The Plant Seeds
The Plant Seeds
It was his personal guard, Sean, who had earlier gone to Port of Clearwater to purchase crop seeds.
Roland followed the guards who reported the news to the garden. He saw Sean and several other bodyguards unloading many bags from several horses' backs.
It had been more than a month since they set off for Port of Clearwater. Sean was noticeably more tanned and skinnier than before.
When he saw the prince, he immediately stood up straight and raised his hand in salute. Roland quickened his footsteps, walked up to Sean, and patted him on the shoulder. "Good job. What types of seeds have you brought back?"
Sean crouched his body and untied the bags on the ground. "Pearl rice, ground egg, sugar stalk... I've bought all of the plants you described at Port of Clearwater. They're indeed mostly originated from the Fjords, but Port of Clearwater also has many farms to grow these kinds of crops now."
"Did you ask the merchants how these crops are cultivated?"
"I did, but they weren't able to explain the specific methods. They even said that these plants are very difficult to cultivate outside of Southern Territory." Sean dug out a bunch of orange-yellow granules from a bag and showed it to Roland. "Your Highness, this is pearl rice. A merchant told me that if I bought it together with the pearl stalks, he would offer it to me at a cheaper rate. But the stalks were too heavy and inconvenient to carry, and thus I only brought one back, while the rest are peeled seeds."
Undoubtedly, what Sean referred to as pearl rice was actually corn, which Roland was familiar with. He excitedly pinched a corn grain and observed it under the sunlight. Its fruit was a bit shriveled, as though it had been stored in a warehouse over winter. The yield of corn was naturally higher than that of wheat by some distance, and perhaps, after Leaf made some modifications, it could soon replace wheat as the staple food of Border Town.
Sean opened another bag and took out a plump and brown-skinned crop. "This is a ground egg. I ate some in an inn in Port of Clearwater. It's usually cut into strips and soaked in water. It's very crunchy and has a slightly sweet taste."
When Roland saw the familiar shape, he felt exhilarated. This was clearly a potato! He used a finger to scratch away the dirt-covered skin to reveal the dark yellow potato flesh inside—compared to the latter-day potato he knew, the size of this potato was relatively small, and the tuber's color was darker. Also, not every potato had the same egg shape. He noticed that there were potatoes with carrot-like long shapes in the bag.
"This thing's even tastier when grounded and steamed into a paste."
"Uh... Your Highness, you've eaten this before?"
"Yes, at a palace banquet." Roland decided to lie, if only because he felt that the name "ground egg" was too unpleasant. "The royal chefs don't call it 'ground egg' but 'potato' instead. The steamed delicacy is called 'mashed potato'."
"I see. Your Highness is indeed knowledgeable." Sean exclaimed. He then opened the final bag, which stood up perfectly straight, and took out a black-skinned stick. "Your Highness, I feel that this crop will be the most important. Honey is extremely cheap in Port of Clearwater largely because of it. I heard in a tavern that many of their farms have switched to growing these sugar stalks instead. This amazing plant tastes sweet, and after peeling off the skin, it can be squeezed to extract sugar. Its price is one-tenth that of honey, and yet it's no less sweet than honey water."
"..." Roland wanted to comment that he had also seen this crop before, as well as suggest to change its name to sugarcane, but after some thought, he dropped the idea and decided that it would not be too late to change its name after allowing his subjects to cultivate the crop. The raw material that sugarcane used to produce sucrose could also be used to refine ethanol, and therefore, it might be considered to be a crop that could greatly enhance the happiness of the people. It was not too difficult to imagine that if some white sugar was sprinkled over the usually-tasteless flour pancakes, it would improve the taste by severalfold. Even Roland, who much preferred salty food, would fall in love with this.
"Are there any other crop seeds?"
"Those are the only ones from Port of Clearwater." Sean fished out six small leather bags from an inside pocket and handed them to the prince. "You also asked me to bring back plant seeds which are found in Graycastle but not in Border Town. These bags contain plants which I picked while passing by Willow Town and Fallen Dragon Ridge. There are grapes, soybeans, cotton, flax and olive seeds. The only thing to note is that a farmer told me that grapes are mostly grown by sticking a branch in the soil. Although seeds can be used as well, the germination period is very long and the resulting grapes won't taste too good."
[None of these is a problem with Leaf around,] Roland thought. Now that he had grape seeds, he could even attempt to create a grapevine version of wheat. As for the soybeans, cotton, flax and olive seeds, they were all highly useful crops. He would first let Leaf modify the seeds to suit the Western Region's climate and soil, and then pass them to the serfs to cultivate on a small scale, and finally get the Ministry of Agriculture to make the final improvements and compile a cultivation handbook.
"Your Highness, I have some other news to report," Sean said in a low voice, "It's regarding the situation in Port of Clearwater."
"Does it have anything to do with Princess Garcia?"
Sean nodded. "I stayed in Port of Clearwater for nearly two weeks. Aside from purchasing seeds, most of my free time was spent in the taverns." "There was an ongoing rumor that your elder sister, Garcia Wimbledon, had struck an agreement with the people of Sand Nation. She would offer the Southern Territory's border regions for their people to reside, and in return, they would proclaim her as their queen and heed her call-ups and commands. During my time in the port, I indeed caught sight of the figures of several Mojin Clan people."
"The Mojin people of the Southernmost Region..." Roland got caught in his thoughts. "They yearn most for oases and sources of water. Garcia has truly found their soft spot this time. However, even if she's as bold as the Queen of Clearwater should be, she'll most certainly not dare to invite too many of the people of Sand Nation, or else the safety of Port of Clearwater will be compromised."
"The people of Sand Nation are divided among themselves into many factions. It's not possible that they'll all listen to her orders. Do you know which clans she made the agreement with?"
Sean shook his head. "The people of Sand Nation are extremely wary of Graycastle people. I won't be able to obtain more detailed information even if I paid gold royals. However... something extremely odd happened. A day before I intended to leave Port of Clearwater, Garcia returned triumphantly from Eagle City, and throughout the city, people celebrated their queen's victory over the fake king Timothy. However, the next day, there were four or five cases of murder throughout the city, and one victim was even torn into pieces on the streets."
"Subsequently, Port of Clearwater was put into lockdown, and thus I had to spend another three days there. The taverns were closed and everyone gathered in the lobby of the inn to discuss this matter. Some said that this was the revenge for the fake king, while others said that this was committed by the people of Sand Nation. A merchant from the Fjords claimed that he personally witnessed one of the murders. The murderer wasn't big in stature, and was clearly not a person of Sand Nation, but his strength and speed were extraordinary. The security team that came as soon as they heard the news was completely destroyed by him. Although he was stabbed several times, he seemed unaffected by his blood spilling all over the place. Only when more security members arrived in quick succession were they able to put him down with shields and spears. When the lockdown was lifted, I didn't dare to stay any longer, and immediately hopped on a merchant ship and returned here."
"You did very well." Roland pondered for a moment. "Don't bother returning the excess gold royals for purchasing seeds to the City Hall. Treat it as your reward."
"Thank you for Your Highness' reward!"
"Extraordinary strength and speed, and unaffected by the pain caused by stab wounds, these sound like... the church's pill." After the guards made their leave, Roland heard Nightingale's voice ring out in his ears.
"I think so too. But then it makes even less sense," Roland replied, frowning, "and according to Sean's explanation, Garcia would receive the pill earlier than me. If they're supporting both sides to fight for the throne... what exactly are they thinking?" He soon had a faint and nasty thought in his mind. "Could it be that the real purpose of the church isn't to see a stable Kingdom of Graycastle?"