Chapter 27

One finger?

Fiona frowned: "What do you mean?"

"By the end of the year, mint will bring us at least ten thousand gold coins in income, pure profit!"

Considering the lag in transportation and the audience in Plandar, Tang En's estimate was very conservative. In reality, if things went well, the economic value of mint would be even higher.

However, this was not Earth, and the economy here had not developed to the point where people could freely choose snacks, so the consumer base might be smaller.

"Ten thousand gold coins? Are you sure?"

Fiona's eyes widened. If it were during the heyday of the Golden Rose family, a business worth ten thousand gold coins a year would probably not be worth her attention. But the problem was that the Golden Rose family no longer existed, and she was now in a very dire situation. If not for Tang En's help, she might have already become the private property of bandits.

Forget ten thousand gold coins, even five thousand or one thousand gold coins, she would be willing to do the business!

"Of course, I'm sure!"

Tang En nodded very confidently: "What do you say, dare to make this bet with me?"

"Of course I dare!"

What was Fiona afraid of? In fact, she would rather lose the bet, as it would prove that she had chosen the right person.

"Very well, Elsa, Iliya, you two will be witnesses. By the end of the year, I will earn at least ten thousand gold coins from this mint. If I win, your sister Fiona will have to work for me for life, and she must not go back on her word."

"Sure, sure!"

Iliya raised her hand very happily: "May the gods witness everything!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a loud thunderclap echoed from the sky. Fiona immediately frowned and said, "Iliya, did the gods really hear your prayer...?"

Iliya stuck out her tongue, a bit embarrassed.

Tang En, noticing this, was taken aback. If the gods of Plandar could really hear the prayers of mortals, he would have to be more careful about making vows in the future.

Originally, Tang En planned to instruct Elsa to find people to harvest and transplant the mint, but the thunder made him a bit uneasy. To be on the safe side, he decided to pick some mint himself to experiment with.

After picking a large bag of mint by the river, they returned happily. Elsa and Iliya went home after parting ways with Tang En, while Fiona continued to handle the affairs of Ellington. As a newly appointed lord, Tang En did not bother to meet the town's officials and acted as a hands-off manager, leaving these matters to her.

Fiona had to ensure that everything in Ellington was under control, from the small postman to the powerful tax collector. Moreover, Tang En had just issued a pioneering decree, which she needed to refine.

What about Tang En?

He threw the mint into the house and went to find Brian.

Brian was currently fussing over his room.

"Brother! You came just in time! Look at this room Fiona gave me, is this reasonable?"

Brian was indignant: "Such a big door! Such a high bed! And that washbasin—by the beard of the hammer! Did she forget I'm a dwarf!?"

Tang En slapped his head: "We really forgot about that... But it's also your fault for drinking so much last night. Fiona almost got drunk—her name is Fiona! Fi! O! Na!"

"Her name doesn't matter, I can't recognize it anyway."

Brian waved his hand: "This room needs to be changed, a major change—by the way, do you mind if I cut off the legs of the bed, brother?"

"I don't mind... Wait! I didn't come here to talk about this!"

Tang En almost got sidetracked and quickly said: "I have a few things I need you to forge."

"Oh? So soon you have work?"

Brian was very surprised: "But I need a forge and anvil, right? Or should I bite it out with my teeth?"

"The forge and anvil can be temporarily borrowed from the blacksmith's shop."

As a lord, he should have the right to borrow a forge and anvil, right?

"Alright, let's talk about the room when we get back. Let's go."

Brian was very straightforward and was ready to leave.

Tang En looked at the treasure-grade warhammer that Brian had carelessly thrown on the ground, feeling a bit heartbroken. Following such a master, this guy must have had a lot of bad luck...

The two left the lord's residence and walked a few steps to the blacksmith's shop.

Brian shouted: "Is anyone here? Is there a living person here?"

Tang En slapped him: "Be polite!"

Brian, holding the back of his head, jumped up: "You should be polite! Just because you're tall, you can hit people on the head? Being tall is so great! Hmph, even a gnome would exclaim 'Oh, you're so tall' when they see me, but I don't hit them on the head!"

Tang En looked at Brian with a strange pity. Dwarves could only show off their height to gnomes and goblins...

"What look is that? What look? I'm telling you, don't look down on the people of the earth, or your knees will suffer! Back in the day, a stupid orc youth looked at me like that, and I gave him a hard hit on the knee. Guess what? He now only guards the border!"

Perhaps Brian's voice was indeed too loud, and it finally woke up someone inside. After a series of clanging sounds, a disheveled man lifted the curtain.

"Who is it? Making so much noise? If you like something, just take it. The prices are marked, just leave the money on the counter."

Tang En said politely: "Sir, we're not here to buy anything."

"Not buying? Not buying, then why call me? Wasting my time!—Wait, this voice... Lord!"

The disheveled blacksmith suddenly paused, recognizing Tang En, and was overjoyed: "Lord! What brings you here? Buying equipment? Arming soldiers? Are we going to war? Are we placing an order? How many armors? How many weapons?—Wait, let me get a notebook to calculate!"

Before Tang En could speak, the overly excited blacksmith rushed back.

Tang En was speechless.

Ellington only had this one blacksmith's shop, and this blacksmith was a master of a family tradition. His skills were no worse than those in big cities, but being in Ellington was his tragedy.

Ellington was too remote, and there were too few people. Adventurers were rarely seen throughout the year, and the armors and weapons he made had few buyers. The biggest business he had done before was making a set of light armors for Hog's private soldiers, but the money was still owed. In the end, Hog gave the armors to the bandits, which was considered aiding the enemy...

When the blacksmith came out again, he was holding a notebook and a piece of paper.

He scratched his head, laughed, and showed his black front teeth: "Lord, I suddenly remembered that Hog still owed me money for equipment. Now that you are the lord, should this money...?"

The blacksmith was also nervous. He didn't have much hope of getting the money back, but he heard that the lord was a good person, so he decided to try.

"How much?"

Although Hog was a scoundrel, Tang En still needed to clean up the mess he left behind, otherwise, his reputation would be ruined, and it would be hard to lead a team...

"Not much, not much, a total of twenty-five sets of light armors and twenty-five standard longswords, the scabbards are included, a total of..."

The blacksmith cautiously raised one finger.

"Ten thousand gold coins!?"

Tang En was shocked.

"No, no!"

The blacksmith shook his head quickly.

"Ten thousand gold coins..."

Tang En breathed a sigh of relief.

"No!"

The blacksmith was almost in tears: "One thousand gold coins..."

Tang En was embarrassed. He had just used one finger to fool Fiona in the morning, and now he was fooled by the blacksmith. Karma came quickly.

Because he was used to dealing with large sums of money in equipment sales, Tang En didn't expect twenty-five sets of armors and weapons to be so cheap, so he agreed to pay the money. In return, the blacksmith would share his shop with Brian.

This way, he wouldn't have to set up another forge and anvil.

"Sure, of course... But Lord, who is Brian?"

The blacksmith was confused.

Brian was furious: "You despicable, stupid human! Just because your eyes are in front, do you only look forward and never down!?"

The blacksmith looked down and was startled: "Dwarf!?"

"Exactly!"

"Master Brian, please take a seat!"

The blacksmith hurriedly brought a chair for Brian, almost bursting with excitement.

Brian smiled proudly. Dwarves were not just famous among humans, especially human blacksmiths, but their reputation was even more exalted.

In fact, blacksmiths treated dwarves almost like their ancestors.

After all, human forging skills were learned from dwarves...

There was a rumor among blacksmiths that if they met a dwarf and received some guidance, they could immediately break through their limitations and become a master or even a grandmaster!

In a blink, Tang En was forgotten by the blacksmith, standing dumbly to the side as he served Brian with water and shoulder massages.

Brian, seeing Tang En's embarrassment, felt very pleased. Sitting in a chair and looking at others on the same level was one word—awesome!

"Master Brian, my name is Edgar, a family-trained blacksmith. That... Master Brian using my forge and anvil is an honor, but I wonder if I can observe and learn while you forge?"

Edgar cautiously made his request.

Brian, with the air of a master: "That's not impossible, but I won't teach you. How much you learn depends on your own insight!"

Edgar was overjoyed: "Thank you, Master!"

"Sure!"

Brian nodded heavily and looked at Tang En: "By the way, brother, what did you want me to forge?"