Chapter 19

Before winter was over, another light snow fell.

Xia Zuoyi stayed cooped up in the castle every day and rarely went out. Most of his time was spent reading or petting the two little tiger cubs, Snowball and Coal Ball.

The rest of the time, he buried himself in the alchemy laboratory, studying the proportions for mixing herbs.

From knowing nothing about herbs at first, to knowing a little, to now being thoroughly knowledgeable, it was all thanks to the precious reading time before bed every night.

Now there was even more to learn, and naturally, it required more time.

Xia Zuoyi often stared blankly into space during the day as well, though he was actually immersed in the system interface, reading intently.

Whenever Judith saw him gazing foolishly out the window, her concern would inevitably turn into worry.

Probably afraid that he would become sick from being cooped up in the castle, she bundled him up tightly the next day and took him outside to have snowball fights and build snowmen with Gibran, Toby, and the others.

Xia Zuoyi: "..."

Judith worried over him like an old father.

The first step in fully developing Wissas and Comoey Castle was gathering enough craftsmen.

Given that there was a full five-year plan to be carried out in the future—

Xia Zuoyi hoped the craftsmen would settle permanently in Wissas or Comoey Castle from then on.

He adopted his previous publicity strategy, offering enough enticing benefits and appealing terms. Not only would they advertise within the territory, they would also send people with the Thorn Merchant Association to spread the word comprehensively in every city.

Interested craftsmen could bring their families and follow the Thorn Merchant Association to Wissas or Comoey Castle to settle down.

Gadayat had a total of fifteen cities.

Although Rose Salt already had a considerable sales range, it still had not covered the entire Gadayat Kingdom.

If Xia Zuoyi wanted to accumulate enough funds before rebuilding the two cities, and ensure that the flow of funds would not be cut off during construction afterward, he had to keep exporting Rose Salt farther afield.

Thus, it was imperative for the Thorn Merchant Association to seek out sales routes in each city, develop subordinate sellers, and establish branch offices.

It was much like modern advertising, only the methods were more primitive.

Once the tasks and daily training at the Soldiers' Training Camp came to an end, everything began to get on track, and some knights found themselves with spare time.

The Thorn Merchant Association split into two teams and set out separately.

Valke sent two of his subordinates, Tyler and Barna, to leave Wissas with one team from the merchant association, both for protection and to spread publicity abroad.

Mike Andrew had now shed his status as a slave and been promoted from squad leader to deputy platoon leader.

Finnan then sent Mike and his squad leader, who was also his friend—Meyer—to set out with the other team.

Niramo.

It was hailed as the liveliest city in the Gadayat Kingdom, as well as the territory owned by Bass Riches.

The lord held an important position in the royal city and did not need to remain in his territory at all times. Specialized personnel below him managed it in his stead.

The lord only needed to collect the money from taxes or deal with matters his subordinates could not handle.

Tyler and Barna arrived in Nilamo with the Thorn Merchant Association.

The two walked down the street.

Bana sighed. "Niramo truly deserves its reputation as Gadayat's liveliest city. Look at all the people on the streets. Oh, that girl over there even waved at me..."

Tyler said flatly, "If you like it that much, why not stay? I won't take you back to Wissas."

Bana hurriedly said, "No, brother, I was only saying it. The young earl's territory is still better and more interesting. I don't even want to return to the royal city, so why would I stay on enemy land?"

At the time, he had stood behind Lord Valke and heard Matthew Luke reveal their conspiracy. He truly despised Bass Riches for being a duke of Gadayat yet colluding with the Gaina people to harm nobles.

Barna could not help sighing again. "Still, it would be great if Nilamo became the young earl's territory too."

Taylor automatically filtered out the meaningless nonsense from his mouth and continued forward without looking aside.

After escorting the Thorn Merchant Association to the designated location and waiting for its person in charge to begin the handover process with the subordinate sellers, the two finally had time to wander around Nilamo.

They bought some local specialties and gifts from Nilamo, intending to bring them back for the young earl and Lord Valke.

Nilamo indeed had many novel things unavailable in Wissas and Comoey Castle.

Because it had been built beside the Volri River, transportation was relatively developed as well.

Perhaps if they casually stopped someone on the road, that person might have come here from another country.

Niramo had an Artisans' Guild.

Tyler and Barna intended to recruit talent from the guild.

The so-called Artisans' Guild was merely a somewhat respectable low building.

The stone carving outside the guild displayed hammer and chisel-axe patterns. Several slightly old parchment notices were pasted by the entrance, and the guard at the door was yawning boredly when they entered.

Bana said, "There are obviously far fewer people near the guild..."

Before he could finish speaking—

A middle-aged man suddenly rolled out of the Artisans' Guild entrance.

He wore the guild's specially made craftsman's robe. When his knees slammed into the ground, there was a tearing sound as the hem of his robe ripped, becoming stained with mud and dust.

Quite a few people stood behind the man. Not only did none of them help him up, they watched him with sharp laughter.

"Conrad Brown, why didn't you watch the threshold? Look, you fell, didn't you?"

"Maybe his eyes are growing on top of his head, so he can't see anything. Hahaha."

"Conrad Brown, hurry up and get up. Are you waiting for us to go help you?!"

Even the guard at the gate was sneering and pointing at the man.

Tyler and Barna saw it clearly.

This man named Conrad Brown had fallen entirely because someone behind him had stuck out a foot to trip him just as he was about to leave.

Conrad Brown had slightly dull golden hair. His face looked gentle and somewhat handsome. At that moment, he kept his head lowered, braced his hands against his knees, and slowly rose from the ground.

Seeing that Conrad Brown remained silent, someone behind him actually wanted to step forward and kick him again.

Someone nearby noticed the two knights, Tyler and Barna, walking over and pulled that person back. Only after a meaningful gesture did he stop.

"May I ask what brings you here, my lords?"

A flat-nosed man who seemed to hold some authority rubbed his hands and asked, "Do you need someone to do some work?"

"What did he do to you?"

Taylor pointed at Conrad Brown, who stood silently to one side.

This group was clearly bullying him for no reason, and they were left speechless.

After a while, the flat-nosed man said, "Well... you may not know this, but he isn't from Gadayat."

"He was originally a commoner from the Anas Empire. Later, after offending a noble, his whole family fled for their lives to Gadayat. They've lived in Nilamo for nearly two years."

The flat-nosed man did not mention how Conrad Brown had supposedly offended them at all, instead bringing up unrelated reasons.

The Volri River flowed through the Anas Empire, and there were many cities along its banks. Niramo was one of them.

Therefore, over the years, many outsiders had disembarked from ships and settled here.

Barna quietly said to Tyler, "The young earl instructed us not to take people with bad intentions, or people who are lazy and slippery... Let's first find out what happened."

Taylor nodded.

It seemed they would not get any useful information even if they questioned the flat-nosed man and the others further.

Taylor directly told Conrad Brown to leave with them.

Conrad Brown was clearly stunned. Unable to refuse, he followed behind Tyler and Barna.

Tyler and Barna brought him to a small tavern and ordered three cups of rye beer.

"Tell us. Why were they bullying you?"

Bana pushed one of the cups of rye beer toward Conrad Brown.

Conrad Brown looked hesitant.

He simply could not understand why the two knights had brought him here. Normally, few people bothered involving themselves in the affairs of the Artisans' Guild...

Taylor saw through his doubts. "You only need to answer honestly. Don't concern yourself with anything else."

Conrad Brown chose his words carefully. "Because of an issue during the construction of a building... My opinion happened to be the opposite of theirs..."

"But in the end, it was proven that my opinion was correct, so they are somewhat... My lord, they are only minor conflicts. They will pass in a few days. I did not expect to trouble you..."

Taylor frowned. Seeing Conrad Brown rubbing his hands, clearly unwilling to say more and looking wary and uneasy, he waved him away.

After Conrad Brown left—

A burly man sitting at the neighboring table leaned over with a fawning smile. "My lords, do you want to know about Conrad Brown?"

"You can ask me. I know everything."

Tyler and Barna exchanged a glance.

"Go on, then."

The burly man chuckled and tapped his cup.

Bana raised his hand and ordered two more cups of rye beer.

The burly man immediately gulped one down eagerly, then heavily slammed the empty cup onto the table and wiped his mouth. "That hit the spot."

Taylor said, "Can you speak now?"

The burly man hurriedly nodded. "Of course, of course."

"Conrad Brown has become rather well-known recently. He designed a new type of river dam and wanted to build it upstream on the Volri River. But who knew that as soon as he brought out the plans, someone from the Artisans' Guild would snatch them away."

[An old book friend I've known for ten years recommended me a reading app. It's damn useful—I use its read-aloud feature to pass the time while driving and before bed. You can download it here.]

"That person is the guild president's son and holds quite a bit of power. Once the plans were stolen, there was naturally no way to get them back. Besides, Conrad Brown fled here from the Anas Empire. If he had been living well before, he wouldn't have..."

The burly man laughed twice and continued, "Outsiders are often discriminated against and bullied here in Nilamo. Conrad Brown is no exception."

"After his plans were stolen, no one spoke up for him."

"Originally, they only needed to build the dam according to the plans and be done with it. But the guild president's son wanted to embezzle money and cut costs, so he deliberately reduced the crucial dimensions and used shoddy materials..."

"Conrad Brown discovered it and reported the situation to those above several times, but who would listen? It was all wasted effort... Later, although the dam was completed, it was washed away by heavy rain some time ago, killing several people."

"The guild president was held accountable, and after his son received a certain punishment, they began rebuilding according to Conrad Brown's design. But it still has not been completed even now. The Artisans' Guild is clearly dragging out the process."

Bana could not help saying, "From the sound of it, Conrad Brown did nothing wrong at all."

The burly man said, "Conrad Brown did nothing wrong, but he offended the Artisans' Guild president. The president's son dislikes him even more, so it is hardly strange for him to be bullied every day."

"We are all used to seeing it."

Taylor frowned. "The president was not removed from his position?"

The burly man said, "How could that happen? This president has connections with quite a few people. He just bribed those above him and stayed in office. Conrad Brown probably guessed that you two wanted to pry information out of him, so he was cautious and said nothing."

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