"Adelaide, you did a great job yesterday!" Ed praised Adelaide's performance yesterday.
"No, it's because the master taught me well," Adelaide replied with a flattering remark.
Ed smiled awkwardly and remained silent.
Seeing that Ed didn't speak, Adelaide turned around to pour him some 'tea'.
After taking a satisfied sip of 'tea,' Ed said to Adelaide:
"Call the housekeeper and the others over. I have something to discuss with them."
"Yes, Master," Adelaide said, then turned and left.
Before long, everyone arrived at the castle hall.
After everyone was seated, Ed spoke first and asked:
"Andrew, how's the hunting going lately?"
"My lord, the weather has gotten colder recently, and there are far fewer prey."
"Well, let's stop hunting for now! It's getting colder and colder."
"Yes, my lord."
"Marcus, divide the prey among your team members, give more to the squad members, and send some to Cedar and the others."
The Peace Hotel only provides lunch, but the cedars and their group still need some food, and they don't have any land.
"Also, the branches and wood left over from the trees cut down in the territory these days for construction should all be taken back by everyone."
With so much construction going on in the territory these past few months, the villagers should have no problem getting through the winter.
"Yes, my master."
"Adelaide, the fishing is done one more time before the ice freezes, some is kept, and the rest is distributed to the fishermen."
"Yes, Master." Adelaide now really enjoys fishing.
"Roderick, you've had a tough time these days, but there's still a lot of construction to be done. You'll still have a tough time next spring."
Roderick quickly stood up and said, "My lord, it is my honor to serve you."
"Did you notice anything about better building materials?"
"My lord, I have discovered that some clay becomes very hard after being fired, almost like a blacksmith's furnace. Also, lime mixed with other substances becomes even more adhesive than it is now."
"Good, not bad. Continue the experiment and observation. Try to find a better ratio."
Ed was delighted; with such subordinates, how could he not accomplish great things!
If he could get the red bricks and cement, there would be hope for rebuilding his dilapidated castle.
Red bricks are fine, but I think cement, no matter what you do, won't meet the standards.
That's good enough. As long as we can make something that looks like cement, we can optimize it later.
"By the way, where's Smith? Is he still in Red Iron Village?" Ed asked, turning to Andrew.
"Yes, my lord, Smith has acquired some ore and is now preparing to smelt iron there. He said he will be living there during the winter."
Ed was speechless; this guy was a real weightlifting fanatic. Even though smelting iron wasn't cold, what about food later?
"Marcus, prepare more food to take to Red Iron Village."
"Yes, my master."
"Also, what's the situation with the salt in Marcus's territory? Do we still have any salt?"
"My master, we don't have much salt left. At most, we'll run out after next spring's planting," the old steward Marcus said with some worry.
Ed hasn't mentioned salt these past few days, so he hasn't brought it up either.
"Then where did we get our salt?"
"There is a salt mine to the north of the territory. The salt for the territory used to come from there."
Ed realized that the road was blocked and the salt couldn't get through. "Then who owns the salt mine?"
"The salt mines belong to the lord in the north; we used to trade them for food."
No wonder they were so poor, Ed now understood.