Chapter 914: Lordly Duties, Demonstrating Paper-making

Pioneer, territory, and subjects—these concepts are inherently linked; without subjects, one cannot pioneer, and pioneering is also for the sake of increasing the living space for subjects.

And the one who can lead all of this is the lord.

Xia Duo still agrees with this quite a bit; it is a basic social contract, and there are similar sayings in his hometown, such as, "If an official does not act for the people, they might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes."

A lord is certainly different from an ordinary official; to be realistic, a lord's power does not come entirely from the support of the subjects, but originates from themselves.

Even the source of everything might just be because they are strong.

But "strong" is not necessarily a reason for protection, nor is it necessarily a reason for kind treatment after protection.

Or rather, not everyone has the realization that "the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility"; perhaps "the greater the ability, the greater the freedom" is what more people think.

Even Xia Duo often feels constrained because his ability is not enough, and he wants to obtain more freedom by pursuing stronger abilities.

But unlike many Netherese Mages, Xia Duo also has a sense of responsibility, perhaps stemming from the ancient proverb of his hometown: "When successful, help the world."

Or perhaps it stems from the recognition that "the greater the responsibility, the greater the power."

This time, Archmage Greta's clear stance added quite a bit of favor in Xia Duo's heart toward the Princess.

In this magical world where individual strength is extremely prominent, spellcasters, especially powerful spellcasters, are almost impossible for ordinary people to resist (successfully).

Whether the superiors are good or bad, they can only silently endure it.

Under such circumstances, Princess Xiya still follows the ancient and simple pioneering tradition, which is undoubtedly worthy of respect.

Especially since Xia Duo has similar ideals; one could almost call them "comrades"!

……

Regarding how to treat the subjects, Greta did not talk too deeply, and Xia Duo did not want to say too much in front of the other visiting Envoys; mages are, after all, relatively reserved.

After finishing tea, Greta proposed to leave; neither Xia Duo nor Niya tried to persuade her to stay, as this is not the custom in Netheril, but they still had to see her off.

This farewell went all the way to the outside of the Teleportation Room; Greta first sent the Council Envoys who came with her to Kangqi City to inspect other pioneer territories on the Kangqi Plain southeast of Kangqi City.

And she herself, a moment later, restarted the Teleportation Array and returned to Seventon; it looked like she really came solely to understand Daxia Territory!

……

Leaving the Teleportation Room, Niya suddenly grabbed Xia Duo, lowered her head, and whispered like a mosquito: "The Council inspection is over; don't go back to the territory to live recently, stay at the Tower of Time!"

Although the voice was soft, it was very clear in Xia Duo's ears; it was rare for Niya to show such a weak side, and he remembered the last time was when the two of them sent Lord Aipusi into the Stasis Chamber together.

This immediately made Xia Duo feel pity; since returning from the Green Field Plane, he had only lived in the Tower of Time for two days, and he had stayed in his previous room both times; even though there was frequent contact via spells, he had indeed neglected her.

So, he held Niya's hand, gently pulled her into his arms, and whispered softly against her ear: "Don't worry, I will always be by your side!"

……

Although romantic love is not the entirety of life, it is a very important component; in Xia Duo's hometown, there has always been the saying: "Cultivate oneself, regulate the family, govern the state, and bring peace to the world."

Xia Duo is naturally no exception; he always has some patriotic sentiments.

However, family is reflected in every aspect and is not limited to being together day and night; after comforting Niya, Xia Duo left the Tower of Time again.

Of course, he was not returning to the territory to live for a long time this time, but merely returning to the territory to get some wood; the problem of the lack of paper in the Tower of Time has become increasingly serious.

Unless he takes the Teleportation Array to Seventon or other commercially developed territories to purchase it now, he will soon face a paper shortage.

And now in Xia Duo's territory, there isn't much of anything else, but there is plenty of wood; usually, the amount used for cooking, heating, building wooden houses, or burning the ground is only a small portion.

There are still a large number of logs piled up there, and he doesn't know how to handle them, not to mention the even broader Green Pearl Forest beyond the pioneer land, and even the Eastern Forest.

How to handle this wood has always been a headache for Xia Duo; this is no exaggeration.

Just making furniture, wooden houses, or anything else, under the condition of meeting the territory's needs, it is hard to have any sales volume; after all, having a lot of wood is not a problem unique to Daxia Territory.

Unless it is in the Nether Core Region, one can cut as much wood as one wants, provided one doesn't get into trouble with the Elves.

And even in the Core Area, there are closer territories that provide large logs; as for daily firewood, almost everywhere has large patches of fast-growing thorns as a source of firewood for ordinary people.

Unless wood products are made by Elves, it is difficult to sell them to other places across long distances; the shipping cost alone is very troublesome, and it would be better to burn them on the spot!

But for Xia Duo, who has mastered the Paper-making Technique, burning is undoubtedly a waste.

It is just that in the past, he had not made up his mind to make paper, so the wood in the territory piled up more and more, even affecting the pioneering of the territory to a certain extent!

This must be solved as soon as possible, and for now, paper-making is the only solution.

……

Not long ago, Saixili told Xia Duo that the Tower of Time was short of paper, and at that time he made up his mind to make paper, but he had been staying in the territory recently and temporarily ignored that matter.

Now that Niya asked him to return to the Tower of Time, Xia Duo immediately put paper-making on the agenda.

Returning from the territory, Xia Duo brought back about 1000 cubic meters of logs, which filled his entire Personal Space.

Of course, it is impossible for Xia Duo alone to turn all these logs into paper; for an Arcanist like him to do this is truly a waste.

So, he called Saixili, along with several low-level Mages from the Magic Technician Department, and came to a workshop that had been remodeled in advance.

"Saixili, Jianaer, next I will demonstrate an important technology; do not spread it casually!"

Actually, spreading it wouldn't be a big deal, it's just troublesome, so before wood pulp paper appears in large quantities, it is better to keep it secret!

In fact, for a brilliant spellcaster, one can know the origin of paper, and even the manufacturing process, just by looking at it.

Xia Duo had already realized this when he decided to bring out the Paper-making Technique.

"Watch closely!"

Xia Duo first took out a section of a tree trunk that was not yet completely dry and threw it into the main Reaction Pool in the workshop, then casually cast a Bloodline Spell to summon a flow of water to fill the Reaction Pool.

After that, he cast the 【Crushing Force Field】 from the series of paper-making spells brought back from the 【Projection Plane: Arcane Empire】, and while casting, he introduced:

"Look carefully, the first step of paper-making is to turn the finished wood into wood pulp!"