As for Dragon Coins, the full name is Sapphire Dragon Coins. These are gemstone coins imbued with the magic of the only sapphire dragon in the duchy, and can be exchanged for ten thousand gold coins. They are magical items in themselves.

Henry Clark couldn't help but complain upon hearing this: "Wow, Edward Thompson, why would you spend such a high price to buy filthy, lowly manure? That stuff does nothing but stink up the place and pollute your nose—it's completely pointless."

"No, manure is very useful. Just go ahead and make the announcement, and find a place to pile up the manure—preferably some wasteland far from the upwind side." Edward Thompson was well aware of the value of manure. With no chemical fertilizers available and a shortage of elves, manure was the best source of fertilizer for farming.

As the great landowner who owned all the land in Flower Town, Edward Thompson had a lot of fields to plant, so he needed plenty of fertilizer. Besides, he didn't want his little town's streets to be covered in randomly dumped manure and urine—that kind of environment was simply an affront to civilization.

He planned to purchase manure long-term, both for composting and for sanitation—promoting toilets was out of the question for now, so buying manure was the most cost-effective and effortless solution.

"But the price is way too high. A copper coin should buy ten baskets—no, twenty baskets."

"Just do as I say, Teacher Henry Clark." Edward Thompson's tone carried a hint of sternness.

Only then did Henry Clark stop complaining and spread his hands. "As you wish."

……

In these times, the lord is the authority.

With Edward Thompson's orders given, no one dared to shirk or make excuses, so the clerks and farmers acted quickly. The pond mud, manure, and plant ash he wanted were already piled up in Peanut Hamlet.

"Very good, Old George. Now take some people and mix all this together, then dig a hole next to the roots of each peanut seedling, sprinkle a bit of the mixture in, and cover it up. Then water them and weed more often. I believe the peanut seedlings will recover soon."

Riding on his fire dragon horse, Edward Thompson cheerfully directed the farmers of Peanut Hamlet to fertilize the peanut fields.

As the lord, he naturally wouldn't do the manual labor himself—noble customs forbade it, and he had no desire to anyway.

The total area of peanut fields in Peanut Hamlet was about one hundred mu, roughly the size of ten football fields or seven or eight elementary schools. There were twenty-three farming households in Peanut Hamlet, totaling ninety-two people.

After subtracting the children too young to work from the ninety-two serfs, and adding in the serfs transferred from the town, there were a total of one hundred and twenty people busily working.

"Teacher Henry Clark, what is the total population of Flower Town?"

"Uh, sorry, Edward Thompson, I've only been in town a short time and haven't sorted that out yet." Henry Clark was unsure, so he turned to ask a clerk, "You've lived in town for years—do you know how many households and how many people there are? Over a thousand?"

"I don't know, sir." The clerk shook his head.

Henry Clark looked at another clerk.

This clerk also shook his head.

So, it turned out that no one in all of Flower Town knew the actual population. Edward Thompson was speechless—was Flower Town a forgotten place? Had the officials from Coral Island never come to take a census? Had the previous administrator never counted the population even once?

"We need to conduct a thorough census. For a lord not to know the population under his rule is truly inexcusable."

With that in mind, he gave the order: "Teacher Henry Clark, organize some people and arrange a census as soon as possible. I want to know exactly how many households and people there are in Flower Town, each person's name and family relationships, as well as their occupation, age, gender, and marital status."

"That's going to be a lot of work, Edward Thompson. You know, there are too few officials in town—we have no treasurer, no defense officer, no legal officer, no diplomat, and in fact, not even an administrator. I should be serving as your advisor, not the town's administrator."

In a noble's territory, the civil officials are basically led by the advisor, who oversees the administrator, treasurer, defense officer, legal officer, and diplomat.

The military officer is the knight commander, who leads the knight order.

Without a doubt, Henry Clark, as a down-and-out landed knight—the lowest rank of nobility—was still a noble. He had followed Edward Thompson here hoping to serve as an advisor. The other knight instructor, Marcus, was clearly meant to be the knight commander... Whether Flower Town could even support a knight order was another matter.

"Don't worry, Teacher Henry Clark. Flower Town is in need of everything, and my castle is still waiting to rise. For now, just manage the town's affairs for me and complete the census first."

The advisor's authority was too great, and Edward Thompson didn't want to hand it over to Henry Clark right away—not out of fear of being sidelined, but because Henry Clark's head was full of noble customs and he was out of touch with reality, unable to keep up with Edward Thompson's development plans.

"Alright, Edward Thompson, you've come of age and have the mindset of a qualified lord. I will obey your orders." Henry Clark saluted with one hand, displaying his noble bearing—calm and unhurried.

……

For three days in a row, Peanut Hamlet was bustling with fertilization work—a grand farming campaign. The hundred mu of fields were quickly fertilized with the organic mixture of pond mud, manure, and plant ash.