Braised Food
The road was just built a few days ago, and now they are going to build a canal. Mark, who received the order, sincerely sighed that this Viscountess is really a spendthrift.
Although the Viscountess is good at making money, she is still a bit of a spendthrift at this rate.
By the way, Mark is one of the earth mages supported by Earl Barnett's Mansion. He is also the mage with the highest rank and longest experience.
Although he complained in his heart that the Viscountess was too spendthrift, Mark still flew to Fussen to meet the Viscountess as soon as he received the order.
Spending money was the Viscountess's business, making money was his. Besides, the Viscountess had Leonard the Demigod behind her, so was it his turn to worry? He should seize the opportunity to improve the favorability of the two masters.
Fussen Town, Viscount's Mansion.
"Respected Viscountess," Mark bowed respectfully, smiling. "May I ask how long the aqueduct you wish to build should be? From where to where?"
Elena took out her hand-drawn map of the territory and said, "Every village in the territory must have a canal leading to the river outside, especially these villages."
Her slender white fingers pointed at several villages. "These villages are too close to the river. If it rains heavily, they will be easily flooded. Therefore, the river needs to be widened and deepened."
He pointed to several other villages. "And these other villages. They're all built along this river. I've been there and seen it. The river is very large. Although the river is wide, it's still very likely to flood if it rains continuously. Look, there's a big bend here. The river will flow back here. It would be best to build a reservoir in a suitable place to slow the river's flow."
mark:……
Mark's expression was blank. The Viscountess was more likely to spend money and squander money than he had imagined.
Elena's gaze shifted from the map to Mark's face: "I know this project is quite large, so I plan to take out 50 gold coins to do this project. Do you think it's enough?"
Mark quickly regained his normal expression. Now they were talking about business, and he wanted to show his professionalism.
He estimated: "It should be enough, but it will take a long time, about 20 days."
"20 days." Elena frowned.
20 days may be too slow. What if the flood comes quickly? You can't gamble on such things.
Elena said, "Can you help me find more earth mages to complete this project as soon as possible? I'm worried about floods soon. Digerids have already appeared in five villages in my territory. My agricultural officer told me that a Digerid outbreak portends a flood, so I'm very worried."
Dimeresurus has appeared in all five villages!
This is indeed a prelude to the flood.
Mark's expression immediately became much more serious: "This is a big deal, Viscountess, have you reported this to the Earl?"
Elena nodded, the agricultural officer had already reminded her.
"I have already written a letter to the Earl. It should have reached him by now."
Mark nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go back and find some more earth mages to finish this project as soon as possible."
Knowing the truth, Mark also felt a sense of urgency.
There is a plague of bilobed beetles. We don’t know whether these beetles have appeared in other territories. If there are also bilobed beetles in other territories, then they will not have time to do this foreign order. They must give priority to completing the flood prevention task in the Earl’s territory, so it must be done as soon as possible.
Elena also understood Mark's difficulties, so she said, "Please find as many earth mages as possible. I can increase the project budget, but it must be done quickly."
Mark responded and assured: "Please rest assured, Miss Viscount, I promise to finish it as soon as possible."
Elena readily paid 20 gold coins as a deposit, and Mark promised her that construction would start tomorrow.
After Mark left, Leonard came over.
"Actually, if you're in a hurry, you can fix a few of them yourself in advance," Leonard said.
Leonard was right. Elena was already a mid-level mage, the same level as Mark, and she had double S talents in all magic systems. There was absolutely no problem for her to cast earth spells. If she really wanted to do it, with Leonard's help, she might be even faster than Mark and the others.
Elena raised her chin proudly. "I'm the lord. It's beneath my dignity to do the work myself. If my people see me, won't my image of authority and dignity in their eyes be ruined? Besides, I paid a huge price to hire them. If I start working first, what will those earth mages think? Will they think I'm dissatisfied with their slowness?"
These words are very high-sounding and make a lot of sense.
But in fact, they were all excuses. To put it bluntly, Elena just didn't want to work. She was busy with classes during the day, making medicine at night, and casting life spells on the peppers and cumin in the plantation every few days. She was already busy enough.
Why should I give myself more work to do?
Is she feeling bored because she has eaten too much?
So she didn't do it.
Leonard smiled with satisfaction: "Very good, you haven't lost your mind and forgotten your status as a lord."
Judging from the tone, Leonard's proposal just now was a test for her?
Elena tilted her head and asked him, "Are you testing me? Do you think I'm right?"
"That's right," Leonard said matter-of-factly. "You're the lord. You just need to give orders. Don't try to do everything yourself."
Elena hummed.
Leonard was afraid she wouldn't understand, so he couldn't help but give her a few more instructions. "You're the lord. If you do the work yourself, it will put too much pressure on your subordinates, distracting them and slowing them down. If someone is preoccupied, they might do unnecessary things just to show off in front of you, which would only cause more trouble."
Leonard compared himself to the others. "For example, even though I'm the village chief, I'm not in the village every day. Besides earning money to buy them food and daily necessities, I don't really take care of other things. They can handle it themselves, and I'll intervene if they really can't. Ultimately, I'm just the village chief, not their mother. As a leader, my most important responsibility is to ensure fairness and protection. I'll let them handle everything else."
To put it this way, it does have a bit of the meaning of governing by doing nothing.
This historical term suddenly popped up in Elena's little head.
Elena nodded: "I think I understand what you mean."
"Do you really understand?" Leonard asked.
Elena rolled her eyes at him: “Don’t worry, I’m not stupid.”
Leonard just smiled and said nothing.
After laughing, he said one thing: "I have good news for you."
"What good news?" Elena asked.
"The braised food kitchen is ready," Leonard said.
Elena's expression suddenly lit up.
"Is it really built?" Elena couldn't believe it. The speed exceeded her expectations.
Because the braised food kitchen was built by hired townspeople, it was entirely man-made, unlike building roads and canals, which rely on mages, and it was completed at an extremely fast speed of one or two days.
As for the braised food kitchen, Elena just wanted to build it bigger, wider, and with better water inlet and drainage, so she only needed to hire townspeople to complete it, and it really saved a lot of money. The only drawback was that the speed would be much slower, but it didn't matter, there was no need to rush. Elena had already prepared to wait, but she didn't expect it to be built so quickly.
Leonard nodded: "It's built."
Elena and Leonard came to the newly built braised food kitchen.
Looking at the two-story kitchen in front of her and the previously built freezer behind it, Elena's heart was filled with joy.
Another production line is about to start.
She's going to make money again.
What's the most important thing about braised food? The marinade and the meat.
The first pot of marinade in the braised food kitchen was personally prepared by the head chef Roy. Under Elena's guidance, Roy's craftsmanship has reached the master level. After the marinade is cooked, the fragrance spreads for miles.
The meat is made from cattle that are carefully raised on cattle farms. These cattle grow up eating grains and drink magic potions to strengthen their physiques. The taste of the meat is top-notch. Although the best meat has been sent to the Fun Garden, the remaining offal, hooves, and oxtails are also very good meat.
Gold medal marinade, plus gold medal meat, 2 in 1, the best of the best, a perfect match!
The first batch of carefully braised products, including beef offal, ox hooves, and oxtail, exuded a breathtaking and captivating aroma after they came out of the pot. Leonard couldn't control his mouth and ate the whole pot directly.
Elena glared at him, glared at him hard.
Leonard smiled ingratiatingly.
When the second pot of braised food came out of the pot, Leonard swallowed his saliva, packed up the food, and immediately rushed to the Double Fist Tavern.
Grist County, Two Fists Tavern.
The tavern owner, Parker, was wiping the wine barrels and the bar counter out of boredom, with one ear distractedly listening to the bragging and nonsense of the mercenaries around him.
Tsk, either they brag about how much money they made, or how hot a girl they slept with yesterday, or how their team won a fight with another team. It's always the same stuff, I'm tired of hearing it.
Parker changed the cloth and began to wipe the wine glass.
"Parker, I'm here." A familiar voice came into Parker's ears.
Parker immediately threw away the rag, poured wine into the glass in his hand, pushed it over, and said in a vaguely attentive tone: "Are you here to deliver the goods today?"
Leonard took the wine, gulped down most of it, let out a long breath, and said, "Yes, I'm here to bring you some braised food. Let me tell you, this time it's so good, I can't bear to sell it to you."
Parker chuckled twice: "You are not that kind of person."
This is a very meaningful statement. I don't know if it means that Leonard has a good business reputation and will not breach the contract for signed business, or that Leonard loves money and will never be willing to leave the goods without making any profit.
Leonard didn't care about the deeper meaning. He drank the rest of the wine in one gulp and said, "Let's go to the kitchen and show you the goods."
The tavern owner, Parker, took Leonard to the kitchen in the back. No one paid any attention to the mercenaries who were drinking and bragging in front of the tavern.
But a minute later, a strong and overbearing aroma rushed out from the kitchen and rushed towards the unsuspecting mercenaries.
Suddenly, the wine in his mouth lost its fragrance, and he could no longer smell anything. Even the braggart had forgotten what he was bragging about.
"What is it? What smells so good?"
"Fuck, Old Parker, what are you hiding in the back? It smells so good! Hurry and take it out."
"Is it meat? Is it meat? I smell meat."
"Bullshit, you're ignorant! It's clearly the smell of spices, such a strong spice smell. I can't put my finger on the other flavors, but it definitely has chili peppers in it!"
"Chili peppers? The expensive kind that's really spicy?"
"Yes, that kind."
"Old Parker, why are you so generous all of a sudden and use so much chili?"
"I want to eat it, I want to eat it, please bring it up quickly and let me see it."
"If you don't come out, we'll go to the kitchen and grab it."
The tavern was in an uproar, with strong men yelling and urging Old Parker to come out quickly.
Amidst the urging of one person after another, Old Parker finally came out in a sly manner, holding a plate in his hand. The plate was filled with a thin layer of food, with only a little bit of each braised dish.
"We have a new product. It's called braised food. It uses real beef and real chili peppers, but the cooking method is something you have never tasted before. It is so fragrant that it will hook your tongue." Old Parker walked around to each table with a plate in his hand.
The aroma became stronger, and when the mercenaries saw the miscellaneous meat on the plate (not lean meat like steak, collectively referred to as miscellaneous meat), they could not hold back their saliva.
"Just tell me, how much is it?" The person who said this spoke unclearly because he was drooling too much and his saliva was flowing out uncontrollably.
"Yes, just tell me how much it's going to sell." Someone immediately responded.
When he heard someone asking for the price, Old Parker stopped holding back.
He took a fork and picked up the braised dishes on the plate one by one.
"This is cow intestines."
"This is a cow's stomach."
“This is the tail of a cow.”
"This is a cow's hoof."
Old Parker quoted the price as he spoke, and the price of each portion was twice as expensive as the same mixed meat he had sold before.
"Damn, that's so expensive!"
"It's not steak, your price is ridiculously high."
"Did this cow grow up eating gold?" someone laughed.
"Things that eat gold can't be so expensive. This one grew up eating magic gems." The laughter got louder.
Old Parker's words were interrupted again and again, and his face turned red with anger.
Seeing Old Parker blush, the mercenaries laughed even louder, and the tavern was filled with a happy atmosphere.
Old Parker: Humph, you are so ignorant!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
