Chapter 42: Meeting

It has been two days since the people from the capital arrived in the Sea Dragon City. Right now, Richard, Lucina, and I are waiting for all the council members to show up. I need to discuss something with them.

With my coffer full of gold, now I can begin one of the biggest projects I want to do.

I snap from my thoughts when I see four people come to the meeting room. I smile at them and ask them to sit down and after letting them sit down on the chair.

"Good, you all here. First thing first, I want to hear about the yearly report. Master of Arms, Sir Leonardo, please give me the yearly report."

"Of course, my lord. The troops are at their top condition. The weapon and armor are also at their top condition. However, there is news of monster movement around the silver mountain. One of the scouts is saying the monster consists of E to C rank monsters. He can see more than one hundred monsters in that place."

"I see. That is bad but not too bad. Send a scout that keeps an eye on the monster. Next, I want you to place one thousand men in the village near to the monster location. I also want you to bring ten to twelve carpenters with you and build a wooden fort there. This fort has another purpose as a lookout post for any monster that appears in that area. I want this place to become the training ground for our newest recruit in the future."

"Of course, My lord. I will do it immediately."

"Good"

I nod at Leonardo before looking at the master of the ship, Lucas.

"Master of Ship, Lucas, please give me your yearly report."

Lucas is a man around thirty-five years old. He has a sturdy build, not overly muscled, but people can see he has muscle. He has brown hair with blue eyes as blue as the ocean.

"Of course, my lord. There is nothing wrong with the dock. The only thing that keeps haunting many sailors is the Sea Devil illness that keeps the sailor reluctant to sail away from the docks…"

Sea Devil illness is this world name for scurvy. It is a deadly disease that haunts any sailor trying to go to the other continent, especially the farthest continent.

"Before you continue, I actually know the treatment for the Sea Devil illness."

"What?!? Are you sure, my lord?!?!"

"Yes. I already tested it on one of the sailors, and he now can continue to work without chopping his useless limbs."

"What is the cure? Can I see it?"

"Of course. Richard, could you pick up the newly harvested strawberry for me?"

Richard looked at me with a curious expression but did what I ordered nonetheless. A few seconds later, he came back with a box in his hand. He then opens the box, and the people inside the room look at what is inside the box.

"My lord… This is a fruit?"

"Yes. These are the cure of those Sea Devil illnesses. Fruit. You can take some of these fruits to the disease's victim and see for yourself the result. If that said victim did not get healed, then I will admit my stupidity, but I know these fruits will help the victim heal."

"I see. I will then immediately test this fruit."

"Good. If the result is positive, report back to me immediately."

"However, my lord. This fruit will only last for a week, right? A single voyage to the other country takes at least a month."

"That is the first thing I want to tell you about. First thing first, I want to tell you, people, something."

I take a deep breath before looking at them with a serious expression.

"I'm a magician."

My councilman looked at me with a surprised expression before laughing their heart out. They continue to laugh for a few seconds, leaving me with a confused expression. After they finished their laugh, Lucas looked at me with amusement.

"My lord, we already know about it. Your secret is the most poorly concealed secret we have. The people of this city never mention it because they are a loyal subject, and they know that if the Magic Tower knows about your power, they will try their hardest to snatch you away from us. You are not like any other magician that only wants power for themselves. You use your power to help the other. You use your power to create a better future for us. Because of this reason, we, as your subject, will also protect your secret from the other."

I don't know how to react to this.

"I-I see… Then I will not hesitate to show this item then. Please put your hand inside this box."

Lucas leaned over the table and put his hand inside the box, and widened his eyes.

"This…"

The others are also curious about this box and put their hand inside the box, and a second later, they have the same reaction to Lucas.

"This is what I called the Cooling Box. This box will help our merchants preserve their meat, vegetables, and fruit when selling it to other countries. Not only that, but this also lets anything inside be chilled but not frozen. For example, this drink."

I pick out a small barrel of vodka that I place on the bottom of the box. I let Richard pour down a little bit of the vodka into the cup that was already prepared beforehand and let the other drink it. I also drink it (In this world, 15 years old is already considered an adult. Don't drink alcohol if you are under 21) and feel my body warm-up.

"This is…"

"This is Vodka. A drink that will warm up your body. While it is a strong drink, this drink is good for the northern people."

"Yes… This… Will you sell this, my lord?"

"Yes. However, I still need to build the machine to create this."

"Machine?"

"Yes. It is called a distillation machine. Right now, this project I handed to my wife, Lucina. When the machine is done, I will order the production of Vodka immediately. What do you think? Will this product be sold?"

"Of course! If your method to cure Sea Devil is working, then the sailor will not have to fear the illness, and they will be eager to travel to the other continent. This drink will be popular in the Northern Continent. They will buy this drink in bulk!"

"Then I will look forward to it. Other than Sea Devil illness, is there anything you want to report?"

"Ah! Forgive me for delaying it for so long."

"No problem, now continue with the report."

"Of course, my lord. The next thing I want to report is the condition of the ship. The ship's condition is not bad, but some of the ships need to be repaired, and with the increase of pirates coming from the eastern continent, we need to increase our ship as well."

I nod at Lucas's explanation before looking at him and say.

"Lucky for us, we have gold to spare. How much gold do you need to build a galley?"

"Lucky for us, we have a perfect wood for our ship. As for the price…. I think a few hundred golds are good. We have the basic components to build the ship. We only need to pay the Ship Maker."

"Then I want you to order three Galley. Two as the military ship and one as a merchant ship."

"Of course, my lord."

"Is there anything we should know?"

"Yes. With the increasing number of pirates from the eastern continent, I suggest we build another fort near our shore. Not only does this fort function as a place that can be used to defend the Sea Dragon City from enemies coming from the Gate, but this fort also functions as a defense base against a pirate that wants to steal our woods."

"I see. Leonardo, what do you think? I want to increase our standing army, but I know we need to take care of other things first."

Leonardo stayed silent for a few seconds before saying.

"I think we could use this fort as another training ground for a new blood, but with the monster preparing for an invasion, I think we should delay it for now."

I nod at Leonardo before looking at Lucas.

"I agree with Leonardo. I will order someone to build the fort. However, we will delay the process after we finish the monster invasion problem."

"Of course, my lord."

"Is there anything else?"

"No, my lord. That is all I want to report."

"Very well."

I look at the Master of Sea, Rovul. He is a Dwarf with a height of 153 cm, a rather tall dwarf. He has a bulky body, and I can see his muscles bulging out of his sleeveless cloth. He has a magnificent beard that covers her lower face. He doesn't have hair on top of his head, but I know where all his hair goes. He has sharp brown eyes that can see your intention.

"Master of Sea, Rovul, I want to hear your yearly report."

The dwarf drinks the vodka in his cup in a single swing before saying.

"There is no problem in the port. There is your usual merchant from the southern region like the merchant from the Holy Light Empire complaining that we should not tax them as they are the more 'cultured' people while we are the barbarian and don't need their money."

"I hope they did not do anything?"

"No. With a quick killing intent and their so-called roar become a mewling like a kitten meets a predator for the first time."

"Good."

"Back to report. Like what Lucas says, the only problem the merchant has is the Sea Devil illness. If that has already been taken care of, then there is no problem."

"There is no other problem?"

"No. However, I want to make suggestions to build one more port warehouse. With your invention of the Cooling Box, I hope you can make this warehouse have the same ability as the cooling box. With this, we can preserve all the fish our fisherman sell to us."

"Granted. I will tell the carpenter to help you build the warehouse. You have a perfect place for it, I hope?"

"Yes. I also hope you will send a few dozen men to guard the warehouse. I don't want any thief to steal our goods or a spy to sabotage our goods after all."

"Granted. Anything else?"

"Quickly build that machine so I can enjoy this drink more often."

I chuckle at what he says. Dwarfs are always the people that enjoy drinking, even Lucina.

"Next is Master of Coin, Ayas. Please give me your yearly report."

"Yes, My lord."

Ayas is an elf with light green hair and eyes. He has the typical long ear that indicates he is an elf. He is a rather tall man. He is around 193 cm tall, making him the tallest person in this room.

"There is no problem regarding the tax. The merchants come here to pay their taxes, and the peasants also do the same. With the money from the Blackbriar family, we have at least One million golds. However, after using it for the salary of the others and the project you want to do, it only left us with Eight hundred thousand or so."

"I see. That is good then. There is also the business between the other lord and me. The project of Greenhouse is on the way."

"How much will they pay?"

"One greenhouse is seven thousand gold coins."

"All of the Northern Noble want the greenhouse, right?"

"Yes."

"That means we will have forty-nine thousand gold from this transaction. However, are you sure about this, my lord? This greenhouse is worth more than seven thousand gold coins."

"Yes. I'm okay with this. The greenhouse is not as big as ours, but it was big enough for them to plant some vegetables to feed them and the livestock. I don't really care about the money. I only want the northern people to survive the harsh environment of the northern region. Seven thousand gold is good enough for me. In the end, we are still profiting as the glasses are not coming from the glassmaker in the other continent, but rather, it was created using my magic."

"If the glasses are created using your magic, why don't we start a glass-making business?"

I shake my head and say.

"I cannot create many glasses with my magic, and after creating it, I will get sick. To create the amount of glass to create the other Noble greenhouse, I need all winter to do it. Luckily it was wintertime, where I wasn't really busy. If I'm busy doing my job, I cannot create the same amount as what I created in the wintertime."

"I see. I'm sorry for suggesting that, my lord."

"Don't worry about it. Is there anything else?"

"There is nothing worth noting, my lord. The food in the warehouse inside the castle is still full, and with your magic, the food inside lasts longer than normal."

"Good. Now let me tell you about one of the projects. I want you guys to help me with it."

I place down a map on the table and open it. The map is full of circles and words.

"The first project I want to do is to expand our farm and animal husbandry. What I want to know is where I should do the expansion? I already thought about it yesterday and marked the possible place for the farm. This farm will be exclusively for the Lionheart family farm. I want this place to become the place where we get an item we could export to another country."

I point my finger at the northwest circle on the map not too far away from the Sea Dragon City.

"This is the place I think is the perfect place to cultivate. It was not too far away from the Sea Dragon City but far enough from the shore to not let the pirate see the farmland from the sea. Not only that, but this place also is far away from the mountain where monsters usually create nests. What do you think?"

The people think about it for a few seconds before one by one they begin to say…

"Aye"

I nod at their answer and say.

"Ayas, Rovul. I want you two to recruit the worker and also invite some peasants to work there. I will not give them the land, but I want them to work there under my name. They will get seventy bronze coins per month and ten kilograms worth of grain."

There are three kinds of coins in Gaia. Bronze, Silver, and Golds.

One Gold = A hundred silver coins.

One Silver = A hundred bronze coins.

One piece of bread is equal to three bronze coins in the Northern region or one bronze coin for one piece of bread in the southern region. That means seventy bronze is enough to buy around twenty bread, and ten kilogram worth of grain can create more bread for them.

"The farmer is also given food once per day in the night and five loaves of bread in the morning. Make sure to say that they are not a serf that works without getting paid."

"Of course, my lord."

"Heh, leave it to me, lad."

I nod at both Ayas and Rovul.

"Good. We will use the seed we got from the Blackbriar family. I can use my magic to grow the tree from the seed phase quickly. If there is nothing else, then you are dismissed."