Tang En thought about what to say for a long time before opening his mouth.
"In fact, the so-called black swamp is a complex substance called asphalt."
"Oh! I got it! "
Brian suddenly understood. "Brother, you're an alchemist, so you're trying to extract something from it? Isn't it very precious? "
"Don't interrupt if you don't understand!"
Brian muttered. "I didn't interrupt …"
Is this guy doing this on purpose?
Tang En's veins were throbbing. It took him a while to calm down. "Although the Black Swamp looks dangerous, the asphalt that makes it is actually very useful in some ways."
Brian exclaimed. "Oh! I got it! "
What the hell do you know?
"Brother, you want to use that … uh, asphalt on the battlefield, right? Well, it smells poisonous, but it should be quite useful. Brother, you're a genius! "
"Shut up!"
Tang En, Durandon, and Eibron couldn't take it anymore. They all shouted at the same time. Brian shrank back.
Durandon gestured. "Ignore him. You continue."
Tang En nodded. "Asphalt doesn't look good, but when it's melted in a big pot, it'll turn into a molten state. It can be mixed with some stones and slag to pave roads."
"Pave roads?"
Durandon and Eibron looked at each other. Weren't roads paved with gravel or slate?
In fact, not only the dwarves, but all the countries in Prandal used the same method to pave their roads. Ordinary places used stones, rich places used stone slabs, and poor places simply didn't pave their roads. Once it rained, the entire town would become a muddy road … Translator's Thoughts
"Yes. Asphalt is heat resistant, friction resistant, and not easily deformed. It's also very flat after being pressed. It's a good material for paving roads."
Tang En said. "To be honest, when I saw the Black Swamp … no, that big lake of asphalt, I wanted to use it to pave roads."
"I see."
Durandon waved his hand. "The Black Swamp is yours."
"I … What?"
Tang En was stunned.
"I said, it's yours. You can do whatever you want with it."
Du Langdeng didn't care and said, "Anyway, we don't know what that thing is for. It's just an eyesore and it takes up a lot of space. If you can dig it out, it would be even better. We would have more land to use."
"This …"
Tang En's face was awkward. Dulanton's generosity had disrupted Tang En's plan. He originally thought that cooperating with the dwarves would save him a lot of trouble, but the result was that Dulanton had directly given him the black swamp …
"What happened?"
"Actually, Your Majesty Dulanton, I want to cooperate with you to develop the Black Swamp. We can share the profits. I will provide the technology, and you will provide the manpower. As a human, even if I could recruit employees, it wouldn't be appropriate for a large number of humans to enter the Dwarf Kingdom, right? So it would be most appropriate for you to provide the dwarven labor. "
Tang En simply told Durandon his thoughts in one breath. Durandon pondered for a moment, then said, "If you want to develop the land, I can make the decision to give it to you. But if that's the case, I'm afraid I can't immediately agree. I need to discuss it with the king's council. After all, this is related to the dwarven labor issue."
Tang En smiled. "If they feel embarrassed, we can change to another way of cooperation. I'll hire the dwarves of the Dwarf Kingdom to work at my doorstep. I'll pay them a salary, and they'll mine the swamp for me and transport it to Ellington. How about it?"
Durandon clapped his hands. "Simple and straightforward. I think it's fine. Let's do it this way. I'll give you the mining rights, and I won't care about the profits. You can just pay the dwarves directly, and we'll let them clean up the swamp!"
Eibron stroked his beard. "I also think it's simpler and more straightforward …"
Tang En didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The benefits of cooperation were obviously greater, but he didn't expect Durandon and Eibron to prefer the employment method. The swamp was clearly the property of the dwarven kingdom …
"In that case, there's another thing I might as well tell you."
Tang En came up with this idea as soon as he entered the hammerforge. He smiled and said, "You people of the land mine every day. Do you have any copper mines here?"
"Copper mines? Yes, quite a lot. Do you need it? "
Durandon scratched his head. "In the past, copper was used quite a lot. But since the large-scale use of iron and magic metals, copper has become useless. It's basically only used to make some daily necessities. The consumption is very small, so most of it is just piled up there."
Tang En was overjoyed. "That's just right. My territory, Ellington, is currently being rebuilt. It's estimated that a large amount of copper is needed. So I want to trade with the dwarven kingdom. If possible, it's best to open up a trade route. We can also provide various daily necessities for the hammerforge and the dwarven villages along the way."
"Well …"
Durandon was a little hesitant. Trade with the humans? The last time they cooperated was during the war of the Chaos invasion. Since the end of the war, the dwarven kingdom had no large-scale trade with the human countries, so he was very worried about whether it would cause any bad effects.
After a moment of hesitation, he said, "I know. I'll discuss this matter with the King's Council later. I'll give you an answer after the Brewfest. What do you think?"
"Of course."
Tang En readily agreed. If he could achieve three goals on this trip, of course, it would be the best.
Even if he couldn't reach a deal with the copper, he could still go to the Irus Empire to trade with the nobles who controlled the copper mines. But dealing with those nobles was obviously not as comfortable as dealing with the straightforward dwarves.
But looking at the current situation, at least recruiting dwarven employees and developing the asphalt lake should not be a problem.
After these two things were settled, Durandon once again looked at the aggrieved Brian and coldly snorted. "This time, for Mister Tang En's sake, I'll let you go. If you dare to disgrace the people of the land again, you'll be locked up!"
Faced with such a strong and talented son, Brian had no reason to reason. He couldn't beat him, so what else could he say? He could only resign himself to fate.
This made Eibron very unhappy.
At least now, Durandon's words were in charge of the hammer family, not that annoying Brian. When his daughter married into the family, she wouldn't have to suffer much.
As if nothing had happened, they returned outside to celebrate. Brian's face was full of grievances. He deliberately kept winking at his wife, Saroma, and his future second daughter-in-law, Tess. Unfortunately, it was all in vain. Saroma, who already knew what kind of person he was, simply ignored him. Tess, on the other hand, only had Duranton in her eyes. How could she care about Brian?
So Brian could only hide in a corner and drink.
The banquet did not last long, because the next day was Brewfest. That was a big event that was truly worth celebrating, so everyone felt that it was about time to leave. Tang En was also arranged to rest at the hammersmith's house.
"Phew …"
After returning to his room, Tang En closed the door and teleported back to Ellington's mansion. Only then did he let out a long sigh of relief.
Because of the frightening experience in Slag Village, he didn't dare to sleep there again. If he woke up and found another female dwarf in his bed, he would be scared to death.
"These guys can really drink …"
Tang En rubbed his temples with a troubled expression. Although the ale they drank didn't have high alcohol content, they would still get drunk if they drank too much. Especially Tang En's alcohol tolerance was actually very low.
Looking at the sky, Tang En guessed that Fiona might still be awake, so he went to the study to look for her. However, Fiona wasn't in the study. After using his mana to sense, Tang En found that she had returned to her bedroom, but she wasn't asleep.
Tang En came to Fiona's bedroom. Just as he was about to push the door open, he stopped and knocked on the door.
"Tina? You're here. Didn't I tell you to come in directly? Why are you knocking? "
Fiona opened the door and walked into the room without looking at it.
Tang En felt awkward when he saw Fiona. He didn't think that even though he was careful, he would still encounter an awkward situation.
At the moment, Fiona was wearing a very simple one-piece nightgown. Because it was summer, the style of the nightgown was very … economical in terms of fabric. This caused Twain to basically see everything that he should and should not see. Her two white legs were simply dazzling under the illumination of the magic crystal lamp. This made Twain, who was used to seeing dwarf women these days, very uneasy.
"Tina?"
Fiona waited for a while, but she didn't hear Tina's voice. She turned around and found that there was no one at the door.
"Strange … …"
Tang En who was hiding outside was covered in cold sweat. Fortunately, he reacted fast enough. At this time, he had an idea. He deliberately walked over from the distance and shouted, "Fiona? Fiona, are you asleep? "
"Sir Lord? I'm not — — Wait! Don't come in! "
Fiona called out in surprise and slammed the door shut.
"Fiona?"
Tang En deliberately asked in a confused voice, "What are you doing? I have good news to tell you! "
"Wait a bit!"
Fiona quickly put on some clothes and covered her exposed skin before opening the door to let Tang En in. If one looked carefully, they would find that her face was red and her nose was covered in sweat.
"Do you have to say something now?"
Fiona closed the door and unconsciously pulled on her clothes. She deliberately asked Tang En in a dissatisfied voice, "Can't we talk about it tomorrow?"
"I have to go back tomorrow. The American Beer Festival is tomorrow and the dwarf king, Durand, is going to ….. That's right, can you guess the relationship between the dwarf king, Durand, and Brian?"
Fiona was stunned, "There's a relationship between them? Wait, let me guess ….. Could it be that Brian is the dwarf prince? "
Fiona had a look of disbelief, "We wouldn't be that lucky, right?"
"Sorry, you guessed wrong."
Tang En pulled the corner of his mouth and revealed a strange smile, "The dwarf king, Durand ….. is Brian's son, and Brian ….. is the previous dwarf king."
As expected, Fiona was stunned. After a while, she suddenly exclaimed, "Him? Brian? The previous king? Son!? How is this possible!? "
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