Another night of pleasure.
The next day, David got up early.
The sisters Fire Dance and Shuili had already set breakfast on the third floor.
David sat in the main seat, Shuili served beside him, while Fire Dance had entered the room to start cleaning the messy bed and change the bedding.
Liya was long accustomed to it.
Amy's face remained red, full of shyness.
"Sister, let me help you." Shuili went over and offered.
"No need."
Fire Dance said lightly, carrying the dirty bedding for washing.
Watching this scene, David squinted his eyes slightly. Through his observations during this period, he found that Fire Dance always intentionally or unintentionally took on the dirty work herself.
This meant that under Fire Dance's seemingly emotionless exterior, she had always been caring for her sister, not truly without any emotion.
"As long as there's emotion, it's good." David's expression relaxed.
After breakfast, he took Liya and Amy to the secret garden.
Amy, as usual, sat on the wicker chair reading, while David and Liya practiced the Frost Wolf Breathing Technique, continuing to enhance their knight's power.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh —
Liya moved like an elf.
Her gray long hair fluttered in the wind, and blood energy surged on her body.
Suddenly, Liya opened her eyes, revealing surprise.
"Have you broken through?"
David opened his eyes, looking over with surprise.
Liya had been at the high-tier Knight's Attendant level for a while, and combined with the recent system enhancements to the Frost Wolf Bloodline, she indeed should have broken through.
"Yes!"
Liya nodded excitedly.
She never imagined she would one day become an Official Knight!
But now, it had all become reality.
Thinking of this, Liya impulsively leapt into David's arms, her gaze turned fervent, "Lord, I want it."
David naturally wouldn't refuse, picking Liya up and heading toward the nearby woods. Even Liya, who had been quite resistant to this, silently acquiesced!
[You completed a cultivation, Frost Giant Wolf Bloodline +68]
[Frost Giant Wolf Bloodline: Tier Four (265/10000)]
With Liya's power elevated to the Official Knight Level, each dual cultivation session now provided 68 experience points!
Moreover, after Liya's breakthrough to Official Knight, her physical strength would undoubtedly be much enhanced, and the number of cultivation sessions per day could increase.
Although it required 10,000 experience points to advance the Frost Giant Wolf Bloodline from Tier Four to Tier Five, the speed of improvement wouldn't be much slower than before as the experience points gained per session increased.
A long time passed.
The two finally dressed and emerged.
Amy was entirely unaware of this, and such activities in the wild were completely unimaginable and unacceptable to the pure little witch.
Even if David was willing, the little witch would definitely never agree.
Of course, David wouldn't give up.
Liya was also adamantly opposed before, but now she has acquiesced.
Noon.
The three, along with the two maids, had lunch in the garden pavilion.
Afterward, they practiced the breathing technique until evening, then returned to the castle together. Evenings were reserved for dual cultivation, making their days extremely fulfilling.
...
Time passed to the Ice Moon, November.
From this time, the Frosty Winter had arrived, and temperatures started to plummet.
This indicated the impending refugee crisis foretold.
In the study, David looked at the recent situation of the territory, his face serious.
"This is the information after the population census."
The Gray Wolf Knight handed over a stack of parchment, densely recorded with the population information of Frost Wolf Ridge, detailed to the age, residence, and family.
This was the task David had previously assigned to the territory officials, and each piece of parchment was like a household register from his previous life, allowing him to understand the inhabitants better.
"Thank you, Uncle Leo."
"Frosty Winter is coming, next we can cut off all the roads from Frost Wolf Ridge to the outside." David issued an administrative order he had planned for a long time.
The refugee crisis is most troublesome with refugees blending into the territory. The land is so vast, detecting a few with ulterior motives among them is simply impossible.
This also means mercenaries and wandering knights might take this opportunity to secretly enter Frost Wolf Ridge, assassinate its officials, and incite chaos.
But after severing roads to the outside, along with patrol militia and the population census form, outsiders will find it much more difficult to infiltrate Frost Wolf Ridge!
Of course, blocking all the refugees outside Frost Wolf is very difficult.
So David planned to designate a plot of land on the outer edge of Frost Wolf Ridge for establishing a temporary refugee gathering area, along with adequate food that should let these refugees make it through winter.
Once they survive Frosty Winter, these refugees will all stay in Frost Wolf Ridge. With the organic fertilizer increasing food production, he wasn't worried about not being able to support the refugees, and could instead absorb them to bolster Frost Wolf Ridge's overall strength.
"Alright, I will convey the orders shortly."
The Gray Wolf Knight nodded, revealing a gratified expression.
Even though the new Duke Frost Wolf wasn't as powerful as the old duke, being able to manage territorial affairs methodically already made him a competent lord.
Only it's a pity.
The Duke Frost Wolf still hasn't sired an heir.
Thinking of this, the Gray Wolf Knight organized the documents in hand, suddenly taking a piece of parchment and handing it to David.
David took it and saw the parchment recorded all the young girls' information in Frost Wolf Ridge, the intention of the Gray Wolf Knight was evident.
The lord owns everything within the territory, including the right of first night. If David ordered, the first night of all young girls would belong to Lord.
Of course, David had no interest in this. He merely glanced at it, then returned the parchment, earnestly saying, "I will sire an heir soon."
Actually, he was quite puzzled too, despite his diligent efforts each time, why Liya and Amy still showed no reaction.
However, the Bloodline Knights inherently have difficulty siring heirs, the stronger the power, the harder it is to produce offspring, so one can only wait patiently.
After the Gray Wolf Knight left, David returned to the castle's third floor to resume knight cultivation and dual cultivation, with his power continuing to steadily increase.
...
Time passed to the Ice Moon, December.
This winter was much colder than the previous years.
The Far North experienced cold waves forcing vast numbers of civilians to migrate south.
These refugees wandered from one city or village to another.
Yet most lands struggled to support more people, those nobles who only knew to exploit sweat from the land and peasants spared no effort in driving, capturing, or even killing these refugees, driving them towards Frost Wolf Ridge.
Within these refugees also mixed a large number of wandering knights and mercenaries with a purpose, whose sole aim was to conquer Frost Wolf Ridge!