FL - Chapter 36: Bringing Down a Dragon with a Rock

After leaving the farmland, Louis leaned in toward Sif with a conspiratorial air and lowered his voice. "Come on. I'm taking you to eat something good."

Sif looked at him, puzzled, but followed anyway.

They arrived at a small workshop where the air was steeped in a faint, mellow sweetness.

Inside, a middle-aged woman was focused intently on stirring a pot of bubbling syrup.

Her name was Doris. She was one of the refugees who had followed Louis to the Northlands.

A few days ago, the Daily Intelligence System had told Louis she was skilled in sugar-making. He'd made a point of assigning men to help her collect tree sap and attempt to produce Birch Sugar.

Now, the first batch of sugar was finished. The second was being boiled down today.

Outside the workshop, workers were methodically harvesting sap from the birch grove.

They drilled into the trunks roughly three feet above the ground, then carefully inserted tubes, allowing the clear sap to trickle into wooden buckets.

"Don't take too much from each tree. No more than half a bucket a day, or you'll hurt it." As Doris worked, she called out instructions to the workers. "And when you're done, remember to plug the hole. A wooden stopper will do."

The boiling syrup bubbled and burbled, the sweetness in the air growing thicker by the moment.

"Oh! My lord!" Doris looked up and spotted Louis. A smile spread across her face. "You've come at the perfect time. Yesterday's sugar has cooled. It's ready to eat today!"

Louis breathed in the sweet scent and grinned. "Seems I've got good timing today."

Doris plucked a piece of golden, translucent Birch Sugar from a nearby wooden tray and handed it to Louis.

Louis popped it into his mouth, chewed for a moment, and gave an appreciative sigh. "Mm. That's seriously good."

Then he grabbed another piece and held it out to Sif. "Here, try some."

Sif frowned. She didn't take it right away. Instead, she eyed the candy with open suspicion.

She'd never seen strange food like this before. A part of her even wondered whether Louis had laced it with poison.

Louis saw her expression and smiled. He tossed the piece into his own mouth and crunched it loud and clear. "See? Not poisoned."

Only then did Sif cautiously accept another piece. After a brief hesitation, she slipped it into her mouth.

The sweetness bloomed instantly across her tongue, carrying with it a faint, crisp note of the forest. It was a taste she'd never experienced before.

Her eyes widened slightly. The cold detachment on her face flickered away for just a moment. Then she hurriedly suppressed it.

She swallowed, feigning indifference, and gave a small nod. "Passable."

But the slight upward twitch of her lips betrayed her true feelings.

Louis caught every bit of it. He laughed. He grabbed a small packet of the candy and pressed it firmly into her hand. "If you like it, take it."

Sif clutched the packet tight, her head dipped low. She said nothing, but the tips of her ears quietly flushed pink.

Louis turned to Doris and gave her a satisfied nod. "The flavor's excellent, better than I imagined. You've done great work. Keep producing more."

When Doris heard the praise, her smile bloomed like a flower. "Yes, my lord! I'll give it everything I've got!"

But a thought quickly sobered Louis.

Birch sap could only be collected during a few short weeks in spring. Once that window closed, the sap flow stopped.

"A shame," he sighed. "The harvesting season's too short. It can't become a staple trade product we can sell."

Doris sighed with genuine regret, too. "It's true. Not long from now, the sap won't flow anymore."

Louis rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. "Still, if we can make Birch Sugar, we can try planting fruit trees down the line and see if we can produce fruit sugar."

"My lord, you really are brilliant! If we can grow good fruit, we might be able to boil down even more kinds of sugar!" Doris nodded, her eyes lighting up.

"One step at a time," Louis said offhandedly. "Once conditions allow, we'll have the craftsmen try building a proper sugar workshop."

Doris's eyes burned with motivation. "Thank you, my lord! I'll definitely research more methods!"

Louis grabbed a small packet for himself, stuffing it into his pocket. There was still a large bag of sugar left at the workshop.

"Give the rest to the children," he instructed.

The attending knight took the sack and prepared to head to the school to distribute it.

Yes. Louis had established a "school." Though it was less a school and more a childcare center.

Children under thirteen were gathered here, watched over by a handful of women.

It let the kids pick up some basic knowledge, and it freed their parents to work.

Fortunately, Crimson Tide Territory didn't have that many children. Otherwise, this arrangement would've been hard to sustain.

And the moment a child here turned thirteen, they were expected to start working. Helping with the fishing, for instance.

When Louis and Sif arrived at the school, they happened to catch one of the caretakers in the middle of telling the children a story about Louis. It was delivered with great dramatic flair.

"Lord Louis had just returned from slaying orcs in the Northlands, his armor still dripping with green blood. That very same night he set about arranging a commendation banquet with his knights.

The men worked deep into the night, and they were just about to call it done when Lord Louis suddenly stomped his foot onto a rock, jabbed his finger at the sky, and roared: 'You damned dragon! Circling my territory every damn day. You think I'm some kind of pushover?!'

And with that, he bent down, scooped up a cobblestone, wound his arm way back, and hurled it straight at the heavens.

The stone shot into the sky like a streak of red light, punching a hole clean through the clouds.

And then a terrible shriek rang out. 'WRAARGH!' A nearly hundred-foot-long Frost Dragon came spiraling down out of the sky and smashed into the black pine forest with a thunderous crash..."

Sif listened to the tale of "bringing down a dragon with a rock."

Her lips twitched. Her gaze shifted toward Louis, who stood beside her, full of silent contempt.

Louis looked distinctly embarrassed. He cleared his throat and muttered in a low voice, "They came up with this on their own."

Sif folded her arms and arched an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so?"

Louis's gaze drifted elsewhere.

Just then, one of the children caught sight of the figure in the doorway.

"The great Lord is here!"

One child shouted first, and the whole room erupted like dry tinder catching a spark.

"Lord! The great Lord!"

The children crowded around Louis, hopping up and down, their tiny hands raised, their eyes brimming with adoration and anticipation.

This was clearly not his first visit.

Facing this mob of enthusiastic little creatures, Louis looked helpless. But he still smiled and patted the nearest child on the head.

He took the sugar sack from the knight, grabbed a handful of candies, and bent down to hand them out.

The children snatched up the candies, squealing and cheering.

"Thank you, Lord!"

They tore into the wrappers and shoved the sweets into their mouths without a second's delay.

As the candy melted on their tongues, innocent, radiant smiles bloomed across their faces, brimming with sweet contentment.

Sif looked at those smiles. Smiles from the very heart.

Against all reason, the gray, leaden weight in her own heart lifted.