Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence

The appearance of the Mythic-grade material, Thread of Fate, made this Springbirth Festival exceptionally grand and joyous.

With a cheerful mood, Su Li led Ingrid out of the forest treehouse. By this time, celebratory rituals were already underway throughout the territory.

As the Dawn Goddess, Leia paid particular attention to children. Consequently, priestesses and maidens had used willow baskets to collect the frost dew condensed on ancient oak trees before dawn. After the dew was blessed by the priestesses, it was sprinkled on the foreheads of the children, forming wheat-shaped watermarks, symbolizing that they were "receiving the power of new life."

Seeing the children's vigorous and vibrant appearance, Su Li couldn't help but smile. On this day of Springbirth, the whole world was bright and filled with vitality. It really didn't resemble the usual world filled with darkness and despair.

A moment later, Fandar's hurried footsteps could be heard from outside the door. Today was a festive day, and the Archdruid was also dressed in ceremonial attire. A set of deep green linen robes wrapped his slightly hunched body, but his face, full of ravines, did not appear old at all. He looked even more energetic than Su Li. In his hand, he held a straw figure woven from wheat ears, and his head was full of greenery. It wasn't that green grass was growing on his head, but that he had rarely decorated himself with bunches of newborn thistle and cornflowers.

Seeing that Su Li was still eating breakfast, he bowed slightly and said, "I'm very sorry, Lord, for interrupting your pleasant meal."

Su Li waved his hand and said with a smile, "It's okay. On such a festive day, everything is delightful. Seeing you, my minister, I think you're even more charming than usual. There are so many beautiful nuns in the Dawn Church. With your vigorous appearance, I'm really worried that you won't be able to restrain yourself, my old friend. Do you need me to share your burden?"

"Last month, I saw that Sister Marian, whose chest could hold a wine glass, was clipping violets into your scripture pages. You're like an iron tree blooming, a withered tree meeting spring again."

Fandar was amused by Su Li's joke and laughed loudly. He rubbed his red nose and said, "Leia is above. Your eyes should simply be hung in the confessional as pupils."

"However, speaking of sharing the burden, we really have some things here that require your personal participation, Lord."

"The Springbirth Festival has different celebrations in rural villages, forest settlements, and alpine pasture areas, but some things are common, such as the grand sacrifice presided over by the lord, which concerns the blood sacrifice of the Father of Grain, Bolevik. There's also the spring plowing race supervised by the nobles, which requires the territory's nobles to whip the plowing oxen and turn over the first furrow of land."

Hearing what Fandar said, Su Li immediately restrained his joking smile and turned to serious matters. Although the Springbirth Festival was very joyous, the plowing after the celebration was the greatest significance of this day.

After the Dawn Goddess took over the Wheel of the Year, the land would gradually become soft, and the process of further developing a large amount of arable land in the territory was already time to advance.

Having just finished the meeting less than half a month ago, Su Li remembered very clearly that he had a total of 1,900 hectares of fertile land, and only 1,700 hectares of fertile upper fields below Bjorn's Shallows.

Logically speaking, if the land of the Border Prince Territory wasn't located in the south with a mild climate, and the foothills irrigated by Reflin's Holy Water weren't fertile, allowing for three harvests a year, he wouldn't have been able to build the border granary, let alone provide food for so many people.

A mere thousand hectares of fertile land wasn't even as much as a large landlord in the East. And he wanted to raise 2,000 troops and more than 7,000 people? He must be daydreaming.

Therefore, Su Li paid special attention to this year's development. This year was different from last year. When the development had just begun last year, there were only a little over 100 agricultural tools, and many people didn't even have handy tools.

But this year was a new atmosphere. There were more than two hundred large and small halfling agricultural machinery, and the number of serfs, plus this time's prisoners, was close to 3,000!

Su Li had long been ambitious and wanted to take advantage of this Springbirth ceremony to advance the territory's farming business by a big step!

Putting aside everything else, at least he had to advance the fertile land of Bjorn's Shallows from 1,700 hectares to 2,500 hectares, right?

So Su Li raised his head, gulped down the warm milk on the table, wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin, got up from the table, and said to Fandar, "Let's go, my minister, let's also participate in today's grand ceremony. I remember you said that the effect of the blood sacrifice of the Father of Grain, Bolevik, can be maximized at the Springbirth ceremony, right?"

"That's right, Lord. Bolevik's blood sacrifice ability will be regained after Leia takes over the Wheel of the Year again. If the territory holds a grand sacrificial ceremony together, the entire territory will have sacred prayers and the holy light of sacrifice. A hazy golden light will envelop the territory, and Leia will more easily pay attention to this land of piety and bestow more generous divine grace."

Su Li absolutely did not doubt Leia's generosity.

Their entire church, from top to bottom, implemented the creed of generosity, and they were absolutely consistent in word and deed, without any discount in any direction.

The nuns of the territory had beautiful and graceful bodies, and they really showed them to everyone.

Su Li was full of expectations for the upcoming generous dance.

As he walked, he asked, "How are the materials for the blood sacrifice prepared?"

Although the Springbirth Festival filled the whole world with light and vitality, some rituals and traditions still constantly reminded everyone of the bloodiness and cruelty of this world.

The blood sacrifice of Bolevik required the use of the flesh and remains of various creatures.

The territory now had four Boleviks, which was a remarkable number. If Su Li didn't have an intelligence system to guide him, even if the scale of the Dawn Church tripled, they wouldn't be able to find so many Fathers of Grain.

Their sacrifices would fill the land of Blackwood Territory with divine grace.

In this world, the influence of the gods was unparalleled. The main basis for evaluating whether a territory was a rich and prosperous land or a barren and primitive borderland was how much divine grace this land bathed in.

If a large area of territory bathed in divine grace, then without a doubt, this was a prosperous territory that humans had cultivated for a long time, a core of human flourishing rule. In this kind of territory, when the golden glow of the cathedral's morning bell could cover the entire wheat field, when the spring breeze brushed over the wheat, it was the goddess walking in the fields. At harvest time, the granary would definitely be piled into golden wheat mountains, and even the barnyard millet pecked by crows would be soaked in the honey of thousands of years of civilization.

If a piece of land, like Blackwood Territory, had less than 10 hectares of fertile land bathed in divine grace, while the farmland scale was more than 2,000 hectares, then a direct evaluation could be made: this was a desolate borderland outside the core of the empire. When the pioneer's sickle split the thorns, only night owls and wolf howls were startled. A few hectares of fertile land bathed in holy light were like scattered sparks in the wilderness, struggling to breathe in 2,000 hectares of thin land covered with frost. The wheat stalks here did not bow to the goddess of harvest, but were whipped by the border's north wind and could not straighten their spines; the peasant women offered not new wheat to the altar, but thorny berries stained with beast claw prints—the mark left by the scepter of the gods in this place was just a faded vermilion on the edge of a parchment map.

And the blood sacrifice undoubtedly concerned how much land in the territory would bathe in the divine grace of Leia this year.

Fandar immediately replied: "After entering winter, we have been preparing for this sacrifice. The effect is still good. The Black Steel Redemption Knights and the territory's provincial legions fought in the Blood Pine Forest for a winter, and they sent back a large number of beastmen and forest bandit corpses. We conservatively estimate that this sacrifice can increase the blood sacrifice scale to more than 1,500 mu. If our army can send back the corpses of the rebels from Starfall Land before noon today, our blood sacrifice scale may reach 20 hectares!"

20 hectares, which is 2,000 mu of blood sacrifice farmland.

This scale was very considerable. Calculated at 2,000 catties per mu, these 20 hectares of land alone could produce 4 million catties of grain. Over the year, that would be a revenue of 1,200 gold crowns.

And taking care of these farmlands only required 20 households. Converted, that was 100 farmers who could support 20 elite knights for a whole year!

Su Li couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement; this ratio was truly high. If he had a thousand acres of land bathed in divine grace, he could support 1000 elite knights just by farming.

Su Li said with a smile, "Then this sacrifice was extremely effective. I remember that the last sacrifice only yielded a little over 900 acres of blood fields."

You must know that the last sacrifice had accumulated a large number of monster corpses from the Elleria invasion, which only allowed the Father of Grain to increase the scale of the blood sacrifice by 500 acres.

However, during the Spring Awakening Ceremony, the four Boleviks, relying on a much smaller scale of sacrifices, doubled the land bathed in divine grace!

Fandar straightened his hunched back and said proudly, "This day of Spring Awakening is the day when Rhea's divine grace is at its most intense. Our sacrifices will surely receive the most generous rewards from Lady Rhea. Lord, let me take you to experience the atmosphere of the sacrifice firsthand."

As he spoke, the two still walked out of the manor. Servants brought their mounts. Su Li straddled the Death Claw, while Fandar rode a giant stag.

This giant stag was not the silver-horned giant stag. That kind of sacred object usually stayed in the sacred forest and did not come out. Only when Tar took over the annual ring on the Summer Solstice would it come out of the forest to bestow auspiciousness upon the territory.

Fandar's giant stag was tamed by him in the forest this winter.

After Elleria was conquered by Su Li, it was too convenient for humans to enter and exit Bloodpine Forest.

A large amount of wealth was produced from Bloodpine Forest, even to the point that many people's hatred for her had been eliminated.

This giant stag was much faster than a warhorse. When galloping, its four hooves were as light as riding the clouds. With its guidance, Su Li quickly arrived at the Quaysophil Field Manor, where this grand ceremony was being held.

This manor was also Su Li's manor. It had been largely burned down during the green dragon's invasion. After the war, the Dawn Sisters rebuilt a manor here, located below Bjorn Shallow Bay.

The slaves inside were responsible for taking care of the hundreds of acres of fertile land surrounding the manor.

The main reason for choosing this manor for this year's ceremony was that recently, the diligent cultivation of the slaves in this manor had earned them [Pearl Barley].

Although there was not much of this pearl barley, only a little over three catties, it was an important sacrifice to the goddess.

Last winter, Su Li had been holding back and had not sacrificed this batch of sacrifices, just waiting to use them at today's grand ceremony.

After sacrificing to the Goddess of Dawn, all pregnant women in the territory would receive the [Goddess's Womb] blessing, increasing the survival rate of newborns by 99%! This meant that the probability of these newborns dying young was reduced to a few per thousand, which was comparable to that of some modern societies. (Of course, this was only for the first child; the same pregnant woman would not enjoy this blessing for her second child this year.)

Moreover, there was a 5% chance that these newborns would be born as [Children of Dawn], possessing pupils that could naturally sense the Winds of Gyron, and they would definitely be able to be cultivated as monks of the Dawn Goddess Church.

If combined with the Mother Earth Holy Pool that the Dawn Church was building, the scale of Gyron mages and Dawn Sisters in the territory in the future would be very considerable.

When Su Li arrived at the Ogham stone monument built in this manor, a large number of the territory's residents and Dawn Church sisters had already gathered here.

The villagers had piled the last bundle of dry grass, moldy old grain, and faded dried flowers left over from winter in the center of the stone circle.

In the nearby fields, several young farmers were driving colorfully decorated plows, with green vines decorated on the plowshares, preparing to start plowing the fields after the noble lord gave an order.

Su Li's arrival was immediately followed by the farmers playing a joyful hymn on musical instruments made of fresh wheat stalks.

As the patriarch of the Dawn Church, Fandar immediately ordered the sacrificial ceremony to begin after the most honorable master of the territory arrived.

In the joyful music, a full 14 sisters wearing emerald green monk robes lined up on both sides of the crowd and walked to the Ogham stone monument, beginning to sing and dance.

This dance was very formal. The priestesses formed a spiral formation, performing the movements of magic seeds breaking through the soil: bending down to touch the ground, slowly rising, and spreading their arms like branches and leaves.

Although they did not have much talent for dancing, and their movements were not perfect, it was already very pleasing to the eye to see a dozen budding girls showing off their beautiful curves and slender bodies together!

"Goddess of Dawn, field of plenty, spread your golden skirt over our furrows."

"Generous Lord of Life, the soil awakens, we plant hope and seeds."

"In the name of Rhea, may our lip prints become a contract—the land grants me abundance, and I grant the land reverence!"

As they sang and danced, the sacrifice quickly reached its climax. As the clear notes gradually rose, the fourteen sisters stood still, their delicate bodies still, and their fingertips simultaneously caressed the ramie sashes around their waists.

The green nun robes slipped from their fragrant shoulders to their ankles, and fourteen Su white silk-like delicate bodies were presented in front of everyone, and the drooping long hair rippled at the waist.

The surrounding believers and residents suddenly cheered: "Praise the generous Goddess Rhea!"

The atmosphere of the sacrifice entered a frenzy for a while, and everyone at this moment sincerely believed in Rhea's generosity!

Su Li also felt happy, and had to say that the Dawn Church had something to it. Their dance perfectly demonstrated the sacredness of religion and the piety of the priestesses.

On the slender bodies of the girls, Su Li saw not lust, but the new buds that broke through the soil in spring—the young women's round shoulders were like dew-stained berries, their slender waists were reminiscent of wheat stalks in the wind, and the curves that rose and fell with their breathing were more like the rhythm of the earth itself.

Looking at them, Su Li thought of Phyllis. Young people thought of energetic lovers, and old widowers could even see their young wives from more than 20 years ago in the shaking hair of the girls.

In everyone's appreciation, this [Symbiotic Thing] continued until nearly noon.

When the sisters put on their robes and left the Ogham stone monument with slightly hurried breaths, it meant that the midday song had ended.

Fandar held a torch and sent it to Su Li, who lit the old grain, straw, and dead leaves left in the middle of the Ogham stone monument last winter. The raging flames were like the light of the Goddess of Dawn.

Then Su Li offered the carefully prepared sacrificial prayer of the territory: "Oh, Dawn, the most holy goddess, your light illuminates the chaotic earth."

"We pray in the mortal world, please listen to the pulse of the Black Forest Territory—"

"We offer the first crack of the thawing frozen soil as a sacrifice, and the trembling fetal movement in the belly of pregnant animals as a sacrifice."

We offer the blush of berries stained by the fingertips of young girls as a sacrifice,\nIn exchange for the grace of your golden ears of wheat hanging down"

"May the five grains bear double the fruit in the reflection of the holy pool,\nMay the streams gush with honey and salt under the Gyron staff,\nMay the wailing of women in labor turn into the morning song of larks,\nMay every inch of black soil give birth to hands that hold the sickle tightly"

"Our plows will be engraved with your holy emblem,\nThe beams of the granary must be made of oak from the Dawn Church,\nThe first cry of a newborn\nWill be a living poem dedicated to you"

With his prayer, all the sacrifices carefully prepared by the territory were thrown into the altar.

"From now on,\nThe smoke from the Black Forest Territory is sacrificial smoke,\nThe labor pains of pregnant women are the holy bell,\nThe trajectory of the plow is the prayer,\nUntil our blood is like roots\nPenetrate the rock to reach before your feet"

As the golden holy flame of the first altar was lit by him, soon golden holy flames were burning in the stone monument altars in all directions of the entire territory.

Looking down from the clouds to the earth, the holy flames are like sparks of stars, sweeping across the earth with a majestic momentum that can start a prairie fire. Every newborn flame imprints glowing divine patterns on the mud, dyeing the wheat fields into flowing amber, and causing the streams to rise with rainbow-colored mist.

When the flames of the last altar pierced through the twilight, thousands of golden threads suddenly hung down from the sky, converging into a thorny crown totem three hundred feet above the ground.

Fandar was so moved that he wept with joy and said: "Lord, I have lived for hundreds of years, and this is the first time I have seen such a sacred scene! Could it be that our sacrifice has really been noticed by the goddess? It must be so, it must be so. The so-called blessing is just a glimpse of the gods sought by mortals."

Su Li smiled faintly, not wanting to dampen the enthusiasm of this devout believer.

This has nothing to do with your church's sacrifices.

If it weren't for my intelligence system taking effect and the four-leaf clover triggering the goddess's vision, you devout believers would not be able to get a glimpse of the goddess even after hundreds of years.