That's not how you use a witch!

Chapter 4: Accumulate Grain, Delay Claiming Kingship

As it turns out, the claim that half a ton of iron consumes two loaves of bread is a bit of an understatement.

Meidel looked like a rather thin little girl, but she had a huge appetite; she ate more by herself than Ronan and Bart combined.

Ronan wondered if all the beautiful girls had a Doraemon inside their stomachs, how come they didn't gain weight even after eating so much food!

But then I thought about it and it made sense, because before today, she probably had never experienced what it felt like to be "full"...

Finding that the whole bowl of bread was gone in no time, Meidel felt a little embarrassed, her face flushed.

Noticing her shyness and confirming that she hadn't eaten too much, Ronan instructed a servant to bring another bowl of bread and vegetable soup—a negligible amount of food compared to the value she could create.

After dinner, Ronan arranged for Madonna to rest.

She had endured days of extreme hunger and tension. Although her condition had improved since arriving in Thornlands, she still needed to actively recover. As the key figure in the agricultural endeavor, Maddale absolutely could not afford to make a mistake.

Ronan chose a room on the first floor of the lord's castle and had a servant clean out a storage room to use as her bedroom.

Bart thought such treatment was too generous for a witch of unknown origin, but Ronan dismissed his opinion.

Afterwards, Ronan summoned all eight blacksmiths of Thorn Territory.

Apart from two blacksmiths who were Ronan's own servants, the other six were all from the neighboring mountain territory. They were skilled workers whom the original owner had hired at a high price of 25 shillings per month, which solved his immediate problem.

Having a capable original owner is so reassuring.

"How long will it take to process these raw materials into farm tools for land reclamation?"

Ronan described his requirements to them in detail, including the types of farm implements and the quantity of each type.

"My lord, these are all wrought irons that are easy to process, and the process of making farm tools is not complicated... If we work together, we can make enough land clearing tools for two hundred people in two days, and we can equip all the farmers in the Thorn Territory in three days at most, and we won't need that many materials at all."

When the eldest blacksmith, Gavin, answered, his aged voice was somewhat awe-inspiring.

The cost of so much wrought iron is no small sum; it would be a huge financial drain not only for a mere baron, but for most viscounts as well. Gavin's intuition told him that this young Baron of Thorns was definitely about to make a big move.

"Good, very energetic."

Ronan nodded.

"I'll give you three days. During this time, I'll provide your food and labor free of charge. After you finish processing, the remaining raw materials will be yours as an extra bonus, distributed according to the quantity and quality of your work!"

The eight blacksmiths were overjoyed.

Ronan provided 30 iron ingots, each weighing about 20 pounds. Even if each farm tool was made to a high standard of quality, there would still be over 100 pounds of wrought iron left over. Even if divided equally, that much iron would be a considerable fortune.

And if you do well, you can get even more. Who could resist that?

For the next two days, every blacksmith consciously embraced 007's good fortune, even having their meals brought into the workshop by their helpers.

With this kind of high-energy boost, the order that was originally expected to take 3 days to complete was actually mostly finished in 2 days.

On the morning of the third day, all the citizens of Thorn Territory were summoned to the square.

The young lord announced some exciting news to them: after the gathering was disbanded, every household would receive free iron farm tools!

The crowd stirred.

The words of nobles are often deceiving, but the eyes of peasants are not.

The fact that the servants brought loads of pickaxes, axes, and shovels by the cartloads indicated that the young new lord was clearly not making fun of them.

Compared to the news Ronan announced later, this was the least significant one:

"From now on, everyone in the territory will have the opportunity to become a free man—including immigrants and serfs. I will issue you a series of tasks, such as clearing wasteland, building roads, constructing irrigation systems, and even forming militias."

Depending on the difficulty and importance of the task, completing it will earn you corresponding work points. Once you accumulate a certain number of work points, you can be promoted to a free citizen, and free citizens can earn corresponding rewards for their work points. I will release the specific tasks and work point calculation methods later. Work points are tied to iron; every ten work points can be exchanged for one pound of wrought iron ingot.

In fact, reclaiming wasteland was the first task I posted. These farm tools were not so much free as they were already included in your work points and would be automatically deducted during settlement.

I've already assigned someone to record everyone's responsibilities. Only by diligently completing the work will you receive the corresponding work points. Everyone who finishes will receive a free lunch and dinner, and as a reward for outstanding performance, the first twenty people to finish each time will receive an egg.

Now, the commotion had completely turned into a cacophony.

For serfs and vagrants whose average level of education was limited to prenatal education, Ronan's so-called scoring system was obviously a bit profound, but they could understand the core meaning: working for the lord would not only make them free citizens, but they would also have food to eat and even money to earn!

Farmers may be ignorant, but they are never foolish when it comes to matters concerning their own interests.

What they care about most is that as long as they do the work quickly and well, they will have eggs for lunch today!

So after receiving their farm tools, both serfs and free men rushed to the reclaimed land like wild dogs.

What thorny bushes? Those are their eggs!

"My goodness! I never imagined serfs and commoners could be so motivated!"

Looking at the vibrant, thriving reclaimed area, the well-traveled chief knight gaped in astonishment.

He considered himself to know serfs very well; these ignorant fellows would find ways to slack off and would just dawdle without being whipped. Today's scene challenged his worldview.

Although the first few people were planted by Ronan, the others all followed suit, and some were even more enthusiastic than the planted ones...

"In reality, most nobles were not much better than serfs."

Ronan shrugged. "How's the pig iron deal going?"

"Reporting back to you, sir, describing it as smooth sailing is an understatement. Many merchants even cancelled their original orders after learning about our goods and prices. The transaction volume achieved in just the last two days is almost equivalent to the last month's fiscal revenue of the neighboring mountain region!"

I was even worried that our pig iron production wouldn't be enough, but thankfully your witch performed exceptionally well!

Ronan nodded in satisfaction as Bart gave his enthusiastic report.

He also learned from the original owner's memories that his chief knight was not a nobleman by blood, and that his grandfather had been a spice trader.

Based on the principle of "rounding up or down is about right", Ronan tried to entrust him with the task of negotiating business, and to his surprise, he was actually quite capable of it.

Of course, no merchant would refuse something that is both high-quality and inexpensive, which is the main reason.

"But sir, that witch can clearly provide a large amount of wrought iron, so why did you choose pig iron instead? The former is several times more profitable than the latter."

Bart said, "Furthermore, you've limited the amount of pig iron that can be sold to each merchant. In reality, many merchants have even greater purchasing needs, and we don't need to find many buyers to sell it all..."

"Then I will soon become a prominent figure in the entire Western Territory because of my possession of a large amount of wrought iron of dubious origin. At that time, those powerful neighbors will either force me to submit and pay tribute, or force me to hand over Maddale. The old iron-producing regions will also unite to impose a blockade and embargo on me, and the only resource advantage of the Thorn Territory will instantly become my risk."

If the pig iron were sold in a scattered manner, people would at most think that Thornlands had just happened to discover an iron ore deposit and could smelt some pig iron. In the eyes of outsiders, Thornlands was still a harmless, poor, and desolate place.

Ultimately, "A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime..." Well, that's how it's said in Terran, right?

Seeing Bart's enlightened expression, Ronan earnestly summarized, "Remember, stockpile resources and bide your time. Steady progress is the best strategy for us. Moreover, for Miss Madonna, creating pig iron causes far less pollution than wrought iron of equal value, which will benefit her recovery."

"I see! As expected of you, sir..."

Bart then changed the subject, "But sir, you'd better not be too nice to that witch."

Ronan raised an eyebrow: "What? You still believe that witches are a symbol of bad luck? Even after witnessing their contributions?"

"While she did make a contribution, that contribution is primarily due to your wisdom and intelligence. She was a dangerous witch who was originally sentenced to death; no amount of caution could have been excessive."

Bart insisted on his point of view, "To put it another way, your attitude towards witches also goes against the Church's principles. They believe that witches can only atone for their sins through asceticism and death in battle. I've heard that some lords have tried to use witches' abilities for purposes other than combat, but none of them received warnings or even punishments from the Church. Even if you are unconventional, you should keep a low profile as much as possible. Just as you said, accumulate resources and delay declaring yourself king."

"That's a good reminder... Okay, I'll be careful."

Ronan had indeed considered the risks involved. Fortunately, perhaps because Thorn Territory was too poor and dilapidated, there wasn't even a church in the area, and missionaries from the neighboring territories would occasionally spawn there.

He would never have dared to be so radical if the church power within his territory had not been nearly nonexistent.

As for Barth's prejudice—Ronan knew that arguing would not only be useless, but might even backfire, so he didn't intend to waste any more words; time would tell.

"By the way, how long has Madonna been sleeping these past few days?"

"what?"

Bart didn't know why the lord was suddenly asking this, but he still thought for a moment before answering, "She goes to sleep around the same time as you, but wakes up very early. Well, about an hour earlier than your subjects."

"So you woke up before four o'clock?"

Ronan frowned. He usually went to bed at 10 p.m., so this meant that Madonna had only slept for six hours, which was still far from the eight-hour rest benchmark!

The system showed her status was only 20%, a significant improvement from before, but still urgently needed improvement. A little more improvement would allow his farming empire to take off sooner!

"No, she's not getting enough sleep. I'll go talk to her."

"..."

Bart frowned as he watched Ronan stride toward the lord's castle.

Why are adults so concerned about that witch's sleep?

Could it be that she used some tricks to bewitch the adults?

Bart decided he would have to keep a closer eye on that witch from now on to prevent her from doing anything out of line.

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