System: Build My Own Territory

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Ore Vein Detector

Village, at the wooden house door.

Lynn was pondering how to improve the salt making technique efficiently, while a group of figures grew closer from afar.

Before Lynn could give any instructions, Red took off his bow and arrows and walked toward that group of people.

Red stopped them on a barren land.

At first glance, this group had at least thirty people!

At the front, a curly-haired, burly man stepped forward.

Facing the tall and sturdy Red holding a bow, he showed no trace of fear.

”We are here looking for work... Mr. George sent us here!”

Upon hearing the name, Red turned to look behind him.

There, Lynn was walking up.

Lynn stared directly at these people, both men and women, yet there were no children.

Their cleanliness was far better than the refugees who had previously arrived.

Lynn said in a deep voice: ”My territory is lacking labor, but... I don’t need hired workers here!”

”Don’t need hired workers? Then what is needed?”

”Is it slaves? Oh, we are Free People, not slaves.”

The curly-haired, burly man looked at Lynn, ”Sorry, Lord, we are not slaves. We disturbed you. We will leave now.”

Lynn continued: ”What I need to recruit are... villagers!”

Upon hearing this, those who were about to turn around stopped in their tracks.

”Villagers?”

They looked at Lynn with full of confusion.

Lynn said: ”Become my villagers, regardless of whether you’re men, women, or children, I can provide you with three meals a day, so you won’t go hungry anymore!”

”Every family will have a house, working from sunrise to sunset, and if you need to do some special work, there will be subsidies!”

Their indifferent expressions gradually turned into surprise.

Until finally, turning into shock.

Such favorable conditions, could they really be offered by a lord?

The curly-haired burly man was somewhat disbelief, ”Lord, what must we do to become your villagers?”

Indeed.

These conditions were tempting to him.

As a blacksmith, working to exhaustion for the Manor Lord crafting farm tools day in and day out, only earning three pence a day!

Yet he had three children to support at home.

After finishing work at the manor, he had to stay up late to make farm tools for villagers...

Even planting some farmland barely ensured they didn’t starve.

This life suffocated him.

Not only the curly-haired burly man, but also the villagers behind him had wide eyes, waiting for Lynn’s answer.

Lynn spoke calmly: ”One hundred percent obedience to my orders; those who defy will be executed!”

Wow!

Upon hearing the last two words, a commotion arose among the villagers.

”What a joke? Disobedience leads to execution?”

”We are Free People, not slaves!”

”...”

The curly-haired, burly man stared directly at Lynn and asked: ”Lord, can we really stop enduring hunger as your villagers?”

Lynn nodded, ”I’ve already said, if you’re willing, you can go and bring your family immediately!”

The curly-haired man swiftly responded, ”Yes, yes, the Lord has said it, I will go, I will go!”

After speaking, the curly-haired man took big strides and left.

Remaining in place were the others, still hesitating.

They were tempted but didn’t dare to believe it was true.

At this moment, a young man stepped forward.

”Lord, I want to become your villager, it’s just me in my family, I can join now.”

”Lord, I am also willing to become your villager...”

With someone leading, one by one, villagers chose to join Lynn’s village.

Just the promise of no longer being hungry was already irresistible to them!

Finally, all the Free People joined Lynn’s village.

Some even brought their families along.

As dusk fell.

When they saw villagers returning from work with tools in hand, faces full of pure smiles, and pots of pork and barley porridge being carried out of the kitchen.

Only then did they believe that what the Lord said was true!

They even saw the Lord gift each returning villager a piece of salt mine!

They were completely thrilled!

...

The joining of these villagers once again increased the population of Lynn’s village.

Counting adults and children, there are already eighty-seven people!

Seventy-five laborers, twelve children.

We need to build more wooden houses to accommodate these new villagers.

Lynn gathered twenty villagers with Level 2 or Level 1 [Construction] skills and had Red lead them in building the wooden houses.

One wooden house after another sprouted up, surrounding the village.

Meanwhile, Lynn continued to toil away in the kitchen, honing his [Cooking] skills.

[Cooking: Level 0 (95/100)]

One pot after another of pork barley porridge was cooked by Lynn and brought out from the kitchen.

[Cooking Experience +1]

[Cooking Experience +1]

...

Especially those newly joined villagers, they never dreamed.

That one day, they would eat food personally cooked by the Lord himself.

After staying in the kitchen for six consecutive days, a string of text prompts appeared in Lynn’s view.

[Your cooking has leveled up to Level 1, unlocking: Ore Vein Detector]

[Reward received: Memory Pearl ×1]

Lynn looked towards the corner of the [Heavenly Artifacts] panel.

There, a small radar-like feature was present.

[Geological Detector]: Indicates any ore vein within 200 meters of the marked location.

Seeing the textual description, Lynn nodded in satisfaction.

This feature is like a supplement to the holographic map.

While exploring to light up the surrounding map, the detector will discover ore veins that are otherwise invisible.

A very good feature indeed!

Lynn glanced at the skills panel, now all skills except for [Hunting], [Forging], [Breeding], and [Medicine] have risen to Level 1.

[Hunting] is fine enough. He can go into the forest with Red’s Horn Bow to hunt.

[Forging], [Breeding], and [Medicine] upgrade plans posed some difficulties for Lynn.

...

While Lynn was reviewing the panel, Red walked into the kitchen.

”Master Lynn, Mr. George has come to the village.”

Lynn responded and walked out.

On the open ground of the village.

George, dressed in high-grade woolen robes and pants, with metal-buckled leather shoes, was standing there.

And behind him were eight medium-sized horse-drawn carriages, pulled by pairs, with the steeds occasionally snorting.

The eight carriages were stacked with various goods, covered with oilcloth made of ordinary linen cloth, providing protection from wind and rain and guarding against malicious intentions.

Behind the carriages were sturdy draft oxen and horses, tethered and pulled by ropes!

Lynn glanced roughly; there were at least a dozen!

Apart from the drivers handling the horses, there were also five guards equipped with weapons accompanying them!

Seeing Lynn, George hurried up to meet him.

Approaching Lynn, he quickly bowed, speaking respectfully.

”Oh, dear Master Lynn, besides the slaves... I have brought you everything you wanted!”

”One thousand pounds of premium iron, twelve draft oxen, six draft horses, two thousand pounds of meat, ten thousand pounds of barley, one thousand pounds of wheat, and several hundred pounds of vegetables!”

”After deducting the pence for the previous iron pot, there remain fourteen Gold Pounds and six shillings here...”

Listening to George’s explanation, Lynn couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

The current situation in the Kaldi Empire is complicated, but not to the point of war, with goods prices remaining relatively steady.

The market price for premium iron is six pence per pound.

One thousand pounds of iron is enough for Lynn to make a lot of iron products and heavy plows for salt mine extraction!

The price for a draft ox is seven shillings, while a draft horse is slightly more expensive at nine shillings.

As for the meat, barley, and wheat, all items combined.

It should be about Fifty-Six Gold Pounds and Eight shillings!

Seven thousand pounds of rock salt, sold at two pence per pound, could fetch Fifty-Eight Gold Pounds and six shillings.

Three thousand pounds of beer valued at Four Gold Pounds and sixty-eight pence...

Excluding the cost of the iron pot...

Calculating this way, the money Lynn earns from selling rock salt matches up with these goods in front of him.

How George sells and what price he fetches relies on his ability; Lynn won’t meddle in it.

Lynn approvingly said, ”You’ve done well!”

Though no slaves were brought back, gathering this much goods in such a short time already showcased George’s capability.

What made Lynn feel the sentiment was.

The fifty-eight Gold Pounds and six shillings from selling seven thousand pounds of rock salt couldn’t even buy four suits of fine craftsmanship, chain armor favored by noble knights!

Damn nobility indeed!