Chapter 112 Lord's Castle and Whiskey Winery

The noise of the Wild Hunt, like a dark cloud covering a city, made the manatee, a spirit of nature, a little frightened.

With Yeats's soothing words, its mood gradually stabilized, and it began to clean up the beach littered with corpses.

The manatees formed bubbles one after another and carried the shark man's corpse to the sea.

According to the manatee, these corpses will become food for fish. The way of nature is that the cycle of matter will never be broken.

Yeats didn't understand what the law of nature meant, but he felt that the manatee's actions were somewhat familiar. Later he figured it out.

Making a nest, right?

The manatee was worried that the Crazy Shark God would set his sights on this sea area, so he moved his body to the beach and roared towards the blue sea.

After this long cry that sounded like a prayer ended, Yeats saw a dolphin leaping out of the water at the end of the horizon, and a rainbow hung between the rippling waves and the blue sky.

The sea cow breathed a sigh of relief, turned to Ye Zhi and said, "As long as you regularly offer fish, shrimp, squid, crabs and other sacred objects to the Dolphin King, He will bless this sea area to a certain extent."

Yeats nodded.

Got it, pay the protection fee.

"In the past, the humans who ruled this place abandoned this sea area and let the blessing of the Dolphin King leave here." The manatee said seriously, "But I think you are different from those humans before."

"What's the difference?"

"You have a closeness to and awe of nature," said the manatee.

Ye Zhi thought to himself… This might be the ‘harmless to humans and animals’ talent that increased the manatee’s liking for me.

On the other hand, it is also true that I love and respect nature. After all, human beings are too small in the face of the power of nature.

Even the Moonlight Goddess, who holds the natural priesthood, only controls a part of the authority.

The power of nature is so vast that it is far beyond the monopoly of the Moon Goddess.

So far.

The trip to Whitefish Harbor ended successfully.

The four of them set off, preparing to return to the territory.

Since Richie had no mount, Yeats invited him to ride on the carrot with him, which stunned Richie on the spot.

Seeing the gratitude flashing in Richie's eyes, Ye Zhi thought to himself, "Loyalty is rising rapidly!"

Richie declined, but couldn't resist Yeats's kindness, so he walked behind Radish.

A gleam of brilliance flashed in Luobo's eyes, and he raised his hind hoof and kicked Lixi! Boom! Ye Zhi, Gray, and Xilude stared at Lixi being kicked away, stunned for a long while.

"Rou, you can actually kick a three-ring mage away!" Gray said in shock, "You are so powerful!"

Hildrede did not express it as directly as Gray did, but nodded deeply to show her importance to Radish.

Ye Zhi: “…”

Luobo, do you have a background like dragon blood? Otherwise, how could you be so spiritual? Luobo raised his head proudly.

You want to ride on me without any benefits? There is no such thing!

Ye Zhi thought about it, took out a piece of sugar from the cloth bag he carried with him, and handed it to Luobo.

Luobo chewed the sugar cube and his eyes suddenly lit up. He glanced at Zhongxi and nodded.

Ye Zhi always felt that the reason why Li Xi got kicked wasn’t just because of the carrot… it had a lot to do with this guy’s dark-faced physique!

The half-day journey passed in a flash.

When we returned to the territory, it was already night.

Yezhi rode to the lord's house and handed the reins to Phocas who had been waiting for a long time. The old knight looked at Richie who was riding with Yezhi and said in surprise:

"Master, who is this?"

"Rishi, a three-ringed...mage."

Ye Zhi did not mention that he was a necromancer, as this profession was notorious, so as not to cause Fokasi to worry. He said:

"He will stay in Morningfrost Ridge for a while as my courtier."

Fokasi was a little surprised. A three-ring wizard was not common and was already able to fight an army of mortals alone. The young master actually recruited such a talent during this trip!

"Dinner is ready, Master, please eat some."

Yeats nodded and invited Richie to have dinner with him. The servants brought candied fruit, pork and pea soup, cabbage, cod fried in olive oil, and lamb stewed with thyme. It was not luxurious, and was far from the food cooked by Yeats himself, but it was delicious in this cold and bitter place.

After dinner, Yeats asked the butler Derek to take Richie downstairs to rest and asked:

"Where is Master Kendra now?"

"My Lord, he is in the garden with your pet, the Snow Owl."

Ye Zhi did not bring Owl with him on this trip to Whitefish Port, but let it stay in the territory to learn magic from Kendela.

Currently, Snow Owl is working on a difficult problem - learning the third-level spell 'Wind Wall'.

Wind Wall Technique, as the name suggests, creates a strong wind to condense a wind wall.

The wind wall can even intercept flying props such as fire bombs, arrows, and bombs.

Once he has completed his studies, Yeats's ability to protect himself will be greatly enhanced.

But Yeats faced a difficult problem.

That is, the contract signed with the Snowy Owl is an ordinary magic pet contract, and it is impossible to summon it to your side at any time through the magic pet plane.

"Master Kendra should know the first-level spell 'Summon Familiar'."

Ye Zhi thought to himself, "As long as I learn this summoning spell, I can summon the snow owl through the magic pet plane."

Thinking of this, Ye Zhi made up his mind and decided that his next task was to ask Kendela for advice on summoning spells.

Once the 'Summon Magic Pet' spell is completed, leave an anchor point on the gold digger rat's body, and you can summon the gold digger rat to your side and use it to help you find treasures.

Yeats was also quite interested in the sleigh that the elf Blueberry was riding on when he went out last time.

I thought that if I could add a sled and a few sled dogs to the lord's mansion, traveling would be much more convenient.

The sleds are cheap, but the key is the sled dogs.

Among sled dogs, there are the famous "Three Idiots".

They are: Alaskan Malamute, Husky and Samoyed.

Yeats had little interest in sled dogs that were not supernatural creatures, but sled dogs that possessed the strength of a first ring and the appearance of a magical pet were quite rare.

The latter can also serve as a fighting force, giving Ye Zhi another magical pet fighter.

"Next time I fight someone one-on-one, I can use summoning magic to summon seven or eight magical pets at the same time, and we can beat them together..."

Ye Zhi thought to himself, "I'll just play a little tune in the back to buff my pet and send the enemy away!"

This is how a bard fights!

Yeats called Fokasse and asked him to write a letter to the Starlight Chamber of Commerce to ask if there were any suitable sled dogs.

Then.

The flames of the fireplace illuminated Yeats's profile. He sat at his desk, picked up a quill, and thought seriously about the subsequent construction of the territory.

Yeats estimated that after his expansion during this period, the territory of Morning Frost Ridge had at least tripled to about 3,000 acres, enough to support a militia force of nearly 100 people.

These militiamen can work together to deal with the two-ring monsters even without the help of extraordinary people.

And to the north of the Great Wall, these newly reclaimed areas will also attract a large number of free farmers to migrate in, and the population of Morning Frost Ridge will reach more than 10,000 people.

Although in the previous life, a territory of more than 10,000 people could not even be considered a town, but in this era of low productivity, it was already quite considerable for a barony.

Overall.

Yeats went from being a small baron who was so poor that he only had one village to becoming an influential noble, with his territory divided into more than 10 knighthoods.

If a transcendent of commoner origin swears allegiance to a noble, he will have the right to obtain a small piece of knighthood from the noble and become the "fiefdom knight" of that noble.

Please...collect 6...9...books...!

The fief knight was responsible for managing the peasants in his own knightly territory, collecting rent, providing his own weapons, paying taxes to the lord, and performing military service.

Extraordinary people are still rare in this world. Morning Frost Ridge is lucky to have produced two extraordinary people, Lota and Rigidreve.

However, extraordinary people like Irene, Serin, and Finn who are willing to serve the Baron are hard to come by. After all, being an adventurer can make much more money than working for the Baron.

Yeats had already designated the farmland around the deer farm and the highland farms as a knighthood and divided it among Lotta and Rigidreve.

There was a hunter's cabin built next to the mountain deer farm in the southwest of the territory, where Lota was stationed.

The Highland Farm in the west grows crops such as rye, wheat, honeysuckle, kale, cabbage, peas, etc., and is managed by Reggie Reeve.

As a second-ring knight who had followed him the longest, Fokas owned the knight's territory near the Swamp Farm and Pearl River.

The Whitefish Port, a production area that urgently needed to be developed, was handed over to the necromancer Richie.

Even though he was a poor fellow, he was at least a top student who graduated from the Oslo National Arcane Academy. Currently, he had the highest diploma in the territory.

Of course, when Snow Owl graduates from Jianhe University, that will no longer be the case...

"As the territory expands, it's time to consider the construction of the lord's castle."

Yeats fell into deep thought.

The lord's castle is not only a symbol of status and honor, but also an important military defense facility.

With the lord's castle as the core, a self-sufficient manor industry chain will be formed.

Yeats decided to build the manor castle in the highlands in the northwest of the territory. The barley produced by the highland farms there is an important raw material for brewing whiskey.

Soon, the blueprint of a manorial castle whiskey distillery appeared in Yeats' mind.

'Aesthetic Art' enhanced Yeats's knowledge of architecture. The next day, he summoned the dwarf craftsman Barend, and the two discussed the construction drawings of the castle winery.

"Building a castle is indeed the focus of the territory..." Barend scratched his beard, "But, Lord, Morning Frost Ridge is not suitable for making wine, right?"

Wine is extremely popular in Golden Lion and Roland. Not only the lords' estates, but also monasteries and churches run the wine-making business.

But the freezing cold Morning Frost Ridge is obviously not a suitable growing environment for grapes.

Yeats said: "It is not wine that is to be made, but a new spirit of my invention."

Whiskey was first invented in the 15th century. Yeats was not sure whether this kind of liquor was available in other places. In short, in Golden Lion, he had not heard of whiskey, a distilled liquor.

Distillation technology has become relatively mature in modern times. The brandy invented by the Roland people is a strong liquor obtained by secondary distillation of white wine.

Whiskey, also known as the 'water of life', requires malt preparation, fermentation, distillation and maturation to make. It takes about ten days to make unaged whiskey.

As early as after obtaining the swamp and peat, an important raw material for brewing whiskey, Yeats handed over the whiskey-brewing method to Mother-in-law Giselle and let the herbalist start brewing whiskey.

Interestingly, whiskey was first used as a medicine, which is why it is also known as the "water of life".

Now, facing the puzzled Barend, Yeats asked the servant to bring a barrel of whiskey that had been aged for a week.

When the lid of the oak barrel was opened, a strong aroma of wine wafted into the air, making the dwarf craftsman's eyes widen instantly.

"If this wine is aged for many years, the taste will be more mellow." Yeats said, "However, you can also taste it now. At least you can know what this strong wine called 'Water of Life' tastes like."

"Water of Life! Ha, what a great name!"

The dwarf craftsman sniffed the aroma of the wine, rubbed his red nose, walked to the oak barrel impatiently, and scooped up a glass of whiskey with a tin cup.

Immediately, he drank it in big gulps and choked, and started coughing, his whole face flushed red.

As the alcohol took effect, the dwarf's eyes showed a strong shock.

"Hiss - Lord, I've been drinking for so many years, but this is the first time I've tasted such a mellow and strong liquor!"

After Barend finished speaking, he took another big swig and said with a numb tongue, "God of the Dwarves, this wine... is amazing, Lord. You are truly a genius for inventing this wine!"

Strong liquor is too attractive to dwarves.

Ye Zhi smiled as if he had expected it, and said, "Okay, don't get drunk here. Now you should have no questions about the winery, right?"

Barend nodded heavily and said excitedly:

"I swear, your castle winery will become a holy place for wine lovers in the northern province and even the entire Golden Lion Kingdom!"

Yeats entrusted the construction of the castle winery to Ballend.

Once the estate on the high ground was built, Yeats planned to move there where the living environment would be more comfortable.

As for the mansion in the town center, it was preserved as an office space.

Although Morning Frost Ridge is short of food resources, the sources of stone and wood are very convenient, and the cost of building the castle is not high. Yeats invested the gold coins obtained from selling the spoils of the beast tide into the construction of the castle.

As for food sources, developing the fishery in Whitefish Port can alleviate some of the food pressure.

Yeats set up a berry hut in the forest outside the town, where Blueberry was responsible for ripening and collecting berries and storing them in the hut. But as the population increased, the hut's production capacity could no longer keep up.

If we want to truly solve the food pressure, we have to rely on agriculture to achieve self-sufficiency.

"Potatoes have been introduced to Golden Lion, but just like tomatoes, not many people eat them." Ye Zhi thought to himself, "In this cold area of ​​Morning Frost Ridge, we can definitely promote them vigorously."

Considering the labor shortage, the criminals in Morning Frost Ridge can also be sent to the frontier to grow potatoes...

Yeats wrote a document on vigorously promoting potato cultivation and handed it to Derek, asking Irene and Celin, a group of literate courtiers, to help implement it.

After finishing the construction work of the territory.

Ye Zhi stretched and came to the back garden of the lord's mansion.

I saw the old wizard in a white robe with fluttering white beard staring at the snow-white owl.

Ye Zhi said: "Teacher Kendra, I would like to ask you about the spell of 'summoning a magical pet'!"

(End of this chapter)