For the inhabitants of Twilight, the only difference between them and the people of other remote lords is the oppressive feeling of an orc invasion, and the most common threat that every child hears as a child is that if you don't behave, let the orcs take you away.

However, most of the children who grew up under such a threat have ambitions to become fortress defenders and stand on the front line of the fight against the orcs.

The original reason for this ambition was not bravery or sacrifice, but simply the best treatment of the garrison - three meals a day, a basic meal, and meat once a week.

This is an unimaginable life for most civilians who have never smelled meat in their entire lives - presumably the lord-sama is like that.

Oliver Gray is a benevolent duke, but his kindness doesn't save the people from starvation, so the inhabitants of Twilight don't feel any particular about changing lieges.

The arrival of the new lord did not give them an extra grain of grain.

But it's not like nothing has changed.

On the 10th day of the lord's arrival, the residents of Twilight City saw a group of people clearing debris and leveling the land next to the city's central square.

Some of the people in this group were young men dressed in uniform gray robes, but most of them were defenders of the fortress.

All of the fortress defenders were natives of Winterfell, so there were always many acquaintances, but when they asked, they didn't get any decent answers, only that the lord was going to build a few houses.

The new collar is mainly building a large number of buildings, which is nothing unusual, and the residents who heard the news are too lazy to pay attention to it, and are still busy with their own lives.

Soon, the news came.

The newly built construction site recruits manpower to do a day's work and manage 2 full meals.

The reason why no money was given was because Winterfell was a large farm, and although the people in it were not slaves, there was not much difference, and there was basically no circulation of goods, so the currency was of little use.

However, the recruitment order did not receive much response.

Because there were no idle people in Winterfell, everyone had to get up early and work late every day to barely scrape together enough food to hand over to the lord by the end of the year, and the few craftsmen who were busy with farming were even more anxious because of the recent increase in the demand for arrows in the fortress.

After two embarrassing days of unresponsive recruitment, an even more aggressive decree was issued: all the people had to pay a third less grain this year.

The peasants who heard the news didn't believe it at first, but after confirming it, their first reaction was: Is the lord planning to pass it?

However, the financial situation of the fortress has nothing to do with them, and it is not their turn to worry about what will happen next year, so everyone began to seriously consider the recruitment order while happily running to tell each other.

……

……

After meeting Colin, Madeleine consciously began to get rid of the money and food management of the fortress, and when Jennifer was basically familiar with the operation of the fortress, she never asked more, on the one hand, to avoid suspicion, on the other hand, her body and spirit were not as good as before.

I felt that my mood was better today, so I called Sophia for a chat.

She is Sophia's initiation teacher, but this talented girl has a very rare love for magical biology after being exposed to magic, so that after she was promoted to the first level, she didn't have much to teach her, and finally she could only rely on her previous connections to help her get a chance to study in the Duchy of Brighton.

"What?"

Madeleine, after listening to Sophia's account of the recent rumors circulating in Winterfell, could not sit still any longer, and got up and said:

"I must propose to the lord that with such a approach, I am afraid that the fortress will not have any food in stock next year."

"Teacher, you're too worried."

Sophia smiled from the bottom of her heart: "If nothing else, the food problem in the fortress will be solved soon." ”

Madeleine was stunned for a moment, then said happily, "Your research has been successful?" Then he wondered: "But didn't you say that even if you succeed, it will take at least seven or eight years to achieve results?" ”

Sophia smiled bitterly: "No, you misunderstood, my research has failed, and all my efforts have been ruined. ”

"Then why ......"

"Teacher, I'm afraid you don't know, Lord Lord has a deep knowledge in botanical research." Sophia lowered her voice a little mysteriously.

"Colin Vane is a disciple of His Excellency Storm Guide, and I wouldn't be surprised to say that he is strong, but I haven't heard that Roman Sagan is good at botany?" Madeleine wondered.

"Although the Lord has repeatedly claimed to be unskilled in magical biology, he can see at a glance that my research is wrong......" Sophia paused for a moment before continuing, "Also, it seems that he was already preparing for this before coming to Twilight. ”

"What do you mean......"

"Yes, the lord has brought the seeds of eight crops, and now all of them have been put into the reserved field, and it will not be long before the seeds can be officially planted, and by September next year at the latest, the first grain will be ripe, and the pasture can even be earlier, I am already thinking about how to carry out animal husbandry......"

"That's good." Listening to her disciple's cheerful introduction, Madeleine was relieved, "You can finally give full play to your strengths. ”

"Yes, teacher." Sophia said a little shyly: "The lord also joked that he would hire me as the Minister of Agriculture of the fortress, I remember that my father's former boss was Jim Gale, the Minister of Agriculture of the Kingdom, Mr. Gale is very knowledgeable and personable, and has always been my idol, if I can also become a ......"

Madeleine interrupted with a smile: "Yes, he is the Minister of Agriculture of Tulum, and you are the Minister of Agriculture of Xiaya, and you will be equal when the time comes." ”

"I'll say it casually, teacher, don't laugh at me." Sophia grinned.

……

……

"Are you still used to living here? Mr. Wald. ”

Colin walked into the room, which was full of papers, materials, and household items, only to find that he couldn't get his footing.

It seems that the research-obsessed magician has completely forgotten that he has another bedroom.

"I'm sorry, my lord, I'll sort it out later." Wald was slightly embarrassed and said: "It's good here, I like it very much. Since arriving at the fortress, he has changed his address to Colin to be the same as everyone else.

"Is it going well at work?"

"Yes, I'm refining the mission you've assigned, and to be honest, the concept of the 'Alchemy Workshop' is simply fantastic, encompassing alchemy from research to application to mass production, and I'm afraid only you have such a bold idea."

"We all seem to be too cautious on the path of alchemy."

Because several well-known alchemy accidents in history have had catastrophic consequences, coupled with the fact that research in this area is often extremely expensive, in the eyes of magicians on the entire continent, alchemy is a research that is both extravagant and dangerous, and few people have always been willing to set foot in this field, let alone the idea of "alchemy workshop" to make alchemy "bigger and stronger".

However, in Colin's view, "large-scale steelmaking" is a process that almost all industrialized countries have to go through, and material engineering is one of the cornerstones of industrial construction.

Of course, this is a long-term plan, after all, there are only a few humble blacksmith shops in the whole of Winterfall that even an apprentice like Matthew can't stand to look down on, and it will probably take a long time to develop a "steel mill".