Draven easily bribed Liliana, who was keeping an eye on him, with two jars of Violet Carpenter Bee honey.

  Liliana kept muttering under her breath but ended up lying contentedly on his back, being carried like a backpack.

  He planned to take advantage of the good weather to check out the newly selected piece of land.

  According to previous instructions, the deer-men brothers-in-law had found a fairly ideal piece of land east of Village No. 2.

  The terrain was flat, with sparse trees, and a slender creek winding through the middle. The water flowed gently and was relatively clean.

  As he walked over, a few birds were hopping by the riverbank, and some insects skimmed just above the water's surface. The whole place felt peaceful yet full of life.

  Draven roughly estimated that the land was about 6,000 square meters. This size wasn't large for the current Black Flag Territory, but it was enough to serve as a pilot area.

  Based on the data Sylvia sent, in this world, a yield of 100 pounds of wheat from 600 square meters was considered high production.

  But to Draven, that yield was far from impressive. After threshing and processing, the edible portion would be even smaller.

  He guessed that this entire piece of land could produce at most about 1,000 pounds of grain—and that was under the best circumstances.

  If all that grain were fed to Rhinoceros Men, it would barely be enough to feed one adult Rhinoceros Man for a year.

  Fortunately, the Black Flag Territory was large enough now, and Dorian took people daily to scout for suitable land.

  Still, relying on farming alone to feed more than five thousand demi-humans was extremely difficult. That didn't even include the extra consumption for magical beasts, mounts, and poultry.

  The only good news was that cassava was highly adaptable, didn't demand much from the soil, and basically could survive anywhere.

  Draven glanced at the monkey-men members in the distance, who were busy clearing weeds and stones, feeling a bit relieved.

  Though not outstanding in battle, the monkey-men had long arms and legs, making them especially efficient farmers—like a group of natural-born tillers.

  The land before them had already been divided into several sections. The monkey-men were sorting the felled trees accordingly. After stripping the bark, the trunks were sent to the village's drying shed, where the dried timber would be stored as building materials.

  Branches, bark, and uprooted weeds were piled together on the ground, prepared to be sun-dried for several days before being burned as natural fertilizer.

  The lesson from the last cassava field was still fresh in mind: pests were abundant, and weed seeds kept sprouting repeatedly. No matter how many times the field was tilled, it couldn't be thoroughly cleaned.

  This time, Draven decided to use slash-and-burn agriculture to nip all potential problems in the bud.

  Burning the land not only made it cleaner but also thoroughly killed insect eggs and weed seeds, preventing future surprises.

  After the land was prepared, Draven planned to quickly plant a batch of cassava. Cassava took about three months to mature, just in time to clear the land before the wheat planting season.

  The batch of seeds sent by the Elven Kingdom wasn't many—just enough for the current plots. After next year's wheat harvest, the Black Flag Territory would basically achieve self-sufficiency and no longer rely on external aid.

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  Still, even so, it would take another year before they could truly enjoy stable food supplies. He felt some regret for missing the corn planting season this year due to insufficient preparation.

  According to Sylvia's data, corn yields were much higher than wheat here—600 square meters could yield 400 pounds, almost four times that of wheat.

  If they could grow corn, only 1,800 square meters of land would be needed to feed one Rhinoceros Man, making it much more efficient.

  Of course, based on the data, cassava yields were even higher than corn's, but deciding what to plant couldn't be based solely on yield. Irrigation conditions, soil type, and satiety were more practical concerns.

  Cassava was easy to grow but provided poor satiety—people got hungry soon after eating it. Corn was moderate in all respects, while wheat was the most filling staple, though it demanded the best soil.

  Fortunately, the Black Flag Territory now has a sufficiently vast domain, so Draven no longer has to worry about lacking land to farm. He makes use of all the arable land he can.

  Even if it's hilly terrain, slopes, or wasteland once frequented by magical beasts, as long as it can be tilled, he tries planting some hardy crops.

  As for which crops are best suited for this land, Draven is too lazy to analyze and simply lets time prove it. He doesn't believe in any"magical" seeds— to him, as long as you work hard farming, there will always be results.

  One day, he took Liliana with him to patrol the farmland and lent a hand himself. Liliana rolled up her sleeves, squatted in the field pulling weeds. A bit of mud stained her face, but she smiled like a little flower.

  Draven smiled too, thinking that compared to being stuck in the leader's hall dealing with boring paperwork, this kind of life was more interesting. But good times didn't last long.

  They hadn't played for long before Viola came to fetch them back—not by sending someone, but showing up in person. Viola's network of informants now covered the entire village; no matter where Draven hid, she could find him.

  To be blunt, these days, Viola's prestige in the Black Flag Territory almost eclipsed that of Draven as the leader.

  He trailed behind Viola with his head down, scolded by her but exchanging secret winks and playful gestures with Liliana.

  Liliana kicked him, and he elbowed her back; he pretended to cough, and she rolled her eyes on purpose.

  Their little antics naturally didn't escape Viola's notice. She held back her anger, keeping a stern expression as she escorted them back to the leader's hall.

  However, Draven was cunning. With a few words, some sweet talk, and a light shoulder rub, Viola soon softened.

  No one knew exactly what happened in the end, but the one who was supposed to be working was Viola, while Draven stood behind her acting as a masseur.

  As he relaxed her shoulders, Draven thought to himself: if he wanted freedom, he first had to take good care of Viola. Otherwise, stuck in these trivial matters all day, he might go crazy someday.

  As for Viola? She was fine—he coaxed and entertained her, so it wasn't boring.

  Just when he thought he could finally breathe easy, an icy blue light flashed before his eyes.

  Icehawk flapped its wings and landed on the table, its small head held high, the crest shimmering like ice crystals.

  Draven's eyes lit up as he reached to touch it, but the bird coquettishly turned its head aside and lightly pecked him—a greeting. Then it opened a dimensional space and dropped a letter onto the table.

  Viola, hearing the noise, came over; Liliana ran over too, and the three of them gathered around the table to read this letter from afar.

  However, the letter's content immediately turned the once-relaxed atmosphere heavy."Ogres heading north..."

  Draven frowned, putting down the letter, his expression serious. Although the letter didn't go into details, he roughly guessed the source was within the Blood Elf territory, and that this unknown number of ogres were probably targeting the succubus's domain.

  Those guys suffered a loss last time— yet they still haven't given up?

  A flash of killing intent appeared in his eyes. He raised his hand to summon the guards and ordered them to call Linda.

  Linda thought her identity as a spy was still secret, but when Draven straightforwardly instructed her to deliver the news to Selene, she realized everything had already been seen through.

  There was no time to think about it now anyway. The intelligence Draven provided was too important for her to doubt its truth.

  Soon, Linda summoned a night raven, attached the envelope to it, and released it with a solemn expression.

  Although Selene was out raiding elsewhere, Selene City still had secret guards stationed, and they would find a way to get the message to her immediately.

  After giving Linda instructions, Draven sat down, took out a parchment scroll, and began writing a reply.

  In the letter, he expressed his longing and gratitude to Sylvia, and detailed the clues regarding Ronan and Gareth, hoping the power of the Elven Kingdom could uncover the true identity of the Blood Elf demigod.

  If it really was the same Ronan, this information might be of help to them.

  Besides the letter, Icehawk also brought back some Violet Carpenter Bee honey that Sylvia had specially mentioned.

  When Draven handed over the honey, he muttered casually,"Does she eat that much?"

  Looking up, he caught Icehawk giving him a look that basically said, Your brain's not working right, is it?