After questioning the old butler Marcus, Ed turned his gaze to the carpenter Roderick at the back of the long table. Perhaps it was because he had chosen that spot the first time, but Roderick had been sitting there ever since.
The reserved middle-aged man of the past is now completely different.
He's now also a manager, busy building houses here and roads there, and shipbuilding.
"Roderick, have the makeshift houses for the newcomers been completed?"
"My lord, everything is repaired. There will be no problem getting through this winter." Roderick stood up.
Roderick is now very confident; he's lost count of how many houses he's built. Building houses is the easiest thing for him now.
However, the house he was most satisfied with was the Peace Hotel, which was the best of all the houses he had built, followed by the house in Peach Blossom Village. The houses in other places were just so-so.
However, I heard that the lord is planning to rebuild the castle. I wonder when construction will begin? He is quite confident in his current bricklaying skills, even though the new toilet is not yet finished.
"Okay, then we shouldn't use wood to build houses anymore."
Ed doesn't plan to use wood anymore; there's really no other way now. These people have suddenly been added and have nowhere to live, and the weather will get cold soon. If they don't build houses, they might not survive the winter.
Ed needs to intensify his energy exploration efforts, checking the area around the territory to see if he can find coal. This will prevent the excessive burning of timber.
Ed also plans to build a school. He has already drawn up what the school will look like, but it hasn't been built yet. He wants to wait until the cement is ready before building the school with bricks.
"Roderick, this is a type of house I plan to build. Take a look and you'll see that it will all be built with bricks."
Adelaide, who was next to Ed, quickly took the paper and handed it to Roderick.
Roderick looked at the very spacious area on the paper, with only one or two rows of houses, and it was surrounded by walls. He was puzzled.
"My lord, this place is so big, why are there only two rows of houses? What are they for?"
"This is the school I plan to build. Right now, it mainly teaches the children in the territory to read. In the future, we may teach them other things as well."
"Ah!" Everyone was somewhat surprised, as there were very few people in the territory who could read.
Ed found everyone's reactions amusing; he couldn't even find a teacher to teach people to read.
It seems this job will have to be left to the old butler again. Ed couldn't help but sigh, "Having an elder in the family is truly a treasure." The old butler is very useful, but he might as well take on the role himself sometime.
"Roderick, I also plan to set up a research workshop. You will find some people to manage this workshop. This is the first thing you need to accomplish, and it must be kept secret. From now on, this workshop will be located inside the castle."
After saying that, Ed handed another folded piece of paper to Adelaide behind him.
Just as Roderick took the paper and was about to open it, Ed's voice came through.
"Don't open it now. You can look at it later. Only you can know what's inside. If you don't understand anything, you can ask me."
Roderick's hand holding the paper trembled slightly.
"Could there be something extraordinary inside?"