Chapter 52: Chapter 48: That’s What Makes a Man
Luo De’s eyes were like torches, staring at Simon, "Since you haven’t harmed Katie, I won’t take your life, but she was supposed to come here anyway, so I won’t pay for her."
"Yes, yes, you’re right."
Having saved his life, Simon breathed a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"I can continue to work with you, but next time you come, you must bring Katie a piece of jewelry as an apology."
Luo De could see that Simon was just a money-loving merchant, waving a purse in front of him,
"As for this bag of money, leave it as a deposit, and I’ll return it to you the next time you come."
"Sure, sure!"
Simon initially thought he’d have to suffer a loss to avert calamity, but hearing he could get his money back, he was overjoyed.
What he didn’t know was that Frost Leaf Town now needed trade development, and since Doron hadn’t pursued the matter, Luo De decided to let him go.
Otherwise, according to Luo De’s temperament, at least Doron would have given him a few lashes as a lesson.
"Alright, this matter is settled."
Luo De waved to let Simon leave, then turned to look at Doron and Katie,
"Have Lawrence arrange a room, so you two can rest well."
Doron was delighted to hear this and pulled Katie to kneel before Luo De,
"Thank you for your mercy and generosity, thank you for saving Katie from her slave status, we will forever be your subjects, forever loyal to you!"
Gunter made a face of disdain, "Doron, you are a warrior, you should swear allegiance in the manner of a warrior! Haven’t I taught you?"
"It’s not important,"
Luo De motioned for them to rise, "From the moment you joined Frost Leaf Town, I understood your loyalty, naturally, I will protect you and your families."
He then looked up and scanned all the soldiers and townspeople present,
"Not just Doron, but all of you are my people, I will protect every one of you and not let anyone harm you!"
"Salute, Lord!"
"Long live Lord!"
"Well done, Lord!"
...
The soldiers cheered, prompting the townspeople to loudly join in and then ask those around them what had happened.
Upon learning the whole story, their cheers became even louder, and the tale of Lord protecting the townspeople and punishing the deceitful merchant began to spread in the town.
"Lord De is actually a good noble,"
Lusen watched the cheering crowd and couldn’t help but whisper with admiration, "Just a bit domineering."
"I think it’s just right, only in this way can he protect the witch from the Church’s grasp."
Linda watched Luo De’s departing figure, "I like this noble."
"Hmm? Weren’t you just complaining this morning that he took your gem?" Lusen was shocked.
"You don’t understand, that’s what makes a man."
Linda snorted coldly and turned to enter the house.
...
...
After handling everything, Luo De returned to the manor to check on the Two-legged Flying Dragon eggs.
According to the book, these two Two-legged Flying Dragon eggs still had over twenty days before hatching.
But since Luo De had placed the Spirit Gem with the two dragon eggs earlier, he was unsure if it would cause them to hatch early, so he often came to check.
Sadly, the two Two-legged Flying Dragon eggs showed no signs of movement.
Although he was anxious, Luo De had no choice but to shift his focus to the River Bay.
A week later, after everyone in the town worked overtime, the River Bay reservoir was finally completed.
When the upstream river diversion dam opened a breach, the river water flowed back into the River Bay and then poured down the newly built irrigation channels.
The neighboring diversion channel was not abandoned, and Luo De planned to rebuild it for future flood control.
Although the Northern Wasteland had never experienced large floods, it’s better to be prepared.
The River Bay reservoir wasn’t full, as some of the river water was diverted, causing the downstream river channel to decrease in flow significantly.
Luo De stood on the shore, watching as one water pool after another appeared in the river channel.
Of course, Luo De wouldn’t miss these fishing holy lands, instructing, "Notify everyone in the town to come to the channel to catch fish, fish under half a pound will be kept as fish seedlings, those over half a pound will have forty percent left to them."
Both the ponds below and the River Bay reservoir needed seedling stocking, and there was still a shortage of fish seedlings.
Since Luo De arrived, the entire town had been busy, even the grinding donkeys needed a moment to catch their breath.
Luo De also felt it was time to give the townspeople some tangible rewards, to let them relax and experience life’s pleasures.
It was both a celebration of the completion of the first phase of the irrigation channels and a leisure time after spring plowing.
"No problem, Lord!"
Otto eagerly agreed, twisting his short and stout frame to spread the message personally.
Having heard last time that the slaves had an enjoyable fishing time at River Bay, Otto, busy with spring plowing, hadn’t been able to join.
But this time, it was finally his turn.
"Everyone gather at the main gate, the Lord is letting us fish in the river!"
As soon as Otto arrived in town, he kept shouting the news.
The townspeople were unusually excited upon hearing it, grabbing baskets and wooden barrels to gather at the main gate.
By the time Otto returned from Winter Manor, over a hundred people had gathered at the gate, and the fishing army marched grandly towards the river channel.
In fact, every early spring after the river ice melted, they would come to the river to fish to supplement their food and meat supplies.
They thought it wasn’t possible this year, but unexpectedly they heard they could fish.
Upon seeing the shallow pools across the channel, everyone was even more excited, rolling up their pants, grabbing wood, and jumping in.
Then they frantically began fishing in the water, and soon, everyone had at least half a bucket beside them.
Even if the Lord had to take away more than half, it was better than before!
Previously, the whole family would work hard all day to get one bucket of fish at most, now one person could fill a bucket in half a day.
The key was, they didn’t have to fear being attacked by wild animals coming for water while fishing.
Because with the Hunting Team’s presence, the surrounding wild animals had long been cleared!
They hadn’t seen traces of wild boars or desert wolves for two months now!
"How come it feels like life has been getting better since the Lord came!"
Farmer Tyr sighed while catching fish, "But he clearly took a lot of our property."
"But the Lord didn’t let anyone starve."
Rof, the dung stirrer next to her, said, "Now my biggest feeling is not having to worry about what to eat tomorrow, the lord will arrange everything."
"You only need to go stir the dung pits every day to earn your work points, of course, you don’t have to worry!" Tyr gave Rof a sidelong glance.
"Aren’t you the same? Just cooking every day earns you work points, otherwise, you would have starved as a widow long ago!"
"Bah, you’re the one who’ll starve!"
Tyr retorted with her mouth, but couldn’t help agreeing in her heart.
If it were before, her father might have urged her to marry quickly, but now he wasn’t in a hurry anymore.
"Have you heard about the other day when the lord stood up for Doron?"
Rof stood up, recalling, "Think about how arrogant those merchants used to be, always trying to cheat us out of our things, when did the mayor ever care?
Do they dare now?
Hehe, I heard that day the merchant was so scared he almost wet himself!"
This time, Tyr nodded vigorously in agreement.
Especially after the autumn harvest, prices for salt and cloth and other daily necessities soared, and the merchants’ attitudes were extremely bad.
Unlike now, you could just exchange with work points.
You no longer had to look at merchants’ faces and suffer grievances.
"Enough said, let’s catch more fish to exchange for grain at the lord’s market, and when I save enough, I’ll bring my wife’s entire family here."
Rof bent down again, starting to battle with the fish in the pool.