Quinte's Fury

At first, the serfs whispered amongst themselves about the purpose of the toilets, but when the first one was completed, they were astonished to discover that these facilities had been built specifically for them.

It was hard for the serfs to imagine that such spacious, brand-new stone houses were meant to solve that filthy problem. While they felt their Lord was being extravagant, they nonetheless ran to the toilets with exceptional diligence every day.

This was not because of the notice issued a few days prior prohibiting the indiscriminate disposal of excrement, but because the serfs felt that, apart from the opportunity to use the toilets, they would likely never have any connection to such pristine stone structures in their entire lives.

Once all three toilets were finished, Nalant personally inspected both Wheat Leaf Village and Misfortune Village.

While confirming the quality of the stone houses, he also checked the condition of the roads.

This time, the stench that usually permeated the roads was indeed gone. It seemed that even before the toilets were completed, the serfs had executed his order to stop dumping waste quite well.

"Five days have passed now; the excrement in those pits should be fermented enough." With the sanitation issue achieving phased results, it was time for the next step.

Through Pete Leatherboot and Kenbi Cowdung, Nalant had learned of the serfs' concerns—they worried that because the wheat seedlings were planted too densely, they would not receive enough nutrients.

Consequently, he ordered Pete and Kenbi to take the excrement buried in the pits days ago and use it to fertilize the wheat fields.

Although the two village chiefs did not understand the reason, the Lord's command was a divine grace, so they led the people of Storm Territory to carry it out without hesitation.

"Blazing Triple Slash!"

In the castle's back garden, Nalant's Battle Qi was continuously gathering and compressing within several special energy meridians throughout his body.

This process of gathering and compression lasted for about four breaths.

"First Slash!"

Boom!

Nalant's figure moved abruptly. As the first slash was unleashed, his longsword was suddenly covered in a layer of fierce, raging fire.

The flames were incredibly scorching. This was not an illusion; these were real flames formed by the high-density compression of Battle Qi being released in an instant.

Second slash...

Third slash...

The flames on the longsword flickered incessantly. By the time Nalant released the third strike of his triple sword slash, the fire on the blade had reached its peak, causing the surrounding air to distort.

As the third slash came crashing down, a boulder weighing several dozen pounds in front of him was struck by the longsword!

Bang!

Instantly, the boulder shattered and exploded, with many of the smaller fragments turning charred black.

"Haha! Refreshing! Everyone loves a big ultimate move. If I had the Blazing Triple Slash, that Hellhound the other day wouldn't have had a chance to attack me a second time!"

That's right; Nalant had successfully mastered the secret technique of the Blazing Triple Slash.

After consuming the Intelligence Fruit that day, the techniques for the Battle Qi secret on the parchment were no longer obscure or difficult for him to understand. After several days of continuous practice, he finally possessed his first ultimate move.

"Even if that Dili is a mid-tier Bronze Knight, with this Battle Qi secret technique plus Vivian, it should be enough to deal with him."

Nalant let out a sigh of relief; he now felt confident in tackling the greatest challenge posed by the Quinte camp.

Meanwhile, in Quinte Baron Castle, inside a magnificent and opulent hall.

"Strange, why haven't those unlucky wretches brought the fish over to sell yet?"

Quinte sat on a sofa made of snow-fox fur, holding a silver cup in his hand, sipping Magic Coconut while frowning in thought.

Although he had accumulated quite a bit of wealth from table salt, Quinte still coveted the fish from Storm Territory. After all, his expenses were enormous, so he needed to earn a great deal of money.

"My Lord, Captain Johnny is requesting an audience in the front courtyard!" At that moment, a manservant arrived at the hall entrance.

"Let him in!"

Soon, Captain Johnny was led into the hall by the manservant.

"Greetings, My Lord!"

"Hmm, Johnny, you aren't patrolling the town properly—why have you run back?"

"My Lord, I heard some urgent news, so I came to report to you immediately!"

"What urgent news?" Quinte rarely heard the word "urgent," so he couldn't help but straighten his bloated frame.

"My Lord, didn't the castle steward say the day before yesterday that the merchant caravans purchasing salt at the end of this month had decreased?"

"Yes, that is the case!" Quinte nodded.

Noble caravans usually came to Quinte Territory to purchase salt once a month, always at the end of the month. However, a strange phenomenon had occurred two days ago: the noble caravans coming from Tulip Territory had decreased by more than half.

The steward had mentioned it to him, but Quinte hadn't taken it to heart; after all, he was the only one in the vicinity producing salt. Perhaps something had just delayed them.

But now, hearing Johnny's words, his heart skipped a beat.

"My Lord, I might know the reason! Just now, in the town tavern, I heard a manager from a Tulip Territory merchant caravan talking, saying that the neighboring Storm Territory also has salt for sale?"

"Storm Territory is producing salt too? Didn't they come to us just a few days ago to dry fish because they lacked salt?" Quinte was stunned and didn't quite believe it.

"My Lord, that is what the caravan manager said. Furthermore, the salt sold by Storm Territory is even cheaper. Even if commoners buy it, it only costs seven copper coins per bag. If one goes directly to Storm Territory to purchase it, it only costs five copper coins per bag!"

Captain Johnny answered cautiously.

"Could you have misheard?" Quinte's hand, holding his silver goblet, couldn't help but tremble.

"My Lord, I don't think I misheard. I even treated that steward to a mug of beer. According to him, the salt sold by Storm Territory doesn't even have sand mixed in. If the nobles weren't worried about being tainted by bad luck, I suspect they wouldn't be coming to us to buy it anymore!"

Bang!

"Bastard! Selling it to commoners for five copper coins a bag? And without sand mixed in? Has that good-for-nothing second son gone mad with poverty? How much money could he possibly make!" Having received confirmation again and again, Quinte had no choice but to believe it. Moreover, the number of nobles coming from Tulip Territory to purchase salt at the end of this month had indeed been cut in half.

At this thought, Quinte smashed the silver goblet in his hand against the floor, roaring with a twisted expression on his face.

Salt was the specialty of his Quinte Territory; if Nalant were allowed to cause such chaos and destruction, his future earnings would likely be severely impacted.

"Send men to investigate and see what exactly is going on. Also, where is that Sprite that produces the salt? The sale of salt in the vicinity must remain under the control of me, Quinte!"

Quinte truly hated Nalant now. As the saying goes, cutting off a man's path to wealth is like killing his parents—and that was doubly true when Nalant was cutting off the path to wealth for such a sharp and stingy Baron Quinte.

"Yes, My Lord!" Hearing the order, Johnny shrank his head and retreated from the hall.