Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 36 Smashing the Dragon Down with a Stone

After leaving the farmland, Louis approached Sif mysteriously and whispered, "Come on, I'll take you to eat something good."

Sif looked at him with a puzzled expression, but followed him nonetheless.

They arrived at a small workshop, where a faint, sweet fragrance filled the air.

Inside the workshop, a middle-aged woman was intently stirring the syrup in a pot.

Her name was Doris, and she was a refugee who had come to the North with Louis.

A few days ago, Louis learned through the daily intelligence system that she was an expert in sugar making, so he specially arranged for people to help her collect tree sap and try to make birch sugar.

The first batch of sugar has been made, and today is the second batch being boiled.

Outside the workshop, workers were methodically collecting sap from the birch forest.

They drilled a hole about one meter above the ground in the tree trunk, and then carefully inserted a tube to allow the clear sap to slowly flow into the wooden bucket.

"Don't harvest too much from each tree each day, no more than half a bucket, otherwise you'll damage the tree," Doris instructed the workers while she was busy. "Remember to seal the tree holes after harvesting, just use a cork."

The syrup was bubbling and boiling, and the sweet aroma in the air grew stronger.

“Oh! My lord!” Doris looked up and saw Louis, a smile spreading across her face. “You’ve come at the perfect time! The candy we made yesterday has cooled down and we can eat it today!”

Louis smelled the sweet aroma in the air and smiled, "We're really in for a treat today."

Doris picked up a piece of golden, translucent birch sugar from the wooden tray beside her and handed it to Louis.

Louis casually tossed it into his mouth, chewed it, and exclaimed, "Hmm, it tastes really good."

Then he casually grabbed one and handed it to Sif: "You should try one too."

Sif frowned, not taking it immediately, but staring warily at the candy.

She had never seen such strange food before and even suspected that Louis might have put poison in it.

Seeing this, Louis smiled and deliberately tossed the one in his hand into his mouth, chewing it crunchily: "See, it's not poisonous."

Sif then carefully took the candy, hesitated slightly, and put it in her mouth.

The sweetness instantly spread in her mouth, carrying a unique woody fragrance, a taste she had never experienced before.

Her eyes widened slightly, and the coldness on her face vanished for a moment, but she quickly suppressed it again.

Then, pretending to be nonchalant, he swallowed it and nodded slightly: "It's alright."

However, the slight upturn at the corners of her mouth betrayed a hint of her true feelings.

Louis saw everything clearly and couldn't help but laugh. He grabbed a small bag of candy and stuffed it into her hand: "Take it if you like."

Sif clutched the packet of candy tightly, lowered her head and remained silent, but her ears quietly turned red.

Louis then nodded to Doris with satisfaction: "It tastes good, better than I expected. Well done. Continue to produce more."

Doris beamed with joy at the praise: "Yes, my lord! I will do my best!"

However, Louis quickly realized a problem.

Birch sap can only be collected for a few short weeks in the spring; after that period, the sap flow stops.

"What a pity," he sighed softly. "The harvesting period is too short to develop it into a specialty industry and sell it."

Doris sighed with some regret: "Yes, after all, the sap won't be available for harvesting in a while."

Louis stroked his chin and pondered for a moment: "However, since we can make birch sugar, we can try planting fruit trees in the future and see if we can make fructose."

"Your Excellency is indeed wise! If we can grow good fruit, we might be able to make even more kinds of sugar!" Doris nodded excitedly upon hearing this.

“Let’s take it slow,” Louis said casually. “When conditions allow, we’ll let the artisans try building a sugar mill.”

Doris's eyes were full of enthusiasm: "Thank you, Lord! I will definitely research more ways to make it!" Louis then grabbed a small bag for himself and stuffed it into his pocket, while the workshop still had a large bag of sugar left.

Louis instructed, "Give these candies to the children."

The accompanying knights immediately took the bags of candy and prepared to go to the school to distribute them.

Yes, Louise ran a "school," but it was more of a nursery than a school.

Children under the age of thirteen were gathered here and cared for by several women.

It allows children to learn some basic knowledge and also frees up their parents from doing chores.

Fortunately, there are not many children in the Red Tide Territory, otherwise such an arrangement would probably be difficult to maintain.

Moreover, children here start working as soon as they turn thirteen, such as helping with fishing.

When they arrived at the school, they happened to overhear the woman looking after the children vividly telling them the story of Louis:

"Lord Louis had just returned from the northern border with his knights after slaughtering the orcs, his armor still stained with green blood, and he immediately arranged a commendation banquet with several knights overnight."

Just as everyone was about to leave after working until midnight, he suddenly stepped on a rock, pointed to the sky, and cursed, "You dragon, wandering around my territory every day, do you really think I'm a pushover?"

As he spoke, he bent down, picked up a pebble, swung his arm in a wide arc, and smashed it into the air.

The stone shot out as a streak of red light, managing to pierce a hole in the clouds.

With a bloodcurdling howl, the thirty-meter-long frost dragon spun and crashed into the black pine forest...

Sif listened to the story of "throwing a dragon down with a stone".

His lips twitched involuntarily, and his gaze slowly shifted to Louis beside him, his eyes filled with silent contempt.

Louis, somewhat embarrassed, coughed lightly and explained in a low voice, "They made it up themselves."

Sif crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow: "Oh? Is that so?"

Louis's gaze drifted elsewhere.

Suddenly, a child caught a glimpse of the figure at the doorway.

"The great lord has arrived!"

One child shouted out first, and then, as if ignited, the whole room erupted in cheers.

"My lord! My great lord!"

The children jumped and danced around Louis, their eyes filled with admiration and anticipation.

Clearly, this was not his first visit.

Louis looked at the group of enthusiastic little ones with a hint of helplessness in his eyes, but still smiled and patted the head of the nearest child.

He then took the bag of candy from the knight, grabbed a handful of candy, and bent down to distribute it to the children.

The children excitedly accepted the candy and cheered with joy.

"Thank you Lord Lord!"

Then, he eagerly stuffed the candy into his mouth.

As the candy melted in their mouths, innocent smiles immediately bloomed on the children's faces, filled with a sweet sense of satisfaction.

Sif saw the genuine smiles on the children's faces.

Her originally gloomy mood unconsciously lightened a little.

(End of this chapter)