After leaving the experimental fields, Louis headed straight to his next destination without pausing.
The sweet scent of fresh grass mingled with the stench of livestock and the faint sour fragrance of feed. In the distance, he could just make out the creaking of a turning windmill.
"We're almost there, my lord. This is... the livestock district," Green said quietly.
Louis looked up. Amid the rolling hills, a vast, orderly livestock complex spread out before him.
Five large cattle and sheep pastures lay arranged like squares on a chessboard. Their wooden fences looked dark brown from afar, as sturdy as city walls.
Farther away lay ponds, their blue waters reflecting the sky as schools of fish leaped up and slipped beneath the surface again.
In the sunlight, hundreds of cattle and sheep leisurely chewed grass inside the fences. Occasionally, a beast tamer blew a short whistle, and the herds immediately gathered as though guided by an invisible hand.
Craftsmen, herders, and apprentices crossed paths along the walkways without the slightest disorder.
Everyone attended to their own duties, organized and efficient, like a vast machine operating in silence.
Better than I imagined, Louis thought.
He knew every policy he had laid down, every allocation of funds he had approved, and every order he had signed.
He had also received numerous reports and intelligence from the Daily Intelligence System, leaving him familiar with practically every detail here.
Yet seeing those cold figures become a tangible scene before him for the first time still stirred a faint warmth in his heart.
"My lord!" A middle-aged man hurried toward him with a slightly hoarse call.
It was Andrei, the Head Beast Tamer of Wheatwave Fief's livestock district.
Andrei was tall and sturdy, with somewhat rough skin. The front of his craftsman's uniform had picked