The publicity for "Introduction to Magic" began.
As expected, after Rennes had cast the bait, all the nobles did not even hesitate to open up their coffer.
The popularity of the tome was helped by the prestige of Lifa and Rennes.
For a time, truckloads of gold swarmed into the national treasury.
In less than three days, the originally empty treasury was suddenly filled to the brim. It had now accumulated around 200,000 gold coins.
The nobles left the palace with joy, each holding a copy of "Introduction to Magic" in their hand.
Lifa stood in the national treasury in a daze, looking at the shiny gold bars piled up all over the floor.
She could not help feeling ecstatic. Her face was flushed red. She said excitedly to Rennes who stood beside her, "Lord Rennes, you're amazing! You're truly amazing!"
Of course, Rennes was also a little surprised to see so much gold there all at once.
However, if the Noah Kingdom wished to build the number one port in the eastern region of Arnold, this amount was far from enough.
And this amount was just a tiny fraction of asset they had managed to strip from the nobles.
It was one of the reasons Rennes was surprised. He did not even do much but had managed to acquire close to 200,000 gold coins so easily.
One could imagine how corrupt and greedy these nobles were.
Seeing the piles of gold, Lifa finally felt relieved.
The first problem of the port construction, the initial fund, was finally solved.
After locking the door of the national treasury, the two of them went to the palace's administrative hall together.
"Lifa, are there any problems with the distribution of food in the Noah Kingdom?" Along the way, Rennes asked casually.
"Lord Rennes, the geographical location of the Noah Kingdom is a little special. The south gets ample amount of rain, so the soil there is relatively fertile. It's suitable for agriculture.
"However, the weather in the north is extremely cold. The sun is rarely seen throughout the year, so a large amount of food has to be transported to the north every year.
"These problems have troubled the kingdom for many years, especially because the distance from the south to the north is over a thousand kilometers. The trade of food itself is already very troublesome, not to mention the amount of manpower and material resources required to transport food to the north. Moreover, there are many bandits near the northern border, so the transported food is often raided."
Lifa rubbed the space between her eyebrows helplessly. She suddenly realized something. She looked to Rennes in surprise and asked, "Maybe you have an idea, Lord Rennes?"
"Indeed. It's best not to ignore this problem. Especially considering there are so many fortresses in the north, and someone must guard those fortresses. The first priority is always to feed your soldiers so that they don't go hungry!" Rennes nodded and said.
"Lord Rennes, you already know so much about the kingdom!" The two had arrived at the administrative hall. Lifa pushed the door open and walked straight in.
"Yes, I was bored these past few days and have read about it!" Rennes smiled faintly at her comment.
"Have you ever thought of getting the north to start growing food as well?" Rennes asked as he leaned back on a chair.
"When I was still a princess, a minister had actually mentioned this idea to my father. At the time, in order to experiment to find a suitable type of food, we spent a lot of time and energy, but in the end, none of the food could meet the requirements," Lifa told Rennes helplessly.
"Perhaps you know of a way to allow wheat to grow in the north, Lord Rennes?" Lifa asked in surprise. In her mind, there was nothing that Rennes could not do.
"Wheat? Why does it have to be wheat? Have you heard of potatoes?" Rennes smiled.
"Potatoes? Is that a delicacy from the Abyss?" Lifa asked curiously.
"No, it exists in this world, but you prefer to call them groundnuts!" said Rennes.
"I have observed that your groundnuts are able to resist the bad weather. They should be able to grow in the north without any problem,"Rennes said.
"Groundnuts?" When Lifa heard that, her expression became complicated.
"Perhaps you are mistaken, Lord Rennes? Groundnut is a poisonous plant. People will die if they eat it. How can it be consumed as food?" As she said this, the image of an oval-shaped yellowish plant with a shade of cyan appeared in Lifa's mind.
In truth, back when there was a famine in the north, some people had actually tried to eat groundnuts, but the results were dire.
The first person who tried it died.
The second person also died.
It was the same for the third person.
After that, even when there was a famine, no one dug those oval-shaped plants to eat anymore unless they were trying to kill themselves.
"I've studied it. The potatoes in your world have been polluted by magic power, so they are actually plants that contain magic power. That's why they can grow in the north.
"Magic plants have a very difficult time maturing. When the potatoes are still immature, they contain natural toxins. Even a normal person would most likely die after eating one, not to mention famine victims that are in poor physical conditions," Rennes explained calmly in response to Lifa's doubt.
"I see. Since you're mentioning this, you must have a way to solve the potato problem, don't you, Lord Rennes?"
"Make the arrangements. I'll give you a surprise!"
Lifa nodded expectantly. After that, she ordered a guard to look for groundnuts outside.
Seeing that Lifa was about to start dealing with her daily administrative affairs, Rennes said before he left the administrative hall, "Wait, can you help me summon Charles to my residence? I have something to talk to him about!"
"Of course. You've worked hard lately, Lord Rennes. Go back and rest up!" Lifa was very considerate. She stood up and opened the door for Rennes.
"Okay, I'll be going then!"
..
Back at his residence, Rennes leaned against the window and basked in the sunlight.
On the lawn outside the window, Trish was trimming the magic plants in the garden with a pair of scissors.
However, she was pouting; it seemed that she was not satisfied with her work.
The beautiful scenery and the sunlight brought warmth to Rennes' body.
It felt so comfortable that Rennes fell asleep sitting on the windowsill.
When he woke up, it was already two hours later.
To Rennes' surprise, Charles had not arrived yet, but the groundnuts had.
The guard was thoughtful. Perhaps he thought that the experiment might fail with just one groundnut, so he had brought a large sack of them.
On the lawn.
Rennes poured out all the groundnuts in the sack. Trish noticed it and came to squat beside him curiously. She asked, "What are these, Rennes?"
"These are potatoes. They're edible!" Rennes picked one up and weighed it. It was about half a pound in weight.
"Edible? Let me try it!"
Trish's eyes lit up when she heard that they were edible. She picked one up, blew away the dust on it, and was going to throw it into her mouth.