"Splish splosh——"

The jar of the wheel saint machine pump emitted bursts of black stinky water, while the water level in the swamp of Autumn Dusk Island was slowly dropping at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Walking on the road leading to Autumn Dusk Island, Horn looked around.

The previously barren fields were now filled with beastman laborers and local villagers.

There was already a large amount of fallow land on Autumn Dusk Island, which only needed the removal of shrubs and tree roots in the soil to be cultivated again.

However, over time, the soil on Autumn Dusk Island had gradually acidified, so one could see people constantly spreading lime to change the soil acidity.

Following Horn, Martin curiously observed the scene of humans and beastmen living in harmony on both sides.

He truly hadn't expected to find such a fertile land within this Black Bone Swamp.

After bypassing a few mounds, the guide leading the way suddenly walked to one side, leaving the main road to step onto the adjoining mud.

"What's wrong? Why the sudden detour?"

"Your Grace, they're constructing the road ahead."

Following behind the group, Martin kept his gaze fixed on the ground beside him.

Nearly a hundred beastmen and local villagers were pouring gravel into newly dug trenches with buckets, grabbing carts, and dumping half-carts of mortar into them.

Then, the beastmen laid nearly a hundred head-sized stones, stacking them on the mixture of mortar and gravel.

Walking further ahead, there were seven or eight alchemists standing by the roadside, continuously scattering iron powder and using alchemical rituals to accelerate drying.

It's said to be fast-drying, but to actually dry thoroughly still takes about four or five days.

Seeing Horn's arrival, Vite, wearing an iron helmet and supervising the construction, scurried over to Horn.

"Your Grace."

"Is this road your project?" Horn pointed with his horse whip to the mortar road under construction beside them.

"Yes, I believe the paving of roads within the city is satisfactory, but transporting goods to the docks is very challenging."

"Tell me more."

"We're planning to construct a main road of 1000 meters in length, 8 meters in width, with an estimated volume of 3200 square meters, using 658.3 tons of mortar, 914.2 tons of sand, and 1828.5 tons of stone."

Horn paused his steps, turned his head to ask Vite, "How is our mortar workshop's production at the moment?"

Vite glanced over to Sachis, who fluently replied, "The mortar workshop operates in groups with crucibles, each group with 3 alchemists, currently having 10 crucibles.

Each crucible can produce 8 tons daily, given sufficient raw materials, resulting in a daily total of 80 tons across 10 crucibles, 2400 tons monthly."

"How much?" Before Horn could respond, Martin blurted out.

Since Kasha County borders Black Snake Bay, mortar transportation is quite inexpensive, and Martin has some understanding.

In his memory, a mortar workshop producing 1-2 tons daily was standard, and 10 workshops producing roughly 700 tons a month was normal.

How did they manage that?

Martin didn't keep this question to himself and asked Horn directly.

"Because they operate a small workshop model; everyone engages in all procedures, endlessly waiting, endlessly insufficient." Horn poked a small pit in the mortar ground, "Each process has designated personnel, assembly line work, and warlocks only need to focus on producing cement as quickly and efficiently as possible."

Seeing Martin's puzzled look, Horn just smiled: "I'll show you around later, and you'll understand... Oh, you're quite knowledgeable about this mortar, huh?"

"Yes, we frequently use mortar as a building material there, with Black Snake Bay just beside us, making it very affordable."

"How much is a ton of mortar approximately?"

Martin scratched his head, evidently unfamiliar with these mundane matters, so his companion responded: "It depends, pricey during peaks at around 80 Dinars per ton, but cheaper at 40 Dinars."

Calculating with a median of 60 Dinars, 2400 tons equals 144,000 Dinars, converting to gold pounds would be 1200 gold pounds.

If Horn's mortar workshop could sell externally, deducting labor and material costs, the monthly net profit would be approximately 900 gold pounds.

Currently, this number simply meets internal demand rather than external, with nearly 1800 tons of mortar still in storage.

"However, since the War Monks started returning home, our mortar orders have clearly increased," Sachis explained.

Horn could generally guess the reason: after acquiring significant spoils and money on the battlefield, the War Monks were eager to move into better housing.

If you're building houses, the nearby and affordable mortar is a great choice.

Coming to the Mechanical Palace, standing on the hillside looking into the direction of the small town, many visible ruins by the town had noticeably decreased.

As for the hastily repaired Insula Apartment, residents were actively refurbishing them.

Several War Monks followed the priests of the Prayer Hall, measuring lands in the ruins, seemingly preparing to construct buildings.

Four months ago, this was all ruins, and in four months, it had already transformed into a vibrant small town.

"Sir Martin, settle in the town first, I'm heading to the Mechanical Palace."

After saying goodbye to Martin, Horn shook the reins and swiftly arrived at the Mechanical Palace.

Peering through the crack in the large gates at the base of the mountain wall, Horn could glimpse a figure sitting in a wheelchair.

"Hilov." Horn tossed the horse whip and reins to the nearby coachman and strode briskly into the Mechanical Palace.

The initially drooping head suddenly lifted, and though Horn couldn't discern any emotion from that expressionless face, the erect ears and helicopter-like rotating tail said otherwise.

Placing the book on her lap, Hilov spun the wheelchair rapidly as though wanting to throw herself at Horn.

But upon nearing him, Hilov grabbed the handrim and forcefully braked, halting in front of Horn.

"Oh, impressive, you've even learned to drift." Horn flashed a toothy grin at her.

"Long time no see, Horn." Hilov crossed her hands, tugging at her skirt, "Where's Jeanne? Didn't she come?"

"She needs to hold down Joan of Arc Castle, just in case. I'll be giving her some time off. She should be coming next week or the week after," Horn replied as he pulled a pair of sparkling items from his pocket and handed them to Hilov.

Hilov's eyes lit up, and her tail stood up like an antenna: "What are these?"

Though naturally drawn to shiny objects, Hilov was still unclear about Horn's intention.

Horn smiled as he explained: "A little gift for you, called crystal cover slips.

Later, drop a bit of Moon Pool water onto the film, then cover it with the slip, and use scrying spells. You might find it useful."

Previously, Hilov always mentioned how her scrying spells, when looking into the micro worlds of organisms, only showed ambiguous blobs of colors converging or hazy shadows.

Horn always suspected it was because the samples were too thick, preventing light penetration and lack of dye, causing unclear visualization.

To analyze what exactly comprises Moon Pool water, Horn specifically pulled some high-transparency crystals from the Monastery's jewels.

This way, Hilov might see more clearly.

"Thank you." Hilov gratefully and solemnly secured the cover slip, "I will make good use of it."

"By the way, didn't you mention a little surprise in your letter? Where is it?"

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