Before he knew it, Wood had lived in Pyroxene Town for a week.
During this week, he had observed a lot and learned a lot about this town, which was called "the hope of the north" by the Federation. He also had some understanding of its administrative ideas and various key technologies.
For a spy's work, he had done a good job.
But he did not have any pride or complacency. Instead, he was full of deep worry.
Why was Pyroxene Town able to develop from a dilapidated border town to a paradise in less than three years?
In his opinion, there were no more than two key points.
The first was to generate income, and the second was to save money.
Generating income was to actively find sources of income for the town. The two most critical sources of income here were the extraction of negative energy from the underground farm and several herb fields outside the village. The former could be used to produce low-grade magic materials and could be transformed into a variety of valuable resources through a method that he had yet to learn. It was quite popular in the international magic material market. The latter, on the other hand, was an important consumer product. Although it was not expensive, the market demand for them was almost endless. There was no need to worry about sales.
With these two key sources of income, the various policies in the town could be supported. For example, "beautifying the living environment" — he had never thought that a small town would also attach so much importance to the environment. On the town's bulletin board, there were powerful painters who had drawn pictures of the town over the past few years. The pictures, strengthened by magic, were extremely tough and could be read at will, allowing people to review the development history of the town.
Judging from the picture scroll, when Mayor Felix first arrived, Pyroxene Town was actually extremely dilapidated. The ground was full of potholes and gravel, and starving people and excrement could be seen everywhere. It was frozen like a stone by the severe cold. The houses were so dilapidated that it seemed that they would collapse at any time when the wind blew.
But just three months later, when spring came, the houses in the town had been repaired. The wooden houses of various sizes were like pieces of clothes that were full of patches but were still in good condition. One could even see a little smoke coming out of the fireplaces under the houses. It must be very warm to live in them, and they were not afraid of the cold at all.
By the autumn of that year, the town's roads had been repaired, and they were almost the same as they were now. The foundation was a piece of gravel, and then the crushed stone powder was poured into the gaps of the gravel, and then it was rammed solid while watering. In the end, even though it was slightly inferior to a complete stone slab, it was already sufficiently flat and comfortable.
Moreover, there were many more decorations and celebratory items on the square in the middle of the town. There were even a few villagers wearing obviously new clothes happily decorating the venue for the celebration.
In the spring of the following year, many houses in the town began to be renovated. Although the old houses that had been repaired could still be used, some of them were either too old or of poor quality, so the villagers knocked down the old houses and temporarily moved into the mayor's office. In the pictures, people who had become strong and energetic were not afraid of the cold and were working in an orderly manner. At the entrance of the mayor's office, an old man was looking at the construction site with a smile. Next to him, two women were preparing food in a large pot. That bustling scene, even though it was just a painting, made Wood feel touched.
The second autumn celebration was quite grand. The painting depicted the scene at night. Although the sky was completely dark, the square in the center of the town was full of people celebrating. A few young spellcasters told the residents to stay a little further away and then cast spells into the sky to act as fireworks. The light of the spell explosions dotted the night sky. The bonfire reflected the people's smiling faces, which were full of happiness and hope for the future.
Wood noticed that there were already a lot of green plants in the town on this painting. He assumed that the work to expel the erosion of negative energy must have been completed during this time.
The last painting was completed not long ago. The town held a small ceremony to celebrate the birthdays of a few old people. The old people who should have been dispirited and despondent elsewhere were smiling so happily that the wrinkles on their faces seemed to have bloomed. Around the square, on both sides of the road, there were many more trees. The emerald green leaves glistened under the sunlight, as if they were precious emeralds.
Next to the picture was another bird's-eye view of the town. It could be seen that the town already had beautiful walls, vegetable fields, and medicinal fields. Only the construction site that produced the essence of negative energy was blank. The painter had drawn a smiley face in its place, with the words "This is a secret" written on it.
Comparing the five paintings, Wood was very emotional.
He could tell that the income of this town was indeed not low. But more importantly, the key was that the mayor was willing to spend money.
Were there few high-income areas? Not at all. In the Federation alone, there were many towns with many stable industries. He was willing to bet that the income of many of these towns was absolutely no less than that of Pyroxene Town.
But those towns were completely incomparable to Pyroxene Town. The lords who ruled the towns, as well as the powerful and influential people who controlled various income projects, all racked their brains to make money, but it was absolutely impossible for them to spend money to improve the conditions and people's livelihood in the town. So although the level of income might be the same, the situation in the town was very different.
And this was the second reason that Wood concluded.
Throttling.
For a territory, no matter how high the income was, if it was completely plundered by the ruler, and only a little occasionally leaked out of the fingers, then the high income was meaningless.
One of the key reasons why Pyroxene Town could develop was that the mayor, Felix, almost did not care about income at all.
The beautiful sorceress had reinvested almost all of the income of the town into the construction of the town, and the properties that belonged to her, such as the magic school, were built entirely with her own money. Not a single penny was used from the public funds.
"Public money" was a word that the residents of Pyroxene Town often said when they chatted in the tavern, and it came from the mayor herself. She had said more than once that she was the leader of the town, but not the owner. This town belonged to everyone.
Such words sounded vaguely familiar to Wood. He carefully recalled for a long time, and finally remembered that it was the words that Master Lamperus, the founder of the Federation, had said.
"In the past years, I've seen many cruel and impersonal rulers. As a mage, as a person who has witnessed history, I don't think this is the right way to do it. So I want to build a country where people rule by themselves, and the ruler is just a bystander. In this country, powerful spellcasters are the guardians of towns and villages, but they do not own these lands and the various industries on them. We are not lords. "
"I think this is a good approach. Spellcasters are busy with research and have little time to waste on plundering people's wealth or indulging their own desires. I believe that over time, this plateau at the southernmost tip of the continent will become a paradise that the people of the whole continent yearn for! "
It had been thousands of years since then. However, the Federation had not been able to become a paradise for civilians, but a holy land for spellcasters.
Thinking of the mood when he read that sentence in the book, and then comparing it with what he had seen and heard during this time, Wood, who could sleep and wake up as he pleased, had insomnia.
He thought for a long time, but felt that he had gained nothing.
He knew that the situation in the Federation was not right, and he also knew that the approach of Pyroxene Town was correct, but both reason and intuition told him that the approach of Pyroxene Town could not be popularized.
The high-level officials of the Federation were indeed knowledgeable. They noticed the situation in Pyroxene Town and sent him, an ace spy, to understand the details of the situation here. In order to bring help to the governance of the Federation and promote the progress of the Federation.
But … could the experiences here really be of any help to the Federation?
He was very doubtful.
In order to hide his identity, he did not hesitate to let the summoned witch almost completely suck up his strength, which was close to that of a high-grade Ranger, and turned him into an ordinary person who could only be described as agile. In order to deceive the detection spell, a high-grade wizard of the Federation who had found the road to legend came forward and presided over a set of deceptive plans to ensure that everything he said was "true."
All of this, he paid a huge price.
But could he really get anything in return?
He was very worried.
With these doubts and worries, he tossed and turned, and when he went to work the next day, he had some dark circles under his eyes.
"You have to be careful!" In the carpenter workshop, the old foreman in charge of supervision and management looked at his tired appearance and asked worriedly, "Are you feeling unwell? See a doctor if you are not feeling well. Go to the magic school, where there are doctors who know herbology, or go to the temple … "
Wood shook his head to show that he was fine.
"It would be strange if I was fine! Look at you, your eyes are a little unfocused! " The old foreman was very dissatisfied and patted his shoulder. As a result, his hand slipped a little, and the sharp carpenter's tool rubbed against his leg. Immediately, it cut a wound, and blood flowed.
The old foreman was shocked and immediately rushed to the big cabinet at the door of the workshop. From inside, he took out a wooden box with a red cross on a white background. He opened the wooden box, and there were several kinds of commonly used medicine in it. They were all prepared and wrapped in different colored oiled paper. There were also clean bandages, and their uses were obvious at a glance.
The old foreman had obviously received special training, and his actions of applying medicine and bandaging were very fast. The carpenters also stopped what they were doing and came to help. After the initial treatment of his wound, they moved the stretcher placed next to the cabinet and forced him to lie on it. Then, they carried him hurriedly to the temple.
The priest of the temple asked about the situation, and then first gave him medicine that could heal the body and replenish the loss of flesh and blood. Then, he opened the wound and carefully examined it. After making sure that there were no wood chips or iron scraps left, he washed the wound with holy water and cast a low-level healing spell on him, so that the wound would recover slightly and stop bleeding. Finally, the medicine was applied again, and the wound was bandaged so that he could rest well.
"Can't it be completely cured?" Wood asked, puzzled.
"Ordinary healing spells are actually overdrafting your vitality. I don't know how to use advanced healing spells," the priest said with a smile. The priest said with a smile, "This is enough for the treatment. The rest can be slowly recovered."
"But this will affect my work …"
When this was said, the priest and the workmates all laughed.
"Don't worry! This is a work injury. Not only will all the medical expenses be borne by the town, but before the injury recovers, your salary will still be paid. "
After that, everyone moved him back to the stretcher and carried him home.
In the temple, the priest smiled slightly and began to clean up the blood stains.
He cleaned up the blood-stained bandages and discarded medicine, and washed the floor with clean water. After doing all this, he wanted to rest, but suddenly froze.
"That's not right! Why is the carpenter's wound … healing so much slower than the average person? Why is the effect of healing spells on him so bad? "
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