HTLCCBFT Chapter 152

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 152

The [Intermediate Explosive Egg] created quite a commotion upon detonation, briefly causing panic among the castle residents who heard the blast at close range.

Though Oliver was immersed in frustration and had no mood for explanations beyond a brief, seemingly nonsensical “Don’t worry, it’s that foolish masterpiece of mine”… at least Fosse felt somewhat relieved after personally confirming that his young lord remained completely unharmed.

Subsequently, this experienced butler naturally took charge of calming the frightened servants before the minor disturbance could escalate further.

Of course, his most pressing concern was certainly not the servants who trembled like newborn chicks at the sound, but rather arranging proper sleeping quarters for his young lord that night.

The bedroom – with its bedding blasted to smithereens and the floor bearing large, patterned indentations – was clearly no longer suitable for Oliver to reside in.

They urgently needed to prepare a sufficiently spacious and bright temporary bedroom.

Just as Fosse was contemplating how to accomplish this task most efficiently, the golden-haired deity’s thoughts shifted slightly as he proactively suggested: “Fosse, let Oliver… sleep in my room.”

Fosse blinked in mild surprise.

Though he rarely interacted directly with this taciturn illegitimate son of the old king and couldn’t claim to know him well, as the person in the castle who cared most for the young lord, he certainly recognized that the other man equally cherished Oliver.

—To the extent of being utterly obedient and inseparable.

Jin’s current proposal struck him as quite appealing.

After all, regardless of Jin’s actual identity, everyone regarded him as a genuine young noble who maintained close relations with Lord Oliver.

With this consideration, Fosse had originally arranged for Jin to occupy the second most well-lit and airy bedroom in the castle.

With the young lord’s bedroom inexplicably destroyed, that room undoubtedly represented the best alternative.

Completely unaware that the luxuriously appointed bedroom had never actually been used since the first day, Fosse hesitated briefly before unusually gently inquiring: “Your Excellency, I deeply appreciate your consideration. If you truly permit this, I shall immediately have the finest available room prepared for your temporary residence. Would that be acceptable?”

In truth, the golden-haired deity was prepared to nod agreement regardless of what Fosse proposed—after all, no matter which room was temporarily prepared, He had no intention of actually occupying it.

Hearing Fosse’s words, Oliver—who had remained expressionless and seemingly despondent since the incident—finally snapped out of his stupor.

He managed a weak smile: “No need for such trouble, Fosse. Until my bedroom is repaired, Jin can simply stay with me.”

Fosse’s eyes widened slightly in surprise: “Your Highness!”

The emotionally exhausted Oliver, having ruined his own composure that evening, couldn’t be bothered with further complications. Injecting a touch of authority into his gentle tone, he stated: “I believe there should be sufficient space to add another bed in that room, correct?”

Fosse’s brow furrowed slightly, but he ultimately refrained from further comment, obediently bowing his head as he responded: “As you wish, Your Highness.”

Although it saved the trouble of rearranging and decorating again, moving the dozens of boxes from Oliver’s bedroom was still no small task.

By the time the servants finished all this, Oliver could tell from the moon’s position in the night sky that if he didn’t lie down soon, he would likely collapse in front of everyone.

He certainly didn’t want to give the poor butler another fright before the aftermath of that ridiculous incident had even settled.

So after dismissing the servants, he simply lay down on the bed, then naturally waved to the seemingly stunned Cat God: “Dear Cat God, come rest now.”

The cat-eared deity approached quietly.

Although He didn’t transform into the large cat form that Oliver clearly preferred tonight, after all the commotion, Oliver couldn’t bring himself to care about such details.

He was actually deeply engaged in self-reflection: if he hadn’t been constantly lost in wild thoughts, he wouldn’t have been so distracted as to end up blowing himself up.

Thinking of the eight [seed makers] that had been completely obliterated, along with that large bed he’d only slept in for half a month but had grown quite fond of… his heart couldn’t help but ache with regret.

Why had he run away then?

Even if it was a relatively powerful intermediate bomb, it couldn’t have killed him—not after reaching Combat level 6, with his significantly boosted defense and health points.

At most, it would have taken some health, something that could be restored just by eating some cheese.

And it certainly couldn’t have harmed the true deity by his side.

The most vulnerable things had clearly been his eight poor [seed makers].

He should have immediately grabbed his pickaxe, smashed the [seed makers] on the ground, and stored them in his game backpack—with quick enough hands, he could have saved at least 50% of them.

But his instinctive reaction had taken over instead.

Rationally, he knew it wasn’t real danger, and he was aware of the best way to minimize losses.

Yet when he saw that bomb with its fuse nearly burned out…

At this thought, Oliver closed his eyes uncomfortably, completely unaware of when the handsome deity had subtly drawn him halfway into an embrace.

…His first reaction, while fleeing for his life, had been to take along what mattered most in his heart.

Sigh.

Before facing the day’s game settlement, Oliver sighed helplessly.

It really was the cat’s charm that led him astray.

For the other residents of Albury, this minor disturbance quickly passed.

Especially for those living in the more distant town and farmland areas, separated by the high stone wall—though they all heard a sound like summer thunder in their sleep, only a few were actually awakened by it.

Firstly, the heavy labor during the day had left them thoroughly exhausted. Now lying in comfortable new home beds, thinking of tomorrow’s tasks, almost everyone cherished this precious time and environment, sleeping deeply.

Secondly… while thunderstorms were indeed uncommon in spring, an occasional strange clap of dry thunder obviously wasn’t worth making a fuss about.

“Ah, I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow.”

The few people awakened by that ‘thunderous sound’ mumbled these words in their half-asleep state before closing their eyes, turning over, and quickly falling back asleep.

Albury City, which had welcomed a new lord in spring and consequently burst with unprecedented vitality, greeted summer amid the rich aroma of wine.

Though reluctant, the merchants gradually awoke from this intoxicated bliss—of course, their increasingly empty purses mercilessly reminded them as well.

To prevent themselves from truly losing control and spending not only all their profits but even important capital on buying wine, they finally decided to embark on their return journey.

As one might expect, all merchants spent as much money as possible to purchase wine before leaving Albury.

Just as Oliver had previously stipulated, the reprocessed wines made from rice wine were uniformly priced at just 2 gold coins above cost.

Given their unquestionably high quality—in no way inferior to most wines transported from neighboring countries—and their wide variety, they were undoubtedly a great value for money.

But what left the deepest impression on them was “the Glory of the Cat God.”

With its spicy and rich flavor, like overlapping waves, a lick on the tongue brought a fiery sensation, while gulping it down sent the intense alcohol and a scorching heat straight into the lungs, leaving a long, memorable aftertaste.

Even those with no business acumen understood that any of these wines would drive people in other cities—who had never tasted such flavors—into a frenzy on the spot.

Although Oliver categorized the distilled liquor, with its complicated production steps and high tool costs, as a luxury item and set the price at 80-90 gold coins for a small oak barrel—only one-third the size of the barrels used for rice wine reprocessed liquors—it was instantly sold out.

“The merchants are just too wealthy.”

Oliver, looking at the massive profits that instantly recouped the costs of distillation tools, oak barrels, wheat, and other raw materials—and even tripled them—couldn’t help but click his tongue in amazement.

Through the high windows of the castle, he watched the carriages, carefully loaded with barrels of wine, depart one by one, and couldn’t resist sighing: “No wonder lords of every city love to increase merchant taxes.”

However, the distilled liquor priced at nearly 90 gold coins per barrel was undoubtedly a high-end product—once the merchants transported it to other cities, the resale price could easily double or even triple.

The spectacle of selling out immediately upon stocking was built on the merchants having personally tasted the deeply captivating flavor, possessing immense confidence in it, and exhausting all the available funds they carried with them.

Even if production could be slightly increased later, Oliver had no intention of lowering its price.

This was always meant to be a high-end strategy where scarcity drives value: given the inability to simplify the distillation process and the inevitable high failure rate due to the artisans’ skill level, “good and affordable” wines would remain limited to rice wine and its reprocessed variants.

With Albury’s spring planting plan largely completed, the labor force required for summer had significantly decreased.

Oliver instructed the knights to select capable individuals from among the people of Albury and carry out systematic training to bolster the reserve forces.

Meanwhile, several batches of guards were secretly dispatched from Laina.

To save on the labor required for irrigation and compensate for the “loss” of the strongest young laborers among the slaves who had been conscripted for training, Oliver designed a manual screw pump based on the local terrain.

By turning a handle to rotate the screw inside the pipe, water from lower areas could be continuously pushed upward into pre-dug irrigation channels.

The drawback was that it still required manual labor to turn the handle, but in terms of efficiency, it was far faster than having people carry buckets of water.

Though not holding out much hope, Oliver had the steward announce to everyone: “If anyone receives divine wisdom from the Cat God and invents a method to make the screw rotate and pump water without needing to manually turn the wooden handle, they will be rewarded with direct appointment as a Divine Attendant.”

His thinking was simple: what if there was a hidden genius inventor? They might just be discovered.

As soon as the steward spoke these words, the slaves erupted in excitement.

The Cat God—a Divine Attendant!

Working in the great Cat God’s Divine Temple and serving the deity daily was an honor even free people yearned for.

They had heard that even the lowest-ranking Divine Attendant would only be appointed after passing the notoriously strict exam this autumn.

But now they could leap directly to the position of Divine Attendant!

However, after an initial wave of uncontrollable excitement, everyone calmed down.

How could it move without anyone turning it?

The pipe was so large, the screw so thick, that even the strongest man couldn’t turn it alone—it took two people.

And they needed frequent rotation, or they would quickly tire.

Though irrigation didn’t require working all day, with such vast fields, it would take at least half a day to complete, requiring six or seven shifts of people.

But the temptation to rise from slave to Divine Attendant was too great.

Soon, someone had a wild idea and boldly asked the steward: “Can we use our feet to turn it? My feet are quite strong too.”

“Stop dreaming. If it were that simple, I’d do it myself—why would it be your turn?”

The steward laughed and scolded the daydreamer without malice.

Everyone could tell there was no ill intent in his tone, and the blunt truth that followed made the slaves laugh along, chiming in with agreement.

“Yeah, you fool, do you think I hadn’t thought of that?”

“You plan to use your stinky feet—washed maybe once a year—to touch the handle made by the Lord’s orders!”

“Could we attach a line to the handle and have oxen or horses pull it, like turning a mill?”

“Idiot, you can make oxen and horses walk in circles, but can you make them turn it up and down?”

Listening to their lively discussion, the steward’s lips briefly curved before he resumed a stern expression.

He cleared his throat, and once he had everyone’s attention, shared the hint the Lord had given him when assigning this task: “His Highness has left you some hints—if human strength cannot be used, perhaps the intangible wind and ever-changing water may aid you. Do not limit yourselves to pipes and screws.”

The power of wind and water?

After hearing this, the slaves exchanged incredulous looks.

To harness the awe-inspiring power of nature… only a mighty God or an envoy with profound divine favor like the Lord could achieve such a feat!

“Dad? Dad?”

A gaunt youth anxiously tugged at his father’s sleeve—the man who had been inexplicably lost in thought since earlier—and whispered a reminder: “Everyone has dispersed. We should return to work.”

“Hm?”

Invant[mfn]尹万特(yǐn wàn tè) – I think meant to sound like ‘invent'[/mfn] responded absentmindedly, slowly processing his son’s words.

With effort, he tore his gaze away from the conspicuous long pipe and smiled, ruffling his son’s hair. “I understand. Let’s go.”

How foolish—how could he possibly figure it out?

Invant silently mocked himself.

Yet as they walked, his mind remained unsettled, continuously replaying the steward’s hints.

Whether it was the power of wind or water, both were forces beyond human resistance, evoking deep-seated awe.

Could they truly… be harnessed?

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