The witch thought I am a Demon God
Chapter 186 - 134 The difficulty of territorial development and the fusion of the mirror with the residual soul _1

Chapter 186: Chapter 134 The difficulty of territorial development and the fusion of the mirror with the residual soul _1

After returning to his domain, Ivita quickly had the steward report the situation.

Thanks to the acquisition of thirty gold pounds of food and supplies, four temporary villages have been rebuilt around the castle on the mountainside. However, the buildings are merely makeshift stone and wooden houses, not much better than the temporary bases built for survival in the wilderness.

In addition, six temporary strongholds have been rebuilt on the original sites of the other eleven villages that once belonged to Baron Moro’s jurisdiction.

Due to the lack of funds, the reconstruction of the villages is progressing slowly.

Ivita had no other solutions to this situation.

In fact, if money was not an issue, he would prefer to upgrade the villages to a group of castles.

But, this requires substantial funding. The iron they are currently mass-producing is not enough; they need to expand the iron foundry and increase the number of craftsmen.

However, these changes have to be done step by step.

Forming a stable partnership with Parviga is the first step.

In his study, Ivita distanced himself from everyone. Alone in his room, he pondered lamenting that those who do not manage households do not understand the importance of money.

Ivita picked up the Candy Mirror on his desk and pressed his left hand onto the mirror surface. Waves appeared on the mirror, which had been growing more peculiar as he integrated it with his magic.

Five residual spirits circled the mirror. The first spirit was bounced back by the mirror surface just as the Array outlined on the table surface with dye made of peacock stone and wild boar blood—suddenly glowed. The whole mirror resembled a softened loaf of bread, allowing the first residual spirit to squeeze in.

With the first residual spirit entering the mirror surface, a faint blue light emanated from the entire mirror. A figure momentarily appeared within the mirror, flickering past.

The figure bore the outline of a girl seemingly turning around within the mirror, but then quickly disappeared from the mirror again.

As the remaining four residual spirits were bounced back by the mirror surface.

At the same time, the red powder on the table surface turned white, seemingly useless.

Ivita raised his eyebrows, surprised by the quick consumption.

Wild boar blood is relatively easy to obtain, while peacock stone, a copper ore naturally exposed on the earth’s surface, is rarer.

But, he had exhausted his supply, stored inside the castle.

After some pondering, he picked up a piece of paper on his desk, wrote a lord’s decree, and ordered five adult men to search for twenty baskets of peacock stone ore within their territory.

This task applies to the young men who have not yet fulfilled their obligation of free labor for the lord this year, and so, he doesn’t have to pay them.

However, Ivita, thinking about the recent conflict, knew that people were struggling. Therefore, he added at the bottom of the paper that he would appreciate five men doing this and would offer a reward of 2 pints of grain per person. However, this was a reward, not an entitlement.

Ivita called the steward to deliver this decree to the concerned persons for execution.

Simultaneously, Ivita looked out of the window of his study, watching the training of the five attendant knights in the castle’s center, including Branton, under the instruction of the Griffin Knight.

Normally, according to a lord’s approach, Branton is in an awkward situation, and he might die as a result of scheming.

But Ivita is tolerant, even granting him a village if it could be successfully rebuilt in the future.

Because of the previous war, almost all the knights within the territory died. Currently, Ivita directly controls five villages and a castle.

However, because of the fire set by Pan God, all these control seemed meaningless.

In the afternoon, Ivita called for a meeting with almost all the high-ranking individuals within the realm, encouraging everyone to contemplate how to recover the territory.

All the knights, demon hunters, and witches remained silent.

Asking them to consider how to develop the territory was laughable.

If everyone still silent, the Griffin Knight suddenly suggested, "My lord, should we rob the surrounding territories?"

"Or perhaps rob the passers-by?"

These were the only methods to accumulate wealth that his knightly education had taught him.

It’s robbery.

Ivita’s fingers tapped on the desk. This wasn’t the way to go about it. Inadvertently, he would become public enemy number one.

"The lime powder on the land can only be shoveled off. The process is going very slowly, we’ve also missed the farming season. The agriculture has suffered a great loss for at least one to two years," Ivita said, "It’s also unrealistic to expand the cast iron production and make most of the civilians produce it."

"So..."

"We can only develop the handicrafts."

Black Wolf was stunned, "Your Highness, do you intend to develop the territory into a handicraft center similar to Florcana?"

"But can we completely decouple from agriculture? Can it really work?"

Ivita nodded. "I have my own plan."

In this era, there are a few items that can easily make a lot of money, such as soap, shampoo, and perfume. These goods are oriented towards personal hygiene and luxury items.

In addition, he also knew some simple methods of making herbal ointments, such as simple treatments for skin inflammation, and even some anti-inflammatory methods for treating wound infections and skin diseases.

For example, extracting anti-inflammatory substances from willow leaves.

However, if he were to do this, he would need a large amount of start-up capital to stimulate the whole territory’s economy into an official economy centered around the lord.

So, in the end, it’s all about money.

Where could he find money?

Ivita said to everyone, "You can tell the people below to think about how to quickly acquire start-up funds."

"Whoever it is, I will reward them."

So, everyone left the study room.

Ivita thought he would have to wait a long time, but the next day, after he took in the second remnant soul into the mirror, someone was requesting to see him in the study room.

The person who came was Tartax.

Ivita unexpectedly raised an eyebrow. "I originally thought you wouldn’t want to suggest ideas for me. Do you have any good suggestions?"

Tartax, wearing a simple gray cloth robe, swallowed hard, unsure whether his request would anger this wizard lord.

"Lord, if I can help solve the lack of money in your territory, would you agree to one of my requests?"

Ivita, without even lifting his eyes, said, "You first say the request, then I’ll decide whether it can be accepted."

Tartax said, "My request is, if Prince Jalen of Alsace happens to pass through your territory, please allow me to see him."

"Of course, I also thought of a way for your territory to earn a huge amount of money -- it’s robbery."

"Rob every single person passing through your territory!"

Ivita frowned, this mysterious man wanted to see his enemy.

Instinctively, he said, "That would make myself a public enemy."

Tartax shook his head and said, "It’s not you who robs, it’s the bandits in your territory."

Ivita was about to speak, but he immediately added in, "It’s not your soldiers who pose as bandits."

"Instead, you can introduce real bandits into your territory."

"Your territory has recently attracted many adventurers due to the war. I see that your army has managed to keep them relatively quiet. But if you ease your control over these adventurers, they will quickly turn into a group of bandits."

"As long as you occasionally annihilate some bandits, these bandits are basically your tax collection agency!"