Magic, steel, heavy industry

Chapter 38 Veresa

In the early morning at Tiezhenling, the residents got up early to work.

Since Lord Vilan arrived, the residents' lives have undergone tremendous changes. They no longer huddle under the covers to avoid the cold wind, but instead put in 100% effort and are unwilling to waste precious time in bed.

Veresa was one of them; she left home early, carrying half a radish for breakfast.

She wore a thick wool coat that wrapped her body tightly, a pair of hard-soled leather boots, and an exquisite wool felt hat.

Throughout Iron Anvil Hill, even among the freemen, few were dressed as warmly as Vera.

The reason is simple: Vera is the only tailor in town, and all her clothes are handmade, especially in the dreaded winter when warmth is her top priority.

Thanks to her good friend Igris's recommendation, today is the day for Veresa to meet with the lord.

But she wasn't nervous. Iglesias had already told her that Lord Vilan was much easier to talk to than those wretched noblemen.

Moreover, it was just designing clothes for the guards, and Vanesa didn't think it was a very challenging job. She only spent two nights and had already drawn two different sketches.

Feeling relieved after touching the blueprints in her pocket, Valerie walked towards the castle.

Speaking of the guards, those guys have been really annoying these past few days. Every day before dawn, they start shouting and yelling around the town.

Vanesa instinctively looked behind her on the street, and sure enough, a familiar voice came from behind her.

A series of synchronized running sounds, mixed with the shouts of the young men, quickly spread throughout the entire street.

At the street corner, Veresa spotted them.

Led by two instructors, the 30 people lined up in three neat rows and ran laps around the outskirts of the town with almost identical steps.

Occasionally, someone would fall behind or fail to keep up with the pace, and the instructor would give them a hard kick in the butt.

Today, their instructor is Mr. Ge, a cold man who always looks like someone you shouldn't mess with.

Suddenly, Mr. Gey turned around, stood still, and twirled a bone whistle in his mouth.

The whistle blew four times rhythmically, followed by Mr. Gee's shout: "One! Two! Three! Four! One, two, three! Four!"

Immediately afterward, the new recruits joined in shouting, "One! Two! Three! Four! One, two, three! Four!"

Vanesa couldn't understand why the guards had to run around the town every day.

Shouldn't they learn horseback riding, lance fighting, and swordsmanship like knights?

Soon, the guards' voices faded away, and Veresa walked into the workshop area.

This place used to be an uninhabited ruin, a playground for children, but now it has been transformed into workshops where artisans and apprentices are busy at work.

Sawing wood, starting fires, forging iron, making strange gray powder—these people never stopped. But unlike before, they didn't complain or slack off. Instead, everyone was afraid of falling behind others.

Vanesa felt that Lord Vilan truly possessed some kind of magic, managing to keep these guys working obediently simply through wages and a promotion system.

"But if I could also get gold coins and a free lunch, I'd probably do the same as them."

That's what Vanesa thought.

After a while, she walked to the square. Unlike the quiet square before, it was now crowded with people every day.

Because of the lord's strange interest in goblin magic cores, those who were not selected as apprentices or recruits and had no way to work in the mines all gathered here. As long as they collected enough magic cores each day, they could fill their stomachs, and if they were lucky, they could even eat meat.

Furthermore, Lord Vilan stipulated a couple of days ago that anyone who collects more than 50 magic cores a day will not only receive two meals but also a reward of 5 copper coins.

Lord Vilan will also reward those who clean up goblin corpses.

They can exchange goblin corpses for food and copper coins.

Veresa heard that the people in the workshop particularly liked those smelly corpses; they were a terrible bunch.

She shook her head and walked to the huge bulletin board at the edge of the square.

It's covered in writing every day, but it hasn't been updated today; the content is still from yesterday.

Specifically, it refers to which craftsman in the workshop received a bonus, which worker in the mine was selected as a "Daily Role Model," the "Daily Model" of the guard team, and some people who made special contributions.

For example, the hunter Scarface had his name on the bulletin board for several days because he helped the lord hunt a magical beast.

Of course, the serfs were illiterate, so they had to ask literate free men to read it aloud.

After watching for a while, Vanesa suddenly had a peculiar idea.

Will my name appear there too?

Veresa blushed instantly and quickly left the square, heading straight for the castle.

At this moment, Vilan was discussing matters with Llorente.

"Still haven't found sulfur and saltpeter?" Vilan asked, somewhat disappointed.

Llorente has been searching for several days, but there is still no good news.

"It's not that we came away empty-handed. I heard there are sulfur mines in the area north of Amber River where those refugees are staying. Also, saltpeter can only be dug up in the corners of toilets and sheep pens now, and the yield is not large. You should be prepared that there are probably no saltpeter mines near Iron Anvil Ridge."

Llorente reported with a sense of helplessness.

Vilan sighed. Indeed, nothing was simple.

He then remembered something else: "How efficient are you in utilizing the goblin corpses at the workshop?"

"Not bad. The craftsmen all highly approve of your decision. Using goblin corpses as fuel is more effective than using oak. Not only does it produce a stronger fire, but it also burns for a longer time."

"The carpentry workshop is making more comprehensive use of goblin bones and iron plates to make the key mechanisms of crossbows. They are now trying to process goblin tendons, which they think may be able to replace some of the animal tendons."

After Llorente finished speaking, he also cast a look of admiration at Vilan.

No one ever cared about the goblin corpses that covered the mountains and fields, but Vilan could come up with all sorts of ways to turn waste into treasure, saving a lot of resources for the Anvil Territory.

Vilan's thinking was much simpler: with so many goblin corpses, why didn't anyone think of using them?

Dried goblin corpses are excellent fuel, and those hard bones and tough tendons are free materials, aren't they?

Since goblins are so useful, we should make full and thorough use of them. Wasting them is a shameful loss!

"Lord Vilan, Veresa has arrived."

Suddenly, Igris's voice rang out. Vilan ended his conversation with Llorente, picked up the draft on the table, and went out.