NOVEL NEXT 474 Population Increase
With Ember's help, we managed to complete the list we had on hand. However, among the ten kingdoms we sent back, only three decided to return under our control, and the rest decided to play it tough.
Of course, of the seven, four already fell, which resulted in an influx of over 100 million humans, monsters, and beasts, altogether adding to Heaven's Republic's population. The remaining three were still holding on, but from their current state, they'd also be falling sooner or later.
It's a little sad, but we can't just keep watch over those three kingdoms forever.
As such, Ember was keeping tabs on their situation now and then and saving those she could. Saving everyone was an almost impossible feat.
Right! I have already assigned fifty clones to handle the relocation of the new subjects in our country.
The clones are taking charge of everything from securing a location, clearing up, and building temporary lodging, to ensuring their safety from Demons roaming around.
The refugees that God Zeshion and Goddess Zeta gathered were also included there, by the way. However, they weren't going as fast as Ember and I did, probably to not overwork themselves.
By the end of the day, they only finished 5 kingdoms, with only one surrendering, three falling under demon attacks instantly, and one that struggled for a while, before falling eventually.
The following day, we did the same thing. Since there were only 8 kingdoms left to process, the relocation ended quite early.
Overall, out of the 43 kingdoms that wanted to return to their previous land, a total of 11 became our new slaves. The rest were all completely erased from the map a day or two later, with only one other kingdom remaining, struggling to defend its borders up until now.
The combined population from 30 kingdoms that we "absorbed" ended up crossing a billion. And that's... a lot.
Due to their large numbers, we had problems with providing them with food and shelter. Water? That's present almost everywhere, so it wasn't a problem at all.
In the end, we had to ask the other kingdoms' cooperation to just meet the demands for food, shelter, and clothing.
"But like this, it'll take months just to stabilize their living conditions..."
Now that they're my subjects, I wouldn't want to make them live such a poor lifestyle for long. As such, I had to "invest" a few God-level essence crystals I had, selling them to kingdoms with resources to spare, until we had gathered more than enough to cover everyone's needs.
While the new residents were slowly returning to their normal lives, it was time to address the other kingdoms now. Conflicts about borders, battles for shared resources, and many other disputes started to pop up after the situation stabilized.
As such, we had to move each kingdom a small distance away from each other, about three kingdoms' worth, while remaining within Heaven's Republic's vicinity.
It wasn't strictly done just for those kingdoms' sake, but also for our country's benefit too. Now that they were a little further away, we could expand our lands once more.
Thanks to Fatima's research team, the border defenses were getting more and more powerful, enabling us to increase our lands without much risk.
And with increased land, new towns were formed. Each new town was made with the idea of using electricity as the main premise, so the construction of each house was a little different compared to before.
Of course, the other "old" towns and cities were also slowly getting upgraded.
Right now, a full month after our week-long vacation, about 80% of Heaven's Republic has been "modernized" already. Streets were lit by LED streetlights at night, with houses and establishments switching from using crystals, wax, and oil as light sources to LED bulbs.
Some brilliant minds even started to make devices that use electricity to replace industrial tools that require manual operation. Of course, that's only after Ember did a seminar for them, explaining what electricity is and how it works, complete with samples like electric motors and bulbs.
Another month later, everything had already stabilized.
Most kingdoms were working on enhancing their border defenses while trying to expand gradually, reclaiming the lands right next to their borders.
Trade was slowly becoming the norm for neighboring kingdoms now that the distance between them had been shortened. It was close enough that a normal teleportation skill could let one reach the next kingdom in one jump. Of course, that's limited to the 7th stage and above's teleportation skills.
By now, everything was running as intended, with my job as President returning to just the usual domestic affairs. As such, it was finally time...
"Everyone, are you ready?"
Currently, the entire team is gathered.
With me at the lead, followed by Ember, the only god-level among the girls. Then there were Fang, Igni, Minerva, and Hekate at the 9th stage. Fatima managed to break through to the 8th stage. And lastly, Fina, Judy, and Yorm, who were still in the 7th stage.
Then, to the other side, there are a few more figures tagging along.
Wan Li, Wan Er, and Ying Yue, together with their main tamed monsters, the phoenix Xiao Huo, who reached the 7th stage already, Xiao Bing, the little blue fairy, at the same stage, and Guihuo, the black fox, at the 8th stage.
The three of them joined in after gaining permission from me and Lady Luo, of course. Without permission, then I wouldn't dare take them with me. The place we're heading to is dangerous, after all.
Finally, there's an extra participant...
"Julia, are you really coming with us?"
The former boss of Fina and her sister from the same village, Julia, was also tagging along. Fina alone should be enough of a guide, so we don't need to take her with us. However, she insisted strongly that she wanted to tag along.
"Of course! The more hands we bring along, the better, right?"
"..."
That's only if the enemy is a group of weaklings with only numbers on their side. Since they could push a god-level being into a corner, leaving them with no choice but to seal themselves to survive, there should be at least a few god-level enemies there.
Well, all the members coming along are connected to me in one way or another, so when push comes to shove, I can just raise their levels using Status Augmentation...
Anyway, after that, nobody raised their voices, indicating that everyone was already prepared to set off.
"Alright..."
I took a deep breath before turning around to the portal that Ember had opened up, leading to a certain location.
"Let's go!"
Join me in my lonely discord server: https://discord.gg/DEVbwSbZUh
SeraphWedd
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