Chapter 255: Chapter 255

A few days later, Du You was utterly disappointed. It seemed the advancement of his noble title was not as easy as he had hoped.

Though his merit had significantly increased, he was still far from the baron position. Du You knew that obtaining it wouldn’t be as easy as he initially thought.

Over the past few days, Du You had not rested but had instead cleared several areas, destroying the Sandpeople’s gathering places. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚑𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥

Eliminating one Sandperson now meant one less Sandperson to deal with during a city siege. Similarly, it reduced the pressure on the watchtowers along the mountain paths.

If the Sandpeople managed to break through, it wouldn’t only pose a significant threat to the people in the rear, but also create a lot of trouble for the city’s defending generals. With nobles keeping a close watch on them, looking for any excuse to criticize, it was all pretty annoying, even if most of the reasons were trivial.

With each day of cleansing, Du You accumulated more and more Sandpeople equipment materials.

In the past, Du You disregarded these useful materials, throwing them away to save space. However, after the incident with the notebook, Du You suddenly had a realization. From then on, he would bring back anything that could be carried.

Although he didn’t want to bring it all back, he could sell these things directly in White Stone City.

Though he hadn’t obtained any precious items, Du You had accumulated many gold coins in White Stone City. These world-specific coins could only be used in this world.

Du You didn’t keep the gold coins on his person but exchanged them for gold coin cards instead.

These cards, used to record the number of gold coins, had only weak magic power and were not very strong. After unlocking another panel function, Du You could take these special items with him to other worlds.

If he left and the card was destroyed, all his collected gold coins would be lost.

While Du You had not yet figured out the significance of gold coins in this world, he knew that collecting them could only be beneficial. He sensed that if he wanted to thrive in this world, he couldn’t do without these indigenous gold coins.

The items he got from battles and battlesite pickings might not have any use for him, but they were very popular in White Stone City. Plus, he could bring back quite a bit each time. When the distance was short, Du You would even bring back large quantities of goods using the Heavenly Disaster Demonic Dogs. His Fame in White Stone City continued to rise.

Similarly, the trouble that came with fame also increased. Many aristocratic juniors and veteran nobles had an aversion to him. It seemed that, in their eyes, his endless battles lacked grace.

And yet, they were very envious of Du You’s speed of accumulating merit, which made them extremely disdainful of him.

Other people might have been immobilized by such unified targeting, but Du You didn’t care at all. After all, he had never thought about developing within the Divine Flame Empire, so being disliked by them didn’t bother him.

In contrast, the soldiers and civilians of White Stone City had a lot of goodwill towards Du You. Gradually, Du You seemed to have become a heroic figure in White Stone City. Whenever he went out, he was treated almost like a celebrity.

While Du You was busy eliminating the Sandpeople, other cleaning teams also sped up their operations under his influence. The Sandpeople gathering places around the city were being quickly eradicated, resulting in significant losses for the Sandpeople.

This was a huge loss, especially for a race where everyone was a soldier.

The Sandpeople made plans secretly. Their plans weren’t as elaborate as those of the humans, they were more simple and straightforward, similar to bandits. The planning was quick, and since it involved two different races, the secrecy was also high.

One day, at the Dayun Iron Mine, the soldiers were on patrol, and the miners were busily mining.

The Dayun Iron Mine was the largest iron ore mine surrounding White Stone City, with a high-quality yield. Most of White Stone City’s weapons were made from the iron ore from this mine. However, this iron mine was always on the western side of the mountain range, near the mountain itself. It was not inside the Divine Flame Empire but directly facing the Sandpeople’s territory.

Therefore, a large number of watchtowers and patrol teams always protected it.

But now, with winter fast approaching, many soldiers were in preparation mode, focusing on clearing surrounding Sandpeople gathering places. This resulted in insufficient manpower in this area.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, speed up, you damn slaves. Winter is coming, and we must be fully prepared. If you bastards don’t want to die, hurry up," a guard shouted, brandishing his whip at the miners.

A man nearby laughed and said, "Koss, why are you in such a hurry? Your urgency won’t help; they can’t speed up." Many looked at the dull crowd around them with apathy.

Yes, the miners were mostly prisoners of war, criminals sent from various places, slaves, and even some Sandpeople.

The Sandpeople, with their large physiques, were much stronger in performing manual labor. To prevent the Sandpeople from escaping, they were kept obedient with the help of a magic collar. As a result, they made up a third of all the people here.

But slaves would be slaves, spending every day working without rest, starved and without hope. How could these people possibly feel motivated to work? They were already doing well by managing to move at all.

"I know that, I just want to whip them a few times to vent. Damn it, I had bad luck last night and lost everything."

Laughter erupted from the crowd. They all knew what Koss was talking about.

But just as they were laughing, a few screams rang out from the distance. Everyone looked over and saw large, imposing figures appearing. The Quicksand swirling around their bodies and their Quicksand DouQi blades indicated the situation at hand.

"Ambush, ambush, it’s the Sandpeople. Damn it, how did they sneak in? What are the scouts doing?"

"Enough talk, prepare for battle." With the arrival of these people, the Sandpeople who were enslaved had the light return to their eyes, and their listless attitudes disappeared. Even though they were controlled by the collars, they still had their strength.

As long as the slave masters didn’t have time to activate the collars, they could fight.

Thus, a third of the Sandpeople slaves exploded into action, attacking the nearby guards. In a short time, the entire Dayun Iron Mine was plunged into chaos. When the Sand Sculpture Knights appeared in the sky, the defenders’ morale collapsed. Accompanied by the first fleeing guard, more and more guards panicked and fled in all directions.