Chapter 497: Let the Otherworld See What an Infrastructure Maniac Is

‘Chuantou Castle bribed Hay, hoping to get the water mill technology?’

Leech hadn’t expected Alex to bring him such news.

After the banquet, he had been lying in bed, ready to sleep, but Alex had come, insisting he had urgent business. Left with no choice, Leech had to throw on some clothes and see him.

「In the study.」

The candlelight stretched their figures onto the wall, and as they spoke, the shifting air currents made the flames and their shadows dance.

“Yes, my lord.”

Alex’s expression was grim. “I believe you should execute Hay immediately as punishment for his betrayal!”

Leech tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. “What did he promise you?”

“Merit,” Alex said. “He said Chuantou Castle has harvested a massive amount of grain. Right now, my lord, you maintain a friendly relationship with Desert Princess Sophia and are in desperate need of grain. If I could secure a large quantity of grain at a low price, I would be handsomely rewarded.”

‘He’s right.’ Leech needed to develop a large cavalry force and even wanted to turn a profit from the Desert Area to lower costs, so grain was naturally in extremely short supply.

‘The desert is my personal horse pasture. The warhorses are free, but feeding them isn’t.’

‘Lowering the cost of grain is making money.’

As for the water mill… He had always guarded it strictly, and so far, no one had been able to replicate the water wheel technology. After all, with the Tuna family as a cautionary tale, no one could be sure they could withstand the wrath of the Porcupine.

“Then give it to them,” Leech said.

Alex clearly hadn’t expected Leech to say that. “Huh? Give it to them? But that’s…”

“It’s just a water wheel,” Leech said dismissively.

‘The efficiency of water wheels is extremely inconsistent. Limited by geography, they can’t be built everywhere. If the water flow is too weak, they’re completely useless.’

‘I have better natural forces to harness, like windmills.’

‘The best method is still manpower. It’s cheap—driven by a single loaf of black bread—it just tends to wear out the lampposts.’

‘An internal combustion engine would also work, but that’s not something I can whip up with my own hands. I can only place my hopes in the scholars.’

‘As a lord, my greatest strength is discovering and utilizing talent without prejudice.’

‘Trading water wheel technology for a channel to purchase cheap grain is the real prize.’

Looking at the still-conflicted young nobleman, Leech said, “Alex, you did very well in this matter. The territory will not forget your contribution, and I will not forget your loyalty. I look forward to the day you become a Knight.”

‘There’s the pie in the sky. Now eat up.’

“Yes, my lord!” Alex bowed deeply, his voice filled with emotion.

What had he sought by forsaking Hay’s tempting offer and confessing everything to Leech? Naturally, it was the hope of trading loyalty for true glory.

Compared to the short-sighted Hay who only cared for immediate gains, Alex had a much longer-term view. The Porcupine’s rise was unstoppable, and he knew he should firm up his convictions rather than resort to petty tricks. The first lesson for children of noble families was learning how to pick a side.

“Still, Hay is always making these little moves,” Leech mused. ‘He’s greedy, but he’s definitely talented and always manages to surprise me.’

‘Besides, when some nobles who are clearly at odds with me want to do something purely out of spite, they always go through Hay. It’s better to have a target than no target at all.’

‘But he still needs to be kept in line.’

“I’ll arrange for someone to keep an eye on him. You should go get some rest.”

“Yes, my lord~”

After returning to Iron Valley and resting for two days, Leech immediately activated his frantic infrastructure-building mode.

There was a simple reason for this: he now had some money, and for Iron Valley to serve merely as a transit hub for Porcupine Territory was a great waste of its potential.

Environmental issues here made an industrial transition impossible, and the land wasn’t suitable for agriculture. Even though Leech had been constantly using a black dragon’s Decay Magic to improve the soil, it was hard to get it to the level of Porcupine Territory, let alone compare it to places like Golden Wheat Field.

Aside from the still-difficult-to-extract fire oil, the Purple Clove Mushrooms that could barely cover expenses, and the dwindling supply of bloodline herbs, there was nothing particularly special here.

Therefore, Leech planned to leverage the terrain’s advantages and turn this place into a center for talent cultivation.

‘As for my previous plans, I can toss them. My territory has expanded, so my goals need to be more long-term.’

Since he now controlled more than half of the desert, Leech planned to completely abandon warhorse breeding in Porcupine Territory. He would only keep the stables there to train a small number of cavalry; in the future, the majority of his cavalry would come from the desert.

Just as most of his infantry would come from Porcupine Territory.

Only by combining the troop advantages of each region could he build the strongest army.

‘Dongxia Soldiers are clearly heavy infantry, and Endor’s cavalry are horse archers. The desert provides what I’d call T1 light cavalry. Hmm, to recruit the strongest units in the current “meta,” it seems I still need to expand my territory. Linta Bay is currently part of Dongxia, but their warriors like to wear light armor in battle and have good archery skills. But I have musketeers, and for ranged units, musketeers are without a doubt T0!’

‘It’s just like playing Mount & Blade. If you just stubbornly recruit the same type of unit from one region, you’ll eventually get steamrolled by the enemy.’

‘Not all cavalry are the same, either.’

Lonely Mountain Castle was very suitable for cultivating scholars, Casters, Transcendents, and other high-level talent.

‘Having too many functions in Porcupine Territory, my industrial zone, isn’t good. I can move some of them out.’

This place could also be a commercial transit hub. He planned for each of his territories to have basic commercial functions. After all, the world was too chaotic; a single point of failure could bring everything down, which would be bad for him.

‘Self-sufficiency is the primary goal at this stage of development.’

‘I must resolutely implement the three… well, anyway, something to that effect.’

But for the minor nobles who had grown accustomed to a relaxed and idle life recently, things were about to get less comfortable.

There were meetings every day. If the roads hadn’t been repaired, they would have spent a huge amount of time just traveling.

Leech clapped his hands, drawing everyone’s attention. “The Four Gods be praised. Through everyone’s hard work, we have basically completed our initial goals: a small market, a residential area, and three villages. Life is barely getting by. The same old saying applies: we continue to build roads. Also, in these areas here, clear out a section… and here, and here…”

The two brick kilns began operating at a frantic pace. To supply Iron Valley’s needs, Leech found himself short-handed again. Thus, he had to go to Giant’s Foot to recruit a large number of “interns”—no, that’s not right—to find cheap, effective commoners.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to buy slaves.

The reforms in Giant’s Foot had clearly been very successful. Likely due to Prince Hoffman’s thunderous methods, not a single slave trader could be seen openly in Giant’s Foot.

Even if there were slaves, the prices wouldn’t be cheap, because it was the autumn harvest season, and labor was expensive.

Thus, carriages began to appear in Burning City, in the small towns and villages further south, and even in the small, yet-to-be-suppressed tribes. They carried documents bearing the thunder-mark seal of Prince Hoffman’s family, produced clinking copper stars, and, with smiles on their faces, extended an olive branch to the struggling farmers of Giant’s Foot.