[Ding~ You have discovered a battle axe wooden house. You can either recruit the Axe of the Dead or destroy it to obtain the core of the lair.]

Before Richard could make his choice, a notification appeared in the Black Gold System.

[Battle Axe Wooden House (Elite 3-star) — You can use up to ten elite-level lairs to upgrade it to Rare 3-star.]

“Hahaha, there will be rare-level troop lairs soon.”

He was in a great mood.

“Go back and level up the lairs before recruiting. Currently, the recruits are still rare-level, and the number won’t refresh.”

“Destroy.”

The moment he chose, the battle axe wooden house creaked and quickly collapsed as if time had weathered it for thousands of years.

After a dozen breaths, it ultimately turned into debris.

At this moment, a fist-sized miniature battle axe wooden house appeared among the debris.

Richard stepped forward and picked it up to look at its attributes.

It was no different from the attributes just now. There were still ten undead soldiers that he could recruit, but they needed to be rebuilt.

He was only satisfied after he stored the troop’s lair in the system space.

However, Richard suddenly noticed something was under the sawdust next to him, just as he was about to return to his territory.

His eyes kindled, and he immediately walked over to remove the sawdust.

He pulled out the thing below.

It was a withered yellow map made of sheepskin. It looked historical.

[Ding~ You have obtained a 2-star treasure map.]

Richard was delighted.

Treasures exploded?

“Damn it. Today was truly a good day.”

In the past few days, he had exterminated dozens of gathering points of the field forces. It was the first time he had found a lair of the field forces and dropped something.

The drop rate was so low that it was outrageous.

2-star treasure map…

Richard looked at the yellowed treasure map with great interest.

After careful observation, he found that the treasure map’s center was the treasure’s location.

And there was an undeniable sign around it — an extinct volcano.

“Although the Death Desert is vast, there shouldn’t be many places with volcanoes… Go back and ask Onyx, the merchant hero of the Phoenix Tail Flower Chamber of Commerce. It shouldn’t be difficult to find.

“I wonder what treasures are inside this 2-star treasure map.

“My requirements aren’t high either. It’s enough to give ten or eight rare-level troop lairs. If it indeed doesn’t work, I can also get a dragon egg…”

After he set aside the treasure map in a good mood, Richard looked at his troop and calculated the losses this time.

This time, the exploration team was attacked. A total of six residents died.

As for the troop, two mummies who followed the exploration team and another five mummies died in battle. In total, seven mummies died.

One scorpion warrior died in battle, leaving 13.

The cursed pharaoh had no casualties.

The total number of troops in Twilight City had decreased significantly–35 bandaged mummies, 13 Scorpion warriors, and 10 cursed pharaohs.

But all of this was meaningful.

The lair of the Axe of the Dead resource alone was worth ten times more.

Not to mention there was a treasure map that was waiting to be drawn.

What a comfortable life!

After confirming that no other items were under the ruins, Richard returned to his territory with the harvest.

After three hours of return, they encountered some military bases in the wild. However, under the attack of a few powerful forces, the battle ended very quickly.

When they returned to Twilight City, the sky had already turned completely dark.

The oil lamps made of animal fat emitted dim lights.

Richard was somewhat surprised to find that all the residents in the territory were in the open space as if they were waiting for something. They did not return to their houses.

“Lord Richard is back!”

With a surprised shout, everyone immediately looked at Richard as he slowly entered the territory.

The scene where the mummies behind him carried the corpses of the casualties made everyone deeply moved.

Lord Richard had indeed brought back the dead bodies of the resident soldiers…

He didn’t lie to them!!

At this moment, a unique emotion was brewing in everyone’s heart.

After Richard stepped into the territory, the crowd parted to the left and right as they gave way to him.

Their gazes moved along with his footsteps.

Many sharp-eyed residents saw that the number of troops behind Richard had decreased.

“The lord’s troop…” A weak voice sounded.

After being reminded, the crowd only turned their attention to the troops.

“I counted this morning, and now we’re short a small team…”

“Those troops died fighting for us…”

“Lord…”

These low-pitched conversations made the waves in many people’s hearts grow more substantial.

Was it genuinely worth sacrificing such a mighty army to bring back the corpses of a few civilians?

Even the relatives and friends could not say anything unworthy at this moment.

Richard walked to the front of the Lord’s mansion with heavy steps in the bewildering atmosphere.

He stood on the stairs and faced the residents.

The dim oil lamps on both sides of the mansion made his figure appear majestic and mysterious.

His pitch-black gaze swept across the crowd.

He spoke slowly.

“I’ve brought our heroes back…”

As he finished speaking, the mummies placed the corpses of the few resident soldiers on the ground.

At this moment, even the experienced Karu could not help but feel his throat being choked.

This sentence seemed very casual, but how many lords could do this?

Their eyes were filled with indescribable respect.

“Tomorrow, I will hold a funeral for our heroes. Twilight City will never forget them.”

After saying that, he looked deeply at the crowd and waved his hand.

“You may go to your respective houses.”

Then, he did not say anything else and turned around to return to the Lord’s mansion.

However, not a single person left the vast crowd.

Even after Richard’s back disappeared for a long time, there was still silence outside the Lord’s mansion.

“Long live Lord Richard!!”

No one knew who started the praiseful shout, but at this moment, everyone was shouting at the top of their lungs.

“Long live Lord Richard!”

At this moment, they wanted to vent all the emotions in their hearts.

Adele was silent in the crowd as she carried a vast copper hammer on her back.

When she saw that Richard had brought back the other resident soldiers’ bodies, her emotions were already somewhat out of control.

And when Richard said, “I’ve brought our heroes back,” he did not mention what he had encountered today or how much he had paid.

There was even a wave of heat surge in her chest.

Was such a lord not worthy of her stay here?

Richard, who had just entered the Lord’s mansion, suddenly stopped in his tracks because the system notification sounded in his ears.

[Ding~ Your words and deeds have earned the residents’ respect. You have successfully comprehended an exceptional skill — Leadership.]

[Ding~ Your words, deeds, and personal charm of keeping your promise have moved Andrea Thorin. She has decided to stay in Twilight City to become your subordinate.]

[Hero recruitment mission completed. You have obtained a hero unit.]

[Ding~ You have obtained a hero unit with advanced blacksmiths. The research and development function of the blacksmith shop has been activated. After you have upgraded to an advanced-level blacksmith shop, you can research and increase the attack power of your troops in the blacksmith shop.]