The evening sun's rays fell across the Crimson Tide Domain.
Inside the smoking shed near the hot springs, several smoked fish hung on wooden racks, their golden skin slightly wrinkled, emitting a rich smoky aroma.
Vaerik stood nearby, his gaze examining these fish that had been smoked for several hours.
He then gently pressed the surface with his finger, and the dry, springy texture made him nod with satisfaction.
"My... my lord..." Sally stood nearby, carefully speaking, her hands unconsciously twisted together.
Her eyes showed nervousness, afraid her smoked fish wasn't good enough.
Vaerik looked up at her words and praised: "Well smoked, the fish's texture and color are both good."
Sally let out a breath, a nervous smile appearing on her face: "It... it was all done according to your method. Without... without your guidance, we couldn't have done it."
"You have skilled hands," Vaerik said casually as he tore off a piece of fish and put it in his mouth.
Although the fish was dry and hard, a rich smoky aroma gradually spread in his mouth as he chewed. It tasted quite good.
Standing nearby, Hilco crossed his arms and tiredly yawned, his dark circles nearly falling to the ground.
It wasn't that Vaerik deliberately exploited him, but what could be done when only the two of them in the entire territory could read and write?
So he had to reluctantly put him on a schedule from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., six days a week.
Today, to console him, he had brought him over to eat fish.
"Here, try some," Vaerik casually handed over a smoked fish.
A flash of interest appeared in Hilco's tired eyes as he also took a bite: "It tastes better than I imagined."
"This is the result of Sally's hard work," Vaerik praised.
Hearing her name, Sally immediately became flustered, hurriedly waving her hands: "No, no, no, I could only smoke these fish by following your instructions. I don't know anything about this..."
Vaerik listened quietly to Sally's words, but his gaze fell on the smoked fish.
The Crimson Tide Domain was located in the cold Northern Province, with limited food resources.
Although fishing was an important source of supply, during winter and early spring, the rivers were almost frozen, with virtually no catch.
To avoid famine, he needed to find an effective preservation method to allow food to last through the long winter.
So Vaerik thought of an innovative method—using geothermal heat to smoke fish.
"Hot spring smoked fish? Will it really work?" When Hilco first heard this plan, his eyes were full of disbelief.
"Compared to simply drying in the sun, this will remove more moisture and extend preservation time," Vaerik explained.
In any case, this method was worth trying.
So he selected the meticulous and dexterous Sally to lead the women in an initial attempt.
The first step was processing the fish.
First, the fish belly was cut open and the internal organs removed, but the fish skin had to be retained.
The skin not only prevented the fish meat from falling apart during smoking but also locked in the flavor, making the smoked fish taste better.
Then they used coarse salt to cure the fish, with time varying from several hours to a day, depending on the weather and humidity.
This both removed the fishy smell, enhanced the flavor, and eliminated some moisture, preparing for the subsequent smoking.
The second step was building the smoking rack.
In the hot spring area, they wove smoking racks from branches, bamboo strips, and vines.
They also installed simple windproofing and heat preservation facilities on both sides of the rack, allowing the hot spring steam to penetrate the fish meat to the maximum extent while preventing heat loss.
The third step was the smoking process.
Geothermal resources were not stable, so the smoking time was divided into 2-3 days, conducted in multiple rounds.
Too high a temperature would harden the fish meat, while too low would make preservation difficult, so each batch of smoked fish required careful adjustment of time and temperature.
While this all seemed complex, after Sally's continuous trials during this period, small-scale success had already been achieved.
The fish hanging on the smoking racks were already one of the Crimson Tide Domain's hopes for the winter.
Vaerik nodded slightly: "We can now scale up."
A flash of delight appeared in Sally's eyes. She and her women had worked hard for this for several days.
In this world where physical strength was paramount, women's status had always been low.
If they could take on the important task of smoking fish, their status in the Crimson Tide Domain would also improve considerably.
She pressed her lips together and carefully asked: "My lord, are you saying you want us to be responsible for the fish smoking work?"
"You've already done very well, haven't you?" Vaerik gave her a calm look, his gaze sweeping across the smoking racks. "If the scale expands, experienced people naturally need to be responsible for this task."
Sally's heart raced, and she couldn't help but grip her apron tightly, feeling an unprecedented sense of security.
"Thank you, my lord!" She almost instinctively bowed, her voice carrying a slight tremor.
Vaerik smiled: "It is I who should thank you."
At that moment, a knight approached and quietly reported in Vaerik's ear: "Lord Lambert has returned."
Vaerik's eyes lit up; this was a double blessing.
He immediately walked briskly toward the residential area to meet the three men who had just entered.
Lambert knelt on one knee and said quietly: "Mission accomplished."
Vaerik nodded slightly, a flash of satisfaction in his eyes.
The steady Lambert always gave people a sense of security.
"Thank you for your hard work," he said solemnly, his gaze sweeping over the other two elite knights behind him.
Although they appeared more fatigued than Lambert, none complained about the journey's hardships.
"Detailed reports can wait until tomorrow," Vaerik said with a gentle smile. "Rest well tonight. At tomorrow's commendation ceremony, you will all receive your deserved rewards."
All three bowed respectfully and said: "Yes, sir!"
"Leave the seeds and go rest."
The three knights unhesitatingly handed the packages to the attendant and left, bearing the fatigue of their journey.
Using battle energy for long-distance travel would exhaust even elite knights, both physically and mentally.
Vaerik watched them leave until the three figures disappeared, then turned toward his office, with the attendant carrying packages of seeds close behind.
Packages of seeds were neatly arranged on the office desk, all the results of this procurement.
Vaerik waved his hand, gesturing for the attendant to withdraw.
Only after the door gently closed did he step toward the desk, finding the seeds he wanted according to the intelligence system's cues.
He gently picked up one seed and examined it in his hand.
The seed was reddish-brown with a smooth surface, looking no different from ordinary cranberry seeds at first glance.
Without his intelligence system, he might have mistaken it for an ordinary seed.
But it was far from ordinary.
This was indeed the Frost Blood Crimson Berry, a special fruit magically transformed in the extreme cold of the Northern Province.
Consuming it not only strengthened one's physique but also had remarkable effects on knight's battle energy condensation.
This meant that, once successfully cultivated, it could not only become a unique specialty of the Crimson Tide Domain,
But also a strategic resource fought over by various nobles.
Vaerik looked at the seed as if seeing mountains of gold and silver beckoning.