Five whole weeks had passed since he first started working on his gun. During those five weeks, he had never spared a single chance to buy as much meat and grains as he could from the neighboring territory.

He had created multiple new storage containers and added multiple new floors to his dungeon to hold it all.

Meat made up ninety percent of his new stockpile. He only kept a small amount of vegetables since they would eventually wilt and go bad, even inside his magical refrigerators.

"Damian." Adrian called out.

The butler walked into the room a minute later and offered a polite bow. "You called, Lord Adrian?"

"I did," Adrian said. "I am leaving on a trip soon, and I need you to handle the territory while I am gone. Come here."

Adrian pointed at the corner of the room, which had multiple large leather bags that seemed to be filled to the top. He didn’t bother picking them up as he had tried it before and royally failed.

He had no intention of embarrassing himself in front of Damian so he just spoke instead.

"Four of those bags have silver coins and six of them have bronze coins. You’ll be in charge of using them to take care of various things in our Barony."

Damian stared at the massive pile of wealth with wide eyes. "My lord, this is a fortune. What are your orders?"

"I want you to sell all of our excess vegetables to the townsfolk," Adrian instructed. "Sell them for the exact same price that I bought them from the Viscount. Do not increase the prices. I do not want to take a loss, but I also refuse to sell food for an absurdly high price. Since we’re buying at 90% of market price, you sell the food at 100% market price."

"Understood," Damian said, pulling a small notebook from his pocket and writing it down. "What about the iron and steel trade?"

His barony had a lot of money stored up now. They made a decent profit by buying iron and steel from the local adventurers and selling it to the Baron and the Viscount.

"Take care of all the buying and selling while I am gone," Adrian said. "I want you to continue buying the metal from the townsfolk at our agreed rates. Sell it to our trading partners to keep the estate running smoothly. Use the bronze coins to pay the adventurers daily."

Damian nodded. "And the food supply? Should I continue buying from Viscount Alexander’s merchants?"

"Yes, but I have specific instructions regarding the food supply," Adrian said, leaning forward. "Buy less vegetables and buy more grain. Grain has a much higher shelf life. We can store it in the dry warehouses without any worry about rotting."

"What about the livestock, my lord?" Damian asked.

"Do not buy meat in massive bulk anymore," Adrian ordered. "We just need to buy whatever the barony actually consumes weekly. Buy a few cows, pigs, and a few chickens every week. Have the local butchers handle the animals once they arrive and sell the fresh meat directly to the people."

Damian finished writing in his notebook. "That seems highly efficient. But won’t the people complain about the lack of fresh vegetables?"

Adrian shook his head. "Vegetables are going to end up as a premium food product in Oresfall. They are rare compared to the massive influx of meat and grain we are bringing in. Our land is barren, so we cannot grow them locally."

"So we restrict the supply?" Damian asked.

"Exactly, but not really." Adrian explained. "For the regular people who are just living their daily lives, grain and meat are more than enough to survive and stay healthy. Vegetables are more of a luxury right now. I still want them sold at a normal price, but only on specific days. If we sell vegetables daily, they’ll think they can buy at any time and we’ll be the ones risking a loss since they spoil pretty quick. If we sell them one or two times a week in calculated quantities, there’s a high chance of selling out."

Damian listened to the entire plan and nodded confidently. "I assure you I can handle the logistics, Lord Adrian. The estate will prosper in your absence."

Since Damian was already the one taking care of the sales and organizing the merchants, Adrian completely trusted him with the territory’s economy.

"Next order of business," Adrian said. "Send a messenger to the neighboring territories and the adventurer guilds. I need to hire mercenary bodyguards for my trip."

"Mercenaries?" Damian looked confused. "But you have an army of over four hundred men training in the backyard. Why not take an escort of our own soldiers?"

"I absolutely refuse to pull my new soldiers away from their training," Adrian stated firmly. "I do not want them to miss a single day of progress just to act as my personal shield. They need to focus on becoming knights."

"What about the two hundred soldiers that Viscount Alexander lent us?" Damian suggested.

"They are busy securing the borders," Adrian replied. "I need them stationed at the perimeter to stop people from smuggling iron out of the territory and bypassing our taxes. We will hire outside help. Offer twenty silver coins a day per mercenary group. That should attract the best."

Damian bowed. "I will send the messenger out this exact same day."

Damian sent the messenger out that exact same day. The messenger posted a hiring order at the major guilds.

Because Adrian offered a high payout, it only took a week for the mercenaries to arrive.

Twenty mercenaries rode into Oresfall. They were not exactly the strongest fighters on the continent, but they were highly reliable and had great reputations.

It was just one single group which was more of a coalition of smaller groups but Adrian didn’t care.

The leader of one of the group was an F rank knight. The other members were highly experienced adventurers similar to Burke.