Free Web NovelChapter 276: Audrey’s Hobby
The large-scale manufacture, sale, and utilization of seed drills, harvesters, and threshers wouldn’t just benefit the Carlson Family, however. Both the Patterson Viscount Family and Drax Earl Family also stood to gain immensely from the introduction of these machines, a point which was not lost on Lucas.
In fact, the young boy had intentionally chosen to develop these particular pieces of technology specifically to kill 3 birds with one stone.
While the Carlson Family specialized in mining and smithing, the primary industry of the Patterson Family was agriculture.
For the Viscount Family that governed Yarrel and its surrounding territory, the largest breadbasket in the South of the Rockwell Kingdom, the benefits of a large increase in farming efficiency were self-evident.
Since the majority of the Patterson’s wealth came from selling their grain to other parts of the kingdom, being able to produce more grain at a cheaper price was something they would be immensely interested in.
The situation for the Drax Family was a bit more complicated, but not by much.
Unlike most noble houses, the Drax Family didn’t have a particular speciality and instead dabbled in a number of different industries. They owned farms, mines, lumber mills, workshops, and all manner of different shops with which they made money and sustained their dominance of the South-West Province.
However, if one had to identify the biggest single source of income for the Draxs, it would undoubtedly be taxes, both on the subjects they ruled over in the name of the Royal Family, and on the trade which flowed through their territory.
The fastest, and thus least expensive way to sell anything from the South-West Province to any other place in the Rockwell Kingdom was to ship it by wagon or boat to the Royal Province.
The Royal Province was located right in the centre of the Rockwell Kingdom, and all major roads and rivers connected to it, making it the nation’s hub of wealth and commerce.
Well aware of this fact, the Drax Family cleverly built their capital city directly at the intersection of the biggest land and water trade routes leading from the South-West Province to the Royal Province.
The capital itself, Southbridge, was even named after the massive bridge which had been built across the Belton to link the two provinces together.
Tolls on food, ore, lumber, and manufactured goods alone accounted for some 20% of the Earl Drax’s annual revenue. Adding on land taxes, poll taxes, and several other miscellaneous taxes, and the total amount the Drax Family brought in through such fees reached nearly 50% of their total income.
It was for this exact reason that Loyd Drax, the eldest son of Earl Kenneth Drax and the latter’s representative in Iron Rock during this crisis, had negotiated so fervently with Lucas over the past few days. freewёbnoνel.com
Every issue, from the size of tax exemptions they could expect from the Royal Court, to the number of civilians who would be allowed to leave the South-West Province, were brought up and haggled over by the Earl’s eldest son.
While Loyd always remained polite and composed, he also vehemently lobbied against action that would lead to a drop in productivity or population in the South-West Province.
The Drax Family’s finances were already going to take a massive hit from all the chaos in their domain, so any actions that might compounded the situation had to be avoided or at least mitigated before Loyd was willing to sign off on it.
It took Lucas days of talks, including the introduction of some advanced economic theories he had not wanted to reveal so soon, to finally quell the Drax Family representative’s concerns.
Even then, Lucas had to promise, with Celestina as his guarantor, to find a way to stimulate economic activity and increase tax revenue in the South-West Province before Loyd settled down somewhat.
Boosting agricultural productivity through mechanization was the best method Lucas could come up with to satisfy the Carlson, Patterson, and Drax Families all at once.
It also allowed him to take a step towards wide-scale technological development in the Rockwell Kingdom, so Lucas didn’t feel reluctant working on the designs of the 3 farming machines.
That, however, wasn’t all Lucas had been working on recently regarding agricultural development.
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During his first meeting with Audrey Carlson, the young granddaughter of Count Mathias Carlson, Lucas had heard from her about her gardening hobby and about a number of exotic plants she was growing in her ’field’.
Lucas had sensed this might be an opportunity for him to look for a few species of plants he was interested in, so he had discussed the topic quite happily with his new friend at the time, even telling Audrey he would like to see her collection at some point.
Audrey, who was always eager to share her love of gardening, readily agreed to Lucas’ request.
It was several days after that first banquet meeting that Lucas finally found time to visit Audrey’s little haven, but when he did, he realized that ’little’ was probably the wrong way to describe it.
Sweeping his eyes around the over 100-metres by 100-metres outdoor plot of fertile land, situated next to a roughly 10-metres by 5-metres greenhouse made with a lot of extraordinarily expensive semi-clear glass, all fed by a kind of aqueduct system connected to a giant waterwheel that sat in the nearby Belton River, Lucas couldn’t help thinking to himself that Count Mathias really, REALLY liked to spoil his granddaughter.
This wasn’t just some simple hobby garden anymore, but rather a massive experimental field capable of growing and nurturing hundreds of different kinds of plants.
Lucas saw rows of fruit trees, berry bushes, flowers, vegetables, herbs, spices, and everything else one could imagine, all growing in harmony in Audrey’s backyard.
The garden, orchard, farm, and greenhouse were so extensive that there even seemed to be a number of dedicated staff hired by the Carlson Family to tend to it all year round.
Needless to say, Audrey was extremely proud of her personal paradise and enthusiastically dragged Lucas around, showing off all the different species of plants she was growing, introducing him to many varieties of greenery that the young boy never even knew existed.
Among these plants, there were quite a few that piqued Lucas’ interest, such as a baby fist-sized fruit that resembled olives, a long-leafy plant similar to aloe, and a number of very fragrant types of flowers.
All of these plants were of great use to Lucas, so he made a special note of them, intending to ask Audrey for some seeds or seedlings before he left Iron Rock.
What interested Lucas the most, however, was a corner of Audrey’s field where she seemed to be growing ordinary wheat.
At first, Lucas didn’t think much of this. There were already many types of vegetables and fruits growing in this garden, so the appearance of wheat wasn’t much of a surprise; however, upon closer inspection, the young boy noticed that this wasn’t just a simple wheat field.
This section of the garden was divided up into several small plots, each of them labelled with a number, and all of them growing roughly 100 stalks of wheat.
Seeing this kind of methodical setup, Lucas immediately had a thought, She’s running some kind of experiment, probably looking for a way to improve crop yield or quality!
Sure enough, when Lucas asked her about this, Audrey gleefully clapped her hands and praised him for being so smart and observant.
Lucas wasn’t the first friend Audrey had brought to her garden, but none of the other kids in their generation had understood the purpose of her wheat plot so quickly. In fact, none of her friends had even realized what Audrey was trying to do until she explained it to them.
Some of her friends praised Audrey, saying she was so kind and thoughtful, looking for ways to improve the life of the county’s farmers, but the young Carlson granddaughter could tell that most of them were just being perfunctory.
On the other hand, seeing Lucas understand her intentions and honestly compliment her on her efforts made Audrey very happy.
When Lucas asked what made her think about trying to improve crop yields for wheat, though, Audrey blushed bright red and immediately averted her eyes, shyly fidgeting with her hands and feet.
Naturally, this kind of reaction got Lucas curious, so he pressed her on the issue and eventually learned that she was doing all this to help her ’friend’, Kaden.
This wasn’t the first time Lucas had heard Kaden mentioned by Audrey, and it was fairly obvious to him that these two were more than just ’friends’, but what floored him even more was that, according to Audrey at least, Kaden was an even bigger plant and gardening enthusiast than she was.
Maybe that’s the reason she likes him so much, Lucas imagined, but seeing Audrey’s get so red that it looked like steam might start coming out her ears, he decided to stop teasing her, instead asking if he could meet Kaden in person.
In response to Lucas’ request, Audrey just nodded meekly before running off.
Lucas hoped that, like Audrey, her friend Kaden would have some plants that would be of use to him. He also figured that it might be useful having another farming aficionado around if he was going to start introducing new farming techniques and technology.
On top of all that, from the way Audrey talked about the boy, Lucas thought that Kaden was an apprentice gardener in the Manor, or perhaps the son of one of the big farmers in the Carlson County.
If that was the case, Lucas figured he might even be able to quietly teach the young lad a few things that would help elevate his status, making it easier for Kaden and Audrey to be together.
Assuming Kaden was also as enamoured with Audrey as she was with him, of course.
It wasn’t until 5 days later, at Iron Rock’s main dock, that Lucas realized he had been operating under a very big misconception.
