The next morning, the first ray of sunlight filtered through the window, illuminating Lucas's room.
"Yawn~~"
Lucas opened his eyes, stretched, and looked at the empty space beside him. Touching it, he found it still held some lingering warmth. Recalling what happened last night, a smile couldn't help but hook the corners of his mouth. He got up to wash.
Creak...
The door was quietly opened, and Nicole peeked her head in. She had thought Lucas was still sleeping, not expecting him to already be up.
"Good morning, Master." Nicole's face flushed slightly. The cat-eared girl had spent the night in Lucas's room; Nicole had come in the middle of the night but then retreated.
"Morning." Lucas put down the towel in his hands, a smile in his black eyes.
"Master, let me help you." Nicole hurried forward to serve him.
Step, step, step...
Footsteps echoed outside, accompanied by Ayesha's shout, "Master, are you awake? Breakfast is ready."
Creak...
The door was pushed open, and Ayesha poked her head in. Seeing the fully dressed Lucas, her suspended heart finally settled.
"Morning, Ayesha," Lucas greeted warmly.
"Morning, Master," Ayesha hastily replied.
"Eh? Ayesha, what are you doing standing at the door?" The cat-eared girl's voice sounded from outside.
"Yah!!!"
Startled, Ayesha stumbled, pushing the door wide open. She turned to look at Mina, who had wet hair, and scolded her playfully, "Mina, you scared me. You make absolutely no sound when you walk."
"..." Mina's mouth twitched. She indeed made no sound when she walked; it had already become a habit.
She walked past the cow-horned girl, entered the room, and said, "Master, are we going out of the city to inspect today?"
"Mhm, yes, to see how the road construction is going." Lucas nodded. Beside him, Nicole efficiently fixed his clothes.
Today, Lucas was wearing a shirt and pants.
Every time Nicole saw Lucas's clothes, she would marvel at the craftsmanship. It was something the people in the textile workshop simply couldn't produce; the spacing between every single stitch was almost perfectly identical.
"Let's go eat breakfast." Lucas smiled and patted Nicole's hand, adjusted his collar, and then led the two beast-eared girls to get breakfast.
.........
After breakfast, Lucas took Mina and Ayesha out the door. Escorted by the war wolves, they boarded a carriage heading out of the city.
Clip, clop...
Inside the carriage, the three sat apart.
"Have the goods meant for export to the south been finalized?" Lucas asked.
"Annie arranged everything. Once the goods are ready in a couple of days, Jack and the others can set off," Mina replied softly.
Last night, she had taken the rubber technology documents Lucas had written to Jack, and briefly discussed the matter of stationing troops in the south.
"Very good." Lucas nodded. Once rubber was produced, they could start experimenting with many new things.
Clip, clop...
The carriage traveled quickly, and because the road was well-built, it didn't take much time before they were out of the city.
Outside Sedona City, a large contingent of people had already assembled. Most of them were beastkin, with only a small number of humans, totaling over eight thousand people. These were all the beastkin Ayesha had brought back yesterday.
They were currently waiting for Lucas's arrival, ready to head to the road construction site together. Starting today, they would begin building the road, and their salaries would also be calculated from today.
These beastkin had all settled down peacefully because, just yesterday, they had eaten the fullest and best meal they had had in a very long time. It made them deeply satisfied.
At the same time, the people arranging their work and accommodation had promised that as long as they worked, their meals would be this good every day, and they would receive a monthly salary of seventy to eighty copper coins.
As long as they worked for a full year, they would be eligible to buy a house of their own in Sedona City.
Having already witnessed the marvels of Sedona City yesterday, the beastkin were naturally thrilled and had no desire to ever leave.
Here, they ate the most delicious food they had ever tasted in their lives, and no one treated them as slaves or freaks.
Among these beastkin, a portion were slaves. When they saw a tattoo shop in the city and asked what it was for, they burst into tears of gratitude, all shouting: "We're saved!"
Clip, clop...
"The City Lord has arrived."
Someone shouted, and everyone's attention shifted to the approaching carriage.
"My Lord, we have arrived," The war wolves member driving the carriage reported respectfully.
Creak...
Lucas, along with Mina and Ayesha, pushed open the carriage door and stepped down, arriving before the crowd.
"My Lord."
The soldiers responsible for maintaining order immediately saluted Lucas.
Lucas nodded nonchalantly. In front of his subordinates, he still needed to maintain a serious demeanor.
He looked at the contingent of beastkin before him and then spoke calmly, "Everyone, I am Lucas, the City Lord of Sedona City. As long as you work for Sedona City for a single day, I, Lucas, guarantee that you will all eat your fill, eat well, have a place to live, and need not fear being captured as slaves."
These words instantly electrified the beastkin. Eating well, sleeping well, and no longer fearing enslavement—each point struck directly at the deepest desires in a beastman's heart.
"We will work hard!"
"We are willing to serve you, My Lord!" The beastkin cheered, loudly pledging their loyalty.
"This..." The cow-horned girl was dumbfounded. She knew full well how rebellious and untamed these beastkin could be, yet now they had all been completely won over by Lucas.
In truth, what won the beastkin over was not Lucas himself, but everything about Sedona City—the atmosphere of Sedona City had made the beastkin yearn for a life here.
"Then right now, let's set off to build the road!" Lucas shouted loudly, extremely satisfied with their performance.
Tramp, tramp, tramp... Instantly, the massive, surging crowd headed toward the road construction site. This road was being built toward Liberty City. After walking for just a short while, they could see a wide, smooth highway winding toward the horizon in the direction of Liberty City.
The entire road was paved with concrete, with a width of over fifteen meters.
"Whoa, such a huge road, and it's so flat! It's just like the ground inside the city."
"It's true, it's very hard. A carriage traveling on a road like this will be incredibly smooth, right?"
Seeing this, the beastkin cried out in continuous amazement. Even Lucas was extremely satisfied when he saw it.
He didn't expect the road to have already reached this length. With the addition of these beastkin today, the time it would take to build the road all the way to Liberty City would be drastically shortened.
"Master, from here to Liberty City, is the road going to be built exactly like this the whole way?" Ayesha widened her eyes in astonishment.
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