The fire in the fireplace was burning vigorously, dispelling the chill that penetrated through the gaps in the doors and windows. At the top of the fireplace was a deer head with huge horns. Under the reflection of the firelight, the projection of the horns on the wall behind was like huge minions.

Opposite is a long dark red wooden table filled with parchment scrolls and books, mostly executive orders waiting to sign names. Usually, Roland handles official duties here - since he transformed the third floor of the castle into an office, he gradually fell in love with it.

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him, he could see the town extending in front of his vision, and at the end there were endless mountains. It was a desperate mountain range that almost penetrated the continent, separating the Gray Castle Kingdom and the wilderness from the east and west. The North Slope Mountain is just a branch of the desperate mountain range.

At the foot, you can see the garden surrounded by wooden fences. The wooden shed used for training for Anna has been demolished, and the brick pool has been turned into a long table for easy placement of tableware during afternoon tea. If the weather is good, he will go downstairs to bask in the sun or lie on a specially customized rocking chair to take a nap.

Although the castle is not big, it can be regarded as a medium-sized villa with an independent garden. In his previous life, it was almost a fantasy to have a real stone castle. Just visiting, he had to pay for tickets first. But now, he not only owns this castle, but also controls a town.

"Your Highness, it has been a lot of money to recruit craftsmen and handymen recently. The money is taken out of your pocket. If this continues, it may not last until next spring." Barov held a stack of parchment paper and reported to Roland's recent financial situation.

The original income and expenditure of Bianfeng Town was very simple, one line was ore and gem trade. This line was monopolized by Changge Fortress, which replaced the output of the North Slope mine with wheat or bread. There was no tax in the middle, and the fortress sent someone to preside over the resource exchange. In layman's terms, the North Slope mine was a shareholding project of the great nobles of Changge Fortress. Those nobles stationed in Bianfeng Town can be regarded as supervisors sent by shareholders. Most of their fiefs are east of the fortress. They only stay here temporarily, and there are different people coming every year.

In fact, the history of Border Town is less than thirty years old. Compared with the Changge Fortress, which has been around for nearly two hundred years, it is simply a newborn baby. Originally, Duke Ryan only planned to establish an outpost here to provide an early warning for the invasion of evil beasts. However, unexpectedly, the pioneers discovered rich mineral resources in the North Slope Mountains, so they simply set up a town here and named it Border Town. In a sense, it was the North Slope mine that created the town.

In order to prevent secret mining, the Duke did not adopt the suggestion that the nobles sent their own personnel to mine, but instead hired local residents and nearby refugees, or even criminals to act as miners. The ore produced was distributed according to the proportion of resources invested by each company. The fortress only needed to provide the employer's annual grain and some commissions. These remunerations were fixed and would not change due to the amount of output in the mining area. Most of the more than 2,000 residents in the border town served the mining area.

Another line is other industries in the town - such as blacksmith shops, taverns, textiles, etc. The meager taxes in the border town mainly come from here, and it is difficult to leave much in the year. The premiere did not take this barren land seriously. Since Roland was sent here by the King of Graycastle, he simply stayed in the fortress and could not come.

Therefore, if Roland wanted to hire someone to repair the city wall, he could only pay from his pocket. If it were the four princes before, he would definitely not be willing to say anything, but for Roland, as long as he could gain a foothold in the border town and spend all his property. Anyway, the future ore trade will no longer be settled in grain, and if it is settled in currency, this investment will be drizzling.

The only problem is whether Changge Fortress is willing to give up its monopoly and engage in normal trade with the border town - this is quite like snatching food from the tiger's mouth, but the list data provided by Barov shows that due to the inefficient human resource mining and inconvenient transportation, the ore produced in the mining area every year is only more than a thousand golden dragons, which is only a drop in the bucket for the entire revenue of the fortress. The only one who suffers from the interests are those nobles who invest in partnership.

Considering the long-term development of Bianfeng Town, this line must be recovered. Roland knew in his heart that even if the investments of those people were recovered more than ten years ago, they would not let go easily. No matter how small the mosquitoes are, they are meat, let alone the good thing that can make money by lying down. He is willing to give previous investors certain discounts and compensation, such as buying at half a price. However, it is not allowed to happen again if he drags a ship of ore back to get half a ship of food.

Barov was also staring at him as Roland stared at the list.

In the past three months, to be precise, in the past month, some indescribable changes have occurred in the fourth prince. Outsiders may not yet know it, but he is following the prince every day, and this change cannot be hidden from him.

As early as in Gray Castle, he had heard of the infamous name of the fourth prince Roland Wimbledon. He did his own thing, acted recklessly, and had no aristocratic style... and so on. In short, he did not make big mistakes and made small mistakes, which was far from his two brothers.

When he was sent here by His Majesty, he was full of disappointment. If His Majesty had not promised that he would appoint him as the official finance minister after the end of his promise.

Two months before the first arrival in Bianfeng Town, the four princes showed extremely childish behavior as always, offending all the local nobles who could offend. Fortunately, the town itself is very small, and even if all administrative positions are vacant, he and the dozen civilian personnel he brought can fill it.

Later on, some things become different.

When did the change start? He thought, probably... it starts with saving the witch.

Barov had doubted the possibility of possession of the devil, or the prince himself was manipulated by another hidden witch. But this possibility was slim. If the devil and the witch had such ability, why do you want to find the fourth prince? Wouldn't it be better to directly control His Majesty or the Pope? Another thing that dispels his doubts was that he saw the prince holding the lock of God's Punishment with his own eyes.

This thing is the church's trump card against witches. Any evil power will disintegrate in front of the Lock of Divine Punishment, but Roland directly held it. In other words, if he is not the fourth prince, but the demon king who does not even have to fear divine power, is there any need to expose it? Saving his life is the first priority.

The prince's style is still self-righteous and reckless, but the two give him different feelings. No, Barov thought about it, and it should be completely opposite.

The biggest difference should be purpose. He realized what Roland was planning, and in order to achieve his goal, he had to use some methods that ordinary people could not understand. Just like the other party tried to convince himself why he wanted to save a witch, perhaps the plan was not mature and full of loopholes, but the prince was indeed moving towards the plan and believed in the result.

This is the most confusing place. The throne may have been born among any of Roland's brother and sister, but it will definitely not be the fourth prince himself. He himself should be very clear about this kind of thing. Talking about development in a small place like Border Town? Even the gods can't do it! Did Roland conceive a crazy plan that could make a small town built outside the border defense line develop better than Jinsui City, and he had to make himself completely believe that this plan would be successful?

It would be fine if it was just a madman's delusion, but the city wall built by Roland vigorously showed that it seemed that this was not the case. He really planned to stay here and rely on the alchemy product of "cement" to build a wall that is almost impossible to complete in common sense.
Chapter completed!