Chapter 303: Chapter 13
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Outside of Pyroxene Town, several cl.u.s.ters of flowers appeared near the man-made mineral vein; there were not very dense, but they were quite neat. Looking at them from the perspective of the courtyard, it could be regarded as a beautiful scenery.
Of course, these flowers were not from the sky. They were especially transplanted elsewhere by Sui Xiong.
On one hand, he wanted to see how the soil was purified and whether it was suitable for fragile plants to survive or not. On the other hand, he thought that a village without flowers was incomplete, and a life without flowers to enjoy was meaningless.
This undoubtedly reflected in his thoughts as a literary and artistic youth. If he were a science student who liked shouting about “science and technology create the world and changed life” or an engineering student who praised fire and steel, he would not have such ideas.
But people in Pyroxene Town loved these flowers so much. Many people even ran to the construction site and looked around those flowers again and again. If Felix hadn’t noticed beforehand and had built a fence around the flowers, perhaps more people would have tried to pick one and take it home.
Of course, for the entire Pyroxene Town, flowers were just a small thing. What really mattered were the other two things: first, relying on the purified land.
Felix found a resident who had been a vegetable grower before he came to the Northwest region for a living, and several men with good farming skills to help cultivate a small vegetable field.
The vegetables they grew were the famous “green vegetables,” that grew very fast and required relatively loose soil. As long as the land was not barren and there was enough water and sunlight, they could grow in half a month and be picked after one month.
This kind of vegetable had a strong vitality. Just by leaving a few leaves after picking and it would quickly grow many new leaves again. It was one of the favorite vegetables among the middle and lower cla.s.ses.
Of course, it also had disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage was that it was not good at competing with weeds for water and fertilizer. If there was no farmer to take of it, they would become weeds in just a few days.
Fortunately, there were no weeds in the Ashes Woods. No small plants could survive in this environment, and even the Gold Vines were not an exception. Without magic energy, the Gold Vines could not survive in this place.
Therefore, the farmer who presided over the vegetable planting soon found that all the work in the field could be done by himself without the help of other people. Thus several of his original a.s.sistants were transferred to build the outer fence.
The outer paling was a simple fence made of wood about two or three hundred meters away from the town.
This was certainly not for dealing with the skull tide but for guarding against robbers or demon beasts instead. Of course, no one would expect a wooden fence to block robbers or demon beasts, but they could effectively act as a buffer and greatly reduce the damage of the villagers and business troops.
For a long time, the four towns in the Northwest region had been trying hard to build such a fence. Except for the completion of Dragon-Roar Town, even the most prosperous Rye Town hadn’t been able to build such a fence.
After all, they lacked the money to build it.
It was not a small investment and depended mainly on the rich, but the beneficiaries were mainly civilians and small businessmen. For the rulers of this town, they usually lost more than they gained. So even if it was a good thing for the whole town, no one was willing to pay for it.
Even the fence of Dragon-Roar Town was not built by the mayor who had taken the lead in collecting money, but by the demon beast hunters who were bored during the winter and slowly built it with sticks.
However, now Felix was the mayor. Although she was a businesswoman before, she had broadened her horizons over the years she’s lived in the Void Mask Land. And along with Sui Xiong’s advice, she quickly thought of such a project and put it into practice.
Although the construction of this project would waste the labor used for production and greatly affect the income of the town, Felix did not care too much. Even if there was no investment from the Void Mask Land, a high-level mage was enough to build such a fence without any difficulties.
If Sui Xiong hadn’t advised her not to do everything by herself, she would have waved her magic wand and cast a circle of fences directly.
The biggest problem in Pyroxene Town was the low population and the labor shortages. Farmland and vegetable fields had opened up some jobs, and stores and shops also helped. Although there was a temporary shutdown on the man-made ore veins, it also needed hands for daily maintenance. In the end, there were only about twenty people that could be sent to build the fence, and all the work had to be done by these people, including cutting wood, tr.i.m.m.i.n.g timber, digging holes, pile driving and tying the stick to the piles. When the whole project was completed, and Pyroxene Town had been surrounded by a circle of fence, the caravans had come here several times.
Since the Void Mask Land was established, the security situation in the four towns of the Northwest region had improved a lot. The former administrator, Liv, often sent adventurers to track down bandits and then sent elite soldiers to kill them. Her sister Nice, who was good at aerial combat, had made the most outstanding contributions among them and few bandits could escape her detection from in the sky. Once they were locked down by her, they were practically sentenced to death.
There were more businessmen here because the bandits had reduced a lot. But now businessmen all liked the long-distance trades from Rye Town to the Void Mask Land. In contrast, the profits between the four towns became smaller and smaller except for some bulk commodities, so only some small businessmen still sold retail.
There were no caravans in winter. Even after the early spring, only when the climate got warmer could some businessmen dare to walk in the Northwest forest. But when the climate got warmer, there would be more caravans. For example, there was a caravan where Palin, the librarian of the Church of Void Mask, was an accountant when he was young. In the summer, there would be a caravan in every one to two days.
Even if it was not very warm now, there were still many caravans pa.s.sing by. They brought lots of food, spices, textiles, household appliances, various kinds of sundries and so on. However, what they had purchased from Pyroxene Town were those low-grade gems from the ore-veins. They could not afford the high-grade gems nor did they want to take the risk of purchasing high-grade gems.
The stores in Pyroxene Town had been integrated and presided over by Haman. He sorted them according to their categories, such as daily sundries, food, necessities, and other types. The renovated big house was s.p.a.cious and bright enough to display all kinds of goods on the counter, and some unused rooms were converted into warehouses or left vacant.
This also accelerated the speed of transaction because businessmen did not have to negotiate with shoppers. As long as their goods were genuine and at a fair price, Haman, who had sufficient funds, would not care about buying more because they could be used anyway.
In this way, the rumor that Pyroxene Town seemed to be rich gradually spread out, and before long, robbers came to this town.
“How should we deal with these guys?” Sparks flared in Jose’s nose as he brought in several robbers trembling with fear. Jose threw them down casually at the mayor’s office door. He was not afraid that these guys would run away and so swaggered into the office to discuss with Felix.
“How dare those robbers be such cowards!” Felix glanced at the door, frowned and said with doubt, “Am I behind the times? Or is Ashes Woods too dangerous now?
As she said, the Ashes Woods was not a safe place. There were skulls, devils, monsters and various kinds of demons. Those who were able to be robbers in this kind of place were usually powerful or somehow courageous. But those who were lying on the ground and trembling with fear did not look like robbers.
“I killed the two leaders,” Jose laughed and said. “I haven’t been able to control my strength so far. So I beat those two guys to fragments and these guys were terribly frightened.”
Felix saw a light suddenly. She could not help but laugh. “Oh, I see. Then I’ll put a magic collar on them and have them be our servants.”
She took out several magic collars put them around those frightened robbers’ neck.
After wearing the magic collar, they could not run away or resist. They could not only mark the location of the offender, but they could also release electricity, a widely used torture tool.
Although the robbers looked grim, they all felt relieved. They would not be hanged immediately.
But for Pyroxene Town, those robbers could be regarded as workers, and they did not need a salary as long as they had enough food to eat.
A disharmonious idea came to Felix. She had been worrying about the shortage of hands, so she contacted the Void Mask Land and found her good friend, Nice.
“You want me to help find the robbers and take them to Pyroxene Town for service?” Nice asked doubtfully. “Are you lacking hands that badly?”
“Of course. I am.”
“But recently, there might be fewer robbers…” the number one flying policewoman of the Ashes Woods murmured “It’s getting cold now, so a lot of robbers are moving in the Southern region. And they will come to Ashes Woods after some time.
“It doesn’t matter. Just catch as many as you can,” Felix laughed and said. “Anyway, I’ve always been short of hands, and more robbers will be welcomed.”
Nice thought about it and asked, “Are there any requirements for race?”
“How can I choose and pick since I’m in such dire need now? As long as they can understand people and have the strength to do things.”
Therefore, Nice, who had been under the care of Felix in recent years and learned many air combat skills from her went out to catch robbers.
Half a month later, the first batch of robbers was sent to Pyroxene Town.
Felix couldn’t help but laugh when she saw those gray-headed and frightened men.
“Next, a few pioneers have to be recruited.”