[Edited] Chapter 3: Time To Test Your Acting Skills

Three days later, the castle’s servants’ recognition of Xia Zuoyi reached a new high.

When the reputation value finally reached 20 points, he exchanged it immediately with the “Seawater Salt Drying Method And Detailed Illustration”.

【Ding, the exchange is successful. The download is in progress… Download complete, “Seawater Salt Drying Method And Detailed Illustration” has been saved in the stickman universe mailbox for the host. It can be read at any time.】

—There were only three pages of “Seawater Salt Drying Method And Detailed Illustration” and the detailed map of the natural asphalt mine in the mailbox.

Xia Zuoyi used the time to sleep at night to study it thoroughly, then started to make some preparations for how to produce sea salt unobtrusively.

After Xia Zuoyi moved the alchemy laboratory to the attic, he spent almost half of his time in it every day. Around the castle, the rumor was spread that the young earl could hardly resist the charm of alchemy and began to indulge in it like the old earl.

The kitchen was busy preparing lunch for a while.

The two cooks were talking in hushed voices. They said that the young earl was so willful. He did not want to eat porridge, bread, and fruit, instead, today, the young earl asked the chef for a bottle of salt shaker.

“Chef Phillip is going to die of grief. He had only two salt shakers left. But he’s powerless to stop him…”

“What does the young earl want to do with the salt shaker?”

“Who knows? Probably because of curiosity. The day before yesterday, the young earl also asked me how much a bottle of salt cost…”

Just then, Chef Phillip knocked on the bowl and yelled, “What are you dawdling about? Quickly fill the plate! Can you afford to delay the earl’s meal?!”

The cooks did not dare to talk anymore and moved quickly.

After lunch, Xia Zuoyi returned to the attic.

After proper arrangement, the attic had taken on a new look. The experimental equipment and utensils were neatly placed in the cabinets and some objects that should avoid direct sunlight were placed in shady corners.

“Udit, do you know how salt is obtained?”

Xia Zuoyi sat in the chair, swinging his legs gently.

He seemed to have a lot of curiosity about the origin of salt, his caramel-colored eyes were bright. He turned the new salt shaker back and forth in his hands, causing the coarse salt grains to rustle inside.

Udit: “Through boiling the salt, my lord. Then, wooden pipes are used to transfer the brine and boil it in a square iron or lead pot.”

“The salt shaker in your hand is sold by the Nagabi Chamber of Commerce in various places.”

“Nagabi Chamber of Commerce?”

Xia Zuoyi looked at the picture engraved on the salt shaker—two neatly dressed men standing face to face, one with coins in his hand and the other with goods, trading.

This was the emblem of the Nagabi Chamber of Commerce.

Udit: “The Nagabi Chamber of Commerce belongs to the Anas Empire.”

“There is the largest salt lake in the Anas Empire—Betala Lake. Because of this, the Nagabi Chamber of Commerce controls almost 60% of the salt market.”

Salt was a necessity, so selling salt was profitable.

The Nagabi Chamber of Commerce had the secret support of the royal family of the Anas Empire so the price of salt remained high.

This was also why Chef Philip felt so distressed about Xia Zuoyi asking for three or four cans of salt.

“Is boiling the only way to obtain salt?”

“I think so, my lord.”

“What about drying in the sun?”

Xia Zuoyi seemingly inadvertently pointed to the long table by the window.

There were four half-meter square shallow-bottomed wooden pools on the long table. All the salt before was poured into the pools to dissolve slowly.

Looking back today, the amount of water in the wooden pool that was first poured salt had decreased, revealing smaller pieces of condensed salt.

“The alchemy handbook left by my father records his process of searching for the presence of metals in seawater. It was also mentioned there that under the sun, salt particles would appear when the seawater evaporated to a certain extent…”

Xia Zuoyi held the salt shaker in both hands, with two short legs cleverly joined together, as he tilted his head and said innocently, “Udit, can we try drying seawater in the sun to get salt?”

“If we have salt, we can sell it. Then I’ll have a lot of money.”

Matt Desinia did leave behind an alchemy manual. His long indulgence in research did not lead him to nothing.

At least, his looking for metals in seawater was true, but it was just a failure in the end.

In the alchemy manual, Xia Zuoyi forged some records about salt drying in seawater.

In recent days, the servants in the castle naturally thought that the young earl began to be interested in alchemy, read the alchemy manual left by the old earl, and were curious about how to obtain salt.

Udit: “Naturally, we’ll follow your wishes.”

The craftsmen were summoned to the castle. After constant discussions and adjustments, they finally succeeded in building a large-scale and complete salt drying field on the east coastline of Cogit Ocean.

When Xia Zuoyi decided to test the feasibility of drying salt in seawater, many servants were skeptical.

‘How could salt come out of seawater?’

‘The young earl must be fooling around… Let’s just watch. After failing, he won’t be tossing about it anymore.’

However, as time went by, they began to find that things did not happen as they thought they would.

The servants watched helplessly as the seawater was introduced into one pool, evaporated after sun exposure, and then transferred to another pool for further sun exposure.

After waiting for another period, white particles gradually precipitated from the seawater.

“Salt… It’s salt!”

The first person exclaimed in disbelief.

They could not believe that they could get a huge amount of salt just by relying on a few pools.

Although the quality of the salt currently obtained was relatively rough, after further processing and purification, the refined salt was even more delicate than the salt bought outside.

What was more, the manpower and material resources expended to boil salt were huge.

But the salt drying only depended on the “sun and wind” from the beginning to the end, so the “cost” was almost negligible.

Chef Phillip looked at the ten cans of refined salt in front of him and cried again.

This time he cried in happiness.

After the “experiment” was successful, Udit mentioned to Xia Zuoyi the necessity of “salt control” for the royal family.

The royal family cannot let go of the huge benefit of “salt”.

Although salt could be sold in the chamber of commerce, it had to be secretly controlled by the royal family.

In the current situation of Wissas, it was like a bird with still young wings. No matter how much it spread its wings to cover the “treasure”, it was impossible to protect it.

Furthermore, Xia Zuoyi’s original plan was to present the method of drying salt as a “gift” to the king to obtain the territorial rights of Pal Mountain.

The Cogit Ocean could not move away.

At best, Xia Zuoyi would give up most of the benefits of the salt sales to the king, while the salt production would still be carried out in Wissas, which was equivalent to returning to his own hands after a turn.

You could get more by initiating to give it away than being forced to give it up.

Forever.

Xia Zuoyi was certain to develop Wissas into the main channel and an important city for controlling the salt market in the Kingdom of Gadaat.

Xia Zuoyi: “Udit, I want to go to the royal city in person.”

With the golden light of the morning sun and the call of seagulls, the Desinian motorcade set out for Keys, the royal city of Gadaat.

The banner of thorns and roses fluttered on the top of the carriage. Behind the carriage, the craftsmen who built the salt field followed with a small team of knights at the front and back to ensure the Lord’s safety.

After crossing Pal Mountain, the nearest territory adjacent to Wissas was Fort Comoy.

The Lord of Fort Comoy was also an earl—Beavis Elliott.

He was in his prime.

They were both earls but Fort Comoy was richer, larger, and more populous than Wissas.

Even Earl Beavis Elliott had a brave cavalry in his hands.

When passing by Fort Comoy, Xia Zuoyi deeply realized the gap between the two cities.

He was a little envious.

After passing through three big cities, they arrived at the royal city of Keys.

The land of the Gadaat Kingdom was not very large, so their travel time was not long.

After entering the royal city, he soon got the opportunity to meet the king.

The old king, Duke Paige, had a distant relationship with Xia Zuoyi Desinia.

The cousin of the previous king was married to the grandfather of Xia Zuoyi Desinia.

The old king was about the same age as Xia Zuoyi’s father. There was already a prince and two princesses under his knees. He liked beautiful people, had no achievements or faults in government affairs, was a gentleman, and was not cruel to his people.

It could be said that the character of the old King Duke Paige was also in the consideration and plan of Xia Zuoyi.

When Xia Zuoyi entered the royal hall, the old king was discussing political affairs with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Bass Richards. Seeing him come in, the old king raised his hand, and Bass Richards stood aside but did not leave.

Old King: “What gift did you bring?”

“Your Majesty, the gift is here.”

Xia Zuoyi presented a roll of parchment, which recorded the salt drying method and the test results.

The old king was slightly surprised and asked the waiter to take the gift.

He remembered that after the unexpected death of Matt Desinia, he sent his servants to give his condolences.

Xia Zuoyi Desinia’s sudden arrival made him confused. After reading the contents of the parchment, this doubt began to turn into a huge surprise.

He even stood up from the throne with a look of excitement on his face.

“Your Majesty?” Bass Richards frowned and asked.

The old king calmed down and gave the parchment in his hand to his favored chancellor, “Richards, come and see.”

Xia Zuoyi also turned his head curiously.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer had brown hair and green eyes, a stern face, raised eyebrows, and a broad nose. He looked unkind.

After reading the content on the parchment, except for a momentary surprise that flashed on his face, he immediately calmed his emotions. A pair of sharp and bright eyes stared at Xia Zuoyi.

“Are you sure this is real and feasible?”

Xia Zuoyi, pretending to be frightened by him, nodded a little timidly, “Yes. I also brought the salt after the experiment.”

Udit presented the salt shaker in his hand.

The old king took it eagerly from the waiter’s hands.

He opened the cork of the bottle and snow-white salt was poured into his palm. After watching carefully, he twisted some and put it into his mouth. After tasting it carefully, he became even more delighted, “It’s indeed salt!”

The salt shaker was handed over to Bass Richards.

After the confirmation, Bass Richards asked Xia Zuoyi some questions.

—It was nothing more than “How did you discover it”, “Who else knows”, and so on… At last, he asked, “What do you want by offering this method of sea salt drying to the king”.

Xia Zuoyi answered “truthfully” one by one.

When it came to the last question, he clasped his hands in front of his chest, a blush appeared on his white and tender cheeks, and he said with a little bit of shyness, “I want to expand my territory a little bit.”

The author has something to say:

Xia Zuoyi: Look at me. I’m silly, innocent, and sweet.

Translator’s Note:

Hi everyone~ To get out of my translation slump, I decided to edit the previous novels I have on this site. If you see [Edited] before the chapter title, then it was already edited. Enjoy~~