Kingdombuilding: All My Inventions Are Novelty

Chapter 159: Got Paid?

Warm spring winds stirred the air, rippling through the golden waves of wheat in the fields.

In Tuttle Village, nestled beside those fields, the scene was lively and chaotic. Every household was digging through their latrines, all looking for one thing: nitre.

Billy was the fastest. He already held a handful of white powder in his palm. He had searched every inch of his family’s outhouse and now carefully wrapped up the powder before rushing off to Brambleford City.

"Billy, go check it out first! If it’s true, they’ll pay for it, we’ll follow!"

"Yeah, you run fast, we’ll wait for your word."

"..."

Many villagers were digging. Some were still sceptical. After all the suffering they’d endured over the years, they still didn’t fully trust the local government.

Even though the land reform policies and production teams had brought them benefits, the long-standing distrust of officials wasn’t easy to erase.

Some feared they were just being tricked into handing over what little they had. But Billy’s older brother, Collin, was a soldier in the army. That made him trust the Brambleford administration more than most. He believed in the current Prince.

Clutching the nitre tightly, Billy arrived at the city and headed straight for the government office.

At the entrance, he saw a boy around his age waiting nervously. He hesitated for a moment, then asked. "Are you really buying nitre here?"

The boy was one of James’s assistants. To make sure the collected substance was truly nitre, James had dispatched personnel to every county seat to handle purchasing.

"Yes, we are!" The boy replied, delighted, Billy was the first person to show up.

Billy let out a sigh of relief and handed over his packet. "This is all I could find."

The boy weighed it on a small scale and said. Five caps in total. Since you’re one of the first hundred people, His Highness said we’ll pay twenty wen per kilo to encourage early participants. Here you go."

Billy beamed as the ten copper coins clinked into his hand.

The boy added. "Hey, there’s also a way to make even more nitre. Want to learn?"

"Of course!" Billy replied eagerly. The weight of those ten coins convinced him: the government could be trusted.

The boy taught him the folk method of refining nitre, digging up old outhouse soil, mixing it with wood ash, and boiling it to extract nitre crystals.

Billy memorised the steps and ran straight back to his village.

When he returned, a crowd of villagers surrounded him.

"Well? What happened?" They asked.

Billy held up the coins and said. "Didn’t I tell you? His Highness doesn’t lie to the people. The officials are paying twenty caps per kilo for the first hundred people."

The moment he said it, the villagers took off running, each grabbing whatever scrap of nitre they had and sprinting for Brambleford like a pack of chased dogs.

Billy laughed to himself, rolling the coins between his fingers, already imagining what he could buy with the first money he’d ever earned.

As word spread that nitre really could be sold for cash, it travelled fast, one village to the next. More and more peasants joined the hunt for nitre, and soon the whole countryside was at work.

After half a month of shortages, the chemistry lab in the industrial district finally received its first shipment of nitre. Sure, the sacks reeked of urine, but it was better than nothing.

"You’re brilliant, Your Highness," James said excitedly, even though the smell of the nitre sack nearly made him faint. "That Prince thought he could control you by cutting off our supply. Now he’s got nowhere to sell his stash."

Simon chuckled bitterly. "If I had a reliable source, I wouldn’t be digging it out of latrines."

He knew this wasn’t a long-term solution, nitre took time to form, and homemade soil-nitre couldn’t replace actual mines. But for now, it solved an urgent problem and humiliated the prince of Sylvaris.

Once every citizen in the Eldorian Empire learned how to produce their own nitre, the monopoly would collapse.

"With a steady supply," Simon said. "We need to ramp up gunpowder production."

As for Prince Gal, Simon had already sent a letter to Eldora but hadn’t yet received a reply. He wasn’t sure how Emperor Alaric would handle it.

But for now, he had weathered the crisis.

With gunpowder secured, Simon turned his thoughts to a new priority, launching explosive powder jars.

He had specific ideas: on a battlefield, no single weapon is enough. The cannon was great for destroying siege engines and long-range threats. But the powder jar was for close-range defence, specifically to kill reavers trying to climb ladders up the wall.

Made of ceramic and packed with gunpowder, a single explosion could send shockwaves strong enough to scatter enemies and horses alike. While the cannon dealt linear damage, the powder jar dealt area-of-effect damage.

To compensate for the jars’ fragility, Simon planned to wrap them in layers of thick straw, tightly bound to prevent shattering mid-flight.

All he had to do was mount small catapults on the wall, and he could cover the gaps between the cannon’s long-range and the soldiers’ throwing range. Wherever the enemy stood, fire would follow.

While envisioning this brutal but effective defence system, Simon made his way to the machinery department. Fjord was busy, but this task still had to fall to him.

---

At the same time, in Eldora...

A group of unwelcome guests had arrived in the capital.

They were envoys from The Order, and their presence shattered the city’s peaceful atmosphere. From high-ranking ministers to common citizens, everyone was speculating about their true purpose.

Their arrival would determine whether the Eldorian Empire and The Order would be at peace or war.

"Honoured envoys." Said Ardel Fittman, a senior official from the Ministry of Rites. "Please rest in the guest house for now. His Majesty will receive you tomorrow."

The Ministry of Rites handled all foreign diplomatic affairs in the Eldorian Empire, and Ardel had been assigned to host them.

"Tomorrow?!" One of the reaver guards growled. "We want to see your emperor today! If we miss our chance, you’ll pay with your worthless head!"

The lead envoy and his two guards were tall and powerfully built. Their hair hung long behind them, with tight braids on either side. Golden earrings glinted coldly in the sun, and their faces were dark and grim.

The one who shouted wore leather armour and a felt hat; he was clearly a warrior, not a diplomat.

Ardel flinched. He, like most officials, feared the reavers deeply.

His legs trembled as he tried to calm them. "Honoured envoy, I’m merely delivering His Majesty’s orders... There’s nothing I can do. I can arrange a fine meal and wine in the meantime. Would that be acceptable?"