Chapter 763: Chapter 460: Departure_2
"If we talk about speeding up wheat harvesting?"
They would only ask why not let the serfs harvest it, feeling that investing precious energy and time into it was a waste.
"What is that?" Claire looked somewhere and suddenly said.
At this moment, they were located within a small city named Xingsi in the Borlay Kingdom—if one were to be more precise, they were above the central square of the city—during the season of wheat harvesting, this place would also be requisitioned as a drying ground.
Colin followed Claire’s gaze and was slightly taken aback.
In the center of the square, a group of Knights was carefully moving a huge object wrapped in a gray cloth from a carriage nearby. Through the gray cloth, you could vaguely make out a human shape.
"Hoist!"
Four Great Knights, each holding a corner, exerted force together, carefully placing it at the very center of the square.
Thump.
The object wrapped in gray cloth landed steadily, emitting a dull sound. The Great Knights beside it wiped off sweat. The one leading them caught his breath and then stepped forward to untangle the ropes wrapped in the gray cloth.
Whoosh—
A light breeze blew, causing the gray cloth to flutter loudly, and soon revealed the true form of the object below!
The object was a grayish-white native rock color, with a massive circular base, the top of which was carved with a circle of exquisitely crafted barley patterns.
And above the base stood a familiar figure.
Mid-length hair, a tall and straight nose, a handsome face as if chiseled by a knife and axe, and a towering body.
’It’s actually a statue of me...’ Colin was stunned.
"Want to go have a look?" Claire smiled at him.
"There’s no need... Well, let’s go take a look," Colin initially shook his head subconsciously but then quickly smiled and changed his mind.
He looked at the statue, a complex feeling surfacing in his heart, a mix of novelty and discomfort.
"Lord of Tilamei!"
The two men did not hide their figures, descending slowly. Several Knights next to the sculpture recognized Colin’s face, at first they couldn’t quite believe it, the lead Knight even turned his head several times to confirm with the statue, and then finally reacted, hurrying to prostrate on the ground.
"Rise," Colin said with a smile as he looked at the statue beside him.
The statue was sculpted in a pose where he was slightly lifting his left hand, holding a grain of wheat, and looking off into the distance with a slight tilt of his head.
The craftsmanship was not bad, even excellent, at least in terms of resemblance, it was almost exactly like him.
"Who sculpted this statue?"
"It was done by the stone mason Dupont," the leading Knight hurriedly answered.
"I don’t recall ordering a statue of myself to be erected in the Borlay Kingdom... Was this the King’s command?" Colin asked again.
"It wasn’t, great Lord of Tilamei," the lead Knight hesitated for a moment then continued to explain,
"The stone statue that previously stood in Xingsi Square had crumbled and fallen apart due to years of neglect, and a new statue was needed for the square. The City Lord collected opinions from all sides, and in the end, you were selected as the subject for the statue that would stand in the square."
"I see," Colin nodded slightly.
"Great Lord of Tilamei, do you not like it...?"
The lead Knight summoned his courage to ask further, "If you don’t like it, I can report to the City Lord to have the statue removed."
"There’s no need," Colin shook his head and explained, "Creating another statue would be too wasteful, let it be."
"Very well, great Lord of Tilamei," the Knight hurriedly nodded in agreement.
Claire stood aside, with a slight curve in his eyes, smiling without saying a word.
Several hours later.
Having finished their work, the two returned to Golden Barley together.
Claire went back to the Wizard Tower, and Colin planned to find Atbolde to discuss the upcoming resettlement policy for the serfs.
However, upon arriving at the Palace, he saw a long caravan at the entrance, wagons piled with exquisite wooden boxes, though what they contained was unknown.
The most crucial point was that among the caravan personnel, there were no lack of Second Rank Wizards.
Atbolde stood at the entrance welcoming them.
"Mentor, what’s happening?" Colin, without revealing his form, transmitted his voice to Atbolde from afar.
Atbolde was slightly startled and transmitted back, "It’s the grain merchants coming to present gifts."
"I see." Colin nodded, "Then once you’ve dealt with that, I’ll come find you."
...
Half an hour later, in the Wizard Tower’s study, Colin sat opposite Atbolde.
"All the associations from the Neustadt area have mostly come by now, even some from Merredith’s side," Atbolde mused, "The caravans full of gifts at the Palace gates represent their highest etiquette."
"Why is that?" Colin asked as he sipped his tea.
"Due to the torrential rain, the wheat in the entire Neustadt area, except for the Tilaimei Plain, suffered heavy damage.
It’s said that near the Keg Kingdom, the newly cultivated wheat fields by the hillsides have almost completely perished due to landslides, and I fear this year there may be no harvest at all."
Near the Keg Kingdom... That must be the new farmland developed by Councilman Johnson. Colin felt some emotion but didn’t dwell on it, instead asking:
"Are those associations willing to accept the guidance price?"
"Most of them are," Atbolde replied with a confident smile.
The once dreary old wizard now seemed to be growing younger.
"That’s good." Colin also smiled and nodded, then thought for a moment and asked, "How does this year’s actual wheat yield in Tilaimei compare to the forecast?"
"It exceeds it by quite a bit!" Atbolde also sighed with emotion, "This year, the entire Neustadt need not worry about food, the wheat produced in the Tilaimei Plain is nearly matching the total wheat yield of previous years from the entire Neustadt region."
"All this is largely thanks to you." He looked at Colin with some inner turmoil.
"It’s not solely my contribution," Colin smiled and continued to inquire, "Is the survey of the serfs already completed?"
"It’s preliminarily done," Atbolde nodded, "We just wait for the moment when Miss Shelley develops a suitable... erm, production line, and we can arrange for these serfs to be trained for their jobs."
The term ’production line’ that he first heard from Colin still felt awkward for him to say.
But it could not overshadow his astonishment.
The so-called production line that Atbolde was referring to was actually a shortcut; according to Colin’s concept, the full name should be various grain processing lines and some light manual labor production lines.
The serfs who were phased out due to the upgrading of agricultural mechanization would gradually become the first batch of factory workers in the time to come.
After a brief understanding of the situation, Colin returned to the Meditation Room alone.
Whether it was agricultural production or serf re-employment, even including the previous wheat harvest, he only provided the general direction. The more specific actions were mainly carried out by Atbolde, Lillian, or Shelley.
His energy was limited; more of it had to be focused on improving his strength.
Two days later.
Claire bid him farewell in the early morning and headed straight for the front lines.
The recent proclamations from the Supreme Council were all triumphant news; Merredith’s defensive line had been pushed back to the strait again.
In the fierce battle, even a true avatar of a Divine had fallen.
However, for some reason, after the joy, Colin’s heart was still covered with a layer of gloom.
The seventh Supreme Councilman was clearly on the side of the wizards, an extremely important ace in the hole, yet now it seemed that revealing this card had not brought significant results.
Apart from the collapsed gray-black tower, the fall of the three Popes hardly dealt a core blow to the Divine.
If desired, the Divine could appoint new Popes at any time.
Lately, the wizards’ side had initiated a more intense offensive, which actually seemed more like compensation for the previously insufficient military achievements.
From the recent news, it was effective, after all, a true avatar of a Divine had fallen anew... If one had to say, that was clearly a greater victory than the death of three Popes.
Dispelling the thoughts in his mind, after bidding farewell to Claire, Colin also set out for Neustadt City.
Today, he felt both his spirit and body, forged and fleshed out, had reached their peaks, a point where no further progress could be made, and it was time to seek a breakthrough.