486.Chapter 484 483 Hogg: Do you think I still have a chance?

Chapter 484 483.Hogg: Do you think I still have a chance?
Blood Claw Chief Hogg immediately rushed to Plague Town when he received the summons.

But it can come so fast obviously means that Hogg already has a very sharp “political sense of smell”, this guy must be in the small players to attack the plague town at the same time, has already departed from the smuggler’s woodland and guessed that after the war Murphy will certainly summon it.

Apparently, Hogg had no doubts about the victory of the player’s army.

This small jackal is probably one of the most confident “NPCs” in the land for the otherworldly warriors.

When Hogg was summoned in, he wore a long hood to hide his figure.

But this is a bit of a cover-up.

Because now all the players knew it, and along the way there were familiar guys greeting it enthusiastically, as well as new players who didn’t know it running over to talk to it and saying something out of the ordinary as a way to try to brush up Chief Hogg’s goodwill.

Hogg also saw with his own eyes the swamp serpent that had been let down in the ruins as he entered the town, as well as the bodies of the jackal warlocks and their vicious creations that were being dug up from the battlefield and sent outside the town.

The plague clan jackals that remained in the plague town were dead, and none of the smaller players were spared!
The warlocks who had been rounding up the giant snakes in the swamp were also wiped out by Ninkinanka’s fury, which meant that the vanguard of the Black Plague had been completely defeated, and also meant that the dominion of this swamp had fallen completely into Murphy’s hands.

Hogg wondered what Lord Murphy was going to talk to it about.

But it guessed that if the God of Fate favored it enough, then today it would also get a hard-won and rich return, that was a beautiful thing that the once-self could not even think of.

“Here.”

As soon as Hogg walked into the only room still intact in this plague town, Murphy tossed something to it, and Hogg took it in his hand and looked at it, realizing it was a surprisingly large skull.

Judging by the shape and placement of the teeth and nostrils it should be the skull of a jackalope.

“This is your ‘grandfather’.”

Murphy said with a touch of teasing:
“Take it back and offer it in your great beast den as a treasure of the Bloodclaw Clan’s heritage as well as an excellent proof of your identity.”

“Huh?”

Hogg didn’t react for a moment.

But it quickly had a jolt of excitement and exclaimed in shock as it clutched the skull in its arms with both claws in a death grip:
“This is the King of Biting Bones.”

“Yes, Frederick Bite Bone, the first and only king in the history of the Jackals.”

Murphy looked at Hogg and said:

“You can ask the craftsmen in your clan to make it for you as some Jackal style souvenir to wear on your body, and when someone questions your lineage in the future, take this out and hit them hard in the face.

But I think it’s best if you don’t take this out until the Fifth Black Plague is over.

The jackals who have already formed an army and are ready to invade all over the continent, odds are they won’t like having an extra successor to the King of Biting Bones on their heads.

Especially if it’s still a small subspecies like you.”

“Uh-huh.”

Hogg nodded frantically, packing the skull of the only great man born above his ethnicity discreetly into his black psychic leather bag.

It knew enough not to ask where the rest of the remains of the King of Biting Bones had gone, and to be honest, it didn’t really care for the answer.

The matter of disguising itself as the bloodline of the King of Biting Bones was a future plan for Hogg once it was strong enough to soldier on, and it was patient and in no hurry to move forward with it.

Right now, Hogg is most concerned about what Lord Murphy will do with Plague Town and this swamp.

He looked at Murphy with bated breath, and the vampire lord with the power of desire obviously sensed the strong desire in Hogg’s heart, and he narrowed his eyes at the thin but ambitious chief in front of him, who was very different from his size.

He thought for a moment and said:

“I cannot give you the rule of this swamp, Hogg, because your clan was not directly involved in the attack on Plague Town.

I would make the other factions feel resentful if I favored you too much, and there is no way that Miriam’s hurdle would pass.

The Scarlet Consul always has to consider the whole picture, and until the Bloodclaw Clan makes a greater contribution to Transylvania, the title of ‘Swamp Lord’ is too much for you.”

“Ow.”

Hogg was clearly disappointed.

But it also had to admit that Clan Bloodclaw really hadn’t done anything eye-opening in this battle, other than providing protection and logistical support for the battlefield hospital.

In terms of participation in the battle, it was not as good as several other supporting forces.

So divided down will appear to be the name is not justified, in the case of Hogg is also a small ruler, it can understand Lord Murphy’s helplessness.

However, in the next second, Murphy’s words changed, and he said:

“I will assign Plague Town as a new stronghold to my warriors, and it will become their core base of operations in the swamp.

But you should understand, Hogg, that my warriors are all humans at the moment, and just because they can fight in the swamp doesn’t mean they’re willing to stay in this awful environment for long.

Likewise, even if I sent the most loyal group of men under my command to build in the swamp, they would not be able to live here for long.

Swamp terrain is inherently unsuitable for human habitation.

However, you jackals are very well adapted to rapid deployment and movement in this wet land, and thus, the Tainted Swamp will eventually become the territory of the Bloodclaw Clan.

I do not deny this, nor do I intend to stop the expansion you will undertake in the swamp.

My thought is that while Plague Town is not destined to be yours, you may be able to mobilize your people to shape the core of a new territory for Clan Bloodclaw in the vast area beyond this third of the area.

You could have your own ‘Plague Town’!
I will not interfere with this, and will even be happy to provide you with the supplies you need to build the town, as well as allow you to hire architects in the Brotherhood of Stonemasons who can help you build the town.

But you will also need to plan ahead for your clan’s development.

If the civilized camp’s line of defense in the Barren Mountains ends up being overrun by an army of jackals, then your territory in the swamp might be lost in an instant.

Now that there are less than two months before the outbreak of the Black Plague, perhaps you should make preparations in advance.”

“Uh-huh!”

Having received Lord Murphy’s promise of expansion, those small losses in Hogg’s heart were immediately thrown to the winds.

Although the area around Plague Town choked the road leading to the swamp sanctuary and Transylvania, it only accounted for a third of the entire Filthy Swamp, and the rest of the vast area was no man’s land.

As long as Hogg was bold enough, it could completely carve out half of the swamp as its own territory.

That’s the kind of boldness a swamp lord should have, isn’t it?

But Hogg’s cunning eyes rolled, and it quickly realized that it might be able to fight for more on top of Lord Murphy’s promise!

So after organizing its language a little, it rubbed its paws together and said fawningly:
“Lord Murphy, your warriors have already taken Plague Town, but the town has been completely destroyed in the war, and I have already seen the foundations of the town torn apart when I arrived.

Your warriors will have to repair this place first if they want to be here for a long time, and if it is going to be used for defense in the Black Plague War, then its outer city defenses will obviously need to be repaired as well.

But as you say, human workers in the swamps are almost torture to work with, so Clan Bloodclaw is willing to take on the job of repairing Plague Town for your warriors if they can.

There are more and more dog-headed men in our clan now!

Golden Tooth’s call as a geomancer was obviously influential, especially after hearing that Clan Bloodclaw could ‘arrange work’ for them, and that they could be fed, clothed, and have candles as payment for their work, the entire dog-head community in Transylvania began to converge on Smuggler’s Woodland.

There were too many of them.

I’ll have to find them a place to go before they eat my poor clan. Dogheads can also move fast in the swamps, they’re good at digging ditches and transporting rocks.

Yes!

With just the necessary food and a few measly candles from the warriors, these dogheads can not only be the founders and builders of new towns.

They can even become its cannon fodder, er, I mean glorious defenders and guards when necessary!”

“Sounds good to me.”

Murphy’s eyes lit up.

He stood up and said: “Perhaps it can be used as a kind of ‘special resource’ attached to a special town, and if the owner of this stronghold can coordinate the constant stream of arriving Dogheads, the new stronghold will definitely develop a bit faster than Fort Riptide.

Considering the duties it had taken on in the swamp, there was naturally no need to talk about the concept of development degree here.

”Well, Hogg, your proposal is excellent.

You can go back to the Smuggler’s Woodland now to gather the Dogheads to come to the swamp, and I’ll ask my warriors to prepare food for them that won’t starve them to death.”

“Well, the dog-headed men are very well fed, my lord.”

Hogg hemmed and hawed:
“They can actually hunt on their own, and with a little weaponry and a candle compulsion, they can even hunt small crocodiles for food.

The most crucial thing in taming the dog-heads is that the warriors have to show the dog-heads who the master is.
Once they have chosen to pledge their allegiance, the Dogheads will remain quite loyal until their master is defeated.

If they are given candles on a regular basis, they will quickly develop a greater desire to give and improve their slightly poor productivity.

I’ve heard that the Dogmen we sent to the Maginot Line were even recognized and honored by the Brotherhood of Stonemasons, so clearly your warriors have a good understanding of how to deal with Dogmen.

This is also a bit of advice from the humble me to you, Lord Murphy.

I think that the definition of ‘lordship’ in the Transylvanian lands could perhaps be a little more ‘loose’, if only you would recognize that jackals and dog-headed men could also be your lords”

“Believe me, Hoggle, I would like to take you in more than anyone else, it’s just not the right time yet.”

Murphy wasn’t playing along with his sentiments this time.

He was really wishing that his administrator system could register the Jackals and Dogheads when counting the number of lords, and with that terrifying number of Dogheads, Murphy would definitely be able to acquire a minimum of 4,000+ spare player slots in an instant.

Unfortunately, the current administrator system didn’t have this function yet, it currently only counted the number of vampires and humans that obeyed Murphy’s management on this big land.

The vampire lord guessed that the function of “foreigners” would be opened in the future, but as he said, now was not the right time.

After sending away the hesitant Hogg, Murphy used the Computing Pearl to contact Miriam who was far away from the Scarlet Fortress.

The consul would have already received the battle report from the frontline, so when the communication was connected, she congratulated Murphy’s warriors on their victory in a very formulaic manner, but then talked about the next steps in a businesslike manner.

This set of processes switched naturally, making Murphy lament that Miriam had likely awakened some extraordinary attribute.

”Hey, that standard raw tone of a female social animal like you when talking about work to your boss is really enough ah! I’ve told you all, don’t go through all those weird fandoms on the forums and immerse yourselves in them.

The lives of otherworldly people aren’t the same as what we have now!

“Regarding the third stronghold decentralization, the most suitable guild to choose from is naturally the ‘Scarlet Beast Corps’ that just entered the Hall of Fame.

Whether it’s the contributions they made in this battle, their loyalty to the Transylvanian Regime’s embrace, and the important eco-position they occupy in the Blood Vulture Clan, it’s all decided that they can be used as a symbol of ‘recognition’.”

Miriam said to Murphy:
“Because of the full vampirization of the Scarlet Beast Corps, once they get the right to rule over the third stronghold ‘Wolf Castle’ they can also regard it as the Blood Vulture Clan’s pioneering in the direction of the Tainted Swamp, which will also help to raise the prestige of you and Lady Tris in the vampire society.

However, the problem with the Scarlet Beasts is that they are all combat professionals.

A handful of administrators are also currently serving as village leaders and managers of Collective Farm Four, which means that if they get control of Wolfsburg there won’t be enough members to run the day-to-day management.

Plus the war torn area needs to be rebuilt.

This series of events would seriously strain their energies, and considering that they are currently the backbone of the new members of the Blood Vulture Clan, you will need to make a trade-off.

If the members of the Beast Corps’ power boost is affected by this matter, it will undoubtedly be more than worth it.”

“Well, I already know the opinion of the Administrative Corps.”

Murphy nodded as he said:
“Then let’s make the paperwork for them for the decentralization of the dominion of the stronghold and start the registration process, the stronghold repair and reconstruction has the assistance of the Bloodclaw Clan.

As for management
They have a wide range of contacts and will quickly find the right person when a manager is needed.

At the very least, the third stronghold will serve as a gathering place of a semi-military nature until the end of the Black Plague, however, I’ve never actually had any unrealistic fantasies about the degree of development of the towns in the swamp.

However, the Church of Avalon is going to use the remaining Tree People to make a small ‘natural woodland’ in the swamp near Wolfsburg, and you remember to grant them a deed instrument.

Lastly, Miriam, I need you to make two gifts in the name of the Transylvanian Governor’s Office and send messengers to the Kingdom of Goldfinch and the Kingdom of Nordtorf respectively.

These are gifts to be sent to King Louis and Her Majesty the Wolf Woman.

Tris and I have already selected the gifts proper, you need to be in charge of selecting the emissaries and crafting a series of decent diplomatic speeches.

This is Transylvania’s first official diplomacy to two of its surrounding neighbors, and it is no less significant, so I expect you to take it seriously.”

“Leave it to me.”

Miriam said confidently:
“I’ll get the job done! Also, regarding your last proposal which was that player’s festival, my secretary has already done the planning and needs you to go through it and confirm it. The Holy Blood Festival, which means a lot to the vampires, is in ten days, so if you’re planning on having fun with the people, then the entire Blood Wyvern Cloisters should start getting ready for the decorations now.

There are also final preparations being made for the men we are sending to Chardonnay, they will depart after the Feast of the Blood.”

“Well, I’ll be back as soon as I’m done here.”

Murphy responded, hanging up the communication and looking back to Tris, who was standing by the window looking out at the ruins with a glass of wine, he said:

“Say, how did you guys used to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Blood?”

“The vampire feast, wine, food and a dance that lasted for ten days in a row, every year, to be honest, after a hundred years old, the bloods don’t have much to look forward to the Holy Blood Festival anymore.

It’s hard to see the necessary breakthroughs and changes in vampire society, you wake up after a day’s sleep and everything around you has changed, but then you wake up after ten years of sleep and realize that nothing has changed.

It’s a complete pool of stagnant water.

The only thing you used to be able to look forward to was the ‘Holy Blood Wine’ that was distributed to the clan by the Matriarch on the last day of the Holy Blood Festival.”

Tris took a sip of the wine as she turned back:

“It was a drink made by adding a faint amount of specially treated source blood to the blood wine, and it gave the vampires a small, dispensable power boost.

For the weaker clansmen that is power for nothing.

Other than that, the whole festival was really lackluster.

However, the people of Cadman City are looking forward to the Holy Blood Festival every year, because the vampires will stay in their own castles for ten days and drink all night long, so they don’t have time to come out to scourge them, and every day there are bread with jam handed out free of charge, so everyone can have a full belly.

It can be said that every year, the ten days of the Holy Blood Festival is the ten days of Transylvania’s ethnic conflicts are the most moderate, but unfortunately, once the ten days are over, everything will return to the bad original.

So I’m looking forward to how the first Holy Blood Festival with you in charge of Transylvania will be spent.”

“That’s not for me to say.”

Murphy shrugged and took the glass of wine handed to him by Tris.

He looked at the lipstick mark on the rim, glanced at Tris again, and tilted his head back to raise his glass as if he were indirectly kissing to down that drink.

He said:

“I’ll make this an event, I’ll just give them a theme, and it’s entirely up to my warriors as to how they want to spend their first big festival in Transylvania.

I’m sure my Warriors will never disappoint me with their creativity in this regard.

Ah, speaking of the Feast of the Holy Blood .
It occurs to me that perhaps our conquest of the King of Biting Bones should also be divided into a third gift for His Holiness Pa-Ying, so that His Holiness may also savor the taste of victory with us.

Tris, you’ve met His Holiness, what kind of gift do you think His Holiness would like?”

“Emmmm, it doesn’t matter what the gift is, but the artistic component must be high! Otherwise the Venerable Lord won’t even look at it, that man of his is actually quite easy to handle.

In the past, Salokdar was very good at this, and his gifts always made Venerable Lord Paying personally write a thank you note back, but our old patriarch is probably the most artistically advanced individual in the Blood Vulture Clan.

After his unfortunate demise, all that’s left are a bunch of dirtbags.

Well, that includes me, the drunkard, too.”

(End of chapter)