Feed King Gorlick Flatbread

With the experimental steam engine complete, Rowan still had plenty he wanted to discuss with Jaina, such as buying large quantities of iron ingots from Boralus to build the larger steam engines he had planned.

Who knew Jaina would run off so quickly, without giving Rowan any time to talk to her? Rowan understood, though. She must have been dazzled by my brilliance. Her heart is definitely fluttering now, and she's marveling at how outstanding and exceptional her future husband is.

Ahaha, I'm only so-so.

Rowan returned to the council residence and, with the lavish air of a wealthy man, had Jenny fry three eggs, boil a large kettle of water, and brew a pot of anchorweed tea.

After polishing off two fried eggs and a whole soft loaf, Rowan drank several cups of tea, patted his round belly, and flopped onto his bed without a care in the world to sleep.

Good health was the foundation of any great undertaking, and building factories in Morris Town was not something that could happen overnight. Take too big a step, and you could tear your balls.

Industry primarily referred to the extraction of raw materials and the processing and manufacture of products. As the name suggested, it involved processing natural resources for everyday life, urban development, and military construction.

Rowan had no plans to turn Norwington Estate into a modern city just yet. His initial goal was to turn the utterly impoverished Morris Town into the Kingdom of Kul Tiras's only coastal industrial city.

Rowan's thinking was clear. He knew exactly what Morris Town had and what he needed to do next. Morris Town possessed abundant coal reserves. That was an advantage he needed to build on with greater investment and continued development.

With those vast coal reserves as the foundation for development, Rowan next planned to build several steelworks along Morris Town's coast to process iron and steel, laying the industrial groundwork for his future steel fleet.

In short, after taking stock of his plans, Rowan got up early and headed to the council hall.

Byron and Leonard had risen early too. Over the past two days, these damned troggs had given them endless headaches.

These nearly one hundred troggs did not act like prisoners in the slightest. In less than two days, they had almost eaten through the council residence's food supplies.

"Captain Leonard, you'd better report this to the young master. We only have three granaries of food left. We can't go on like this." The old steward, Kande, wore a deep frown as he worried about what they would eat next week.

Leonard remained composed and asked, "Isn't three granaries a lot more than two?"

"Huh? What?" Kande was stunned. For a moment, he could not even process the question.

Byron chuckled and said, "Ignore him, old steward. This fellow has no head for numbers. Just tell him these idiots have nearly eaten all our food."

"What? We're almost out of food?" A subtle change came over Leonard's resolute face. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he turned to look for Young Master Rowan.

Before he could leave the council hall, Rowan walked in, yawning.

"Young master, we're almost out of food," Leonard said, following behind Rowan.

Unsurprised, Rowan said, "I know. With so many trogg prisoners, of course our food supplies are dropping fast."

"Then shouldn't we do something, young master? We can't keep going like this," Leonard reminded him.

Rowan's main task that day was to put these troggs to work in their glorious new posts. He nodded and followed up on Leonard's words.

"Byron, bring Gorlick to the council hall. Oh, right, have Jenny make some coarse flatbread." Rowan motioned for everyone to sit down. The trogg problem would soon be settled.

Their investigation had revealed that King Gorlick was the leader of these troggs and commanded the greatest respect among them. Once Rowan brought him to heel, the troggs would obediently mine for him in the tunnels.

Before long, Byron escorted Gorlick into the council hall.

"Behave yourself." Byron pressed his warhammer against Gorlick's head and kicked him.

Gorlick cried out in pain and cursed in a guttural voice, "Despicable, deceitful human monkeys! You're shameless, poisoning the flour!"

At the mention of poison, Gorlick clenched his buttocks. Fear surfaced on his tightly bunched features.

Still, being the leader of so many troggs proved Gorlick had at least some brains. Looking at the human whelp seated in the center of the council hall, he realized that instead of slaughtering them all, the boy had imprisoned them. That gave him something to consider.

So Gorlick put on a tough front, looking utterly unafraid of death.

"Damn it, why are you so cocky? Believe me, I'll smash you to death with one swing." Byron wondered what a prisoner had to be so smug about, then kicked Gorlick again.

Gorlick curled his lip and tilted his head skyward at a forty-five-degree angle, looking at everyone present with contempt.

"Despicable, cunning human idiots! I know what you're thinking. Your shameless human leader wants to use us to do your work. That will never happen."

Rowan thought Gorlick had quite a backbone. He beckoned and said, "Jenny, bring the flatbread over."

Gorlick watched Jenny bring over a plate of white flatbread. He froze for a moment, his face turning pale.

"Gorlick, I'm giving you a chance to submit. I hope you'll make the most of it." Rowan stroked the fragrant, appetizing flatbread on the plate and spoke with a faint, ambiguous smile.

Gorlick instinctively rubbed his backside, remembering the diarrhea that had nearly made him pass out. He looked up at Byron and discovered that, after glancing at his leader, Byron had burst into wild laughter!

Deceitful, despicable, treacherous! I, Gorlick, will never submit to you idiots.

"Never! We troggs will never submit to you, you evolutionary abominations!" Gorlick roared with the last of his stubborn defiance.

Rowan shook his head helplessly and gave a soft sigh, looking as though he could not bear to do this.

"What a pity. Such a pity. Come on, feed King Gorlick flatbread!" Rowan waved his hand.

Byron took a piece of flatbread from the plate and laughed heartily. "Gorlick, what are you waiting for? Isn't this the flatbread you troggs love most?"

That isn't flatbread. It's poison! No! Don't!

Gorlick's eyes went blank as flatbread was stuffed into his mouth. At last, tears of regret streamed down his face.

After swallowing one piece of white flatbread, Gorlick mumbled, "Mmph... mmph... stop, stop. We can talk this over."

"Stop for now."

Rowan continued, "I want you to take the troggs to North Mountain to mine coal. My preliminary plan is for you to mine for me for at least twenty years before you can atone for the crimes you committed in Morris Town."

Gorlick's heart lurched. Twenty years? Are you insane?

"That's outrageous! All I did was steal your food, burn your granaries, and injure a few dozen of your civilians, and you demand such disproportionate terms?"

??? Who would have thought Gorlick was so honest? Forget it. No more talking. Have some flatbread first.

"Ahem, Byron, keep feeding Gorlick flatbread." Rowan was furious. If I don't scare you enough to leave lasting trauma today, I'll be letting down all those civilians you hurt.

With his mouth full of flatbread and his eyes rolling back, Gorlick slumped on the floor, clutching his backside with both hands, his face filled with despair.