Work Prophet
Chapter 587 - 19: The Sect Faction and the Iron Mine

Chapter 587: Chapter 19: The Sect Faction and the Iron Mine

After returning to Green Field, Ireya was not the only busy one, Li Yu also had plenty to do.

Firstly, he gave the people who accompanied him a long vacation. Since this outing had been lengthy and mostly spent on the road, Li Yu had arranged for a clerk to record all the owed rest days, which they would make up upon returning.

Additionally, he selected sixteen individuals from the five major departments of the Church, including the Sabbath, judges, craftsmen, merchants, and the Black Hound guards responsible for protecting them.

They would be led by Fabre, who had secured the seventh place in the first Green Field Missionary Event, to Ferdinand’s territory, Beize.

The latter had already converted to Saturday, but the rest of the Batoris Family and the tenants on the territory were still followers of the Silver Moon Goddess Pexia.

Li Yu certainly couldn’t neglect these beliefs, and this time, sending sixteen people over was to establish a mission branch there.

Not only were Fabre and his team to preach in the Batoris Family’s territory, calling everyone to worship Saturday and building the Land God Kingdom, but they were also to help Ferdinand develop agriculture and economy and to oversee whether anyone violated the rules.

This was also the first time the Double Rest Sect truly rooted and expanded beyond Green Field.

Li Yu took this mission very seriously. Before they left, he called Fabre to his residence and talked with him all morning, helping him devise an action plan for after arriving in Beize.

He allocated him 6,000 golden lions as the first seed fund and also equipped him with a radio station to facilitate communication with Green Field, allowing him to ask for help in a timely manner if any difficulties arose.

In the afternoon, Li Yu and Ireya went to see the Red Iron Ore mine that Lu Weijia had found.

The ore vein was behind a small hill, where Lu Weijia had noticed the iron cap beneath his feet.

The so-called iron cap refers to some of the metal sulfide bodies exposed on the surface, which, under weathering, most of the metal sulfides turn into soluble sulfates, carbonates washed away by rainwater.

The remaining recoiled brown iron ore and such adhere to the upper oxidation zone of the ore body, usually with many pores.

Iron caps are important indicators of metal ore bodies, and many ore deposits are discovered through them.

Since this knowledge was quite technical, and also because Lu Weijia’s Universal Language was limited to everyday communication, involving some complex, especially Bratis Continent-exclusive vocabulary, he chose to speak directly in Chinese.

As a result, Miss Rabbit was somewhat baffled but still couldn’t hide the excitement on her face.

Initially, Snow Claw Philip helped Furious Lion Alexandro win the Blood Dragon Lament Battle and became the Lord of the Western Frontier as a reward.

He then granted parts of the territory to the brave warriors under his command. Although Green Field was not small in area, its peculiar terrain, barren soil, and the threat of lizard people in the swamps made it undesirable.

Later, it became the territory of the Arias family, but the Arias Family could barely scrape by on this land.

The Family Heads of the family did not lack ambition and tried hard to manage it, but no matter how hard they tried, aside from selling radishes, they always struggled to find other sustainable revenue-generating methods.

This further cemented Green Field’s reputation for barrenness, although now the territory had started developing under Ireya, relying mainly on the special products of the Double Rest Sect.

Until the discovery of this Red Iron Ore deposit, it seemed to shatter the centuries-old prejudice people had towards this land.

Li Yu then asked Lu Weijia, "How do you plan to mine it?"

"Considering our current technological capabilities, I think that combining fire mining with wedge-splitting rock extraction would be most suitable," Lu Weijia responded.

"To put it simply, first light a fire in the mine, then immediately douse it with water. The sudden heat and cold will make the ore brittle. At that point, driving a wedge into the cracks will speed up the fracturing of the ore,"

Li Yu nodded in agreement.

The emergence of iron ore was certainly a good thing, implying that steel could be manufactured afterward. In any era, there was always a high demand for iron and steel.

Weapons, agricultural tools, and construction all required steel, and even some trained militias could perform impressively if provided with full sets of armor and weapons.

However, the cost of these weapons and equipment on the Bratis Continent was prohibitively high. Even without buying the top-quality goods from Dwarf traders, hiring any human or Half-Beast blacksmith to help forge a set would involve a significant expense.

Aside from extremely wealthy major families, ordinary nobles couldn’t afford full iron armor for their guards.

But if they could smelt iron in Green Field, especially high-quality steel, then the cost of producing weapons and armor would greatly decrease.

The importance of this was self-evident.

However, mining iron ore and subsequent smelting required many workers; fortunately, this trip to the Royal Capital had brought back more than twenty thousand people.

Li Yu planned to offer high salaries to recruit a group of miners from among them.

The Prophet of the Double Rest Sect was still discussing with the Lady the criteria for selecting people and the site selection for the iron factory.

Miss Rabbit suggested placing the iron factory within the new city to boost its population, but Li Yu was concerned about severe pollution.

Just then, the Lady saw a guard from the Arias family riding toward them.

"What’s happened? Why do you look so rushed?" Miss Rabbit asked the newcomer.

"Lady Ireya, a messenger from the Figrola family has arrived; he says there’s an urgent matter he needs to discuss with you,"

"From Figrola?" The young lady was somewhat surprised, but she didn’t think much of it and said to Li Yu, "Then I should head back to the castle first."

"Mm," Li Yu nodded.

But shortly after their conversation, another group of people hurried toward them.

This time, the group consisted of seven individuals, led by another Arias family guard, but the six following him wore Figrola family cloaks.

"Sir Ireya, Sir Ireya!" The leading knight called out upon seeing Miss Rabbit, "Thank heavens, you’re finally back. Please, gather your vassals and soldiers immediately!"

"What’s the matter, is Marquis Kuren looking for me? But isn’t it too late to go now? Their battle is probably over,"

"No, Sir Ireya, the Marquis and his men, they’ve gone missing," the knight brought the unbelievable news.

The Lady couldn’t grasp it immediately, and after a while added, "Missing? How can that be? This is the western frontier, and the Marquis had a full ten thousand troops with him."

"Six days ago, they were pursuing those fleeing barbarians into the Dragon Ridge Mountain Range, then Sir Morse, who was in charge of logistics, lost contact with the main army," the knight reported gravely.