After leaving the farmland, Vaerik mysteriously leaned closer to Siv and lowered his voice: "Come, I'll take you to eat something good."
Siv looked at him puzzled but followed anyway.
They arrived at a small workshop where the air was filled with a faint sweet fragrance.
Inside, a middle-aged woman was focused on stirring a pot of syrup.
Her name was Doris, a migrant who had followed Vaerik to the Northern Province.
A few days ago, Vaerik learned through the Daily Intelligence System that she was skilled in sugar making. He specially arranged people to help her collect tree sap and attempt to make birch sugar.
Now the first batch of sugar had been made, and today was the preparation of the second batch.
Outside the workshop, workers were methodically collecting sap from the birch forest.
They drilled holes about a meter above the ground in the tree trunks, then carefully inserted tubes, allowing the clear sap to slowly flow into wooden buckets.
"You can't collect too much from each tree per day, no more than half a bucket, otherwise it will harm the tree," Doris instructed the workers while busy with her work. "Remember to seal the holes after collection, wooden plugs will do."
The boiling syrup bubbled, and the sweet scent in the air grew stronger.
"Oh! Lord!" Doris looked up and saw Vaerik, her face breaking into a smile. "You've come at the perfect time. The sugar we made yesterday has cooled down, so we can eat it today!"
Vaerik smelled the sweet fragrance in the air, his lips curling upward: "Then I'm in for a treat today."
Doris grabbed a piece of golden, translucent birch sugar from a wooden tray beside her and handed it to Vaerik.
Vaerik casually tossed it into his mouth, chewed a bit, and exclaimed: "Hmm, the taste is really good."
Then he grabbed another piece and held it out to Siv: "Try some too."
Siv frowned slightly, not taking it immediately, but warily staring at the candy.
She had never seen such strange food before and even suspected Vaerik might have added poison to it.
Seeing this, Vaerik smiled and deliberately tossed the piece in his hand into his own mouth, crunching it loudly: "See, no poison."
Only then did Siv cautiously accept the candy and, after a moment's hesitation, put it in her mouth.
The sweetness instantly spread throughout her mouth, carrying a unique woody fragrance—a taste she had never experienced before.
Her eyes widened slightly, the coldness on her face disappeared for a moment, but she quickly suppressed it.
Then, pretending to be indifferent, she swallowed and nodded lightly: "It's okay."
However, the slight curl at the corners of her mouth betrayed her true feelings.
Vaerik saw through it clearly and couldn't help but smile, directly grabbing a small package of sugar and stuffing it into her hands: "Take it if you like it."
Siv gripped the package tightly, lowered her head without speaking, but her ears secretly turned red.
Next, Vaerik nodded with satisfaction to Doris: "The taste is good, better than I imagined. Well done, keep producing more."
Hearing the praise, Doris's face lit up with joy: "Yes! My Lord, I will do my best!"
However, Vaerik soon thought of an issue.
Birch sap can only be collected during a few short weeks in spring. After this period, the flow of sap stops.
"What a pity," he sighed lightly. "The collection period is too short; we can't make it a specialty industry to sell."
Doris also sighed with some regret: "Yes, after a while, we won't be able to collect any more sap."
Vaerik rubbed his chin, pondering for a moment: "However, since we can make birch sugar, we could try planting fruit trees in the future and see if we can make fruit sugar."
"The Lord is truly clever! If we can grow good fruits, we might be able to make more types of sugar!" Doris nodded excitedly at his words.
"Let's take it slow," Vaerik said casually. "When conditions allow in the future, we'll have the craftsmen try to build a sugar mill."
Doris's eyes were full of enthusiasm: "Thank you, Lord! I will definitely research more methods!"
Afterward, Vaerik grabbed a small package for himself, stuffed it into his pocket, with a large package of sugar still remaining in the workshop.
Vaerik instructed: "Distribute this sugar to the children."
The accompanying knight immediately took the sugar bag, preparing to distribute it at the school.
Yes, Vaerik had established a "school," though it was more of a daycare center than a school.
Children under thirteen were gathered there, cared for by several women.
This not only allowed the children to learn basic knowledge but also freed their parents to work.
Fortunately, there weren't many children in Crimson Tide Domain, otherwise such an arrangement would be difficult to maintain.
Moreover, once children here reached thirteen, they had to start working, such as helping with fishing.
When they arrived at the school, they happened to hear one of the women caretakers vividly telling the children a story about Vaerik:
"Lord Vaerik had just returned from slaying orcs in the Northern Province with his knights, green blood still on his armor, when he stayed up all night with several knights to prepare an award ceremony.
Everyone was busy until midnight and about to disperse when he suddenly stepped on a stone, pointed to the sky, and cursed loudly: 'You dragon, flying over my territory every day, do you think I'm a pushover?'
He then bent down, picked up a pebble, swung his arm in a wide arc, and hurled it toward the sky.
The stone shot up as a streak of red light, actually punching a hole in the clouds.
There was a wail—'Aoooo!'—and a thirty-meter-long frost dragon spiraled down, crashing with a boom into the black pine forest..."
Listening to the story of "bringing down a dragon with a stone," Siv's lips twitched involuntarily as her gaze slowly moved to Vaerik beside her, her eyes full of silent contempt.
Vaerik was somewhat embarrassed. He coughed lightly and explained in a low voice: "They made this up themselves."
Siv folded her arms and raised an eyebrow: "Oh? Is that so?"
Vaerik's gaze drifted elsewhere.
Suddenly, a child glimpsed the figures at the door.
"The great Lord is here!"
One child shouted first, and as if igniting the atmosphere, the whole room instantly boiled over.
"Lord! The great Lord!"
The children raised their little hands, jumping around Vaerik, their eyes full of admiration and expectation.
Clearly, this was not his first visit.
Faced with these enthusiastic little ones, a trace of helplessness appeared in Vaerik's eyes, but he still smiled and patted the head of the nearest child.
Then he took the sugar bag from the knight, grabbed a handful of candy, and bent down to distribute it to the children.
The little ones excitedly accepted the candy, cheering with joy.
"Thank you, Lord!"
Then they eagerly stuffed the candy into their mouths.
As the candy melted in their mouths, the children's faces immediately lit up with innocent smiles, filled with sweet satisfaction.
Seeing these children's heartfelt smiles, Siv's mood, originally as dull as ash, unwittingly lightened a bit.
Despite trying to maintain her composure, the corner of her mouth couldn't help but curl upward slightly.