Rise of the Northern Warlord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

The air was filled with roast meat aroma, carrying magical beasts’ unique fat fragrance, making mouths water.

"Woo woo woo, so delicious..."

John gnawed voraciously at the roast meat while complaining incoherently: "I haven’t had fresh magical beast meat in so long!"

He took a big bite with complete satisfaction, then remembered his experiences and his mood instantly dropped.

Vaerik ate meat while observing John’s current appearance.

Indeed, unlike the high spirits when first arriving in the Northern Province, current John actually carried some weariness and had lost considerable weight.

"This Northern Province wasteland is no place for humans!" John complained to Vaerik while eating: "The frozen soil in my territory—grain simply won’t grow!

And the subjects are lazy and afraid of hardship. Give them farmland, they can’t farm. Give them hunting bows, they can’t use them. They just wait for me to distribute relief grain every day! They treat me like the Northern Province’s number one philanthropist!"

Vaerik consoled: "As long as you survive the initial period and gradually plan, things will improve."

"If my old man didn’t send me money monthly and transport grain from the south, I’d have starved to death long ago!" John grabbed his hair with a face full of grief and indignation.

Relying on transported grain and money to support an entire territory’s population?

Vaerik was silent for a moment, beginning to develop new understanding of the Harvey family’s financial resources.

John let out a long sigh, looking up at the sky: "I should never have come. Do you think if my dad pleads with the emperor, I could go back?"

Vaerik’s mouth corner twitched—somewhat speechless.

How could the Northern Province be a place you could come and go as you pleased?

According to the Northern Pioneering Decrees, if pioneering lords left their territories without reason for too long, they could be beheaded.

"Enough, stop pretending to be pitiful." He patted John’s shoulder. "Even if you wanted to leave, you’d need at least twenty more years."

John looked lifeless, shaking grease off his roast meat and changing topics to complain:

"Moreover, just after scattering seeds and before catching a breath, Duke Edmund’s order came and I had to bring troops here!"

"Tsk, really unlucky enough." Vaerik agreed.

"Now I don’t even know if there’ll be a harvest this autumn!" John looked heartbroken.

He angrily jabbed his meat skewer at the fire: "Shouldn’t this kind of thing be done by those established Northern Province nobles? What are we newly arrived pioneering nobles joining this mess for?

And it’s fucking Snow Swearers! I heard they’re madmen!"

"You said it yourself—newly arrived pioneering nobles." Vaerik shrugged. "No background, no foundation—aren’t we the best cannon fodder?"

John’s smile immediately froze, as if suddenly realizing something.

Moments later, he shook his head, not wanting to continue this heavy topic, changing his tone: "Oh right, boss, there’s something else."

He gnawed roast meat, saying unclearly: "You know Zachary Diaz, right?"

"A Diaz family member? I remember his territory is also nearby." Vaerik replied.

"Right, he sent invitations wanting to gather all pioneering nobles from the south in Snow Peak Prefecture, saying he wants to hold a pre-expedition banquet." John waved his meat skewer: "Did you get an invitation?"

Vaerik paused, then slowly shook his head.

John was stunned, his expression somewhat strange: "Huh? Impossible, you’re..."

"Don’t think about it—the reason’s simple." Vaerik sneered, casually turning meat on the fire. "Zachary wants to be these pioneering lords’ boss and is excluding me."

John blinked with a "aren’t you overthinking" expression.

"Diaz, like Tudor, are both among the empire’s eight great families." Vaerik smiled meaningfully. "If I went, could this ’boss’ position remain stable?" frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

John had a sudden realization, nodding like a pecking chicken: "True, since you’re also one of the eight great families, if you were present, he couldn’t put on airs."

He paused, muttering: "This guy’s really petty..."

"No, he’s not petty. He just clearly knows his own capabilities."

"So how will you respond?"

"When does the banquet start? Where?" Vaerik asked casually.

"Two days from now, at his territory, not far ahead." John answered unclearly with meat still in his mouth.

Vaerik stood up, patting dust off himself: "Take me to see."

John was stunned, then his eyes lit up: "Ha! Boss, are you going to crash the party?"

Vaerik smiled: "There’s still some time—let’s go see."

John immediately wiped his mouth, slapping his thigh: "Great! I’ll lead the way!"

...

The next day John led the way. Vaerik brought accompanying knights, and the group spent half a day finally reaching their destination.

However, the scene before them was somewhat unexpectedly desolate.

Looking around, the land was barren. Occasionally a few barely reclaimed fields could be seen with generally growing crops swaying in cold winds.

Scattered houses sat on the land, mostly wooden structures with simple construction—some roofs were even leaking.

Subjects wore worn clothes with numb expressions, heads down busy with their tasks.

They glanced at the knight procession without much emotion—neither panic nor expectation, as if numb to their own lives.

Vaerik frowned.

This kind of place would need to be demolished and rebuilt if it were in Crimson Tide Domain.

But John crossed his arms and nodded: "This guy’s doing quite well—just a bit worse than me."

Vaerik was stunned, suspecting he’d misheard.

He looked back at those subjects’ faces, then at those tottering houses and the endless wasteland.

This was called good?

He was about to speak when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

Such territories were the norm for Northern Province pioneering lords.

No sufficient resources, no comprehensive planning, no stable supply lines.

In such cold, harsh environments, keeping subjects from starving, building a few houses, managing basic farming—this was already success.

And himself?

Crimson Tide Domain’s prosperity and stability didn’t look like a newly built territory at all—even better than many established Northern Province families.

This was because he was a transmigrator with the Daily Intelligence System cheat.

With this advantage, he could know where resources were, where magical beasts were, how to avoid dangers, how to maximize available conditions.

Anyone else simply couldn’t achieve this.

Vaerik said to John: "After eliminating the Snow Swearers this time, you can visit Crimson Tide Domain—it’s considerably better than here."

John nodded without hesitation: "Naturally! You’re my boss after all!"