Brewing Ideas

Donald, back at his manor, received Sir Jesse from Giant Stone City in the farm room where he was temporarily staying.

The other party skillfully showed his goodwill and closeness without offending the host, and left quickly after completing his task without lingering.

Donald greatly appreciated the other party's ability to get things done, considering him the first noble friend he had made in this world. Although this fellow accepted bribes, he knew where to draw the line and didn't neglect any of the important tasks.

If he had his own territory now, he would definitely recruit this knight to be his financial manager. A financial officer of a territory was equivalent to the finance minister of a kingdom. If the work was done well and merit was earned, the lord would not be stingy with bestowing a hereditary noble title upon him.

Therefore, exiled noble scions like Jesse could generally not resist the invitation of a noble lord. Even though Jesse worked for the kingdom and received considerable illicit gains, he was still susceptible.

Sir Jesse was also very impressed with Donald, a noble among nobles, who had become a formal mage at such a young age. The previous two manor owners had encountered beast attacks shortly after taking over. This mage lord had been in charge for nearly a month, the manor was almost complete, with livestock everywhere and construction workers coming and going, yet not a single accident had occurred! It had to be said that mages were truly a mysterious and powerful profession.

Donald was unaware that his smooth takeover of the manor was attributed by Sir Jesse to the magic of mages. In reality, the reason for the lack of problems for such a long time was not due to any special measures he had taken, but rather because the manor had been vacant for the greater part of the previous half-month. Even if beasts had come, they wouldn't have found any living prey.

Now that the Tree of Life had successfully taken root, its natural barrier had a calming effect on the surrounding wild beasts and magical beasts, causing some ferocious creatures with strong attack power to avoid the area from afar and not enter the manor to hunt.

After seeing Sir Jesse off, Donald knew that with the Tree of Life present, unless someone deliberately sabotaged it or the magical beasts rioted for other reasons, he wouldn't have to worry about beast incursions. Thus, he left with peace of mind, intending to travel to Giant Stone City to understand the commercial situation of this world and gather references for his manor's future main products.

The manor's layout was largely complete, with forty mu of farmland established on the four sides. The central area, temporarily vacant, was now having its foundation laid for villa construction. To the rear, near the forest, stood the Tree of Life. The entire small manor was almost entirely covered by the Tree of Life's barrier, even extending beyond the manor's boundaries. The natural energy within the barrier was at least five times denser than outside, providing an excellent environment for farming.

The farm included housing for the farmers, and the quality, produced by the Book of Truth, was even better than that of ordinary small merchants' residences. There were also many vacant rooms, so there was no need to build anything else for now. With his noble status, building at least one villa was fitting. The guest rooms in the villa would be sufficient for visitors, and the servants would also have their own rooms.

Regarding the farmland, with the Tree of Life's barrier, all plants within a two-kilometer radius would be nourished by nature's power. Seeing the weeds growing so wildly, Donald felt great hope for the manor's development.

"If even the weeds can grow like this, then whatever I plant will grow well. We'll be rich soon!"

Besides the planned fields, Donald was too lazy to send people to clear the weeds in other areas, especially the pasture. These lusciously growing weeds would become excellent fodder for livestock when harvested! For purely herbivorous livestock, whether free-ranging or confined and fed cut grass, a large sum of expenses would be saved!

What his manor currently lacked was a unique, profitable economic product.

Without its own unique product, relying solely on ordinary grain crops and poultry and livestock yields would only be enough to sustain basic living needs, far from enough to cover the expenses of a noble. Moreover, he had the mage profession to cultivate, and the Book of Truth was a huge consumer of core crystals and energy stones. He couldn't possibly rely on hunting himself to earn money all the time, could he?

With ample time, Donald traveled to Giant Stone City by carriage, not using teleportation. After all, teleportation had a cooldown period, and it was best to save it for critical moments under normal circumstances. Otherwise, if an emergency occurred and he couldn't get there because the skill was on cooldown, the situation would be dire.

Dark Night Manor was located roughly due north of Giant Stone City, about eighty to ninety kilometers away. Red Maple Town lay between them, with the rest being uninhabited forests or hills.

Although North Shire was nominally managed by Viscount Macbeth, who served as the governor, it was not entirely under his command. Only Giant Stone City and the Macbeth family's strongholds in the southeast, Distant Mountain Town, and Lord Gerry's fief, acquired over a decade ago, were the direct territories and subordinate fiefs of the viscount.

Other areas, such as Red Maple Town in Baron of Red Maple's territory, Greenwood Town in the west managed by the Bloodstone Fortress military, and Flash Gold Town in the southernmost part of North Shire, bordering Marquis Ansel's territory and the kingdom's central province, were lands not managed by the viscount. Viscount Macbeth, as the governor of North Shire, only possessed some supervisory authority.

Especially Flash Gold Town, located at the junction of three provinces, was a trade center controlling the flow of goods between the west, north, and central regions. Not only Viscount Macbeth but also many nobles in the royal capital coveted the vast wealth generated here annually.

When North Shire was first established, even the royal family could not prevent greedy nobles from vying for ownership of Flash Gold Town. In the end, they simply adopted the system of the commercial kingdoms in the southern continent and designated Flash Gold Town as a directly administered royal territory, never to be enfeoffed to any noble, nor directly managed by the royal family. Instead, an official was selected every ten years to serve as acting town mayor on a rotating basis, paying a large sum of taxes to the kingdom annually. As long as taxes were paid and the kingdom's laws were obeyed, anyone could conduct business in Flash Gold Town.

This was the information Donald had learned immediately after deciding to establish himself in this world and gain some strength. Coming from Earth, a world of information explosion, Donald naturally knew that knowledge was wealth and information was money, which was why he chose the mage profession, known for its wisdom and erudition, as his primary class.

Otherwise, there were many types of ability-enhancing items in the Book of Truth. He could have chosen to strengthen his physique or strength at the same cost and become a valiant knight, which would also have been a good choice.

But in this world, knights, though powerful, were not invincible. In the eyes of the native population, spellcasters were probably the most powerful profession below the gods. Of course, this was not absolute; there were also some genius warrior-type professionals whose strength far surpassed that of their peers.

Mages, as representatives of spellcasters, were synonymous with mystery and power, and inherently projected an aura of nobility and aloofness that could be intimidating. This, combined with his noble status, was quite fitting. If he had chosen to be a knight from the beginning, even if he had already reached the level of a high-level knight, equivalent to a level five professional, he would likely have had less than a tenth of his current prestige and deterrence, making it easy for enemies to unite against him.

From the very beginning, Donald had been leveraging his mage abilities and the influence of North Shire's sole Mage Association. Only then could he and the small foundation he had built remain safe for so long.

The carriage traveled on the road to Giant Stone City. As they passed by a village belonging to the Baron of Red Maple's territory, Donald saw rows of green and purplish-red grapevines in the vineyards lining the road and suddenly became interested.

Baron of Red Maple's wine was famous; this was common knowledge in North Shire. This baron had his own private estate specifically for winemaking, producing high-quality wines. Although not the absolute finest, a portion of it was sold annually to nobles throughout the kingdom, fetching profits of at least a thousand Gold Sols. This industry had always been one of Baron of Red Maple's most valued sources of income.

Consequently, the two villages within the Red Maple Town territory and the surrounding areas also began planting winemaking grapes on a large scale. Those of good quality were directly purchased by officials under Baron of Red Maple when they ripened each year. The majority of the remaining grapes, of average or even inferior quality, were used by the villagers to brew their own wine. Besides personal consumption, most of these average or inferior quality wines were sold to taverns and inns in nearby villages and towns.

Compared to the high-quality red wine, which cost one Gold Sol per cup, the barley wine, which could be drunk in large mugs for a few copper coins, was more popular among travelers and adventurers. Ordinary wine, costing two or three Silver Moons for three cups, seemed rather mediocre. Generally, only wealthy merchants or mid-level officials had the spare money to buy it to accompany their meals. True nobles would serve at least mid-grade or higher quality wine when entertaining guests, to avoid losing face.

Donald ordered the coachman to stop by the roadside and wait. He dismounted and approached the elderly villagers managing the vineyards to communicate, and then found the village chief.

He did this for no other reason than to purchase some of the wine the village had cellared from the previous year.

In his previous life, he had also enjoyed home-brewing wine, and although it was just a hobby, he had thoroughly researched the process. Brewing a few barrels of red wine using the simplest method was quite easy.

Under Donald's barrage of Gold Sols, the village chief quickly resold the five large barrels of wine, originally intended for merchants and taverns, to the young noble, Donald.

With his own ideas in mind, after buying the wine, Donald had the villagers help him secure the barrels on the roof of the carriage. He then stopped heading forward and ordered the coachman, "We're not going to Giant Stone City anymore. We're returning to the manor."

After leaving the village a short distance, Donald, eager to test his idea, put the wine barrels into his spatial imprint. The coachman, already accustomed to such things, drove back to the manor alone, while Donald himself disappeared into the uninhabited woods by the roadside and teleported back to his room in the manor.

"Young Master, you're back!"

Steward Code was somewhat puzzled by his young master's sudden return when he was supposed to be heading to Giant Stone City, but he didn't say much.

Donald then instructed, "Code, go and get me a few wine glasses from the house. I need them!"

Code obeyed and went to fetch the glasses. Donald then took out a two-foot-tall wooden wine barrel from his spatial imprint.

A moment later, the steward returned. Donald opened the wine barrel and poured a cup for himself and one for Code.

This barrel of homemade red wine, brewed by the villagers and purchased by Donald, had been cellared for a year. However, it still tasted somewhat sour and astringent. Compared to the mellow and clear wine of his previous life, the impurities filtered out by the crude, primitive methods here were considerable, inevitably affecting the taste.

"This wine is of very poor quality. After being used to the wine Uncle Code buys, it's really hard to swallow!"

Donald frowned, swallowed the wine, and said.

Code, having also drunk the wine, replied, "The homemade wine brewed by these rural farmers naturally cannot compare to the high-quality wine produced in the Red Maple territory, which costs fifteen Silver Moons per bottle. Young Master, if you wish to study winemaking, you should plant excellent grape varieties on the manor and carefully study them after they ripen to brew good wine!"

However, Donald had other plans. He shook his head, took out two small crystal bottles, and poured a blue-glowing liquid into each of their wine glasses.