"The Magic Stone has been received. I'm going to start researching it. The cooldown for this transfer is eight days. If there's nothing urgent, don't call me."
As soon as he finished speaking, Wenster cut off contact with Owen, truly impatient.
After a transfer, the passage between the two worlds becomes unstable and needs time to stabilize. This time is related to the mass of the transferred object.
Shaking his head helplessly, Owen moved the sack to the edge of the sandpit and opened it to find it filled with wheat seeds.
He picked up a few grains and observed them carefully in his palm. They looked similar to the wheat seeds here, just a bit plumper.
Are these seeds from another world?
Putting the seeds back, Owen moved the sack to a corner of the room. It was cool and dry there, a good place to store seeds. This was just the first batch; more would be transferred later, so he would store them here for now.
As he left the room, Owen suddenly remembered that Wenster seemed to want to say something when the System upgrade was complete, but he was interrupted.
Never mind, he would ask him next time.
...
In East Rise Fortress, in the southern area, stood a magnificent, tall castle—Duke Eddie's castle.
In a luxuriously decorated reception room, a middle-aged man as fat as a pig leaned back in a large, comfortable custom-made chair. He was Duke Eddie.
In front of Duke Eddie, a slender man held an unrolled parchment and was reporting various matters.
"...That concludes the financial report for East Rise Fortress for the first half of the year."
"Mm."
Duke Eddie half-closed his eyes and responded lazily.
Rolling up the parchment, the thin man did not withdraw but continued, "Lord, there's one more thing I'd like to report to you."
"Speak."
"Border Garrison Town has placed an order with us to purchase grain."
"Oh?"
Hearing this news, Duke Eddie lifted his eyelids and sat up slightly, seeming to gain some spirit.
"How much grain are they purchasing this time?" Duke Eddie asked.
"That... just a little over half of last year's amount."
Seemingly worried that his next words would displease the Duke, the thin man answered very cautiously.
"What about Linshui City?"
Duke Eddie did not get angry, as if he didn't care about the matter, which made the thin man breathe a sigh of relief.
He quickly replied, "I heard it's the same as our side."
"It seems Linshui City is keeping its promise." Duke Eddie stroked the pure gold ring on his right index finger. "However, the grain purchased from both places won't be enough to sustain Border Garrison Town until next autumn's harvest, which means they've also purchased grain from other places."
"Yes, I heard they are preparing to purchase a batch of grain from the Royal Capital, Golden Guard City, and Fengshui City as well. Lord, their grain ships will definitely pass through East Rise Fortress, and we can..."
The thin man did not continue, revealing a sinister and cunning expression. Presumably, Duke Eddie understood his meaning.
"No need, let them be."
"Eh?"
Unexpectedly, the Duke rejected his suggestion, which greatly puzzled the thin man.
Seeing his subordinate's confused look, Duke Eddie was in a very pleasant mood. That feeling of having everything under his control was truly good.
"This winter won't be easy," Duke Eddie hinted.
Still unable to understand, the thin man pressed, "Does Lord mean?"
"Do you still remember what happened in Border Garrison Town last winter?"
After speaking, Duke Eddie's greasy, fat face squeezed out an ugly smile, deliberately revealing a few gold-capped teeth.
...
Two days later, Vilu arrived at the castle early in the morning to inform Owen that the cement workshop had been built according to requirements.
Upon hearing the news, Owen quickly made all necessary preparations. Since he had to personally cast fire magic to fire the cement, he even specially changed into a black and red-trimmed mage robe.
Taking Mapel and Vilu with him, the three of them immediately set off for the cement workshop.
As the person in charge of repairing the city walls, Vilu had long heard about the miraculous cement from Owen. However, he was deeply skeptical; having worked as a stonemason for so many years, he had never heard of such a convenient material.
Therefore, Owen had to take Vilu to witness the power of cement firsthand and familiarize him with its use.
Their destination was a somewhat dilapidated adobe house.
It was originally a damaged and dangerous building left over from the Undead Creatures' attack last winter. Although it had been renovated and expanded by Vilu, it was an emergency renovation. As long as it was safe, it was put directly into use, without regard for the building's appearance.
After the renovation, the adobe house was about twelve meters long and over four meters wide. The entire cement workshop was divided into two parts: the large room in the front was the processing room for raw materials, and the smaller room in the back was the firing room for firing cement.
The workshop's main gate was very wide, making it convenient for people to enter and exit and transport raw materials. There were also two knights guarding the entrance, who also served as supervisors.
As soon as Lord appeared, the two knights immediately saluted.
Seeing this, the people in the cement workshop suddenly became flustered, stopping their work one after another, preparing to salute Lord.
Owen stopped them in time, saying, "You all continue working; don't stop."
"Yes."
Everyone continued to work, and because Lord was present, they worked harder than usual.
Porters used human-powered wooden carts to pull raw materials into the cement workshop, then handed them over to stone breakers for crushing, followed by proportioning as required, and finally further grinding to make raw meal.
Everyone was working methodically, and soon a considerable amount of raw meal had accumulated.
Under Owen's instruction, the laborers mixed this raw meal with appropriate water, stirred it into a raw meal slurry, and sent it into the firing room.
Owen also followed them inside. The first thing he saw upon entering was a giant furnace.
This special furnace was frustum-shaped, with its top connected to the ceiling, leading directly to the chimney outside. The bottom had a furnace opening, large enough for one person to crawl in bent over. Narrow passages surrounded the furnace, with only a slightly larger open space in front of the furnace opening.
A short laborer first crawled into the furnace, while the laborers outside sent in buckets of raw meal slurry one by one, and the laborer inside spread the raw meal slurry evenly on the ground.
Soon, the short laborer crawled out, poured the last of the raw meal slurry by the furnace opening, and smoothed it with a shovel.
After finishing, he stood up and reported to Owen, slightly nervously, "Lo... Lord, I have laid it out as you requested."
"Mm, very good." Owen nodded. "You all can go out now."
The laborers who had completed their work quickly exited the firing room and closed the door, leaving only Owen, Mapel, and Vilu.
"Remember to cover your mouth and nose with cloth or something similar. Although wet firing produces less dust, there is still dust in the air, and inhaling it is bad for your health."
"Got it, I've brought everything I need."
Firing cement was an urgent matter, so Owen had urgently called Wenster on the way. With him present for the first firing, Owen felt a little more at ease.
Taking out a clean, long strip of cloth, Owen folded it in half and wrapped it around his mouth and nose. After tying it securely, he handed a similar piece of cloth to Mapel and Vilu respectively.
"Dust will be produced during the firing process, so it's better to wear it like this," Owen explained.
The two nodded, imitating Owen and putting on the long strips of cloth to cover their mouths and noses.
Vilu was not surprised by Lord's decision to personally fire the cement. Like Clive, he had long known that Owen would do some strange things.
Mapel, on the other hand, had unconditional trust and support for Owen.