Chapter 123: Viscount Beckett's

The reserves of this iron ore vein, calculated by gold coin value, are worth at least five thousand gold coins.

Yet he, unaware of this, is preparing to hold an auction with a starting price of only three hundred gold coins.

The auction for the iron mine will be held tonight,

and because the starting price is truly too low, many nobles cannot resist the temptation and are preparing to attend the auction!】

【Intelligence Three: On the trade route between Baron Kane's fief and Viscount Beckett's fief, there stands a gray stone bridge.

At the very bottom of the river beneath the stone bridge lies a metal treasure chest containing jewels and gold coins, with a total value of four hundred gold coins.

Three years ago, Viscount Beckett's guard squad, disguised as bandits, ambushed a passing noble merchant caravan.

However, a mishap occurred during the ambush, allowing the caravan's steward to escape with the treasure chest.

Although the caravan steward was eventually caught and killed to silence him, he had thrown the chest into the river beforehand, leaving Viscount Beckett's guards unaware of the chest's whereabouts.

Later, as time passed, the matter of the treasure chest was known to no one.】

【Intelligence Four: Due to the agreement you reached with the Tulip Merchant House, a caravan from the Tulip Merchant House will arrive at Storm Fief today.

The caravan will not only bring daily supplies needed by the people of the fief but will also purchase all valuable border specialties!】

【Intelligence Five: Due to the long-term use of Dragon Blood Grass, the first batch of seven Fire Stallions in your territory will complete their breakthrough, becoming true Tier One magical beasts, the Blazing Stallions!】

【Intelligence Six: The border between the Chaos Wasteland and the Death Mountains is not only the favorite research site for wizards but also a material ground greatly favored by alchemists.

Continuing thirty li from the two o'clock direction of the Dragon Blood Grass Canyon, there lies a black pine forest, and within that black pine forest stands a stone house.

This is a ruin left by an alchemist; finding it will allow you to obtain an inscribed enchanted weapon.】

More than a week has passed since returning from Resurrection Island last time.

During this week, the development progress of Storm Fief has been very rapid.

Especially with the addition of sufficient labor, the five hundred wooden houses have been completed.

Although very crude, at least sheltering from wind and rain is no longer a problem.

Therefore, after these wooden houses were built, Gervas settled all the slaves from Black Pine Village, the slaves from Hunting Village, and the same batch of slaves as those archers with Eveline into the new wooden houses to live.

Although among these slaves, except for the villagers of Hunting Village, the others have not yet met the requirements for amnesty.

But their hard work during this period is obvious to all, so Gervas letting them move into the wooden houses to live is also a form of indirect encouragement.

Especially now that a new batch of slaves from Resurrection Island has been added, and Gervas does not restrict communication between the slaves, this will make the previous batches of slaves the best role models for the new slaves from Resurrection Island.

By then, without needing whips, these new slaves will strive for future freedom and a better life.

And besides the development of the small town, the construction of Sugarcane Island and the Ice Warehouse has also been completed.

Seven wooden houses were built on Sugarcane Island, capable of accommodating about thirty people from five families, and also including warehouses and a sugar-making workshop.

Actually, the sugar-making workshop is very simple, consisting of a total of five stoves.

Because the supply for sugar making only requires this much.

Sugar making first involves washing the sugarcane clean, then extracting the juice, and then using several stoves to boil the sugarcane juice.

Start boiling from the first stove; when the sugarcane juice becomes somewhat viscous, scoop it out and put it into the second stove to boil.

Following this pattern, when boiling in the last pot, once the sugarcane juice is boiled into a thick paste, it can be taken out and placed in wooden molds to dry.

What is dried like this is authentic brown sugar.

As for white sugar, one only needs to decolorize the brown sugar, and then one can obtain snow-white white sugar.

So, with the completion of this sugar-making workshop, the great undertaking of sugar making can finally begin.

As for the Ice Warehouse, not only was the road from the small town to the Ice Warehouse widened, but sturdy wooden fences were also set up at the cave entrance and around it to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering or exiting, and to keep wild beasts away.

And inside the ice cave, stairs have also been installed, along with lighting equipment.

It is worth mentioning that because the ice cave environment is special, the lighting equipment consists of two glow pearls.

And the expense of glow pearls needs no elaboration, so Old John simply arranged five personnel here at the Ice Warehouse.

These five people are not only responsible for guarding the safety of the ice cave but also for the daily cutting and transporting of ice blocks.

This way, other outsiders do not need to enter the cave, thus avoiding the theft of the glow pearls.

Of course, these five people also have their families remaining in the small town and are relatives of the guard squad, so it basically eliminates the possibility of them stealing on their own watch and fleeing.

And upon waking in the morning, hearing the ding-ding sound coming from his mind, Gervas immediately jumped out of bed.

Good heavens! Gervas exclaimed, "Good heavens!"

What did he hear!

An iron mine worth five thousand gold coins?!

This is equivalent to the entire fortune of a border baron family, including the value of land, castles, and so on.

Now, that Viscount Beckett is actually preparing to "give away" this great gift!

For such a windfall from the heavens, Gervas will by no means miss it.

As for whether it is too guilty of conscience.

Joke! If that Viscount Beckett himself had not thought of cheating people, this great gift would not have fallen into the hands of an outsider.

Ding-a-ling!

The bell at the bedroom door rang, and Maid Caroline walked gracefully into the bedroom carrying clear water.

"Good morning, my lord!"

"Mm! Good morning, Caroline! By the way, you seem especially beautiful today! Caroline!"

Looking at the obedient and sensible maid, although Gervas was not currently eating the grass by his own doorstep, he was not at all stingy with verbal praise.

"Really?" Maid Caroline's beautiful eyes immediately sparkled, her heart feeling as sweet as if she had eaten honey, feeling that her careful dressing up for so long was not in vain.

Immediately, Caroline prepared to give her master a flirtatious glance and, by the way, ask where she looked especially beautiful today.

But Gervas had seen right through her, and before she could speak, he immediately said, "Alright, Caroline, I have many things to do today, so start serving me to wash up now!"

The maid's aura faltered, and she immediately wore an aggrieved expression.

Gervas, however, pretended not to see it and had already stood before the bronze mirror, waiting.

Just kidding; tasting a little sweetness is fine, but under no circumstances should Caroline be allowed to feel satisfied.

Otherwise, such praise would cease to work in the future.

The personal maid's tail would have to be raised straight to the sky.

After washing up, the daily punishment was naturally unavoidable!

After a surge of waves, Gervas finally went to the dining hall, fully content.

And today's situation was exactly as he had just said: indeed very busy.

Besides matters of intelligence, according to Old John's report, the blacksmiths from the forge had sent word.

The eleven crossbows that Gervas had ordered the blacksmiths and carpenters to jointly produce a week ago were now finished.

In addition, the modifications to the ballista brought back by Gervas from the Skull Flagship battlefield were also complete.

The craftsmen had not only finished the wheeled mobile base matching the ballista but had also installed a winch for drawing the string.

Now they were merely waiting for Gervas to come inspect and verify.

Besides the forge, the witch Isabella had also found Old John early on, saying she wished to see Gervas.

This was because she had extracted a concentrated liquid capable of nourishing the strength of a Title Knight from the previous Explosive Flame Blue-Scaled Beast.

She hoped that after Alan woke up, he would go immediately to confirm the effects of the concentrated liquid.