Unbeknownst to Bruce, his current rival James, was dead, and after receiving a large ransom, he arranged for the craftsmen and serfs to begin installing a water-powered mill, which would allow Greenton to mill wheat and bake bread to feed the villagers.

"We need to make another wooden wheel, no, it should be iron." Bruce watched the carpenters make the wood into parts, he touched his chin and looked at a long log, which was the most important axis of the mill, and it would be stronger and more durable if iron was used, after all, it was difficult to disassemble and repair the mill once.

"Okay lord, we'll try to look at it with iron." The blacksmith agreed, and now that the money in the territory was relatively sufficient, they could go and buy some pig iron forging from the merchants.

"Very good, it's going well!" Bruce nodded in satisfaction, the sulfur and ash that Stukov had brought from Death Island was about to arrive, and he planned to double the walls and enclose the whole of Glinton, and he had to carefully expand his territory in this dangerous time.

"Those pigs are just abominable, don't force me to kill them all." By this time, Mavis was covered in mud and smelled of strangeness, and she came to Bruce, who had been tending to the pigsty with the swineherd for days on end.

"If one of them dies before winter this year, I'll put the account on your head." Bruce ignored Mavis's embarrassment and said to Mavis.

"Damn, damned." Mavis cursed angrily, but Bruce turned around and went to the barracks, Grinton's victory attracted a lot of new people to join, Bruce was happy about the phenomenon, but the only thing that upset him a little was the reduction in labor.

However, things took a surprising and delightful turn the next day, when Grimton arrived with some ragged and hungry-looking fugitives who had escaped from their neighbouring territory.

"Jeffrey the Kisser's Domain?" Bruce asked in surprise after listening to Elder Warren's words.

"Yes, they escaped from Lord Jeffrey's territory, and this year's harvest was bad, but Lord Jeffrey did not reduce his taxes at all, and his people were starving, but he was indifferent." Elder Warren stood tremblingly on Bruce's side, and although Bruce asked Anne to bring him a wooden bench, Elder Warren refused.

"What do you think?" Bruce touched his chin, he had become accustomed to gathering his retainers together for discussion whenever something big happened, such as Studkov, Edward, Eve, Mad Friar, and Mavis.

"They have been so oppressed that if they don't flee, the whole family will die before the winter." Eve stood up and said to Bruce.

"You suggest I take them in?" Bruce glanced at Eve and asked her.

"You can't watch them die, can you?" Eve replied.

"However, if Jeffrey knows about these fugitives, you'll be in trouble." Stukov reminded Bruce that lords generally considered the serfs in their territory to be their property, but if the slaves in their territory escaped to someone else, they would not give up.

"We just fought a battle, and it would be unwise to provoke another strong enemy." Edward said to Bruce as well.

None of the lords had a very good relationship with each other, either over the adjacent water source or over land exploration and crossing, and it was not surprising that they even fought in a big fight, but a neighbor who liked to find trouble was not a good thing for Greenton at this time.

"Let's go meet these fugitives!" Bruce listened to his retainers, and he decided to meet those who ventured into his territory.

There were ten fugitive slaves, two families, two bachelors, four men, three women, and three children, and they were all resting in the warehouse in the village of Greenton, and Anne and Monica took care of them.

"Be careful, don't choke." Anne fed a bowl of oatmeal to one of the emaciated boys, and the sight of the slimy bowl of oatmeal gave rise to longing in the boy's eyes.

"Thank you, thank you." The boy's mother was nibbling on a piece of barley bread, her face was as thin as bones, her arms were like firewood, her dress was dirty, and she was wiping her nose with her sleeve as she ate the bread.

"It's great to be here." The men were also given food, fruit and a little meat to their delight.

"Lord Greenton, Lord Bruce is here." The door to the warehouse opened, and Bruce walked into the warehouse with his retainers, and he saw a scene of hungry people.

"It's the lord, it's the lord." Seeing Bruce appear at the door, the fugitives could no longer care about eating, and they rushed forward and knelt down in front of Bruce.

"You escaped from Master Jeffrey's territory?" Bruce looked at the scrawny fugitives, and he knew that Jeffrey's territory was much more fertile than Greenton's, with good fields for farming, and even a mine.

"Yes, honorable lord, we really can't live anywhere, Lord Jeffrey has confiscated almost all of our food and crops, not even the food we planted, if we continue to stay, my family and I will either freeze to death and starve to death in the winter, or don't hang ourselves before we can't pay taxes." The fugitive slave wept and stretched out his hands, knelt in front of Bruce and said to him.

Looking at the fugitive slave in front of him, Bruce frowned, it seemed that Jeffrey practiced strict rule in his territory, and as a nobleman, he did not interfere with each other's territory, but Bruce turned to look at his own city wall.

"Bruce, these people are so pathetic, can you help them." Anne lifted the skirt and walked over to Bruce's side and said to him.

"My lord, what do you want to do?" Elder Warren had been observing Bruce, and he asked Bruce about it.

"Take them in, and order the craftsmen to build them houses." Bruce instructed the retainers beside him.

"Take them in, Bruce, are you going to be an enemy of Jeffrey?" Stukov asked in Bruce's ear.

"I declare that anyone who escapes into my territory will be protected by me." Bruce listened to Stukov, and he did not say it directly to Stukov, but to everyone present.

"Wow~~."

"Thank you, merciful lord, and may the Lord God bless you."

"Thank you, Lord God." The fugitives waited in fear for Bruce's verdict, and usually the lords would send back the fugitives from their territory to avoid trouble, but Bruce announced that he was sheltering them.

"Bruce, this is asking for trouble." Stukov glared at Bruce with one eye, he had seen a lot of selfish aristocrats who would do all kinds of dirty things in order to protect their own interests.

"Hey, who's in trouble isn't necessarily the case!" Bruce smiled and turned around and patted Stukov on the shoulder and said to him.