Mueller certainly did not know about the existence of the New Continent.

However, in some legendary novels in Europe, there are often descriptions of Northern European pirates once visiting a new land called "Vinland."

Some speculate that it is the legendary, lost Atlantis.

Others argue that Atlantis is closely related to the myths of the Greeks and should be located in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Losa knows that the so-called Vinland is actually Quebec in North America. Viking pirates traveled through the northern isles of Gael, passing through Iceland and Greenland, and sailed all the way to North America.

But knowing this is useless, even the closer East Africa is beyond his ability to explore, let alone the far-reaching New Continent.

In three days, Losa's first merchant fleet is set to embark on its maiden voyage.

They will carry wine, dates, salt, and linen dyed in the purple of grapes, which met little favor in the Holy Land, for a long voyage led by seasoned sailors.

Transjordan lacks lucrative specialties, a problem that Losa has always worried about; the largest salt mine has been monopolized by Reynard's territory.

When Losa experimented with Dragon Breath, he got an idea from the high-temperature crystallized sand—he plans to try to improve the glass-making techniques of this era.

The glassware produced by the major cities of Egypt like Cairo and Alexandria has long dominated the glass products market in the Levant Region.

It is even exported far to Western Liao, the Tatars, the Jin, and the Song.

The glass market in Europe, on the other hand, is dominated by commercial city-states such as Venice and Genoa.

Located so close to Egypt, the "Abyssinians," seen by Losa as the best targets to fleece, are naturally familiar with glass, too.

If someone tried to trade worthless green glass beads for gold and silver with the Abyssinians, they would likely be thrown into the sea as a fraud.

Rarity determines value.

If one wishes to carve out a share, or even take a big bite, of the glass product market, improvement is absolutely necessary.

Glass in this era is mostly varicolored, and Losa believes this is likely related to insufficient furnace temperature.

As for how to specifically improve the glass-making process, it is not something Losa excels at. In his previous life, he was an unfortunate humanities student who could at most propose an idea.

Just like gunpowder.

To truly implement it, he would have to rely on Marles, who has built a blast furnace.

…

Returning from the port, Losa passed by Saint Andrew's Church.

A Priest with a Mediterranean hairstyle was preaching to some newly converted believers. Seeing Losa passing by, he quickly stepped forward.

The church in Eira Port is under the jurisdiction of the Alandler Bishopric, equivalent to a branch.

In other words, the Priest here reports to Bishop Urding, who has almost never left Jerusalem nor visited the Alandler Bishopric.

As for the nuns and monks, they are all lay believers without Holy Orders.

The Priest made the sign of the cross: "Praise Heavenly Father, Count Losa, your persuasion of the heretics to convert to the true faith demonstrates your saint-like noble spirit. Heavenly Father will bless you."

Losa returned the gesture with a smile, "Thank you, Father, your contribution is also part of it."

The Priest smiled awkwardly, seemingly hesitant to speak.

Losa said, "It's okay, Father, you should know I'm quite a magnanimous Lord. If you need anything, just let me know."

The Priest lightly coughed and said, "My lord, I was thinking if we could levy a tithe to repair the church. As you know, since Eira Port fell, we have become more and more destitute. The murals in the church have not been repaired for a long time. Besides, I also wish to purchase a stained glass window to decorate the Holy Image."

Losa frowned slightly, wondering if they heard about his newfound wealth from ransacking a home and wanted to scrape money from his fingertips?

He then smiled, "Father, that's certainly fine, but you must know Eira Port has just stabilized, and everything is in the process of revival now."

"Building canals, digging wells, purchasing grain seeds, grapevines, training the coastal defense fleet, maintaining the standing army—each represents a huge expenditure."

"If my army is defeated, Eira Port will once again fall into the hands of the evil heretics; you should know what a terrible consequence that would be."

The Priest's smile froze, "Yes, indeed, I can understand your concerns."

He sighed inwardly, knowing that much of this money doesn't necessarily need to be spent on those lambs.

But he also knew that without spending this money, there wouldn't be so many converted believers—and he played a part in that too.

At this point, Losa shifted the conversation, "But you can try finding my financial housekeeper. Like me, he's a devout believer; if there's extra money in my treasury, he certainly won't hesitate to give you some for church repairs."

Unexpectedly finding a possible solution, the Priest left with many thanks.

Hans chuckled softly, "My lord, he probably has no idea what kind of stingy vampire he's about to face."

"Ha, don't say that, Kurs is your savior."

Hans was slightly taken aback, showing a hint of remorse, "Apologies, my lord, I really shouldn't speak of Mr. Kurs that way."

Losa couldn't help but smile, "Ha, don't be so serious. I indeed intend to have Kurs deal with that Priest."

From now on, he planned to hand over all these cumbersome affairs to Kurs.

As for him?

After so many years of warfare, couldn't he enjoy some leisure?

…

In the evening.

Losa held a bonfire banquet in his estate's garden.

There was seasoned, sizzling roasted meat, cut into thin slices by the chef, wrapped in clean cabbage leaves with a couple of cloves of garlic, making it a truly fulfilling meal.

Jeanne teased Furinjira, whose lips were glossy with oil, "Miss Furin, aren't vampires supposed to hate garlic?"

Furinjira rolled her eyes, "How could you, as the Grand Master of the Holy Knight Order, not know that so-called sunlight, silverware, and garlic can't restrain us?"

Jeanne lightly swirled her glass of wine, "Tsk, I knew those things don't affect you, but I thought they might make you somewhat averse."

"Speaking of which, hand me a chocolate bar."

Furinjira immediately frowned, "There aren't many, only a dozen or so each day, where's the spare to share with you?"

"Bah!"

Jeanne spat lightly.

This little girl alone must have secretly eaten so many times throughout the day that it couldn't possibly be just a dozen bars?

"I'm not interested in such girly snacks at all."

Losa suddenly remembered something, asking, "Oh, by the way, have any of you heard of a girl named Chelina?"

Furinjira immediately showed a vigilant expression, carefully putting away the cookie box and shaking her head, "Never heard of her, but she must be a glutton."

Prajna also shook her head.

However, Jeanne seemed to be contemplating, "It seems somewhat familiar."

She paused slightly and continued, "If it's not a duplicate name, she should be an old acquaintance of Urding's, she's a wolf race princess from the Two Sicilies."

"Werewolf?"

Losa frowned.

Jeanne shrugged, "Wolf race is a broad term; not all are werewolves. Many young wolves are of mixed blood and lack the ability to transform, having rooted in the human world for a long time, unlike those secluded vampires."

"Miss Furin, don't you even know this?"

Jeanne teased, "I must say, as a vampire princess, you're nowhere near competent."

Furinjira snorted lightly, "What's the point in knowing those things? Those who fight bloodily with the wolf race on the Balkan Peninsula are the barbarians of the Iskander clan."

"I see."

Losa was somewhat disappointed.

At the moment, he quite wishes to recruit a new warlock or Divine Archer as a ranged escort; as for close combat types like the wolf race, he really isn't lacking.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.