After setting off from Southbridge, Lucas’ group sailed up the Belton River for another day or so before reaching the entrance to the Ariana Canal.

Upon reaching the artificial waterway, everyone who hadn’t yet passed through the canal couldn’t help feeling impressed.

By the standards of the other universe, this canal wasn’t anything special, but for a technologically backwards place like the Rockwell Kingdom which still relied on manual labour for most tasks, it was an astonishing feat of engineering.

There were two major rivers which ran through the Rockwell Kingdom, the Belton and the Lorren, but even at their closest point, they were still some 350 kilometres apart.

Connecting these two rivers would greatly enhance both transportation and trade in the kingdom, so shortly after receiving the crown from her father, the founding king, Ariana Rockwell commissioned a massive canal to accomplish just that.

Although the two major rivers were closest in the north of the kingdom, it was ultimately decided that the southern border of the Royal Province was the better location to start digging.

The reason for this was two-fold.

First, the terrain was flatter and less rocky, making large-scale excavation easier, and secondly there were 3 large lakes and several smaller rivers and streams in this location. By making use of these existing waterways, the overall amount of work needed to complete the infrastructure project would be decreased significantly.

Construction of what would ultimately become known as the Ariana Canal, named after the Rockwell Kingdom’s second monarch, took nearly 40 years and involved more than 50,000 labourers.

Even at its narrowest, shallowest point, the artificial waterway was over 50 metres across and 12 metres deep at its centre, more than large enough for the biggest and heaviest of river ships to easily pass through.

As for the smaller, more typical vessels used in the Rockwell Kingdom, 3 of them could sail side-by-side with ease throughout the entire length of the canal.

Without any doubt, the Ariana Canal was the busiest and most important waterway in the entire Rockwell Kingdom, with over half of the nations total trade volume flowing through it each year.

Typically, if one was traveling onboard an ordinary merchant ship and didn’t stop at any of the ports along the way, it would take roughly 5 days to traverse the canal’s 600 km length.

Military vessels, which were a fair bit faster, could make this trip in just 3 days if conditions were favourable and they regularly rotated their rowers.

However, Lucas’ convoy wasn’t in that kind of rush and had planned to stop at each of the major lake cities along the canal both to rest and to take on supplies. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

In this way, a 5 days journey stretched out to a full 9 days.

On the morning of the seventh day after entering the canal, which was 8 days since departing from Southbridge or 11 days since leaving Iron Rock, the lead Raging River Legion warship pulled into a vast port at Crystal Lake.

The plan was to spend a full day here, allowing the various civilians and soldiers a longer shore-leave in the trade-focused city.

Most of those who disembarked from the ships didn’t have any particular plans; some were headed to the bars, others to the brothels. Many were looking for inns to spend the night and get a comfortable rest in a bed that didn’t rock back and forth, but one individual in particular had a mission here that she needed to take care of first.

Victoria Moore had been given a mission from her new boss.

It was a fairly simply task, one that probably didn’t require her personal attention, but ever since she stepped down from her position as Viscount of the Moore Family, Victoria had found herself with a surprisingly large amount of idle time.

At first, Victoria had decided to relax and enjoy herself a bit, but after a few days of that, she grew a bit anxious and agitated. She was so used to working all the time that it was unnerving to suddenly have nothing to do.

As such, she approached Lucas and asked if he had any matters for her to handle.

The young boy had not disappointed in this regard.

There were, of course, many projects that Lucas could have brought his latest employee in on to assist with, but he didn’t do so immediately.

This wasn’t because he didn’t trust Victoria, or because he was feeling lazy, but rather because he wanted to settle in and assess the situation in Misty City and the Balfour Family’s territory before making any firm plans.

That didn’t mean there weren’t some small side projects Lucas wasn’t paying attention to, however, and Crystal Lake just so happened to have something he wanted, an ingredient that should be both cheap and abundant.

After disembarking from the ship and hiring a carriage to take her outside the city, Victoria Moore soon found herself looking out over a vast vineyard.

Crystal Lake was well known for the huge volume and variety of goods which flowed through its ports every day, but if one asked what its most iconic product was, it would definitely be its alcoholic beverages.

Dozens of different plantations sprawled across tens of thousands of hectares were filled with all kinds of grapes, fruits, and special wheats that were carefully harvested and processed in wineries, breweries, and distilleries of all shapes and sizes.

Although wine was the most common product Crystal Lake’s vineyards produced, you could also find other alcoholic beverages like beer, mead, and even some primitive distilled spirits.

There was even a very, very small amount of Spirit Wine which was brewed here from fields and wineries owned directly by the Rockwell Family.

No more than 100 bottles of such Spirit Wine were produced each year, and they were the lowest of the Low-Rank Spirit Grade Tier 1 Alcohols; but even then, they were considered rare treasures that graced the tables of only the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in the Rockwell Kingdom.

Victoria, however, was not here for wine, or spirits, or any kind of alcohol at all. She was here for something totally different; something that most wine makers in this region didn’t even know possessed any value.

"Lady Victoria, are you sure you want the Sour Salt... the leftover white residue from our wine barrels?" Paul, the manager of one of the largest and most productive wineries stared across at the young noblewoman before him and asked incredulously.

The ’white powder’ he was talking about was a byproduct of winemaking and, as far as this old man knew, was nothing more than garbage which needed to be scrubbed off and washed away before the barrels could be used again.

Over the decades Paul had been working here, he and several others had tried on a few occasions to find some kind of use for Sour Salt, but all their attempts had ended in failure. It really seemed like it was just a waste product.

Now though, there was someone here, asking Paul to collect as much Sour Salt as possible and sell it to her. She was even willing to offer 5 Silver Coins for a small bag of the stuff!

Compared to the profits generated from the wines they sold, this was an insignificant amount for sure, but considering they had just been throwing the Sour Salt away up until now, it was like free money was falling into his lap.

In response to the old man’s question, Victoria nodded calmly, "That’s right, I want all the Sour Salt you can harvest."

Unable to restrain his curiosity, Manager Paul asked, "What exactly are you planning on doing with it?"

To this question, Victoria just smiled, silently refusing to answer.

Seeing this, old Paul raised his brow slightly. Although he was just the manager of this vineyard and winery, he was also a direct subordinate of an Earl, so he wasn’t used to others refusing to cooperate when he inquired about something.

Still, Paul wasn’t an impulsive young man and could tell from the poise and bearing of the woman before him that she was no ordinary person either.

As such, the old man decided it was better to set aside his curiosity for now and just accept the free gift he was given.

Coming to this conclusion, Paul leaned back into his chair with a slight huff, "Very well. I will have all the Sour Salt from our barrels collected and shipped to..."

"Misty City," Victoria replied, a glint flashing across her eyes as she lowered her tone ever so slightly, "To the Lord’s Manor."

A cough escaped from Manager Paul’s cracked lips as he abruptly straightened back up. As a worldly-wise man, Paul knew exactly who the Lord’s Manor in Misty City belonged to.

"Also," Victoria added, her gaze turning sharp, "I expect this matter to be carried out... discreetly."

Without hesitation, Manager Paul swore, "I assure you, Lady Victoria, your request will be carried out both promptly and quietly. No one who does not need to know of it will ever hear of this... transaction."

"Including the Earl?" Victoria questioned.

This time, Paul paused for a moment, weighing his options carefully before ultimately nodded, "How the winery handles... waste products, is of no interest to the Earl."

"Very good," Victoria’s smile returned as she pulled 2 pouches from her Space Bag and plopped them onto the table.

Pointing to the larger bag, Victoria explained, "This is the advanced payment for the Sour Salt. 500 Gold Coins."

"And this," shifting her gaze to the smaller pouch, Victoria said subtly, "Is a token of my employer’s appreciation."

Gulping slightly, Manager Paul carefully swept the 2 bags into his own Space Bag, not stopping to check what the ’gift’ he was given for his cooperation was.