Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 495 New Products and Promises

Moreover, with a group of former enemies serving as her subordinates and being at her beck and call, the female drow had no reason to give up.

The establishment of the Mage Tower is a major event, even in the Underdark, representing the high-level military power of a family to deter covetous eyes and treacherous thoughts from others.

As the second-largest family in Menzoberranzan, Deaver naturally possessed its own high-level spellcasters and mage tower. Viconia was well aware of the advantages and fears that the tower and the wizards residing within it had given the Deaver family in their intrigues and power struggles with other families, large and small.

But all of that is in the past. The family's loss of favor with the Spider Queen is something that no high-ranking wizard can reverse. If it were the Archmage of the Banri family, there would be some hope.

"Where is the Mage Tower? Could it be the ruins we excavated before?"

The female priest, freed from the entanglement of past memories, quickly pressed for answers. The tower couldn't have appeared out of thin air. After much thought, she could only believe it was the ruins they had previously explored—perhaps the remains of an ancient mage tower.

Furthermore, the fact that a high-ranking mage has come to reside there suggests that there must be some secret behind it.

It must be said that the female priest had a keen sense of smell and almost deduced the truth of the matter, except that she did not expect that someone would put on a show by creating an empty mage tower.

"That's roughly it. We have our own mage tower in the Shadow Plane. Although some auxiliary functions are not yet fully built, it has no problem supplying the energy needed for territory guarding, defense, and production facilities."

"Given the current smooth agricultural development within the territory, with land reclamation and cultivation completed as scheduled, and residential housing construction and allocation finished;"

"In addition, the construction of the blacksmith shop and the steel smelting equipment have been completed and deployed. It should be said that we have the basic conditions to enter the next stage."

Inside the meeting room, Mr. Zhang sat in the main seat, speaking eloquently. He looked quite similar to those entrepreneurs from my previous life who were used to making grand promises through PowerPoint presentations.

"From now on, the focus of the territory's development will shift to two aspects: first, defense and security, and second, commerce and trade."

"Boss, I have some thoughts,"

Lawrence gestured that he had something to say, and after receiving a nod from the mage, he stood up and began to speak:
"Given our current situation at High Cliff, it would be difficult to develop trade. Doing business requires a foundation. The people of our territory have just finished farming and cannot train suitable merchants and artisans in the short term. We have no goods or products to trade. At most, we can rely on our geographical location to collect fees from passing caravans. We also need to repair the roads first."

After hearing this, the other team members also felt that it made sense, but they remained silent and watched to see how the mage would react.

"In the early stages of establishing a business, there are many difficulties. I also know that the quality and number of the people in the current territory are insufficient to support the production and circulation of goods."

The mage first affirmed the other party's point of view, stating that neither artisans nor merchants could be automatically generated by simply building a shop or post station in the game, unless one were to recruit people from Neverwinter.

Even poaching people is a huge undertaking. If Gaoyaling, who started from scratch, wants to build a framework for trade, he has to bring a whole team of people to his territory.

Ok?
To uproot the entire chamber of commerce?
The man touched his neatly manicured chin, suppressed a thought that had just arisen, and looked around the hall.

"How much money can you make just by collecting tolls? If the toll is too high, people will simply take the sea route from Gaoya Port, and not only will they miss out on the chickens, they'll also end up with a mouthful of chicken feathers."

“Isn’t the brewery already completed? We can start a wine-selling business.” “Winemaking requires grain, but it’s currently the month of the sun, and there’s still some time before the month of the sunset for harvest. The people of our territory and we are still eating our stored grain. Where would we get the raw materials for brewing?”

Bud, who was in charge of the distillery's construction, rejected his old friend Münster's suggestion, and Kegan added:
"Moreover, the brewing process cannot be completed in just a few days, unless the boss uses magic to speed up the process."

"Boss, why don't you go find that Nash and take back the port? You're the lord of High Cliff, and it's not fair that the most valuable port was taken away."

Kegan grumbled, still longing for the carefree days he spent as the local serpent tiger of Luscany.

"Shut up! Do you really think those nobles of Neverwinter are pushovers? If the port had been included back then, how could a newly emerging lineage like ours with no foundation have the chance to occupy such a large territory?"

The mage didn't reply, and the dwarf who blurted out was scolded and beaten into a limp wilt by Nancy. However, the latter couldn't think of any other way, so she looked at the mage with a lot of expectation and a strange and stubborn confidence in her heart.

"The key to this matter does not lie with the people of the territory,"

The monk stood up, held something in his palm, and showed it to everyone.

The object was oval in shape, with a smooth surface and a milky white color, like solidified fat.

"I call this soap. It can be used to wash the skin and hair and cleanse the body."

Amidst the puzzled looks of the crowd, one of the time travelers, holding a sample in his hand, spoke eloquently:

"This is the premium version with added fragrance. There is also a lower-end soap that can be used to wash the body and clothes."

As a time traveler, it was only today that Master Zhang managed to come up with the routine of making soap, which was really a bit of a disservice to the wisdom of his predecessors. But there was nothing he could do about it, as he had hardly needed such small inventions along the way.

Why make things so complicated when a single command with magic can do the job?
Only now, at this critical juncture of developing and expanding the territory, and urgently needing a unique product, did the mage dredge up this thing from his old memories.

The reason for choosing soap was not random or whimsical. It was one of the time travelers' essential tools (especially when traveling to ancient or backward worlds): gunpowder, glass, spirits, perfume, soap, and steam engine.

Gunpowder, needless to say, is already the trump card of the High Cliff Military Industry; only the mage himself and the Keen craftsmen know the inside story.
Steam engine?
In fact, its prototype had already appeared in Faerûn, and was kept in the mysterious temple where the god of craftsmen, Gond, was worshipped. However, the fact that it was not widely promoted as a novel creation shows that there must be something special about it.

In Faerûn, a plane where magic exists, steam engines, especially primitive versions, are simply no match for the power of magical construct engines. Furthermore, their high manufacturing and maintenance costs and complexities mean they are destined to be obsolete from the moment they are born.

Either the waters here are too deep, and even the original Gonde himself dared not go any deeper, so he could only let it drift and degenerate into strange and ingenious tricks.

Zhang Yuan had no interest in taking the blame for Him.

Thank you to Wanliu Tongyuan and Shuji Wuming 2 for your monthly ticket support! Wishing all readers a happy and healthy Dragon Boat Festival!

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(End of this chapter)