Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 276: The Harvest of Tinder Rabbits and the Knights' Restlessness

Under the governance of its president, Oliver, the Hesse Provincial Council had a very tough and ruthless style and acted decisively.

On the day of the Spring Festival, Fandral applied to build the holy place of the Maiden's Ring. The next day, under Su Li's instructions, the Provincial Council approved 800 gold crowns as the first installment of construction funds.

The scale of this funding is huge. The dwarf construction team even temporarily put aside construction in other directions and pulled out a full 140 dwarf engineers to command the 300-ogre construction team to carry out emergency construction.

These ogre workers are the top-tier candidates for construction teams, allowing the halflings of the territory to almost completely monopolize the building and construction industries.

They, the halflings, built a camp specifically for these ogre mercenaries on a hill in the autonomous territory. At the peak last winter, there were more than 600 ogres in the camp.

This is also why the territory is wary and suspicious of this place every day, considering it a potential risk.

However, the Halfling Autonomous Community solemnly assured them that nothing would go wrong. They had built a small barracks on the edge of the village, manned by a contingent of White Sword Guards. This was a halfling warband, not yet officially recognized by the Black Forest, but they were exceptionally well-equipped and renowned for their extensive arsenal of sorcerous artifacts. They excelled in security battles—combats where a dozen halflings would siege one or two ogre criminals or thugs. Using various sorcerous ropes and magical scrolls, they could instantly weaken an ogre and defeat him without a single blow. Even elite knights, even champions, could stumble before their unpredictable sorcerous tools if they failed to act.

In order to ensure the smooth construction of the Maiden's Ring, the Halfling Council has specially dispatched three teams of visiting guards and 3 foremen, bringing more than 12 ogres to cooperate with the dwarf engineers in the construction.

This made the process extremely efficient. Under Su Li's own eyes, the mound grew taller every day at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In just one cycle, eight days, the main body of the Maiden's Ring was formed. The 27-meter-high mound is considered the highest peak on this foothill plain.

While the ogre construction teams were working, the progress of human reclamation in the surrounding areas did not fall behind. In eight days, under the command of the nuns of the Church of Dawn, the halfling mechanical team and nearly 3000 slaves successfully reclaimed nearly 10 acres of arable land.

The first batch of cultivated land will be planted with spring wheat, rapeseed, cabbage, carrots and other food crops, and other crops will be replanted in the wasteland that is reclaimed later.

The several miles surrounding the ring of the maiden will be surrounded by fertile grain fields.

This means that the basic body of the Maiden's Ring has been formed. Then, more than 20 nuns of the Church of Dawn planted a large amount of flowers and grass on the mound, which was modified into a complex cluster of Rhea's logo, extending to the top of the mountain.

Patriarch Fandral of the Church of Dawn personally used the precious divine spell of [Sunfall] on this mound, and then a large number of irises, violets, marigolds, lavender, edelweiss, and other shrubs in pink, white, and light purple colors grew densely on this mound.

On the top of the mountain, the dwarves built a waterwheel to divert water. The clear water of Lake Ravelin can flow directly down the grass path. The lake water, full of spiritual energy and vitality, can not only irrigate the wheat fields under the mounds, but also nourish the flowers and grass on these mounds.

Before the first spring rain fell, the Church of the Dawn used a horse-drawn cart to deliver a huge leaf-shaped statue of the goddess Rhea to the top of the mound. A circle of huge Ogham stone tablets were built around her, and ivy was planted around the stone tablets. This kind of tree can remain green all year round, forming light patterns with the sunlight, increasing the visual appeal and the solemnity and mystery of the religion.

They even left a flat flower bed next to the Ogham Stele. Although they did not state their intention directly, it was obvious that they wanted to wait until this summer to try to collect a certain amount of rainbow hail crystals, and then cultivate a purple spiritual field here and plant a huge spiritual tree, so as to add layering and three-dimensionality to the mound.

When the first spring rain fell, the Church of Dawn finally completed the construction of this holy place.

The Church of Dawn believed that the first rain of spring would be rich in the divinity of Rhea. Su Li was not sure whether it contained divinity or not, but after this rain, the territory was truly filled with vitality.

The hills of the Maiden's Ring were ablaze with flowers, and the fertile wheat fields beneath were a verdant green. Even without any divine power, this scenery was extremely pleasing to the eye. Seeing all this, everyone was convinced that the territory would surely usher in a huge harvest this spring.

And Su Li enjoyed this continuous spring rain to the extreme.

He now also felt the favorable environment under the consecrated wisteria tree. Perhaps it was because he had practiced more and his realm had reached a higher level, making him more sensitive to Ji Lun's style.

After practicing for half a month, his waist and legs no longer felt sore and painful.

He enjoyed the three days of continuous spring rain lying in the tree house. Without any pressure or crisis, he could listen to the sounds of nature, the sound of rain hitting the leaves outside, the spring breeze blowing through the trees full of flowers, and the air was filled with the fragrance of wisteria and the freshness of green bamboo and sweet orange.

In this relaxed and pleasant atmosphere, Su Li took Ailiriya and Ingrid to practice comfortably for more than ten times in front of the window where rain was pouring down.

Under the powerful effect of the consecrated wisteria tree, each of them felt full of vitality and happy both physically and mentally.

Even though Ailiriya's accumulated spiritual energy and vitality were already sufficient, she was about to enter a long period of sleep.

Every spring, the green dragon sleeps and absorbs vitality and abundant life force from nature. It will not wake up until Tal's wildness ends and she has gained enough size and strength in her sleep.

She was full of anticipation for this sleep, having spent a long time observing the fruit pods of the blessed wisteria tree before falling asleep. These crystal-clear, hazy, emerald green fruit pods would turn golden in autumn, hanging heavily on the branches.

Others might still doubt the effect of these fruit pods, but she is a green dragon and an immortal species, so she can feel the vitality contained in the fruit pods most clearly.

As long as she wakes up in autumn, she will be able to taste the abundant spiritual fruits on the tree.

She even felt that with the blessing of these spiritual fruits, she would become the dragon with the longest lifespan.

Anyway, most people in the world are ordinary people. Before witnessing the powerful effect of this extraordinary spiritual fruit with their own eyes, not many people would believe that these consecrated wisteria pods can prolong life.

This meant that the value of the consecrated wisteria pods wouldn't reach its peak for at least several decades, or even a century. Before their value was realized, she could enjoy them to her heart's content.

However, since she fell into a deep sleep again, Ingrid was the only female courtier left in Su Li's court.

So in order to take care of Su Li's needs, she fell asleep in human form, covered with a thin emerald green robe.

The soft spring moonlight cast a layer of silver frost on Alyria's skin and white stockings. The sleeping Green Dragon Lord had lost all his edge and lay on the velvet couch. Her emerald green robe had loosely slipped to one side, revealing her white, slender neck and shoulders.

She curled up into an elegant little curve, as if seeking some invisible warmth. The usual awe-inspiring majesty that made people afraid to look directly at her completely dissipated, replaced by a reassuring gentleness.

Whenever Su Li felt the need to practice, he would slide his fingers slowly down her back, feeling her soft curves flowing through his fingertips.

Alyria's behavior was one of silent indulgence. She didn't struggle, nor did she try to push him away. Instead, she let Su Li's fingers wander over her skin, occasionally letting out a slight gasp.

What made Su Li even more delighted was that even in this state, Ailiriya still maintained a sleeping posture. This usually cold forest beauty showed a rare gentleness during this process, indulging Su Li in all kinds of ways.

Even in her dreams, she silently indulged in Su Li's various cultivation methods.

Of course, this is also closely related to her increasingly strong desire.

After eating the forbidden fruit with Su Li, this forest beauty has become addicted to it.

Among the female court officials, she spent the longest time accompanying Su Li in his cultivation.

If it weren't for the fact that she had reached her growth spurt and was feeling sleepy, she really wouldn't want to fall asleep in this spring when everything is reviving.

In spring, it's not just humans and green dragons that are in estrus; many ordinary creatures in the territory also enter the estrus season.

It is gratifying that in this critical season of reproduction and mating, the territory has welcomed its second livestock owner.

This livestock owner was not Su Li's property, but a shepherd from a halfling manor whom he met while grazing his sheep on the hills.

Most of the livestock owners have the shape of a sheep's head, which is very compatible with sheep. It lives in the body of a fighting ram.

His lustful nature made him run wild this spring. In just over half a month, the nuns of the Dawn Church diagnosed that more than 20 ewes in the flock were pregnant.

It has to be said that the effect of this natural essence is truly powerful and can significantly increase the probability of pregnancy in the herd.

This gratifying situation made the Minister of Animal Husbandry Edmund find Su Li to report the good news as soon as the spring rain ended.

Su Li also took advantage of the bright sunshine and walked out of the tree house to get rid of the smell on his body.

If he didn't come out, Ailiriya would be drowned by the scent he left behind, and Ingrid would collapse on the bed, unable to get up.

Anyway, the thing about this kind of thing is that you feel good but your legs suffer, and the result of indulging in pleasure is that your body will fall apart.

It was also a good opportunity for Ingrid to untie the hairband on Captain Freya's hands, and to wash Ailiriya's body and change her clothes.

After the spring rain, the sky is blue, the air is particularly fresh, and the cool breeze blowing in your face carries the fragrance of soil and grass.

Su Li blew a whistle, and his two pets rushed over. Death Claw's massive body whipped up a gust of wind, blowing away a large number of petals and leaves, and suddenly landed beside him. This noble bird of prey had now grown to a very powerful size, standing over three meters at the shoulder. To put that in perspective, a full-grown elephant is only about four meters tall, meaning that its mere running charge was comparable to that of an elephant. Meanwhile, from the brush beside the road, Jin Ya, the lion mastiff, also burst out at a run. It was already five feet tall at the shoulder, as strong as any lion.

In order to feed these two strong and huge beasts, they consume more than 100 kilograms of meat every day. Moreover, they really do not eat pork. They especially prefer large prey such as wildebeest, Uros cattle, moose, timber wolves, etc.

If they were to rely entirely on pastures for food, more than 200 wildebeests and Uros cattle would have to be slaughtered every year just to feed the two of them.

You have to know that these two creatures are extremely valuable!

Every wildebeest is an extremely excellent warhorse, and Uros cattle can only be raised in mountainous areas, and their endurance for plowing far exceeds that of ordinary oxen.

So after interacting with them for a while and personally feeding each of them a large piece of freshly cut tender steak, Su Li turned to look at Edmund and asked, "My minister, this spring is a time of great prosperity. Do you have any good news?"

"Of course!" Edmund straightened his chest and answered loudly, "We have a lot of good news at our pasture. Thanks to the rich and abundant grass, our tinder rabbit breeding business is booming. After a winter of rest last year, we have now restored the number of tinder rabbits to 32! And the average weight is over 10 kilograms!"

A 10-jin velvet rabbit? Su Li was immediately delighted. This was actually considered a plump rabbit.

Although it cannot be compared with the three 30-jin fat rabbits that Su Li caught in the wild for the first time, 10 jin is already a very high standard for domestic rabbits.

And thanks to the rabbit's extremely high sexual desire, they can be in heat all year round, and winter does not delay their reproduction.

So among all the animals in the pasture, they were the first to bring the good news.

Already plump, they will continue to multiply this spring.

Su Li did a simple calculation and said with a smile, "This is a remarkable achievement. If those mature rabbits can give birth to one or two more litters this spring, we can fatten them up in the fall and sell them for a good price in the winter."

This fire rabbit is simply a top-notch item for knights with fire attributes. As long as you are below the elite level, you can directly be promoted to a small level by eating a meal of rabbit meat.

If you are lucky and have a solid foundation, you may even be able to directly advance and break through from an apprentice knight to a formal knight, or from a formal knight to an elite knight!
The reason why Su Li's rank rose so quickly was closely related to the fact that he ate fire-velvet rabbit meat three times last year.

Such a tinderbox rabbit was once auctioned for 116 gold coins in a mature earldom like Bauhinia Castle!

Of course, it can’t be sold at such a high price in Hesse Territory.

The reason Bauhinia Castle can fetch such a high price is not only because of its mature territory and numerous knights, but also because of its scarcity. Knights of the Bauhinia family bloodline are all fire-attributed, so they are in urgent need of this rabbit meat, driving it up to a whopping 116 gold coins.

The wealth level of the Hessen Territory is relatively poor, and the size of this Tinder Rabbit is really too large. It was sold many times last year. This year, I am afraid that no one except the elite knights will bid at such a high price.

The price of this kind of magical beast, produced in the border areas of the empire, is generally around 1/3 to 1/2 of the price within the empire.

If you calculate it, it’s between 40 and 60 gold coins.

Of course, this is also a considerable fortune, which means that just cultivating these tinder rabbits can bring Su Li a profit of 2000 gold crowns.

Edmund said confidently, "As long as there is enough superb grass, we guarantee that all these tinder rabbits will grow strong and healthy. By then, each one will be plump and become one of the main sources of income for the pasture."

"In addition, we at Muyuan have collected hundreds of tinder rabbit furs and made several precious witchcraft props, which can also increase our additional output."

Su Li raised his eyebrows. He had never paid attention to this kind of content before. He usually just ate the fire velvet rabbit meat and didn't care about anything else.

But last year, basically all the main forces of these Tinder Rabbits were slaughtered by Su Li in order to enhance and reward the strength and morale of the soldiers.

So the fur of the tinder rabbit must have been left in the hands of the territory. I didn't expect Mu Yuan to pay attention to this.

Su Li immediately asked with great interest: "What props did you make?"

"We at Muyuan spent 12 gold crowns and commissioned three wizards and fortune tellers to make three kinds of witchcraft props."

"The first is the Velvet Heart Amulet. Anyone who wears it can resist one curse and malicious spying. Tinder patterns appear on the wearer's chest, burning away intrusive magic with high temperatures. This activity was granted by a wizard who soaked the heart fur of a tinder rabbit in a lava spring for seven days."

"The second is the Ashespeak Spell Holder. These divination sticks are made from the bones of tinder rabbits. When ignited with fire energy, the words on the sticks materialize in the embers, providing valuable insights. They're a crucial tool for adventurers exploring ancient tombs, searching for treasure, and surviving in the forest. However, there's a taboo: they can't be used with Full Moon Fluid, as this will attract the attention of Chaos Demons."

"The third is the tinder saddle curtain, which can be draped over a cavalryman's saddle. It's embroidered with a pattern of holy lilies in gold thread. It can significantly reduce the force of impact on a knight during an attack, and after absorbing the knight's blood, it can significantly restore the knight's stamina."

Su Li's eyes lit up. These three witchcraft props were quite interesting.

"Have you sold these three props? How much are they?"

"The Velvet Heart Amulet has been sold to a wealthy human businessman for eight gold crowns and 8 silver coins."

"The Ashespeak Fortune Teller wasn't sold. It was applied for by the leader of the Black Steel Knights of Atonement, the handsome Lord Gilles. He submitted a request to the Provincial Council, claiming that this item could help him find many treasure burial sites hidden by goblins and gnomes in the forest."

The Provincial Council's approval would surely be impossible for the Pastoral Garden's head steward to resist. Furthermore, Gilles's request was indeed quite reasonable. Since last winter, humans had actively begun exploring the Blood Pine Forest.

There are all kinds of evil wizard spires and ruins scattered there, which is a good opportunity to explore the territory and hunt for treasures.

At Ailiriya's suggestion, a large number of people in the territory went to have a drinking contest with the dwarf half-Gottrik.

Mr. Gao accepted everyone who came to him, and many people suspected that he just wanted to take the opportunity to have a few more drinks.

But even if hundreds of knights in the territory challenged him to a drinking contest, they were all drunk by him.

A winter passed, and by the end of the Spring Creation Ceremony, only a small number of seven people had obtained the talent of [Treasure Hunter].

Gilles is one of them, and he has every right to ask for this Ash Language fortune stick.

Although Su Li did not pay attention to the details, he had heard from Hildurd that in the past half month, Gilles and the Black Steel Redemption Knights had been very active in the forest, killing many monsters and clearing out a considerable number of evil wizard towers. The cumulative wealth returned was close to 600 gold crowns.

If every war group in the territory could make money at his rate, then Su Li could rest assured. The army could make money to support itself, and even have a surplus to help Su Li enrich himself.

Su Li had nothing to say when Gilles took the witchcraft prop. After all, he also expected Gilles to find something valuable from the pile of treasures.

For this kind of thing, as long as the base number is large enough and there are a lot of treasures found, then finding a few ounces of vibranium, a few gems, or even one or two perfect-grade weapons among them is bound to happen!
There are so many treasures in the forest that there are always some lucky people who will pick up some good things.

Gilles' current role is like a scavenger sent by Su Li, who can collect all these messy wastes, treasures, and wealth.

Then Su Li asked, "What about the last piece? Did you sell the saddle cushion?"

"As for the Tinder Saddle Curtain, we haven't yet. It's incredibly popular. The Knights of the Corona and the Knights of the Hessian Guard are vying for it, and the bid has already reached 176 gold crowns. It's become a hot potato, and the Provincial Council is worried that selling it to whomever it ends up will cause dissatisfaction and riots on the other side."

Su Li laughed. This was indeed the style of the knights.

They have always been arrogant and domineering, and no one is willing to submit to the other. It vividly illustrates the saying that under the goddess, we are all ants, and above the iron hoof, I am the king.

Except for the goddess and Su Li, they basically refused to admit defeat in front of anyone.

If one side won the ownership of the magical saddle curtain solely through wealth, the other side would definitely use force to snatch it back, even if it meant tearing it apart. They could not get it themselves, but they absolutely could not let the other side take it away and then show off their power.

So Su Li thought about it and said, "They won't riot. But there haven't been any major battles this year, and these knights have been training and honing their skills every day, so they really have a lot of pent-up energy. If we don't let them vent, I'm afraid there will be chaos."

"Let me handle this. You send a message to the Provincial Council, asking them to deliver this witchcraft prop to the Lion Ring and hang it at the highest point of the arena. After the harvest season, we will also hold a grand celebration for our Church of the Blazing Sun Goddess!"

It's time to create a unique festival for the Hessian Territory.

(End of this chapter)