From Baron to Lord

Prince William was as gentle as Allen remembered, smiling as he addressed Allen and the others. "Thank you, Your Highness."

"I heard that King Allen is holding an auction this time, and I heard that there are many good things, so I just came to take a look."

Prince William said to Allen, as if offering an explanation.

Allen wasn't a fool and naturally didn't believe Prince William's words, but he could only play dumb for now.

The group welcomed Prince William to the royal city and settled him in. Fortunately, Prince William seemed easy to talk to, which put them at ease.

Allen also noticed a familiar figure among Prince William's entourage: Marquis Harry!

However, with Prince William present, Allen couldn't say anything and simply nodded in acknowledgment.

Allen couldn't help but find it amusing that he seemed to encounter Marquis Harry every time he had contact with the Radiant Empire.

In the following days, with the arrival of Prince William, other kingdoms and even duchies came one after another, and the entire royal capital became quite lively.

Several duchies under Allen Kingdom also came, but their main purpose was not to attend the auction but to seek assistance.

In the main hall, Duke Copper Mountain of the Hilton Duchy, Duke Iron Lizard of the Chomori Duchy, the Duke of the Lane Duchy, and the Duke of the Marco Duchy all stood in the hall.

At this moment, Copper Mountain and Duke Iron Lizard both wore mournful expressions as they looked at Allen. "Your Majesty, we really can't hold on any longer."

"That battle caused great damage to the duchy, and now the entire duchy is about to collapse."

"Didn't I exempt you from this year's tribute and send ten million people to each of you?" Allen rubbed his forehead, feeling somewhat helpless.

Chapter 464: Dukes Feigning Misery, Helpless Support

"Your Majesty, although you gave us ten million residents, they are not the original people of the Chomori Duchy and the Hilton Duchy."

"Of course not. There are a full eighty million people. Did you expect me to divide them slowly for you?" Allen suddenly felt that Copper Mountain and Iron Lizard weren't very bright.

Allen naturally knew what they meant. They simply wanted to play the victim and get something from Allen.

After all, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Marco didn't say anything and stood quietly in place. Duke Lane alone felt a bit awkward.

It wasn't that he was unconvinced by Allen; Duke Lane, who was able to become a Dragon Knight and establish a duchy, was no fool.

In this room, everyone except him was Allen's confidant, and he felt somewhat out of place.

Allen saw that Copper Mountain and Iron Lizard were still complaining.

"Many of them are also residents of the kingdom, and they are dissatisfied with the state of the Hilton Duchy and the Chomori Duchy."

"Also, we now have so many more people, and we really can't afford to feed them."

"If you really don't want to manage them, then I'll replace you with someone else."

Allen couldn't help but want to teach them a lesson.

Immediately, they stopped talking and then said with resolute expressions, "As subjects, it is our duty to share the burden for Your Majesty. Please allow us to continue."

"Alright." Allen waved his hand. He also knew that Copper Mountain and Iron Lizard weren't lying.

After all, even Allen Kingdom had become like this. If Allen hadn't obtained the treasure trove of Norton Kingdom and the treasures of the Atyes Empire, he would probably be having a headache himself.

However, the Chomori Duchy and the Hilton Duchy had previously pushed everything to Allen Kingdom, causing the treasures in the royal treasury to be taken away.

And with the addition of ten million people, it was enough to keep them busy and overwhelmed.

"I will give you another ten million tons of grain and five hundred million gold coins. This is the maximum extent of my support."

Allen looked at Copper Mountain and Iron Lizard, saying with some heartache. He couldn't help but feel the pain. Even though Allen Kingdom's annual tax revenue was ten billion, there were many places to spend money.

Not to mention, they had to hand over three billion gold coins to the Radiant Empire every year, which was mandatory.

There were also the expenses of the army and agriculture. Of course, the most important thing was the cultivation of the transcendents.

Those reagents and magic potions were all shockingly expensive.

Moreover, Allen's current knights and mages had, to some extent, surpassed those of the former Norton Kingdom, making the expenses even greater.

Furthermore, Allen was planning to equip the entire army with firearms, which would be another considerable expense.

And now, Allen was making a grand gesture, directly scattering twenty billion and forty million tons of grain.

This sounded incredibly generous, but if Sparrow heard it, his face would probably not look good.

"Marco, how is your duchy doing?" Allen looked at Marco, who hadn't said much.

Marco hurriedly bowed. "Thanks to Your Majesty's governance, the development of the duchy is going well. There is no need to trouble Your Majesty to worry."

Allen also nodded subconsciously. Indeed, Allen himself had put in a lot of effort.

Although he had taken away many things, he had still left Marco with a lot of gold coins and other things.

Like those railways, windmills, factories, and earthworms, those were not ordinary things.

Allen had also received the least damage in the last war, spending almost only some money.

"Duke Lane, how is your duchy doing?" Allen remembered that the Lane Duchy also seemed to have suffered quite a bit, and he looked at Duke Lane.

Duke Lane sighed. "Your Majesty, the situation in the Lane Duchy is not very good either."

Allen spared himself the trouble and simply said, "Then I will also give you and Marco some support."

After all, if the other three duchies were given support, it wouldn't be good not to give it to Marco. Anyway, it would just be one more.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

A look of joy appeared on all three faces, as this solved their immediate crisis.

“I will send the orcs to transport these supplies to you. You only need to receive them then.”

Alan thought of those incredibly strong orcs. He had just exchanged for hundreds of thousands of them, and they didn't have anything urgent to do every day, just helping out wherever manpower was needed.

“You must also strive to develop your strength.”

Alan looked at them, thinking that they were, after all, his affiliated states, and could often help him a lot…

“Strive to restore the duchy to its former state this year, and also, have at least ten thousand knights.”

“Ah!”

This time, even Marco opened his mouth wide!

“Your Majesty, restoring it to its original state in a year is too difficult.”

Duke Copper Mountain said with a mournful face, “Yes, yes, yes.”

Marquis Iron Lizard continued, “And ten thousand knights, Your Majesty, we have only just established our country, and knights are something that cannot be rushed.”

Seeing them like this, Alan did feel that he was being a bit demanding.

“Don't worry, I will help you then, and you will definitely succeed.”

Alan planned to build some basic training facilities in their duchy as well. With the help of those training grounds, they should be able to accomplish it.

Hearing Alan say this, they still believed him very much, after all, there was almost nothing that His Majesty couldn't do.

Thinking of the earthworms, iron car factories, and many other good things in Alan's kingdom, they were overjoyed.

“Well, you may leave.”

“Yes.”

However, after answering, they were still dawdling and not leaving, which made Alan a little curious.

“Is there anything else?”

“This…”

They looked at each other, and all eyes turned to Marco.

Marco also hesitated, but still opened his mouth, “Your Majesty, I heard that there will be some potions for sale at this auction, we…”

As soon as Alan heard Marco's words, he understood. It seemed they had taken a fancy to Alan's magic potions.

In this case, they naturally didn't want to spend money to buy them, and wanted Alan to give them a batch for free.

Alan was both amused and annoyed, but thinking that these things were specifically for low-level combat power, and they weren't doing it for themselves.

Alan waved his hand, “I will give you a batch then, go ahead.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

They were immediately excited. Although Alan didn't say how much, he had always been generous, so there would definitely be a lot.

This was no less than the final gift of magic potions. Thinking of that, their figures trembled with excitement.

Afraid that Alan would change his mind, they hurried out, with victorious smiles on their faces, realizing that their idea was indeed correct.

Chapter 465: Auction, Prince Erding

Three days later, the auction was held as scheduled.

This auction was built by Alan's orcs and blacksmiths, and looked very magnificent.

It was morning at this time, and countless people were walking towards the auction house. Alan was naturally accompanying Prince William.

The auction house was right in the center. Alan took Prince William to the third floor, which was entirely reserved for VIPs. Only Prince William and Alan, as well as their subordinates, were there. Seeing the inside of the auction house, Prince William was very satisfied, “This design is very good.” Alan naturally smiled obsequiously, “It's good that the Prince likes it.”

Alan had been a little worried before that Prince William would directly ask him to hand over a batch of magic potions, but for some reason, he didn't do so.

Upon entering the room, the interior was extraordinarily luxurious, and there was also a huge crystal display screen on the wall, which could see the outside auction house.

Alan was not used to being with this Prince William, and said a sentence before planning to leave.

“Wait, King Alan.” Prince William said with a smile.

“What are your orders, Your Highness?” Alan adopted a very respectful attitude.

“After the auction ends today, I would like to talk to Alan.”

“Of course, Alan is always at your service.” Although Alan didn't know the specifics, he agreed immediately.

Alan was walking down when he heard a voice. “King Alan, please wait a moment.”

Alan looked back and saw a middle-aged man running over breathlessly.

Upon arriving, he first introduced himself, “King Alan, I am Erding, the eldest prince of the Orc Kingdom near Alan's kingdom. It is an honor to meet you, Your Majesty.” The man said very politely, “I have long heard of Your Majesty's great name, but I have never had the opportunity to meet you.” Although he didn't know what he was thinking, Alan couldn't leave and could only exchange a few polite words.

Erding was a little embarrassed, but quickly said, “But my father will definitely agree.” “Prince Erding is too kind.” After all, being able to represent the Orc Kingdom to attend the auction, he must not be a small character. “King Alan, I think our Orc Kingdom, as a neighbor of Alan's kingdom, can carry out some cooperation.” “Oh?” Alan became interested, “What cooperation? Has the Orc King agreed to this matter?” “Not yet.”

“This time I came to Alan's kingdom, and I saw that guy called Iron Car in many places. I am very interested in it.” Erding looked at Alan, “I heard that it was built at Your Majesty's request, that is really a wonderful thing.”