Farming in the Magical World

"Does this mean we're not selling Dark Pattern Swords anymore?"

As soon as the two sat down in the study, Tim couldn't wait to ask questions.

Lanny's explanation of the Dark Pattern Sword left him completely bewildered. When did August obtain such magical powder? Wasn't the castle's financial shortage due to August's poor management?

If he hadn't always lived in the castle and listened to those reasons, he almost would have actually believed them.

However, he couldn't ask Gino and his group in detail at the time, but now that they're gone, he can't hold back anymore.

Although they successfully thwarted Gino's group's ambitions, it also raised a serious problem.

How are they going to sell the Dark Pattern Swords now? If they continue to sell them, wouldn't they offend the Grand Duke Williams' family? But if they don't sell them, one of the castle's rare sources of revenue will be gone. No wonder he's anxious.

"Haha, Uncle Tim, don't be in such a hurry."

Lanny, however, didn't seem worried at all, still smiling and saying, "If we can get three hundred gold coins this time, it should be enough to keep the castle going for a while. It shouldn't be a big problem in the short term."

Lanny picked up the kettle, poured Tim a cup of tea, and gestured for him not to rush, as he had already considered the matter.

"We still need to sell them. After ten days or half a month, once the reputation of the Dark Pattern Sword has spread a bit more, we can sell a small number of them privately."

He assumed that the Williams family was far away in the central part of the kingdom, and it would be a long time before they received the news.

At worst, we can just say that the replication of the magic powder has made some progress. As long as the scale is controlled, it shouldn't be so easy for the opponent to use their methods at such a distance.

"Yes, it's good that you know what's going on." Tim nodded, finally relieved.

Looking at Lanny's confident expression, I thought to myself, since you know what you're doing, I don't want to interfere too much.

Thinking about the changes in Lanny over this period of time, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart. The changes were really huge. He had completely lost his former frivolity, recklessness and impulsiveness, and instead became calm and composed.

In fact, compared to August, who was more like a knight, he felt that Lanny was more like a qualified baron.

Looking at Lanny's current performance, he was increasingly satisfied. In particular, after coming to the study today, he noticed that Lanny's calm and composed face had become more resolute. He wondered what had happened after he left.

He took a sip of tea, about to speak, when he suddenly froze.

"Huh? What's this?... ..."

Looking down, I noticed that the "hot drink" in the cup looked different from what I usually drink.

On the milky white liquid floated some unidentified fragments.

"Haha, Uncle Tim, how's the taste?" Lanny, who had been seriously discussing the sale of the Dark Pattern Sword, laughed when he saw Tim finally notice the unusual taste in the tea in front of him. He waited expectantly for Tim's reaction, wondering if Tim, as a knight, could handle such a bitter drink.

"If you don't add enough goat milk, it won't taste good."

He smacked his lips, savoring the tea's flavor once more, then tilted his head, hesitant and uncertain. "What's in it? Why is it so bitter? Ugh... Ugh..."

Seeing Tim's mischievous expression, Lenny rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, "I'm not a child, why are you making such childish jokes?"

"This is a hot drink I've been researching recently, called---tea. It's actually quite fragrant when you taste it carefully, and it's also very good for your health. You have to savor it carefully to appreciate it. It is indeed quite bitter at first, but if you pay close attention, you'll discover its mellow aroma and sweetness."

"Are you sure something this bitter is a hot drink?" Seeing Lanny's earnest and serious expression, he hesitated for a moment, then tentatively took another small sip.

"I really didn't taste any richness or sweetness, all I felt was bitterness, I'm afraid no one would like that!"

After a long silence, he finally put down his water glass, shook his head, and indicated his disapproval: "It's too bitter, almost devoid of milk flavor, completely different from the hot drinks the nobles usually enjoy. I doubt anyone will like it..."

This wasn't milk added to tea at all; it was tea mixed with some milk. Tim had gotten the order wrong. However, after hearing the other person's evaluation, he was somewhat disappointed and too lazy to correct these mistakes.

This popular hot drink in the world has nothing to do with tea; it's more like a dairy product.

Two days ago, he complained that the hot drink he was holding was too sweet and greasy. Jimmy overheard him and the next day he mysteriously found Lanny and pulled out a small package.

"What's this? Why are you being so mysterious?" Lanny said, tearing open the outer bag and glancing curiously at Jimmy, wondering what kind of trouble Jimmy was up to now.

But when he opened the bag and saw what was inside, he immediately exclaimed, "Tea? This is tea? Where did you get it?"

"Young Master, you actually recognize this?" Jimmy was about to explain when he was surprised to find that the young master seemed to recognize it, so his hard work last night was not in vain.

"I don't know if this is called tea. Everyone calls it bitter dwarf tree leaves. People in the village usually use it to make hot tea. It's a bit bitter at first, but it's quite good once you get used to it."

"That day, I heard the master say that he thought the hot drinks for nobles were too sweet, so I thought, this isn't sweet, it's even a little bitter, so I brought it for the master to try."

Looking at Jimmy's fawning smile, Lanny thought to himself, "It must have been tough for you. You actually thought of giving me something bitter when you heard me say I hate sweets."

Black Mountain Village is the village closest to the high mountains in the Castel Ridge. The villagers usually make a living by hunting. One villager accidentally found a kind of tree leaf with a fragrance on the mountain and tried to bring it back to make tea. Although it had a very bitter taste, it tasted quite good after getting used to it.

Later, Lanny learned that the person who first discovered that the leaves could be used to make tea was actually Granny Mei, an old woman who, of course, had no idea at the time.

Gradually, this tea became popular in the Heishan Village area.

The hot drinks popular among the nobility were not bitter; on the contrary, they were often made with a lot of sugar. No one thought of presenting these drinks to the nobility, so they circulated among the common people and were unknown to the nobles.

Jimmy was so eager to curry favor with Lanny that he thought Lanny didn't have any aristocratic airs, so he tried to show him this thing. He didn't even dare to take it out openly, but secretly delivered it to the study.

After a careful inspection, Lanny found that the tea leaves were still very fresh, so they must have been picked not many times. He wondered how Jimmy managed to get such a big bag of them. Did he start picking tea leaves in the middle of the night?

I took a closer sniff and could indeed detect a faint tea aroma, but because it hadn't been roasted, the aroma wasn't strong and was mixed with a rather heavy woody scent.

After casually praising Jimmy and seeing him off, he rushed to the kitchen, recalling some fragmented video clips he had seen before, and wanted to try stir-frying it. He didn't expect that this stuff was not so simple.

The heat was too high, and it burned.

The fire was too small, and the kang (a heated brick bed) became dry.

The fire was too high, and it burned again!

After working on it repeatedly all morning, sweating profusely, I finally managed to produce some finished products.

Tiffany heard that he had been busy in the kitchen all morning, so she came over out of curiosity and found that he was actually making some kind of tea.

"Aren't you used to Susan's hot drink making skills either?"

With the excitement of discovering a little secret, Tiffany leaned over and whispered in Lanny's ear, "Actually, I'm not used to her cooking either. It tastes awful, hehe!"

Susan is a decent cook, but she's not very good at making hot drinks, and she's not used to it. However, she didn't have the time or inclination to do so during the first two months after she arrived. Recently, she's been in the mood for it, but she hasn't had a chance to do so yet.

Feeling the ticklish sensation of her breath on his ear, Lanny shifted slightly to the side before giving Tiffany a mysterious smile. "This isn't a hot drink, it's tea! Would you like to try some?"

I took a small pinch of tea leaves from the freshly roasted tea leaves and put them into a cup. After thinking for a moment, I decided not to give her too strong an impact on her first attempt. I also added some flowers and some kitchen spices before pouring in boiling water and adding half a cup of goat milk.

Girls always like pretty things, so adding flowers would make it look better, right? Anyway, he definitely wouldn't add flowers to his tea.

Looking at the colorful tea in the cup, Tiffany stared at it curiously for a long time. After smelling it, she didn't find anything strange, so she took a small sip.

"Pfft..." As soon as the tea entered her mouth, Tiffany felt a strange bitter taste rush to her nostrils, and she almost spat it out.

It's unclear whether this tea is from a different plant than the tea Lanny knows, or whether it has mutated due to being infused with magical elements. In addition to its rich aroma, the roasted tea is exceptionally bitter, comparable to bitter melon. Even Lanny found it difficult to get used to at first.

Seeing Tiffany's pretty face scrunched up in pain, Lenny burst out laughing, which made Tiffany punch him a few times to vent her anger.

Since Tiffany couldn't stand the bitterness, Lanny could only keep adding goat milk to dilute the bitterness. However, as more and more milk was added, the color became whiter and whiter, and the taste became more and more like the "milk tea" of later generations.

And you know what? No matter the world, milk tea is a woman's favorite. Tiffany took a sip and actually liked it. The next day, she had Jimmy bring a huge bag of it and dragged Lanny into the kitchen to help her roast it into tea leaves.

Of course, not much goat milk was added to the tea brewed for Tim, so the taste and aroma were closer to plain tea, and it was naturally more bitter.

He was somewhat disappointed after hearing Tim's assessment.

Before today, he wasn't in a rush to get things done; instead, he was thinking about visiting the tea-picking area whenever he had time.

It is best to start from the source and gradually improve the picking methods, processing techniques, brewing recipes, and even the planting methods of tea trees.

Moreover, these uniquely styled drinks need time to gain market acceptance; they won't be popular right away.

He was confident he could do this well; the popularity of tea was proven, and he believed there wouldn't be much difference in the Kingdom of Andrew, or even in the surrounding countries.

But after meeting Gino and his group, his thoughts changed somewhat.

Now he wants to promote this tea as soon as possible, hoping that tea will become another long-term and stable source of income for the Wells family.

But Tim's comments brought him back to his senses, which had been running high.

It seems I was too hasty. I can't be hasty, the more I rush, the more chaotic things become, and I'll make mistakes in my haste!

He took a deep breath and decided to stop thinking about the tea. He turned to ask Tim about his trip, but since there were outsiders present yesterday, it wasn't convenient to ask in detail.

"By the way, how's that other thing I asked you to inquire about on this trip?"

Upon hearing Lanny's question, Tim moved his teacup aside, took out several pieces of parchment from his pocket, placed them on the table, and pointed to the contents, saying, "Here, this is the price list for Elfen City."

“Angus’s battle to contain the Grummans has not been going very well. The atmosphere in Elfen City is a bit tense right now. Asking about prices can easily make you look like a spy. I had to ask a local to find out, which is why it took me so long to get back!”

He sighed and briefly explained why he had returned so late, also to let Lanny know what was going on around him.

The parchment contained a great deal of information, very detailed, and some even included data such as opening time and approximate sales volume.

Lanny nodded, but didn't immediately look at it closely before putting it aside. Instead, he handed over a stack of things to Tim, who looked on in surprise.

"What's this?" Tim looked at the object in his hand, glanced at Lanny with a puzzled expression, and then murmured.

"Castel Ridge Security Guard Training Manual?"