Richard's eyes lit up, and he immediately opened the [Territory Ranking].
[Twilight City]
[Territory: Level 1 Village (2,000 gold, stone, wood, and iron for upgrading)]
[Architecture: Basic Lord's Mansion (1), Basic Residence (10), Basic Blacksmith Shop (1), Basic Barracks (1)]
[Special Building: None]
[Empty Space: 10 squares]
[Residents: Human (100 people)]
[Resources: gold (1,440 pieces), wood (1,440 units), stone (1,440 units), iron ore (2,000 units)]
[Rare Resources: mercury (0), sulfur (0), crystal (0), gemstone (0)]
[Occupied Resource Points: None]
[Territory Attribute: Yellow Sand Land (Under the protection of Lord Richard, the residents of Twilight City will not get lost in the desert, and their stamina consumption in the desert will be reduced by 30%.)]
[Troop Lair: Great Pyramid (Elite 3-stars)]
[Soldier Type: Bandaged Mummy (Elite 3-stars) (14)]
[Hero: None]
[Description: An incomparably small territory. Perhaps, the sneeze of a powerful creature could destroy it.]
The stats panel of the territory displayed everything.
Although there were a few things, the stats of the territory seemed to be pretty good.
Residents would not get lost in the desert, and they could reduce their stamina consumption by 30%. It was quite practical.
The residents kneeling on the ground noticed that Richard did not move for a long time, and cold sweats broke out on their foreheads.
The uneasiness in their hearts became more and more intense.
"Lord?"
The leader who was kneeling at the front spoke in a weak tone. He half-raised his head and let out a soft sigh. His tone was perturbed.
Only then did Richard come back to his senses. He coughed lightly and spoke in the common language of the continent he had just mastered.
"Rise, my people."
"This is Twilight City, my territory, and also everyone's home. There's no need to be so nervous."
Hearing this, the old man immediately heaved a sigh of relief. Then, he sincerely bowed to Richard before standing up.
The other residents who had stood up looked at Richard worriedly, nervously, and excitedly.
"The Lord seriously doesn't recommend that we stay here?"
"Are those mummies? The troops that the Lord recruited are so impressive..."
"The Lord is too kind..."
Everyone was stunned.
Looking at the excited crowd below, Richard was a little surprised. He only understood after asking the old man in front of him.
It turned out that these people had wandered from other places three days ago.
At that time, the gate of the Lord's mansion was closed and could not be opened no matter how hard they tried.
They truly had no place to go, so they stayed outside first.
Until an hour ago, they suddenly received news that the gate of the Lord's mansion had opened.
In fear, they came here to wait for the Lord of the territory to appear.
This was surely the benefit given to novice lords by the game "Shining Era".
The population was an important part of the territory. People were needed to gather resources, build houses, and grow food.
Without these people, a territory would not be able to operate.
The old leader took a deep breath and spoke again.
"Dear Lord, please forgive our rashness. We beg you to take us in..."
The people below immediately felt their hearts in their throats. They stared at Richard, hoping to hear the reply they were looking forward to.
Looking at the uneasy crowd, Richard took a step forward and swept his pitch-black eyes across the crowd.
At this moment, with the support of the mummy guards behind him, his aura instantly silenced the crowd.
After a moment of silence, he spoke loudly.
"There's no need to be nervous, my people."
"In my name, I officially allow you to join my territory and become residents of Twilight City."
"No matter what kind of work you were previously engaged in, what kind of identity you had, or what kind of experiences you had, all of these will become the past. I will not pursue your past."
"From now on, this will be your home. Your only identity will be residents of Twilight City."
"In the future, your life, work, and all the beautiful things will bloom in this land.
"My people, my name is Richard. Remember this name."
His gaze was firm.
"As your lord, no matter how dangerous the outside world is, I will protect you and will fight for your safety.
"Even if this world will lose its light one day, I will still lead you through the long night."
The nervousness and uneasiness of the people below were swept away by this firm and provocative tone. At this moment, their gazes quietly changed.
Was this their lord?
[Ding~ You gave a short but extremely charming speech. You have gained the respect of everyone present. Your comprehension of leadership has increased by 20%.]
When Richard heard the system notification, his expression was a little subtle.
'Does this work?!'
However, he quickly regained his composure and looked at the old man in front of him.
"Where are you currently staying?"
The old man's wrinkled face seemed to have relaxed a lot at this moment, and he spoke with an excited tone.
"Lord, we are staying in the residence over there..."
As he spoke, he pointed to the side.
Richard turned his head and looked over. Fifty meters away from the mansion, there were 10 two-story yellow houses lined up.
The architecture style was very rough, and it fit the characteristics of the desert.
[Resident House: (1 space)]
[Level: Basic (500 units of stone and 500 units of wood are needed to level up.)]
[Maximum Capacity: 10 people]
[Characteristics: None]
[Description: Normal residential house for civilians to live in.]
There were 10 basic houses. Each house could accommodate 10 people, and it just so happened to accommodate these 100 people.
Not a single one was left behind.
Richard nodded. Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something and asked.
"How much food do we have now?"
These people were all living people who needed to eat, drink and defecate.
In territory, the most important things should be water and food. After all, this was a dry and barren desert.
Fortunately, the mummies he recruited were necromancers, so there was no need to eat.
The old white-haired man had a bitter expression on his face. His back, which had been straight a moment ago, had become much more ragged, and he looked even older.
"Lord, we only have three days worth of food reserves... These were brought here previously."
"Although we've been searching hard these past few days, the desert is not only fraught with danger, but we can't find any food at all..."
As the leader, the old white-haired man had to bear the burden of hundreds of people eating, drinking, and defecating every day. The heavy pressure almost made him breathless.
Richard nodded.
"I'll think of a way to solve this."
With the [Trading Market], as long as there were enough resources, there were many ways to get food.
Therefore, the most important thing now was to find resources.
"Have you found any resource points around the territory in the past few days?"
Wood, stone, and other resources were all obtained from resource points in the wild.
That is according to the public records of the "Shining Era".
Resource points were divided into miniature, small, medium-sized, large, and very large according to the number of reserves.
Every resource point would have soldiers guarding it in the wild. If one wanted to occupy a resource point, one first had to eliminate the soldiers within.
Every once in a while, new resource points would appear around the territory. There was no need to worry about being mined out.