You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 107 He Wants
Roman returned to Origin Manor.

He summoned Dick and asked the middle-aged knight, "Does this land have the means to mend broken bones?"

Dick paused, secretly guessing that Roman was going to treat someone else's injuries.

"I've only heard of it."

"The Pope's divine hand has the power to correct everything."

"More than a hundred years ago, there was a redemptive witch named Vivian in the conqueror's court. People said she had the power to bring the dead back to life."
"Legend has it that the elves possess miraculous and unique medical skills and control natural energy."

"The blood of certain dragons also possesses special magical effects; bathing in dragon blood can lead to a physical transformation..."

Dick went on and on with many examples.

Roman glared at him: "If you don't know, just say you don't know. Don't spout so much nonsense."

We'll leave the dragons and elves aside for now.

Roman will cut off the Pope's God Hand in the future.

But this is a long-term goal.

The redemptive witch Vivian vanished without a trace a hundred years ago, even harder to find than the dragons.

She is also the reason why people believe the conqueror did not die of illness; those fools always thought that one day the conqueror would return from the Sea of ​​the Dead with his army.

Roman thought Dick was knowledgeable and would be able to offer valuable information, but it turned out to be nothing but a waste of breath.

"Can't Garin do it?"

Dick smiled wryly and said, "You're putting him in too much of a difficult position... If we can find the Blood Coral, perhaps Garin could give it a try."

Blood coral is an extraordinary material from the deep sea.

Roman knew about this thing, but he didn't understand it.

Dick said, “Blood coral has the ability to regenerate blood. I saw such a treasure in the Free City when I was young. It looked like the legendary dragon horn, somewhat translucent, but with fine blood vessels inside, and its shape was beautiful and otherworldly. Sir, that small piece of blood coral fetched an astronomical price at auction in the Free City. I heard that a bishop from Sinnoh collected it for 50 gold coins—you should know what a huge number that is…”

Roman understands.

That means more than ten warhorses!
Those extraordinary resources are very scarce and ridiculously expensive.

To cultivate the sub-gi, not only must various resources be invested, but also a blood coral must be provided.

Roman didn't care about these things. As long as the apostles were loyal and valuable, he wouldn't be stingy with even ten blood corals, let alone one.

Dick continued, "There aren't many places where you can find blood coral. In my memory, it's only in coral islands, Iceland, and fjords."

Roman secretly memorized these places, planning to seize them one by one and cultivate them once he gained power.

He was completely oblivious to the fact that Iceland was a vast kingdom.

He asked, "Is Garin still not coming?"

"Sometimes older people can get stuck on things..."

Roman then asked about Káo's recent situation. Dick, recalling the sinister and fierce boy with bloodshot eyes, couldn't help but shake his head.

"Everything is going smoothly. Kao is very talented, but he has a sharp edge in his bones, which will hurt him sooner or later."

Roman nodded and said, "The terrifying thing about a sword is that its tip is always pointed at the enemy. You can train him as long as you want. I want to get him out of the sheath as soon as possible."

Dick hesitated, wanting to know where Roman was going to swing his sword, but for the sword, the answer seemed unimportant.

"I will try my best."

……

the next day.

Roman and Seth rode their horses along the tracks left by the paving team.

The depressions were filled with soil, and the raised areas were leveled with shovels. The road surface was not very undulating or steep.

The new dirt road was a bit narrow, but it was wide enough for a horse-drawn carriage to pass through, moving straight ahead as if it were stretching endlessly beyond the horizon.

It took more than two hours to ride the horse.

The two reached the end, where the low hills were bare, devoid of vegetation, and only occupied by busy farmers.

He had surveyed this coal mine. Roman also discovered a problem: there didn't seem to be many coal mines in this basin.

The reserves of peat are quite large—peat is an unformed coal mine.

When Roman was planting soybeans, he dug up millions of pounds of peat, which filled three thousand trucks. On average, each person scooped out tens of thousands of pounds of peat from the swamp.

However, compared to the vast peat reserves of the swamp, it is still a drop in the ocean and cannot be completely mined out.

Perhaps it hasn't had time to form a coal mine yet.

Moreover, Roman has only explored a fraction of the basin area so far, and there is no doubt that he may find larger and easier-to-mine coal mines elsewhere in the future.

For now, one coal mine is enough for him to make do.

Iron cannot be smelted using coal alone; it needs to be burned into coke.

Roman built furnaces to seal coal and smolder it into coke.

He specifically left 100 farmers behind to dig coal and build kilns here.

The coal seam is relatively shallow, about ten meters deep, and is not difficult to mine, but it is a huge challenge for these farmers who have no mining experience.

Roman had to become a supervisor, overseeing and guiding their work.

Most of the time, he did it himself.

It is difficult to carry out open-pit mining. Topsoil stripping is too difficult.

Mining is more convenient, but the downside is that it is very dangerous and dark.

Therefore, Roman planned to use both methods: open-pit mining where possible, choosing locations that were easy to excavate, and digging shafts where excavation was impossible.

After the harmful gases had completely evaporated, the pitch-black coal seam was clearly revealed before him.

Roman breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this. Although it was only a small coal mine, the coal quality was quite good and the degree of coalification was high enough. It would be much easier to coke this kind of coal and the efficiency of the finished product would also be improved.

He crawled down, knocked off a piece of hard coal with a pickaxe, and climbed back up with it.

Seth wiped Roman's face, which was stained with black marks, with a handkerchief, but the clean, white handkerchief quickly became stained.

Can this black stone really replace charcoal?

Roman revealed an extremely arrogant expression.

He clenched his fist and said with great enthusiasm, "Seth, just you wait! From this moment on, I will tell everyone on this land that a new era has arrived!"

Roman possessed unparalleled confidence, and that surging power seemed to burst forth from his body.

Only at times like this can you see his vibrant youthful spirit.

Sais thought to himself.

This young lord was always calm and composed. Only when he discussed his grand ambitions for the future would he become eloquent, just like other noble sons. But when underage noble sons talked about these things in public, it was more about showing off and getting everyone's admiring glances—essentially no different from a child bragging.

But he is different.

He would never mention this to outsiders; he would only tell Green and Aaron about his future plans, as if he were certain that the two of them were a perfect match.

For this reason, the two knights decided to gamble the rest of their lives on Roman.

While other princes were talking about vague goals and using the great deeds of conquerors to gild their own turds.

Young Roman waved his fist and spoke with great conviction about how to organize an invincible army.

He claimed that the military's glory was merely icing on the cake, while the military's benefits were what truly mattered.

He could not represent an army; he would only find it laughable. The landlord's private army was even less like an army.

The knight's fiefdom is still too outdated. In the future, he will carry out military reforms, adjust social relations, and design a new army system.

He wants centralized power!

He wants to rule as a dictator!

He will conquer everything!
The bold words spoken in his youth are still vivid in his mind, gradually overlapping with the slightly mature face before him, giving Seth a disorienting feeling that time is flowing by.

……

(End of this chapter)