I was a lord farming, how did I become an emperor?

Chapter 64 Stable Affinity
【Station Affinity (Blue): All animals (non-humans) that are properly fed within your territory will be in a good mood and will naturally have a special fondness for you.】

Their physical condition improves by 50%, their chance of getting sick decreases by 80%, and their growth rate increases by 20%.

[Next entry: Owning 1,000 livestock and poultry, and raising at least one magical beast within your territory, unlocks: Livestock Lord]

"Finally, we've seen the breeding lord."

Rhodes finally saw a glimmer of hope for the [Nature Overlord] entry.

Rhodes has already fulfilled the condition of "at least one monster," and the remaining thousand livestock and poultry seem like a lot, but they can be quickly acquired once he has the money.

Of course, some experienced farmers are also needed.

Lords have now emerged in the fields of crops, animal husbandry, and mineral veins; only the hunting field lacks a lord entry.

"Are you naturally attracted to me?"

Rod turned around and went back into the house.

Looking at the two sleeping little ones, Rod reached out and pulled them both up.

"Get up and go back to sleep!"

"Ow!"

Startled awake, Frost and Thunder roared angrily, raising their wings in a battle stance.

They both have morning grumpiness, which is a normal instinctive reaction.

Even Rod couldn't help it; the two little ones would throw a tantrum.

This time, however, when they saw that the figure in front of them was Rhodes, the two little guys folded their wings, shook their heads, and lay down again.

"I do have a special fondness for her."

Rhodes' lips curled up as he reached out and stroked the dragon heads of Frost and Thunder.

The two little ones were not averse to it at all. Instead, they closed their eyes and rubbed against each other, then one used its wing as a pillow and the other used the iron ore as a pillow and fell back asleep.

Having obtained satisfactory test results, Rhodes turned and left.

"Rumble"

Thunder rumbled in the gloomy sky, and large raindrops pelted down from the heavens.

The northern wilderness rarely experiences gentle drizzle; instead, it is often characterized by torrential downpours and strong winds.

In just over ten minutes, the water on the ground began to flow like a trickle, running down the slope into the manor's drainage ditch and then downhill.

Summer rainfall is still greater than spring rainfall.

Without taking a break, Rod put on a rain cloak and wide-brimmed hat to inspect the irrigation canals and river bend reservoirs.

There's no need to worry about the fishpond; there's a flood discharge channel, and the water will flow back into the river when it reaches a certain height.

The gates of the upstream diversion channel of the river bend reservoir have been opened in advance to prevent the water level in the river bend reservoir from becoming too high.

Actually, the water level in the river bend was still below the safety line, but Rod saw that the river water was a bit turbid and, in case there was a flash flood at the uppermost part of the river, he opened it in advance.

Anyway, Rhodes didn't suffer any losses in the short term.

As it turned out, Rhodes's prediction was correct.

The day after the heavy rain, a torrent of yellowish-brown water surged down from upstream, completely filling the riverbed.

It wasn't a particularly large flood, but as far as the eye could see, there was a vast expanse of yellow water, and the upstream bends and diversion channels were indistinguishable.

The riverbanks along the Azure River still need to be repaired; relying solely on empiricism will be disastrous.

The heavy rain only lasted for two nights and one day on and off; if it had lasted for three days, the floods would have been terrible.

Luxembourg's caravan was stranded in Frostleaf Town for three days due to heavy rain, and only on the fourth day did they prepare to set off.

"The roads are muddy. You can wait two more days, and I won't charge you extra for accommodation."

At the town gate, Rod said to Luxen.

Looking into the distance along the muddy road, Rod felt a deep sense of disgust.

The area around Shuangye Town is fine because drainage ditches were dug on both sides of the road when the drainage canal was planned.

But the road in the distance was covered with mud and puddles as far as the eye could see.

Seeing Rhodes's dislike for the road, Luxen said, "It's alright, Baron, it's normal."

My cargo is light and won't obstruct passage.

Rhodes nodded helplessly. "Alright, you can go now."

Waving goodbye to Luxembourg.

Rhodes returned to the manor and fed Frost and Thunder jerky.

The two little ones are now very affectionate towards Rhodes and are not as well-behaved as they were when they were first born. They like to jump on Rhodes when they are eating.

As time went by, the two little guys were almost the same size, except that Thunder was still a little afraid of Frost and kept a distance from Frost when eating.

The power of the Frost and Thunder Wings is not enough to fly yet, but flapping the wings can make them jump very high and glide easily when falling.

However, what Rhode saw in the ancient texts was that dragons flew not by strength but by magic, but he didn't know if that was true.

In short, if they didn't both like to sleep, they would have run out of the cabin long ago.

After feeding Frost Thunder, Rod called Auto Lawrence and others to his side.

"The road needs repairing. Could you spare some manpower for me?"

Otto and Lawrence exchanged a glance, their faces showing unease. "Sir, your slaves are cutting down trees to expand the town," Lawrence answered first.

Most of those sent to the salt and iron mines were slaves; apart from those working in the paper mills and building the blacksmith shops, there were very few people left.

"Where are you?"

Rod looked at Otto.

“As you instructed, the farmers are preparing to weed the fields,” Otto replied.

The heavy rain irrigated the thriving wheat seedlings, but also caused the weeds in the field to grow wildly.

In this era, there were no special medicines for weeds, so the townspeople had to rely on their own hands to weed them out bit by bit.

To this end, Rhodes also drew up designs for weeding hoes for Hammer to forge, in order to improve the efficiency of weeding for the townspeople.

“There are still too few people.”

Rod couldn't help but sigh.

He had barely finished speaking when a guard came in to report.

"My lord, Sean's apprentice reports that the carrier pigeon from Blackrock Iron Mine has returned with a message."

The guard then presented the letter to Rhodes.

Rhodes waved for the guards to leave, then opened the letter to read it.

A moment later, Rod put down the letter and ordered, "You two, without affecting the current work, spare some people for me to repair the road."

"Sir, shall we postpone the town's expansion?" Lawrence asked tentatively.

"No."

Rod resolutely refused, and after thinking for a moment, said, "The road must be built, and other projects cannot be delayed."

Let's improve the food and benefits so everyone can work overtime and get more done.

Rhodes was still hesitant, but the letter from Gunle said that the oxcart carrying the iron ingots got stuck in the mud as soon as it left the Black Rock Mountains.

The muddy roads were impassable, so we had to wait a few days to transport the goods back.

"Let's send out twenty people first to repair the muddy parts of the existing road and dig some drainage ditches around it."

Rod said sternly, "I don't want the roads to be like this after the next rain."

Repairing a road is easier than building a new one. You lay it down with soil and stones, and then compact it with a stone roller.

This method allows for quick repairs and is sufficient for short-term use.

Currently, the roads leading to Frostleaf Town are all natural dirt roads, with virtually no signs of construction, and are not the optimal routes.

Rhodes plans to build a gravel road for horse-drawn carriages after the town's expansion is completed, with lime added to stabilize it, so that it will be worthy of the main road.

"Alright then, I'll discuss it with Otto and send someone to fix it tomorrow."

Seeing Rhodes's resolute attitude, Lawrence could only reluctantly agree.

Looks like I'm going to have to play the villain again.

As it turns out, manpower is like cleavage—you can always squeeze some out.

The next day, Lawrence and Otto squeezed out twenty-two people to join the road construction project.

On the other side, southeast of Frostleaf Town.

At the foot of the Blade's Edge Mountains, three men and two women were traveling with three children.

"Love, are you sure you can support our whole family?"

The man, clad in animal skins and carrying a hunting bow, asked.

"This is the third time you've asked me, Us, that I can afford to raise them!"

Love sighed and explained, "To tell you the truth, when you went to Frostleaf Town, it wasn't me who supported you, it was you who supported us."

“The hunting team’s work points are much higher than mine, the manure shoveler.”

"Stirring up excrement?"

Us asked curiously, "Are you already preparing things for winter heating?"

"Manure is used for plowing fields; if you don't understand, don't ask."

Lof waved his hand impatiently, "Hurry up and go, I've had a lot of work points deducted for taking these days off."

"Okay, okay, I won't ask anymore."

Us nodded repeatedly.

The main reason was that the black bread and salt that Love brought were so convincing; Us hadn't eaten such delicious bread in a long time.

However, Us was a little worried. He had no land and didn't know how to farm. Could he really survive in Frostleaf Town?

A hunting party...can they really make a stable life just by hunting?
What about winter?
What do you do when there's no prey?
Us scratched his head, his mind filled with questions.

“Ouch—”

Just as Us was pondering, a scream suddenly came from behind.

"It's a savage!"

Us's expression changed drastically. "Run!"

(End of this chapter)