Chapter 182: Russell the Scholar
There is a very obvious sign of mature fluorescent mushrooms, that is, the green fluorescence disappears and becomes dim.
In the birch forest, many of the first batch of fluorescent mushrooms planted have become dim.
The serfs in the magic potion village carried baskets to find these mature fluorescent mushrooms in the forest. After harvesting, they can be transported to the fluorescent castle to make magic potions.
"It's a pity that there are too few forests. The newly planted trees have not grown yet and are not suitable for parasitic fluorescent mushrooms." Charles followed behind Russell and said with a little regret, "It will take at least a year to plant the fluorescent mushroom magic potion quota."
"It doesn't matter, take your time." Russell is not in a hurry now.
With two elves in hand, what is there to worry about? Besides, it's useless to worry, the population of the territory is not enough.
Of course.
The most important thing is that Russell found a way to devour the ice hail beads and ice soul beads in the dream, so the urgency of territory construction began to decrease.
Seeing that it was already noon.
Russell finished his inspection of the Magic Potion Village and invited everyone to return to the manor villa to have lunch with him.
Even though Butler Morris specifically instructed the kitchen to treat it as a festive banquet, there were still not many dishes for the lunch, less than twenty dishes at most.
But Russell was particularly happy to eat, because this was his own manor villa, and he was naturally happy to eat at home. Secondly, the food made by Mrs. Moore and Mrs. Brown was all guided by him, and it was more in line with his taste.
"Reward!" Russell was satisfied with the meal and immediately ordered Butler Morris, "Everyone in the kitchen, give a reward of ten copper coins!"
"Including the kitchen maids?" Butler Morris asked.
"Of course."
"Master, you are so generous."
However, Butler Morris had just gone to give rewards to the kitchen servants, and then hurried back and shouted in surprise: "Master, happy event, great happy event, the Grand Duke's envoy came to reward you!"
"Huh?" Russell looked up from the food, surprised.
It seems that I haven't made any contribution to the Grand Duchy of Shadow Flame, so why did Grand Duke Kunstan reward me for no reason?
Charles and others have cheered: "Congratulations, sir, congratulations, sir!"
"Calm down." Russell waved his hand.
"Sir, you should go and see what the Grand Duke rewarded you." The subordinates urged.
Russell nodded, wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, and then got up and went downstairs.
When he arrived at the hall downstairs, he saw Knight Commander Kendall, who was drinking tea with several unfamiliar knights.
"Master Russell." Knight Commander Kendall smiled and greeted, "The Baron ordered me to escort these Grand Duke envoys to the Black-waisted Snake Manor to read out the Grand Duke's reward to you. Please allow me to introduce you, this is His Excellency Lucas, the head of the delegation..."
The delegation consists of four people, among whom Head Lucas is a fantasy beast knight, and the other three are great knights.
"Lord Lucas, three of you, welcome to come from afar. I wonder what the Grand Duke wants to reward me with?" Russell bowed and saluted to express his respect for the delegation.
Head of the delegation Lucas nodded slightly to Russell, and then said: "Lord Russell, the reading glasses you invented have been reviewed by the Great Scholars Round Table, and you have officially passed the qualification of obtaining a scholar. After reporting to the Grand Duke, you have been recognized by the Grand Duke."
"I see!" Russell suddenly realized.
After all this time, it was not because he had made any military achievements, but because the reading glasses he invented before were finally recognized by the great scholars.
He was not surprised at all.
Since his grandmother, Old Lady Ingrid, wrote a letter to the Red Castle, he felt that it was a foregone conclusion that he would obtain the title of a scholar.
It was just a matter of time.
But no matter what, it is an honor to be awarded the title of scholar, which makes him smile brightly: "Thank you for the recognition of the great scholars of the Round Table, and thank you for the trust of the Grand Duke."
"Lord Russell, please arrange a time in the afternoon, and call all the people in the territory to come forward to observe the Grand Duke's reward for you."
"Okay, I will send someone to notify the people." Russell responded.
The title of scholar is comparable to the lord in status. Of course, in the extraordinary world, military force is definitely more valuable, so the scholar is just a symbol of status, and there is no benefit of the lord, and the importance is not comparable.
But no matter what, this is an honor that ordinary people can hardly achieve, so a certain sense of ceremony is needed.
After confirming the afternoon's reward ceremony, Russell invited Captain Lucas, Knight Commander Kendall and others to take their seats and resume the banquet.
With Charles' warm hospitality, the atmosphere at the banquet was very good.
In the afternoon, the delegation came to the small market. At this moment, the small market was full of people of all ages in the manor. Seeing Russell and the delegation coming, they bowed and cheered and praised the lord loudly.
Accompanying the delegation into the temporary office, Russell also took a look at the small market.
After not seeing it for a month and a half, the small market has changed dramatically compared to before.
The main thing is that a large number of dilapidated wooden houses have been demolished. This is the first thing Russell ordered officials to do after receiving the 1,000 gold coins invested by the family.
After demolishing the dilapidated wooden houses, the charcoal slag trail can be widened. Not only is there enough road width for four carriages to drive side by side, but also sidewalks on both sides and green belts on the roadside are reserved, and street trees are planted.
At this time, the charcoal slag trail has just been paved into the charcoal slag avenue.
For future development, a north-south street was planned in the center of the small market, forming a crossroad with the east-west charcoal slag avenue.
The northeast corner of the crossroad is the original location of the farmer's market, which has been expanded.
A commercial area will be built here later. At present, a stone house next to the farmer's market has been bought by the town's gap-toothed Miller, and it has been simply renovated and arranged into a grocery store. At this time, the grocery store is already open for business.
In addition, the public toilet on the roadside 100 meters away from the small market has been almost built, and it has even been opened to the public.
However, it seems that no one goes in to defecate and urinate.
The serfs are reluctant to go to the toilet. What they pull out is not feces, urine and farts, but copper coins that can buy bread.
The southeast corner of the crossroad is the location of the original bakery and blacksmith shop. The temporary office is also here, and basically retains its original appearance.
In the future, it is planned to be converted into a civilian residential area, but it needs to be inhabited for the time being, so it has not been moved.
At the southwest corner of the intersection, a large piece of wasteland after the demolition of houses was reserved. This is the future small market square.
In the future, the government office, court, school, and transportation station will be built around the square to form the CBD of the Black-waisted Snake Manor.
The northwest corner of the intersection is the planned "rich area".
The plan also requires the construction of parks, guest houses and other buildings, but at this time only two rows of official dormitories have just been built.
The exterior walls have not been painted yet, and the officials and their families can't wait to move in.
It is worth mentioning that these two rows of employee dormitories use slag bricks.
The Black-waisted Snake Brick Kiln Factory has produced the first batch of slag bricks during this period. More than half of the slag bricks are piled near the manor courtyard, waiting for Russell's return and used for the renovation of the manor courtyard. The remaining slag bricks are used to build official dormitories.
The temporary government office is a bit crowded, and Captain Lucas did not stay for long, waiting for the officials to maintain order in the small market.
He said to Russell: "Mr. Russell, you can start reading the Grand Duke's reward."
Russell happily responded: "Okay!"