Chapter 17
It's been a week since the quake has happened, and now, everyone is back to normal. Well, except for Sandra, she still can't get over the fact, that the entire city is built on an ancient relic.
She said that it's incredible to still see a working magic formation on a ruin that stood for a long time without human supervision.
And based on her research, the ruins beneath the city are far older than any kingdom she knows. It comes to a point that she can't even figure out any information on the Magic sigils written on the formation.
So she put it as a ruin that comes from the lost era of this world. It was a legend of the old times that still last to this day but there's only few relics left to prove the existence of that era.
We also managed to finish the canal for the waterway project that I initiated. It's now connected to a river downstream by a hidden canal underneath the thick soil, away from the eyes of any creatures.
From the time, that I started my project 2 months ago, the waterwheel has proven its effectiveness as it immediately allowed us to expand our fields, by a lot. People were happy to see that their ways of income have increased, and it also solves the problem of food shortage in our city. Now more veggies are available in the market unlike before. Although there were only a few options to choose from, due to limited time as we haven't managed to expand our varieties of edible plants yet.
This world is very different from Earth, since the plants and animals here grow much faster than normal. It also causes a lot of problems for us, since this also means that beasts and monsters grow much faster than humans. as well as pest that consumes our crops.
That's why till now, even with the power of supreme knights and wizards, humans still haven't managed to conquer the entirety of this continent. As there are a lot of powerful Magic beasts that roam around this land, and most of them are highly territorial, and every high-ranking magic beast has the capability to command a lot of low-ranking Magic beasts to attack any city or even a small kingdom.
The rankings of Magic Beasts are also divided into 5 levels, starting from tier 1 as the lowest, and tier 5 as the highest level. You can also think of it as another race living on this planet, aside from humans. Magic beasts are also known for being highly intelligent. The higher the ranking, the more intelligent a magic beast is. It is also known that Tier 5 Magic Beasts are capable of commanding millions of other lower Magic beasts to attack human territory or to defend their settlement.
There are even a lot of examples in human history where a tier 5 magic beast managed to destroy a small kingdom due to its hatred for killing its partner and children. Sometimes a Magic beast only wanted to claim the resources on a certain territory is the sole reason for its attack, like what happened in the kingdom located in the south of this continent.
The kingdom of Aqua was invaded by millions of Magic beasts and a lot of its knights and wizards have died trying to defend their kingdom, but finally, at the end of this war, magic beasts have won the tide, and they now have an access to the abundant supply of Magic spring that is rich in Mana it also means that they can further strengthen theirselves.
The kingdom of Aqua, although they were not an empire, they have a strong military power as they directly nurtured tens of thousands of Wizards and tens of thousands of capable knights but under the might of 4 tier 5 magic beasts, the kingdom of Aquas failed to protect its land and now the kingdom of Aquas have become a part of history.
The direct destruction of the Kingdom of Aqua has also dragged the development of humanity by a margin. As a huge center for gathering of wizards and knights, the loss of the kingdom of Aqua is a huge blow for everyone.
This is also one of the reasons why the profession of the wizard has become rare in small kingdom, that was located on faraway places. As most of them were concentrated on the big empire and kingdoms with enough resources to support their cultivation and advancement in power.
Before the fall of the kingdom of Aqua, almost half of the wizards in this continent came from their kingdom. With the abundant amount of natural resources, they have the advantage of nurturing more wizards than others. This is also the reason for their downfall, as demonic beasts were also interested in this place.
This war happened a few decades ago before I was born in this world and before the great war happens that took the life of my Father's siblings.
It is said that tens of millions of souls had perished at that time, in an attempt to protect the interests of humanity.
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Nevertheless, wizards are still existing to this day and some of them are even thriving in other places. Although the Turox kingdom is located at the edge of the continent, we still have a handful of them overseeing the entire kingdom.
"Master Lucas, can't I really do any further studies in that place? We might discover something big that could help us a lot. "Sandra said in a hysterical manner. As a magic scholar, even though Sandra is not a wizard, her knowledge of magic formation is far beyond the capability of a normal wizard.
"I can't help you with that Sandra. You know my father's orders, right? No one is allowed to go there anymore. It's too risky, other people with malicious intentions might find out about that, and you know how important it is for us to keep it a secret for a long time." I said while I was busy looking at the documents.
"But Master Lucas, those are the relics of the Lost era of the past. It might also belong to the great era before the fall of the northern continent. Aren't you curious about how a magic formation lasts that long without anyone's intervention? and from the fact that they work much better than our current, magical formation, it means that their research on formation is much more advanced than us, and after the fall of the great empire of the northern continent, it is said that all our knowledge has regressed. This might be a chance for us to learn something else from it. Since most of their relics is inaccessible to us, due to the Demonic creatures plaguing the entire northern continent." Sandra said in an excited voice.
"Yeah, and that also means a bigger problem for us. With such a big reward, Do you think that other people won't do anything, once they find out that there's a great relic underneath the city? Of course not. They would do everything in their power to have it all. and with such a big secret, I think the entire Turox kingdom would likely kill us in order to keep it hidden from other kingdoms, especially our current king, who now has declined in power. It is said that he was now desperate to look for possible ways to strengthen himself back to his former peak." I said worriedly while looking at her with a weird face.
"I know that Master Lucas, but we can't just always ignore it. We don't even know what the full capabilities of that ancient formation are. What if there's a hidden problem behind those magic sigils? And what is the use of that formation, and why did they build it outside the northern continent? There are too many unanswered questions," Sandra said with disappointment.
"I understand you, Sandra, even I would love to study that formation but it is not the time yet. We don't have enough power to protect ourselves. At the same time, we don't even know if there are still some spies staying in the city. All we can do now is to wait for the right time while we strengthen our forces. Meanwhile, you can help me with these documents." I said as I showed her the documents.
"It seems like your project is successful, Master Lucas. If this continues, we will have enough food to supply for the whole city, but I still hope to study that formation as soon as possible." She said while looking at the document with furrowed brows.
"Don't you see any problems with it?" I ask amusedly.
"What do you mean, Master Lucas? I don't see any problems at all. In fact, with this kind of improvement on our fields, everyone would be happy."
"What I mean is that, don't you think about what would happen if suddenly there's a lot of supply in the market for the same product? even though people would gladly buy a lot of it due to it's low price. What would happen to the excess supply then?" I ask intrigued on what is she gonna say.
"It depends on the situation. If there's still plenty of produce unsold in the market. This might cause a certain product to be worthless and a lot of farmers would lose money because of it. The good thing is if we can export all of this we might earn a ton of money instead." Said by Sandra excitedly while looking at me.
"What do you think about that Michael?" I said to him as he stood behind me.
"I don't really have a lot of knowledge when it comes to this area, but I do agree with Sandra. Although people might lose their money due to this situation, but this also means that they can keep their stomachs full for this season, and we can even give that excess produce to people in need," Michael suggested while deep in thought.
"Though both of your answers are correct. We currently don't have enough manpower to keep all those goods safe if we tried to trade them in other cities. I Would just like to remind the two of you, that it would also take us an entire week before we reach the nearest city, and while giving those foods away to people in need sounds good. I'm sure that those farmers won't be happy with this solution." I said in a heavy tone.
"So, the best option as of now is to let us buy the excess produce, In order to limit their loss, and of course, we might also make a little money out of this. If we can find a way to preserve this vegetable for a long time." I mysterious said to the two of them while looking at their dumbfounded face.
"How are we going to do that? and even if we can, It seems like this business won't earn us a lot of money." Sandra said apprehensively.
"Some of them could be dried under the sun and grounded into a powder, that we can use to mix in our food to add more flavoring, or by pickling the others, but of course, I know that not all of the vegetables can be processed under this condition. So the rest, We can use it as feeds for our farms. By doing all of this, we can start a new industry in this kingdom. With our advantage in supply and low prices of goods. No matter how many times, other nobles try to imitate us, they won't succeed." I said in a calm manner before stopping for a moment.
"We could earn a lot of money while providing employment to many people. By using this new industry, that in turn, would enrich our city. This project of mine is like hitting multiple birds at the same time by only using one stone." I seriously said to them as I carefully explained my entire plan for the development of agriculture while making money at the same time.
My initiative to build a waterwheel, it directly solved a lot of problems plaguing us. first, because of this, we managed to expand our fields and solve the water supply problem inside the city.
This work of mine has also employed a lot of people in digging more canals and building walls. It also allowed us to restart the economy, as more people now have the money to buy something, and since we now have plenty amount of supply of water it allows us to produce and grow more food at a low price.
People were happy that they now had more fields to grow their food and it means more income for them. It also means that Florentine city would never have a shortage of food. At the same time, this would also cause a lot of food prices in the market to go down, which would improve the lives of many impoverished people.
This also allows me to start new industries that could potentially earn us a lot of money in the future, that only our family can control. While thinking of all this I can't help myself but smile because of my smart move.
While doing so I noticed that both Michael and Sandra are looking at me in awe and still couldn't believe that a simple waterwheel project could cause a lot of things, creating a domino effect.
"Is this your plan all along, Master Lucas?' Asked by Michael while looking at me with a ludicrous gaze.
"Well, something like that," while giving them a smirk but the truth is, I just really want to improve the harvest of our crops but somehow, other industry have pop out of nowhere in the process of building it.
"All along you thought this far, Master Lucas, your incredible. I didn't realize that a simple tool like that could help us in a lot of way" Sandra said while staring at me with amazement.
"With all of this preparation, I can now say that my plan to make this city a vibrant place has now officially started." I said as I moved a chess piece onto another tile.