Chapter 175 Detailed Discussion

Two platoons of finely armored cavalry escorted a colossal carriage, moving slowly along the crude pathway. The cavalrymen rode in pairs, keeping pace side by side. They were tall and imposing with profound gazes, their refined iron chainmail engraved with rose patterns. The carriage escorted by the cavalry was four meters long and two meters wide, its green pomelo wood cabin edged with red copper. The polished red copper skin gleamed brilliantly, also intricately carved with exquisite rose motifs, giving it a magnificent yet substantial appearance.

Immense, infinitely strong giant rhinoceros beasts dragged the heavy carriage steadily forward. The cabin swayed slightly, and the faint, elusive sounds of soft moaning caused the four female knight-apprentices flanking the carriage to blush. With a soul-stirring, lingering sigh, the cabin fell quiet again. These slender and charming female knight-apprentices breathed a sigh of relief, then giggled as they caught the envy and passion mirrored in each other's eyes.

The daily lives of local nobles were relaxed and monotonous. Estate affairs were handled by village elders, town mayors, and officials at all levels, while family matters were managed by the steward. To protect the hunting grounds, the grand hunt could only be held once a year. The rest of the time was spent either honing battle qi or striving to propagate the bloodline. Many nobles possessed more than one lover, but Sylvia was not among them.

When people spoke of the decadent private lives of nobles, they referred to ordinary nobles; knight-nobles were precisely the opposite. When high-tier knights communed with the elemental sea, they had to firmly anchor their beliefs, or else face total annihilation of body and soul. First, a knight's belief could not be the pursuit of power, for no power could compare to the elemental sea, and a knight who pursued mere power would be instantly assimilated by it. Nor could they take carnal desire as their sustenance, because that was far too easy for a knight to attain without stepping into the realm of the peak. The vast majority of knights took guardianship as their belief: guarding the kingdom, guarding the family, guarding the home. Therefore, knights did not forbid desire, but neither did they indulge in it.

However, peak knights whose minds had been scoured by the elemental sea would, for a long period, possess no ordinary emotions or joys apart from their conviction of guardianship, becoming detached and merciless. To rediscover the joys of life and to step into the legendary realm, peak knights often took one or two lovers to soothe their frozen hearts.

Sylvia had stepped into the peak realm with the belief of guarding her family, and she had encountered this very problem. Yet Sylvia was a supremely rare Flame Golden Knight. Flame Golden Knights were known in the era of wizards as divine knights; deities were formidable, yet untouchable. A Flame Golden Knight could not bear children, and would moreover destroy a knight partner's elemental foundation, reducing them to ordinary mortals. After Sylvia achieved the peak, to help her escape the influence of the elemental sea, the old Duke of York ordered the orphan of his eldest son that whoever married Sylvia would become the heir to the family. In the end, Emrys York undertook this responsibility, resulting in him gaining a title only to become an ordinary noble. Stripped of his knightly physique, Duke York appeared entirely flawed in Sylvia's eyes and was cast far aside. From then on, Sylvia found her amusement in cultivating roses, until Victor appeared in her life.

Victor, who had awakened the Moon Elf bloodline, possessed a physique comparable to a Silver Knight, which was the reason Sylvia was willing to draw close to him. However, lovers were merely dispensable condiments to Sylvia; what truly moved her heart was the belief in guarding the family. In this regard, Victor had given her too many surprises: purple cane wine, giant brick kilns, rock bricks—every single item made her heart blossom with joy. Furthermore, the agricultural-pastoral system and the irrigation system excited her to no end. Unable to restrain herself any longer, Sylvia had finally delivered herself to him.

Inside the carriage, Sylvia half-closed her starry eyes, savoring the lingering afterglow of pleasure. An alluring rosy flush suffused her tender, flawless skin, and her snow-white, slender legs rested across Victor's body. A moment later, she opened her azure eyes to find Victor lying motionless on the nilgai-fur cushion, feigning death. She couldn't help but chuckle softly, reaching out a delicate hand to stroke Victor's temple. A cool current spread from his forehead across his entire body, and Victor felt instantly refreshed, all fatigue washed away, making it impossible to pretend any longer. Seeing that Sylvia had no further intentions for the moment, Victor breathed a secret sigh of relief, but when she raised her hand to pull a cord, Victor was startled and hurriedly blurted out, "Wait! Let me help you!"

This cord was connected to a bell outside the carriage. Once the bell rang, the female knight-apprentices outside would enter to serve them in washing up and changing clothes, and Victor certainly did not relish strangers prying into his privacy.

"Let me do it instead!"

Sylvia's smile was as radiant as a flower. After donning a spider-silk long dress, she neatly dressed Victor in return. Victor said nothing. It was not once or twice that they had shared such intimacy, but he had never seen Sylvia display such warmth and attentiveness. While reveling in her gentleness, Victor felt a lingering sense of unease. Noticing Victor's eccentric expression, Sylvia's thoughts shifted and she understood his meaning, scolding playfully, "Do you take me for someone who doesn't even know how to dress herself?"

Victor smiled sheepishly and said, "Having a peak knight dress me, I'm just a bit unaccustomed to it."

"Weren't you unaccustomed when you were sleeping with a peak knight?" Sylvia cast a sidelong glance at Victor.

Victor rubbed his nose and said honestly, "I'm still somewhat unaccustomed; I'm afraid I might be crushed to death by you if I'm not careful." Seeing Sylvia's willow-like brows begin to arch, he quickly added as a remedy, "Still, who told you to be so beautiful?"

"Heh."

With a soft giggle, Sylvia leaned back against Victor at the most comfortable angle. True or false, Victor's sweet words always brought her pleasure.

"Victor, the stream reservoirs you designed are exceptionally practical. How did you ever think of them?"

The industrious people of the Huaxia nation built dams and embankments in low-lying areas flanked by mountains on three sides to intercept mountain torrents, forming reservoirs. During droughts, they irrigated the fields; during floods, they diverted the water, raising fish and generating electricity with countless benefits. Only, the reservoirs on Earth were often dozens of meters deep, with dams poured from reinforced concrete. Victor lacked such conditions; he could only build small control gates, two-to-three-meter-wide canals, and eight-to-ten-meter-deep small reservoirs to achieve the purpose of water storage. The water storage capacity of such small reservoirs was quite limited, irrigating at most around eight thousand mu of arable land, but fortunately, its cost was low and it was much safer.

As for how he thought of it? Victor actually found it somewhat difficult to answer. The farmers of this world had tilled the land for thousands of years without developing an advanced agricultural civilization. While it seemed baffling on the surface, profound underlying reasons existed. Much like the indigenous peoples of Africa and the Americas, abundant flora and fauna resources allowed them to fill their stomachs without needing to meticulously manage the land, resulting in tens of thousands of years passing without achieving anything remarkable. The brutal annexation wars of ancient China drove the advancement of civilization. To unify the six states, the State of Qin built the Zheng Guo Canal, implemented standardized weapon production, boasted a population of three million, and could mobilize a legion of one million, yet its territory was only three hundred thousand square kilometers. By contrast, humanity in this world had no large-scale wars at all, and naturally would not nurture a brilliant civilization.

Victor thought for a moment and replied, "I didn't think of it; I saw it and heard it."

"Saw it and heard it?" Sylvia looked at Victor in astonishment, tousled his hair, and said with playful dissatisfaction, "Stop keeping me in suspense!"

Catching Sylvia's delicate hand, Victor smiled and said, "What do you usually do when it rains? Arranging flowers? Sleeping? Appreciating the rain scenery? I used to be just as idle, but after becoming a lord, I began inspecting my domain personally because I have no steward and no officials. I saw many small streams flowing westward into the Black Water River, yet when it didn't rain, they weren't there. Just as I needed water, I wondered where the water came from. So I asked my subjects, and coincidentally, some of them were mountain dwellers. They told me that when it rained, rainwater in the mountains gathered from high places to low places, forming mountain torrents that flowed all the way into lakes or rivers. That was how the idea of building stream reservoirs came about."

"Following that, you conceived an even bolder notion. Diverting water from the Golden Water River into reservoirs to form a stable water system capable of irrigating millions of mu of farmland. Yet you had no intention of telling me. If Master Edwin hadn't seen through your scheme, just how long were you planning to keep it hidden?" Sylvia arched a willow brow, speaking with a smile that was not quite a smile.

Victor indeed had no plans to directly pitch his artificial river project to the York family; he still had many unresolved issues. To construct a large-scale water conservancy project, the right time, favorable geography, and harmonious human relations were all indispensable. The right time was the vacuum period after the river mermen experienced the ant plague. Favorable geography referred to the Golden Water River, the mountainous region of the Centaur Hills, and the Black River. Harmonious human relations was not merely a matter of simple labor and material resources. In essence, an artificial river was the product of a centralized system rather than a feudal one. Even under a centralized system, bloody conflicts between villages over water were hardly rare, let alone disputes among independent lords. An artificial river involved a series of issues such as maintenance and dredging; with over a dozen large and small lords in the Centaur Hills, how were they to coordinate with one another? One could say that the management and coordination mechanism arising from such an artificial river had shaken the very foundations of the feudal system. The outcome of such political environment shifts was unpredictable; Victor had simply wanted to bury his head and develop his strength without stirring up major upheavals. Yet if he didn't divert the Golden Water River at that moment, such an opportunity would never come again.

"I hadn't thought it through completely," Victor said, biting the bullet.

"I hadn't thought it through either!"

Sylvia leaned in close to Victor, her breath fragrant as orchids, her azure eyes brimming with amusement and appreciation. Victor realized that Sylvia had also foreseen the problems brought by the artificial river, and then he heard her say, "My dear, we don't need to rush, do we?"

"The stream reservoirs are already enough for now; the artificial river spanning the Centaur Hills can be put aside for later. I can help you build the first control gate, the first artificial canal, and the first reservoir. However, the artificial river in the Randel Domain must be built by yourself, and I can give you a certain amount of support. But you have to agree to a few conditions."

"What conditions?" Victor was overjoyed.

"First, you must help Master Edwin complete the site selection for the stream reservoirs, preparing for the future integration of the artificial river."

"Second, after the artificial water conservancy and irrigation facilities in the Randel Domain are completed, half of the Randel Domain's grain yield must be made available for purchase by the York family, at thirty percent of the market price."

Victor thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "No problem. I designed the agricultural-pastoral system and the water conservancy system precisely to bolster the strength of the Centaur Hills and prepare for the next ant tide."

An ant-man reinvasion of the Centaur Hills was the consensus of the human realm, while the traditional tactic of knights plus castles could no longer cope with the numerous and unstoppable ant-men. Facing a fearless swarm of ants, the best method was to seal them off at the entrance of the Great Marsh. However, Sylvia and Victor believed the swarm might bypass the three fortresses and launch an attack from the northern side of the Centaur Hills. To deal with this situation, the Centaur Hills needed more fortresses, castles, and soldiers. Consequently, the Centaur Hills required more people. This was the starting point of Victor's territorial development strategy, and also the foundation of his seamless cooperation with Sylvia. Yet Victor's evasive attitude had deeply displeased Sylvia.

"Third, if you have any ideas, you must tell me immediately! Otherwise, I'll take Finicels away!" Sylvia extended a fair, tender finger and shook it in front of Victor's nose.

Victor smiled bitterly and nodded, saying, "I promise!"

"Fourth..."

"There's a fourth?!"

Victor was struck with utter dismay, but Sylvia said with a serious expression, "I want you to keep the agricultural-pastoral system, the water conservancy and irrigation facilities, the giant brick kilns, and the rock bricks a secret. From now on, the agricultural-pastoral system and the water conservancy project are Master Edwin's inventions, and the giant brick kilns are Interior Minister Anthony's inventions. I know these creations are enough to leave a profound mark of yours in history. But I wish even more for you to remain safe. Setting everything else aside, the stream reservoirs and control gates alone would drive the Navarrians mad; they would pull out all the stops to kidnap you. Therefore..."

"No problem! I agree," Victor said repeatedly.

Thinking this would be the most difficult condition, Sylvia was surprised that Victor agreed to it so readily. She scrutinized Victor's face closely, shook her head with a smile, and said, "You don't look at all like a nineteen-year-old noble; you look entirely like a... like a... Never mind, perhaps a genius's mind is simply different from ordinary people."

What Sylvia had just wanted to say was that Victor's thoughts closely resembled those of a seasoned lord, but feeling that such a comparison also disparaged herself, she changed her phrasing. Victor smiled faintly; these things were not originally invented by him anyway. As long as he reaped the practical benefits, what use was fame?

"Speak, what compensation do you want? How about I choose one of the female knight-apprentices to be your personal maid? They would certainly be more than willing," Sylvia teased with a charming smile.

"No, no!" Victor shuddered and waved his hands frantically. Are you kidding? He carried so many secrets, which even Nicole had to be kept in the dark about; how could he let other female knights pry into them?

"You just need to help me persuade the priest sent by the Church to supervise."

"My dear, your dilemmas are no problem at all on my end," Sylvia said. "I have already issued orders to build the northernmost fortress first, and the Church personnel will go there as well. As for the fortress here, it will be built two years later. I will leave ten thousand people for Finicels; the kingdom will transport stone over, but will not provide grain. Their grain will be supplied by our York family for two years, so you have two years to utilize this workforce. Show me your capabilities, Victor!"

"I won't let you disappointed!" Victor said with absolute confidence.

"By the way, Solon Wimbledon has already sent people to build a castle in his domain, and your territory to the north borders Solon's territory. I suggest you send people to garrison it early, lest your territory be encroached upon by them," Sylvia reminded him.

"I know."

Victor frowned. The northernmost territory in the Centaur Hills was land he had requested as a base for the free-man merchant coalition heading north, and he had never had the time to manage it. He had not expected Solon to become a neighbor to that territory, and furthermore, Solon's domain completely isolated that three-hundred-square-kilometer tract of land from the Centaur Hills. Now, Victor had to consider dispatching people to garrison it; otherwise, trying to send people there later would mean trekking through the mountains.

Sylvia straightened up from Victor's embrace, tapped the carriage wall, and the convoy gradually came to a halt.

"Victor, you should head back. I have no desire for you to spend the night out in the wilderness."