"What did you do to us?" Evelyn asked, looking at Ethan with a puzzled expression.
He was acting strange...
"Nothing much, just trying out so new things," Ethan smiled in response, letting go of them as the sweet sll of roasted at filled the hallway.
Predator at wasn’t usually the most delicious, but mana beasts had extrely rich at, with a unique flavor very different from that of ordinary animals.
Furthermore, even though it was a mana beast, the at had the ability to restore both mana and aura, which further increased its value.
Sitting in a chair, Ethan simply watched as Alice removed the large piece of roasted at from the oven, the hot, greasy aroma filling the room.
Seeing Ethan and Evelyn standing side by side, visibly drooling with hunger, made Alice very pleased with her culinary skills.
It felt good to make her husband and her best friend happy.
With a big smile on her face and her pale cheeks slightly flushed, Alice carved the at and served herself, Ethan, and Evelyn.
Evelyn was the first to take a bite, her eyes sparkling as the sweet, juicy flavor flooded her palate.
Even though it was a corrupted beast, the corruption was practically limited to the mana core, leaving the at completely free of impurities caused by demonic mana, and the result was simply delicious.
Ethan also tasted it, his eyes shining just like Evelyn’s, but for very different reasons.
[You have consud beast at rich in aura and mana; your aura reserves increase slightly. Aura: 950 -> 1000]
Imdiately, he took another greedy bite, but to his disappointnt, no further improvent appeared.
It was kind of obvious. It had probably just been a stroke of luck, and to repeat the feat, he would need at of superior quality or an absurd amount of it.
Still, Ethan was satisfied.
He was still far from Alice’s mana reserve, which was likely around three thousand, but little by little, he was building his own.
Right after eating, Ethan went out for a walk around town.
He inspected the training of the new guards, made sure everyone was well-ard, and then went to visit Goldenveil’s blacksmith, Roderik.
With a devoted woman now living with him, the once-abandoned and dusty blacksmith’s shop had taken the form of a legitimate establishnt under her care.
Naturally, with his spirits high, Roderik worked much harder, his eyes filled with gratitude whenever he saw Ethan, the one who had given him a second chance.
When Ethan entered the smithy, Roderik imdiately stopped working and bowed.
"My lord. What brings you to my humble establishnt?" Roderik flashed a bright smile as Ethan motioned for him to rise.
"Just taking a look... is this the shield design Doran chose?" Ethan asked, noticing a finished shield in the corner of the room.
It was a simple design, made of wood and teardrop-shaped, with small tal rods reinforcing the sides and center, creating a firm grip for the hand.
Large enough to defend against arrows, yet light enough to be handled with ease in both large formations and one-on-one combat.
It wasn’t made from any special mana-conducting material, but even so, it was undoubtedly a high-quality, Rank D shield.
Considering it was equipnt intended for mass use in an army, this was excellent.
"I should be able to produce about two hundred with the current amount of steel, but it’ll take quite a while."
"You don’t need that many; about sixty should suffice for now," Ethan replied.
He wanted to expand the guard to fifty soldiers before the goblin attack, which would take place in three months.
But after that, if there was no danger in sight, he would halt the guard’s expansion entirely, and the reason for this was simple.
Even if guards could take on civilian work occasionally, that was not, at heart, their duty.
They needed to train, patrol, and sharpen their weapons.
In a professional, standing army, soldiers were soldiers, not farrs, and this created a serious problem.
With Goldenveil’s current population, fifty guards ant that twenty-five percent of the inhabitants would be warriors, sothing entirely unsustainable, especially since most of the younger n were joining the guard.
For now, it was possible to maintain this ratio thanks to the large food reserves they had, but all it would take was one winter for that to change completely.
Goldenveil’s population would continue to grow, and by the following year, their dry grain stores would likely already be empty.
When that ti ca, Ethan wanted to keep the number of soldiers at no more than five percent of the population, even lower in tis of peace, if possible.
For now, however, he needed every man capable of fighting, with those not joining the guard still receiving limited training to assist in the toughest battles, serving as a militia that could be called upon when necessary.
"Ah... being a Lord is hard." Ethan shook his head, motioning for Roderik to get back to work.
There were so many accumulated problems, and he still needed to establish a functional economy if he wanted any chance of building a prosperous society in the future.
Forming a strong army was easy: gather n, hand out weapons, train them, and secure their loyalty.
Building a functional economy and society, on the other hand, required much more than just n.
He would need rchants, infrastructure, systems for tax collection and wage paynts, as well as a central governing body.
All of this was far beyond Goldenveil’s current capabilities.
Perhaps, if only there were soone with solid administrative and legislative knowledge to help him resolve these issues, everything would be much simpler.
Unfortunately, even among the characters he had summoned, all were focused exclusively on combat.
’Ah... I’ll have to take a closer look at the newcors from now on... there must be at least one with administrative skills.’
With a sigh, Ethan simply left the forge and went to check on John’s work with the wine.
If everything went according to plan, he’d be filthy rich.
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