The slaves discovered that they could eat two meals a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Although the portions were not large, it was already much better than the previous situation of one meal a day. At least they no longer felt the almost painful hunger they had felt before going to sleep every night.

And today, they received unbelievable good news.

"The master allows you to build a straw hut!" the foreman yelled at the slaves. 'The rainy season is coming! The master is generous and kind, and your lowly stench is also covered by the master's generosity!"

The slaves were incredulous. They opened their eyes wide, confused.

The foreman yelled, 'You lazy bums! Do you still want to stand here all the time and slack off?!"

The slaves ran backwards. They had always wanted a house that could protect them from the wind and rain, but only the nobles and the holy temple could have stone houses. They could only build straw huts, which could barely protect them from the rain and were drafty on all sides.

Even so, they were already very satisfied to have such straw huts.

Lex realized that they had only built a straw hut for cooling off when they were almost finished.

Four tree trunks were used as pillars, then the roof was woven from leaves and finally covered with hay. It was built quickly, taking just over a day to complete.

"I thought you told them to build a house," Lex asked the butler, "why did they build a straw hut?"

It was useless in the winter.

The butler said with a face full of reason: "They are just slaves. The brain of a slave is only the size of a small stone. They are stupid and dirty. And only nobles and commoners can live in stone houses."

The technology of brick-burning did not exist here yet, so houses were built with stones, using clay as the adhesive. There was no foundation, so once there was a little wind or movement, the house would easily collapse.

There are many examples of ordinary people losing their homes and possessions in minor earthquakes and being reduced to slavery.

Building a house is also very troublesome and requires a lot of manpower, because the mining and transportation of stone is a laborious task. It takes thousands of people working day and night to build a "castle", and when the castle is completed, one-third or more of the slaves may have died as a result.

The people here also do not distinguish between types of clay. They only know that the soil in some places can fill the gaps between the stones, while the soil in other places does not work.

"Do we have any ant nests here?" Lex asked. 'White ants."

Butler: 'Lots of them, and they sometimes damage wooden furniture!"

The butler was furious when he mentioned this: 'We've already lost a lot of money because of these little things! They must be the devil's creatures!"

Lex: '...I need the slaves to find their nests and bring them back."

The butler agreed, because there were so many termite nests in this area that they were like locusts, everywhere.

So the slaves had new work to do, but they had to search for termite nests in groups, as there were many wild animals in the forest that usually hid. Although they did not often appear in front of people, they were still threatening.

The gnomes walked barefoot in the forest, which made the forest even wetter. The soil under their feet was already a little damp. When the rainy season arrived, this soil would turn into mud, and in winter, this mud would freeze hard.

If you step on it barefoot, you need to tear off all the skin on your feet to get away.

"Why are we looking for termite nests?" The goblin followed his mother. He liked the forest, where he could run and jump, while in the territory, he could only bow down to work.

His mother and the other goblin slaves had long since been unable to straighten their backs.

But his back was still straight.

Perhaps in a few years, he will also be like them, bowing forever.

His mother was chewing on some weeds, and she said with a smile, "The lord must know what they are for."

The goblin's face was almost completely healed, except for a scar that was not very obvious. He whispered, 'I think this lord is a good person. He gives us two meals and lets us build shelters!"

"Mom, we won't have to sit in the rain all night anymore!' The goblin felt very happy.

They had been slaves for their whole lives, and the smallest of benefits made them feel a great sense of happiness.

When they found the termite nests, they dug them out with their bare hands. There were many termite nests here, and they spent the whole day doing this. When it got dark and they could hardly see the way anymore, they left the woods.

The woods made the slaves feel free, but at the same time the woods at night also made everyone feel scared.

When they return to the territory, they place the excavated termite nests in the same place, and then go as quickly as possible to retrieve the bowls they have hidden, and it is time to eat again at night.

It is still a paste made by boiling beans and bran together, but the slaves eat it without looking up.

Anything that fills the stomach is a good thing.

"My lord! We can burn all these nests!" The housekeeper hates termites.

Lex: "Why burn them? We can use the nests to build houses."

Termite nests are made from a mixture of termite saliva and are excellent clay. If you smash them into powder, mix them with yellow soil, add water to make a paste, and stir in some straw, you can plaster walls.

Once the walls dry, they become adobe walls.

When Lex visited a farmhouse in the past, there were abandoned adobe houses by the roadside. Adobe is not cement, but just a mixture of clay.

Although they have been abandoned for a long time, they have not collapsed.

The butler looks confused: "Huh?"

Lex explains: 'These nests are just like the soil used to fill the gaps between the stones. They can all become very hard after drying."

The butler blinks.

"You are so wise!' The butler starts to flatter.

Lex looks indifferent.

The word 'wise' has recently become ironic on the internet.

It sounds almost like an insult.

The butler laughed, "We can finally repair the castle!"

Lex turned to look at the butler, 'What? We're not repairing the castle, these termite nests are for them to build their houses."

The butler's smile froze on his face, looking a little comical.

He tried hard to understand Lex's words, and then said incredulously, 'My lord! They're just slaves!"

The butler's contempt for slaves was deeply ingrained from the education he received since childhood.

Lex had been trying to change the steward's mind for a few days, but it was useless. The steward was very stubborn. Whenever he mentioned slaves, the steward would say that slaves were inferior creatures who were born to be slaves and would always be slaves.

So Lex stopped trying to convince him. Now that he was the lord of the manor, he had to obey his orders no matter what the steward thought for himself: "They are my slaves too, and I can treat them as I like."

That made perfect sense, and the steward shut up.

He still felt that Lex's approach was inappropriate—you shouldn't treat slaves well, only harsh treatment would make them work hard.

The slaves found that they didn't have to go to the fields to clear the land the next day. They were ordered to smash the termite nests and turn them into powder.

Then they used branches to build the frame.

The dwarves were very good at this, they buried the branches in the ground and then bent them to create the shape of the house.

Building a house is actually not as difficult as one might think, especially when there are so many people working together. The only problem is that these mud houses are very damp when they are first built, and it takes a while for the walls to dry out, whether from the elements or from a fire lit inside the house.

But if it rains, that can be a problem, as it can quickly undo all the hard work.

Lex can only let them light a fire in the newly built mud house to speed up the drying and curing process.

The entire drying process takes at least three days – and during those three days, a fire must be kept burning in the house. And there is no guarantee that it will dry out.

After all, it is very humid here.

"It's beautiful!" The slaves occasionally talk about the house they built.

Not a single stone was used, but it is still very sturdy, and you can tell at a glance that it can shelter you from the wind and rain.

They are very proud, but also curious about who will live in so many houses.

"Maybe there will be guests!"

"Maybe the lord will invite noblemen to a banquet, and there won't be enough room in the castle."

"Who would have thought you could build a house without using any stones!"

They lay down contentedly in the shelter they had built, not worrying about the rain if it rained at night. The ground was covered with hay they had found themselves, and it was warm to sleep on. When the weather got colder, they could huddle together to sleep.

Compared to lying on the damp ground, they are already very happy to be able to sleep on such hay.

The day Alwin returned, he happened to see the butler telling the slaves in the open space that the slaves could move into the houses they had just built. The butler was obviously very unhappy, so he had a long face, and anyone who saw him would think that someone owed him a huge sum of money.

The carriage stopped at the castle gate, and Alwin jumped off the carriage. The coachman led the horse back to the backyard.

Today is a rare sunny day. Alwin looks around and notices that many houses have sprung up in the space of a few days since he left.

The houses are square with a slight slope on the roof, so that in winter the roof does not get too much snow.

Before Alwin can wonder, he hears the steward say, "My lord is kind and merciful! You are allowed to live in these houses!"

"You must always remember the lord's kindness. You must know that you don't deserve this favor!" The steward said.

The slaves went crazy when they heard the steward say that they could live in these houses. They were afraid to speak, but they wanted to express their joy. The minotaur took the lead and shouted.

"The lord is really kind," a few stewards said to each other.

"The lord must have been deceived by these cunning slaves,"

But in any case, the matter was settled, and the slaves would soon be able to move into the houses they had built with their own hands.

The slaves wept bitterly, shouting unintelligible words.

Some of them crawled on all fours in the direction of the castle.

Alwin walked over to the steward and said, "What's all this about houses?"

Steward: "His Lordship came up with the idea. His Lordship is really very learned and clever, but these slaves clearly don't deserve all this!"

Alwin did not ask any more questions. He looked up at the castle in front of him.

He knew what kind of person the owner of the castle was.

Innocent, kind, and occasionally a bit silly.

But he was also very clever, even overly so, and knew a lot of things that no one else knew.

And he was not aware of how precious he was.

It was a miracle that such a person had not been eaten up until now.

Alwin smiled and said, "Since it's the decision of the adults, it's better if you just do as you're told."

The butler was silent. He looked at the slaves who were still 'going crazy' and shrugged, moving his eyes away in disgust.