Chapter 96: The Sugarcane of Another World!

Whoa!

Hearing the observer’s addition, the knights and guards on deck burst into uproar.

Whether it was Huoshandao or Yangdao, neither island was actually small in area.

But the observer had not added this.

“My lord, it seems this island is truly enormous—never before has the observer made such an addition!”

Gervas knew full well, yet nodded with a cheerful expression, “Indeed, it appears we’ve discovered a large island!”

More than ten minutes later, the island came into view.

This island was roughly one-fourth the size of Storm Domain; from afar, it looked like another coastline, with neither side visible to the horizon.

The area of Storm Domain was about the same as a large village from my past life.

One-fourth of a large village was already a considerable area—equivalent to several villages.

The Stormwind continued cutting through wind and waves, sailing for another twenty minutes before reaching the island’s edge.

Amid the eager anticipation of Migen and others, the raft was lowered into the sea; half the crew remained aboard, while the other half went ashore.

“Good heavens, it’s truly huge! I never imagined such a large island could exist at sea—along the way, we’ve already spotted three streams. This island could support an entire small town!”

Just over twenty minutes after landing, Migen couldn’t help but marvel.

The island’s vegetation was lush and its area vast; more importantly, in such a short distance, three streams had already appeared.

This clearly indicated abundant freshwater resources on the island.

“But my lord, what valuable thing does this island hold? I wonder if Zhuīyuè told you?”

At this moment, Migen remembered the most important matter.

In the past, the islands my lord discovered always yielded valuable finds.

Yet on this large island, after so long ashore, they had encountered nothing valuable.

“I already said—it’s this!”

At that moment, Gervas finally saw what he had come for: sugarcane.

After crossing over, Gervas had never seen sugarcane in this other world.

So perhaps the sugarcane on this island… well, calling it the only one in the world would be an exaggeration—after all, sugarcane couldn’t have appeared out of nowhere.

But calling it the only one on Glory Continent still held some possibility.

“This? It looks like bamboo, but shorter and less sturdy—skinny and scrawny. My lord, is this little bamboo stick really something valuable?”

Migen stepped forward two paces, squinting closely at the sugarcane Gervas pointed to.

Finally, seeing the abundance of sugarcane around him, Migen even snapped off one.

The result: it broke easily—nothing unusual at all.

The other knights were also intensely curious.

After all, the nightlight pearls and tidal spirit springs they’d found before were genuine treasures.

Could this little bamboo stick possibly compare?

“This isn’t called a little bamboo stick—it’s called sugarcane. Put it in your mouth and try!”

“Put it in my mouth?”

Looking at its pitch-black skin, even Migen felt a hint of disgust.

“Darl, you try it!”

Migen suddenly spotted the knight Darl beside him and shoved the sugarcane into his arms without hesitation.

By the time Darl realized what had happened, the others had already retreated far away.

Darl wanted to cry—he couldn’t possibly give it to his own lord, could he?

“Peel off the skin—it won’t look dirty anymore!”

Fortunately, Gervas offered a suggestion, saving Darl from his predicament.

Using a dagger to strip away the sugarcane skin, the interior revealed no black spots.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone—including Gervas—Darl reluctantly placed the sugarcane in his mouth and bit down…

Mmm!

Darl’s body trembled, then froze in place.

“Is Darl poisoned?”

Migen jumped in alarm, but seeing his lord remain calm, he relaxed.

At that moment, Darl came to his senses, his eyes suddenly blazing with brilliance.

He stared at the sugarcane in his hand as if it were a treasure.

Then, before everyone’s stunned gaze, he began gnawing at it relentlessly.

His ravenous devouring finally made the others realize something was amiss.

“Darl, is this sugarcane delicious? What does it taste like?” Migen hurriedly asked.

Darl glanced at Migen, smiled faintly, then resumed chewing.

This was a race against time.

“Darl, let me taste a bit?” Migen rushed forward, eyes brimming with curiosity for the sugarcane.

“No!” Darl turned his back immediately, avoiding any chance of being robbed.

“You stingy bastard! I gave it to you just now—just let me taste a little!”

The more Darl refused, the more curious Migen became.

Darl’s expression made it seem even better than roasted meat.

Finally, after eating nearly half the sugarcane, Darl stopped.

He cut the remaining half into several centimeter-long pieces and distributed them to Lei Meng and the others.

“Good heavens, this taste—so sweet!”

“Yes, no wonder Darl ate it so greedily—it’s incredibly sweet!”

“It’s sweeter than apples and tomatoes by far! One apple costs three copper coins—so how much would one stalk of this sugarcane cost? A silver coin?!”

After tasting the sugarcane’s sweetness, the knights burst into exclamations.

Even Knight-Leader Lei Meng stared at the sugarcane in astonishment, “My lord, this sweetness rivals honey!”

Gervas nodded with a smile—sugarcane contained among the highest sugar content of all fruits, making it one of the primary raw materials for sugar production.

“My lord, this sugarcane is truly a treasure! I was utterly ignorant just now!” Migen regretted it deeply—such a wonderful thing had all gone to Darl.

Now he’d only tasted a single bite.

Gervas knew exactly what Migen was thinking.

“Enough. Cut ten stalks to take back; each of you gets half a stalk. The rest must be preserved as seed stock.”

Looking ahead, sugarcane stretched everywhere.

Though not artificially planted and not densely packed, such a large island must contain tens of thousands of jin.

So cutting a few stalks to taste posed no problem.

Even Gervas’s suggestion of preserving seed stock would occupy only a small portion.

He had not yet revealed the true major use to his subordinates.

That was sugar production.

Sugar’s importance needs no explanation—it was a strategic resource even in my past life’s modern society.

Especially in this backward world where nobles relied on honey for sugar.

So the fewer people who knew this secret, the better.

…

“Old Jack, remember this location—henceforth, this is Sugarcane Island!”

“Yes, my lord!”

Immediately, the Stormwind set sail again, heading north, directly leaving the Storm Domain coastline.

On a strict level, Viscount Kenneth’s domain was also Gervas’s semi-neighbor.

Although Darl Baron’s domain lay between them, its border did not extend to the coast.

More than twenty li from the shore lay a small mountain range; north of the range was Kenneth Baron’s domain, south of it was the Storm Domain.

Thus, the ship sailed for less than an hour before reaching the southernmost tip of Kenneth Baron’s coastline.