In February of the third year of the Gate of Darkness, the earth was still frozen, and all things showed no signs of awakening.

This is the most difficult time in winter, and the cold winter is still there, but the food is almost eaten up.

On the northern continent of Lordaeron, corpses of people who were frozen to death can be seen everywhere. Because the weather is too cold, there is no need to worry about the plague. It is just that the hard ice layer has made all the people give up their plans to bury their companions or neighbors.

Lordaeron's nobles celebrated the victory of the war in the warm castle. However, Ryan, the southernmost Storm Kingdom, led the little prince Varian to inspect the territory.

Yes, there was a cold wind and a slight snow at minus five degrees Celsius.

Because there are still remnants of orcs in the depths of the Elvin Forest, Ryan had to travel with more than 500 Knights of the Wang Family. Of course, the ones accompanying him would not lack paladins, priests, hunters, mages, and several rangers from the Wind Walker family.

Passing through the cemetery outside the Shamjin Town, several frozen corpses jumped into the sight of Ryan and Varian.

"What's going on?" Anduin, who followed Ryan's inspection, burned in his chest with an unknown fire.

Without getting angry, there would naturally be a follower who called the mayor of the Shinjin Town who was frightened.

"Sorry, your majesty, we don't know you will come on a tour."

"I don't know? Is that I can give you enough time to hide the body?" King Ryan's words were even more majestic.

"It's not like this, Your Majesty. Please take a closer look. Most of them are old men." The mayor, who was so scared that he was urinating, defended himself.

When Ryan saw that, he was indeed the case.

"They were not in good health before they returned to Elvin Forest. Everyone advised them not to come back, but they said they would die in their hometown. After more than a week of turbulence on the boat, we tried our best to take care of them. According to His Excellency Marcus's instructions, we arranged them near doctors or pastors. Unfortunately, they couldn't get through it."

The mayor's defense made Ryan and others silent.

Hometown, this has a special sacred meaning for every citizen of the Storm Kingdom.

Since the founding of the Kingdom, thousands of years have passed, and many people have never left their homeland in their entire lives. During the days when the Kingdom of Storm fell, even Ryan himself has thought countless times in pain whether he will have the chance to return to the land of Storm Kingdom, a land that has been passed down for dozens of generations.

During those days when they fell, perhaps they and the people were eager to restore their country. What if they were killed and then all the warriors who were determined to restore their country were killed in battle? What if they were delayed for five or ten years and could not restore their country? How many people are willing to support the restoration of the Storm Kingdom at that time?

The people, especially the elderly, long to return to their hometown, can truly understand Ryan, Anduin, and even the young Varian.

Ryan sighed, and in the cold winter weather, this sigh formed an ice fog, which was extremely clear: "Mr. Mayor, I accept your explanation, but now, please take us to the place where civilians gather. I will use my eyes to witness the fruits of your work and your loyalty to the kingdom and the people."

"Of course! Of course!" The mayor wiped the sweat beads that had begun to condense on his face, and hurriedly took Ryan and his party to the town.

Since the Shepherd Town once became the base for the tribe to attack Stormwind City, Duke burned again, despite more than a year, many trees still looked bare, either dead or not growing back.

In the somewhat deserted town, Ryan was pleased to see many human-style houses standing on the town. A year and a half ago, the same location was full of disgusting, dirty and messy tents of the tribe.

"Father, many of the houses here look the same," Prince Varian shouted in surprise.

Ryan was also very surprised. As the king, he only saw reports from Duke saying that there were so many houses built. Regarding the internal affairs report, Ryan always looked at it with a moisture perspective. In Ryan's impression, it would be nice to have one-tenth of the house to be built and other citizens could have a relatively strong tent.

Now it seems that Duke's report is completely real and has no moisture!

"Thanks to the new architecture manual of the Grand Duke of Marcus, we were able to build a winter house for every township before winter came, totaling 1,120 households. As long as there is a man in the family, even if he doesn't know how to build a house, under the command of a craftsman, he can build a solid house with five or six people within a month."

Ryan, Anduin, and Varian were all shocked.

They know nothing about building houses, but they have seen how carpenters and stonemasons built houses in the past. They would not be able to deal with a house in less than half a year.

What efficiency is this now?

The mayor first brought the king and his party to the warehouse

I saw a lot of wood being neatly stacked in the warehouse. Ryan noticed that there were grooves at both ends of each wood: "This is..."

Mayor: "Well, I don't know the specifics. Mr. Van Cliff of the Stonemaster Brotherhood explained a lot to me at that time. He said that as long as the pillars and beams marked with designated numbers were placed at the designated location on the flat ground, they could be directly overlapped and nailed to make the frame of the house, and the house would not be dispersed casually. Then, they would be built with double-layer wooden boards prepared in advance, and a house would be basically built."

"That's it?" Anduin was also stunned.

"Well, there is no way to use the heating stove. This can only be built by the relatively idle woman."

"Take me to see." Ryan ordered.

Not far away, the group came to a civilian home on the edge of the town. When they knocked on the owner's door, the farmer greeted the king and his party in panic.

"Don't kneel, just stand and talk."

In this era of strict hierarchy, it was a great gift for civilians to see the king without kneeling. They would not dare to sit together and kill them.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The man said, with his wife and three and a half-year-old children.

"Are you a soldier on vacation?" Anduin noticed the male owner's necklace. There was a rectangular sign on the necklace, which was the idea proposed by Duke - a military card. The military card marked the soldier's name, hometown, origin, and contributions he made.

The man immediately stood at attention, with a standard military posture: "Joseph Adams, the leader of the 5th Battalion of the 3rd Battalion of the Kingdom's Fifth Infantry Regiment, pays tribute to you, His Excellency Commander Lothar."

"How is this winter?" Ryan asked with a smile.

"Thanks to St. Duke, we have a good life." Joseph's face changed color almost as soon as he finished speaking.

"St. Duke?" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!