Chapter 71: Chapter 13: Green Watcher Order and Potions
The effect of the blood sacrifice is so strong that 10 acres of land can support 60 armed attendants, satisfying their food consumption for a year. Naturally, Su Li hopes to expand the scale of the blood sacrifice as much as possible.
In this way, besides maintaining the army, he can stockpile grains and train soldiers, accumulating a batch of food to support his external conquest.
Seeing Su Li’s strong determination, Vandar Oak hesitated for a moment and said, "If you, my lord, truly wish to conduct multiple sacrifices, it is not impossible. The simplest way is to recruit more Father of Grains, Polevik. The Dawn Goddess encourages these Essence of Nature to serve mankind, so she promises that each of them has the capability to conduct sacrifices."
Su Li nodded, thinking that in this case, his plan to collect blood could still be utilized.
Thus, next time he would prepare more bandits’ corpses and blood, allowing the next Polevik to conduct a larger-scale blood sacrifice, aiming for the effect of the blood sacrifice to impact more than 50 acres.
However, news of the next Polevik is currently nowhere to be found, so Su Li continued with concern, turning to Vandar and asking, "Besides this method, is there any other way to have the same Polevik perform more blood sacrifices?"
Vandar Oak nodded solemnly and said, "There is still a way, but this one is much more difficult than the previous one. If you can host a sacrifice in the territory and appease the Dawn Goddess, letting her bestow divine grace on the territory, then within the year, all Poleviks can perform blood sacrifices again."
"Appeasing divine spirits?" Su Li had some prior knowledge in this regard, which belonged to the heritage among nobles, as his father, Bauhinia Earl Suna, had told him.
There are many ways to appease divine spirits. The most direct way is with straightforward deities like the Sun Goddess, White Wolf God, and God of War. There are no embellishments or conditions; as long as the followers can fight on the battlefield, causing the heavens and earth to darken, and achieving incomparable, legendary epic victories, these deities will bestow divine grace and blessings.
In this way, a powerful knight and military commander are likely to receive a Holy Relic of Glory.
Another relatively straightforward method is offering sacrifices, such as sacrificing a Light-Scaled Fish to appease most deities. However, just two are unlikely to appease the Dawn Goddess.
But this issue is not urgent. Even if he starts collecting flesh and corpses for the second blood sacrifice now, it would not make sense, as the time for this round of spring plowing has passed.
There are still a few months until the next summer planting. During this time, he can prepare meticulously. The Light-Scaled Fish can breed in the reservoir, and perhaps by the summer or autumn planting, the second blood sacrifice can be conducted.
Su Li then said to Vandar, "I’ve noted the matter of appeasing divine spirits, and I will seriously consider it later. After all, there are many knights in the territory who fervently believe in the Sun Goddess. If we are to offer sacrifices, we might have to convene a court cabinet meeting to decide."
Vandar nodded slightly, understanding that such a significant matter of sacrifice cannot be decided in a single word. However, his enthusiasm for the Dawn Goddess compelled him to emphasize, "My lord, I must say one last thing. Our territory currently has an urgent need for a large amount of food. Gold coins, knights, we can obtain them through various means. At worst, we can trade with Marle Castle. However, hundreds of thousands of pounds of grain cannot be transported continuously."
"Without food, we cannot increase the number of serfs, expand the army, or develop the territory. The Holy Artifact of the Dawn Goddess can significantly alleviate this predicament, boosting our grain output. I hope you will consider the recommendations of our Dawn Church."
"Hmm, I will." In front of Vandar, Su Li naturally agreed, as for how to discuss with the knights, that can be decided later.
Su Li then asked, "My Minister of Agriculture, I heard that the farmland area in the territory has increased to over 2,500 acres. Do you estimate that we can have a good harvest, and how much grain will we harvest?"
Vandar immediately assured, "Our Dawn Church’s priests and nuns have been tirelessly guiding the serfs in taking care of the fields. Additionally, there have been developments in water management and irrigation tools, ensuring a rich harvest this summer. At least 300,000 pounds of grains will be harvested, and various vegetables will also be harvested in the hundreds of thousands of pounds. I think, my lord, you can now start preparing equipment like windmills, waterwheels, and mills for producing flour, and expand the threshing floor and granaries."
Hearing Vandar’s assurance, Su Li couldn’t help but smile. 300,000 pounds of grain is enough to feed 1,000 ordinary people for three months. Adding irregular bountiful fishing and continuous vegetable harvests, conservatively estimating, this harvest can support 1,000 people for half a year, smoothly transitioning to the next harvest, while also saving a batch of grain for military conquest.
With this calculation, Su Li felt more sure about the feasibility of his campaign against the forest bandits.
Incorporating them under our wing to expand the scale of our territory ensures sufficient grain reserves.
Therefore, expanding the scale of the territory can be put on the agenda.
While Su Li was contemplating, Vandar, acting as the Minister of Agriculture, made another suggestion, saying, "My Lord, I believe the current types of crops in our territory are still too monotonous. Like carrots and cabbages, their maturation periods are too concentrated. From a stability perspective, we should diversify crop types. We should ensure that there are seasonal fruits and vegetables maturing year-round."
"I suggest planting a vineyard or orchard in the northern part of the territory, near Green Leaf Land. Besides increasing food, we can also brew wine, fruit wine, and beer. The dwarves in the northern mountains have a strong demand for these fine wines. If we can exchange these wines for a large quantity of metal products and crafts, and then sell these goods down the Brionne River to Marle Castle, we will gain a lot of wealth."
"Plant seeds?" Su Li nodded and said, "I will pay close attention to this."
Considering this, making contact with the furniture merchant’s caravan becomes even more necessary. They often enter and exit the forests and surely have collected many precious plants and seeds. They might use the plants to make potions, but it’s likely they don’t pay much attention to the seeds.
Let’s see if I can find a batch of valuable seeds from their collection.
Then Su Li asked the question he was most concerned about: "My dear Religious Advisor, as a Druid, which potions can you make?"
Vandar took a serious inventory and said, "Like a Knight, a Druid is an extraordinary profession. The abilities one possesses depend on the Divine Spirit one believes in and the Order one belongs to. I belong to the Green Watcher Order of the Dawn Goddess. Based on our Order’s abilities, I can produce the Vitality Potion, Purification Potion, Healing Potion, and the powerful Blood of the Earth. This powerful Blood of the Earth potion allows soldiers, during its effect, to continuously absorb energy from the earth to heal themselves, as long as they stand on natural soil."
So different churches have different Orders? Su Li asked curiously, "Do you know which Order Knight Oerstein belongs to?"
Vandar nodded and said, "Of course, our Military Commander’s church is very famous. It’s the Order of Righteous Fury under Her Majesty Violet, the Sun Goddess. The deeds of their Order are recorded in the religious book ’Goddess of War Violet.’ I think establishing a good relationship with them could be beneficial for us. If a Knight Order of theirs could be stationed in our territory, it would be greatly advantageous for us."
Knight Orders have many sub-groups and Brotherhoods under them. They practice in various places, help the Lord conduct wars, combat evil monsters, and in doing so, spread their faith, recruiting reserve members from different territories.
If a territory develops well, it can donate a manor or a small piece of land to the Knight Order as their industry. In that case, the Knight Order might station a Brotherhood here, comprising dozens of members. This is an elite-level Knight Order, with the Knight Commander likely to be of champion level, plus one or two squadrons of armed attendants, forming an excellent combat unit.
They do not belong to the Lord, are not subject to the Lord’s command and dispatch, nor do they require the Lord to provide food and wages, but they will assist the Lord in some great wars. Of course, those unjust wars are not within this scope. For instance, civil wars among humans, attacking other Pioneer Territories, proud Knight Orders will not accept mobilization. (But there are exceptions with particularly good relationships; some Knight Orders have close ties with a territory and will participate in its various wars. However, these situations are very rare.)
Establishing a connection with the Flame Sun Knight Order is indeed the quickest means for Su Li to enhance military strength at the moment.
In military affairs, Vandar did not participate much. He quickly shifted the topic back to potion production: "Our territory needs to produce potions, but we lack many things. Firstly, a monastery or Druid treehouse to produce potions, and we also lack bottles to contain the potions."
What Vandar said is undoubtedly true, but he also had his own agenda. Potion production does not necessarily require a monastery; an Alchemy Workshop, Potion Workshop could suffice. He’s urging Su Li to establish a monastery exclusive to the Dawn Church.
There’s no way around it; he also holds the position of Minister of Religious Affairs, so he certainly wants to take advantage of this opportunity to develop the Dawn Church.
Su Li contemplated seriously for a moment and decided to consider his enthusiasm, saying to Vandar, "Potion production can already be put on the agenda. Reasonably deducing, this furniture merchant’s team must carry a batch of potion bottles; we can buy a batch for storage. Now only a monastery is lacking. I permit you to build a Dawn Church monastery in the southern residential area."
"The south of the city?" Vandar pondered slightly; although it’s not the core area of the castle, it’s acceptable for him. The Dawn Church is generally most revered in rural areas, and its prosperity and influence around cities mainly come from productive orchards and dairy farms.
Having achieved his goal, he was in a good mood and replied with a smile, "My Lord, I will immediately start preparing. Once the herbs are gathered, I will fully commit to producing potions."