Roderick knocked on the door of the lord's study with mixed feelings.

The lord hadn't been to the walls since the last time he easily repelled the orcs, but the young men in the gray uniform would often lead the soldiers with arrows of varying effects to the soldiers, led by the girl named Annie.

During this time, they would carefully observe and write notes on paper, and after the battle, they would sometimes ask the soldiers to help them drag a few orc corpses back to study.

The soldiers had a good impression of these taciturn and attentive young people, and wished they would come over every day, so this little thing was naturally not a problem.

From that day on, the pace of the orc's attack slowed down.

Roderick judged from experience that this orc tribe should leave soon. If you're lucky, you'll be able to get some rest in between, but sooner or later another tribe will pass by. There are thousands of orc tribes in the Plains of Wind Whispering, and there will never be a time for the fortress to really rest - unless all the orcs of the Plains of Wind Whispering are cleared of the Centaurs of the Northern Continent like the Centaurs of the Oshik Empire cleaned up the Northern Continent.

However, this wish has existed for tens of thousands of years, but it has never been realized.

From the day humans set foot on the Southern Continent, they coveted the fertile land and rich resources of the Wind Plain, but in several wars, they were defeated by the strength and number of orcs, and now they have been reduced to holding on to the Twilight Fortress.

"Please come in."

Roderick pushed the door open.

"My lord, you're looking for me."

"Captain Roderick, sit." Colin was standing by the bookshelf, flipping through and sorting through a collection of books.

"Yes."

Roderick sat down uneasily, he couldn't guess why the lord was looking for him at this time, it seemed that the only possibility was that he wanted to replace himself because the guards of the fortress were now relaxed.

"I'm reading the city defense log written by Lord Duke himself."

Colin lifted the book in his hand slightly, and said, "It seems that the battle in August of the 19th year of the king's reign was very tragic. ”

"Hmm." Roderick nodded, "We lost 216 of our companions that time, and Lady Madeleine was slightly injured. ”

Being able to injure a high-level mage shows that the battle is indeed fierce, and orcs have good resistance to spells other than fire, so it is difficult to turn the tide of the battle by one person if they are not at the level of a great mage.

Colin bowed his head slightly and asked, "What's wrong with the orcs?" ”

"The attack has slowed down a lot lately, and the arrows that Miss Anne brought are very effective, so everyone is rushing to try it." Roderick replied.

"At present, the number of apprentices is not large, and this kind of arrow with a special magic pattern cannot be supplied indefinitely for the time being, so let the soldiers not slack off on the training of ordinary arrows."

"Yes, sir." Roderick Road.

Colin said: "The orcs are used to the warm and humid climate of the Wind Whispering Plains, but they don't really like this side of the Dragonspine Mountains. According to my guess, the tribes that wandered to the north of the plains and lived along the Dragon's Back Mountains were the losers in the southern feud of kind. In other words, most of the people we encounter are only the weaker of the orcs, but if a strong tribe comes, it may not be possible to repeat the mistake of the fortress that broke 150 years ago. ”

"That's what you said." Roderick couldn't tell if the lord's words were accurate, but it seemed very likely based on experience.

Colin closed the book and changed the subject, "I heard that you also work part-time as the chief sheriff of Twilight?" ”

"Yes."

"Are you busy?"

"There are eight sheriffs in Twilight, all of whom work part-time for the garrison of the fortress...... Actually, it's not much. Roderick said.

Colin nodded.

In a city of 50,000 people, there are only 8 sheriffs, and they are still part-time, so you know what it will be like if you think about it.

Duke Oliver Grey is a proper nobleman in every way - except for his poor ability to govern the country. Of course, as his father-in-law said, this is not entirely to blame Oliver Gray, after all, the conditions of this place are there, and it is not easy to hold the fortress for decades.

Colin asked, "Do you know what is going on in Winterfell?" ”

"What do you mean by ......?"

"Floor plan, building distribution, demographic composition, age level......" Colin said a few words and said no more, because the expression on the other man's face had already told him the answer.

The management of Twilight City is actually no management, which is similar to the way most nobles manage serfs - the land is there, I am planted, and the food that grows is handed over to the lord except for a guarantee that I will not starve to death.

Civilians are slightly better, at least they can rent land or go to the city to find a job, but in the event of natural and man-made disasters, it is not uncommon for them to sell themselves into slavery again.

"My lord, these ......" Roderick was a little embarrassed.

"Are there many literate people among your men?" Colin asked.

"The Duke has asked someone to teach, but no one is interested, and it is estimated that only half of them can barely write."

"Now the pressure on the city defense is much less." Colin said, "I need you to do something for me. ”

"Please command."

"Draw 200 guards who can write, and cooperate with the people I brought, on the one hand, to draw a floor plan of Twilight City, and on the other hand, to make a census of all the residents, it doesn't need to be very precise, someone will tell you the specific method when the time comes."

Colin's request is simple, and there is no way to be simple, in this world where paper is very scarce, it is simply unrealistic to want to register all the people.

"Good...... Good. Roderick didn't understand what the leader was doing, and he didn't dare to ask more, but the transfer of 200 people was not a problem for the current level of city defense.

……

On the tenth day of Colin's arrival at the Twilight Fortress, the second batch of 250 Manor students arrived as planned, and the castle was a little more vibrant.

After nearly a year of living and studying together, the 800 students are familiar with each other, and some of them have formed deep friendships, but because they have to follow the arrangement, their friends may not be able to go to the fortress with their own group, so after this meeting, it is a lively reunion scene.

In those ten days, Colin didn't do much.

On the one hand, not long after the death of the duke, the fortress was still shrouded in grief, and at this time, it seemed a little impersonal to let everyone cheer up and develop, anyway, there was no hurry for these few days;

On the other hand, Colin still has a lot of personal matters to deal with.

The main thing, of course, is to rebuild the laboratory.

The Wind Nuclear Collider and some important instruments followed him to the fortress, and after a few days of installation and commissioning, he was finally able to conduct daily experiments as he did in the teacher's mage tower.

Ten days later, however, Colin felt it was time to start implementing the plan he had been preparing for nearly a year.