The hot summer made Ed feel much more comfortable after having ice water.
In the castle hall
"Andrew, what did you say? You found that white ore, but there are guards there?" Ed looked at Andrew, who had just returned from outside, in surprise.
"Yes, my lord, there are indeed people there, but I'm not entirely sure if they're watching those stones. This is something we brought back secretly; please take a look and see if it's there." After saying this, Andrew took out a white stone and handed it to Ed.
Ed took the stone and scratched it with his fingernail, immediately leaving a deep scratch. "It should be gypsum ore," Ed muttered to himself, looking at the scratch. "I'll burn it to confirm."
"Adelaide, light the fireplace and throw this stone in to burn it." He then gave the stone to Adelaide.
Adelaide lit the firewood in the fireplace and threw the stone in. Under the heat of the flames, the white stone began to slowly crumble into small pieces, and then into even smaller pieces.
"That's right, it should be gypsum ore." Ed confirmed in his mind as he looked at the shattered stone.
"Andrew, this is indeed the stone I need. Can you tell me the situation?"
Andrew cleared his throat and continued, "My lord, the ore is in a valley, guarded by a group of armed men. We dare not get too close and can only observe from a distance. It takes about ten days to walk there from the lakeside on our side."
Ed stroked his chin, a thoughtful glint in his eyes: "It seems the territory isn't completely isolated after all! There must be people on the other side of the lake, but I wonder who they are? Although we've found a gypsum mine, mining it will still be quite troublesome! Someone has already gotten there first. I wonder what they're digging for? Are they making cement too?"
"Is the path along the lake easy to walk on? How did those people get across?" Ed wanted to see how they got to the other side.
"My lord, the road by the lake is difficult to travel. It's barely manageable on horseback, but if we're transporting ore back, we'll definitely get stuck. As for whether the other party came up by boat on the lake or from the valley, it's not clear."
What to do? Our land route is blocked, and although we can go by water, the territory's shipbuilding technology is far too poor; we don't have any large ships. Even if Ed improves it now, shipbuilding is no small undertaking, and the territory simply doesn't have enough people.
There are currently people mining the ore. If we go there without knowing this, will we encounter a conflict? If a conflict occurs, can our small force defeat the other side?
"Do you know who they are? Have you asked Marcus, the butler?"
Andrew shook his head: "They had longswords and wore armor. We just watched from a distance and didn't dare to get too close, so we couldn't tell who they were. The ore they brought back was something they secretly picked up during their rest. I haven't asked Butler Marcus about it yet."
"Okay! I'll ask the steward later. You rest first and don't go out these days. Go to Smith's place and tell him to stop making farm tools and focus on making weapons."
After saying that, Ed picked up his teacup and took a sip of iced honey flower tea. The refreshing feeling instantly made him feel much better.
"Adelaide, go pour Andrew a cup of honey flower tea to cool him down. He was so busy talking that he forgot everything else."
"Yes, Master." Adelaide turned to pour water.
"Ah! Adelaide, why is your water ice cold?" Andrew threw the glass away as if he had seen a ghost.
Adelaide burst out laughing at Andrew's strange expression:
"Hehe, isn't Lord Andrew amazing!"