Lord: Starting with Biological Modification

Chapter 304: Chapter 299: New Land (2)

New land?

After witnessing the dam grow, the group began to return to the shore.

The cutter boats bobbed in the surging waves as the boatmen rowed with all their might, steering the vessels out from the shadow cast by the magnificent dam.

The nobles crowded the decks, each lost in their own thoughts.

"He said... new land. What did he mean by that?"

The Knight with the short mustache finally found his voice and turned to Ansel beside him.

The old Baron did not look at him.

His gaze traveled past the bow, settling on the vast expanse of water enclosed by the dam.

Sunlight pierced through the clouds, spreading a layer of gold foil across the calm surface of the water.

"It means that all we have to do is drain the water from inside."

"The area between the original shoreline and that new wall will become new land for the Dawn Territory."

Ansel’s words brought everyone around him back to life.

"I think that wall... The cost to build it must have been enormous. I bet that Baron Grey Marsh used some sort of single-use wondrous item."

"A wondrous item? Have you ever seen a wondrous item that could create something like this?"

A clamor of discussion arose, but everyone’s gazes drifted involuntarily toward the lone figure standing on the shore.

No one dared mention words like "swamp deserter" or "swindler" anymore.

Now, they had only one question on their minds: what was the price for creating land?

Land.

To a noble, that single word carried more weight than gold, more than bloodline.

"Countess!"

A shout shattered the crowd’s contemplation.

A cutter boat forced its way past the others, pulling up alongside the flagship carrying Diana.

A slightly heavyset Baron leaped across the gap before the boat had even come to a complete stop.

"Baron Kroo, what are you doing?" Diana’s guard reached out to stop him.

"Countess!" Baron Kroo ignored the guard completely, pushing his arm aside as a broad smile plastered his face.

"My lady, this land in the bay, what are your plans for it?"

He rubbed his hands together, his jowls trembling with excitement.

"My own territory is just to the east of that bay. As you know, my youngest son, Alek, is coming of age this year, but I have no spare land to enfeoff him."

"I was just about to send him to serve in the Sun Clan’s army to see if he could earn a title through military merit..."

Before he could finish, the other nobles had already caught on.

"Yes, Countess! My territory is on the west side!"

"My lady, according to the laws of the Duchy, how is this Newly Cultivated Land to be distributed?"

"We are willing to provide funds to help you drain the seawater, Countess!"

The crowd instantly surged forward, surrounding Diana in a clamor of competing voices.

They looked at the calm bay as if it were a freshly baked cake, still steaming from the oven.

Diana was a little flustered by this sudden onslaught of enthusiasm.

"Please, calm yourselves. Baron Grey Marsh and I have discussed this. Once we are on shore, we will explain everything clearly."

The nobles followed her gaze to the shore.

Velin had been faster than any of them and was already waiting on the shore.

As soon as the boat docked, Diana disembarked with a group of incessantly chattering vassals.

In the crowd, Velin and Roland’s eyes met briefly.

Roland’s expression was extremely complex, no longer filled with the scorn and disdain of before, but now a mixture of shock and confusion.

Velin, however, remained calm. Upon seeing Roland, he simply gave a slight nod, greeting his old friend.

"Baron Velin!"

Baron Kroo was the first to rush up to Velin. "Excuse me, that... that dam, is it stable? Can it withstand the winter storms?"

"It is stronger than a common wooden stockade but weaker than a stone wall," Velin answered concisely. "To be absolutely certain, you would need to build a reinforcing earthen wall behind it."

As he spoke, he took a glass jar from a leather pouch on his saddle.

Inside the jar was a mass of dark blue gel with a single seed suspended within it.

He waited for the crowd to gather around him before he began his explanation.

"My lords," Velin said, holding the glass jar in his palm. "What you have witnessed is not Magic, nor is it a miracle."

"This is a fast-growing Red Leaf Tree, a plant modified through Alchemy. Its seed, when catalyzed by this special gel, can grow rapidly in high-salinity seawater to form the dam you see..."

Velin then continued his explanation in the simplest terms possible.

The nobles were stunned at first, and then an even greater commotion erupted among them.

’It wasn’t a unique, one-of-a-kind wondrous item, but a technology that could be replicated and mass-produced!’

"This... this seed, it must be very expensive, right?" a noble asked cautiously, afraid the price would be more than he could bear.

"It isn’t cheap," Velin admitted frankly. "But to trade a few bags of Golden Sun for a fief that can be passed down to your descendants... My lords, do you think that’s a worthwhile trade?"

No one answered.

But their eyes had already given him the answer.

Worthwhile?

This was like manna from heaven!

"Of course, this is only the first step."

Velin turned toward the enclosed bay.

"My lords, what you are seeing is the beginning of our Grey Marsh Territory’s ’Newly Cultivated Land Plan.’"

His voice was steady and powerful, echoing in everyone’s ears.

"In the Grey Marsh Territory, we will build multiple rows of dams along the coastline. We will drain the seawater from between the dams and use Alchemy Potions to improve the salinized land, making it fertile."

"We will plan new farmlands, new pastures, and new towns. We will recruit landless freemen from the interior, give them tools and homes, and make them our new subjects."

"We will build new ports to attract more merchants. More wealth will flow into the territory, and with that money, we can recruit more soldiers, forge finer weapons, and then... go on to open up even more expansive lands."

The blueprint Velin described unfolded before the nobles’ eyes like a magnificent scroll painting.

They were no longer just thinking about the bay in front of them.

They thought of the barren mudflats next to their own territories, of the coastlines eroded by the sea.

If... if they could also possess this technology...

Baron Kroo’s body trembled. It was as if he could already see his youngest son, Alek, standing atop his own castle in shining new armor, giving him a perfect Knight’s salute.

Old Baron Ansel stroked his beard, his thoughts reaching even further.

How many generations of effort did it take for a family to prosper?

And now, an opportunity lay right before them—a chance to achieve in a few short years what would normally take generations to accumulate.

Velin looked at the nobles before him. Their expressions, their desires—it was all within his expectations.

This was exactly the effect he wanted.

He didn’t just want an ally.

He wanted a group of followers, bound together by profit, who would have no choice but to follow his lead.

"Now, does anyone want to talk about future business?"

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