“I understand, you may leave.”
Lind took the letter from Klan and glanced at it twice before setting it aside.
Klan wasn’t particularly surprised by this outcome; after all, all he needed to do was show an attitude. Whether or not the Lord Governor had this information was irrelevant.
Navigating through the nobles to achieve the position of general, Klan could be considered quite adept at social dynamics.
It didn’t matter whether the Lord Governor was aware of these letters; it also didn’t matter if he received any rewards. What was important was for the Lord Governor to know that there was someone like him around, and that he was loyal—that was enough.
Watching Klan, who wore a respectful smile, retreat, Lind continued to lower his head and write a letter to the queen in the royal capital.
If all nobles were as understanding as Klan, it would be fine. Unfortunately, such nobles were still a minority; most of them were clinging to outdated ideas, unwilling to let go.
Some even accused Lind of completely violating the kingdom’s laws, using the royal capital to threaten him, completely unaware that the situation there was already chaotic and that the Northern Border was essentially independent.
To be honest, when he received the queen’s letter, Lind felt both frustrated and amused; that traveler truly had a thick skin, straightforwardly reaching out for technical support.
This reminded Lind of his younger sister from before, who would stop pretending and directly ask for money after a bit of coaxing.
Lind could only say, “With that attitude, you won’t get married in the future,” while transferring funds.
However, this traveler queen still had some shame compared to his sister; at least she mentioned that the southwest was already on the verge of collapse, and if this traveler didn’t step in soon, the kingdom could face annihilation.
No need to bring up any mandate from heaven; it was time to prepare to collect the queen’s corpse.
The gist was like this; although it wasn’t explicitly stated, it was quite clear that the other party understood the meaning behind his last letter, and both sides stopped pretending to be powerful.
Lind didn’t know the situation in the southwestern border, but it was likely far from failing; more than just the queen was writing letters to him.
After some thought, Lind decided to give her a hand.
First of all, what she said was true; Lind’s goals were not limited to the Northern Border. The struggling Cape Kingdom was definitely easier to deal with than the rising Anju Kingdom.
Secondly, even Doug was already using firearms; although still quite primitive, the methods of making firearms would certainly not remain hidden as the war progressed.
The true advantage of Graythorn Territory wasn’t firearms or explosives; even if the opponent took away the ray guns, it wouldn’t matter. What Lind truly relied on was the gradually improving industrial system and complete production chain of Graythorn Territory.
In some cases, Lind could even sell outdated weapons and military supplies at a high price to his opponents, and he was confident that Doug would be willing to pay.
Being shameless, he could even rob back those weapons midway, and Doug would just come back and buy them again.
There was no other way; the gap in military supplies was too large, and facing them directly wouldn’t work. Doug urgently needed weapons from Graythorn Territory to replicate and upgrade his army.
Using this method to make some profit, he could fund the railway construction, and Doug would have to thank him.
After some thought, Lind decided to write the production methods directly in the letter. Although this might cause significant leaks, he truly didn’t want to send the technical personnel from his territory.
The knowledge held by a single technical personnel was far more valuable than a complete manufacturing method for a firearm.
Hmm… before sending this letter, he could sell the firearms mentioned in it to Doug; after all, they were all outdated models, and railway construction was indeed not cheap. Doug could be considered to have contributed a bit to the Northern Border.
He didn’t know how Doug would feel when he saw the firearms he bought at a high price flooded the royal capital.
Next was Lind’s deep sorrow for the former king Klan, and he didn’t forget to inquire if the queen had caught the culprit behind the scenes.
This matter wouldn’t be so easily brushed off; the basic method of making firearms was just an introduction. If they caught the culprit, Lind wouldn’t hesitate to share even more advanced gunpowder formulas.
Hmm, he could also harvest another wave from Doug.
Lind believed that under the temptation of the advanced gunpowder formula, the nobles in the southwest would take this matter seriously.
To outsiders, Lind simply seemed too loyal, still pondering the investigation into the former king’s cause of death; he was truly a noble among nobles, a model of loyalty to the king, a paragon of virtue.
If they didn’t notice the hint of ruthlessness in Lind’s gaze.
Those nobles wouldn’t really think Doug could escape unscathed just because he took the blame for them, would they?
The instigator doesn’t go unpunished.
After handling matters from the royal capital, all that remained was the business of spring plowing.
With the implementation of the Land Redistribution Act, as long as this year’s spring plowing went smoothly, there shouldn’t be any food concerns for many years to come.
In fact, in this world, some fertilizers made through alchemy have already reached a level comparable to the industrial fertilizers of the past life; some specialized fertilizers even surpassed those of the past life.
The most important thing for nobles was to play at gardening; there was woefully little fertilizer focused on food production.
Because it wasn’t worth it, serfs’ land could already provide enough for the noble lords to eat well and even hoard food. Why would they spend their own money looking for alchemists or druids to obtain magical artifacts for increased yield?
As for the serfs? The nobles would only show a little mercy by donating some food grown by the serfs when they were about to starve; that was already considered benevolent. More often, the nobles lent money to the serfs, with interest purely dependent on the nobles’ conscience.
The next day, in the study, Lind asked seriously, “So it really cannot be done?”
Tia’s reply was quite simple: “No matter what, breaking down the divine techniques of the Nature Goddess into arcane arrays is still something the elves find difficult to accept.”
“I can pay more.”
“This isn’t a matter of money.”
The tactic of offering more money had failed for the first time, but Lind wasn’t surprised. To these believers, breaking down divine techniques was still unacceptable. If inorganic materials could use divine techniques, then what significance did faith have?
As the next queen of the elves, Tia could never commit such an act of desecration against the Nature Goddess.
The divine techniques of the Nature Goddess were simply too heavy; accelerated growth and ripening would be extreme cheats even in cultivation novels.
Although this acceleration was quite useless for increased yield since it required a continuous input of magic power—a threshold existed where acceleration could not continue, or its effects would become increasingly negligible.
With this amount of money and magic power, it would be better to buy food; this had a more important significance—breeding.
That was why Lind wanted to break down the divine techniques of the Nature Goddess, disregarding any desecration that might offend believers.
No one understands the meaning of rapid breeding better than Lind. If the traveler queen in the royal capital knew the current situation, she might even be more anxious than Lind and resort to more unscrupulous means.
Being able to breed quickly meant being able to experiment with high-yield crops as soon as possible. Even if the cost of this was shockingly high, Lind would still push forward.
Farming was etched into Lind’s DNA.
Ensuring everyone had enough to eat was something worth building temples for, even in Lind’s technologically explosive previous life, let alone in this era.
“Alright, if divine techniques are out, then the basic druid magic exchange should work. I need some druids to teach my people how to farm and maintain the land and help me break down some ordinary druid magic.”
Essentially, methods for making fertilizers through alchemy.
“Then you’ll have to pay more.”
Tia shrugged, looking at Lind.
“…”
Damn, why are all elves like this?
Who spread the word that elves were all selfless and detached?
