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

Chapter 58 Holy Salt
"Gerviel, come here."

Roman waved to Gweil from a distance.

Gweil looked up from the vegetable field and, upon hearing that familiar voice, immediately dropped the farm tools she was holding.

She jogged up to Roman.

She was able to eat milk, eggs, and various meats and vegetables every day, receiving ample nutrition. Her severely depleted body gradually recovered, and her emaciated face began to regain some weight, finally giving her a youthful appearance. This pleased Roman greatly, giving him a sense of nurturing.

Because she had run so fast, Gweil's face was flushed and she was covered in dirt. She was panting and looked up at Roman with a puzzled expression.

"Master Roman, is there anything you need to do?"

Roman didn't let her continue following along because he was building a livestock shed.

It's manageable when trees are being cut down, but if the roof beams that have been painstakingly erected collapse, it will definitely cause a long delay.

This is something Roman cannot accept.

So he sent Gweil to work in the vegetable garden in the north.

The unlucky girl was initially disappointed, but she quickly lost interest and devoted herself wholeheartedly to the vegetable garden. Every day, she took meticulous care of the ten acres of land like a little farmer, and spread nutrient soil all over the place.

Roman reached out and smoothed Gweil's slightly disheveled hair, tucking it all behind her ears. Then he slipped a sachet over her head and hung it around her neck.

"Does it make you feel uncomfortable?" Roman observed Gweil's expression.

Gweil looked at the sachet and said curiously, "There's nothing special about it..."

As she spoke, she suddenly opened her mouth wide and exclaimed "Ah!" She realized that the strange, mysterious power that had been clinging to her like a malignant tumor for the past two years, influencing everything, had suddenly dissipated considerably.

Gweil was greatly surprised.

She asked curiously, "Mr. Roman, what is this?"

Roman knew from her expression that the sachet had worked, and said, "It contains holy salt."

Gweil feigned a pitiful expression and said, "Lord Roman, are you going to burn me alive?"

Roman was speechless and tapped her head with his finger.

"When did you learn bad habits from Green?"

Gweil denied it, saying, "Grandpa Garin said that the Vatican would sprinkle salt on witches. This salt is purified by the gods and can dispel the magic of evil spirits, making them suffer unbearable pain, and then burn them to death."

Roman chuckled, "It's just that magic stones were added during the refining process; it has nothing to do with the gods. How do you feel?"

Gweil shook her head and said, "I don't feel anything."

Roman was not surprised by the result.

Refined salt has a restraining effect on magic and can naturally break certain tricks used by spirits.

But that's about it.

It's like when firewood catches fire, salt extinguishes the flame, but the firewood itself remains unharmed.

In comparison, holy salt is much more potent, capable of directly neutralizing most witches' spells and even causing them physical pain.

However, witches have always been a mysterious group, and Gweil is clearly not a normal witch, so it's not surprising that she wasn't affected.

In fact, two years ago, when Gweil's powers were exposed, her mother ruthlessly sold one of the family's sheep and bought two pounds of salt from a traveling merchant, which she then placed on Gweil's body.

But this approach clearly failed to control her power.

"Since it can suppress your power, then you might as well keep it."

"Is it for me?" Gweil's tone immediately became cheerful, and her face was filled with joy.

Roman raised his chin and snorted, "Then I'll give it to you. Just don't eat all the holy salt. I had a lot of trouble getting those idiots to make it."

Gweil's eyes narrowed into crescents. "Thank you, Mr. Roman. I will keep it safe and never eat it," she promised softly.

"Since the sacred salt can suppress your power, you can now interact with others. Don't stay here tomorrow; go find Hans and Gehrman to learn numbers and letters..."

"Oh." Gweil was a little disappointed. She had thought she could continue following Roman, but instead she heard this.

She didn't resist Roman's orders, and since she knew nothing about studying, she accepted them in a daze.

"Take it off if you feel uncomfortable."

Roman patted her head, signaling that she could go. Gweil left with light steps, like a joyful little bird spreading its wings and flying towards the vegetable patch.

Then his foot slipped, and he fell flat on his backside.

Fortunately, the grass was soft and didn't cause her any harm. Gweil stood up, patted her bottom, and continued to take off from the spot.

"That unlucky girl..."

……

[Level 2 Construction: 139/380]

Roman spent half a month building the livestock shed and gained a lot of experience points.

Now we finally have the confidence to build a lime kiln.

In recent days, the laborers Roman arranged for the quarry have extracted a large amount of limestone and gravel.

However, the firing efficiency was far from ideal; whether it was pure burning, dry burning, or hard burning, the output could not meet Roman's demand for lime at all.

After all, he needed to reinforce a 40-kilometer-long road.

Roman had to improve production efficiency by building earthen kilns.

However, even ordinary earthen kilns are not so easy to build.

Roman led about a hundred people to roll in the mud for a full five days, and their appearance was so striking that even Sais would be stunned.

But Roman didn't care. He supervised the progress and quality throughout the process and strictly controlled everyone's actions. Finally, he built a small lime kiln with adobe bricks and stones. Although it could only fire a dozen tons of limestone each time, it was still a qualitative improvement.

……

On the 63rd day.

Roman received the news that Morey had come to Sig Town again.

He arranged for the laborers to carry out the initial calcination, stuffing over a thousand kilograms of firewood at the bottom and limestone on top. This ignition process alone would take several hours.

Roman, without even changing his clothes, hurriedly arrived at the dock amidst Seth's nagging and met Morey.

The latter was also startled by the mud-covered figure in front of him.

Although he had seen many storms, he had never seen a nobleman like this before.

Fortunately, Morey remained calm and composed, showing no sign of surprise.

"I have brought you 20 oxen and 32 draft horses this time."

Roman didn't seem to care. He quickly asked, "Where's the iron I ordered?"

Morey could understand Roman's eagerness.

When he last visited the salt mines and saw that most of the miners were using farm tools, wood, and stones to extract salt, his expression was indescribable.

He knew that Roman had used up all the iron ingots in Sgard to forge the heavy plow.

But he had never seen the effect of a heavy plow, so he naturally had no real understanding of this type of plow.

Morey said, "I have a thousand pounds of iron ingots on my ship now."

Roman knew that Morey was the son of a wealthy merchant, which meant that Morey had a wide network of connections and could even speak to some powerful nobles.

He immediately nodded and said, "You did a good job, I won't treat you unfairly."

A thousand catties of iron is just a drop in the ocean when it comes to the construction of the entire Sige Town.

But for Roman, it was a lifesaver.

This means he can forge steel tools, which would be of great help in salt mining, quarrying, logging, and road construction.

Roman didn't give Morey cash.

He has no money left.

With a wave of his hand, he increased his discount quota from 20 jin of salt to 30 jin of salt, enough for him to sell until next year.

(End of this chapter)