Chapter 485 The Day of Parting

"The ship is coming."

A sail appeared at the end of the light gray sea sky. There are no other merchant ships passing here, so the only ones seen are ships from Sleeping Island.

"Yes," Tilly responded softly, her voice mixed with the noise of the sea water washing on the shallows, making it seem like nothing. Since his back was turned to him, Roland could not see her expression.

"I'm leaving," Andrea said with a bit of regret in her tone, "I quite like your territory, and I don't know if I can make ice cream bread as delicious as here when I return to Sleeping Island."

In addition to the agreed bolt-action rifle, Roland also gave her the ice cream recipe, "As long as there are eggs and milk, the taste won't be any worse. Wait until your next visit to Border Town... No. , I will have better food here when I visit Neverwinter City."

"Better than ice cream?" Andrea held down her flying blond hair and smiled, "The lord can't lie. I remember what you said."

"If you are so reluctant to part with it, you might as well stay here," Hui Jin spread his hands and said, "Your Highness Tilly will definitely not mind having such a good food around you - Sleeping Island cannot allow you to eat with open belly."

"Oh, really? I won't have any ice cream for you when we go back," Andrea glared at her, "Just eat dried salted fish and drink fishy fish soup every day."

While the two were having a routine bickering, the sailboat gradually approached the coast. From the pink flag fluttering at the top of the mast, it could be seen that it was the Pretty Lady that was coming.

Savi summoned an invisible barrier, shuttled between the shoal and the sailboat, and carried the books and materials to the fjord bit by bit onto the boat. The last ones to be transported were the card-playing trio and the five princesses. Just as Tilly stepped onto the barrier, Roland stopped her.

"...What's wrong?" She turned back, with some complicated emotions surging in her eyes.

Roland was not good at farewells, so he only subconsciously called out her name. Finally, he took a deep breath and said loudly, "If you encounter any problems on Sleeping Island, you can tell me at any time, and I will do the same." I’ll find a way to help you solve it. In addition, Neverwinter City will always welcome you!”

"..." Tilly smiled slightly after a while, "Thank you, the same goes for you."

"Goodbye, everyone." Andrea and Savi waved.

Hui Jing didn't speak, but waved along with the two of them.

After bidding farewell to the witches, the barrier carried the four people and quickly slid towards the pretty girl.

"What's wrong? You can't bear to leave?" Nightingale's voice came from behind.

"It's just a bit of a pity. There are more than three hundred witches... It would be great if they could all move to the Western Region," Roland pretended to be relaxed.

"Yes, then your sin will be more serious," Nightingale rolled her eyes at him.

"Ah... sin?" Roland said in confusion.

"Why, isn't life here better than Sleeping Island?" Anna also looked puzzled.

"After all, you don't understand." She turned around and walked straight towards the hot air balloon. "This is the most irritating thing."

Looking at the other party's back, Roland breathed a sigh of relief. After disappearing for two days, Nightingale seemed to have returned to its previous state, which finally made him feel relieved.

"Let's go back too, there are still a lot of things to be busy with," Wendy said with a smile.

"Well," Roland and Anna looked at each other and smiled, holding each other's hands and walking towards the Remote View together.

…

Returning to the office, Roland spread out his notepad and began to think about the development direction of the territory in the new year.

The most important things right now are undoubtedly two things.

The first is to push Tifeko off the throne to prevent him from continuing to consume the kingdom's population potential with madness pills. At the same time, it can also greatly expand his reputation and prepare for the subsequent unification of Graycastle.

The second is to digest the Longsong Fortress as soon as possible so that Neverwinter City can get back on track as soon as possible.

Regarding the former, he had discussed many times with Iron Ax, Carter and Thasa who were far away in the royal capital, and decided to launch the spring offensive at the end of April, that is, at the end of this month. At that time, it was the day when most cities were cultivating and sowing. The professional First Army would not be affected by the plowing period, but it was different for the traditional nobles. By then, a large number of people would be tied to the land, and no one would be able to Be willing to risk starvation in the future to start a war. If the army suddenly appears on the outskirts of the royal capital, it can completely catch the opponent off guard.

Now the steam engine factory, ammunition factory and cement ship shed are working overtime to produce war materials, and logistics work is also running at full speed. Now the city hall is fully staffed, and this is not the first time that the First Army has gone out to fight, whether it is the items that need to be prepared or the deployment Both sides knew the plan, and Roland was not too worried about it.

Therefore, the focus of recent work should be on absorbing fortress resources.

Thinking of this, Roland summoned the manager Barov to the office.

"Have all the industries in Changsong Fortress and surrounding territories been counted?"

He took out the small book he carried with him and said, "Everyone is here, Your Highness. The fortress' income mainly comes from mining and salt industry. Especially the former item - there is a high-quality gemstone mine to the west of Changge Fortress near the Impasse Mountains. , its output previously accounted for more than half of the fortress’ income.”

"Gem mine?" Roland was not very interested in such luxury goods. "Don't the Beipo mines also produce rough gemstones? Why was the town so poor when I came here?"

"It's different, Your Highness," Barov rubbed his hands. "The gems in the North Slope mine are produced along with other mineral veins. The quantity is very small, and they may not be used as raw materials for jewelry after being cut. But the gem mine in the fortress is different. , its rock walls are covered with colorful stones. You can get a high-quality five-color stone by knocking it casually. Once it is transported to the royal capital, it can be sold for dozens of gold dragons. The output and quality are far from those of Beipo. The mines are comparable.”

"Five-color stone?" he asked curiously, "What does it look like?"

"It looks a bit transparent and has no fixed color. When exposed to sunlight, it can reflect different lusters, which can change from light green to orange-red. After cutting, it can even display multiple colors on one gemstone at the same time. Compared with ordinary The red and sapphires are more like the crystallization of the sun." Barov paused, "The five-color stones of Graycastle, the cryolite of eternal winter and the luminous stone of dawn are the most sought after jewelry among the nobles."

It sounded quite gorgeous. Roland thought that he could use it to make a ring for Anna in the future. However, for people's livelihood construction, the gem mine was of little significance. "Are there any other mineral resources?"

"The Maple Leaf family and the Wild Rose family each own an iron mine," Barov said. "The scale is not as large as the North Slope Mine."

And these two territories are close to the Impasse Mountains - it seems that the mountains across the four kingdoms are really a treasure trove. Roland thought that it might be necessary to take Sylvie with him to explore along the foot of the mountain to find out whether Winterfell's ore reserves are gone. After all, for industrial production, steel represents power. (To be continued.)