At dusk, Isha squatted on the sandy ground twenty paces west of the pool, with Lena standing beside her holding a shovel. Isha stared into the pit they had dug to a certain depth, then reached her hand inside to feel around.
Standing up, Isha brushed the sand from her hands and turned to the caravan worker holding a charcoal pencil behind her. “The water seepage here is thirty percent lower than on the east side. Let's bury the pipes here. However, this spot gets a lot of sunlight, so the pipes might degrade faster. We'll need to incorporate high-temperature resistance into the future pipe designs.”
The worker jotted this down on a rough piece of parchment, then looked up at the surrounding pool and suggested, “What about running them along the north side? It's right in the shadow of the sand dune, so we wouldn't have to worry about degradation.”
Isha immediately rejected the suggestion. “Routing it through the north would not only increase construction costs, but the prevailing wind here is northwestern. If we bury the pipes there, they'll easily be squeezed by shifting sand, which significantly increases the risk of the joints coming apart.”
The worker quickly wrote it down, then looked up again. “And the depth?”
“Forty centimeters or deeper.”
Isha gestured with her hands and continued, “According to Mr. Leynas, the top twenty centimeters is the sun-baked layer, and the residual heat can penetrate up to thirty centimeters. Therefore, the temperature should stabilize at around forty centimeters.”
The worker nodded again and resumed drawing a detailed route map on the parchment.
Isha watched from the side, occasionally correcting a label or two. Once she was sure everything was accurate, she nodded in approval. “Once you've finished the drawing, deliver it to Her Highness's side. Just have a guard hand it over. As for the water source connection blueprint, I'll draw that one myself.”
“Understood!”
The worker nodded and immediately turned to leave to find a guard and hand over the blueprint.
As Isha watched him walk away, her expression grew somewhat pensive.
“Isha.”
Lena called out to her from behind, receiving only a simple, distracted murmur in response.
Seeing Isha's low spirits, Lena walked up to her side and said softly, “I still think you shouldn't have agreed to Her Highness's request so easily.”
Isha remained silent. Lena's words brought back the request the princess had made this morning in the name of friendship: spread the news of what was happening here. It didn't need to be too deliberate, just enough to let everyone know. Of course, Mr. Leynas's existence had to be left out.
It sounded simple enough, even easier than driving down the prices of goods, but its underlying value far exceeded a hundred times the worth of their cargo.
As a merchant who had spent a whole day in the princess's camp, she fully understood the immense value of this place.
A necromancer planting trees in the Golden Sea, and a green miracle continuously expanding under the princess's rule—either one of these possessed staggering potential.
According to her plans, if she were to manage and release this news herself, it would be enough to send shockwaves through the Empire within three years.
When that happened, the princess's political standing would inevitably recover, and Isha's own status as the earliest investor and partner would rise along with it.
But now, the princess wanted her to spread the news. This meant more eyes would be drawn to this desert, and there would undoubtedly be players far more powerful than her among them.
When that time came, it would be hard to say if she would still be the princess's most important friend.
Sighing inwardly, Isha let none of her worry show on her face. Instead, she wore a confident smile. “Since Her Highness made the request as a friend, then as a friend, I must naturally help her.”
“And all we can do now is adjust our original plans and elevate our value to Her Highness—so high that even if others want a piece of the pie, they'll have to think twice about whether they can bypass us.”
Lena looked at Isha. Although she was glad to see Isha displaying her usual confidence, she couldn't help but voice her concern. “Isn't the risk of this gamble too high?”
“The arrow is already on the bowstring.”
Isha's gaze was incredibly cold, but her words sounded like those of a desperate gambler. “From the moment we decided to make this journey, there was no turning back. So, we might as well bet everything. Even if I lose, I'll make sure no one else profits from it.”
Lena stared at the young woman in silence. As they stood looking at each other, the wind carried over the sound of nearby chatter.
“I heard they're already ripe and ready to eat.”
“So fast? Hasn't it only been a dozen or so days?”
“I heard they grew this fast because of that guy's help.”
“You mean... the necromancer?”
The chatter caught Isha's curiosity. She turned to look and noticed a crowd of servants and guards gathering on the sandy ground to the east.
Their voices carried a clear sense of excitement, along with a trace of unease whenever Shane's name was mentioned.
Exchanging a glance, Isha and Lena began walking toward the crowd together.
By now, the eastern side was surrounded several layers deep. Isha and Lena had to squeeze through the crowd for a while before finally reaching the very front.
The moment her vision cleared, Isha stiffened slightly in surprise.
The ground before them was not the sandy soil of the desert. It was darker, looking no different from the fertile farmland found deep within the Empire's territory.
Upon it, waist-high bean plants stood in neat rows. Their leaves were a mix of green and yellow, and plump bean pods hung heavily from the stems, clustered closely together.
Isha's eyes widened instinctively. The crop itself wasn't particularly extraordinary—you could find as many of them as you wanted in the heart of the Empire—but where were they standing?
They were in the Golden Sea, a place marked on maps as a 'dead land'!
To think crops could actually grow here... It was absolutely unheard of!
“Are they safe to eat? I heard death magic was involved when they were planted. Will we turn into undead if we eat them?”
The skepticism among the surrounding servants persisted, though many chose to trust their leaders instead. “Why are you worrying so much?”
“It's not like we're the only ones eating them. The higher-ups are eating the same things as us. If there were really a problem, do you think Her Highness and the Instructor wouldn't know?”
The servants' chatter continued as they gazed at the bean plants in the field with a mix of suspicion and curiosity. But Isha was different. She stared at those bean pods, her eyes growing brighter by the second.
Her sharp merchant instincts told her that if what these people said was true, these beans—which could be harvested in just a dozen or so days—would undoubtedly become the true economic lifeblood of the Golden Sea in the future.
And this was only a tiny patch of the Golden Sea. If the entire desert could be transformed into fertile land capable of growing crops...
Isha's gaze bypassed the bean pods and locked straight onto Shane, who was standing in the middle of the field.
Perhaps her perspective had been too narrow. In this vast sea of sand, the most valuable asset might not be the princess, but this necromancer.
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