Extraordinary Voyage-Chapter 734 - 631: Canal and Silver Knight_2

...

In the afternoon, in the northern territory of the Marquisate at Buffalo, west of the Abayachi Plateau.

Boom! Boom!...

Chirp chirp...

Roar—! 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Amidst the gigantic rumble, a mountain reaching a thousand meters high slowly moved through the forest, with birds and beasts fleeing in panic along the way.

Even the inherently powerful demonized creatures that usually roamed unchallenged feared being crushed like a bug if they ran one step too slow.

The [Super Giant Rock Golem: Mountain Giant], after over half a year, was finally completely restored by Aiven with the combined efforts of the entire school.

At this time, even with its hunched posture, the rock golem stood a thousand meters tall, solid and heavy like the mountains. The forest appeared like clothes on him, with lush green trees and vines on its back, entwined with cold and hard black vines resembling armor.

In the primeval forest devoid of humans, even the tallest tree could only reach its shins.

Located inside the golem's control room, Aiven, wearing the [Control Key] yellow gem pendant, extended his vast mental force field, merging himself with the "Mountain Giant".

At this moment he truly was the "Mountain Giant", with each step causing the earth to shake, making even tigers and giant bears appear as tiny ants.

But Aiven didn't recklessly unleash the fearsome power easily reaching Tier 4 by a mere wave of his hand. Instead, he cautiously proceeded along the route planned by the "Mind Network".

Traversing from east to west over the Abayachi Plateau, the soil and rocks beneath his feet parted like waves, forming a wide artificial canal.

"To personally move mountains and refill seas for the livelihood of my people, this great sentiment even moved me to tears. I, Aiven Galliot, am no mere Saint, I am a true Saint!"

Aiven, ignoring the faint disdain on the faces of Olivia and Angie standing behind him, remained engrossed in his noble satisfaction.

No matter how wealthy he might be, it was impossible for him to continuously subsidize the declining new territory and sustain nearly 200,000 people.

Buffalo must quickly establish a pillar industry.

At this moment, a traditional commercial activity, "fur trade", naturally caught his attention.

In the past.

Colonists exchanged furs from the Atrean natives at minimal cost and brought them back to their homeland for processing. A single beaver pelt could appreciate by at least 1000%, with profits sometimes surpassing 200 times the initial cost.

Not much worse than the gold and silver mines occupied by the Hilus people.

According to Chief Intelligence Officer Bess, a forest area of 25 square kilometers in the central region of the northern New Continent could support 5 black bears, 2 to 3 tigers, 2 to 3 wolves, 200 firebirds, 400 white-tailed deer, and 20,000 gray squirrels.

In the forest, it's conservatively estimated that there are at least 10 million beavers, with an annual reproduction rate of 20%, averaging 4 to 20 per square kilometer. The colonists considered beaver pelts "the best merchandise discoverable, bringing instant cash to the locality".

In the southern part of the forest, approximately 40 million white-tailed deer reside. Not only are these deer numerous, but their reproduction is astonishing, with 4 females and 2 males capable of turning into 160 in 6 years.

To the west of the vast forests lies an endless prairie, where the most iconic animals are buffalo, found from the western slopes of the Abayachi Mountains to the plateau basins in the west.

These buffalo herds number no less than 40 million, possibly reaching 60 million, a count even Bess's "God's perspective" cannot accurately tally.

Therefore.

Aiven planned to construct an artificial canal, "Elbe River", spanning a total of 584 kilometers long, 12 meters wide, and 2 meters deep, capable of accommodating flat-bottomed barges with a displacement of 75 tons. The route would stretch from Albany City, capital of Buffalo, at the midstream of the Hartson River, heading west to Lake Erie.

With the help of the "Mountain Giant", the construction was expected to take 10 days. If it were humans doing this, it wouldn't be completed in ten years, by which time the bloom would have long ceased.

This canal would connect the Great Lakes Region with the East Coast, forming a convenient corridor running across from east to west.

Once opened, Aiven anticipated reducing transportation costs between the Midwest and the eastern coastal areas by over 95%.

Back then, Robert and William worried that Buffalo's long lakeshore could become a defensive loophole. But with his sister's periodic clearing with the "Sky Defense Line", Lake Erie and Shining Lake were easily subdued.

Moreover, the density of higher organisms in the lake water was far less compared to the forest, and thus the number of potentially disastrous Natural Spirits was naturally much lower.

Water transportation would undeniably be considerably safer than traversing the land.

Additionally, the fur trade had the advantage of being easy to handle.

For instance, beaver pelts were relatively light, averaging only about 1.5 pounds per pelt, with a small volume making packaging and transportation easier. Compared to other large cumbersome goods, fur held a higher exchange value.

Also, compared to the heavy labor demands of agricultural regions, the initial human and material input required for the fur trade was not too large, perfectly suited to Buffalo, whose population had suffered massive losses.

Aiven had already planned to establish at least 76 fur trading posts in the Midwest.

He intended to establish trade connections with over a hundred small and large tribes, including traditional allies such as the Hurons, and others like the McMick people, Anasazi, Mogollon, Hohokam, Pueblo, Sioux, Cheyenne, Custer... and so on.

With the Spirit Tide raging, survival conditions in the continent's interior continued to deteriorate, leaving the numerous Atrean tribes struggling, some even becoming isolated islands.

At this time, the warmth brought by Aiven was needed even more.

Arms could not only be sold to the Hilus; the inland native tribes were also a huge market. After all, he wasn't profiting from war for the first time, doing so was second nature to him.

Moreover.

The fur trade was one of the few economic forms in the New Continent dependent on cooperation with the Atreans, starkly contrasting with the agrarian frontier development model characterized by seizing Atrean land.

This also vastly benefited Aiven's future plans for population assimilation.

Suddenly, Angie, standing behind Aiven, let out a startled cry:

"Is that... the Sak Empire's 'Dawn Church' Silver Knights? Teacher, look north!"

To the north of this area lies Hartson Bay (discovered by the same adventurer, Henry Hudson, as the Hartson River), adjacent to which is the Sak Empire's colony, the Saint Lawrence Territory, covering an area of 1.3 million square kilometers.

Hearing this.

Aiven and Olivia turned their gaze northward from the completely open cockpit, seeing a group of Silver Knights riding flying horses streaking across the northern sky.

"First the Kingdom's 'Iron Wall Knights', now the Sak's 'Silver Knights'. Why are these Holy Knights all converging on the New Continent?"

At the same time, the Silver Knights with their better aerial view also spotted the mighty rock golem, turning their mounts to speed in this direction.

Neigh—