Chapter 200: Do What You Have To Do
The people of Baron Vandus’s domain realized that the second son, who had left the domain as a child due to a commotion, had become the lord.
Normally, this process would have been a big topic for the people of the domain.
It was because taxes and various services, contributions, etc. changed depending on who the lord was.
It may seem like they only listed what the people had to give up, but that was the truth.
In the western continent, especially in the kingdom of Bagran, the people of the domain were practically the property of the lord.
Near the royal capital, there were several religious orders of various gods that had some influence, but it was impossible in rural domains.
You had to have money to have faith.
Anyway, the succession of Baron Leopold did not mean much to the people of the domain.
—Even if they turned us upside down and shook us, nothing but dust would come out.
—I wish they wouldn’t bother us with all kinds of events, whether they are lords or not…
Most of the people had lived in poverty for a few months after the previous lord and his wife died.
They barely survived on sour black bread and watery soup thanks to Carson, the administrator who was relatively well-off.
You can imagine how bad it was for those below him.
They had nothing to give up, so they had nothing to worry about.
That didn’t mean they dared to rebel against the lord.
They all saw the lord riding on Goliath, who blocked the dark iron mine.
The people murmured when they saw the giant golem as big as a rock moving with big strides.
“I heard that you can’t ride it unless you’re a full-fledged knight because of the magic circle. It’s strange…”
“Or maybe our lord is so strong that he can ignore all that?”
In fact, this was possible because Lucia helped with breaking the magic circle, but the commoners had no way of knowing that.
Anyway, Goliath, who blocked the entrance of the dark iron mine, was removed and now they only had to work.
That was under the premise that food was supplied smoothly.
Baron Leopold said this to the workers who asked for at least something to eat.
“Just hold on for a few days. A caravan will come from the royal capital. You’ll be able to eat well then, so start working from then on.”
No one would have followed him if he was anyone else, but they were dissatisfied.
Working in a dark iron mine was literally hard labor.
The air in the mine was inevitably mixed with saltiness and dust. When they finished working and blew their noses, salt mixed with dust came out.
Also, dark iron was deep inside, so digging down was a lot of work.
The workers did not easily believe that the lord promised to supply fresh water and food.
Where would that come from?
“There should be a caravan coming to our domain.”
“I heard he contacted the palace, but would that stingy prince allow it?”
But a few days later, a caravan came as if it were a lie.
And it was quite large.
Dozens of wagons and merchants unloaded food, firewood and other supplies. Carson, the administrator, looked blankly at them and got scolded by Leopold.
“What are you doing? Pay them. Are you going to send them back like that?”
“Ah, yes. Yes.”
Carson glanced at the royal emblem stamped on the side of the wagon.
He wondered how he managed to roast that prince alive.
Anyway, thanks to the lord’s care, the people of the domain did not starve for now.
The eyes of those who secretly admired him began to change subtly.
“Maybe our lord is a good person even though he looks grim…”
“I wish he would do something about that bastard…”
The food distribution was fair, but it didn’t reach everyone’s mouth accurately.
As soon as they returned home, some scoundrels snatched up their food.
They were two men named Maven and Alvin who were given authority by Carson because he couldn’t handle all the affairs of the village.
If they had taken a moderate amount and kept quiet about it, it would have been fine. But they took almost half of it and caused resentment among the people of the domain.
But no one dared to complain to the lord.
They were afraid that their heads would fly off like mercenaries.
No matter how much the lord cared for them, he was still a nobleman after all.
It was unreasonable for commoners to appeal directly to him.
“We can’t even complain to the administrator…”
“He appointed them himself. How would he feel if we objected?”
They all feared possible disadvantages by reporting corruption.
As always, power was not on the side of commoners.
It seemed like they would pass by quietly like that, but Baron Leopold personally brought Carson and entered the village.
Everyone looked up at the lord and he suddenly said.
“Are there any men named Maven and Alvin here?”
“…”
The two of them put on a fierce face and walked out with a bow.
They had some power in the village, but they were mice in front of a cat in front of the lord.
Even if he was a fake lord.
“Did you call us, my lord?”
“I heard rumors that you are stealing food from the people. Is that true?”
As expected, the two of them denied it with their hands up.
“What are you talking about? We never did such a thing.”
“It would be a big deal if we stole the food that you gave us, my lord.”
They kept saying that nothing like that happened even when he asked again.
Leopold crossed his arms and said.
“Normally, I should question your guilt through a fair trial. But I hate such troublesome procedures.”
“I am Leopold Vandus. The rightful heir of this domain. Therefore, your lives are also up to me. Now I will take them.”
“My lord!”
The two panicked and tried to get up when he said that.
Leopold drew his sword and swung it, cutting off their heads from their bodies in an instant.
Their heads rolled on the ground and the people couldn’t help but be horrified.
“They’re dead…”
“He cut off their heads in one breath…”
The people had heard rumors that the lord was impatient, but they didn’t know it was this bad.
Leopold sheathed his sword and said.
“Listen. I don’t care how you have lived until now. But from now on, I will judge everything. If I say it’s a sin, it’s a sin. If I tell you to do something, you have to do it.”
Gulp.
They all swallowed their dry saliva and looked at his face.
It was a common remark in the western continent, but it had a tremendous weight coming from the mouth of the lord who had just cut off two people’s heads.
The people of the domain finally recognized that Leopold Vandus, the baron, was their lord.
And that if they rashly defied him, their heads might fly off.
On the other hand, Leopold felt the need to change this bleak atmosphere.
You had to give them a bread or something after whipping them.
He returned to the mansion with Carson, the administrator, and said.
“I’ll tell you in advance that there will be no blame on the administrator for what just happened.”
Carson bowed his head deeply.
“I’m sorry, my lord.”
“The domain was so impoverished that all the useful people ran away and it was hard to control the people of the domain. But you don’t have to worry about that anymore. The administrator only needs to keep track of the numbers. I’ll make the decisions.”
“Yes… I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Give some extra food to the people and comfort them.”
The administrator should know how to stroke them when the lord raised his sword.
Carson felt confused as he heard his words.
He saw him cut off people’s necks like that and thought he had a violent temper, but he also showed some kindness.
He didn’t know which one was his true nature, but one thing was certain.
Baron Leopold was the absolute ruler of this domain and no one could oppose him.
***
“The estimated reserves of dark iron in the mine are about 200 million tons, but most of them are located deep underground, so it will be difficult to mine.”
“We only need to mine for a while. Anyway, we’ll switch to another method in a few years.”
The easiest and fastest way is to synthesize salt directly from smart farms.
You can get minerals in any other way.
Arma added.
“The only thing to note is that dark iron lacks certain nutrients, iodine. You have to add this separately.”
Countries that eat a lot of seafood naturally consume iodine, but there was no such culture in the kingdom of Bagran.
At best, they ate fish or shellfish, but that was difficult because of pirates.
Leopold nodded.
“There’s a salt refinery in front of the dark iron mine. Add a little bit at night.”
“Yes.”
“And the schedule is delayed?”
“It’s such a harsh environment… The preparation for Sardines fishing is not going well either. The net repair is delayed.”
It was because they lacked motivation.
They pretended to work because the scary lord told them to, but they didn’t know what benefit they would get from it.
In the case of the dark iron mine, there was some room for compromise because the work was so hard.
“More than anything, there are many doubtful eyes on whether Sardines will return. They haven’t seen it for several years…”
“If you look at the cycle of Sardines migration, this winter is certain, right?”
“That’s what I can guarantee.”
Arma said so then it was so.
Anyway, Leopold felt the need for a proper incentive system.
No matter how common they were, if they were only whipped, they wouldn’t have any motivation.
“How much should I pay them? How about the surrounding domains?”
“They had a very poor harvest this year and paid 80% of their income as taxes.”
“That’s totally robbery?”
It would be hard enough to survive with 10% of surplus grains for a year.
“We’ll start with 70%.”
The taxes that the people of the domain paid were not that important anyway.
It only served to stimulate the surrounding domains and attract immigrants.
Anyway, according to Arma’s information, poor farmers made their own gardens and grew various crops.
“They mainly grow a crop called goyam, which has no taste but grows well in barren land so they can barely survive.”
They didn’t eat well but just survived.
That was the life of farmers in this era.
“Instead of that, let’s think about introducing improved potatoes and sweet potatoes.”
“Okay.”
The potatoes and sweet potatoes genetically modified by 22nd century humans had amazing efficiency.
But he couldn’t expect them to be accepted by the people of the domain easily.
Humans tend to resist what they are not familiar with.
“There’s a way for that.”
Leopold stroked his chin and sank into thought.
His purpose for coming here was to meet the prophet.
But since he came here anyway, he thought it wouldn’t be bad to find something he could do.
Like world domination.
“I wonder if the prophet invited us here to ask us to fix this, what do you think?”
“I don’t know much about that, but I’ll do my best to help you if you order me.”
Arma’s attitude was unchanged, so he had to decide.
“On Earth, our goal was to establish a United Human Federation and stop the plague. Here, let’s set world unification as our goal for now. It’s more like unification than conquest.”
“Most of the population has experienced absolute monarchy, so it shouldn’t be too hard. But there’s a variable called elves.”
“I wonder if their god can withstand armor-piercing bullets?”
“I can’t be sure until I shoot them, but they don’t seem to be able to handle it according to the records of the dragon war.”
The only thing he was worried about was magic like mind control.
Neither Arma nor the Settler had any countermeasures for this.
But if he grew the domain and hired magicians to research, he could come up with enough countermeasures.
“Let’s just make a detailed roadmap for now, not start the conquest… I mean, unification right away.”
“Yes.”
“First of all, create a clear wage system and deliver it to the administrator. Limit working hours and give them weekends off.”
“Should I make a schedule like we did in the Silla Group?”
“The time here is not that tight, so it will be hard to apply a 10-minute schedule.”
There were clocks in the domain, but not everyone looked at them.
Many people lived by going to the field when the sun rose and returning home when the sun set.
Everyone using the same time was a shortcut to rapid development.
“Then I’ll copy the clocks and distribute them to each village.”
“Where did Lucia go? I haven’t seen her lately.”
“She’s looking for something on the border of Zaium Empire. It’s called Goliath, which was used in the ancient war, but I couldn’t confirm what it is.”
“She’s looking for something on the border of Zaium Empire. She said it was called Ancient Goliath, but I couldn’t confirm what it was exactly.”
“Really? Goliath of ancient times… It sounds good somehow.”
“I hope it’s a Goliath that can handle Master.”
According to Lucia, there weren’t many Goliaths that could handle Leo.
Even after lowering his ether sensitivity as much as possible and installing a sealing magic circle on his ether circuit, he had overloaded the Goliath of the Dark Flame Mine.
She judged that he might surpass Zaium’s Arc Knight or Elvrande’s Elven Knight if he released all his seals.
His actual ability far exceeded that, but he seemed to have some limitations in measurement because he was a young entity.
Anyway, her efforts were commendable enough.
“I’ll have to give her some work later.”
“Do you mean Walker?”
“They said there are golems in this continent, right? Magicians used them well.”
“Recently, the added value of Goliath has been higher, so all the materials have been invested in that direction. It’s hard to find golems. And they can only follow limited commands.”
“Goliath’s prototype was golem, right…”
By Leo’s standards, golems and walkers were similar.
The operating principles might be different, but aren’t they the same in that they perform specific tasks on their own?
The efficiency might be incomparable, but that wasn’t very important in Astera.
He wasn’t going to build a megacity or anything.
“We have no choice but to borrow the power of golems since we can’t cover everything with living metal.”
“Lucia said she could make her own legion with golems.”
“I didn’t know that was possible.”
“She said she got stronger thanks to Master’s care… She said she would make golems soon.”
“That’s good.”
The Plague Queen who was supposed to become a demon king and invade Astera became his loyal subordinate.
Her power was helping him in various ways, especially in the ether field.
It would be nice if they got along well, but she was originally the Plague Queen, so he didn’t know where she would jump.
“I need at least some deterrent…”
Leo thought about giving her a bomb necklace as a gift, but gave up.
That might break his trust instead.
She might shiver with betrayal if she knew she had a bomb necklace on her body.
“Let’s compromise by not letting go of surveillance when she comes back from Zaium.”
“I’m actually watching her right now.”
He was such a meticulous artificial intelligence.
After that day, clocks were hung on wooden towers in each village of Vandus’s domain.
The domain people were happy to see such expensive things hanging, but they were shocked to find out that they had to follow the instructions every time the bell rang.
“Get up together, eat together? And go home at the same time?”
“It’s too inconvenient to know what to do…”
There were complaints, but no one dared to protest to the lord.
The domain people had to get up, work, eat, and sleep together since the clocks and bells were hung.
Naturally, dissatisfaction piled up, but there were also unexpected benefits.
For meals, it was easier for the women since they only had to prepare once.
Also, it became easier to make schedules as they could use time precisely.
The domain people were confused, but gradually got used to dividing time.
It was their fate to do what they had to do.
***
Vandus’s domain was connected to the sea on the west side of the continent, and naturally had abundant fish resources.
But that didn’t mean they could make a lot of money by catching them.
The related technology was poor, and more importantly, shadow elf pirates appeared irregularly.
They were so traumatized by the pirates that many people evacuated as soon as something appeared in the distant sea.
As a result, the domain people who were ordered to repair the boats and mend the nets were trembling with anxiety.
They would do it because it was the lord’s order, but they were afraid that the pirates would attack.
“They kill people and cut off their noses and ears and loot… They’re worse than wood elves.”
“They even capture people who can be used as slaves, so we can’t live at all.”
Well, to Leo’s eyes, there was no difference between what ordinary wood elves did and what they did.
They didn’t know their infamy because they didn’t have to clash directly with Elvrande.
Bagran royal family or Zaium probably knew it very well.
Not that they were good guys either.
Anyway, people were skeptical about both the bad reputation of the shadow elves and the return of Sardines.
“We haven’t seen a shadow of Sardines in recent years. Will they really come back?”
“Even if they do, it won’t be that much. It’s not worth preparing for 100 people like this.”
It was a big blow if the Sardines didn’t come after almost 100 people spent a long time repairing boats and mending nets.
It wasn’t just time, but also the materials, manpower, food, etc. that went into it that Vandus’s domain couldn’t afford.
When people were anxiously waiting for Sardines, it happened.
The watchman with good eyes who was on the tower near the coast started shouting.
“Hey, hey! They’re here! They’re here!”
“What’s here!”
“What do you see across the sea?”
People asked and he raised his voice loudly.
“The sea is all white! It’s Sardines! Sardines is back!”
Soon enough, people could see that the sea was dyed white as he said.
The white thing was eggs and milt that Sardines spewed out during spawning season.
The people who had fishing nets cheered and raised their arms.
“Sardines is back!”
“Tell the lord!”
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