140: Edelweiss

"Miss Isabelle, tell us about the promotional results of the bath products in Telris."

"Certainly, my Lord."

After speaking, Isabelle smiled and reported to Lister on the Cole Family's success in promoting the bath products.

Since this was a major matter concerning the territory's income and subsequent operations required full cooperation from all factories and departments, Lister did not ask the others to leave.

Facing everyone's attention, Isabelle wasn't nervous at all; instead, she spoke eloquently, detailing how the bath products had been promoted and the results achieved during this period.

Throughout the report, Lister remained calm, but he was highly appreciative of Isabelle's abilities in his heart.

According to Isabelle, the promotion of bath products in Telris was very effective; everyone from noble officials to commoners liked them immensely.

Many nobles and officials had even pre-ordered the next shipment of bath products.

Isabelle had come with the caravan this time to deliver a large quantity of bath products for full-scale sale in Telris.

Meanwhile, Kim and other family members were preparing to use Telris as a center to promote bath products to the surrounding territories.

However, such explosive promotional results had already drawn the envy and targeting of other local families.

Of course, there were also many merchants seeking cooperation, which Kim agreed to directly.

The cooperation model involved merchants purchasing stock from the Cole Family and selling it themselves, but it wouldn't be their only product; they could still sell other goods.

However, their retail prices had to follow the Cole Family's pricing, and the Cole Family would send people for routine inspections.

If the sales price did not match the Cole Family's pricing, the merchant's selling rights would be directly revoked.

Overall, it was a sales format blending distributors and agents. Normally, such regulations would be quite restrictive for merchants.

But since the Cole Family held a monopoly, the merchants had no choice.

To maintain the Cole Family's primary status, they would also open their own retail shops in Telris and other core towns of various territories.

Once the Cole Family established a significant scale of shops, they would gradually relax the cooperation model with merchants.

After all, the Pedan Kingdom was vast, and the Cole Family's current strength was not yet enough to promote products nationwide.

As for the issue of being sidelined by other merchant families, it was currently unavoidable, so they could only develop while engaging in a battle of wits and courage with them.

The report wasn't long, and Isabelle finished quickly.

After listening, Brutus and the others present couldn't help but show expressions of admiration, both for Isabelle's poised demeanor and reporting skills, and for the Cole Family's business acumen.

Lister, sitting at the head of the table, stood up with a slight smile and said, "Miss Isabelle's report was very detailed. The results the Cole Family achieved during this time exceeded my expectations."

"However, Miss Isabelle, in future reports, there's no need to intentionally downplay the family's efforts and achievements."

"The results of your hard work belong to you; it is your duty to strive for more benefits for your family."

Isabelle was stunned, not expecting Lister to say such a thing.

Just now, she had indeed intentionally minimized the family's presence, highlighting the quality of the bath products themselves.

Born into a merchant family and influenced by her environment since childhood, she naturally knew what to say in front of different people.

Since the Cole Family was now a vassal family of Lister, and the bath products were personally conceived by him.

Highlighting the quality of the bath products as much as possible in this report was also a way to demonstrate Lister's wisdom, especially since many of his confidants were present.

Now that Lister was willing to attribute the credit to the Cole Family and show it before his subordinates.

This kind of behavior was very rare among other lords.

For a moment, she couldn't help but recall her uncle Kim's high praise for Lister's generous character.

While admiration rose in her heart, she nodded and said, "Thank you, my Lord. Isabelle will keep that in mind."

Lister nodded and didn't say more. In truth, Isabelle's approach felt a bit like flattery.

Normally, he didn't like that feeling, but given Isabelle's upbringing, it wasn't surprising.

He just needed to guide her over time to change it; of course, not to make her discard this 'ability', but to ensure she remained sincere before him.

After the report ended and he saw off Brutus and the others, Lister took Isabelle to the room arranged for her.

Isabelle had originally thought she would stay in Ironthorn Town, but to her surprise, Lister had her stay directly in the Lord's Castle.

She felt incredibly flattered for a moment. As for any thoughts of Lister having improper intentions, she had none.

A young lord who was so handsome, capable, and wealthy wouldn't lack women. Even if Isabelle considered herself exceptionally beautiful, she wasn't so narcissistic.

Furthermore, her woman's intuition told her that Lister was not that kind of person.

Returning to his room, Lister saw Christina playing with the little ones like Bai Ze.

He had to admit that Bai Ze and the other little ones were extremely attractive to children—no, to people of all ages.

He had been worried about Christina's psychological state before, but now it seemed that with the company of Bai Ze and the others, she would grow up happily.

"Brother."

Seeing Lister appear, Christina called out in a crisp voice.

After a few days together, Christina was no longer as distant as before. With a child's intuition, she could clearly sense that Lister treated her sincerely.

This also allowed the cracks in her heart from losing her loved ones to slowly heal.

Smiling and nodding, Lister said, "Christina, from now on, you'll live in the room right next to mine. Bai Ze and the others will be your playmates."

"If you encounter any problems you can't handle and I'm not around, ask Butler Thomas or Flora and the other maids to help you."

"Don't be shy; they are all very easy to get along with, okay?"

"I understand, Brother," Christina said with a pure smile.

"Come, let's go down for a meal," Lister said.

"Mhm."

A few minutes later, in the first-floor hall.

Having listened to reports all morning, Lister was starving.

To celebrate his return, Thomas also had Flora arrange for the maids to prepare a sumptuous feast.

Besides Christina, Isabelle was also sitting at the dining table.

Being invited to have the main meal with the Lord, Isabelle was both surprised and very happy.

When she saw the Magical Beast Meat on the table, her shock was beyond measure.

Although she hadn't been in Ironthorn Territory for long, she felt her worldview had been refreshed too many times.

Although Lister seemed to maintain the prescribed etiquette of a noble, many of his actions were completely inconsistent with those of most nobles.

In any case, it felt to her as if he were acting according to his own whims and preferences, which she deeply admired in her heart.

After lunch, Isabelle and Christina went back to their rooms to rest.

Isabelle genuinely liked Christina, the sister Lister had just taken in, and she quickly gained Christina's trust.

Lister was naturally happy to see this; for a child like Christina who had suffered psychological trauma, meeting more people was ultimately a good thing.

Ironthorn Territory Military Camp.

Since there were too many knights now, the training ground next to the castle could no longer accommodate so many people practicing at once.

Thus, for large-scale training, Red and the other knights would come to the military camp.

Although he had just returned and wanted to slack off and rest, the thought of the great battle Aetheria had witnessed made his laziness vanish instantly.

On the high platform of the military camp, Lister gathered all the Full Knights and Apprentice Knights.

As the forging skills of Gimel and the other Forgemasters and craftsmen became more refined, the forging of knight armor had entered a stage of rapid production.

Currently, a small number of knights had already equipped their own armor, becoming a fully regular army.

Looking at the high-spirited knights below, Lister felt a surge of pride and said, "I am aware of everyone's hard work in cultivation during this period."

"Nearly half of the Apprentice Knights selected before have successfully advanced to Full Knights."

"Among them, Aier is particularly outstanding, having broken through to Bronze Tier 3, while Rodrigo, Pierre, Bertrand, and Vegetius have all broken through to Bronze Rank 2."

"For their efforts, I will give them corresponding rewards. At the same time, their family members will have priority for new job placements in the future."

"Furthermore, any family members currently in Slave status will be changed to Freemen starting today."

"To the Apprentice Knights who haven't yet advanced to Full Knights, do not be discouraged. Anyone who successfully advances later will receive the same rewards as them."

Speaking of this, Lister pointed to the large bathing tubs placed nearby and said, "Do you see those tubs? I specifically had people prepare them today, adding fire wisp grass, which can temper the body and Chi energy."

"All knights will have the opportunity to soak today. I hope that after soaking, you can advance to Full Knight in one go and reach a higher realm."

As his voice fell, a tsunami of excited roars and praises erupted from the crowd of knights.

Although they expected Lister to reward them when he gathered them.

But the form of the reward was beyond their expectations, especially for the knights whose family members were still registered as Slaves.

They didn't expect Lister to directly pardon their family members' Slave status. The excitement this brought was no less than the rewards they received themselves.

And the Apprentice Knights who hadn't received rewards yet didn't expect they would also have the chance to soak in the fire wisp grass medicinal bath.

fire wisp grass, a resource specifically used to temper the physical body and stimulate Chi energy.

Although not as rare as dragon blood fruit or purple soul fruit, for all the Apprentice Knights present, it was already an excellent cultivation resource.

Without Lister's generosity, it would be very difficult for them to afford such a resource on their own, let alone use it for free now.

Lister had naturally planned this long ago. He had obtained the fire wisp grass for free through divination information on his way back to Ironthorn Territory, and he had acquired quite a lot at once.

Although there were still twenty Apprentice Knights in Ironthorn Territory who hadn't broken through, it wasn't because they lacked the talent, but because their talent was slightly weaker compared to others.

If they continued to practice normally, most of them would eventually succeed in advancing.

However, Lister was about to head to the Western Border, and he didn't have much time to wait for them to advance. Thus, using a resource like fire wisp grass, which had no side effects, could help increase their chances of advancing early.

Although fire wisp grass would be even more effective on Full Knights, since it was a resource Lister got for free, there was no need to be so meticulous with the planning.

Using it at a critical moment to achieve the desired effect was what Lister considered making the best use of it.

Wasting no time, under the orderly arrangement of Red and the other Full Knights, the newly selected Full Knights like Aier and the Apprentice Knights began their medicinal bath.

As the knights with attractive physiques sat in the bathing tubs, the fire wisp grass dissolved in the water gradually began to take effect on them.

Every knight felt as if their body were being burned by a raging fire, and as the effect deepened, the Chi energy within them began to boil.

Soon after, the heavy and powerful sounds of breathing from the Breathing Technique began to ring out rhythmically between heaven and earth.

Though the physical and mental pain was intense, everyone gritted their teeth and persevered; not a single one cried out.

As time passed minute by minute, the first beast roar suddenly rang in the ears of Lister and the others who were waiting quietly nearby.

Looking toward the sound, Lister saw Aier's determined, flushed face, and a look of surprise appeared on his own.

Only a few days had passed, and Aier had broken through once again. This speed of breakthrough was no different from Spartacus or Sejin, and he was still so young.

Then, one beast roar after another rang out as a large number of Apprentice Knights condensed their Fighting Spirit Seeds, stimulated their bloodlines, and successfully advanced to Full Knights.

According to Lister's original expectations, it would have been very good if about half of the twenty Apprentice Knights had advanced to Full Knights this time.

But the result surprised him greatly: a total of seventeen Apprentice Knights successfully advanced, and the other three were only a step away, likely to break through in another day or two.

In this way, the success rate of his newly selected Apprentice Knights advancing to Full Knights would reach one hundred percent.

This situation was almost unheard of in other territories.

However, Lister knew very well that all of this was due to the strict requirements of his selection at the time; otherwise, there wouldn't be such a breakthrough rate.

As for the Full Knights who had broken through previously, no one else had successfully broken through again like Aier this time.

Even so, Lister was more than satisfied.

After all the newly selected knights finished their soak, Lister and the original core group of knights, including Red, also began their soak.