"With the airship having been taken care of, what other suggestions do you have?" Noel asked.
Anna paused for a moment, making people curious. Anna had given an extremely good suggestion, so they expected the same thing with other suggestions.
"I am not sure about this, but…" Anna raised a finger. "What do you think about having a large carriage?"
"A large carriage?"
"Yes. Since we have an automatic carriage, I think that creating a large carriage is necessary. How do I say this…" Anna contemplated for a moment. "I have an image in my mind about creating a large and long carriage that could carry workers to their destination. For example, the workers of the mine have to go there or camp in the mine's area, right?"
"Certainly." Noel soon understood what she was talking about. "Are you implying that this carriage will carry the workers from here to the mine?"
"Yes. Because we are using a long one, which can bring a lot of people at once, it's going to be very effective. I think we can get a worker's perspective regarding this idea." Anna couldn't really explain it, but this was actually a good idea.
"This is an extremely good idea. Even if it's not a worker, we can actually load the carriage with goods. With this, we will be able to transport more goods and much faster." Noel muttered.
Dimitri added, "From a worker's perspective, I think this is a good idea. If they can commute from this city to the mine, they can actually meet their family or even spend their money in the city, which will elevate our economy. Although creating a camp over there is a more effective solution, if we think about how relieved the workers could be to be able to meet their family, I believe it's going to improve their motivation."
Roel also said, "I agree with the suggestion, especially regarding the carriage that can bring a lot of mined goods in large quantities and at a faster speed. During my time as an independent blacksmith, I have always been careful with materials since it takes a long time to get them."
"In that case, we can actually begin producing this one. The carriage itself is a common concept, and all the runes have been tested. So, we will just adjust the design a little bit to make it work. The problem will be on the road." Noel glanced at Dimitri.
"Understood. I will do my best with the next migration. Can I assume that we will bring more people than intended?"
"Yes. One or two thousand more. Early development is important after all."
"That much? I thought we would only get a few hundred." Dimitri raised his eyebrows, slightly concerned about the number.
"Yes. I'm thinking about building roads to all corners of Lounstein." Noel raised a finger. "What if we actually link all the cities like this and use this road to distribute the goods in Lounstein?"
"Ah!"
Everyone almost forgot that Noel was planning to raise someone's rank to that of a noble. And obviously, there were more cities in his territory. By taking advantage of the road and this carriage, they can bring goods much faster.
"In my perspective, this is a good idea. Not only us, but the merchants would definitely use this service, which will become another source of revenue. And by increasing the speed of distributing the goods, the economy of Lounstein will be much higher. Logistics are the most important after all." Balott rose from his seat in excitement.
"But what about the airship? Can't they bring the goods? They are faster, right?" Jasmine asked.
"Indeed, but the carriage and airship have their own advantages and disadvantages." Balott gave a smug smile. "The airship will be hard to produce and each trip will definitely cost more than a carriage. It's true that they are much faster, but by using this long carriage, we can reduce the cost, even though it will take a bit more time. It's still much faster than the normal carriage.
"In fact, we might be able to separate the carriage into two sections. For example, we can divide it into humans and goods. Traveling requires a lot of time and money. By using the automatic carriage alone, we have cut the time. And normally, you have merchants requesting protection individually… But imagine if they actually joined together with other merchants in the same carriage? They only need to pay protection for one. It's obvious which one the merchant will choose.
"I believe that this is much more important than the airship." Balott gave the conclusion to his explanation.
"Oh!" They never thought that Balott would have such a high opinion.
"There is one thing you miss out on, Balott." Noel smirked.
Balott tilted his head in confusion. "Please enlighten me, my Lord."
"We can actually expand this road to the surrounding area."
"!!!" Charlotte dropped her jaw as she couldn't help but comment, "That's right. We can actually force the surrounding nobles to act as our allies by extending the road. By looking at the benefits alone, I believe not a lot of them will be stubborn about not taking advantage of this system. And with them as our allies, the security of Lounstein becomes much more absolute."
Anna raised her hand. "Well, this is the last suggestion… but I guess it's already obvious. The security of Lounstein is going to be problematic since expanding like that will be prone to dangers from outside. Bandits and demons have to be exterminated from this land. If we want to find demons, we can simply go to the border."
"That's understandable." Noel nodded. "I'm working on the defense system right now. I will expand our army to the very limit. And it seems that raising a few nobles here will allow me to increase the number of soldiers, which will increase the safety of the territory."
"In that case, I'm done." Anna agreed with Noel and stepped back. She only gave three suggestions, but the impact was very significant.
The people in the room became excited about the development and talked to each other about the benefits of the development.
Noel was actually smiling the whole time. He was competitive, but in this case, he was just happy and proud. He wanted to show them that this was his fiancee, she was cool, right?
Now that they had heard everything, Noel immediately took control of the meeting. "Alright. First of all, Livia, I allow you to talk about the development of the airship, but you shouldn't reveal the expansion and this long carriage yet."
Livia looked a bit disappointed, but it was better not to annoy Noel or she would definitely lose the opportunity to bring this technology back to her kingdom. "I understand, Master."
"Roel. You can work on the carriage design first. It's the easiest one and can be completed with some tweaks. So, I hope you can complete this task before the airship development."
"Understood. I am very excited about this to the point that I can't sleep without completing it." Roel pumped his fist, ensuring Noel.
"Dimitri. Prepare for the second migration. Due to the size of this migration, you can send them to Laivaen City so that they can bring the people in smaller batches. It will lessen the work on this place too."
"I will follow your arrangement." Dimitri nodded with a serious expression.
"Charlotte, Douglas, and Balott will take care of their respective tasks regarding our expansion."
"Understood." The three of them lowered their heads.
"Jasmine will be focusing on the farmland, and if possible, go around Lounstein to see other potential land that is suitable for a new noble. Howard will expand and train our army. I want you to create one more division on top of the three suggestions earlier. This division will be taking care of the safety of all the new expansions."
"Understood." Jasmine and Howard received their orders.
"Harley, take care of the spread of information. If necessary, use the information to threaten other lords in the area so that they don't attack us during the expansion. Khalid, you can research all the medicines you want. I'll bring you the medicinal herbs as quickly as possible."
"We have received your commands."
"Alright. The meeting is adjourned." Noel nodded, satisfied with today's meeting. This would definitely transform Lounstein into a superpower among the nobles. In fact, even if Noel didn't bring up the Runegard, the expansion alone was enough to actually beat his father's achievement as the wealthiest man in the kingdom.
All the pillars left the room to proceed with their respective arrangements. Anna was about to leave as well, but Noel grabbed Anna's hand as if he wanted to talk about something.
Meanwhile, the other pillars had a lot of thoughts after the meeting.
"It seems that the Lord has met the perfect lady." Charlotte smiled.
"Weren't you skeptical about her before, Charlotte?" Dimitri chuckled.
"Unlike you, I didn't follow the master." Charlotte sighed.
"To think that the lady could give all those suggestions. I originally thought that it was Master's ideas, which he asked the lady to convey to elevate her status in the family." Harley shook his head helplessly. "From their expression, it seemed that everything came from Lady Anna."
"Well, I think I should formally welcome you, Old Jade." Jasmine smirked.
"Hahaha. The Lord is truly unique. He told me that I wouldn't regret my decision, but it seems that he was wrong. I regret my decision…" He paused for a moment as his words were like needles on everyone's ears until he continued, "…I regret the fact that I didn't meet him earlier."
"Pfft." Felicia laughed.
"Don't worry, you're not the only one. Khalid almost rejected him." Roel laughed.
"What are you saying, Mr. Roel? I am just seeking refuge under the lady's family." Khalid shook his head helplessly, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Still… I feel like the Lord gave the lady a chance in that meeting." Charlotte sighed.
"What do you mean?" Balott asked.
"Before… we only knew that Lady Anna was a powerful expert, and that's all. After this meeting, we all think that she is also a qualified leader that we can respect and serve. The reason for the Lord's action is probably because of the royal family."
"Royal family?" Harley frowned.
"You haven't got the information?" Charlotte raised her eyebrows. "After the war, I believe that the lord will be summoned to the royal palace. However, they must be planning to send an envoy so that they can slow down the pace to reach the capital. This way, the Lord won't be here for a long time."
"Ah!" Dimitri nodded in understanding. "So, he wants to show us that she is able to lead the Ardagan family when he is not here…"
"Yes," Charlotte confirmed.
"In that case, we should show our resolve as well. We'll surprise him with all the transformation once he returns." Harley smirked.
