Volume 6: Helping the World Chapter 200 "Kneeling in Truth"
The rocky beach a few kilometers east of Valentine Port is a wasteland of about 20 square kilometers.
Due to the low terrain, tidal backflow, barren rocks and poor soil, even weeds are scarce in this place, let alone planting them... Even soybeans, which are not very picky about the soil, cannot be grown, so naturally no one would be interested in this land.
But ~ yes!
No matter how many problems it has, this is still a good piece of land with a large enough area and only more than 20 kilometers away from the city!
The most amazing thing is that the fiefdom allocated to Isaac by Viscount Pope also includes a crescent-shaped deep-water port that is 30 meters deep and more than 600 meters long!
Hmm... Viscount Pope's selfishness is obvious... But since everyone's interests are the same, then Viscount Pope's selfishness is naturally worthy of praise...
It has been several days since the Grassroots Chief and others returned to the grassland, and Valentine has officially entered winter. After one night, the eaves of the rural houses were covered with icicles.
Isaac, who was staying in a small village near his own fiefdom, got up before dawn, woke up the team members, bought food for the team members and hired workers from the villagers, and after a quick meal, took everyone to the construction site.
Compared to the winter on the grassland where water freezes into ice, Valentine's winter is indeed gentle... At least the snow is not thick and can be easily dug out, and there is no cold wind howling all day long, and even going out feels like participating in an extreme challenge.
Green smoke rose from the earthen kiln where lime was burned. Adventurers wielded sledgehammers to smash the grayish-white limestone, which was then sent into the kiln for calcination by workers. The lime powder mixed with gravel and sand brought back from the coast became a good material for building houses.
There were definitely no steel bars, but since it was a bungalow, wood could be used as a substitute... Some of the workers from the MSG factory who came to earn extra money had experience in building factories, and they were like ready-made masters in construction.
It's a pity that humans are not as beastly as orcs. They can't dig a decent foundation in this kind of weather, so they can only make do with it...
When the knight brothers arrived at Isaac's fiefdom with a new batch of recruited workers, two rows of simple bungalows had already been built, and even the thatched roofs were covered with specially carved stone slabs.
Edward, the eldest of the knight brothers, asked his younger brother and others to arrange for the workers to go to work. He pulled Isaac aside and whispered, "If we continue to hire people like this, we will not be able to make ends meet. Isaac, although we only pay a worker four silver coins, it is not a small amount to provide them with food and drink every day... The price of food in Valentine has not increased yet, but if we continue to buy like this, it is only a matter of time."
"Don't worry. Ms. Margaret (an official from the Adventurer's Association's transportation department) sent someone to report yesterday that the vermicelli from the grassland has been loaded onto the ship and will be shipped over in ten days at most. We just need to hold on for these ten days." Isaac said with a smile.
"That's good." Edward breathed a sigh of relief. He was a very frugal person. The food consumption of more than a thousand workers, measured in gold coins every day, would wake him up with pain even when he was sleeping.
"Relax, Edward. The teacher has allowed us to do it freely and has given us great support. Just go for it boldly." Isaac was quite open-minded and said comfortingly, "The teacher has said that we are allowed to make mistakes and supported us in trial and error. What do we have to be afraid of?"
Edward stared at Isaac strangely for a few seconds, and couldn't help but say something sour: "I really don't know what kind of luck you have. How could a wise man like Mr. Ayun be willing to accept you as his disciple?"
"You are envious, aren't you Edward?" Isaac laughed and patted Edward's shoulder.
Two days later, Alex came to the fiefdom with a man wrapped like a dumpling on a Chocobo borrowed from the Adventurer's Guild. He shouted at the construction site for a long time before he found Isaac, who was covered in mud. He pulled the man up and walked towards the centralized housing that had been repaired earlier.
"The famous architects in the city are either sponsored by nobles or are nobles themselves. I asked my friends in the Hunters Association for help and searched for several days in the lower city and the north city before I found this one." On the way, Alex quickly introduced the architect he invited. "Speaking of which, this person is a bit like you, Isaac. His family is also a Valentine noble, but because of the bad relationship with his family, he was sent away after he became an adult with a few gold coins. His skills are okay. It is said that he once served the previous city lord Philip and was the one who presided over the renovation of Philip's Mansion."
"How could such a person end up in the downtown area?" Isaac asked in amazement.
Ali was a little confused: "How should I put it - you will understand when you see him." After a pause, he added, "When this person served Earl Philip, he seriously offended Master Marcus."
Isaac said "Oh", as if he understood something... Marcus Philip was one of the top three idiots Isaac had ever seen, and his stupidity was so shocking that any normal person would not be interested in arguing with this loser; this architect could actually offend the earl's stupid son, so obviously, he must have a bad temper.
This was not a big problem for Isaac. When it came to having a bad temper, who could be worse than the green dragon from the Fire Department? He had seen Teacher Ayun stroking the green dragon's fur (scales) many times. Isaac might as well follow suit, even if he didn't learn the essence of the matter.
It was not until Isaac and Alex walked into the room used as the office for the fiefdom construction plan that he realized how wrong he was...
The architect, who was sitting in front of the fireplace to keep warm, wearing a cotton coat and a hooded cloak, turned around when she heard the noise. Under the greasy and faded hood, there was a very beautiful face - Isaac had dealt with forest elves a lot, and this rare female architect was actually more beautiful than the average male forest elf (...)!
It turned out to be another level of "offense"... Isaac understood in his heart, his expression remained unchanged, he took off his fur hat for warmth when he entered the house, and nodded politely: "Hello, I'm Isaac Robbins."
The architect stood up, and instead of lifting her skirt to salute like an ordinary woman, she extended her hand generously: "Hello, Knight Robbins, I am Sue Gallagher."
Isaac quickly reached out his hand to shake hers, and when he touched her palm, he was a little stunned... Judging from her appearance and figure, she was a young woman under 30 years old, but Sue Gallagher's hands were as rough as those of a washerwoman who had been working for more than three years.
The two parties sat down, and Sue Gallagher asked without further ado, "I heard that Knight Robbins wants to build a large theater in your fiefdom?"
"Yes, Ms. Gallagher."
Gallagher nodded, his eyes sparkling. "Your fief is not far from the city, but it's not close either. Excuse me for asking, why did you build a theater in such a remote wilderness?"
Alex turned his head away silently.
Isaac: “…”
Just... saying in front of the owner of the fiefdom that his fiefdom was a remote wilderness... Isaac suddenly felt that his previous guess was not entirely wrong.
"I'm sorry, maybe my friend Alex didn't explain it clearly before. In fact, I hope to build not only a big theater in my fiefdom, but also a seaside amusement park that integrates leisure, entertainment, food and accommodation." Isaac explained with a smile without changing his expression. "My teacher is Ayun, a sage from the grassland tribe on the other side of the inland sea. He is not only on good terms with the elves and the sea people, but also has correspondence with sages from various tribes. Valentine is the city with the most convenient sea transportation in the northern part of the southern continent. My teacher supports me to build an amusement park here that can accommodate visitors from various tribes. Our target customers are not just the residents of Valentine . Of course, the facilities of the amusement park are also open to the residents of Valentine, and we also welcome villagers from surrounding towns and villages."
There is no such thing as tourism in this world. The reason is naturally that the cost of travel is too high... Apart from those in the Bards Guild who make a living by traveling, the others who have the means to travel around are either nobles, spellcasters, or wealthy men with mines at home.
So why did Xiao Yun support Isaac in coming to Valentine to get the land and build an amusement park? The reason is simple - to gain a foothold in any industry that does not conflict with local merchants and nobles, and then find ways to steal... uh... "learn, imitate, borrow, and steal" the shipbuilding technology of the Kingdom of Kronin!
In other words, Isaac is the high-level spy that Xiao Yun sent to Valentine...
Xiao Yun and Isaac discussed for days and nights how to break into the upper society of the Kroning Kingdom and blend into the upper aristocratic circle; spending money is too costly , and as for the beauty trap... Although Isaac is quite handsome, he is not good enough to charm aristocratic women. After much thought, they can only use art as an approach.
Valentine is not a tourist city, but it is called the Free City for a reason. Every winter, countless adventurers from all over the continent gather here to spend the winter, and there are countless sea merchants. If we build a new amusement park to attract people, and then use the plays written by Xiao Yun to spread Isaac's reputation as a "playwright artist", and spread it through the mouths of adventurers and sea merchants, then Isaac will be able to sit back and wait for who will take the bait~
Why go to so much trouble? First, of course, Isaac was sent to the eyes of the nobles of the Kingdom of Kronin to facilitate their seduction. Second, Xiao Yun has already become famous through "Travels on the Continent", and letting his disciples follow his old path will lack a little shock...
Of course, the already famous teacher Ayun was also a good halo for Isaac. At least the eyes of this unconventional female architect lit up after listening to Isaac's explanation: "Sage Ayun? Is it the sage Ayun of the Snow Wolf Clan?"
"Yes, ma'am," Isaac smiled.
Sue Gallagher leaned forward unconsciously, obviously very interested in this: "So Knight Robbins is the disciple of the sage Ayun, so this theater must be extraordinary?"
Isaac smiled reservedly and said, "The plays performed in the Grand Theater will be directed by me personally."
Ms. Gallagher gasped slightly, her eyes sparkling. "Sage Ayun is very good at writing travelogues, and Knight Robbins, who is under his guidance, is good at plays?"
Isaac stood up, opened the file cabinet next to his desk, took out a script bound with braided thread and handed it to Gallagher: "If our Grand Theater can be properly completed, then I hope that the first play performed in the Grand Theater will be this "Cinderella."
Gallagher eagerly took the script, lowered his head and flipped through it...
Isaac smiled confidently and waited for the other party, not caring about the awkward look from Alex next to him...
The script of "Cinderella" is based on the bedtime story popular in the Fire Department. On the basis of the "original work", more house fighting scenes are added - Cinderella's father does not know that her mother who is there has resurrected, and a war between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law breaks out with Cinderella's stepmother. The stepmother pretends to be pregnant to make fun of the old lady and Cinderella at the same time. Cinderella cleverly shifts the blame of causing her stepmother's "miscarriage" to her stepsister. The old lady regrets forcing the previous obedient daughter-in-law to death and letting the bad woman take the position. Cinderella's father, a young nobleman, who is like a tool man, is toyed around by the women in the family... and other routines that have been played out in modern TV dramas and ancient costume dramas are all the key performances in the first half of this play.
This kind of drama of building a temple in a snail shell... is essentially not up to standard, so the part of attending the prince's blind date ball was changed in the middle of the play, and changed to a foreign invasion and the father of the young nobleman dying on the battlefield; Cinderella stepped forward to organize the townspeople to fight against the enemy, used the wisdom of house fighting to balance the complex relationship between the militia in the town and finally bravely drove the enemy away, sublimating the intention of the play to the lofty level that women can also hold up half the sky in order to protect their hometown...
In order to improve the quality of the story, Xiao Yun also took the crazy route of "kneeling to the truth" at the end. Cinderella's fate was similar to that of Joan of Arc. After defeating the foreign enemies, she was supposed to take over her father's noble title, but she was regarded as an enemy by her uncles in the family. So the uncles colluded with the town priest and falsely accused Cinderella of being possessed by the devil. In the last scene, Cinderella was tied in the center of the town square that she had tried her best to protect. The townspeople she had tried her best to protect spat at her and threw stones at her. They added fuel to the fire and burned her to death...
When Xiao Yun and Isaac were revising the story, Isaac was adamant about not agreeing with the ending, but Xiao Yun easily convinced him - the Kingdom of Kronin was one of the Northern Federations, and why was the Federation established in the first place? What's wrong with discrediting old rivals in works of art?
This is political correctness, stupid disciple!
So Isaac gave in...
Sue Gallagher didn't take it seriously when she read the first half of the script, but when she read the middle part, her expression became serious. When she read the second half, especially the part where Cinderella was burned to death, she gnashed her teeth with hatred and cried bitterly...
Carefully putting down the script, Ms. Gallagher stood up, walked to Isaac, held the hand of this wise disciple, and said sincerely: "I swear in the name of Algernon that I, Sue Gallagher, will use all my life's learning to build the best theater in Cronin for you, Knight Robins."
Isaac smiled, but an impolite thought came to his mind - isn't Algernon the god of art? This architect is really a literary youth...
Watching the architect rushing to the construction site to observe and draw the theater design with the momentum of rushing to the battlefield, carrying a pencil, a drawing book and measuring tools, Alex looked at Isaac silently.
"Just say whatever you want to say, Alex. Holding it in for too long will hurt our relationship," said Isaac.
The corner of Ali's mouth twitched: "I just feel that... after you became Mr. Ayun's disciple, you really changed a lot... You were not like this before, um, you always talked about respectability before."
Isaac smiled slightly and said disapprovingly: "This is because Teacher Ayun has shown me with his actions that you can't get anything done just by being respectable."
Xiao Yun was very attentive when teaching every disciple. After accepting Isaac as his disciple, he often used examples of himself and Carlisle to help Isaac understand.
Ali's expression was complicated: "I think what Mr. Ayun said makes sense, but you... well, how should I put it, you accepted it too quickly!"
Isaac laughed and said, "Let's not talk about that. How are Harris and his team finding actors in the city?"
The Snow Wolf Tribe went back to the grassland, but Harris and other Snake Tribe members did not leave and stayed here to help.
"Those nobles who were about to flee sold third-rate actors. Harris asked his friends in the Bards Guild for help, but he couldn't find a suitable one after asking several companies." Ali said, "I don't think we need to stick to human actors. For example, Harris, wouldn't it be very suitable for him to play the evil stepmother?"
"You can tell him that yourself."
"No, I can't beat him."
On the grassland, the Fire Tribe.
It took more than a month (most of the time was spent "getting lost") to deliver the vermicelli in the dungeon, and also to get more than 4,000 dwarves and more than 1,000 goblins to the new hilly area (theoretically, the number of goblins should be more than that of gray dwarves, but goblins are really hard to catch). After accomplishing his mission, Xiao Yun returned to the tribe with his warriors in high spirits.
Lan Guo had a lot of things on his hands, and the grassroots tribe leader who could discuss things with him was not around, so he was already overwhelmed. When he heard that Ayun and the large group of soldiers had returned, he limped out to greet them... and then he was stunned.
"Uh... Ayun, what is this?" Lan Guo raised her hand and pointed at the rope in Xiao Yun's hand in disbelief... At the other end of the rope, there was a strange humanoid creature with snow-white skin and a face that looked like a snow elf, but without pointed ears and pupils that were not red.
"This one is from the Battle Tree." Xiao Yun pulled the rope, and the Battle Tree staggered and glared at Xiao Yun fiercely, "Don't be fooled by its ugly appearance, our tribe really needs this guy."
"...Ugly?" Lan Guo asked doubtfully.
Rosemary, who was standing next to him, reached out and pinched the face of the battle tree. With a little force, she pulled it, and the face of the battle tree, which was still quite good in its humanoid form, was pulled into a freak shape...
"Fuck, it's so ugly!" Lan Guo couldn't help but take a step back.
"Lock it in the empty greenhouse." Xiao Yun handed the rope to Rosemary and pulled Lan Guo towards the mobile home. "How is the tribe doing these days? Is Balk's father, Austin, causing any trouble?"
"He really did make trouble." Lan Guo was not surprised at all why Xiao Yun mentioned Austin as soon as he opened his mouth. "He was on strike all day long. Last time, he slipped out of the flour mill branch when we didn't keep an eye on him. Qingyan, Ayue and the others spent a lot of time to find him."
"It can't even fly high, so how can it still cause so much trouble?" Xiao Yun asked in surprise.
"He flew into Balk's house and hid in the place where Balk hid his snacks..."
Xiao Yun's mouth twitched slightly: "What's going on? Could it be that the money he should have received was not given to him? Wait, this old dragon is only taking in money and not spending it out again, right?"
"Yes! He still relies on Balke to eat and drink! Balke is very resentful, and it is quite difficult to appease him." Lan Guo sighed.
Xiao Yun: “…”
"Forget it, they should solve their own problems." Xiao Yun was too lazy to do any mediation work. "In view of Austin's special situation, let's adjust the rule of never deducting salary in our tribe and add a clause: 'Green Dragon will have his bonus deducted if he is absent from work once, his dividend will be deducted if he is absent three times, and his salary will be deducted if he is absent five times.'"
Lan Guo: "...Uh, isn't this a bit cruel?"
"Well - add an explanation before the absence from work, 'absent from work without reason except for force majeure'." Xiao Yun said seriously.
Blue fruit is not fussy anymore...
Rosemary led the battle tree to the greenhouse area, found an empty space where sweet potatoes had just been harvested, looked around, tied one end of the rope to the gate, pointed at the loosened soil and said to the battle tree: "Put your feet in it."
The battle tree ignored him and rolled his eyes arrogantly.
Rosemary said emotionlessly: "You didn't get away on the way here, and now that you're in our tribe, don't even think about it. There are even more in the Blackstone Tribe in the Hilly New District. It would only take a few minutes to burn you."
The battle tree was silent for a moment, then it raised its toeless feet and stuck them into the soil. The part below its neck gradually turned into vines of varying lengths and thicknesses, spreading around and onto the walls. Its head turned into an enormous flower bud...
It takes about half a day to get from the hilly new area to the Fire Department. The fighting trees were frozen badly along the way. The soft and "nutrient-rich" soil, suitable temperature and warm walls in the greenhouse made the fighting trees very comfortable, and their closed petals opened and bloomed layer by layer.
Rosemary tied the loosened rope to the flower stalk, wrapping it around layer by layer for a long time, then she clapped her hands in relief and walked out of the greenhouse.
The door was closed, and the blooming giant flower disk turned around and "stared" at the door. The huge leaves on the vine trembled, as if silently speaking harsh words to Rosemary's back.
As a plant, it naturally needs water and soil for nourishment... After being away from the soil for such a long time, even this "spirit" fighting tree could not bear it; the moist air, suitable temperature, and the sunlight coming through the glass roof of the greenhouse that cannot be felt in the underground world, soon made the fighting tree intoxicated, and the leaves that were originally a little wilted also stood up energetically.
Unfortunately, the time of peace is always too short. The fighting tree had just relaxed for half a day when the door of the greenhouse was pushed open, and the devil snow wolf cub that the fighting tree hated and feared walked in with several of his own clansmen.
"This is the battle tree that everyone needs to manage." Xiao Yun pointed at the giant flower and said, "It bears three-dimensional rectangular fruits. When mature, they are about this big. They will hit people. You, Yi, will pick the fruits. Others should stay away, otherwise they will get hurt."
"I understand." The one-armed warrior Ayi nodded. He had eaten the fruit of the battle tree before.
"The seeds of the battle tree will be sown soon. We have never planted this before, so we can refer to the opinions of the battle tree on planting." Xiao Yun took out a seed as thick as a little finger from the leather bag and showed it to Ayi and others. "For example, when watering, first ask the battle tree if the soil has enough moisture. If it has, shake one leaf, if not, shake two leaves. If it ignores you, move some firewood and black stone to the side, and it will cooperate."
Ayi and other tribesmen: “???”
Battle Tree: “…”
"Did you hear it? If you heard it, reply." Xiao Yun shouted at the battle tree.
The battle tree was silent for a few seconds... and shook all its leaves in frustration.
There was no wind in the greenhouse, and the windless and automatic blades made Ayi and other tribesmen look very strange...
"All of your people that we dug up died along the way. Now we can only hope to use your seeds and the seeds of your people to grow new battle trees." Xiao Yun changed his tone to a gentler one. "We, the Snow Wolf Clan, are not evil. If you cooperate well, we will be happy to see your battle tree population grow stronger."
Battle Tree: “…”
I don't believe you! !
