The knights had already departed.
Fresh Flower Town had returned to the tranquility of its usual mornings, yet the town''s administrative office was bustling with extraordinary activity. Officials from both the Port Town and Fresh Flower Town, as well as the Retainer Knights left behind, all gathered here for a meeting chaired by Consultant Goltai.
"Isaiah, ir, you two go first and discuss the financial situation of the two towns so we can make reasonable arrangements for the subsidy of gold coins provided by Lord Landlord," Goltai said.
Isaiah spoke first, "The ie of Fresh Flower Town is roughly as follows... The expenses of Fresh Flower Town are roughly as follows... All in all, the town has a very high turnover, but it has to bear the consumption of the castle and ck Horse Ind, losing at least five gold coins a day. A minimum of one hundred and fifty gold coins in subsidies is needed each month."
The construction in Fresh Flower Town had slightly stalled, and its various industries were mostly making money. Unfortunately, the main projects were either mortgaged or had limited capacity and could not be used as cash cows for continuous extraction. Add to this the castle''s daily consumption and the support of construction materials for ck Horse Ind, and indeed operations were difficult.
ir followed, "The current main ie of Port Town relies solely on rubber produced from rubber trees and pottery and charcoal from the brick factory... The expenses of Port Town, which need to underpin theprehensive construction of ck Horse Ind, face shortages in manpower, materials, and funds... losing at least fifteen gold coins a day."
The rubber production was not yet high, and the brick factory had to meet the needs of the territory.
ck Horse Ind was developing various industries in parallel; being able to maintain a loss of only fifteen gold coins a day was already a sign of healthy finances.
Both administrative officers reported on the situation of their respective territories.
Goltai cleared his throat and said, "Lord Landlord has allocated a total of two thousand three hundred gold coins to the territory''s finances. I n to allocate a total of five hundred gold coins to store food. ording to his lordship''s wishes, we need to store enough food for ten thousand new serfs on top of the territory''s existing poption, which means food for fifteen thousand people."
"Consultant, if we keep stockpiling food, the price is bound to increase significantly. I think we''re lucky if we can stockpile enough food with one thousand gold coins," ir countered Goltai''s idea from another perspective.
Isaiah corroborated this, "I''ve talked with Captain Abagon of the Fresh Flower Caravan. It''s indeed bing more and more difficult to buy food. We can''t expect those lords from other ces to sell us food at fair prices, just like the lords of Coral Ind."
Rebutted by both administrative officers. Explore more at empire
Goltai was somewhat displeased, but he nodded, "Then let''s set a budget of one thousand gold coins for storing food. With this issue settled, let''s move on to the next topic, the allocation of funds for various industries."
...
A meeting was in session at the town''s administrative office.
There was also a small meeting in the castle involving Butler Carter, Mrs. Morson, Mrs. Abbie, and Chris Truth, as well as Captain Abagon, Charlotte, and other caravan leaders.
Carter was the first to speak, "Her Excellency Chris is busy with many matters, so let''s start with the purchase of Magic Books. The master has allocated one thousand gold coins for book purchases, of which four hundred are for buying knight novels and six hundred for magic books. We will mainly deal with Mr. Elkerson, and Her Excellency Chris will preside over this."
Chris''s demeanor stood out from that of the servants. She simply sat to the side and said lightly, "Mr. Carter, the Viscount has told me that when Mr. Elkersones to town for the trade, you just need to notify me, and I will handle the pricing for each Magic Book."
"That would be for the best."
"Then, if there is nothing else, I shall take my leave."
On her way back, she seemed somewhat preupied.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Her thoughts were a bit scattered, "I feel that I have recently touched upon cognitive barriers, and ording to "Three-Phase Magic Array and Reality Interaction Theory", this is a sign of transitioning from a Static Magic Circle to a Dynamic Magic Array. Unfortunately, my umtion is still insufficient, and I need more magic references."
She thought back to yesterday when Liszt came to get a Magic Potion.
What he had said to her, "Chris, I don''t have the money to build you a Mage Tower yet, but whatever Magic Books you wish to buy, you may. Also, I will ask Elkerson to find a sufficient spellcasting scheme for your reference. I hope you can advance to Grand Magician soon."
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With these thoughts in mind, she couldn''t help but breathe unevenly, "The value ced on magicians is too low. I cannot let Liszt down. I need to be promoted to Grand Magician to repay him for saving my life and for his daily smiles... I''ve dedicated my whole being to the Truth..."
Various images and smiles of Liszt shed through her mind.
Gradually, her face revealed a hopeful expression, and her eyes warmed with affection, "But I still wish to see him smile every day."
...
Out at sea.
A huge white seashell opened.
Ach held a small horn, gently blowing into it, his expression somewhat listless. Mangrove Minor Elf Nami held a peanut nougat candy, crunching it loudly.
At Nami''s feet, a dark green Kelp Bug swam in circles around her, its gills opening and closing at the back of its neck in a lively fashion. The Kelp Bug''s belly, rather than being bumpy like other Elf Bugs'' legs, was more ttened, allowing it to swim swiftly.
Soon.
Ach put away the small horn, touched Nami, then the Kelp Bug, and took a deep breath, "Let''s go, Nami, Kelp Bug. Let''s catch more Elf Bugs so we can give big brother a huge surprise when he returns!"
Of course, Liszt didn''t know that the little sea monster was preparing a surprise for him.
He was already at Coral City Port.
After checking his Knight Order members, he boarded the gship Tulip of the Coral Ind fleet. Once all the knights, Retainer Knights, and supplies had boarded their respective ships, the immense fleet set sail across the Sea of Azure Waves, heading for Iron Hoof Ind once again.
Liszt was busy securing Douson and the Eight Tiny Ones in the cabin, preventing them from running amok; thendwalker bird Loki was also kept in the cabin, where it enjoyed living with grains and beans.
Afterward.
As per tradition.
All the nobles came to the Tulip to attend the meeting chaired by the Earl, where the agenda was the allocation of the battle loot.
The basic principle of military merit was to allocate ording to work: more work gets more, less work gets less, no work gets nothing. The principle for materials was that whoever seized them kept them, but had to donate one-third to the Knight Order''s deathpensation.
It was also stipted that seized mineral resources were forbidden to be sold to Mercenary Corps, but must be handed over to the treasury for the Grand Duke to allocate – the main purpose of each year''s Pioneer Mandate was to snatch mineral resources.
After the battle loot allocation was rified, the nobles dispersed and returned to their own ships.
Suddenly, Liszt thought of a question and asked the Earl, "Father, can those mercenary groups be trusted?"
"From my many years of experience in campaigning, it''s not about trust. As long as they can help us trade, some losses are bearable."
"If I were thendlord of the Eagle Kingdom, I would never allow mercenary groups to develop unchecked."
"Heh," the Earl finally found a sense of superiority, "Liszt, you are still somewhat naive. Whether it''s the mercenary groups of the Eagle Kingdom or the pirates of the Duchy of Sapphire, they exist for a reason. To summarize, it''s all driven by interest."
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