Lord of Reclamation: I Can Unlock Abilities By Building Civilizations
Chapter 33: Strike It Rich

Chapter 33: Strike It Rich

Thane hadn’t been expecting a windfall like this.

He could hardly believe it, so he left Eliric on guard duty and headed to the valley himself with Pamin and the other guards.

Before Thane even reached the spot, the system chimed in about discovering the salt mine.

Thane picked up his pace and hurried into the barren valley.

With the guard leading the way, Thane soon spotted a crack running down the mountainside—nearly thirteen feet tall and less than six feet wide.

Inside the fissure, white and yellow crystal layers wove together like a tapestry, some jutting out, others sinking back, creating a jagged, uneven surface.

Thane crouched down, picked up a crystal chunk from the ground, broke off a piece, and gave it a taste. The sharp, bitter saltiness made him wince.

Yep—this was definitely a salt mine!

Thane was over the moon.

You couldn’t put a price on the importance of salt.

Not only was it essential for seasoning food, but it was also the key to preserving it.

In this age before ice boxes, any game or fish caught during the summer had to be salted and dried to keep from spoiling, and that took enormous amounts of the stuff.

Shadowpine Ridge was miles and miles from any coastline. Thane had been planning to find time to make a salt-buying trip, but now he wouldn’t need to bother.

The fish in Blue River were in for a world of trouble.

Thane stuffed some salt ore into a bag and headed back, grinning from ear to ear.

In his good mood, Thane put away four pounds of roasted meat that evening. Baron Avril, who hadn’t enjoyed a hot meal in ages, also ate until grease was running down her chin.

Thane and his crew had been roughing it in the wilderness for three exhausting days, so they stayed an extra day at the wooden house.

Leaving two guards to watch over the children and pack up their belongings, Thane took Pamin, Eliric, and Ryan on another sweep of the area.

Unfortunately, aside from more forest and stone quarries, Thane didn’t turn up anything else worth noting.

The next morning, Thane’s group left the hunter’s camp and headed back toward Fontdmer Town by a different route.

With the three children and Avril’s banged-up leg slowing them down, the group couldn’t make nearly as good time.

Thane used the opportunity to hunt on the plains with Ryan, sharpening his archery skills.

Maybe he really did have a knack for it—after just two days of practice, Thane could nail stationary rabbits dead-center from a hundred feet away.

The southern mountains of Shadowpine Ridge gave way to rolling plains and basins. Thane came across quite a few natural lakes, which he carefully marked down one by one.

Four days later.

The group finally made it back to Fontdmer Town.

Thane’s manor was nearly finished at last. Six wooden houses now stood inside a proper fence, and you couldn’t see into the yard from the town below anymore.

Kralfard asked Thane what to call the manor. Thane thought for a moment and settled on Winterfell Manor.

He had Kralfard set up guest rooms for Avril and the three children, while Pamin went to spread the word about gathering information on scattered wilderness families.

After getting everything sorted out, Thane personally headed to the farmland to check on how the planting was coming along.

Otto hadn’t been slacking off either. The moment Thane set foot in the fields, Otto hustled over with some people, escorting three farmers right up to him.

"My lord, these three broke your rules while they were working!"

Otto announced loudly. "To get out of doing their fair share, they dumped a whole mess of seeds into one furrow!"

The Northern Borderlands had no shortage of lazy bones, especially after Thane started the group planting system. Even with overseers watching, some folks would still try to cut corners.

Thane knew this would happen, so he’d set things up so everyone would keep an eye on each other.

"Have the people who reported these three go see Kralfard for their reward—sixty-six pounds of rye each."

"Yes, my lord. I’ll thank you for your generosity on their behalf!" Otto bowed to Thane.

"As for these three, cut last month’s work points in half, twenty lashes each, and stick them in the stocks in the town square for a full day."

Thane’s voice was cold as winter. "If there’s a next time, I’ll take everything they own and make them slaves!"

After a few days of not cracking the whip, they thought he’d gone soft.

Thane couldn’t let these people walk all over him.

"I know I messed up—please don’t beat me!"

"Have mercy, my lord! Take away more work points, but don’t give us the lash!"

The farmers who’d wasted the seeds dropped to their knees, begging for mercy.

Thane didn’t budge an inch, sneering to himself.

These three were scared stiff of getting hurt but couldn’t care less about work points.

Seemed like they still didn’t take his word seriously.

Thane got it—plenty of people around here thought that way.

So he’d teach these folks another lesson.

And give the hard workers a little taste of something sweet.

Thane spoke calmly. "Also, ask Kralfard how the work point calculations are coming along. If everything’s in order, we’ll open up the work point exchange in three days."

"Really?"

Otto straightened up like a shot, staring at Thane in disbelief.

"Hm?"

Thane raised an eyebrow. "Have I ever lied to you?"

"No, no—sorry, my lord!"

Otto didn’t mind the scolding one bit, his face lighting up like Christmas morning.

"Thank you, my lord!"

"Thank you, my lord!"

Everyone around started bowing and cheering, excited as kids on their birthday.

Only the three lazy farmers who’d just gotten punished slumped to the ground, looking like they wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

Originally, they’d figured work points were just some fancy nonsense, but now it turned out you could actually trade them for food!

Thane’s gaze swept over the crowd, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

The goods exchange was just a little sugar to help them understand how valuable work points really were.

The really important part was still coming.

...

...

Five days later.

Fontdmer Town opened its first work point exchange.

In front of Winterfell Manor’s gate, Kralfard sat behind a wooden table.

Behind Kralfard, inside the manor grounds, sat all the goods up for trade: rye, wheat, rabbit meat, salted fish, salt, plus linen, hides, and all kinds of everyday necessities.

In front of Kralfard was a mob of people packed together like sardines.

Out of Fontdmer Town’s three hundred and fifty-odd residents, practically everyone was there except for some women staying home with their little ones.

"Form a line! One at a time!"

Guards holding whips stood at the manor gate with stone-cold expressions, watching the crowded townspeople like hawks.

A black line drawn with wood ash marked their boundary—anyone who dared cross it would get a taste of the lash immediately.

"Easy does it, easy does it, line up now."

Otto personally herded the townspeople into lines with the help of several slaves.

From dawn until the sun was riding high, he’d been busy all morning.

Finally getting these people to learn proper queuing, the official exchange could begin.

"How many work points you got, Loff?"

In the snaking line, a woman holding a child asked Loff, who was standing in front of her.

"Three thousand work points." Loff’s face was beaming with pride.

"Good Lord, that many?"

The woman looked stunned. "You could trade that for three hundred and thirty pounds of rye!"

"Damn right—that’s what I earned through honest sweat!"

Loff was practically bouncing with excitement, his mind drifting back to some unpleasant memories.

That day after crawling out of the manure pit, his wife had been so disgusted with him she wouldn’t come near him for two solid weeks!

Today he’d trade all his work points for rye and dump it right in front of her to show her what real hard work could accomplish!

"I really envy you manure shovelers. Sure, it stinks to high heaven, but you can trade for loads of food. My work points will only get me a hundred and seventy-six pounds of rye."

The woman sighed heavily.

Thane’s work point system was based on the current money system—10 work points was roughly equal to one copper coin.

The lowest earners were the cooking women, averaging twelve hundred work points per month, just enough to trade for eighty pounds of rye.

This matched the going market rate of three copper coins for two pounds of rye.

Kralfard had originally wanted to charge for tool usage, but Thane put his foot down.

This price was set right at the survival line—he couldn’t be any tougher than that.

Farmers earned somewhere between two and three thousand work points monthly. Blacksmiths and carpenters pulled in five to eight thousand work points, while militia earned even more.

Of course, these were average earnings.

Most militia were farmers during peacetime and didn’t rake in that much every day.

Right now, the only full-time soldiers in town were Thane’s personal guards. Eliric’s mercenaries were still getting paid with the gold coins Thane had shelled out earlier.

"A hundred and seventy-six pounds of rye ain’t nothing to sneeze at!"

Loff said thoughtfully. "We still need to tip our hats to our lord for keeping his word.

He said he’d give us manure shovelers more food, and by God, he did. He said work points could be traded, and here we are trading them."

"Amen to that. Praise our lord." The woman nodded eagerly.

"Next."

The guard’s voice cut through their chatter. Loff hurried forward.

"Noble Sir Kralfard, I’d like to trade for three hundred and thirty pounds of rye."

"All of it?"

Kralfard frowned, looking somewhat put out.

"Yes, sir."

"Fine."

Kralfard quickly scratched down the rye exchange on a wooden board, then signed his name with a flourish.

"Pick it up in the back. Use it or lose it."

"Yes, sir."

Loff practically skipped into the yard to collect his rye, then rushed home with his arms full.

This scene played out over and over until evening.

Kralfard had reached his breaking point and slammed the record sheet down on Thane’s desk.

"My lord! This can’t go on!"

Kralfard shouted. "In one day, they traded away sixteen thousand four hundred pounds of our rye!"

Thane, who’d been studying maps, frowned and slowly looked up without saying a word, his gaze cold as ice as he stared at Kralfard.

Kralfard shrank back like a scolded dog, forcing a nervous smile onto his face. "Sir, I mean, you’ve got to think of something. You can’t let them trade for nothing but grain..."

Thane rolled up the map and spoke calmly. "It’s fine. I’ll handle it."