Romain paused for a moment and swept his gaze over the small merchants, who were gradually falling into stunned silence.
He frowned. "Did you understand?"
"Understood, understood!" Everyone nodded frantically, completely dazed by this windfall from heaven.
They had originally thought something bad was happening, that they were being made to run errands for the lord.
But now, they would not merely be running errands—they would be running themselves to death!
This was truly... exhilarating!
Simply put, Romain had set them a target of one hundred thousand jin of grain. As long as they completed it, they could earn five Gold Coins.
And they would not need to bear any risk.
There were only five of them in total, which meant each of them could earn an average of one Gold Coin.
Gods above!
One Gold Coin could buy two plow oxen!
All they had to do was work hard for ten-odd days, and they could get two plow oxen!
Who would not be tempted by that?
No matter how demanding the target was, they had to bite down and finish it!
If they were only buying wheat, it might have been difficult.
After all, wheat was the finest type of grain.
But if they added other cereals, vegetables, and coarse grains, there would be no problem.
Thus, the five small merchants wore somewhat ferocious expressions, as though they were roaring, their eyes red.
They had to secure this target!
Romain turned to Mol and barked with a frown, "You disgraceful thing, get up!"
Mol shakily crawled to his feet.
When Romain had begun speaking, he had thought this young lord was going to settle accounts with him. His heart had nearly stopped.
Purchasing one hundred thousand jin of coarse grains and cereals would cost roughly thirty or forty Gold Coins. It would not bankrupt him; at most, it would be a Cesarean Section.
Of course, it hurt to part with the money.
But compared to the pain of losing his head, Mol felt he could endure this flesh-cutting agony.
Romain said, "You will handle this matter. There can be defective grain among the food, but there cannot be too much of it. Understand?"
"Understood, understood, understood!" Mol nodded repeatedly, his handkerchief already soaked through.
Everything being bought now was old grain from last year. It could be rotten, worm-eaten, damp, and so on. Romain was reminding him to pay closer attention and not get cheated.
Romain dismissed them.
As the Agricultural Officer, Mol had sold grain for so many years. He certainly understood this better than Romain did.
These one hundred thousand jin of grain could only be considered a temporary measure. It would last roughly one or two months, and afterward, they would still need to keep buying food.
But he could not keep bleeding the pig dry. He needed to find a stable source of income as soon as possible.
By now, there was barely anything left in his family's coffers. He was so poor he had to sell rubies. If this continued, he would have to pawn the Armor-Piercing Greatbow.
Without food, he would have no confidence in ordering others to act according to his wishes.
After pondering for a moment, Romain drew out his cleaver again and began chopping vegetables and meat.
The sowing and fertilizing progressed faster than Romain had expected.
On the morning of the third day—his twenty-first day since arriving here—
the seven or eight hundred farmers completed the sowing and fertilizing work.
Looking at the vast, neatly arranged ridges, the dark earth gave off a powerful sense of levelness and order. The entire land seemed to be nurturing immense vitality.
Nearly every farmer found it unbelievable.
Could such beautiful, fertile fields truly have been cultivated by their own hands?
In the past, even if they worked themselves to death, they could not have finished farming these two thousand mu of land in just over ten days, much less achieved such results.
Merely changing their old working methods had brought such a massive increase in efficiency. It filled them with a different kind of shock.
Many farmers secretly glanced toward the figure standing at the edge of the fields.
That man's loose hair draped over his shoulders, and his eyes were blood-red. Expressionless, he swung the cleaver in his hand, constantly chopping the onions and carrots on the cutting board into large chunks. Beside him, a frail girl helped put the cut vegetables into a pot, where she was making a vegetable soup mixed with white flour.
Although two days had passed, they still found it strange.
The lord was personally cooking meals for them. Every piece of meat they ate had been chopped bit by bit by this Esteemed Lord.
Meanwhile, Romain watched the cooking experience +1 notifications continually appear on the panel.
Amid those cold, merciless chopping motions,
only the increase in experience points could bring him a trace of warmth.
After all, he had chopped vegetables for two entire days. His heart was as cold as his blade.
From morning until night, his arms had gone numb with soreness, and his blade had dulled. His attendant chef Bob could only watch in distress.
Even now, he had only raised his cooking experience to thirty points. He was still far from reaching Cooking Level 2.
Compared with other skills, cooking experience was already increasing very quickly.
Perhaps it was because this skill itself did not require much technical skill, coupled with his high efficiency.
Innate Chef Saint Body!
Yet the cooking experience pouring in was still not enough for Romain to humiliate Green.
Because it was merely basic culinary knowledge, without any especially advanced cooking techniques.
Romain could only hope that after reaching Level 2, he could properly teach Green a lesson for looking down on his cooking skills.
"My lord."
A voice came from beside him. Romain looked over and saw a somewhat dark-skinned young man standing with both hands placed over his abdomen, respectfully awaiting his reply.
Barro.
One of the seven apostles Romain had initially drawn.
However, Barro was only a one-star apostle, with an utterly unremarkable 5E stat panel. Only his Constitution was E+.
His skill was not combat-related either. Barro's skill was called Diligence; while working, it could improve his efficiency and reduce physical exertion.
In Romain's eyes, that skill was useless.
Any more experienced farmer knew that trick.
This also meant Barro had no real potential for cultivation, so Romain had never sought him out.
It was not until the farmer riot, when he killed an old farmer named Matthew, that he learned Matthew was Barro's father.
He had killed the man's father...
Romain felt neither guilt nor unease over it.
With perfect righteousness, he appointed Barro as the person in charge of these two thousand mu of land.
During the sowing process, this dark-skinned young man had also displayed some command ability.
Romain said, "What is it?"
After his father's death, Barro could only suppress his grief and throw himself wholeheartedly into the work ahead. Now, he finally had some free time.
With a respectful expression, he asked, "My lord, has the cultivation of this public land ended?"
Romain nodded. "Yes, this year's spring plowing is over."
This young farmer clearly did not understand what he meant. He said uncertainly, "Then are we going to clear new land? The next few days are still suitable for planting. I think we can still plant several hundred more mu..."
After he finished, Romain replied in an emphatic tone, "I said! This year's spring plowing is over!"
Barro finally understood what that meant.
He was very surprised. In his view, the planting season had not yet passed, so they should not stop.
He wanted to explain clearly to Romain that as long as they repeated the previous methods of deep plowing, sowing, and fertilizing, they could plant more grain. Even if the total yield was lower than last year's, no one should starve to death.
But Romain pressed a hand onto his shoulder first.
"Shut up. I have more important things to do next. You are in charge of these two thousand mu of land. I will assign you one hundred farmers to tend it. If there are not enough hands, I can temporarily allocate laborers to you—but I will not allow these people to remain bound to these fields forever. Do not repeat your father's mistakes!"
Farming could put food on the table, but it could only put food on the table.
Before you continue