He quickly wrote out a public notice explaining the new farming door and the basic rules.

He looked around and waved at a nearby soldier who ran towards him.

"Take this and pin in to the notice board at the town square. Get someone to announce this to the whole town too or you can do it instead."

Adrian then watched him leave and walked back into his mansion.

He headed for his private study and immediately called for his people.

Claire, Celeste, Cassius, Serena, Caelum, Burke, and Captain Thorne all walked into the room a few minutes later.

Adrian stood behind his desk and got right to business.

"Cassius." Adrian pointed at the merchant. "Take care of the territory while I am gone. Handle the finances and the trade routes. I also want you to buy seeds in bulk for farming purposes along with tools and anything else that we might need."

Cassius bowed smoothly, "As you wish, my Lord."

Adrian turned to Burke and Thorne. "You two are in charge of internal security. Keep the peace and make sure the construction projects stay on schedule."

They both offered salutes in response.

Then Adrian looked at the rest of the group.

"Serena, Claire, Celeste, and Caelum." Adrian said. "You four are coming with me to Marquis Draven’s territory. We will be leaving in two weeks, so prepare as much as you can and train as much as you can."

He looked directly at the runesmith.

"Caelum." Adrian called out. "Did you come up with anything new? Do you have any reports for me?"

Caelum shook his head.

"Well, until now I never gave you any actual work." Adrian said. "But from now onward, I want you to start working on making enchanted weapons for the soldiers."

Adrian paused and corrected himself.

"Actually, start with the armor enchantments first." Adrian instructed. "I want you to enchant every single suit of armor. Start with the knights. Imbue their gear with magic that increases blunt force resistance."

He leaned against his desk.

"If you have any other ideas, you can always come and tell me." Adrian told him. "You have full freedom to research and make your own custom enchantments. Just show them to me after you are done."

Caelum nodded eagerly, "Thank you for the opportunity, my lord."

"You are dismissed." Adrian told the room.

The group filed out, leaving Adrian alone.

"Larson." Adrian said calmly and the assassin leader appeared right in front of him.

"You will also be coming with me to the northern borders." Adrian told him. "Where is Jack?"

"Let me get him for you, my lord." Larson bowed.

He slipped out the door and returned two minutes later dragging the young, ambitious assassin behind him.

Jack dropped into a low, respectful bow. "At your service, my lord."

"I want you to stay here in Oresfall with the rest of the assassin squad." Adrian ordered. "I want you to make sure that no one important gets targeted. And if possible, do your best to keep the regular citizens safe too."

Jack nodded quickly.

Adrian waved his hand, dismissing both of the assassins.

Larson just stepped back and used his illusion magic to disappear from sight. Adrian knew the guy was still standing there acting as a hidden bodyguard, but he did not really care.

He leaned back in his leather chair. He let out a soft sigh and pulled a few thick magic theory books from his desk drawer. He placed them on the table and started reading.

As he flipped through the pages, his mind started wandering.

’On the way to the Marquis’s territory, it would be a great idea to recruit as many mages as I can.’ Adrian thought to himself. ’Even if they are just first circle mages.’

First circle mages were completely useless in combat, so they didn’t really have much of an option but to live their lives as regular people unless they were talented in one of the subjects. But Adrian had the hybrid training manuals. He could turn those failed mages into overpowered magic knights.

’I also need to buy special storage rings.’ Adrian continued thinking.

He knew he would find better magical artifacts in the capital. The storage rings he currently owned were just the basic ones he bought back in Count Frankenstein’s territory. They were good, but not great.

’The best outcome would be finding a ring that completely pauses time inside it.’ Adrian mused. ’Even if the storage limit is less, having a ring that permanently preserves food would be a massive advantage.’

He pushed the thoughts aside and focused on his reading.

He read the books for about two hours before heading down to the basement dungeon to complete his daily physical training. He never skipped his workouts unless he had something much more important to do.

Two weeks passed quickly.

During those fourteen days, Adrian kept a very close eye on how the citizens actually operated the new farming dungeon.

The knights ended up becoming the party leaders for the vast majority of the groups. Because the knights had the highest mana pools, regular citizens flocked to them just to get access to bigger farms and larger shares of land.

And because Adrian gave them total freedom, the different parties created their own unique internal rules.

Some parties followed a strict distribution formula. The citizens who gave the most amount of mana to the dungeon got higher rewards and access to the biggest chunks of the harvest. The ones who provided less mana got less food.

This system was heavily skewed toward the strong. Based on what Adrian observed, these specific parties had the highest amount of complaining and unhappy workers.

Then there was a second type of party. They just used a flat equal distribution formula. Everyone got the exact same amount of the harvest, regardless of their mana input.

Other people just made small, private parties with their extended family and friends. These farms were not huge, but they just worked on their own land and shared the rewards peacefully without any drama.

But the final strategy was easily the most brilliant.