Chapter 182: Salt rock

Lumi took a small step back, clearly intending to run. “Are we still going to hunt monsters? That’s way too dangerous.”

“Forget it. We need stronger companions, not cowards like those just now. We’ll wait until we’re strong enough before going after monsters.” Alexia covered her face. “My dad made me a sling. Let’s use it to launch poop and attack Kaor.”

“Huh? Launching poop…”

“It’s still better than going to our deaths,” Sarah shrugged helplessly.

Lumi and Sarah exchanged a glance and nodded in silent agreement.

If they didn’t go along with her today, there was no way they’d escape.

Mentally speaking, Alexia, who came from a well-off background, was even more childish than the others. On top of that, Tate never disciplined her. Having become obsessed with knight novels, her head was now filled with all sorts of bizarre ideas.

It was worth mentioning that in this era, there was no censorship—knight novels were packed with violence and explicit content.

When Phield arrived at Windrise Town, the first thing he saw was Kaor charging forward in rage, chasing the three girls as they scattered in panic.

“Get back here, you little brats!”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Kaor!”

Only when Phield got closer did Kaor notice him. He immediately stopped, looking nervously at Phield.

Phield froze for a moment, then said in shock, “What the hell did you eat?”

Kaor hurriedly covered his face in embarrassment.

Suddenly, Phield recalled Kaor’s earlier vow: if Phield came up with a better statistical method, he’d go eat… something.

“Tsk—”

Phield shot him an approving look. A real man—he kept his word.

“My lord, it’s not like that!”

Kaor was on the verge of tears. “Let me explain.”

“Go wash your face first.”

Phield and Ashina instinctively took two steps back.

After Kaor explained how he had been attacked, Ashina burst out laughing, clutching Phield as she laughed uncontrollably.

Phield laughed for quite a while as well, then put on a serious expression, scolded the three troublemaking girls, and punished them by making them clean the streets and distribute food to the slaves.

The children of Nightfall Domain must not turn into people like the Mountain Ape Baron’s offspring. Discipline was necessary.

“Let’s go take a look at the stones. You seem to care a lot about them,” Ashina said. Her soft chest brushed lightly against Phield’s arm, and her wolf tail swayed deliberately, tapping against him. “After that, should we…”

Phield smirked teasingly. “Looks like a certain puppy’s tail is getting restless again.”

“Mmm… If you hold it, it’ll behave.”

The base of a wolfkin’s tail was extremely sensitive.

Phield leaned closer, exhaling a faintly enchanting scent.

“After the long journey, I didn’t have time to deal with you last night. And now you dare challenge me directly?” Phield raised a brow. “Forget the stones for now. I’ll compensate you first. We’ll check them in an hour.”

Ashina covered her mouth shyly, giggling. “Eh? An hour seems unnecessary.”

“Are you underestimating me? I think it’s not enough.” Phield let out a cold laugh, hoisted Ashina over his shoulder, and carried her toward a room on the second floor of the winery. “Good thing we still have a room here. Heh heh heh.”

An hour and a half later, Phield walked downstairs with a perfectly composed expression and sighed, “Looks like I’ll have to check the stones alone. Divine Chosen are nothing special. Next time, I’ll take on ten.”

“My lord, I… I’ll come find you soon. Just let me recover a bit.”

A soft, powerless voice drifted down from upstairs.

Phield arrived at the military camp beside Windrise Town. Soldiers immediately brought over several small crates.

“My lord, these are the soil and stone samples we’ve collected over the past few days. Please take a look.”

The soldiers opened the crates one by one, revealing piles of gray material.

Almost all of it was useless ordinary rock—there were even animal bones mixed in. According to Ashina, some villagers had even submitted dried excrement, which she had already filtered out.

Phield felt a bit disappointed. What he wanted was something like limestone.

“Ah, wait!”

Just as he was about to have the soldiers throw everything away, he noticed that in the last crate lay an orange-red, slightly translucent stone.

Grabbing it excitedly, Phield examined it from every angle, so thrilled he almost kissed it.

“This is rock salt. Where did you find it?”

“It was discovered by a soldier named Aike. I’ll call him over right away.”

Seeing Phield’s excitement, the soldiers grew excited as well. They rushed out of the tent and dragged in a bewildered Aike.

“My lord, good morning.”

The moment Aike saw Phield, his legs went weak, and he dropped to his knees. His heart pounded—he had no idea what he had done wrong. Being suddenly summoned by a noble usually meant trouble.

Seeing the lord’s serious expression, Aike nearly fainted.

“Good morning. Where did you find this stone?”

Hearing it was about a stone, Aike felt some relief and respectfully replied, “We found it while clearing corrupted corpses, in a cave north of the estate, on the way to the viscount’s territory. I was… relieving myself nearby when I saw it. I thought it looked nice, and remembering your order, I brought it back.”

“Good lad. Lucky you.” Phield took out a gold coin and handed it to him. “This is your reward. If you find any strange stones in the future, collect them.”

Even the Starnight family had failed to locate a salt deposit in Nightfall Domain.

Yet this guy had found it.

From now on, the domain’s salt supply was secured.

There were no mining experts in the territory, so no one had recognized that this was actually the salt they consumed.

“In the next few days, I’ll organize a team to investigate. You’ll lead the way.”

Aike immediately bowed. “At your command, my lord!”

As soon as Phield stepped out of the camp, he ran into Alexia and her two companions. They shrank back nervously, nudging each other before finally pushing Alexia forward.

“My dear lord, we know we were wrong.”

Seeing their aggrieved expressions, Phield couldn’t help but find it amusing.

He was only eighteen himself, just a few years older than them, yet he already looked at them like an adult looking at children.

“It’s good that you know you were wrong. But the punishment still stands.”

Phield wouldn’t give them special treatment just because they were cute girls. Discipline was discipline.

“N-no, that’s not it. We wanted to ask if you could tell Mr. Kaor that we’re sorry.”

Alexia pulled out two small clay figurines from behind her back, shaped like cows.

“The one on the left is for Mr. Kaor, and the one on the right is for you.”

Tsk—learning how to curry favor at such a young age. Promising future.

Phield nodded in satisfaction.

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