He had touched the gold coins before; each gold coin weighed about one tael, roughly fifty grams. Calculated at two hundred yuan RMB or one thousand New Taiwan dollars per gram, a single gold coin was worth about ten thousand yuan RMB or fifty thousand New Taiwan dollars. One hundred silver coins equaled one gold coin, so three silver coins amounted to about three hundred yuan RMB or roughly one thousand five hundred New Taiwan dollars in income.

“How many people are there in Huangsha Town in total?” Henry Clark asked again about the population.

“There are eight hundred and forty-two in total. Among them, fifty-six are elderly or infirm and unable to chop wood or hunt every day. Every time we go to the market, it takes three days for a round trip, and fifty people are needed for transportation.” The scene of the imagined lord fleeing in haste did not occur. Alice regained a bit of composure, lifted her head, and answered quickly. She had long since memorized these numbers by heart.

More than eight hundred people had to live on three silver coins a day. Indeed, it wasn’t even enough to buy food. If they couldn’t even eat their fill, there was no way to improve their living conditions. Having a house that could be lived in here was already quite good.

“The daily work, is it just hunting and logging?” As the lord, Henry Clark needed to understand the sources of income for his territory, so this question had to be clarified.

“Yes, my lord.” This time, it was Grace who answered. It seemed that arranging the work in the territory was all handled by Grace.

“Thank you for your hard work.” Looking at the two sisters’ frail appearance, Henry Clark couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow. At such a young age, they had to bear the burden of so many people’s livelihoods—it really wasn’t easy: “From today on, let me worry about these things!”

“Yes, my lord.” This time, the two girls answered in unison.

“The taxes for ten years have already been paid. From now on, whatever money we earn is our own.” Henry Clark suddenly became high-spirited: “Starting from scratch—is there anything more exciting than this process?”

Grace and Alice exchanged another glance, not knowing what the lord meant, and could only remain silent.

“I say, Huangsha Town will become the richest place in this world, and everyone in this world will no longer discriminate against you. Do you believe it?” Seeing the two girls’ reactions, Henry Clark burst out laughing, and after laughing, said something that left them even more at a loss.

Chapter 8: Applications of Geometry (Part 1)

Henry Clark didn’t feel at all that, in the eyes of the two stewards, he had already become someone close to a madman. However, this didn’t affect their respect for the lord; whatever Henry Clark instructed, the two girls would immediately carry out.

He felt around his body and found a few scattered silver coins, about five or six in total. Henry Clark handed them all to Alice, telling her to buy more food. The people here were too thin—even the young and strong looked obviously malnourished. Since he had come here, Henry Clark had to find a way to improve things.

There were many ways to make money. In an era with this level of technology, Henry Clark believed he could come up with ten thousand ways to earn money. However, the only problem was the lack of startup capital. No matter what business you do, there’s no such thing as getting something for nothing. Even if investing one gold coin could yield a return of ten thousand gold coins, you still had to invest first.

He searched through all his belongings. Besides the silver coins, there was also a magic wand used as a walking stick. It wasn’t anything fancy—just the standard equipment for a beginner magic apprentice, and it was second-hand, so it was basically not worth considering. In addition, there were a few blank magic scrolls and some magic powder.

The blank magic scrolls were also the cheapest first-level scrolls. The material was the worst, only meant for apprentice-level people to practice with, much like the sand trays poor people used to practice calligraphy in ancient times. However, when Henry Clark saw these, his eyes immediately lit up.

The making of magic scrolls was a required skill for all mages in this world. Many times, mages would use pre-made scrolls instead of expending their own mental and magical energy to cast spells on the spot.

As far as Henry Clark knew, the magical civilization in this world was extremely powerful, but in contrast, the technological civilization lagged far behind. Even the most basic mathematical research was limited to commercial accounting. As for more challenging topics like geometric figures, there was basically no research at all.

To make a magic scroll, you first had to draw a hexagram array on the blank scroll, and only then could you proceed with further drawing and processing on that basis, eventually completing the scroll.

The contradiction lay precisely here: when drawing the magic hexagram array, all mages used their own mental power to sense the key points of magical energy flow and connect them. They didn’t even use a ruler, let alone a compass—it was all done by sensing with mental power and then drawing by hand. The quality of the basic hexagram array thus varied greatly depending on the mage’s skill. Naturally, because the foundation differed, the success rate of making scrolls also varied, and the power of the magic scrolls was likewise inconsistent.