Winter in the Stantin Duchy was not as cold as in the Lampari Kingdom. Instead, the drop in temperature made it pleasantly cool, rather than excessively hot and humid as it usually was.
Every year at this time, with no need to worry about hurricanes or tsunamis, Swain Wellen would leave his enormous estate outside Wellen City and move to another estate by the sea to enjoy an even more leisurely, comfortable winter.
This year, however, was different. On his second day at his seaside estate, Patriarch Wellen took a group of subordinates and maids roughly twenty kilometers northeast along the coast, arriving at a vast plain that stretched as far as the eye could see.
As he looked out over the endless expanse of land, where people were busy operating farmland magic machinery everywhere, Patriarch Wellen could not help feeling impressed.
People from the Lampari Kingdom were simply much more hardworking than those from the duchy. Ever since the thousand-plus workers the Xinfei Merchant Guild had hired from the Lampari Kingdom arrived over half a month ago, they had started work at daybreak almost every day and only headed home after it was completely dark.
Thanks to their hard work, this once-neglected wasteland had taken shape in just over half a month and looked almost ready for cultivation.
Every time Patriarch Wellen saw this, he could not help secretly rejoicing.
In his hands, these hundred thousand hectares had been nothing but worthless wasteland. After he leased them to the Xinfei Merchant Guild, however, not only would the guild pay him three hundred thousand gold coins in rent every year, it had also promised to hand over thirty percent of each year's harvest.
That meant he could sit here doing absolutely nothing and still receive an extra three hundred thousand