Early in the morning, Losa woke up from his dreams.
Facing the faint morning light streaming through the window.
A cold greeting rang in Losa's ears.
"Good morning."
Outside the curtains.
Prajna was lying on a soft couch padded with tapestry, holding a book in her hand and said, "Last night, I finished organizing the first volume of Song of Winter and Summer."
The word "organize" was somewhat understated, as it actually involved polishing, revising, and padding—this was quite a major project.
Although Losa's memory had significantly improved due to the increase in spiritual power, it was impossible for him to narrate his story word for word; many details needed to be filled in.
So is Prajna actually an excellent novelist?
"There's no need to rush."
Losa explained, "Because the print shop hasn't moved over yet, even if you organize it well, it can't be printed."
"Hmm."
Prajna paused in silence: "I know, but I have nothing else to do either."
Guarding at Ghost Gate itself is a monotonous and boring life.
"Do you want to sleep for a while?"
Prajna hesitated, then said, "No need, but I want to take a bath, so during this time, please make sure to stay with Knight Jeanne and Furin."
Losa couldn't help but laugh, "Of course, no problem. Do you need me to prepare hot water for you?"
The five Persian female slaves gifted to him by Salah were still in Jorgelisburg, and he sent Ulm back to fetch Blacksmith Malles, also considering bringing them along.
A huge castle can't solely rely on guards for care.
Matters like taking care of women are also inconvenient.
Prajna shook her head slightly, "No need, hot or cold water makes no difference to me."
"Okay."
Before looking for Furinjira and Jeanne, he first proceeded with the new week's card draw.
Since there weren't any expectations, he did it quite casually.
Unexpectedly, though the rewards were average and even repeated, they perfectly matched Losa's needs.
The reward was a level-one city wall, which could upgrade Jorgelisburg's level-one wall to level two.
However, since Losa had plans to construct a new city, he wouldn't use this reward in Jorgelisburg.
That place was destined not to be his ruling center.
And building a city in a desert made stone materials extremely difficult to find; he originally thought of first building a wooden castle as a placeholder.
This way, at least the major problem of the castle's outer wall consuming large quantities of stone materials was solved; now it depended on when Ulm could explore a location that met his requirements and plant the Tree of Life there.
...
In the hall on the first floor.
Jeanne was holding a wine cup, pouring a fragrant glass of wine from an oak barrel.
Seeing Losa come down, she casually said, "Lord, what is your family motto? When you were just a baron, it might not have been important, but now you're a count, and not having a family motto might make people laugh at you."
Losa was taken aback.
He had overlooked this aspect.
It's also related to the era; knowledge like heraldry wasn't yet well-developed, and in a hundred years or so, not only counts but even knight families would typically have their own motto.
He subconsciously remembered "A.E.I.O.U," translated as—Austria will have the last laugh.
A more swaggering translation is—The whole world belongs to Austria.
But this was clearly unsuitable, as at that time, the Habsburg Family hadn't ruled Austria yet; it was still in the hands of Count Leopold of the Babenberg Family.
"You've truly stumped me with this one."
Family mottos often don't need to be very complicated; simple and easy to understand is best, but precisely because of this, Losa couldn't immediately think of what to choose.
"How about 'I came, I saw, I conquered'?"
Jeanne raised an eyebrow, "Forgive me, lord, this would make you seem like a war fanatic, and those who said this didn't end up well."
The words were spoken by Gaius Julius Caesar in Anatolia when he defeated the Pontic people, later betrayed by his adopted son Brutus and stabbed to death by the senators.
Losa retorted with hidden sarcasm, "Then what should it be designed as? I bring peace to the world?"
Jeanne laughed, "How about 'Epicurean delights are not to be missed,' meaning to eat and drink well."
Losa: "..."
Outside the castle, the sound of hooves echoed.
Suddenly, a burst of exclamations rang out.
Within the old soldiers' brigade of the castle guards, no one had ever seen such a magnificent giant like Malles, and they were all dumbfounded: "Is this also one of the lord's servants?"
"My God, is he the Malles that Lord Model mentioned? If you ask me, he should be called Mars (the War God) instead!"
"Malles is back?"
Losa stood up in some surprise.
The blacksmith shop prepared for him was Losa's biggest money bag in his future plans for the territory.
Not only those ornate, well-crafted full-body plate armors prepared for sale to wealthy lords.
But also the low-quality chest armors suitable for mass production, these armors pieced together with almost two steel plates, have passable defense and are quite inexpensive, so much so that in the late Middle Ages, even pikemen in a phalanx could afford them.
Besides, the dye workshop was also in preparation.
The cloth dyed with grape skins, due to the addition of alum ore, doesn't fade easily, although the color is lighter, lacking the deep, lasting quality of bone shell purple.
Moreover, Losa's experiments with some natural dyes were still ongoing.
Although Losa's investigations revealed that it's not impossible to find purple dyes as alternatives to bone shell purple, as the Gauls had methods of dyeing purple using lichen, moss, and the like.
But such purple had shortcomings like uneven color and being prone to fading.
The dye from grape skins was much better.
Another issue was that, during this era, due to the church's influence, people generally admired simplicity, and in the religiously saturated Holy Land, most of the clothing seen in daily life was black and white.
In short, there were many difficulties, and the dyed fabric might not be well-received.
But it's worth a try, anyway, it didn't cost much.
Losa also planned to promote grape purple well in the "new book" or "Song of Winter and Summer," to render it as the sole purple lordly allowed on the Westeros Continent, according to the "decorum," apart from bone shell purple, which was exclusively for the imperial family.
After all, the production of bone shell purple hardly meets the needs of noble lords, or rather, the vast majority of nobles simply cannot afford bone shell purple.
The meager annual output was monopolized by the wealthy Eastern Empire, which can hardly be considered a competitor to grape purple.
Malles, Ulm, and Pepin strode into the hall.
The giant's skin had become even darker during this period.
His robust and full muscles, along with his gigantic height, made Losa think that if given a warrior's template, clad in heavy armor charging through the battlefield, how brave he would be.
"Malles, you've worked hard during this period."
Malles shook his head and said, "My lord, I wouldn't say it's hard work. I have something to report to you."
He paused slightly, then said without waiting for Losa's reply, "I discovered a giant beast, estimated to be ten meters long, in the mine at Sego Village..."
Listening, Losa's expression became solemn.
In the Outer Jordanian Earl's domain, there aren't no other iron mines.
But the iron mines near Sego not only have a lower extraction difficulty but also yield high-quality iron ore and conveniently belong to his directly governed territory.
Should he abandon this iron mine just because of a giant beast?
Losa was contemplating.
At that moment, the system's prompt sounded: Milestone activated: Dragon Slayer Achievement.
A sleeping Earth Dragon appeared within your territory, feeding on iron ore, moving freely underground.
Now, it has occupied an iron mine in your territory. This is a significant provocation to you, the lord.
Kill it and bathe in dragon blood.
You will complete the milestone—Dragon Slayer Achievement.
Your dragon bloodline will allow you to absorb its essence and gain a certain number of attribute points by extension.
"So it's a dragon?"
Losa's expression was heavy.
"Malles, what do you think I should do?"
Malles was silent for a moment, then said, "My lord, that's your territory, you can't just sit back and do nothing."
"Indeed, what you say makes sense."
Losa stood up and said, "Please come with me first, I've set up a blacksmith shop with a full set of tools for you. Slaying that foul beast that massacres my people is something I should do, and I definitely won't decline."
Malles showed a hint of emotion, "I'm sorry, my lord, that monster is very dangerous, eradicating it might not be easy, and might cost more than a village."
Losa shook his head, "It is the duty of a feudal lord to protect his people, how can one measure it with pros and cons?"
If it weren't for the milestone.
Honestly, Losa might not necessarily have wanted to.
Now, it depends on the dragon's age.
Earth Dragons are not considered a powerful dragon species, they don't even have wings.
But if it were an adult Earth Dragon, their scales are extremely tough, covered with a layer of iron ore, completely unafraid of Demon-Blocking Gold, if such a dragon appears in other lords' territories, it would basically be impossible to deal with.
These pieces of knowledge, he learned from heraldry and through Witch Anna of the Levant Witch Association.
In any case, it's best to first conduct a field survey.
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