During the days before setting off to explore the ruins, Tilly's greatest pleasure was slowly strolling along the flat streets of Border Town, observing the astonishing changes that had taken place in this remote territory under the Lord Roland.

This was a unique town, she thought, the more closely she observed it, the stronger this feeling became. It was unlike anywhere she had ever been... What impressed her most was probably the unparalleled vitality that the town radiated.

Even the emerging Sleeping Island could not compare.

"Aren't these people afraid of freezing?" Andrea asked curiously, looking at the pedestrians coming and going on the street, "What benefits did your brother promise to make them willing to work so hard in the dead of winter?"

"It's still mid-autumn," Ashes spread her hands, "You can't even tell the seasons apart, can you?"

"But it's no different from winter, it's an analogy, which often appears in *Her Dream, His Kingdom*," Andrea gracefully tossed her long hair, "Of course, barbarians wouldn't understand."

"What your dream, my dream..."

"See, it's difficult to communicate with vulgar people who haven't appreciated drama. Lady Tilly must have watched this famous play from the Kingdom of Dawn."

"Stop arguing, you two," Sylvie sighed, "I think the reason is probably very simple. Civilians are reluctant to be active in winter because it consumes a lot of energy, they can't get enough to eat, and they are prone to catching colds, but these problems don't exist in the town. Here, grain prices are not high, firewood is plentiful, and Miss Lily can cure colds, so they will work hard in the cold wind and snow—one more day of work means one more day's pay."

"I can understand the firewood being plentiful. The Misty Forest is to the west, and there are many woods around. But the grain prices aren't high... How is that possible?" Andrea asked suspiciously, "My family has also been involved in selling grain. When natural disasters cause reduced production and poor harvests, everyone raises the grain prices very high. In this kind of terrible weather, nobles and merchants can't possibly not sell at high prices, right?"

"Nobles? Merchants?" Sylvie laughed dumbly, "Only one person is allowed to buy and sell grain here, and that is His Highness Roland."

"The farmland by the river is all his property?" Tilly frowned.

"No, those are all the serfs' own fields," she recounted what she had seen and heard here, as well as the scenes of the harvest, "He set two grain prices, one is the purchase price, and the other is the selling price. Both of these prices are fixed, and the latter is higher than the former."

"Isn't that just forced buying and selling?" Ashes said with an expression of as-expected, "He can sell at a high price, why doesn't he allow others to sell at a high price too?"

"It's not the same," Tilly pondered, "After the wheat is harvested, it needs to be threshed, ground, and stored in warehouses. These are all costs, so it's perfectly normal for the price to increase."

"Lady Tilly is right. I only understood it after asking Teacher Juan," Sylvie smiled, "She said that the extra fees collected can be distributed as salaries to the workers who process the wheat, can be used to build new granaries, and can expand production scale. All of these can provide the town with new..." she thought for a moment, "...job positions, that's right, that's what she said at the time. I heard that His Highness Roland cares a lot about this."

"But he is still forcing people to buy and sell," Ashes emphasized, "Shouldn't trade be free?"

"Perhaps, but the selling price set by His Highness is not so high that everyone can't afford it. If this price can remain fixed, the people will feel more at ease."

"Sometimes it's not always best for everything to be free," Tilly said with emotion. She had a general understanding of Roland's intentions. Prohibiting others in the territory from selling grain seems domineering and unfair, but in reality, it prevents hoarding and speculation, and can effectively avoid price gouging when there is a shortage of grain. If it were in the royal capital, the price of grain would inevitably rise to more than five or six times the normal price with such rare autumn snow, and more than half of the commoners would go hungry because they didn't have enough stored grain. Over time, it could easily incite riots, and in the end, the palace would have to issue relief grain or send guards to suppress it. Either way, it would be a considerable burden on the national treasury.

Although this policy seems good, it can't be implemented everywhere. Most of those who control the grain trade are nobles and wealthy merchants. They own a large number of serfs and fields. The royal family cannot force them to purchase the grain they produce and prohibit them from hoarding grain. However, in Border Town, apart from Roland Wimbledon himself, there are hardly any noble families. He is the only one who has the final say.

After Tilly expressed her views, Ashes was still somewhat unconvinced, "What about those serfs? When grain prices rise, they may be able to earn more income, but in this way, they are all exploited by the fixed price."

"Pfft," Andrea chuckled, "It's as if these people can avoid exploitation in cities with free trade. When wheat is abundant, they not only have to hand over more wheat, but even the little they keep will be suppressed to a very low price. When there is a poor harvest, it is questionable whether the remaining part after the handover is enough to survive the famine. In comparison, a fixed price is more reasonable. As long as more crops are produced, the income will also be higher."

"Here, they can choose not to do it," Sylvie's words surprised the three of them slightly, "His Highness said that after the output reaches a certain standard, serfs can be promoted to free people. Whether to continue working in the fields or choose a new job is up to their own wishes. However, free people only need to hand over 20% of the grain, and according to this year's purchase price at the time of the harvest, the salary is also considerable."

"Pro...motion?"

"Yes, His Highness also said during his speech that he wants to ensure that there will be no more serfs in Border Town in two or three years."

So that's how it is. Tilly's heart was suddenly touched by something. This is why the town is full of vitality... When formulating policies, he actually considers the people's thoughts and incorporates incentive systems to encourage them to do more and better - this is completely different from the practices of any noble lord. The incentives are not only expressed verbally, but also practically giving up some of the benefits, allowing the people to obtain them through hard work, rather than keeping these benefits deep in the underground vault of the castle.

She now truly understood the meaning of those red banners by the riverside.

However, Roland Wimbledon was not a generous person when he was in the royal palace... So, is this also a change brought about by that part of the sudden memory? And the elementary natural science and mathematics content taught in the evening is also fascinating to her.

Tilly originally thought that after reading through the palace collection, it would be difficult for anything to arouse her curiosity and interest again, but now, she realized that there was still a lot she needed to learn.

A feeling suddenly welled up in her heart, even if she didn't do anything, just stayed in the town's castle, flipping through those books that recorded magical knowledge, while watching the changes in this town, it would be a pleasant thing.

Suddenly, a long chime came from the direction of the city wall, which was the alarm for demon beast attacks.

Tilly suppressed these thoughts in her heart. Unfortunately, she was no longer the unrestrained Fifth Princess, but the leader bearing the fate of the Sleeping Island witches. Some things could not be done capriciously based on her own preferences, "Let's go to the city wall and see if we can help the guards."

"Of course," Andrea smiled slightly, "That's our purpose in coming here. Let them see how witches fight."

.(。)