Surprising Discovery

Luo Ning began a new round of territory inspections, accompanied by three Professional Knights.

After yesterday's disappointing experience, his expectations were greatly lowered today.

Today, he did not intend to continue inspecting the farmland. Instead, he headed west to gain a clear understanding of the area's geography before winter arrived.

Unlike the east, the land to the west had more rolling hills and relatively fewer flat areas.

As Luo Ning walked, he marked the notable locations on a piece of parchment and gave them names.

For example, the naturally formed lake before them lay between three mountains in a natural depression. It was not large, perhaps five or six hundred square meters.

According to Tom, there were several kinds of wild fish in the lake. Prinster had even sent people to catch them before, and it was much easier than fishing in Mountain Forest Lake to the east.

Since it was relatively close to Wushan Mountain, Luo Ning named it Wushan Lake.

Continuing west past Wushan Lake brought them into the Wushan Mountain Range. Theoretically, that area was not part of Luo Ning's territory.

However, no noble wanted to develop territory in such a place, so there would be no problem if Luo Ning used some of its resources.

"Before I came to Mountain Forest Town, Holwart, the steward of Wushan Castle, told me that the previous baron here took his family out during winter and died beneath the claws of demon beasts!"

Looking at the increasingly dense forest, Luo Ning shared what he had learned. "Macken, once winter arrives, I'll leave the demon beasts to you. You'll have to get me a few more demon beast hides!"

Macken, now wearing armor, heavily slapped his chest. "My lord, I'm very confident!"

Luo Ning laughed heartily.

It had only just passed the fifteenth day of the eighth month. There were still four months until winter. By then, Macken would not only be an Advanced Knight, but should also rank somewhere in the upper-middle tier among Advanced Knights, right?

Such strength would be enough to deal with ordinary demon beasts, unless some big guy showed up, like the previous Baron Green of Lakeside Town.

"Tom, are there many demon beasts that come to attack the town in winter?"

As someone born and raised in Mountain Forest Town, Tom had plenty to say on the matter.

"Some demon beasts do come down the mountains to look for food during winter, but please rest assured, my lord. It isn't as exaggerated as that steward claimed. Most are wolves, boars, and the like. Particularly powerful demon beasts rarely appear."

Tom said, "To prevent demon beast attacks, Prinster arranged the wheat fields and newly reclaimed wasteland to the east. Crops in the west are mainly flax, and relatively few people live there, so the losses would not be too great."

Luo Ning silently gave Prinster a thumbs-up. That fellow had finally done something beneficial for him.

"That may be true, but the grassland in the northwest is my pasture. Cattle, sheep, and horses will all be kept there. When the guards patrol, they need to pay attention. Don't let those beasts in the mountains eat my livestock!"

Luo Ning currently had 126 sheep, 35 horses, 6 dairy cows, and 24 Black Water Buffalo. There were not many of them, and half had been acquired from elsewhere. Losing even one would pain him.

"Please rest assured, my lord. Starting tomorrow, I'll arrange for several guards to patrol this area!"

Macken was not merely looking around while following Luo Ning on the inspection. As the Guard Officer, he was considering the territory's defensive arrangements.

They currently faced security threats from three directions: the savage tribe, demon beasts, and Sain Territory.

Compared to the unpredictability of demon beasts, the savage tribe and Sain Territory were the real priorities.

Therefore, Macken planned to devote more manpower to those two fronts. As for the Magical Beasts Mountain Range to the west, he only needed to arrange for a few people to patrol. If anything happened, they could notify the guards to come support them.

Luo Ning nodded. "After we finish the inspection, think over a defense plan for the territory and report it to me."

"Yes, my lord!" Macken accepted the order.

As they talked and walked along the mountain path, they soon entered the continuous mountains to the west.

The mountains here were much taller than those in the south. Looking into the distance, they could see increasingly towering peaks. That was Wushan Mountain.

The forests here were extremely lush, with evergreen trees such as pines and cypresses, as well as low shrubs and scattered patches of grass.

As the master of these mountains and forests, he truly did not need to worry about timber.

"Unfortunately, neither does anyone else."

None of the nobles in Wushan Territory lacked mountains. Who did not have wood?

Simply selling timber would not make money, and long logs were difficult to transport along mountain roads.

Making the wood into furniture in a new style might allow it to sell, but transportation would still be troublesome, and it would be easy for others to imitate.

"Look at how clean this mountain road ahead is. Not a single weed has grown on it. People clearly pass through here often."

Luo Ning pointed at the mountain road ahead, wide enough for three or four people. "Who comes here so often?"

The mountain road twisted and turned, roughly over a meter wide. The weeds along the roadside did not grow well either, as if they had often been trampled.

Logically speaking, this was already outside Mountain Forest Town, and it carried a certain amount of danger. There should not have been many people coming here.

"My lord, the townspeople often come here in groups of three or five to gather firewood!"

Tom knew this road very well. "Before you came to Mountain Forest Town, Prinster did not allow the residents to cut down trees in town at will. If people wanted to build houses, they either had to pay Prinster a certain amount of money or provide labor. Otherwise, they could only come to these mountains to look for timber."

The flowers, grass, trees, mountains, rivers, and lakes within a territory all belonged to the lord. If the residents wanted them, they had to apply to the lord and offer something in exchange.

If they did not apply or pay in money or labor, it was against the law. Once discovered, not only would their goods be confiscated, but they would also face severe punishment.

Luo Ning sighed inwardly. The common people of this world were truly pitiful. They possessed far too few means of production.

Even now, as the lord of this place, he could not simply allow the trees in Mountain Forest Town to be cut down freely. But as a transmigrator, he felt it was necessary to address this "dangerous" situation.

He did not want the residents to lose their lives in demon beast jaws just to obtain a little wood. Compared to a tree, a member of the labor force was still more valuable.

"Tom, do many people from town come here?"

Luo Ning guided his horse farther along the mountain road. "Are there any particularly dangerous places or demon beasts deeper inside?"

"The people who come here are all rather bold. Most timid people do not dare come, so they can only ask the bold ones for help and pay them something."

Tom continued, "I'm not sure about particularly dangerous places or demon beasts, my lord, but there is one special place ahead."

"Oh?" Luo Ning immediately grew curious.

"My lord, there is a large Black Forest ahead. The trees there are especially hard. Ordinary Stone Axes cannot cut them down at all, and even iron axes require tremendous effort to chop through them!"

Luo Ning's eyes lit up.

From yesterday until today, he had been hoping to discover something different, but reality had continued to disappoint him.

But now, it seemed something unusual had appeared?

"Take me there!" he hurriedly said.

The place Tom mentioned was not far away. After walking two or three miles, Luo Ning saw a black forest.

It was a forest made up of strange trees with black trunks, each over ten meters tall and fifty or sixty centimeters in diameter, spread across a wide area.

Luo Ning reached out and touched the bark. It felt much smoother than pine bark and was not very rough.

With some anticipation, he drew his longsword and slashed at the trunk.

With a bang, perhaps because he had not used much force, his sword was actually bounced away.

He carefully examined the spot he had struck and found that the blow had only left a faint mark. There was no sign that it had even broken the bark.

Luo Ning's eyes brightened. It was really this hard?

He quickly beckoned to Macken. "Come, Macken. See if you can cut this tree down with one strike."

Macken was very confident. "My lord, a tree is still just a tree. No matter how hard it is, it cannot withstand my full-force blow!"

As he spoke, he walked up to the trunk and gripped the greatsword with both hands. Battle Qi flowed across the blade, giving off a faintly imposing aura.

Macken gave a low shout and violently slashed at the trunk.

Bang!

The enormous impact made the Black Iron Tree shake violently. Macken's longsword was not bounced away. Instead, it directly broke through the Black Iron Tree's bark, then sank thirty centimeters into the trunk before it could go no further.

An Intermediate Rank knight in the middle-to-late stage, wielding a sharp longsword and using his full strength, had still failed to cut down the tree. Its hardness was obvious.

Macken was still blushing from losing face before his lord, but Luo Ning clapped happily.

"Good, good, good!"

Such hard wood was rare, and its value was not low.

"It's called a Black Iron Tree, right?" Luo Ning asked.

Tom bowed. "No one has named it, my lord. We call this place the Black Forest, and call them black trees."

"Then from today onwards, they will be called Black Iron Trees."

Luo Ning was somewhat delighted. "Come, knights. Cut down one tree and take it back so I can study it."