Chapter 116
However, when nobles came to reside in the territory, whether renting or purchasing the specially maintained country villas, they would pay Ye Bai at least 5 to 10 silver coins each month in rent or property tax.
Excluding taxes, the income of the territory mainly came from operational revenue and trade revenue.
Operational revenue primarily consisted of various consumption projects within the territory, such as theaters, craft shops, furniture factories, textile mills, taverns, and other establishments.
Trade revenue was generated through merchant guilds selling goods to other territories. With two high-end tailor shops established, trade revenue was expected to become the backbone of Baiye Town's income.
Ye Bai estimated the current output value of the territory and calculated that by the next fiscal month, the territory's income should cover most of its expenses.
Currently, the trade revenue column showed no figures, as it had only been a day since Baiye Town was upgraded, and no merchant caravans had arrived for trade.
However, in terms of operational revenue, only the tavern had brought in a little over ten copper coins, and that number was still fluctuating in single digits...
Seeing this, Ye Bai glanced out the window. The sun hadn’t even set yet, and villagers were already rushing to the tavern for a drink.
How infuriating! Even she, the lord, hadn’t clocked out yet!
Feeling a sense of imbalance, Ye Bai immediately devised a strategy to implement a 20% overtime policy, setting it to be canceled in three days. That would coincide perfectly with the completion of the general school, allowing residents to finish their daytime work, have a meal, and then start their evening classes—perfect!
After finalizing this plan, Ye Bai stood up and left the "Finance Department," passing by the adjacent "Public Security Department" and "Diplomatic Department."
Currently, there wasn’t much that needed special management in these two areas. Ye Bai appointed her bodyguard, Blaze, as the "Captain of Public Security" for the territory, while the diplomatic representative was set to be Ka Li, who would handle security and diplomatic matters in her absence. However, since other lords hadn’t yet reached a level of diplomacy, such situations were unlikely to arise.
With a heart as lonely as snow, Ye Bai stepped out of the mayor's office and headed to the industrial area’s blacksmith shop, searching for Felix, whom she had almost forgotten.
“Greetings, Lord!”
“Good to see you, my lord!”
Responding to the villagers’ greetings, Ye Bai made her way to the entrance of the blacksmith shop.
Just as she was about to enter, the large door swung open from the inside, and Weide, muscular from hammering iron, emerged carrying a fainted red-haired boy on his back, his face etched with concern.
Upon seeing someone at the door, Weide recognized Ye Bai and froze for a moment.
“My lord, what brings you here?”
“What happened to him?” Ye Bai quickly recognized the person Weide was carrying as Felix, the very one she had come to find, thanks to his striking hair color.
“Oh!” Weide snapped back to reality and hurriedly explained, “Felix was watching the forge when he suddenly fainted. It was a close call; he almost fell into the furnace! I was just about to take him to the herbalist, Lucy.”
Ye Bai used her insight on Felix, and her expression turned contemplative as she said to Weide, “Let’s go. I’ll accompany you.”
---
Ye Bai checked Felix’s condition through her insight and found a debuff labeled [Unknown High Fever].
In this abnormal state, not only was he unconscious, but his stamina, food, and water levels were also slowly depleting.
With her sensitivity to tasks, Ye Bai could almost assert that this situation was closely tied to Felix’s personal quest.
Together with Weide, Ye Bai brought Felix to the herbalist’s shop.
“Lord, you’re here too?” Lucy was surprised to see Ye Bai and quickly directed Weide to lay Felix on a bed in the inner room.
After carefully examining Felix, Lucy mixed some herbs from her collection and administered them. It was evident that the boy’s tightly furrowed brow relaxed a bit.
“He should be stable now; there’s no major issue.”
Lucy, known for her healing skills, held great respect among the villagers. Weide let out a sigh of relief upon hearing this. “Then I can rest easy…”
“Oh no!” Weide suddenly remembered his work. “The armor plates I just forged are still in the quenching process!”
Ye Bai quickly said, “You should head back. I’ll take care of things here.”
“Great!” Weide felt completely at ease and strode out of the herbalist’s shop.
Left alone, Ye Bai turned to Lucy. “Do you have any idea what’s causing his condition?”
Lucy nodded. “When I treated Felix last time, I sensed that his constitution was different from ours. At that time, my abilities weren’t sufficient to identify the problem. I know he felt unwell over ten days ago and came to see me alone, saying it felt like there was a fire burning inside him. But being near the flames in the blacksmith shop didn’t seem to bother him…”
“I tried using ice nettle to alleviate it, but it didn’t help much. I feel that Felix’s condition isn’t a disease; rather, he has an untapped power within him that isn’t being properly guided, draining his energy and spirit, much like how I resonate with various plants.”
Listening to Lucy’s analysis, Ye Bai nodded. Lucy’s guess was correct; one of Felix’s talents was [Burning Blood], and he likely had some awareness of it.
Previously, Ye Bai had speculated that Felix came from a certain “forge” of the Chaos School, a postnatal bloodline influenced by transformation. Given the current situation, it seemed his physical constitution couldn’t handle his innate talent, turning it into a burden instead.
After a pause, Lucy looked at the unconscious Felix on the bed. “If this doesn’t change, he might frequently experience situations like today, and his constitution will continue to weaken.”
Ye Bai’s heart stirred, realizing that the issuer of Felix’s quest might not necessarily be him.
This wasn’t uncommon; for instance, an NPC’s friends or family could inform a player of that NPC’s lifelong wish, allowing the player to receive that NPC’s personal quest.
Ye Bai turned to Lucy. “Is there any way to change this?”
Lucy pondered for a moment. “I think using ice element suppression isn’t very effective. Perhaps we need to obtain something that can truly alter his constitution, allowing Felix to contain the power within him… For burning and flames, maybe we could try the legendary Dragonheart Fruit?”
【Herbalist ‘Lucy’ has issued you the personal quest ‘Find the Dragonheart Fruit’ for ‘Felix’. Do you accept?】
As expected, Lucy was the one issuing Felix’s personal quest. Ye Bai wasn’t surprised to receive the prompt.
The Dragonheart Fruit was a rare legendary alchemical material that could significantly increase health and provide 40% fire resistance.
There were only two ways to obtain the Dragonheart Fruit: one was from bosses with the word ‘dragon’ in their title, which had a small chance of dropping it. However, there weren’t many bosses with ‘dragon’ in their names, and even if one was found, the drop rate was still low.
The second way was to join the Alchemist Association and raise faction reputation to a high level. The association’s faction shop refreshed its inventory every month, offering various rare legendary materials, with a chance of including the Dragonheart Fruit.
The first route had odds similar to winning the lottery, while the second route was effectively blocked for Ye Bai, who had already joined the Assassin faction… Oh, there was a third option: purchasing from players. However, at this stage, players hadn’t leveled up enough, and the chances of them possessing legendary materials were slim, let alone those willing to sell.
Yet, with her experience, Ye Bai didn’t immediately accept the quest. Instead, she asked Lucy, “Is the Dragonheart Fruit absolutely necessary? The main goal is to change Felix’s condition; other similar items should work too, right?”
Lucy was momentarily taken aback, then nodded. “Yes, you’re quite thoughtful, my lord. I’ve only heard of the Dragonheart Fruit, but if you can find other materials that can resolve this situation, that would be fine too!”
【Herbalist ‘Lucy’ has issued you the personal quest ‘Find a Solution for Burning Blood’ for ‘Felix’. Do you accept?】
It worked!
Ye Bai accepted the quest with satisfaction. After her experience with Dilina’s quest, she realized that some quests could be ‘negotiated.’ However, it seemed that the new conditions needed to be better than the original quest requirements to make a change.
For Felix’s quest, Ye Bai proposed a change, naturally having a ready idea in mind.
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