Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Su Chen blinked his eyes and quickly calmed down. The water sword had come too suddenly. He did not have time to react. He did not expect the fish to spit.
“I was really careless.”
Su Chen blamed himself. He thought that with the system, he had awakened two-elemental magic and cultivated Knight’s combat aura. He felt that there was no danger for a Rank 1 monster, he did not have any vigilance when he came to the wild.
The power of the water arrow was indeed not high, and its speed was not very fast. In that moment of absent-mindedness, he realized that his combat experience and reaction ability were still very low. Although his overall strength was relatively high, he was still unable to handle some dangerous moments.
Today, just the sudden attack of a water swordfish had made him panic. If it was a more powerful monster, he did not know whether he could have survived.
Ian also saw Su Chen, whose eyes were originally shining with excitement, and his expression became a little gloomy. Presumably, the sudden attack just now had somewhat damaged his confidence, so he comforted him.
“Lord Mayor, you are actually very strong now, but you lack combat experience…”
“It’s okay, Ian. I’m fine. Why don’t we just eat some fish tonight?”
After Su Chen said that, he condensed a lightning ball with purple light in his palm and threw it into the river in the direction of the school of fish. Immediately, seven or eight big fish were electrocuted or knocked unconscious, and their stomachs turned upside down on the surface of the water, the other fish that had not lost their ability to move had already fled in panic.
“This is enough for ten people to eat!” Ian laughed and took off a net from his horse, he took off his long boots and rushed into the river to pick up the big fish happily.
Su Chen had originally planned to walk further today, but after this incident, he did not have much interest anymore. He followed the river outside the town and walked around the town.
After touring the river, he went to the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the town.
There was a large water truck in the middle, which provided water for the residents of the town. The upper part and the lower parts were mostly inhabited by farm serfs. Most of the residents of the town were also mainly engaged in agriculture, and there were also some artisans, who provided services for the lives of the town’s residents, such as tailors, carpenters, and barbers.
As for the salt, condiments, beer, and cloth, they were all purchased and sold by the town council from Ferol City. Just this income alone was comparable to the tax revenue of Lake Town.
After inspecting the town, the economy of the town was worse than Su Chen had expected.
Whether it was the planting or breeding industry, none had any scale. It seemed that there was still a long way to go.
Su Chen brought Ian back to the south gate of the town with a heavy heart. At this time, Evelyn was already waiting for Su Chen. It turned out that Su Chen’s residence had already been moved to the castle by her. Moreover, his room had already been cleaned, so Su Chen followed Evelyn back to the castle.
This place would be used as the mayor’s mansion.
There were three floors in the main building of the castle. The first floor was the hall, the kitchen, and the warehouse. The second floor was the dining room, the study, the living room, and the third floor was the bedroom, the bathroom, and the terrace. Servants and guest rooms lived on both sides of the attached floors.
The servants usually lived on the first floor and in the front and back courtyards. In the past, the servants would only return to the kitchen on the first floor to eat after Owen had finished his meal. Without the master’s summons, they were usually not allowed to go to the floors above the second floor.
By the time Su Chen returned to the dining room on the second floor, the cook had already prepared a sumptuous meal for Su Chen. Aunt Bella, who was in the lead, brought the freshly cooked, fragrant, and fat roasted chicken to Su Chen.
She had been a cook for more than twenty years at the mayor’s house. She was also the current head of the kitchen, equivalent to the head chef. She was also responsible for the purchase of daily food.
“Aunt Bella, how much is the difference between the prices of the ingredients in our town and those in the nearby city of Ferol City?” Su Chen asked Bella as he enjoyed the delicious food on the table.
Bella was a chubby middle-aged woman who was very talkative. When she saw the mayor talking to her, she was very willing to talk to him about the jobs she was good at.
“Mayor, the prices in Ferol City are much higher than those in Lake Town. Usually, we go there to buy some salt, spices, and condiments. These things are relatively expensive now. Usually, it will cost four or five gold coins to buy, which is enough for the town to use for a few months.”
Su Chen had heard about this from Maggie a long time ago. He nodded and signaled Bella to continue.
“In terms of basic food, there was not much difference between Ferol City and the small town. Ferol City had specialized farms, and under centralized management, the output would be much higher. The small town’s farmland was divided into pieces. They were all allocated to the management of serfs, so the output was not much.
However, the price of some poultry and game was three to four times that of Lake Town. For example, a common chicken could be bought in Lake Town for only one silver coin. The same chicken in Ferol City needed three silver coins, so we have never bought these small animals in Ferol City.”
When Su Chen heard this, his eyes lit up. If a chicken was transported to Ferol City to be sold, it could earn a profit of at least two silver coins. This was a profit of 200% !
After today’s inspection, Su Chen discovered that there were only six or seven small families in a town with more than 400 residents that raised livestock. Each family raised no more than ten livestock, basically, they were all used for the consumption of the town mayor.
The consumption level of the town was limited. Many families only raised one or two livestock. Each family was not very rich, so it was rare to eat this type of poultry. Another reason was that large-scale raising of poultry also required a certain amount of food consumption, this was something that most families could not bear.
Although the system had given him incentives to double the production capacity of the farming and livestock industries, the production cycle of farming was long, and the farmland in the town was extremely scattered. For the time being, there would not be obvious economic benefits, the production cycle of raising this kind of small poultry was very short, and the profits were astonishingly high. It was now a relatively quick channel for the town to obtain funds.
“Aunt Bella, when you go to the town to buy ingredients tomorrow, bring all the poultry that each family is willing to sell here. You can find someone to focus on feeding them.”
“Lord Mayor, Lord Maggie also told me about this during the day. Those chickens and ducks raised free-range are actually fine. You can eat grass and insects by yourself, but if you focus on raising them on a large scale, you will consume a lot of food,” Bella told Su Chen worriedly.
“Don’t worry, Bella. Food is unnecessary.. I will build a caravan to Ferol City in a while, but we can earn it back by then!”