21st Century Archmage

“M-My liege.”

Derval looked to be on the verge of tears. When I reached the salt farm on Bebeto, he sent a blast of passionate emotion my way.

‘All this fuss for nothing. Ahem ahem.

Derval wasnt the only one moved. The territorys important figures, including Aramis and Igis, as well as all of our knights, were in attendance and completely touched. An endless field of white jewels was laid out in the salt farm. Everyone was excited by the sight of an enormous quantity of salt produced using a method that was the first of its kind on the continent. The color of the salt showed it was far more pure than thermal or rock salt.

“The preparations?”

“We can begin as soon as you give the order, sir.”

“Then lets begin.”

“As you command!”

Just like how it took more than just pearls to make a necklace, the salt needed to be put into bags to be useful. Hundreds of robust soldiers were standing with sweepers instead of swords today.

“Begin!” shouted Derval loudly.

“As you commaaaand!” came the drawn-out response from the soldiers.

Grrrrrrrrrgk.

At the same time, the soldiers began to energetically pile up the salt using their wooden sweepers.

“Ohh…!”

“Y-Youre telling me thats all salt?!”

Every time the sweepers of the soldiers moved, piles of salt were formed.

In the fields that werent completely dry yet, the salty seawater was swept up along with the salt, making loud swishing noises and creating a nice foam as the white jewels were tossed forward.

‘Huhuhu. Its money, all money.

I was still hungry for more. The money we earned by using the dwarves was astronomical, we had netted an enormous profit from the trade with Kesmire, and wed made a fortune thanks to the enemies that kept coming to the territory, but I was always hungry. There was no sin in making money like this. This valuable reward was realized through the sweat of me and Nermans people. It was absolutely a praiseworthy matter.

“Kyre hyung, did you really make that?” asked Razcion, who had gone from a well-to-do prince of the Bajran Empire to my little brother. He asked me a question to confirm what his eyes could not believe.

“Of course. Theres nothing in this world our liege cannot do.”

Derval was exaggerating. I wasnt a god, how could I possibly do everything in the world?

“Its truly astonishing. To think that you figured out the mass production of salt, an issue that even magic could not solve, so easily…” Igis eyes sparkled as she looked at me with awe.

“You are a person overflowing with the blessing of wisdom,” said Aramis, flashing me a smile that exposed teeth more brilliant than the salt.

‘Whyre you all making such a fuss with just this? Jeez.

Not just them, but all of the knights and soldiers were staring at me with eyes of respect.

“Sir Derval, do not forget to stack them all up in the warehouse and extract the rest of the moisture.”

“I have already instructed it, my liege.”

Grrrrgggk.

After piling the salt into a small hill, the soldiers began to move it using sturdy wooden shovels into small carts. They began to move the salt to warehouses built all over the salt farm.

‘Its a relief that everything ended smoothly.

Around tomorrow, a large convoy from the Rubis Merchants would be arriving. They were able to come because the two empires hadnt formally blocked the passage of merchant groups yet.

‘As long as this trade goes off well, well be good to go for several years.

The Rubis Merchants were coming this time as a large-scale convoy, bringing an entire assortment of goods ranging from approximately one thousand dairy cows for the health of the residents and animals like pigs and sheep, to various kinds of seeds and clothes. We had purchased enough goods to sustain the people even if they didnt farm for several years.

‘At least 10 dairy cows will be allocated to each village, and Ill have them milk the cows.