A couple of hours later, the Isolation Barrier around the town was activated, and the important people were informed about an Archbeast that had been detected near the town.
The normal people could see that the Isolation Barrier had been activated, but they didn't know the specific reason. However, they could guess that it was probably an Archbeast.
The powerful people grew a bit worried.
The Magic Circle was indicating a Mid Archbeast. It wasn't super powerful, but it also wasn't weak.
Shang left his castle and flew towards the exit of the town.
Since only Archmages and very powerful Wind High Mages could fly, nearly everyone looked at him.
Usually, they were used to only seeing their Town Lord and his two Archmages fly around, but this time, they saw someone new.
Many of them still didn't know that Shang was the new Town Lord since only the elite had been informed of it.
Since Shang was the owner of the Isolation Barrier, he could pass through it without any issues.
Shang had already found the beast with his Spirit Sense.
SHING!
In the sky, Shang's body warped before it vanished.
The guards and powerful people in the town were surprised when they saw that.
Shang hadn't shown any indication of using Mana Step, but he had essentially vanished just as fast as when their old Town Lord had used Mana Step.
Their new Town Lord definitely wasn't slow.
The guards and elite looked at their shining stones with anticipation.
As soon as the beast died, the stones would stop glowing.
They waited.
And five seconds later, they stopped glowing.
Once more, the people were surprised.
That was really fast!
Their Town Lord had probably taken nearly five seconds just to get to the beast, and the entire fight, including the journey, had taken about five seconds.
This meant that their Town Lord had arrived near the beast and had killed it in an instant.
Even though it had only been a Mid Archbeast this time, the speed at which their Town Lord had won still demonstrated his power.
He could definitely also kill a Late Archbeast.
Peak Archbeast?
Possible, but they weren't sure yet.
But that wasn't so bad. In the worst-case scenario, the Town Lord could call the Security Agency for such a beast. They would still request the price for an Ancestral Beast, but their town could probably handle that.
This meant that their new Town Lord was most likely powerful enough to allow the town to survive.
"See? I told you," the old Town Lord said to the elite of the town.
The people released sighs of relief and thanked the old Town Lord again for staying.
The old Town Lord nodded and said his goodbyes. The people were no longer afraid of dying the next time an Archbeast attacked, and he could finally leave.
Shang returned some seconds later, and he met the old Town Lord on his way in.
The old Town Lord and the two Archmages said their goodbyes to Shang, and Shang reciprocated.
Then, the three of them left.
For a couple of seconds, Shang's Spirit Sense followed the three Archmages.
Then, he focused on his town.
There was not a single Archmage in there.
Since the town was rather close to the Natural Selection Company's territories, there weren't many opportunities for an independent Archmage to make a lot of money.
Sure, the other two Archmages managed to earn money, but they did that by leading large groups of High Mages.
Most natural treasures around were of the Third or Fourth Realm, and only very few were of the Fifth Realm.
It was just a small town.
In Earth terms, while compared to other towns and cities in this world, this town would count as an average village with a population of about 3,000.
One wouldn't find many or maybe even any high-end jobs that paid a lot of money in such a small village.
This wasn't a place for entrepreneurs that wanted to make it big.
Yet, the mayor of such a village would still get millions of bucks per month to reinvest in the village.
Lots of small things could create something big.
But the money wasn't the important thing.
The important thing was the location.
Due to the Pathfinder Magic Circle, the town was important enough for plenty of merchants to visit, allowing the town to purchase a lot of exotic goods.
Yet, since there were only High Mages and weaker here, the town also wasn't interesting to any bigger organizations. Because of that, most citizens were working for smaller, independent businesses.
This meant that Shang didn't have to negotiate favorable trade deals with big organizations.
But even more, this place was perfect for building something entirely new.
'The mortal district is horrible and dirty. By investing money into it, I will anger some of the more powerful Mages, but that doesn't matter.'
'A normal town is reliant on its strong citizens to bring in the money so that it may gain more taxes, but I don't care about the money.'
'I didn't receive this town to make money but to create a place where warriors can flourish.'
For the next couple of days, Shang just watched the town.
About every five days, a group of merchants arrived that stayed for some hours.
Every two days or so, an Archbeast appeared.
High Beasts appeared several times per day, but the adventurers and the guards dealt with them.
Eventually, the end of the month arrived, and it was time for Shang to look over the earnings and expenditures.
All in all, the internal expenditures for the month came up to about four Grade Six Mana Crystals. Luckily, there hadn't been an Ancestral Beast near the town this month, or the expenditure would be twice or thrice as high.
In terms of earnings, the town brought in about 28 Grade Six Mana Crystals.
This meant that the town made a surplus of 24 Grade Six Mana Crystals.
Sadly, Shang still had to pay for three other things.
First of all, he had to pay the standby rate for the Security Agency, which came to one Grade Six Mana Crystal per month.
Second, he had to pay the public bureau for inter-city communications. This bureau was the very thing that allowed the guards to contact the officials of other cities without any issues.
The bureau wanted around 500 Grade Five Mana Crystals per month.
And then came the last and biggest expenditure.
Territory tax to the Natural Selection Company.
Technically, the town was inside the Natural Selection Company's territory, and it wanted money every month.
Eight Grade Six Mana Crystals per month.
After deducting everything, Shang had around 15 Grade Six Mana Crystals left.
15 Grade Six Mana Crystals of tax-free profit for a month of doing nearly nothing.
That was insane.
However, while Shang owned that money, he didn't really "own" it.
The town belonged to the Temple of Blood, after all.
While Shang was allowed to run the town how he wanted, the Temple of Blood didn't want to see their investment get destroyed by a Town Lord that didn't invest enough money into it.
Shang had to inform the Temple of Blood every month about the financial situation of his town, and if he screwed up, he would find a new Town Lord on his doorstep just days later.
As Shang looked at the money, he thought about the best way to reinvest it.
He could theoretically keep it for himself, but that would be dumb in the long run.
After a while, Shang looked toward the north of the town.
That was where the mortal district was.
