In reality, judging by the position, Ankera town was located right at the edge of the Forest of Withered Trees, on the border of the Winchester Kingdom. It was a small coastal town near the coastline, and it was a place where adventurers were active.
That place possessed a wharf of not insignificant scale. Many adventurers stepped onto their journey to search for Dragon Island from this very place.
Unfortunately, waves of adventurers grew old, spending hundreds of years, yet no one was able to discover the traces of Dragon Island.
The legends regarding the massive treasures and the unparalleled power of the Dragon species simply drifted away with the white-capped waves, leaving behind regret for countless generations.
The treasures of the dragon were not so easily found by people. They could not even find the entrance to the lair of the Black Dragon, let alone Dragon Island situated in the midst of the vast ocean, a place covered by eternal mist and violent storms.
Listening to this, Jasmine was also left speechless. She somewhat could not understand just how confident those people were in their own strength, to spend hundreds of years without giving up.
However, thanks to the stubbornness and greed of these adventurers, the maritime industry had developed inversely, turning Ankera from a poor fishing village into a bustling transit station.
Although the location of Ankera town was remote, it was no different from ordinary small towns. Ankera town had all the necessary facilities one would expect. The Black Dragon castle had to send someone at least once every year to resupply, so even though the old Butler had not taken a step out of the territory for nearly twenty years, he still understood Ankera town quite well.
He introduced Jasmine meticulously to every street and the position of every shop in Ankera town. Occasionally, he even interwove some related people and events. He even clearly remembered which blacksmith shop had the best craftsmanship and which tavern sold the most delicious barley beer.
The old Butler's eloquence was very good; he seemed to know how to evoke the emotions of the listener. Jasmine listened for more than half the day without feeling bored in the slightest.
Waiting until the old Butler had spoken until his throat was dry and stopped, Jasmine, feeling somewhat unsatisfied, clapped her hands and handed the bowl of vegetable soup she had not yet touched to the old Butler, telling him to moisten his throat.
"I plan to make a trip to Ankera town." Jasmine stated her purpose, her gaze looking steadfastly toward the old map spread out on the table.
The old Butler thanked the Lord for the reward and gently took a sip of the vegetable soup, which had cooled slightly, narrowing his eyes in satisfaction.
He did not know if it was his hallucination or not, but the cook's skills seemed to be much better than before. The vegetable soup, even without adding cheese and spices, tasted sweet and fresh when drunk, without any hint of the fishy smell of grass. It seemed she had learned how to process and prepare the ingredients better.
"When does My Lord plan to go?"
"As fast as possible. The food in the castle is not much left."
According to the previous rate of consumption, the amount of miscellaneous beans and wheat initially remaining could barely help the castle hold out for more than a month, until Knight Isaac brought provisions back.
But that calculation was based on a level of eating just enough to stay alive and not starve to death.
However, at present, Jasmine gave the slaves an extra breakfast every day. Although she used tofu pudding and bean sprouts to increase the volume of food, the quantity of beans consumed each day was still a little more than anticipated.
Jasmine had calculated that if they relied solely on the consumption of beans, at most, in about half a month, the reserve of beans in the castle would be completely exhausted. At that time, the entire castle would fall into a true crisis.
Originally, Jasmine had intended to use traps to catch a few small animals for the slaves to taste the flavor of meat. After all, meat was much better at staving off hunger than tofu pudding.
Unfortunately, the trap setting had failed. The wild beasts seemed wiser than she thought. Since the slaves had to do so much manual labor every day, Jasmine also did not want to cut their food rations.
Thinking it over and over, she felt it was better to go directly out to buy provisions. Taking the initiative to search for a source of supply was still better than sitting and waiting for death.
Jasmine had held this thought from before; it was just that initially, she planned to do it a bit later, waiting until after Knight Isaac returned to make further calculations.
"My Lord, will you not wait for Isaac to return?" Without a Knight protecting her side, this journey was not safe at all; bandits and ferocious beasts were always lurking.
"I see that the strength of the Minotaur and the Dwarves is quite good, actually." Jasmine ate the last piece of bread, took the towel the old Butler handed over to wipe the crumbs from her hands, and recalled in her mind the scene of the Minotaur easily lifting a large boulder.
The old Butler was stunned: "My Lord, you intend to take them along to Ankera town?"
Usually, slaves were not allowed to leave the perimeter of the territory. Furthermore, there was no noble who traveled without keeping a Knight guard by their side, instead using slaves as guards.
If the nobles in the Capital were to know of this matter, there was no telling how they would mock Jasmine. They would consider this an insult to the dignity of a noble.
Jasmine was a person whose character was such that she did what she said. That very day, she told the old Butler to help compile all the things needed to be brought to Ankera town to sell.
They were all gaudy clothes that were not very durable - silk and velvet materials were beautiful but had no use in this wilderness - and a set of silver tableware brought from the Capital, which, although slightly tarnished, still had significant weight.
Jasmine's total number of Gold Coins was less than two hundred. In the Capital, this amount of money would not even equal the income of an ordinary Knight for a year. There were also thirty or forty scattered silver coins.
This was all the spare money she had spent along the way previously.
The Winchester Kingdom used currency consisting of only two types: Gold Coins and Silver Coins. One Gold Coin was equivalent to one hundred silver coins.
It was said that some remote, poor places also used Small Coins, which was a type of gray-colored money made of silver mixed with other metals like copper or lead.
However, because this type of money had too many impurities, flourishing cities like the Capital did not acknowledge its existence, and it could only circulate in a number of small territories for petty transactions.
According to the old Butler's words, twenty years ago, Ankera town also used this type of Small Coin. He did not know what the situation was like now.