The carriage slowly drove past the construction site, not attracting too much attention.
To reach the North Gate, one had to pass through a forest where the roadside trees had been cleared, suddenly opening up the view.
From here, the towering castle walls of the North Gate were already visible.
Enya’s vision was naturally excellent; even from a distance of 3,000 meters, she could see that construction was still underway on the nearly 15-meter-high wall to heighten and reinforce it.
However, the workers there were different.
They weren’t refugees from White Stone City, but the army of Red Pine City. Sturdy soldiers laid bricks while Civil Engineering Mages were responsible for transporting materials.
Their cooperation was orderly, clearly not their first time doing this. A slight smile appeared on Enya’s face.
Magic was truly a good thing. In the past, Magic Users existed only for combat, and rarely was magic used for production and construction.
Once magic was applied flexibly, the shackles of manual labor on productivity vanished.
Projects that originally required massive amounts of financial, material, and human resources could be completed dozens of times faster!
Why hadn’t this been done in the past? There was only one reason: the inheritance of magic was held in the hands of a few.
They monopolized the means of production! Before the West Wind Empire was established, magic had been monopolized by those great families.
It was nowhere near as widespread as it was now, and even common cultivation methods were difficult for ordinary people to access.
It wasn’t until the West Wind Empire broke the old order…
Although Bloodline Theory was still prevalent now, it no longer possessed its supreme glory of the past; it was more like a desperate attempt to justify its existence.
By forcefully dispelling the notion that magic was noble and applying it to construction and development, the foundation for the Zephyr Empire’s initial prosperity was laid, creating a very good base for Vivienne to complete her reforms later on.
Enya looked at the fallen giant trees and couldn’t help but sigh in her heart. ‘Time really flies…’
She hadn’t been gone for many days, but the place had already been transformed like this, giving Enya a sense that while the scenery remained, the people had changed.
Red Pine City, North Gate arrived.
Before Enya even got off the carriage, someone had already run over to greet her. Three women arrived, all wearing the same black-and-white outfits. They stood behind the carriage, appearing somewhat restrained. When they looked at Enya, their eyes were filled with surprise.
Because after “Phil” had hired them, she only stayed in the Alchemy workshop for a few days before disappearing. The shop never opened, and although their wages were paid as usual, all they did every day was guard the building. Getting paid like this made them feel uneasy.
So when Enya arrived, they all looked very surprised. Fortunately, Enya hadn’t taken too long to return; otherwise, they might have started wondering if there were two suns in the sky.
Enya climbed down from the carriage and instructed them to carry the items down and place them in the shop, telling them to be careful while moving them. Two young female shop assistants began to carry things, and the carriage driver also hurried over to help. Just as Enya was about to walk into the shop, the remaining one of the three approached, took Enya’s arm, and said to her with a bitter smile, “Shopkeeper, you finally arrived.”
“Mm…”
Enya glanced at her from the corner of her eye. She had a delicate appearance. These women were all poached by Phil from the Adventurers’ Guild. The woman beside her wasn’t old, perhaps in her early 20s, with proper and beautiful features and excellent social skills. She was unmarried.
She was a talkative one. As Enya walked inside, the girl chatted about some things that had happened during the days “Phil” was away. Roughly speaking—another Potion workshop had opened not far away, and just like them, it accepted custom orders for Advanced Auxiliary Potions. This caused the people who used to crowd the door wanting Enya to make custom advanced Dreammare potions to now surround the entrance of that other Alchemy workshop instead.
The woman was very agitated as she spoke, even more so than Enya herself, as if the money not entering their pockets was a massive loss. Enya didn’t care; she hadn’t planned on using this to make money anyway. Tilting her head to look at the woman beside her, Enya successfully found her name in Phil’s memories.
Her name was Julie.
Enya pulled her hand out of Julie’s arms and smiled. “What is there to be angry about? Let them go.”
“Huh?” Julie heard Enya’s answer, looking very confused.
Wasn’t this kind of business-stealing behavior annoying? Yet Enya acted as if she didn’t care at all. Confused, she was truly confused.
Enya wasn’t going to explain. She walked in through the back door. After entering, she saw a courtyard filled with various boxes. She opened a box and took out a custom glass bottle, then randomly checked a few samples. They were all qualified products.
“You did quite well. I’ll add 5 gold coins to your pay this month.”
“Huh?!”
Julie was still nervous watching Enya’s random inspection, but she never expected happiness to come so suddenly. She was both shocked and delighted by the 5-gold-coin raise. Delighted because her wages increased, and shocked because Madam Phil truly didn’t seem to treat money as money.
But she hadn’t quit her previous job to seek employment here just for the money. Julie wanted to learn Alchemy! While her thoughts were racing, the other two shop assistants carried in the machine Enya had brought. They didn’t know where this heavy block was supposed to go, so they asked Enya after bringing it over.
Enya gave directions. “This? Move it to the lobby.”
“Yes, Shopkeeper!”
The two sturdy girls lifted the filling machine, passed through the backyard filled with wooden crates, and went into the lobby. Enya walked over as well, with Julie following. After passing through the large door, they arrived in an elegantly decorated lobby. This place had originally been a high-end hotel. The building had five floors of business space with guest rooms above.
However, not many people were willing to come here to drink. Later, it was reclaimed by Henna and then passed into Anna’s hands. ‘Wasn’t what belonged to Anna also Enya’s?’
Adventurers earned money easily; selling Materials from a single killed Magical Beast could fetch quite a bit. But that kind of work was life-threatening. Having money didn’t mean they engaged in luxury consumption; those who spent everything were a minority. It was actually quite difficult to make money from adventurers. While Potions were a good way, Enya didn’t plan to exhaust herself.
“Put it on the counter,” Enya ordered casually.
The two shop assistants placed the large black block on the former hotel reception counter. Julie walked over, examining the black block that was about 1 cubic meter in size. She didn’t understand it, so she turned to ask Enya, “Shopkeeper, what is this?”
“According to the terminology in West Wind, this is a Mana Tool.”
“A Mana Tool?”
“It’s an apparatus made from magic-conducting materials that runs on Magic Power. It’s similar to the magic lamp you use at home,” Enya explained simply.
Julie understood immediately. She reached out to touch the cold top cover, her eyes full of wonder and admiration. “Such exquisite craftsmanship! Shopkeeper, could this be an ice-making machine?”
“What ice-making…” Enya’s lips twitched. ‘We are in the legitimate Potion business!’
Julie scratched her head and mentioned some things she had seen recently.
Since the last noble unrest ended, the land around the North Gate had been developed, and many new things had been shipped over from the West Wind Empire.
Among them was an ice-making machine that reportedly could make sweet, milky snowflakes.
Not only that, but there were also things like magic stoves, magic fans, and many other amazing things that had entered the vision of Red Pine City’s people, creating a huge impact on their perception.
After listening to Julie, Enya still gave her a sharp look. “This is a filling machine, not an ice maker.”
Julie lowered her head, a bit embarrassed. The other two shop assistants were secretly laughing at her, but Enya’s tone suddenly shifted.
“You did remind me, though. Although we’re called an Alchemy workshop, with such a large space, we can’t just refine Potions.”
If she only sold Potions, Enya wouldn’t even need a storefront; she could just deal directly with the Adventurers’ Guild.
She wouldn’t even need to worry about how to sell them—just deliver the finished products straight to the Guild.
Enya thought for a moment, then patted Julie’s shoulder with a pleasant expression.
“I plan to sell beverages.”
“Huh?!” the three of them exclaimed simultaneously.
They could understand selling alcohol, but what were beverages? Enya cleared her throat, just about to reveal her grand vision to these three young girls, when the door was knocked upon.
“Is Madam Phil in? The Lord wishes to see you.”
“Huh?!” The three assistants were shocked again. They didn’t have much worldly experience.
Enya frowned slightly. The Lord? The current Lord was Yelena, right? That little girl wanted to see her? Yelena was about the same size as her daughter.
Although their ages certainly couldn’t be compared, in Enya’s impression, Yelena was still that same figure from when Henna took her to Enya’s home last time.
“I understand.”
After replying, Enya told Julie and the other two to continue looking after the shop without opening the doors, which basically meant sitting around in a daze.
After giving her orders, Enya walked out the door and boarded the carriage.
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