Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 71: Harvesting a Nature Spirit and Blood Sacrifice

After the servant handed over a stack of rewards, Su Li took it in his hand and took a quick look at it.

【Reward! 】

Twenty golden crowns are offered to anyone who can present the head of the vile forest bandit named "Black Arrow" to Count Amadeus von Drakenburg. His lordship's servants can distinguish the true from the false.

[Transaction Location: Traveler's House Tavern, Maraisburg]

【Reward! 】

[A reward of thirty gold crowns is offered to any warrior who can completely destroy the notorious "Red Shadow" forest bandit gang. The personal guard of Lady Isabella de Wentworth, the Senator of Maleburgh, will personally verify the authenticity of the reward.]

[Transaction Location: Warrior Tavern, Maraisburg]

【Reward! 】

Fifty Golden Crowns seeks a hero to find Knight Arthur Graves, son of the Honorable Trade Union Caravan Master, who was abducted by the Grey Wolf warband of forest bandits. One risk, ten rewards.

[Transaction Location: Warrior Tavern, Maraisburg]

……

The contents of the bounties vary, some want to kill the leader of the forest bandits, some want to destroy the entire forest bandit group, and some want to retrieve buried treasure somewhere in the forest.

I have to say, this is really as the bounty order says, one point of danger, ten points of reward!

If he could successfully wipe out these forest bandits, the bounty alone would bring him at least two hundred gold crowns.

But the problem is that all of this is also very dangerous, otherwise someone would have done it all long ago.

Su Li's foundation could not withstand much damage. If he did not fight well in a battle, or fell into an ambush and lost several knights and a dozen armed servants, he would be seriously injured.

Losing 10% or 20% of the soldiers is enough to shake the morale of any unit.

The morale of the Hessian troops was high, but they could not withstand several such defeats.

So Su Li said to Lao En, "I will seriously consider your suggestion and try to send troops only when I am sure of the outcome. Now let's talk about the good news brought by the caravan. What good goods do they have?"

Su Li was the lord after all, and Laun had no way of forcing him. His suggestion was shelved, so he could only change the subject and return to the caravan's situation: "Their caravan has already purchased goods worth 8 gold coins in our territory. We also purchased logging and gathering tools from them."

"Of course, their most valuable item is the [Stamina Potion] produced by the merchant. After taking one, it can significantly reduce fatigue, restore physical strength, and reduce the rate of physical exhaustion for a long time. We bought 100 of them for 50 gold crowns."

"You know, furniture dealers who enter the forest to cut wood usually have a group of pharmacists in their guilds. This is because while logging deep in the forest, they often come across some precious medicinal herbs that can be made into various potions. They were just unlucky, getting robbed by forest bandits before they even entered the forest. Otherwise, they could have made a batch of [Healing Potions], and the battle might not have been so brutal."

"I think we can get along well with them. Healing potions are very important to every army. Once they are brought back to Maraisburg, they will be quickly snapped up by the lords of each territory."

Su Li was a little surprised when he heard this, and felt that he had found a new way to make a fortune.

With his abilities, he could obtain a number of precious medicinal herbs and plants, such as the heart and liver of the giant herder, which were perfect for making an antidote. In addition to leaving over a thousand kilograms of food in his territory, the giant herder also left behind a large amount of precious medicinal herbs.

If he could refine these plants and herbs into potions, the profits would be huge.

A single dose of the most basic Stamina potion cost 50 silver coins, half a year's income for a farmer and a month's salary for an apprentice knight. In the heat of battle, if the entire army took it, it could easily turn the tide.

The furniture merchants were willing to carry so many stamina potions because they had to race against time to cut down precious wood such as blood pine when they entered the forest.

There are three pharmacists in Hesse, one of whom is Vandal Oak, the Minister of Agriculture and Religious Advisor.

As a priest of the Church of Dawn, he can create more advanced potions.

Su Li felt that he could discuss this matter with him, so he said to Laun, "My Lord Seal Keeper, I leave the current trivial matters of the territory to you. You must also take care of fishing, hunting, water conservancy, industry, and other matters. Loyalty will not be betrayed, and dedication will not be forgotten. At the end of the year, when the territory prospers, I will prepare a generous year-end bonus for you and a spacious house worthy of your ministerial status. When you leave later, please help me call Minister of the Interior Fandral."

When it comes to making big promises, no one in this world understands it better than Su Li.

And Lawn was obviously full of this big pancake, and immediately became energetic and motivated.

He now had some understanding of why the dwarves seemed to have endless energy.

The main reason was that he and the dwarves were willing to believe the promises made by the Lord, and that a bright future was foreseeable! Although the Lord's promises were empty words, the difference was that everything the Lord promised seemed within reach.

When Lawen left, his footsteps were like the wind, and soon with his information, Minister of Agriculture Fandral arrived at the castle.

Before he appeared in the hall, an excited voice came from outside: "My Lord, good news! I have important news to report to you."

Su Li couldn't help but smile. Is this a case of good things coming in pairs?

As soon as he returned to the territory, good news came one after another, and both ministers had good news to report.

Accompanied by an excited and high-pitched voice, Minister of Agriculture Fandral Oak walked quickly into the hall. This old druid, with wrinkles squeezed together on his face, smiled like a flower. It was truly an old tree blooming!
Su Li was surprised and asked, "What good news can make you so excited at such an old age?"

"It's Polevik, the Father of Grain! Haha, a Polevik has settled in our Wolfgang Farm!" Vandal went straight to the point and told the good news directly with a big laugh.

"What?" Su Li was instantly overjoyed. He stood up from his chair excitedly and looked at Fandral eagerly: "Great! Where is he? Can I see him?"

Fandral immediately replied, "It lives in a small forest next to the farmland in the Mutter Valley. Our priestess of the Church of Dawn built a small tree house for it. It's quite timid and doesn't dare to meet strangers in the territory. When it encounters humans, it hides in the tree house and the farmland. But I believe it will be familiar with the environment in less than a month. You can meet it then."

Su Li was in a very happy mood, and then said to Fandral: "My excellent Minister of Agriculture, this is really exciting news. Sit down and tell me in detail how you tamed it?"

Fandral bowed slightly in thanks, then sat down on a wooden chair nearby and explained to Su Li in detail, "After the Battle of Mutter Valley, I led my men to Limburg Farm to take over the farmland there. In the fields, I discovered Polevik secretly performing a blood sacrifice."

"At first, this nature spirit avoided us. It wasn't until several days of trying to contact it that it finally accepted one of our Dawn Sisters. After talking with it in detail, we learned that on the night of the Battle of Mutter Valley, it was near Limburg Farm and saw the beastmen setting fire to the farmland. It was furious."

"While it was trying to put out the fire, we killed all the beastmen, which cheered it up. Then you sent troops to put out the farmland fire, which made it feel good about us."

"So it plans to secretly perform a blood sacrifice to repay our kindness."

"Blood sacrifice?" Su Li was particularly concerned about this matter and asked, "How is it carried out? What is the effect?"

Fandral explained, "Blood sacrifice is the innate ability of Polevik, the Father of Grain. It can improve the fertility of a piece of land with blood. He originally intended to use the blood left behind by the beastmen when they died in battle to perform a sacrificial ceremony to please the Goddess of the Dawn. This meager blood food is estimated to only slightly increase the yield of a few acres of wheat fields."

"After we successfully persuaded it to join the Hessen Territory, the serfs buried all the beastmen's bodies and blood beside the ridges of the fields, and Polevik held a large-scale blood sacrifice. According to divine grace, the fertility of at least 20 mu of wheat fields has greatly increased. Within the next ten years, the yield per mu will increase to over 1000 kilograms."

Yield per acre?

Su Li was amazed. This was truly a great leap forward in per-mu yield!

An ordinary wheat field only produces 200 to 300 kilograms per mu, and the barren fields even produce only a little over kilograms per mu. This blood sacrifice directly increased the yield per mu by more than five times!
Sure enough, the fantasy world has magical ways to increase production.

Just these twenty mu of land, with three crops a year, can produce more than 6 kilograms of grain! Enough to feed a squadron of armed guards for a year!
The more Su Li calculated, the more amazed he became. He asked, "20 acres of land can support 120 soldiers. So when can it perform the next blood sacrifice? I'll go find some blood for it right now."

Fandral explained, "How can sacrifices be performed every day? The Dawn Goddess's worship day is at the beginning of spring each year, and blood sacrifices are most effective at this time. If you, my lord, personally pray at the Dawn Goddess's Church that day and order all Poleviks to perform blood sacrifices at the same time, the large-scale prayers within the territory will easily attract the Dawn Goddess's attention and bring down even greater grace."

"But other than that, she doesn't encourage excessive sacrifices. Repeated sacrifices of each Polevik will only lead to diminishing results, and may even bring disaster."

Su Li frowned and asked, "Why is there such a restriction? Which god would refuse endless sacrifices?"

Fandral's smile faded, becoming serious and paranoid. He immediately argued, "This is a principle followed by many gods! How is your view different from those of those evil god believers?"

"Our Dawn Goddess is the goddess of abundance, but never of indulgence. Proper respect will bring her food, but she will never reward greed. She blesses lovers with romantic intimacy, never coercion or domination. The conflict between the Dawn Goddess and the dark evil god, the Prince of Pleasure, is rooted in the distinction between generosity and indulgence."

hiss~
Su Li took a deep breath. Are there really gods who would refuse large sacrifices? Are those greedy gods all evil gods?

So generosity and kindness are the nobility of the gods, and indulgence and greed are the temptations of the devil?

This is truly a new and bizarre world, completely different from Su Li’s previous understanding.

He solemnly apologized to Fandral and said, "My Religious Advisor, your explanation has given me a greater understanding and respect for the gods. Perhaps I should learn more about the teachings of the Church of the Dawn and the Goddess of the Blazing Sun."

Fandral finally smiled again and said, "The Goddess of Dawn will surely appreciate your listening. She always generously rewards every traveler who returns to the right path."

Su Li then asked with concern: "Is there no way to increase the number of sacrifices?"

(End of this chapter)