The fire in the fireplace was burning brightly, dispelling the chill that seeped in through the cracks in the doors and windows. A deer head with huge antlers hangs on the top of the fireplace. Under the reflection of the firelight, the projection of the antlers on the back wall is like a huge minion.
Opposite it is a dark red long wooden table full of parchment scrolls and books, mostly executive orders waiting to be signed. Usually, Roland handles official business here - since he converted the third floor of the castle into an office, he has gradually liked it here.
Through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him, he could see the town extending in front of his vision, and at the end there were endless mountains. That is the desperate mountain range that almost runs through the continent, separating the Kingdom of Greycastle from the wild land on the east and west sides. The North Slope Mountain is just a branch of the Desperate Mountain Range.
Underfoot, you can see a garden surrounded by wooden fences. The wooden shed for Anna's training has been dismantled, and the brick pool has been turned into a long table for easy placement of tableware during afternoon tea. If the weather is nice, he'll also go down there to soak up the sun or take a nap in a custom-made rocking chair.
Although the castle is not big, it can be regarded as a medium-sized villa with an independent garden. In the past life, if you want to sit on a real stone castle, it is almost a fantasy, and you have to pay for tickets first just to visit. But now, he not only owns the castle, but also controls a town.
"His Royal Highness, the cost of recruiting craftsmen and handymen has been quite large recently. This money is all taken out of your pocket. I'm afraid it won't last until next spring." Barov held a stack of parchment and asked Roland. Report recent financial results.
The original income and expenditure of Border Town was very simple. One line was the trade of ores and gems. This line is monopolized by the Longsong Fortress, which replaces the output of the North Slope mine with wheat or bread. There is no tax in the middle, and the fortress sends someone to preside over the resource exchange. In layman's terms, the North Slope Mine is a joint-stock project of the great nobles of Changge Fortress. Those nobles stationed in Border Town can be regarded as supervisors sent by shareholders. Most of their fiefs are east of the fortress, and they only live here temporarily, and the people who come here are different every year.
In fact, the history of Border Town is less than 30 years old. Compared with the nearly 200-year-old Changge Fortress, it is a new baby. Originally, Duke Ryan only planned to establish an outpost here to give an early warning of the invasion of evil beasts. Unexpectedly, the pioneers discovered rich mineral resources in the North Slope Mountains, so they simply set up a town here and named it Border Town. In a sense, it was the North Slope mine that made the town.
In order to prevent secret mining and concealment, the duke did not adopt the suggestion of the nobles to send their own hands to mine, but uniformly hired local residents, nearby refugees, and even criminals to act as miners, and the output ore was distributed according to the proportion of the resources invested by each family. . The fortress only needs to provide the employees with food and a small commission for the whole year. These remunerations are fixed amounts and will not change according to the output of the mining area. Most of the more than 2,000 residents in Border Town serve the mining area.
On the other line, there are other industries in the town - such as blacksmiths, taverns, textiles, etc. Border Town's meager tax revenue mainly comes from here, and it is difficult to have much left over the year. The previous lord didn't take this barren land seriously. Since Roland was sent here by the King of Greycastle, he simply stayed in the fort and couldn't come.
Therefore, if Roland wanted to hire someone to build the city wall, he could only pay from his own pocket. If it was the previous fourth prince, he would definitely not be willing to say anything, but for Roland, as long as he can gain a firm foothold in Border Town, it is worth spending all his property. Anyway, the ore trade in the future will no longer be settled in grain, and if it is settled in currency, this investment is simply a drizzle.
The only question is whether Changsong Fortress is willing to give up its monopoly and conduct normal trade with Border Town—this is a bit like taking food from a tiger’s mouth, but the inventory data provided by Barov shows that limited labor is inefficient and transportation is inconvenient. In fact, The value of the ore produced by the mining area every year is only more than a thousand golden dragons, which is only a drop in the bucket for the entire revenue of the fortress. The only ones whose interests are damaged are those nobles who invest in partnership.
Considering the long-term development of Border Town, this line must be withdrawn. Roland knew in his heart that even if those people's investment was fully recovered more than ten years ago, they would not let go easily. No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat, not to mention the good thing that you can make money by lying down. He is willing to give certain discounts and compensations to previous investors, such as half-price purchases. But dragging a ship of ore back for half a load of grain is not allowed to happen again.
While Roland was staring at the list and thinking, Barov was also staring at him.
In the past three months, to be exact, in the last month, the Fourth Prince has undergone some indescribable changes. It may not be clear to outsiders, but he follows the prince every day, and this change cannot be concealed from him.
Back in Greycastle, he had heard about the notoriety of the fourth prince, Roland Wimbledon. Go his own way, act recklessly, have no aristocratic demeanor . . . and so on. In short, no big mistakes are made, and small mistakes are constantly made, which is far worse than his two brothers.
When His Majesty sent him here, he was full of disappointment. If His Majesty had not promised to appoint him as the official Minister of Finance after the battle for kingship was over, he really wanted to quit.
In the first two months of his arrival in Border Town, the fourth prince, as always, showed extremely childish behavior, offending all the local nobles who could offend him. Fortunately, the town itself was extremely small, and even if all the administrative positions were vacant, he and the dozen or so civilian staff he brought could fill them.
After that, some things changed.
When did the change start? He thought, probably... since saving the witch.
It was not that Barov had not suspected the possibility of demon possession, or that the prince himself was being manipulated by another hidden witch. But this possibility is very slim. If the devil and the witch have such ability, why are they looking for the fourth prince? Wouldn't it be better to directly control His Majesty or the Pope? Another thing that dispelled his suspicion was that he saw the prince hold the lock of divine punishment with his own eyes.
This thing is the church's trump card against witches. Any demon's power will collapse in front of the God's Punishment Chain, but Roland directly holds it. In other words, if he wasn't the fourth prince, but a Demon King who didn't even need to fear divine power, would there be a need to expose him? Saving your own life comes first.
The prince's style is still going his own way and acting recklessly, but the two give him different feelings. No, Barov thought about it, it should be the exact opposite.
The biggest difference should be purpose. He sensed what Roland was planning, and in order to achieve his goal, he had to use some methods that were incomprehensible to ordinary people. Like the other party trying to convince himself why he wanted to save a witch, maybe the plan is immature and full of loopholes, but the prince is indeed moving forward with the plan and is convinced of the outcome.
This is the most confusing part. The throne may be born among any of the Roland brothers and sisters, but it will never be the fourth prince himself. He should be very clear about this kind of thing himself. Talking about development in a small place like Border Town? Not even the gods can do it! What kind of crazy plan did Roland come up with, so crazy that a small town built outside the border defense line could develop better than Golden Spike City, and he had to convince himself that the plan would be successful
If it was just the delusion of a lunatic, it would be fine, but Roland's vigorous construction of the city wall showed that it did not seem to be the case. He really intends to stay here and rely on "cement", an alchemical product, to build a city wall that is almost impossible in common sense.
There are alchemists in Barov's family, but he has never heard of the alchemy workshop making such a thing. Is it self-confidence or randomness to build a wall plan on something that no one has ever seen? Expanding to the entire plan planned by Roland, how much is the fourth prince hiding that he doesn't know? He found himself faintly interested in the days ahead.