge of this matter. The spy lady complained about it and she felt like she was becoming more and more like the head of the secret police.
Of all the rescued people, Dick was most curious about the female elves.
There were twelve of them in total, with the iconic beautiful faces of the elves, but their eyes were dull and they looked lifeless. After being rescued, they did not show any joy. They all kept silent and adopted a non-violent and non-cooperative attitude when questioned.
And from the captured pirates, Dick learned a shocking fact.
These female elves were actually sold to the Sea Tiger Gang by the Dead Tree Gang. They supply "goods" every six months, and can provide ten to twenty female elves at a time. This business between the Sea Tiger Gang and the Dead Tree Gang has lasted for more than 30 years, and they have sold hundreds of elves in total.
You have to know that the Dead Tree Party is an extreme nationalist who claims to "make the elves great again." However, while they shout "elves first," they secretly sell their own people as slaves to pirates. This is really surprising.
These female elves are temporarily living in a small courtyard next to the clinic, with special people responsible for their care and supervision. When Dr. Natasha examined these elves, she found that although there were no visible scars on their appearance, their internal organs were obviously failing and they had severe brain damage suspected to be caused by drugs. Those with the most serious symptoms may have lost the ability to communicate.
"They are like flowers that are about to wither. The petals still look beautiful, but they will fall off at the slightest touch."
Handing the medical examination report to Dick for review, Natasha's tone was full of sympathy.
Dick couldn't help but sigh in his heart after reading the report. Although these female elves were unwilling to speak, just this medical examination report and the confessions of some pirate leaders were enough for him to guess roughly.
"It's just to feed twelve poor people. I still have this little money. But I have to remind you not to let sympathy interfere with your judgment. These female elves will be monitored for the time being. Try not to let our medical staff contact them alone."
"You're worried they might..."
"It's better to be careful. It's not worth it if the medical staff we trained with great difficulty make any mistakes due to negligence. They are all your students, but they are also my people. Natasha, you'd better take a rest. You have dark circles under your eyes from taking care of the wounded these days."
Hearing Dick's caring words, Natasha smiled. She was indeed too tired these days. Although the "Fjord Operation" was a great success, it also caused a lot of casualties.
Most of the slaves were injured to varying degrees when they were forcibly rushed to the beach, and many were even crushed and trampled to death. Natasha was not the kind of saint with overflowing sympathy. She could understand what was necessary damage, but as a doctor, she would do her best to treat every wounded person.
This directly led to her being overloaded these days and only sleeping an average of three hours a day.
Thinking of this, Natasha suddenly envied her colleague Shizuka Marikawa. Her workload these days was no less than hers, but she would take time out to find Dick to "recharge". After an hour's absence, she would come back fully energized and devote herself to work.
Of course, although she is envious, Natasha, who knows what "recharging" is, really wants to recharge herself, but she doesn't have the courage to do so because she is too shy.
However, just when Natasha was lost in thought, Dick, who was sitting opposite her, saw her in a daze and thought that Natasha was a little absent-minded because of tiredness in the past few days, so he stood up and walked behind her, put his hand on Natasha's shoulders, wanting to help her massage and relax.
Dick had always respected Dr. Natasha, and wanted to give her a massage out of pure concern, without any ill intentions. However, Natasha, whose shoulders were being held down, shuddered suddenly and subconsciously let out a rather coquettish scream.
"Master Dick, what are you doing..."
"Don't be nervous. Let me massage you. Your shoulders are very stiff. I learned this massage technique from someone special. Teacher Shizuka said it was very comfortable after receiving the massage."
As the saying goes, the speaker may not mean it but the listener may take it seriously. It would have been fine if Dick mentioned someone else, but when he mentioned Shizuka Marikawa, Natasha subconsciously recalled the shocking scene she saw in the ruins that day.
Natasha felt her face getting red and hot again, and was about to get up and leave, but Dick had already started massaging her shoulders. The relief from the pain in her shoulders made Natasha's body soften, and she almost moaned in pleasure.
"Are you exhausted?"
"Um……"
Natasha nodded and pursed her lips to let out a soft hum. After days of hard work and the "burden" on her chest that bothered her, Natasha's shoulders were indeed reaching their limit. Dick's massage was like a rain shower after a long drought, making her unable to stop, while a certain line in her heart began to waver unconsciously.
The massage lasted for more than ten minutes. After Dick went through the whole process, he could clearly feel that Natasha's shoulders, which had been very stiff due to tension, had regained their natural softness.
He felt that he had finished pressing and was about to move his hand away, but unexpectedly Natasha took the initiative to grab his hand, lowered her head and spoke in a weak and mosquito-like voice.
"Can you... continue?"
"Hmm? Natasha, what did you say?"
"I said...can we continue?"
"Want to press it again?"
"No... yes... it's the next process."
At this point, Dick naturally couldn't understand anything more and couldn't help feeling a little surprised.
He has always followed the principle of voluntariness and would never rely on his status as a master to force the girls under him to do things they don't want to do. That's why Natasha had been very resistant before, and Dick certainly wouldn't force her.
But if Natasha took the initiative to ask, he would not refuse such a good thing.
So Dick's small hands went over his shoulders and lifted up the heavy burden for Natasha. Natasha just snorted lightly and showed no resistance at all.
"Is it really possible?"
"You...just don't look down on me because I'm an old aunt."
"You can't say that. I really love mature and charming beauties like Teacher Natasha. To be honest, if I wasn't afraid of offending you and making you hate me, I would have wanted to do this a long time ago."
Natasha usually dresses conservatively, basically wrapping herself up tightly, but her body, like a ripe peach, is too prominent in all aspects. Therefore, no matter how conservatively she dresses, she will inadvertently reveal a natural and unconscious sexy aura of a mature woman.
And Dick had to admit that he was completely powerless to resist this perfect mature woman's charm.
Under Dick's skillful manipulation, Natasha's breathing became more and more rapid. Dick pulled her up and walked into the lounge in the inner room of the office. He threw her directly on the soft couch and took advantage of the opportunity to occupy Natasha's sweet lips.
Natasha, who was kissing a man for the first time in her life, was dizzy from Dick's kiss. Her teeth were easily pried open and she was invaded by that small but extremely dexterous tongue.
At this time, Dick's hands had already unbuttoned Natasha's front. It was summer after all, and although Natasha wrapped herself tightly as usual, she only had a sleeveless shirt and inner underwear under her white coat, which were easily stripped by Dick into an "edible state".
It is worthy of being called "the fertile evil creature". It feels so heavy and seems to have a suction force, which is really sinful!
"Ugh...don't suck, I can't breastfeed!"
Natasha was going crazy at this moment. She found that the difference between just watching and experiencing it in person was so huge. This kind of ecstasy could not be described in words. Dick also had a very cute boy's face and figure. This age difference, which was almost a generation apart, added an exciting "sense of sin" to this taboo experience.
Subconsciously, Natasha's mind flashed with the scene of Dick passionately kissing her skin, then raising his head and calling her "Mom" with an innocent look. Natasha couldn't help but shudder, feeling ashamed of her sinful thoughts.
But soon, Natasha's right hand suddenly touched a hot rod-like object, which had been drawing circles on her flat belly, thus arousing Natasha's interest. She reached out and touched it, and immediately understood what it was, and was horrified for a moment.
Hey, hey, hey! This size and body ratio is a bit inconsistent with biological common sense, right?
Just as Natasha was feeling overwhelmed with emotion, the powerful "battering ram" had already reached the unguarded city gate, and with just one strike it broke through the door and went straight into the depths of the nest.
The pain of her first experience made Natasha hug Dick like a koala, holding him tightly in her arms and refusing to let go, muttering to herself in her heart.
"My adoptive parents who are far away in Beloberg, you don't have to worry about your daughter's life-long affairs anymore."
At the same time, at the office door, Befa, who was holding a stack of approval documents, was about to open the door, but found that the office door was locked from the inside.
Befa was slightly stunned, then he understood and couldn't help but reason in his mind.
"This is in broad daylight. He must be a very courageous colleague, right?"
093. Return to "Home"
On the last day of August, the first corn planted in the spring matured.
Dick personally led people to inspect the corn fields at the labor camp farm. Looking at the golden and plump corn cobs in the fields, he smiled like Khrushchev.
After having enough fun, Dick turned to Ruby Eyes who was traveling with him and asked.
"What is the yield per acre of our corn?"
"The average yield is about 400 kilograms. The corn variety provided by Lukeya is very good. If we can develop fertilizer, the yield can be doubled. In addition, the demonstration fields we arranged in various villages have also played a propaganda role. Many villagers are willing to switch to corn next year."
"I'll leave all of this to you. Just do it boldly."
The agricultural development of the territory is currently the core of Ruby Eyes' work, while the Chamber of Commerce has been largely handed over to the Ship Girl Ding'an.
This was also Ding'an's own initiative. She knew that she could not help much in terms of combat effectiveness, so she might as well give full play to her talents in business and switch to a civilian job.
It is worth mentioning that when the power of the Chamber of Commerce was transferred, it caused many people to have wild thoughts.
Because before this, Ruby Eyes had done everything perfectly without any omissions in her work. In addition, she was a beautiful woman with a voluptuous figure, so some wretched guys judged her by their own standards and envied the Governor's good fortune to be able to recruit such a talented and capable person.
As a result, without any warning, the Chamber of Commerce suddenly parachuted in a new leader, and this person was also a big-breasted beauty with a figure and appearance that was no less than that of Ruby Tongue, which led everyone to secretly wonder whether Lord Hong had fallen out of favor with the Governor?
However, soon, the female master had a very harmonious relationship with the new Lord Ding'an. She personally took him around to meet people and familiarize him with the various businesses under the Chamber of Commerce.
So those people who had previously speculated that Ruby Eye had fallen out of favor suddenly realized that these two were "good sisters"!
Damn... I envy the Governor even more!
After finishing the inspection of the cornfield, Dick returned to the castle and immediately called the heads of various departments under him to a meeting to discuss the next development plan for the territory.
Food self-sufficiency is only the first step, but this first step is the most important and is the foundation for all subsequent development to proceed smoothly. Therefore, Dick decided to continue investing in agriculture in the coming year, expand and upgrade the scale of agricultural and animal husbandry production, and introduce more types of crops and livestock.
People cannot just eat staple foods, it is also necessary to improve the "happiness of residents".
Looking back to when Dick first took office, Laguge was in a state of disrepair. The climate in the territory was terrible, the people lived in hardship, and there were constant banditry in the country. The Governor's Office was just an empty shell, and had long been riddled with holes due to a group of pests.
Now, in less than a year, the territory has basically stabilized. The mountain bandits entrenched in the east and west have been completely wiped out. The largest pirate group, the Sea Tiger Gang, has been severely damaged and disintegrated, and even its lair has been raided. Other small pirates have fled. As for the horse bandits who were also the focus of Dick's attention, they seemed to have received the news in advance and did not dare to come to Laguge this year.
Dick's colleagues played an indispensable role in achieving such success in less than a year.
In order to preserve these hard-earned gains, Dick had to secure his position as governor.
Therefore, he must go back to report on his work this year, and he must not use means such as pretending to be sick to avoid it, so as not to cause the suspicious old duke to have unnecessary suspicion.
Of course! Dick didn't mean to say that he would not use any tricks at all. He planned to set off on time this time. A round trip would take at least 22 days. The winter in Laguge usually started at the end of September, so he set off in early September. Even if he arrived in the imperial capital, he would have to come back after staying there for a few days.
"This time, Rita, Hongye, and Lukoa, the three of you will follow me, and the others will stay behind."
"Ah?"xN
"What? Come back with me. Don't we have anyone here? This is our foundation. Do you think I'm going back to the capital just to have fun?"
Dick did not plan to bring many people with him when returning to the imperial capital. In addition to the three girls, he also planned to bring forty soldiers to escort some large items that could not be stuffed into the space bracelet.
Although Dick didn't like his relatives who had no affection for him, he was polite because he prepared a lot of gifts. Many of them were stolen goods found when clearing out pirate dens.
Over the past year, Dick has been writing to the old duke regularly to report on his work. In the letters, he carefully created a character for himself, that of a bastard who tried hard to be loyal to the family and wanted to prove his worth. He was not smooth in his style and preferred efficiency. Therefore, although he had made some achievements in Laguge over the past year, he also offended a group of people.
Many superiors like this type of subordinate. They are not afraid that the subordinate will offend people and make enemies everywhere, but they are afraid that the subordinate will play well with everyone and get along well with outsiders.
Three days later, Dick set out on his journey back to the imperial capital. He sat in the carriage, holding a copy of the Imperial Capital Daily published three days ago, and read every report carefully, searching for useful information.
It can be seen that the situation in the imperial capital is generally stable at present. The political turmoil caused by the death of the crown prince is hidden under the surface, and all parties are generally restrained.
