Chapter 163: Seeing the Monster Again

Early spring is the breeding season for ice fish. Over the past month, the ice fish industry in Dalaran has been booming, which has significantly impacted Lord Gry’s earnings this year.
Compared to Lord Gry’s traditional method of catching ice fish to extract their roe, Dalaran’s caviar not only tastes exceptionally good but also lasts longer. Moreover, ice fish were originally part of the Merlin family’s industry, giving it these advantages and making it highly sought after by the nobles.
Lord Gry had just suffered a huge loss and needed funds urgently, so he was forced to lower prices and even go out of his way to visit his old customers one by one. This approach did increase his income somewhat, but it still paled in comparison to the surge in demand for Dalaran’s canned caviar.
With the help of knowledge from his past life, Donald’s canned food workshop saw workers sterilize containers by boiling them in hot water. With the aid of simple small magic arrays, fresh ice fish roe was sterilized at low temperatures, mixed with ingredients, and pickled. It was then packed as sterile as possible, sealed tightly with disinfected gauze, and finally covered with white wax and red clay, effectively preventing air from entering and extending the shelf life of the caviar to at least six months.
Although this method reduced the freshness of the caviar compared to freshly pickled versions, the once-week-long shelf life of delicious caviar, which had to be delivered quickly to nearby noble homes, could now be extended—through proper scheduling—to even reach the farthest corners of the continent.
This truly pioneered the food transportation industry and could be considered one of the most valuable inventions in human history over the past century.
Yet Donald wasn’t worried about any trouble arising, as the principle behind canning was quite simple for ordinary mages. It’s just that no mage had ever applied it to food processing. And since he was different—he was not only a mage but also a lord—his innovations wouldn’t draw much attention.
After establishing the canned food workshop, he not only earned a substantial income but also created job opportunities for the people in his domain. Like previous workshops, it was warmly welcomed by the locals, who took pride in working in their lord’s workshop.

What Donald wanted was not just caviar as a delicacy; with the advanced concept of homemade canned food, the shelf life of various other foods could also be greatly extended. Especially for soldiers on military campaigns, nothing was more motivating than enjoying a hot and nutritious meal.

Donald remembered from his past life that canned food was first applied in military contexts. If a batch of field rations were stored in space equipment, the troops in his territory would no longer have to worry about logistics for battles abroad.

Moreover, these field rations could be sold in large quantities to the kingdom’s and other nobles’ armies. Although the price was low, the low cost meant that with bulk sales, profits could still be substantial—far more than what most ordinary products from the manor could generate. In comparison, the Alchemy Fire Equipment Shop was merely a gimmick to attract foreign adventurers, not expected to generate much profit. Greenhouse vegetables also had seasonal limitations, so the canned food industry would surely become Dalaran’s fourth-largest economic pillar, after moonlight wine, black tea, and caviar.

It had been over a month since the waters of the River Winter and Moonlight Lake were connected. Donald, accompanied by William, was inspecting the protection of Moonlight Lake and the construction of the island at its center.

“Not bad!”
Looking at the clear waters and the residents drawing water by the lake, Donald nodded in satisfaction.

William praised, “This is all thanks to the lord’s grace. The people also voluntarily abide by the laws. To date, aside from a few foreign adventurers, no local residents have been found to have violated the laws!” From the start, Donald had issued laws to protect the territory’s water sources, prohibiting the dumping of garbage and pollutants, with violators facing public flogging.

The residents knew this was their source of drinking water, so they all took good care of it voluntarily. Even foreign merchants and adventurers, under the supervision of the locals and the threat of these strict laws, did not dare to pollute the water.

The two incidents that were discovered were due to carelessness and were not very serious, so fines were imposed instead of actual flogging.

However, for ordinary adventurers, a fine of dozens of gold sols was undoubtedly a huge sum—something they couldn’t earn in just a few years. With these two precedents, others dared not act recklessly anymore.

The waters of the River Winterwind are quite cold, but they don’t freeze due to the natural barrier in place. Coupled with the purifying magic array and the Spring of Life, it creates an environment highly suitable for icefish to survive. Many people have already spotted schools of icefish these days. However, due to the fishing ban issued by the lord, they can only observe without catching them, otherwise they would have already started harvesting them.

Today, Donald also noticed signs of young icefish flowing downstream to Moonlight Lake. It is now near the end of the icefish spawning season. An ordinary female icefish can lay hundreds to thousands of eggs at a time. The eggs laid earliest are already as thick as a finger, and more young fish will grow up subsequently.

“Presumably, in a few years, Dalaran will become the largest habitat for icefish in the north.” Riding a carriage downstream along the River Winterwind, which is currently only slightly wider than a stream and not yet suitable for sailing, people will be able to travel along it by boat once the water flow increases in the future.

Soon, the carriage arrived at Windchime Village. The River Winterwind flows in from the west, encircling half of the village, acting as a kind of moat. Although the river is only a dozen steps wide, it is still sufficient to hinder invading armies. Donald designed it this way to create a barrier for the village’s entrance.

As for passage, he used the convenient spell of turning mud into stone to build a sturdy stone bridge about ten meters wide at the entrance of Windchime Village, wide enough for five carriages to pass side by side. Watchtowers were also built on both sides of the bridge, manned to monitor those who passed by.

Soon, this novel stone bridge became a symbol of Windchime Village, and the village itself became the gateway to Dalaran in the eyes of outsiders. Many people came to Dalaran not for anything else but simply to see the bridge, the River Winterwind, and the scenery of Moonlight Lake. This greatly increased the flow of visitors to Dalaran.

Watching people coming and going over the bridge, William exclaimed, “It’s truly remarkable how wide and sturdy the bridge built by the lord is. I heard that the wooden bridge built in Redmaple Town collapsed a few days ago because of heavy loads on the carriages. Fortunately, the water was not deep, so no one died—only some goods were lost!”

Donald smiled slightly and said, “That’s just the nature of that baron merchant. Unless it involves his life or wealth, he always prioritizes saving money. This incident serves as a lesson. William, you must bring back more rewards!”

William nodded in a half-understanding manner in agreement. He still hesitated to fully endorse Donald’s concepts from his past life, as the hierarchical system in this world was deeply rooted and difficult to change.

Donald glanced at William but said nothing more. He had no intention of introducing democracy or freedom in this foreign world; he simply wanted to treat his subjects better. After all, even in the advanced society of his past life, class issues could not be resolved, and these subjects were the foundation for his elite plan… so they certainly couldn’t be oppressed like those heartless noble lords.

After leaving the Windbell Town Bridge, William immediately asked, “My lord, shall we continue our inspection further down?”

He asked this because the river below was already outside his own territory, belonging to Baron Redmaple’s domain.

Just as Donald was about to speak, he heard the sound of hurried horse hooves behind them. Interrupted, Donald turned around and saw that it seemed to be members of his own territory’s guard force.

“It must be Mark from the guard force—such urgency probably means something has happened. I’ll go call him over!”

Donald nodded, and William bent down and got off the carriage, waving repeatedly at Mark from the guard force.

The young man named Mark dismounted quickly, ignoring his sweat, and said anxiously, panting, “Lord William, we finally found you! Is the lord in the carriage?”

“The lord is not here. What urgent matter is it?”

Mark’s face lit up with joy at hearing this. By then, Donald had also gotten out of the carriage. Mark immediately saluted the lord and explained the situation.

“Lord, Lord Clinton sent me to inform you that a group of adventurers encountered multiple monsters in the Green Cloak Forest. Two of them have died, and the injured have fled back to town. They are currently being treated urgently at the Adventurers’ Guild. Lord Clinton says the situation is critical. Please return at once!”

“Monsters attacking? Are they not magical beasts?” Donald asked, stroking his chin.

“I heard they’re not magical beasts, but Lord Clinton has kept the news secret. Only the returning adventurers and a few nobles know the details!”

“Very good. You’ve done well. I’ll return right away!”

With that, he didn’t use the carriage anymore but disappeared before William and the others using teleportation.

As for Mark, the guard force soldier praised by Donald, he stood there in a daze, repeating to himself, “The lord praised me! The lord praised me!”

Seeing this, William found it amusing. He patted Mark on the shoulder and said, “Do well, don’t get arrogant—your future is bright!” Then he got into the carriage and headed back to the lord’s manor. Whenever something happened in the territory, he, as the administrative officer, was almost always involved, so he needed to hurry back to help the lord deal with the issues.
“Yes, Lord William!”
Mark, who had been startled, quickly regained his composure. With his sharp gaze, he even resembled an elite soldier.