"Pale Stone is usually found near water veins, like lakes or seas. If you look carefully, there’s plenty of it."

Phield suddenly understood. Back when he was in school, he had only memorized its chemical properties. He had never bothered learning where it was distributed, since exams never asked about that.

Yago did not understand why Phield reacted so strongly. To him, this common alchemy material was utterly worthless.

After all, alchemy materials came in all kinds of absurd forms, like an old widow’s foot wrappings or a giant’s toenails. A dull gray-white rock had absolutely no prestige to it.

"My lord, when touching Pale Stone... ah, I mean limestone as you call it, be careful with your hands. Limestone can peel the skin."

Hearing that made Phield even more certain the man was not deceiving him.

"You’re right. Limestone contains calcium hydroxide. It’s corrosive to the skin."

Phield quickly assembled a mining convoy, lit torches, and immediately led the group out to search for limestone. Although the rain had only recently stopped and the roads were still slick with mud, he could no longer wait to find the raw materials for lime.

Following the river that ran through Starnight City downstream, the group arrived after a little more than two hours at an ordinary shallow riverside lowland. The only noticeable thing was the traces of a campsite and two mercenary corpses gnawed clean into skeletons.

"I’m certain it’s here. We camped here back then."

Yago took a shovel from the wagon, scraped away the sticky corrupted secretion covering the ground, and revealed jagged bluish-white stones beneath.

"Yes, this is it!"

Phield stomped excitedly and burst into laughter.

"Excellent, Mister Yago. I’ll reward you with one gold coin. In addition, you are officially hired as a scholar of Nightfall Domain. You may choose a room on the second floor of the Grand Winery as your bedroom."

"Ah? R... really?" Yago stood there in a daze.

Back in Griffin Province, he had lived in miserable poverty. To fill his stomach, he had to work odd jobs just to survive.

When he tried to join the Scholars’ Association, he proudly presented his greatest research achievements, only to be thrown out on the spot.

"Who would’ve thought... my research results couldn’t earn me even a single copper coin, yet in this death-filled Northern Province, casually finding a broken rock can earn me a gold coin."

Yago was completely stunned. He did not even know whether he should laugh or cry. It all felt like a dream, yet it moved him deeply.

"Perfect. The limestone vein is close to the territory too, so we won’t need to spend much effort securing it."

Phield let out a long breath. The pressure in his heart eased considerably. Once they had cement, the territory’s defenses would advance rapidly.

"Everyone, gather limestone until the wagons are full."

No accidents occurred. After collecting the limestone, the group returned to the territory.

Phield immediately ordered pits to be dug while arranging for slaves to smash the limestone into small chunks and throw them into the fire for burning.

"My lord, is this the cement you’ve mentioned several times before?" Tisiana curiously leaned against Phield, holding onto his arm.

"Making cement requires many conditions. We need a specialized kiln and a complete industrial chain. For now, I’m producing slaked lime first. Slaked lime is one of the materials used to make cement."

"To produce cement, limestone, clay, and iron powder must be mixed together and heated at temperatures between 1400 and 1500 degrees until clinker forms. Afterward, gypsum is added, and the mixture is ground into fine powder for use."

Of course, iron powder and clay were byproducts from other industrial sites, so obtaining them was not difficult.

Although she could not fully understand what Phield was talking about, Tisiana still listened patiently.

"Phield, you really know so much."

"Of course I do." Phield wore a proud expression while his eyes unconsciously wandered.

"Mmph, stop tormenting my chest."

Tisiana instantly understood. Blushing furiously, she turned her head away.

"At the time, I couldn’t even control my expressions."

After teasing Tisiana for a while, the limestone inside the fire had nearly finished burning.

"Throw the heated stones into the water."

Yago observed from the side, utterly puzzled. He could not understand why the baron was burning these stones only to throw them into water afterward.

Heating them and then cooling them?

What was the point of that? Yago simply could not comprehend it.

"Sizzle!"

As bubbles rapidly formed, the limestone dissolved into the water. The once-clear liquid turned cloudy, and the stones disappeared completely.

"My lord, you know alchemy?" Yago was shocked.

"Where did the stones go? This is the first time I’ve witnessed alchemical magic this closely. It’s incredible."

"You could call it alchemy, haha."

"This is slaked lime. Have the slaves continue producing it and mix it with sand. It works similarly to rice paste and can be used to build houses."

Many places in the Empire still used natural adhesives like glutinous rice or potato starch to construct homes. It was far too wasteful. Food in Nightfall Domain was already insufficient even for people to eat, so there was no way they could use it for construction.

More advanced regions used mortar and yellow earth, while magical materials were the best option, though absurdly expensive.

It was worth mentioning that the Purple Gold Empire had once mined volcanic ash to create a natural form of cement nearly identical to modern cement, allowing them to construct countless magnificent buildings.

But as time passed, unable to understand the underlying principles, they eventually exhausted the rare natural resources entirely.

After finishing his explanation, Phield ordered everything recorded down.

"Transfer two stonemasons out of the brick factory and assign them thirty slaves. I want qualified slaked lime produced as quickly as possible. Supply it first to the two outposts and hurry to construct brick walls around them."

With that, Phield returned to the castle’s residential area to rest.

"Baron Phield truly possesses wisdom."

After pondering over slaked lime, Yago was so astonished his mouth remained hanging open.

"Of course he does," the stonemason replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The next day.

After breakfast, Phield routinely headed to the Grand Winery’s administrative hall to begin work.

"My lord, something unfortunate has happened. A group of slaves in the territory has been invaded by evil energy."

Kaor looked extremely nervous.

"They’ve been cursed by demons. Damn it, we should burn those bastards alive, otherwise the Goddess will punish us."

"Holy shit, invaded by evil energy?"

Phield nearly jumped in fright. For a moment, he thought some horrifying demonic calamity had descended upon Nightfall Domain.

Then he remembered that in this world, people referred to catching a cold as being invaded by evil energy. Only then did Phield slowly sit back down and calm himself.

"You scared the hell out of me this early in the morning. So it’s just a cold."

"Describe the symptoms first so I can confirm it."

Phield pushed up imaginary glasses on the bridge of his nose. His calm, composed eyes gave Kaor courage.

"They feel weak in all four limbs, and their faces are as hot as boiled eggs."

"Then that confirms it. It’s only a cold. If you’re still worried, have Priest Lydia cast Holy Light spells on them. That storm probably broke the already fragile condition of the slaves."