It was lunchtime.
Lin En sat at the seat of honor, while Dan Ni sat somewhat stiffly across from him at the long dining table.
"I heard you recruited all the applicants in one go this morning?" Lin En said, setting down his fork and wiping his mouth with a napkin.
Dan Ni took small bites of her food. Hearing this, Hu De, the captain of the guards standing nearby, and Scholar Xier, seated at Lin En's right, both turned their gazes toward the newly arrived stewardess who had already earned the chance to dine with the lord himself.
The piece of meat was too large. Dan Ni couldn't swallow it right away and could only puff out her cheeks, nodding her small head vigorously.
"Yes, my lord. They're all decent people. Among them are twenty craftsmen and three brewers!"
"But I heard most of them were fishermen before," Lin En narrowed his eyes slightly, continuing, "and those three so-called brewers were merely women working in tavern kitchens?"
Dan Ni blinked her tea-clear blue eyes at Lin En. Her pointed little face was quite pretty.
After finally swallowing the food in her mouth, she let out a small breath and said,
"However, they're willing to accept lower pay—twenty percent less than what we offer other workers. With the wages we save, we can pay skilled craftsmen more and have them lead these people for a while. Those jobs aren't difficult. One week is enough to teach them everything they need. And I've signed three-year contracts with them."
It really was a good idea.
Lin En had to admit it—his stewardess had strong capitalist potential. Her talent for exploitation was practically maxed out.
Guard Hu De couldn't help but interject, "But we don't have real brewers in our territory. Who's going to teach a few kitchen women? Brewing isn't just washing dishes."
Dan Ni stood up and gave a shallow bow.
"My former maid, Xi Li, learned brewing in Riverrun. She's familiar with every step. And the lord himself said he has a detailed brewing process. In that case, I believe anyone can become a true brewer."
There was nothing wrong with that statement, and it perfectly matched Lin En's early-stage development strategy of controlling costs.
After all, these people weren't paid much. Once Luo Da Te returned with the treasure and the Three Sisters Islands were properly developed, large-scale ale production could begin. Before that, any experimentation was acceptable.
Lin En neither praised nor criticized Dan Ni's performance.
He didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm, nor did he want to elevate her too highly before seeing actual results.
"The number of inexperienced craftsmen must not exceed those with experience," Lin En said calmly, leaving that one sentence behind as he turned and headed back to the study.
In the medieval brewing process, barley was first soaked in a barrel, with the water changed repeatedly until it softened. Afterward, it was spread on the ground to sprout, then heated so the germination stopped at the right moment.
Heating was the most critical step in brewing.
Once dried, the malt was ground and placed into a vat, softened with water, then filtered. Hot water was poured in several times to create wort, stirred continuously with long rods. Finally, after fermentation, the malt residue was removed, hops were added, and the mixture was boiled.
Brewing and malting together took roughly ten days.
Lin En racked his brain and carefully wrote down everything he knew about the ale-making process.
He rubbed his wrist—the thin quill pen was surprisingly difficult to grip.
Brewing ale itself wasn't hard. What was difficult was the flavor.
Lin En made a special note in his records: ale sold to the Northmen should focus on strength and potency, while ale for nobles and southerners should emphasize refinement and smoothness.
This wasn't something Lin En could give a precise answer to. It required brewers to constantly experiment with ratios to achieve the desired results.
Just as Lin En set down his pen, a familiar system notification sounded.
Ding!
[Congratulations, Host, on completing the Troop-Spawning System's Beginner Task!]
[Beginner Task Two: Conquer another lord's territory. Reward: 1 Points Exchange Card]
Lin En raised an eyebrow and, sure enough, saw a Points Exchange Card lying quietly in his inventory.
It seemed Luo Da Te had completed the full purge of the Three Sisters Islands.
The only question was how much they had seized—and whether it would be enough to support investment in shelters and the ale industry.
Lin En clenched his fist, excitement rising. The first step of his goal had been achieved.
However, time was still tight.
He had to gain the ability to protect himself before the Stark decline and the North fully descended into chaos.
With the new random points card in hand, Lin En didn't hesitate and immediately chose to exchange it.
The wounded soldiers in the troop camp urgently needed professional medical personnel. When he inspected the wounded tents yesterday, he noticed that some soldiers' injuries were already showing signs of infection due to wounds being stitched with thick, unsterilized sewing needles.
[Congratulations, Host, you have drawn 60 points]
[Current Upgrade EXP: 30.1/100]
[Total Accumulated Points: 460]
[Current Available Points: 60]
The point draw hit a new low.
Lin En could only smile bitterly.
One professional female medic cost 5 points. Based on the current number of wounded soldiers, Lin En exchanged for four medics from the system shop's troop medical facility.
Exchange successful. Remaining points: 40.
With a flash of light, four white-clad angels appeared before him, each holding a medical kit.
What surprised Lin En was that all four were women.
Despite their different skin tones and hairstyles, they were undeniably genuine female medics.
Lin En looked at the closest one—a fair-skinned, blonde, blue-eyed medic—and asked,
"What's your name?"
"My name is An Na, Master."
An Na's voice was sweet and crisp. As she spoke, a faint dimple appeared with her smile.
Lin En froze for a moment.
Realizing that his gaze might be a bit too intense toward a system girl, he coughed lightly to cover it up and said,
"Miss An Na, I appoint you as the captain of the troop medical unit. If you need supplies, you may contact the household steward or come directly to me. In a moment, I'll have guards escort you to the wounded camp."
"Yes, Master."
After replying, An Na hesitated slightly and asked in a lower voice,
"May we have our own separate tents?"
Lin En was momentarily stunned, then immediately understood.
System soldiers were still people. He couldn't have his female medics living together with those male troops.
"Of course. Miss An Na, you don't need to worry about that. I'll have my steward, Dan Ni, arrange it immediately."
Lin En took a breath and shouted toward the door,
"Guards! Bring Steward Dan Ni here, and escort them to the Cavalry Regiment camp."
Since the bloody battle on the beach, Lin En had officially named the troop-spawned unit the Xiao Cavalry Regiment.
Naturally, the battle slogan had been changed as well.
"Long live the Troop-Spawning Corps" was honestly far too silly.
It was practically announcing to the world that they were system soldiers.
In the future, when war broke out again—
Infantry charging forward would shout, "Demacia!"Archers firing in volleys would chant, "Wind! Wind! Great Wind!"
Just imagining it made Lin En's blood boil with excitement.
...
The fully completed English PDF of this fan-fic is now available on my Patreon shop.If you want to support my work and enjoy the entire story in one go, grab the PDF and binge-read it from start to finish without any breaks.
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Here are a few fan-fic titles that I've recently uploaded on my Patreon:
"Game of Thrones: Dragon Prince"
"Game of Thrones: Political Life"
"Game of Thrones: Holy Flame"
"The Game of Thrones Upgrade System"
"Game of Thrones: Lannister Kingdom"
"Game of Thrones: Godzilla vs. Dragons"
"Game of Thrones: Ruler of the Deep Seas "
"Game of Thrones The Glory of a Knight"
"Game of Thrones: The Most Powerful Dragon Queen"
" Game of Thrones: From the Elden Lord to the Young Wolf"
"Game of Thrones: Rise of a Lord with the Army-Building System"
(End Chapter)