Chapter 212 (1/2)
Chapter 212 Caravan and new information
It was already the second month of summer, and as scheduled, Margaret arrived on the day of midsummer.
This time, the amount of ships brought by the business group was far more than the pier could accommodate, so many boats now had to dock by the river and wait for the other ships that were in front of them to finish unloading, and allow them to access the pier for themselves.
This caused Roland to realize that the town’s pier would have to be expanded.
This month, Graycastle Industrial Company has finally completed their task, by reducing the scrapping rate to forty percent, they had successfully produced three steam engines for the day of delivery. Although compared to the current third generation used in Border town, the ones the factory produced for foreign trade were lacking in power, leaked air, were noisy, rattled and had other aspects that made them of a much lower quality. But compared to the former number of produced machines, it was still a great deal of progress.
The Crescent Moon Bay Caravan brought an artisan team of three hundred as had been arranged. Roland placed all of them in the industrial park at the southern side of the Redwater River. In addition to building a new wooden factory besides the original plant, he also ordered Karl to build an employee dormitory near the river. So that they could finish these facilities within a month, all the the huge logs needed were transported to the scene and then cut by Anna along with Karl’s technical guidance. Like this, the originally most time consuming task of processing the wood was completed in just two days.
When Teacher Karl saw Anna’s new ability he was stunned, in just six months, this weak and quiet girl had become so self-confident and seemed to always be in high spirits.
At the castle, Roland held a sumptuous dinner, welcoming the arrival of the business group.
At the same time, it was also the first time that White Liquor appeared in their line of sight.
“Every time we come here you will have developed new stuff, Margaret really did not lie to me,” Hogg yelled, “even the wine is so out of the ordinary…this…“
“White Liquor,” Margaret reminded.
“Yes, white liquor! Compared with this ale and wine are absolutely bland and tasteless,“ and with a grin, Hogg tossed the cup of liquor down. “Your Highness, this stuff, you must sell me a few boxes of it.”
“I think its flavor is too hot, or with to say it differently, the fruit wine is more suitable for me,” the businesswoman smiled and shook her head.
Roland smiled, “That has to do with personal preferences, the high concentration of distilled liquor isn’t with everyone taste. I also don’t plan to spread it out, but since I happened to have made some, I thought I could let everyone have a taste.”
In this era brewing and drinking wine was still the mainstream, but distilling alcohol clearly offered a great potential to open up a new market. Like the White Liquor, Rum, Whiskey, and Vodka were all distilled spirits with higher alcohol content. And together with these distilled spirits, they also came the corresponding string attached to the bartending culture. However, for the present, it was still too early to open up this industry in Border Town.
“Your Highness, I have brought some news with me according the matter you mentioned in your previous letter,” Margaret began, “Now, after the Church has taken over the Kingdom of Endless Winter, they haven’t brought up many changes. Currently they are facing a very strong resistance of the Wolfsheart Kingdom. Because of this they have gathered all their troops at the Broken Tooth Castle, but even with them they have not been able to take a step forward during the last two months. In addition, the Kingdom of Dawn has sent a message to Graycastle, that the Church goal should be to eliminate the witches, instead they want to take over the Four Kingdoms. They suggested that the two countries should establish an alliance, expelling the forces of Church out of the kingdom, and jointly fighting against the Holy City of Hermes.”
“How did the King’s City respond?” Roland asked
“The Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Marquis Wyke, has immediately refused this proposal, and even denounced the other side for speaking nonsense.” Margaret shrugged her shoulders, “This matter has caused a large commotion in King’s City; even the nobility is unable to reach a consistent view. As far as I know, many people are in support of the idea of an alliance. After all, at present, the Church hasn’t shown a sign that they will return the sovereignty to the successor to the Kingdom of Eternal Winter.
“Did Timothy not step forward?”
“The answer was certainly to incite Timothy, at the moment he himself is rushing with his army to the East,” Margaret showed a somewhat dignified expression.