After sending off the imperial envoy, it didn't take long for Hel to receive the official appointment letter from the Kingdom of Selphis.
Along with the letter came a report Hel had ordered Witt to compile—an investigation into the current state of the Mandrake Territory.
To summarize in one phrase: the entire Mandrake Territory was in ruins.
Before the beastmen invasion and the following cataclysm, the Mandrake lands had a population of nearly two million. Now, the number had plummeted to three hundred thousand.
And even then, one hundred thousand of those people had been conscripted to help repair the Great Watchwall, with further orders demanding the Mandrake Territory send more able-bodied laborers to reinforce the frontlines.
Honestly, if this were back in Hel's previous life—forcing the people this far without sparking a peasant uprising would've been nothing short of a miracle.
But this was a world where extraordinary power existed. The exploitation by those at the top far exceeded anything Hel, a transmigrator, could have imagined. To the nobles, "commoners" were no different from livestock.
And to stage a peasant revolt in such a world? That was like choosing Hell Mode—within Hell Mode.
"Ugh… what a headache," Hel groaned.
She spread her hands in defeat and slumped forward onto her desk, looking for all the world like a salted fish that had lost its will to swim.
"The Mandrake Territory has only three hundred thousand people left. One hundred thousand are conscripted for the wall, and of the remaining two hundred thousand—thirty thousand are nobles, and one hundred forty thousand are their bonded serfs and retainers. That leaves me with thirty thousand elderly, weak, and sick commoners. What am I even supposed to rebuild with that?"
"Master, don't you still have your puppet army?"
Beside her, Niv gently stroked Hel's hair as she offered the suggestion. "And besides, we have industrial machines. While they can't mass-produce combat puppets, they're more than capable of manufacturing industrial ones quickly."
"Puppets, huh…"
Hel tapped her chin, tempted by the idea—but could she really protect her puppets if she used them openly?
Then again… perhaps she could.
After all, she now had Vivian as her backer within the Church, and within the Empire, she was the successor of Paladin Roland, holding Elena the Radiant Knight's personal token.
If she had gone to the Imperial Capital, she'd probably have become one of its rising political stars by now.
So if she only unveiled a batch of low-tier puppets for public infrastructure use, others would likely just think she'd stumbled upon some goblin ruins—not that she was sitting atop one of the greatest legacies of the ancient world.
That was the difference between powerless and powerful—status itself could serve as a shield.
"Right. I'm not the weakling I used to be. I can afford to reveal a little goblin tech. "She straightened up, eyes brightening. "But just to be safe, we should build a new batch using the industrial machines.
If anyone finds out we've taken over the City of Flesh, not even Vivian standing by my side would keep us safe."
"Actually," Niv said softly, "I've already started that plan since we came back last time. We now have ten thousand engineering puppets designed to match the mainstream aesthetic of the Sosel Magic Empire.
So even if someone spots them, they'll assume they were imported from Sosel.
As for the combat puppet modifications, progress is good too—two thousand Tier-2 Knight Puppets have already been refitted.vBut the higher-tier ones will still need your help, Master."
Hel listened to the report, but her instincts still told her it wasn't secure enough.
She got up, rubbing her chin thoughtfully for a while before speaking firmly:
"Still not safe enough. If anyone from the upper ranks decides to investigate our 'discovery' of goblin ruins, we'd be in trouble.
So—you're coming with me. We'll go relocate the C56 light-industrial city here.
Once we forge a fake goblin ruin, no one will be able to trace our real secrets."
"Master… isn't that a bit too cautious?"
Even Niv's quick mind lagged for a moment at Hel's meticulous planning.
She wanted to point out that, according to the academic reports Witt had brought from the Scholars' Nation, goblin ruins were hardly rare or taboo—humans had been excavating them for over a hundred thousand years.
As long as Hel had enough power and influence, even if she truly unearthed one, it wouldn't cause much of a stir. In fact, some ancient mages' tombs were far more coveted.
But when Niv looked again at Hel's serious, focused face, she swallowed the words.
"Yes, Master. I'll handle it. Should we deploy the engineering puppets now, or wait until we've moved C56?"
"Use them now."
Hel thought for a moment, then nodded. "Send eight thousand puppets to Mount Lin Town to excavate an underground space—big enough to hold the main body of C56.
Once that's done, I'll handle moving the city there myself. If we're quick, we can finish in just a few days.
As for the other two thousand, have them start building roads.
Like the old saying goes—'To get rich, build roads first.'
We'll start from Heim City, then expand to the neighboring territories. Once the roads are complete, then we'll deal with the nobles."
"Understood," Niv replied.
Then she and Hel departed for C56.
Hel's method for relocating the city was surprisingly simple—she directly extracted its Word-Attributes.
Once the extraction was complete, her clone beneath Lin Mountain would send over a batch of earth-type Words, which Hel would then use to reconstruct the city using Embers.
It was far more efficient than physically moving the entire structure.
After just three days of work, the entire C56 City was successfully transferred.
The place wasn't large—in truth, calling it a city was generous. It was more like a small village, with half of it made up of residential housing and the rest consisting of just two light-industry factories.
During the relocation, Hel preserved only those two factories, dismantled the remaining houses, and used the freed-up space as the foundation to construct a massive underground transit hub beneath the new site.