Summoning the Holy Sword

Rhode remembered the Battle Mage Group as brave, powerful, and equipped with the resilience of Warriors and might of Mages. They were fighters of their souls and inheritors of magic, walking on this continent and striving for their ideals…

 Memories were often wonderful, but the truth wasn’t always so.

 Rhode was baffled when he witnessed the group of Battle Mages cowering in the corner like refugees and beggars.

 “I’m sorry, Sir Overlord.”

 The Battle Mage Group’s representative said with an awkward look. He was one of the vice leaders, Sovann. Like the others, he wore a set of tattered clothes, but the magic cloak draped over his shoulders made him stand out as a Mage.

 “What happened?”

 Rhode couldn’t understand how the Battle Mage Group ended up this miserable in the Eastern Plains. According to Marlene, there were more than 900 members in this group who came to the fortress. Although it sounded like a lot, about two-thirds of them were feeble women and young children while there were less than 200 true Battle Mages. Not only that, but most of them were also badly hurt. If it weren’t for Lize and the Clerics, perhaps they would have died a long time ago.

 Anyone could see that they didn’t have it easy, but no one knew the reason behind it. However, this wasn’t an issue for Rhode because he came here to receive answers.

 The source of the problem stemmed from the ‘Soul Road’ Staff.

 Then, when the Battle Mage Group brought their entire family to the Land of Atonement, Marlene quickly realized that this was a great opportunity; one that could make Rhode’s territory prosper! People wouldn’t migrate for no particular reason, but it would be an entirely different matter if they were compelled to migrate! Most people couldn’t stand the chaos of war, so they moved out of their countries. If Marlene could gather them in Grenbell, it would resolve a huge portion of Rhode’s problems.

 Not only that, but Marlene also knew that refugees were much easier to manage than migrants because after suffering from war, their immediate hope was to lead stable lives after settling down. On the other hand, the migrants left their countries to seek better living conditions that Grenbell currently didn’t offer. But speaking about a safe, stable environment, Grenbell had them!

 Moreover, Grenbell had a small population and held more than enough spaces to help settle down the refugees. Marlene had even decided to speak to other overlords and if they were willing to, they could send all their refugees to Grenbell. This way, not only could it resolve the population issue in Grenbell, but it could also resolve the other overlords’ problems. Killing two birds with one stone, so why not?

 The more Marlene thought about it, the more doable this plan sounded. Therefore, she prepared this plan before Rhode’s return. Not only did she describe the benefits of accepting refugees in detail, but also considered the safety issues they might cause. However, she was confident in dealing with this matter. Currently, the Land of Atonement was the territory of Starlight. With the mercenaries and guards patrolling the place, it wasn’t possible for the refugees to cause trouble. Moreover, now that they had finally found a safe, stable environment, the probabilities of chaos happening were low even if they were incited by others. Of course, as the number of refugees increased, it meant that Grenbell’s military forces had to put more emphasis on internal security, rather than external threats. Fortunately, Marlene was confident that the elemental creatures in Rhode’s arsenal would be enough to deal with them.

 Rhode was impressed by her plan and nodded firmly in agreement. No matter how great he was, he was only a player. Even in university, he didn’t study urban and rural construction management. He could easily slaughter a BOSS, come up with strategies, and find legendary artifacts. But he just couldn’t handle territory constructions, set tax rates, and others… Moreover, earning money was different in game than in reality. In the game, some parties farmed gold while other parties specialized in selling equipment, materials, or leading newbies into dungeons for a fee. These were the sources of income for guilds and organizations. But all in all, these were the needs in game, and not in reality. If Rhode could continuously raid BOSSes for legendary artifacts, making money would naturally be easy for him. But the problem was that… this wasn’t the gaming world.

 There were some suggestions in this plan that astonished him, which included spending some money on the refugees. Of course, the money wouldn’t be used to sponsor their daily expenses. Instead, it would be to aid them in settling down and starting their own businesses. Then, they could use their businesses as mortgages if they wished to expand further. This way, they could borrow financial support from Rhode after setting a repayment period with the church. If they couldn’t repay before the end of their agreement, their businesses would be seized and returned to Rhode. The amount would be determined by the value of their mortgage.

 Rhode twitched his brows as this seemed so familiar. Wasn’t this how bank loans work?

 “This is also your idea?”

 Rhode gazed at Marlene.

 Could it be that she has also transmigrated into this world like me?

 But shortly after, her answer cleared his doubt.

 “No, this was Ann’s idea. She believes that we should support the refugees’ development in our territory. I talked to Miss Canary and Miss Bubble and this is the conclusion.”

 I see. No wonder it sounded so familiar.

 In the early stages of the game, Mini Bubble Gum threw tons of money into Starlight. Then, in the later stages, she came up with many ideas to earn income. However, Rhode didn’t expect that it was Ann who came up with such an idea… It seemed that the commercial genes inside her were authentic.

 With this plan, Rhode was no longer worried about the future of the Battle Mage Group. As long as things worked out as Marlene had predicted, the results shouldn’t deviate too much. Therefore, he handed this matter to Marlene. However, this didn’t mean that he had nothing on his hands because soon after he returned to the Land of Atonement, he received a new system upgrade mission—[Return of a Hero].