Aria looked at the crispy chicken wings and grinned widely before she began eating.

Adrian on the other hand, just watched her eat and let out a soft sigh.

He had made her multiple different dishes in the past few days but the girl seemed to only be attracted to the fried ones.

After thinking for a bit, he steeled his heart as he waited for her to finish. Once she was done, he looked at her with a serious expression.

"Aria. I can make you all this stuff but eating fried food too often is not good for your health. If you keep asking me to make stuff like this daily, then I’ll stop cooking entirely. Why don’t we do this instead? I’ll make healthy but tasty food and once a week, I’ll make you anything you ask me to."

Aria looked at him as she went through different emotions at the same time.

At the end, she nodded silently with a pout.

"Papa... can you make me chicken soup tomorrow?" she asked and Adrian agreed before he helped her into bed and told her a bed time story about a young boy’s journey of becoming a pirate king.

Once she drifted off to sleep, Adrian headed back to his room and banged his head against the wall, feeling frustrated.

His barony was getting rich but it still faced a huge issue. It was food.

He could buy flour, grains, meat, fruits and vegetables from his neighbors but meat, fruits and vegetables spoiled quick.

’The only way out of this... is to bring in animals that are alive and feed them here until I wish to eat meat. But again, even grass is hard to grow in this messed up place... and even if I did manage to grow grass, there’s no way I can keep the fruits and vegetables from spoiling. The only other option... is to reinvent the refrigerator. Well, invent is probably the right word for this.’ he thought as he made up his mind.

His first priority, was to make a prototype of a refrigerator.

Adrian grabbed his book of basic spells and scoured through it until he found the most basic ice spell.

The way it worked was extremely simple. As long as the mage came in contact with something and used this spell, the item or person that was in contact, would slowly have their temperature drop and freeze.

Unfortunately, this was a very slow process and wasn’t really practical for combat purposes.

But it was the perfect spell for Adrian at the moment.

He sat at his table, grabbed a stack of hemp paper and began drawing using a charcoal pencil.

The drawings were rough at first, almost looking like they came out from a cartoon. But as Adrian scratched the diagrams and drew more, the drawings got more refined.

The sun began to rise by the time Adrian was close to completing his final prototype diagram.

A few minutes later, he looked at it with dark circled under his eyes and grinned. It was a very simple design but it was a very expensive thing to use. The reason was simple; it used two spells, frost and gust at the same time and this meant that Adrian would have to spend mana crystals just to keep it running.

’Well, it’s just a prototype, I can improve it later.’ he thought as he got off his chair and plopped onto the bed.

He slept until afternoon and the moment he woke up, he walked out and saw Claire standing outside his house with the Adventurers.

They all looked nervous but Adrian just grinned.

"You guys did a great job and I’m very pleased. No one steals from Oresfall and I’ll make sure that it’ll never happen." he said and looked at them, "But... Oresfall has one major problem and that is the lack of an army. I, as the Baron of this land would like to officially hire you as my soldiers."

The adventurers looked at each other, unsure.

Usually, the young men would be drafted into armies and they were all in their thirties or forties.

Adrian raised his hand, "Wait for me."

He rushed in and soon, walked out with a book in hand.

"This is a knight’s manual that I bought during my time in the magic academy. It was a mere pawn shop and I thought I’d been scammed." he said as he cooked up a story, "But a few days ago, I asked an expert about it and he told me that this is a Mid-Tier Knight’s Manual."

The adventurers understood what he was trying to say.

He would give them the chance to become knight as long as they join the army.

Most of them hesitated but when one of them took a step forward, everyone made up their mind and did the same.

Adrian looked at them and smiled as he called out to Aria who had been waiting inside just for this.

She walked out with a stack of red colored papers and gave them to Adrian.

"This is a pre-written blood pact. The conditions are simple, if you agree to serve me until your death or until you retire, then I will give you the knight’s manual and provide you with free lunch which will also include ample meat. You are not allowed to sell this manual to anyone. I will also be bringing new changes which will give the families of knights a lot of benefits. Those who wish to take this chance, do step forward."

This time, the men took a bit more time to decide but one of them, the one that Adrian instantly recognized, spoke.

Burke looked at his fellow adventurers, "We have been struggling all our lives and we never got the chance to even learn about how to become a knight. I’ve seen a knight in action, a mere F rank knight." he said and grit his teeth.

"He was much faster and stronger than anyone here in Oresfall. We’ve fought death multiple times, don’t tell me you’re afraid of serving the man who saved our lands!"

"I will serve Lord Adrian till I die!! Who’s with me!?" he yelled and even Adrian felt his blood boil with excitement.

""ME!!!""