As a result, when Roland wanted to hire someone to repair the walls, he could only pay them from his own pocket. If it was the fourth prince from before, he would have certainly never done it. But the current Roland, as long as he gained a firm foothold in this Border Town, even if he had to spend all his property, it would still be worth it. Anyway, after the ore trade would no longer be settled with food, the town’s income would still be no more than a drizzle.
The only question was if Longsong Stronghold was willing to give up their monopoly of trade with Border Town — this would be similar to entering a tiger’s den to seize food, but the inventory data provided by Barov indicated that the mining efficiency was low and the transportation of ore was inefficient and inconvenient. In fact, the value of the annual output of ore mining was more than 1000 gold royals, but for the entire stronghold that was only a drop of water in the bucket. The only ones benefiting from this were the partners of the investing aristocracy.
In consideration of the long-term development of Border Town, this line of income must be recovered. Roland’s mind was clear on the fact that even if these people could fully recover their investment from the last ten years and longer, they would still not easily let it go. While mosquitoes were small, they were still meat. Besides, this was a seedling that could be useful to make money by reprehensible means. Previously, he was willing to give the investors certain benefits and compensation such as purchasing for half the price and such. However, the case of selling a full ship of ore for only half a ship of cereal, this kind of incident was not allowed to happen again.
While Roland was focused on pondering over the list of items, Barov was attentively watching him.
In these three months, or to be more exact, in the most recent month, some inexplicable changes had occurred to the fourth prince. Perhaps outsiders were still uncertain, but he was by the prince’s side every day, so this kind of change could at most keep him for a short time in the dark.
During his time in Graycastle, Fourth Prince Roland Wimbledon was only known for his bad reputation. He would insist on his own way, behave unscrupulously, without any aristocratic demeanor… things like that. In short, no big mistakes were made, only unceasing small ones. Compared to his two brothers, his position differed greatly.
When His Majesty sent him to Border Town, he was filled with disappointment. If His Majesty hadn’t promised him the position of an official finance minister after the fight for the throne, he would have quit and walked away long ago.
Early on, in his first two months in Border Town, the fourth prince always showed an extremely childish behavior. He managed to offend the local nobility over and over again. Fortunately, the town itself was of a very small scale, so even if all administrative positions were vacated and he had to fill those positions with a dozen civilians, they would still be able to go on.
But from now on, it would become something different.
“When had the change occurred?” he thought, “It was probably …… it was after he saved the witch that the changes appeared.”
Barov didn’t doubt that the devil had the power to enter a body, or that the prince could be manipulated by a hidden witch. But this was extremely unlikely, if the devil and witches had the capability to control someone, why would they choose the fourth prince? Wouldn’t it be better to directly control His Majesty or the pope? Another point which dispelled his doubts was that he had witnessed the prince holding the ‘God Punishment Lock’.
This was the Church’s trump card to handle the witches. The power of any demon would collapse in front of the ‘God Punishment Lock’, but Roland could hold it directly. In other words, in the case that he wasn’t the fourth prince, when even God had no power about him, it was needless to fear the devil king, so was it necessary to expose him? To preserve one’s own life was most important.
The Prince’s style still continued in his own way, behaving unscrupulously, yet the feeling Barov got was that both styles were not at all the same. No, Barov thought, it should be the opposite.The biggest difference would be the purpose. He was aware of what Roland was planning to do, in order to achieve the goal, he had to employ some methods which were difficult to understand for ordinary people, like the time when he tried to persuade him to save the witch. Perhaps the planning was not very wise, but the prince really had planned in advance, and believed in the results firmly without any doubt.
This ability was the one that caused anyone to feel most puzzled. The title of king might be possible for any of Roland’s brothers and sisters, but certainly not for the fourth prince himself. This thing was very clear, because how could he develop such a small place like Border Town? Even the gods couldn’t do it! In the end, Roland came up with a crazy plan, the crazy plan to set up a defensive line outside of Border Town, so that they can develop better than the City of Golden Harvest. Was he really thoroughly convinced that this project would be successful?
If he was merely a madman, it would be bad enough. But for Roland, who vigorously built the city wall, that did not seem to be the case. He really planned to defend this place, merely with the help of the alchemical product ‘cement’, to build a wall, which is for the common sense, almost impossible.
Within Barov’s family there was also an alchemist, but he had never heard of an alchemical workshop refining such a thing. The solution for the construction of the wall was based on something no one had seen before, in the end, was he only confident in himself, or was it just his reckless behavior?
“To what extent did Roland’s plan go, and in the end how much do I know of Roland’s scheme?”
Barov found himself interested in the approaching days.
Chapter 17 Ambassador (Part 1)
“This is such a rotten place.” When stronghold emissary Petrov stepped out of his cabin, the smell of decayed wood hit him in the face. The surrounding air was damp and oppressive, causing people to feel entirely uncomfortable. He lifted his head up and inhaled through the nose. The sky was completely overcast, and it seemed that heavy rain was incoming.
“The last time you came here was a year ago,”said the assistant to the ambassador while he graciously put a wool coat on the ambassador’s shoulders, “There is nothing here, except stone.”
“It was a year and a half.” Petrov corrected. “Every season the Duke chose a different person to come around. The last time I was in Border Town, it was summer. But in addition to ore they have more, like a good variety of furs, and…“
“What?” His assistant had a blank look on his face.
Petrov shook his head and did not answer. He crossed over the side of the ship, stepping on the pier covered with moss, and a plank gave off a creaking sound from under his foot. The wood would probably continue to support the dock for a few years, but then it would break down, he thought. Border town not only had stone and fur, but even… land.
But speaking about this hadn’t any meaning, the assistant was only an unknown city hall officer, he was unable to see this point.
Between Longsong Stronghold and Border Town was a large area of wild land, which still needed to be cleared for cultivation. On one side was the impassable mountain range, while on the other side was the Redwater River, long and narrow like a corridor. As an outpost for the stronghold, if they assumed responsibility of the defensive line, it would also bring the wide expanse of land into the possession of the stronghold. The land had not been cultivated, so it didn’t require any recuperation before plowing. Instead, many circles of crops could be planted, and on top of that, it had a natural line of defense on both sides. In the end, to produce enough for everyone to eat, it was not required to expend much effort. The food shortage in Border Town was just a way to relieve the stronghold of the problems caused by a growing population. In the future Border Town and the stronghold should become one territory, rather than the two separated territories they are now.