Chapter 16: Ruby

Roman followed Lax to the Blacksmith Shop.

Sige Town had a fairly comprehensive range of basic professions and could barely be self-sufficient.

However, many things still depended on imports.

For example, iron ingots and iron blocks; Sige Town did not have the capability for independent metallurgy, which required technical support, sufficient manpower, and most importantly, iron ore.

According to Roman's knowledge, the Grand Duke Riptide's Duke Domain could only refine a little over three hundred tons of iron ingots a year.

The scarcity of iron was high, and naturally, its value was also extremely high.

The currency conversion of that era was very simple.

1 gold coin for 10 silver coins, 1 silver coin for 10 copper coins.

1 gold coin contained 2 or 3 grams of gold content and could only buy about 30 to 50 jin of iron ingots.

The price fluctuation was mainly influenced by the quality of the iron ingots, and sometimes, even with money, one could not buy them.

Enough quality iron ingots could even be sold for the price of 1 gold coin for 20 jin, while those with too many impurities were hard to sell.

Roman knew nothing about forging.

But that didn't matter.

Isn't it just blacksmithing? You learn as you do it.

Roman looked at the iron ingots that Lax had stockpiled—the uncle blacksmith frankly said that what he bought were inferior iron ingots, the kind that 1 gold coin could buy 51 jin of.

But that was enough to meet the basic requirements of the farmers in Sige Town for their agricultural tools; one couldn't be too demanding.

Soon, the carpenter from Sige Town also came over.

Roman said to the carpenter and the blacksmith, "The creation of the heavy plough is very important, you need to manufacture it as soon as possible, I will have Moor send people to assist you in forging, and after the task is completed, I will give you an extra 2 silver coins—equivalent to half a draft ox—as a reward."

The crafting of plough tools didn't involve much technical content.

Simply put, plough tools were just a thick block of iron and didn't need fine processing, just shaping the basic form was enough.

Roman didn't treat Lax as harshly as he did the farmers.

With only these two professions available, Roman couldn't find anyone to replace them.

Moreover, spring planting was imminent, and the matter of the heavy plough couldn't be delayed.

This meant they had to work overtime; they would sleep only a few hours a day and then had to get up to work, the workload was extremely intense, so it was normal to give some money.

The two men showed no resentment towards this task, they were very compliant, only Lax said, "Lord, we don't have enough iron ingots."

Roman waved his hand grandly, "Then reforging the original ploughs of Sige Town, I need at least 40 heavy ploughs."

The light ploughs were useless now.

Heavy ploughs deepened cultivation, which greatly impacted grain yield.

More importantly, the land that originally needed to be cultivated two or three times with light ploughs could be cultivated just once with heavy ploughs; it was slower, but overall cultivation efficiency was improved.

"Lord, even so, it's not enough; each light plough only has 9 or 10 jin of iron," Lax had basic arithmetic skills.

Sige Town had a total of more than eighty light ploughs, including seven damaged ones, the total weight at most was only nine hundred jin.

Moreover, there would be significant losses during the reforging of light ploughs, and even complete scrapping, the utilization rate would absolutely not exceed sixty percent, the gap was too large.

Even if only 40 heavy ploughs were cast, it meant that over one thousand two hundred jin of iron was needed.

Roman was somewhat conflicted, not knowing whether or not to melt down Green's steel big sword and full-body armor.

The main purpose of the heavy plough was deep cultivation, covering just the tip with an iron sheet on a wooden body could also achieve a similar effect, but the downside was a high wear rate; hitting a stone would ruin it, only pure iron plough tools with enough hardness and strength could manage to turn over the entire layer of soil.

At that moment, Lax respectfully said, "Lord, there should be iron ingots on the merchant ships at the Sige Town dock. You could purchase them from him."

He had chatted with the merchant named Morry and knew that the latter had iron on his ship.

In this era, the mainstream trades were centered around salt, iron, and cloth, but only high-status merchants could engage in such trades.

Upon hearing this, Roman immediately set out for the outskirts of Sige Town.

At the docks of Bro River, he saw from a distance the several merchant ships of Morry docked there.

Morry, noticing Roman approaching with a group of people, was suddenly panic-stricken.

Could it be that the ill-tempered witch had been caught by Roman and had sold him out?

At this critical moment, a flurry of thoughts flashed through Morry's mind, conjuring three strategies: the best strategy was to kneel and beg for mercy, claiming that the witch had coerced him; a mediocre strategy was to buy his life with money, using money to atone for his sins; the worst strategy was to deny everything as if nothing had happened.

Morry sadly realized that although the mediocre and best strategies were optimal locally, they might not be globally optimal.

Thus, he approached with trepidation, feigning confusion.

Upon learning Roman's intentions, Morry's hanging heart immediately relaxed, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

This action seemed somewhat familiar to Roman.

He quickly thought of the Agricultural Officer Moor.

That man, because of guilt and frailty, would always involuntarily sweat whenever he saw him, as if he were afraid Roman would toss him into a pigpen.

It was normal for Moor to have this problem, but why would Morry feel guilty?

However, Roman was here to conduct business, not to delve deeply into personal matters. He found out that the last batch of goods on Morry's ship was exactly 450 pounds of iron ingots.

But these iron ingots were of high quality, and one gold coin could only purchase 30 pounds of iron ingots; to buy all of it would require 15 gold coins.

Roman furrowed his brows.

He currently had only around twenty gold coins in cash.

He thought for two seconds and then took out a dazzling red gem, sparkling with captivating brilliance from his bosom.

"This is?" Morry's pupils constricted.

"A ruby, you should know its effects. It can make a frail person become strong. A ruby of this quality should be worth 15 gold coins," Roman tossed the ruby to Morry.

This was a birth gift from Grand Duke Riptide when he was born.

If given to an ordinary merchant, Roman would think that the person could not safeguard such a treasure, but the son of a big merchant like Morry could definitely capitalize on its value.

Morry was shocked by Roman's decision.

For humans who are not Transcendents, such a gem was indeed extremely valuable; it could nourish the wearer's body, strengthen the physique, and help them become Transcendents as soon as possible.

However, the process was long, and the price was not high. Even high-purity red gems were only worth 15 gold coins, while inferior ones were merely worth a few gold coins.

Usually, few traded with gems.

Because it was better to pass them to future generations.

Some minor Nobles or Desolate Knights, even after selling their lands, would hold onto such heritable treasures—after all, their descendants might turn out to be Knights.

Yet Roman had so easily thrown it out.

Morry was taken aback and then solemnly said, "Honorable Lord, your current funds are somewhat inadequate, but I have no doubt about your governance capabilities. This land has great developmental potential. Please allow me to contribute modestly to the construction of your territory, offering these 450 pounds of iron ingots in exchange for your friendship, but I absolutely cannot accept this Ruby..."

Holding the ruby in both hands, Morry handed it back to Roman, and at that moment, he faintly smelled a foul odor.

He initially thought it might be the scent emanating from the blacksmiths and carpenters behind Roman, but as he drew closer, he realized the smell was coming from Roman himself, as if the dignified Lord had fallen into a manure pit or played in dung for two hours.

So Morry regretted again, feeling somewhat unreliable?