Despite being the largest settlement of a wilder and comparatively less-developed county, the town of Greenvale was in fact larger than Trumbetton. It didn’t make sense until Orodan connected the fact that there were no other ‘central hub’ style towns in all of Exerston County. Unlike his home county where Trumbetton had to compete against Velestok and to a smaller extent other towns such as Scarmorrow and Loviaston, here, Greenvale was the only central town which offered certain specialized services.Merchant associations, examination centres for aspiring academy applicants, specialist craftsfolk and the county’s administrative and judicial power were all located here. And when this was the only town in the entire county to have such things, by necessity it was a thriving town with a booming economy. The smaller towns—while not considered unsafe—were still not monster-free enough to warrant the building of these centralized amenities. And investment in such a thing had a steep upfront cost which deterred locals and non-nobility.Unlike Volarbury County, Exerston was a wild frontier region bordering a savage stretch of Novarrian wilderness which the imperials hadn’t tried settling either. The woods were savage and full of monsters, with smaller towns frequently having to ward off attacks. Furthermore, unlike the civilized nature of his home county, the towns here were all surrounded by walls, with dour-faced men and women of the militia manning them, more than used to battle.Though that didn’t mean the county was struggling, far from it in fact. It was wild, but positively ripe with resources and opportunities for work. Many adventurer companies set up permanent base here, as did a number of merchant and crafters’ associations. Alongside direct backing from the Republic’s council itself, Greenvale was the beating heart of an expansionist endeavor to colonize the wild southern woods of the Republic. And despite Orodan’s mangling of the (...)