The evening light spilled across Crimson Tide Territory. Inside the smoking shed near the hot springs, rows of fish hung from wooden racks—their golden skins lightly wrinkled, thick plumes of smoky fragrance filling the air.

Louis stood to one side, studying the hours-smoked fish with a critical eye. He pressed a fingertip against one's surface; the dry, springy texture made him nod with satisfaction.

"M-my lord…" Sally stood nearby, her hands twisting together nervously. Her eyes betrayed her anxiety—she was terrified her smoked fish wouldn't be good enough.

Louis looked up and praised her. "Excellent work. The texture and color are both perfect."

Sally exhaled sharply, a nervous smile breaking through. "It's… it's all thanks to your method, my lord. Without your guidance, we'd never have managed."

"Your own skill did this." Louis tore off a strip of fish and tossed it into his mouth. The meat was dry and tough, but its rich, smoky aroma deepened as he chewed. Not bad.

Nearby, Hilko stood with his arms crossed, yawning wearily. The dark circles under his eyes looked ready to slide off his face.

It wasn't that Louis was deliberately exploiting him—it was just that Hilko and Louis were the only two literate people in the entire territory. So he worked from dawn till dusk. Bringing him here for fish was today's consolation prize.

"Here. Try it." Louis handed him a strip.

A spark of interest flickered through Hilko's exhausted eyes. He took a bite. "Better than I expected."

"Credit goes to Sally's hard work," Louis said.

At the sound of her name, Sally flustered, waving her hands frantically. "No, no, no! I just followed your instructions, my lord—I don't know anything about this…"

Louis listened quietly, but his gaze remained on the smoked fish.

Crimson Tide Territory sat in the frigid Northlands, where food resources were limited. Fishing was a vital supply line, but every winter and early spring, the rivers froze over and catches dropped to nothing.

To avoid famine, he needed an effective preservation method to carry them through the long cold months. That was how he'd arrived at this innovation: using geothermal heat to smoke fish.

"Smoking fish with hot spring steam? You think that'll really work?" Hilko had been incredulous when he first heard the plan.

"Compared to simple air-drying, this removes more moisture and extends shelf life," Louis had explained. Either way, it was worth a try. He'd selected Sally—meticulous and skilled with her hands—to lead a group of women in the initial experiments.

Step one: prepare the fish. Slit the belly and remove the innards, but preserve the skin. The skin would prevent the meat from falling apart during smoking and lock in flavor, improving the final texture. Then coarse-salt curing, from several hours to a full day depending on weather and humidity. This removed the fishy odor, enhanced the flavor, and drew out moisture in preparation for smoking.

Step two: build the smoking racks. In the hot spring zone, they wove racks from branches, bamboo strips, and vines, adding simple windbreaks and insulation panels on both sides to maximize steam penetration while minimizing heat loss.

Step three: the smoking process. Geothermal output was unstable, so smoking was split into two-to-three-day cycles across multiple rounds. Too high a heat would make the fish tough; too low, and it wouldn't preserve. Every batch required careful adjustment of time and temperature.

The process seemed tedious, but after Sally's persistent experimentation, they'd achieved small-scale success. The fish hanging from those racks now represented one of Crimson Tide Territory's hopes for surviving the winter.

Louis nodded. "It's time to scale up."

A flash of delight crossed Sally's eyes. She and her women had been working tirelessly for days. In a world that valued martial strength above all, women's status was perpetually low. If they could shoulder the responsibility of smoked fish production, their standing in Crimson Tide Territory would rise considerably.

She pressed her lips together and asked carefully, "My lord… do you mean for us to take charge of the smoking operation?"

"You've already proven yourselves, haven't you?" Louis glanced at her, then swept his eyes across the racks. "When we scale up, who better to lead than those with the most experience?"

Sally's heart raced. She clutched her apron, a sense of grounded security washing over her like never before. "Thank you, my lord!" She bowed almost reflexively, her voice trembling.

Louis smiled. "I should be thanking you."

At that moment, a knight approached and murmured in Louis's ear. "My lord, Sir Lambert has returned."

Louis's eyes lit up. Two pieces of good news in one day. He strode quickly toward the residential quarter to meet the three men just entering.

Lambert dropped to one knee. "Mission accomplished."

Louis inclined his head, relief flickering through his gaze. Dependable Lambert always brought a sense of reassurance. "Well done," he said, his eyes moving to the two Elite Knights behind him. They looked wearier than Lambert, but neither voiced a single complaint.

"We'll debrief tomorrow. Rest well tonight—at tomorrow's commendation ceremony, you'll all receive the rewards you deserve."

The three men saluted in unison. "Yes, my lord!"

"Leave the seeds and go get some rest."

The knights handed their parcels to an attendant without hesitation and withdrew, the exhaustion of their journey heavy on them. Even for Elite Knights, pushing Battle Aura over long distances took its toll.

Louis watched them disappear, then turned and headed for his office, the attendant following with armloads of seed packets. The bundles were stacked neatly on the desk—the fruits of the mission. Louis dismissed the attendant with a wave.

Once the door clicked shut, he approached the desk and, guided by the Intelligence System, located the seeds he sought. He picked one up and examined it. Reddish-brown. Smooth skin. At a glance, indistinguishable from ordinary cranberry seeds. Without the system, he'd have mistaken it too.

But this was no ordinary seed. This was Frostblood Berry—a magically mutated fruit unique to the Northlands' most frigid zones. Consuming it not only strengthened the body but produced extraordinary effects on a knight's Battle Aura condensation.

Which meant that once successfully cultivated, it would become not just Crimson Tide Territory's signature product, but a strategic resource that every major noble house would scramble to acquire.

Louis stared at the seed as though it were mountains of gold and silver beckoning him forward.