Road Construction

"Mm."

Alice pressed her lips together and nodded, then tried once more to cast Summon Water Elemental.

As she gently waved her staff, a puddle appeared on the previously empty ground. It gradually took on the shape of a Water Elemental, a blue humanoid creature only half as tall as an ordinary person.

"Very good. Congratulations on learning your first spell and becoming a noble and mysterious mage."

Aierlan was delighted by Alice's successful casting. She clapped her hands beside her to celebrate.

"I did it!"

Alice hugged Aierlan, overcome with excitement. Like a little girl sharing her joy, she seemed almost giddy.

"Big Sister Aierlan, does this mean I can help my brother now? I've become a mage. Can't I help him just like you do?"

Alice clasped her hands behind her back and asked curiously, her eyes shining with anticipation.

"Not yet. Your brother is a very powerful lord. You'll have to keep working hard to improve your magic before you can help us."

Aierlan refused her regretfully.

Alice puffed out her cheeks, looking disappointed and unhappy.

But Alice had the same perseverance as Lin Lei. After a while, her spirits rose again, and she resolved to work hard and become stronger.

"My lord, the barracks you requested are finished. The person in charge of the project just sent word that you should come inspect and approve them."

Cress dismissed the servants on either side and spoke softly.

"They finished them so quickly? I'll go see what these costly barracks look like. Have the guards ready; we'll all go take a look."

Lin Lei stopped his idle sunflower-seed snacking, grabbed the tiger-skin hat hanging on the wall, put on his tiger-skin coat, and headed out.

After leaving the Lord's Mansion, they crossed three streets and two alleys before exiting the city gates. The new barracks stood outside Crouching Dragon Ravine, and it took them more than twenty minutes to reach them.

"Whoa, these are impressive. They look grander than my own mansion. That imposing, mighty design makes me feel like the gold was well spent."

Lin Lei smiled at Cress. The heartache he'd felt when he first paid for the project was long gone; now he was rather pleased with his own foresight.

The barracks had been built from a silver-grade blueprint Lin Lei had won in a system lottery. At the time, they had cost him nearly half of his entire fortune.

The new barracks looked like a small fortress. Their walls were only a little shorter than those of Crouching Dragon Ravine, standing six meters high. They were built entirely from silver-grade stone, a material derived from iron ore. Ordinary sand and stone didn't meet the construction requirements.

The barracks had only two gates, one to the north and one to the south, unlike Crouching Dragon Ravine, which had four. The barracks had little traffic, unlike Crouching Dragon Ravine, where people came and went every day to farm, trade, and sell goods. They didn't need so many entrances and exits.

Lin Lei stamped his foot and leaped straight up onto the wall. From there, he could see almost all of the barracks.

The wall was wide enough for three or four people to stand abreast. It was also extremely sturdy. Lin Lei kicked the ground hard, but all he managed to make was a crack no bigger than his palm. Even someone at the Gold level would have little hope of breaking through it.

By then, Cress and the others had also entered through the gate. Lin Lei leaped down and landed in front of them.

"Greetings, Baron."

The people inside the barracks greeted Lin Lei with a bow. He looked at the middle-aged man in his forties or fifties who led them. This was the architect he had hired at great expense from Flower Territory.

"Good work. Would you consider staying in Crouching Dragon Ravine? I can offer you generous compensation."

Lin Lei smiled as he tried to persuade him to stay. Talent was essential to a powerful faction, and Crouching Dragon Ravine was in urgent need of all kinds of talent. That was why he wanted to retain an architect of such skill.

"Thank you for the offer, my lord, but I'm already in the lifelong service of Lord Nicholas and can't change that.

"Besides, with such an ingenious blueprint, Baron, I doubt you're in need of another architect..."

The middle-aged man turned him down outright, without the slightest hesitation.

Seriously? This servant of some minor lord has the nerve to refuse my offer?

Lin Lei was irritated, but his expression didn't change. His face remained calm, revealing nothing of his displeasure.

"Very well, then. Steward, settle the rest of his wages and send him back to Flower Territory. The roads are dangerous, with bandits everywhere, so assign a few more soldiers to protect him along the way."

After giving his orders, Lin Lei left. He'd seen most of the barracks, and he could sense a unique field in the air. It was probably created by the layout and gave the silver-grade barracks their remarkable effect of accelerating training and improving soldiers.

Next, Lin Lei planned to visit the fields outside the city. The best time to plant had passed, but at least some crops had been sown. Harvest season was approaching, so it was time to check the wheat yield.

"By the way, have there been any reports from Blackwater Wharf?"

As he walked, Lin Lei looked over the buildings around them and asked his steward.

"My lord, there's still been no news from Blackwater Wharf. It's rained a little over the past few days, and the road between Blackwater Wharf and Crouching Dragon Ravine has become extremely difficult to travel. The courier is moving very slowly.

"But it's been a long time now, so the courier should have reached Blackwater Wharf. Lord Furell must have received the message."

Lin Lei furrowed his brow and spoke to Cress.

"If it takes this long just to send one person with a message, what will happen if the fishmen attack? At this rate, by the time we reach Blackwater Wharf, the only thing we'll be able to do is bury the dead."

Cress wisely held his tongue and stood quietly to one side as Lin Lei vented his frustration.

"What are Furexi and the others working on? I think it's time to build roads that run through the entire territory, linking Green Goblin Town, Blackwater Wharf, and Crouching Dragon Ravine."

"My lord, Furexi is following your instructions and building recreational facilities around the city, including a Cuju Field. Even working day and night, they won't finish until winter at the earliest."

Cress took out a notebook and checked it before explaining.

"Uh... all right. Add the roads connecting the settlements to next year's plans. We probably won't have time to do it this year, so we'll start in early spring next year."

"Certainly, my lord."

Cress took out a quill and noted Lin Lei's instructions in the notebook.

As they spoke, Lin Lei and his party gradually reached the fields outside the city. Scattered here and there, farmers were still watering their crops and pulling weeds.

The farmers of Crouching Dragon Ravine were organized into groups. Every twenty households formed a hamlet, and each hamlet had an elected head to coordinate everything. Above all the hamlet heads was Old Man Ma from the Department of Agriculture.

Each farmer could cultivate three acres of land of their own. Lin Lei wouldn't collect a single tax from those acres for the first three years—in other words, they were tax-exempt for three years. Lin Lei also provided tools and seeds free of charge, but not livestock. Livestock was too expensive, and the territory couldn't afford it.

In addition to their three acres, farmers could clear wasteland for themselves. The territory would recognize however much land they cleared as theirs. There was just one catch: this land wasn't covered by the tax exemption. They had to pay a third of their harvest every year, which was still far better than the half that other lords demanded.

Lin Lei had calculated that three acres was enough to keep a farming household from falling into poverty. They could eat every day and wouldn't starve to death.

Even though Lin Lei had said that any additional land would be taxed, farmers continued to clear more of it. The rush only gradually died down when all the land around Crouching Dragon Ravine had been developed, leaving many later arrivals with nowhere left to cultivate.

"Go and summon all the hamlet heads nearby. Tell them the lord is inspecting their crops and that they should hurry up."

Cress spoke to a nearby farmer who was examining how plump the crops were.

Seeing the well-dressed group, the farmer backed away in fright and dropped to his knees. At Cress's order, he nodded frantically and ran toward a nearby shed.

The farmers had built the shed themselves. Most used it to rest after finishing their work. The hamlet heads usually stayed there to pass on orders or hold meetings with the other farmers.

They didn't have to wait long. The young man who'd run off came back, accompanied by a stooped old man with graying hair, who walked over toward Lin Lei.

Lin Lei didn't really want people as old as this man, but young adults were also in high demand at the slave markets. The slave merchants wouldn't agree to sell him only young people, so in the end he'd been forced to take several hundred old folk along with them.

"Greetings, my lord. May I ask what brings you to White Jade Hamlet? Is there anything you'd like us to do?"

The old man, Sabir, bowed and spoke respectfully.

Lin Lei said nothing. Living in this world for so long had taught him that he couldn't speak directly with people of this station. It would undermine the dignity of his position as lord and weaken the oppressive aura he held over them. Once they became familiar with him, rebellion was almost certain.

To him, silence was sometimes a good way to maintain his rule, even though he wished he could respect people's humanity.

That was because doing otherwise would only make the farmers anxious and turn the other nobles against him, treating him like a thorn in their side.

Those who dared to go against the tide of the world were brave, but their fates were rarely good. The European Middle Ages, with their Dark Age, were one example.

"The lord has come to your hamlet. Are there any special circumstances here?"

Cress spoke to Sabir on Lin Lei's behalf, his tone unintentionally revealing a hint of arrogance.

"Thanks be to Mother Earth for her protection. All our fields have received the lord's artificial fertilizer, and every acre is yielding more than the land where I used to live. The weather has been good this year, and the harvest will be bountiful."

At the mention of grain, Sabir's face lit up with excitement. As a farmer whose family had tilled the land for generations, he knew their harvest meant the difference between life and death. Lin Lei wasn't surprised by his reaction.

He just found it disgusting when the old man kissed the top of his shoe. That was right: after finishing his words, the old man had knelt and kissed Lin Lei's shoe.

Lin Lei knew that people of low status expressed their gratitude to nobles this way. Though he hated it, he restrained the urge to kick the old man away.

Having learned nothing interesting, Lin Lei didn't linger. He continued on to the next hamlet.