I Become a Landlady in the Game World

"Cooperating with you, what benefits do we stand to gain?" Zhou Bai retorted.

Baron Barton was momentarily dumbfounded.

Hope Village did have a decent strength and was aware of it, but relying solely on themselves, they would inevitably fall to the same predicament as their territory.

She didn't eagerly cling to him for an alliance, instead, she was asking for benefits?

"You..." Barton felt helpless but, thinking of Hope Village's demonstrated strength, he mused for a moment before continuing, "We can provide you with information on aggressive territories and offer you assistance when you need help. In fact, one of the towns in our small town alliance has already overcome an aggressive territory in this Territory War with the help of several other towns."

Zhou Bai listened and started to calculate in his mind.

Indeed, if several territories offered help, it would mean that Hope Village would face a behemoth like Lovisa City with much more confidence in the future.

But the character of these alliance members was questionable.

"Joining your alliance, the relationship among everyone should be equal, right? I certainly don't want to jump out of the tiger's den and into the wolf's lair," Zhou Bai asked directly.

"Rest assured, you need not worry about that. The alliance members do not interfere with each other under normal circumstances; we only make contact when help is needed. Even then, assistance is settled with silver or Gold Coin in exchange for goods or materials, not provided for free," Baron Barton, sensing Zhou Bai's concerns, quickly assured.

No territory would willingly become a vassal to another; they are even more cautious to avoid such a circumstance when cooperating with other territories.

Listening to this, Zhou Bai found this arrangement appealing, allowing for independence while still enabling cooperation.

"If what you say is true, I agree," Zhou Bai nodded, "but I can represent my territory, can you?"

Zhou Bai hadn't forgotten that the counterpart was merely a Baron and not the Lord of their territory.

"I can," Baron Barton answered without hesitation, "Although I am not the Lord of August Town, I will be the next Lord. The current Lord is my father, who has already delegated most affairs to me. I am the face of our cooperation with several other alliance territories."

Hearing this, Zhou Bai had a better grasp of the situation; this person was indeed influential!

"In that case, we can directly enter into a contract. How will the various territories communicate?" Zhou Bai asked.

"Task Center," replied Baron Barton, directly, "When contact is necessary, one can issue coded missions through the Task Center. Each territory has dedicated personnel watching it, and subsequent assistance can also be coordinated this way."

Zhou Bai felt even more reassured known that the Task Center provided a natural contractual effect for cooperation, adding a double layer of assurance.

And indeed, she had also been planning to use the Task Center.

It seems that such alliances were perhaps not uncommon throughout the Human Clan Kingdom.

Thinking this, Zhou Bai asked tentatively, "Are there any other alliances that exist?"

Although there were many local Residents in the territory providing increasing information, it was all basic knowledge; more in-depth information was beyond the reach of these common local Residents who had migrated.

Hearing Zhou Bai's question, Baron Barton fell silent. He knew Hope Village had unexpectedly fallen from another dimension into the Stan Continent and thus wouldn't be familiar with this world. Asking these questions was her way of understanding it.

Had they not agreed to cooperate, he wouldn't answer such a question but having just agreed, he felt obliged to do so.

Well, consider it an investment in advance.

"There are indeed many large and small alliances, but those capable of forming an alliance are generally the powerful territories, with the threshold being at least town-level. As for village-level territory alliances, they are hardly taken seriously..." Baron Barton explained, adding, "Our alliance does not care about such status, and besides, our contract is privately made, so it doesn't have any public renown."

He feared Zhou Bai might misunderstand and think their alliance was a major force, when in reality, it was just a mutual aid group that needed to remain undetected.

Zhou Bai understood immediately.

As for the insignificant status of village-level territory alliances, she understood even more; from the perspective of larger territories, an alliance of villages probably appeared like weaklings scuffling, naturally unworthy of attention.