The fire in the fireplace was burning brightly, dispelling the chill that seeped through the cracks in the doors and windows. On the top of the fireplace hung a deer head with a huge horn. Under the light of the fire, the reflection of the horn on the wall behind him looked like a huge claw.
Opposite him was a long dark red wooden table, which was covered with parchment scrolls and books, most of which were administrative orders waiting to be signed. Usually, Roland handled official business here – since the transformation of the third floor of the castle into an office, he gradually fell in love with it.
Through the floor-to-ceiling window behind him, he could see the town extending in front of him, and at the end of it was an endless mountain range. It was the Impassable Mountain Range that almost pierced through the continent, separating the Kingdom of Graycastle and the Barbarian Land on the east and west sides. The North Slope Mountain was just a branch of the Impassable Mountain Range.
At his feet, he could see the garden surrounded by a wooden fence. The wooden shed used for Anna's training had been demolished, and the brick pool had been turned into a long table for the convenience of placing tableware during afternoon tea. If the weather was good, he would go down to bask in the sun, or lie down on the custom-made rocking chair to take a nap.
Although the castle was not big, it could still be regarded as a medium-sized villa with an independent garden. In his previous life, wanting to sit in a real stone castle was almost a fantasy. Just to visit it, he had to first pay for the entrance fee. But now, he not only owned this castle, but also a town.
"Your Highness, recently the recruitment of craftsmen and handymen has cost a lot of money, all of which came out of your pocket. If this continues, I'm afraid we won't be able to last until next spring." Barov held a stack of parchment and reported the recent financial situation to Roland.
The original income and expenditure of Border Town was very simple. One line was the trade of ore and gems. This line was monopolized by Longsong Stronghold. They exchanged the output of the North Slope Mine for wheat or bread. There was no tax in the middle, and the stronghold sent people to preside over the resource exchange. In layman's terms, the North Slope Mine was a joint-stock project of the great nobles of Longsong Stronghold. Those nobles stationed in Border Town could be regarded as supervisors sent by the shareholders. Most of their fiefs were east of Longsong Stronghold, and they only came here temporarily. Every year, the number of people who came was different.
In fact, Border Town had a history of less than thirty years. Compared to Longsong Stronghold, which had a history of nearly two hundred years, it was simply a newborn baby. Originally, the Duke Of Ryan had only intended to establish an outpost here to provide an early warning against the invasion of the demonic beasts. But unexpectedly, the Wasteland Reclaimers found 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 created the town.
In order to prevent the nobles from sending their own people to mine, the duke did not accept the suggestion of the nobles to send their own people to mine. Instead, he hired the local residents, refugees, and even criminals to be the miners. The ore produced was distributed according to the proportion of resources invested by the nobles. The fortress only needed to provide the employer with a year's worth of rations and a small commission. The remuneration was fixed and would not change according to the mine's output. Border Town had more than two thousand residents, and more than half of them worked in the mining area.
The other line was the town's other industries, such as blacksmiths, taverns, textiles and so on. Border Town's meager tax revenue mainly came from here, so it was difficult to have much money left over in a year. The previous Lord did not take this barren land seriously. Since Roland was sent here by the King of Graycastle, he simply stayed in Longsong Stronghold.
Therefore, if Roland wanted to hire people to build the wall, he could only pay from his own pocket. If it was the former 4th Prince, he would certainly not be willing. But for Roland, as long as he could gain a foothold in Border Town, it was worth it to spend all of his wealth. Anyway, the ore trade would no longer be settled with rations. If it was settled with currency, the investment would simply be a drizzle.
The only problem was whether Longsong Stronghold was willing to give up its monopoly and carry out normal trade with Border Town – this was quite like snatching food from a tiger's mouth. But according to the list of data provided by Barov, due to the low efficiency of mining and the inconvenience of transportation, in fact, the annual output of ore from the mine was only a little more than a thousand Golden Dragon coins. For the entire revenue of Longsong Stronghold, it was only a drop in the bucket. The only ones whose interests would suffer were the nobles who had invested in the mine.
For the long-term development of Border Town, this line of trade must be taken back. In Roland's heart, it was clear that even if the investments of those people had been fully recovered more than ten years ago, they would not easily let go. Even a small mosquito was meat, not to mention this kind of good thing where they could just lie down and make money. He was willing to give the previous investors a certain discount and compensation, such as buying at half price and so on. But hauling back a ship of ore for only half a ship of food, this kind of thing was not allowed to happen again.
While Roland was staring at the list, Barov was also looking at him.
In the past three months, or to be exact, in the last month, there had been some indescribable changes in the 4th Prince. Outsiders might not be clear, but he followed the Prince every day, this kind of change could not be hidden from him.
As early as in Graycastle, he had heard of the notoriety of the 4th Prince, Roland Wimbledon. Going his own way, acting unscrupulously, without any aristocratic demeanor … and so on. In short, he did not make big mistakes, but continued to make small mistakes, and was far worse than his two brothers.
When he had been sent here by His Majesty, he had been full of disappointment. If not for His Majesty's promise to appoint him as the official Minister of Finance after the end of the fight for the throne, he really wanted to quit.
In the first two months of his arrival in Border Town, the 4th Prince, as always, showed extremely naive behavior, and offended all the local nobles. Fortunately, the size of the town itself was very small, even if all the administrative positions were vacant, he and the dozen or so civil servants he had brought with him could fill them.
After that, some things became different.
When exactly did the changes start? He thought, probably … from the time he saved the witch.
Barov did not doubt the possibility of the Devil's possession, or that the Prince himself was controlled by another hidden witch. But the possibility of this was very small. If the Devil and the witch had such ability, why would they look for the 4th Prince? Wouldn't it be better to directly control His Majesty or the Pope? Another thing that dispelled his doubts was that he had seen the Prince hold the God's Locket of Retribution.
This thing was the Church's trump card against witches, any demonic power would collapse in front of the God's Locket of Retribution, but Roland directly held it. In other words, if he was not the 4th Prince, but the Devil King who did not even need to fear the God's power, would it still be necessary to expose him? Saving his own life was the first priority.
The Prince's style was still going his own way, acting unscrupulously, but the two gave him a different feeling. No, Barov thought, it should be the opposite.
The biggest difference should be the purpose. He noticed that Roland was planning something, and in order to achieve his goal, he must use some means that ordinary people could not understand. Just like how he tried to convince himself why he had to save the witch, perhaps the plan was not mature and full of loopholes, but the Prince was indeed moving forward with the plan, and he was convinced of the results.
This was the most confusing part, the throne could be born from either of the Roland siblings, but it would never be the 4th Prince himself. He should be very clear about this, how could he talk about development in a small place like Border Town? Even the Gods couldn't do it! In the end, what kind of crazy plan did Roland come up with, so crazy that he could make a small town built outside the border defense line develop better than Valencia, and make me completely believe that this plan would succeed?
If it was just the delusion of a madman, then it would be fine, but Roland's vigorous construction of the wall showed that it did not seem to be the case. He really intended to be stationed here, and with the alchemy product "cement", he built a wall that was almost impossible according to common sense.
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