Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 68 - 2 Magic Ore

68: Chapter 2: Magic Ore

68 -2: Magic Ore

Roman had been in Sige Town for 55 days.

He pulled all the Guards from the livestock pens and, incidentally, kicked Green and Aaron to their front, ordering them to train the troops properly.

During this period, a small merchant fleet arrived at Sige Town.

Roman judged people based on their stature.

To the likes of Morry, with seven merchant ships and dozens of crew members, even having a stable channel to purchase iron ingots, he would value them highly and would even receive them personally.

For someone like Daken, with three merchant ships and over a dozen crew members, capable of various dealings, his attitude would be relatively good.

But for those with just one merchant ship or even smaller vessels, selling items like linen and other goods, he didn’t care much for them.

Such vendors were all small-timers with no cash flow, relying on barter trades and minor dealings just to scrape by.

The merchants of Sige Town belonged to this category, their ships no more than discarded junk other people didn’t want, and even then, they had to sink themselves into debt to acquire a vessel.

Roman sent them away to do business with other merchants, trading salt for grain.

Upon learning that Sige Town sold refined salt at low prices and tariffs, that small merchant left all of his cargo in Sige Town and left with a hundred or so catties of salt, escorted by two Guards, promising to bring a large quantity of linen to Sige Town next time.

Roman hadn’t been idle these days either.

First, he allocated the destinations for the slaves; some did light handiwork, such as making wooden furniture, twisting ropes, and making clothing—this clothing was meant for the slaves to wear.

After arriving in Sige Town, they didn’t even have a broken bowl to their name, to call them beggars would be an insult to beggars.

The rest of the slaves were set to quarry stone.

Now Sige Town had over a hundred draught cattle, used daily to haul stone—Roman had huge demands for lime, and since there were no coal mines around Sige Town, they temporarily had to burn wood.

Some of the labor was also directed here, and since there weren’t enough felling tools, they had to harness the strength of several cattle, which could pull out trees up to half a meter thick, roots and all, and then toss these root-entangled trees into the river, where the timber would drift down to where the stones were baked.

This method was much faster than cutting, and it also allowed for the clearing of nearby forests, making it easier for future road construction and land reclamation.

Not being accustomed to it at first was alright; they would slowly gain proficiency.

Meanwhile, the two thousand acres of farmland had been given additional fertilization and no longer needed special care; the manpower there could actually be used elsewhere.

Roman had previously also allocated dozens of draught cattle to a hundred farmers there, instructing them to plow out five hundred acres of new farmland to plant crops like barley, oats, and peas.

In the future, hundreds or even thousands of slaves would come to Sige Town, and food reserves had to be ensured—relying solely on buying grain for sustenance wasn’t viable, as the slightest disturbance could cause trouble; they had to grow their own.

Roman then summoned the leatherworkers and carpenters from Sige Town and had them craft specialized harnesses for the draught horses.

Draught horses didn’t have the physical strength or endurance of oxen and were more expensive, but that didn’t mean they lacked advantages.

Draught horses were faster than oxen, and horse-drawn carriages were quicker and could travel farther than oxen carts.

Merchants highly valued this detail as they could use faster horse-drawn carriages to travel between different places, saving time and increasing efficiency and profit.

Knight Armies also used packhorses and draught horses to transport supplies and materials.

Roman bought the draught horses to increase hauling capacity and labor.

However, draught horses weren’t well suited for plowing fields, and forced plowing could even lead to their death.

This rendered Roman speechless.

In this era, the foolish used ox yokes on horses, restraining their chest and windpipe, refusing to let go, and then wondered why they weren’t efficient at plowing.

It made him twitch.

Time to change!

Change it quickly!

To hell with church decrees!

Roman designed a new harness that shifted the burden from the chest to the shoulders.

This invention quickly proved effective and even enabled the draught horses to surpass the efficiency of oxen in plowing fields by about twenty percent.

Because there was a lack of managers, Roman had to be hands-on with everything.

But each day he was full of fighting spirit, organizing all affairs in an orderly fashion, and he would share the same meal with the common folks and slaves at noon. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

…

On the 58th day.

Someone from the Salt Mine sought out Roman and said they had unearthed something.

This caught Roman’s attention.

He immediately dropped all his work, mounted his steed, and rushed to the Salt Mine.

The Steward in charge of the Salt Mine handed over to Roman, with both hands, the substance they had mined.

It was an irregular crystal, weighing approximately five to six pounds.

Roman recognized it as a salt-sealed crystal ball.

All veins in geological evolution produce certain resources, which are considered associated minerals.

Over long periods, minerals condense into special crystal layers that envelop these resources; without breaking the crystal layers, one cannot know what resources lie within.

Roman used a stone to crack it open and saw that inside was a solid piece resembling charcoal, but its surface shimmered with a fluorescent black ore.

“Tsk, it’s Magic Ore…”

Some resources are deemed extraordinary solely because of these unique minerals.

Magic Ore universally exists within many veins in the form of Sealed Crystal Balls, with a certainty of being found after mining to a certain extent, able to enchant various metals, turning Gold into Fine Gold, silver into Mithril, and steel into Magic Steel.

If one is lucky, even digging the soil might yield a piece of Magic Ore.

Nobles know how to utilize Magic Ore, and blacksmiths in big places are also privy to this technique.

After enchanting the most common steel, its durability and sharpness can be greatly enhanced.

To Roman, Magic Stone equaled strengthening stone; although the enhancement it provided to steel was significant, it did not exceed the category of ironware, unless one possessed special forging skills or added other extraordinary resources.

Some rich veins themselves contain a faint extraordinary power in the metals mined from them; with just a little refining, they could become a piece of Demon Refining Equipment.

Mining veins is a difficult task, hence the limited production.

Roman had no channels to acquire such resources and could only rely on Mining.

Green, Aaron, Riptide Great Bow, Ruby—those extraordinary resources were only what he brought as dowries from home.

The Salt Mine was relatively pure among the many veins, and the appearance of a Sealed Crystal Ball was a stroke of great luck.

Magic Ore comes from Sealed Crystal Balls.

But that doesn’t mean Sealed Crystal Balls can only yield Magic Ore; there’s also a chance for various gemstones to emerge.

Such as Red and Blue Gemstones, Crystal Diamonds, Onyx, Amber, and so on.

Similar to gambling with stones.

All gemstones enveloped by the crystal balls are of high quality and possess a rich mystical power.

Roman’s mindset remained fairly calm.

If no gemstones were uncovered, then so be it.

There would be other days.

One day, when he discovered rare Gemstone Mines, Crystal Ore Mines, or even the legendary Magic Veins,

he could have as much of it as he wanted.

For now, this piece of Magic Ore weighing just over two pounds was of little use to him; it wasn’t very large to begin with, and after calcining, even less Magic Stone would remain.

Roman was currently lacking iron, copper, silver, gold…

In short, he lacked everything; there was no spare capacity for refining metals with Magic.

That was a high-level project, only affordable by powerful Nobles.

He could only convert it into original stones for recruitment.

However, he wasn’t going to conduct a second round of recruitment anytime soon.

Roman thought for a moment and arranged for someone to handle a certain matter.