Chapter 48: 48 A Surprising Discovery

Luoning, accompanied by three Professional Knights, began a new round of territory inspection.

With yesterday's disappointing experience, his sense of anticipation today was greatly diminished.

Today he did not want to continue examining the farming, but rather head west to gain a clear understanding of the geographical environment before winter set in.

Unlike the east, there were more rolling hills to the west, and the flat areas were relatively fewer.

As he walked, Luoning recorded the distinct regions on parchment and gave them names.

For example, this naturally formed lake before him was situated between three mountains, belonging to a natural depression; its area was not large, estimated at around five or six hundred square meters.

According to Tangmu, there were several types of wild fish in this lake, and Pulinsite had even sent people to catch them; it was much simpler than catching them in the Shanlin Lake to the east.

Because it was relatively close to Wushan, Luoning named it "Wushan Lake."

Following Wushan Lake further west, one began to enter the territory of the Wushan Mountains; theoretically speaking, that area did not belong to Luoning's territory.

However, no noble wanted to develop territory in this place, so it was no problem for Luoning to use the resources here.

"Before I came to Shanlin Town, the Steward of Wushan Castle, Huoerhuate, once told me that the previous Baron here took his family on an outing during winter and died under the sharp claws of a Magic Beast!"

Luoning looked at the increasingly dense forest and explained what he had heard, "Maiken, when winter arrives, the matter of the Magic Beasts will be left to you; by then, you must get me more Magic Beast hides!"

Maiken, who had put on his armor, patted his chest heavily, "My Lord, I have great confidence!"

Luoning laughed.

It was only just past August 15th, and there were still four months until winter; by then, Maiken would not only be an Advanced Knight, but should also be in the upper-middle position among Advanced Knights, right?

Such strength was enough to deal with ordinary Magic Beasts, unless a big one came, just like the previous Baron Gelin of Lake Town.

"Tangmu, are there many Magic Beasts that come to invade the town in winter?"

As someone born and raised in Shanlin Town, Tangmu had a lot of say in this matter.

"There are indeed some Magic Beasts that come down the mountain to forage in winter, but My Lord, rest assured, it is not as exaggerated as that Steward said. Most are wolves, pigs, and the like; very rarely do particularly powerful Magic Beasts appear."

Tangmu said, "To prevent attacks by Magic Beasts, Pulinsite arranged for the wheat fields and reclaimed wasteland to be in the east; the crops in the west are basically flax, and there are relatively few people living there, so the losses will not be very great."

Luoning gave Pulinsite a thumbs-up in his heart; this guy had finally done something beneficial for him.

"That may be so, but that grassland in the northwest is my pasture; cows, sheep, and horses will all be kept there. The guards must be careful when patrolling; don't let the beasts from the mountains eat my livestock!"

Luoning now had 126 sheep, 35 horses, 6 dairy cows, and 24 Black Water Buffalo; the number was not large, and half of them were things he had brought from outside, so losing even one would make his heart ache.

"Rest assured, My Lord, starting tomorrow I will arrange for several guards to patrol here!"

Maiken following behind Luoning to inspect was not just looking around; as a Guard Officer, he was thinking about the defense layout of the territory.

Their current safety hazards were in three aspects: the savage tribes, Magic Beasts, and the Sain Territory.

Compared to the unpredictability of Magic Beasts, the savage tribes and the Sain Territory were the priorities.

Therefore, Maiken was prepared to invest more manpower into these two aspects; as for the Magic Beast Mountain Range in the west, he only needed to arrange a few people to patrol, and if there was a situation, they would notify the guards to come and support.

Luoning nodded, "After the inspection is complete, you should also think about the defense plan for the territory and then report it to me."

"Very well, My Lord!" Maiken accepted the order.

The group talked and walked, and along the mountain path, they soon entered the rolling mountains in the west.

The mountains here were much higher than those in the south, and looking into the distance, there were increasingly taller mountain ranges; that was Wushan.

The forest here was very lush, with trees that were green all year round like pines and cypresses, as well as low shrubs and scattered grass.

As the master of the mountain forest, there was truly no need to worry about timber.

"It's just a pity that others aren't short of wood either."

In all the noble territories of Wushan Territory, there was no shortage of mountains; who didn't have wood?

Relying purely on selling wood wouldn't make money, and long timber was not easy to transport on mountain roads.

Making the wood into new styles of furniture might be sellable, but there was still the problem of difficult transport, and it was also easy to be imitated.

"Looking at this mountain road ahead, it's clean and hasn't grown a single weed; it's clear that people often walk here."

Luoning pointed to the mountain road that was three or four people wide, "Who comes here often?"

This mountain road was winding, about a meter wide, and the weeds on the side of the road didn't grow well, as if they were often trampled by people.

Logically speaking, this was no longer within the borders of Shanlin Town, and it had a certain degree of danger, so not many people should come here.

"My Lord, the commoners in the town often come here in groups of three or five to cut firewood!"

Tangmu was very clear about this road, "Before you came to Shanlin Town, Pulinsite did not allow the commoners to cut down trees in the town at will. If people wanted to build houses, they either had to pay Pulinsite a certain amount of money or provide labor; otherwise, they could only come to these mountains to find timber."

The flowers, trees, mountains, and rivers in the territory belonged to the lord, and if the commoners wanted to obtain them, they had to apply to the lord and pay the conditions for exchange.

If they did not apply and did not pay money or labor, that was illegal; once discovered, it would not only be confiscated, but also subject to severe punishment.

Luoning sighed inwardly; the ordinary people in this world were truly pitiful, as the means of production they could control were far too few.

Even though he was now the lord here, he couldn't say that the trees in Shanlin Town could be cut at will, but as a transmigrator, he felt it was still necessary to resolve this "dangerous" situation.

He didn't want the commoners to lose their lives in the mouths of Magic Beasts just to get a little wood; compared to a tree, a laborer was more valuable.

"Tangmu, are there many people from the town who come here?"

Luoning rode his horse deeper along the mountain road, "Are there any particularly dangerous locations or Magic Beasts inside?"

"Those who come here are all bold people; most of the timid ones don't dare to come and can only entrust those bold people to help, and then pay a little something."

Tangmu continued, "I'm not too sure about particularly dangerous locations and Magic Beasts, but My Lord, there is a special place."

"Oh?" Luoning was suddenly curious.

"My Lord, there is a large Black Forest ahead; the trees there are particularly hard, and ordinary Stone Axes can't cut them at all. Even using iron axes, it takes a lot of effort to cut them down!"

Luoning's eyes lit up.

From yesterday to today, he had been hoping to discover something different, but unfortunately, reality had kept disappointing him.

But now, it seemed that something special had arrived?

"Take me there!" he said hurriedly.

The place Tangmu mentioned was not far; after walking two or three miles forward, Luoning saw a Black Forest.

This is a forest composed of peculiar trees with black trunks, over ten meters tall and fifty to sixty centimeters in diameter, distributed quite widely.

Luoning reached out to touch the bark; it felt much more comfortable than pine bark and was not very rough.

He drew his longsword with some anticipation and struck at the trunk.

With a bang, perhaps because he did not use too much force, his sword was actually deflected.

He carefully observed the spot he had struck and discovered that the sword had only left a faint mark, with no sign of breaking the skin at all.

Luoning's eyes lit up; was it really this hard?

He hurriedly beckoned to Maiken, "Come here, Maiken, see if you can cut this tree down with one strike."

Maiken was very confident about this: "My lord, a tree is just a tree after all; even if it is hard, it cannot withstand a full-force strike from my sword!"

As he spoke, he walked to the side of the trunk, gripped his greatsword with both hands, and Battle Qi flowed over the blade, emitting a faint pressure.

With a deep shout, Maiken slashed violently toward the trunk.

Bang!

The massive impact caused the Black Iron Tree to shake violently; Maiken's longsword was not deflected, but instead directly broke through the skin of the Black Iron Tree, then cut thirty centimeters in before it could advance no further.

For an Intermediate Knight in the middle to late stages, using a sharp longsword and a full-force strike, to fail to cut this tree down was enough to show its degree of hardness.

Maiken was still blushing from losing face in front of his lord, but Luoning clapped his hands in delight.

"Good, good, good!"

Such hard wood is very rare, and its value is not low.

"It is called a 'Black Iron Tree', right?" Luoning asked.

Tangmu bowed, "No one has named it, my lord; we call this place the Black Forest and call them 'black trees'."

"Then from today on, it shall be called the Black Iron Tree."

Luoning was quite happy, "Come, Knights, cut down a tree and bring it back so I can study it."

(End of chapter)