"My Lord, this might not be appropriate."

Roland knew that once these four arrived, Simon would not be able to sit still. After all, he had always been fond of play and could rarely resist their coaxing.

"Master Roland, there’s no need to worry. This time, we’ve brought many servants and attendants. Given our respect for His Highness, how could we possibly harm him?" Alfred tried to reassure Roland.

At this moment, Simon stood up and walked outside. "Let’s go. I’ll have Captain Lancelot accompany us."

Here, he had no real friends, only these fair-weather companions with whom he could chat and share some amusing stories. Otherwise, life would be unbearably dull.

"With Captain Lancelot accompanying us, there’s no problem then." Roland felt reassured.

Surrounded by Walter and the others, Simon boarded Walter’s carriage and headed south out of the city, straight for the Colt River dock.

At the dock, a painted boat was moored. The emerald-green waters of the Colt River flowed from west to east, giving off a majestic vibe reminiscent of a great river.

Simon was slightly surprised. He understood that in ancient times, natural environments were largely untouched, so rivers had much larger water flows. However, the Colt River was comparable to the modern-day Grand Canal.

"Your Highness." Alfred gestured for him to board.

Among the four prominent families of Brambleford, the Goldwynd family primarily dealt in coal and iron, the Duskry family in cloth and silk, the Redwyk family in ceramics and smelting, and the Chandlier family-controlled water transport.

The painted boat before them was not particularly luxurious. In Simon’s eyes, compared to modern standards, he had yet to see anything truly splendid. Simplicity and antiquity were everywhere.

Inside the boat, a small table was set with several dishes and a jar of wine.

Under the table, a charcoal brazier was burning. As winter approached, there was a slight chill in the air. Although the boat was warm, there was a faint smell of coal.

"Your Highness, to help you relax, I’ve specially prepared some wine, along with lamb, fermented beans, crown daisies, and sweet-and-sour crucian carp..." Alfred listed the dishes with pride.

Simon glanced at what could be considered a luxurious feast and sighed inwardly. As a prince, he was truly failing at life. Even Alfred lived more comfortably than he did.

But there was no helping it. The Chandlier family’s water transport business spanned the entire Eldorian Empire, allowing them to bring back various goods not available in Brambleford for their enjoyment. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Walter clapped his hands and laughed. "With Alfred around, there’s never a shortage of good food and wine. Unlike us, who can only eat plain fare."

"Walter, you flatter me. The sugar for the sweet-and-sour crucian carp was specially bought by my father’s boatmen in Eldora. The cooking oil was also purchased at great expense. Without these, we wouldn’t have this dish today."

Lucan, who had always been a glutton, said. "Alfred, next time, could you bring some back for me too? Eating nothing but steamed buns, radishes, and leeks every day is so monotonous. It’s driving me crazy."

Simon couldn’t help but salivate. Compared to the variety of modern food, the options here were pitiful.

From his memories, he knew that potatoes, corn, tomatoes, and peanuts had not yet been introduced to the Eldorian Empire Kingdom.

The variety of vegetables was also limited, mostly consisting of celery, radishes, leeks, spinach, lettuce, and eggplants.

And even these were rarely grown, as the common people could barely afford to eat, let alone cultivate vegetables. These items were mostly consumed by wealthy merchants and nobles.

The five of them sat around the small table as the boatman rowed, slowly moving the boat into the river.

It had to be said that the scenery here was beautiful. Both banks of the Colt River were covered in lush farmland, stretching as far as the eye could see, like a painted landscape.

The riverbanks were dense with water plants and reeds, with wild ducks and egrets. In the river, the water rippled, and occasionally a fish or two would leap out.

As they enjoyed the scenery, Alfred poured Simon a cup of wine.

Immediately, a sour smell hit his nose. To Simon, the wine was of poor quality.

This wine was newly brewed, with the dregs still unfiltered. The green dregs gave the wine its name.

While the previous Simon could have drunk this, the current Simon found it hard to swallow.

Still, something was better than nothing. He took a few sips and tried his first stir-fried dish here, the sweet-and-sour crucian carp.

As the boat drifted downstream along the Colt River, Simon admired the scenery while also observing the conditions along the riverbanks.

In the Eldorian Empire, fertile farmland was mostly found along riverbanks, as it was easier to irrigate.

He noticed that there were few waterwheels or other irrigation tools along the Colt River. Even if there were, they belonged to wealthy families. Ordinary peasants could not afford to build them.

Seeing Simon occasionally lost in thought as he gazed at the riverbanks, Walter asked. "Your Highness seems preoccupied during this outing. Would you care to share your thoughts with us?"

Simon was thinking about how to improve the irrigation facilities in his domain, something he naturally didn’t want to discuss with Walter.

At that moment, he noticed the charcoal brazier under the table and remembered something. "I’m not preoccupied, but the craftsmen at the Engineering Department are making something interesting, a hundred times better than this charcoal brazier. I wonder if you’d be interested."

"Oh?" Walter looked surprised. "Was Your Highness busy at the Engineering Department the other day for this very thing?"

Alfred and the others also showed interest. Alfred said. "In that case, since we’ve already enjoyed the Colt River, why not go take a look at this ’thing’ Your Highness mentioned?"

Brandt and Lucan agreed enthusiastically.

The day before, while teaching the craftsmen about lathes, Simon had also instructed them to make a very practical tool.

This was the modern coal stove. After living in the prince’s residence for a few days and seeing the servants burning firewood for every task, he felt increasingly uncomfortable.

So, before anything else, he had tasked them with making the coal briquette stove.

Seeing how these scions of prominent families lived more lavishly than he, a prince, Simon felt displeased. It was clear that the economy of Brambleford was firmly in their hands.

In contrast, the tax revenue of Brambleford was declining year by year. The reason, of course, was their tax evasion.

Alfred casually mentioned spending dozens of caps of silver, something even the prince’s residence couldn’t afford to do so lightly.

Now that he had access to the system, if he didn’t use some modern tech to squeeze money out of them, how could he fund the establishment of his own state-run economy?

After this trip along the Colt River, Simon had a basic understanding of the irrigation situation along its banks. He spoke. "In that case, let’s go to the Engineering Department and take a look."

Alfred immediately had the boat turn around, and the five of them returned to the dock.

Once ashore, Simon tightened his clothes. Winter was approaching, and the weather was getting colder. The coal briquette stove would come in handy now, and he was sure they would buy it.

Especially the Goldwynd family, who sold him coal and iron ore at such high prices. How could he let them off the hook?

At the Engineering Department, a coal briquette stove wrapped in iron sheets had already been produced.

It was a simple coal briquette stove, with an earthen inner ring baked inside the iron sheets and a mesh iron sheet at the base.

While it didn’t look as refined as modern versions, its functionality was essentially complete.

The craftsmanship of the coal briquette stove was simple, making it the first practice project Simon had assigned to the craftsmen.

When the five of them arrived at the Engineering Department, this was what they saw.

"Your Highness, what is this?" Walter asked, puzzled.

Simon smiled slightly and asked Bjorn. "Have the coal briquette been made?"

"Your Highness, they’ve been made and are currently drying outside." Bjorn replied.

[Creativity +2]

[Influence +2]

[Crafting +5]