Chapter 3: Our lord has become a different person! (Part 1)
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‘Master has definitely changed! For the first time in ten years, he fell asleep at his desk while he was reviewing the documents in the office, and he’s even going over the documents while he’s at the training grounds in the morning!’
Haze is currently watching Jared, who’s walking quietly by himself on the training grounds, through the window. It has already been an hour since Jared had started walking on the training grounds.
Haze doesn’t understand. Until just yesterday, Jared had been a lazy person who found it too bothersome to even move from the bedroom to the office.
But to go out and walk for more than ten minutes? This is something that would never happen. The most he’s walked in his life is probably the last time he went out for territory inspection. Of course, he had no choice in this, since he had to walk to the main gate of the mansion to get on the carriage. Walking to the carriage didn’t take more than a few minutes.
‘I wonder what happened? Did my prayers really go through? Even the head maid and the butler said the same thing—Master has changed.’
The Jared that Haze remembers was always fed up with troublesome daily tasks, lazily blinking away in sleepiness. The only time his face lit up with life was when he ate delicious food. But those lifeless eyes are no longer anywhere to be seen. What remains is a spark of burning passion! This is a huge change.
‘Did my prayers really go through?’ Haze can’t help but recall the past.
She had prayed for him to go back to being a handsome and wonderful lord, reminiscing about the young Jared, who had been intelligent and lively. Everybody had shaken their heads and given up, but Haze had faith that her lord would one day come to his senses!
And just like that, her faith seems to have borne fruit. Her wish has come true, so much so, that it feels like everything was just a dream.
‘But I shouldn’t like it too much, just in case. Don’t make a fuss, calm down!’ Haze chides herself.
She feels very happy, but she also wants to be careful. After all, Jared is a precious person to her.
“This d**n body! I’m walking very slowly but I’m already out of breath. Wow. To think I’m sweating bullets from merely walking on this cold day. My stamina is trash.”
It has been more than an hour since I started strolling on the training grounds. Not gonna lie, I thought I’d never get so tired from just walking. I didn’t think my stamina was that bad but my whole body has gotten drenched in sweat.
“Huff…”
Disregarding my will, my body keeps signaling it wants to rest. On top of that, I’m seriously craving something sweet. In my past life, I wasn’t a fan of chocolates. The only sweet thing I liked at most was candy, but this body never fails to think about sweet chocolates every few seconds.
I’ve been keeping myself away from the meat and sweets I used to stuff myself with, ever since I started to control my diet yesterday. It feels like I’m going through a withdrawal.
“Slurp.”
Saliva automatically forms when I think of sweets. When I remember I can’t eat them, my hands tremble.
“No, I can’t. I’m not going to eat. I said I won’t.”
I continue to look through the documents, forcibly suppressing my appetite. In my hands are documents relating to the territory; lengthy documents on the land’s condition. These are documents I had Haze bring me last night, but it’s taken quite a while to go through it all since there’s just so much.
Just as I was about to read the last page,
[You have succeeded in obtaining information about Caribia Territory.]
[The current information of Caribia Territory will be updated to ‘Jared’.]
The system message pops up as if it had been waiting this whole time.
From a glance, I can see it’s the kind of information I saw frequently while I was managing territories in <Paradiso> in the past.
‘I guess the game system followed me to this time. But of course, this is a skill only I have!’
It’s easy to realize this information window is special because I still have knowledge from the past.
To be able to have a special feature from the game system is the only privilege I can enjoy as an extra.
“Let’s see…”
[Territory Information – Caribia Territory]
[Grade / Country of Affiliation: F / None]
[Domestic – Agriculture: 15 / 050]
[Domestic – Commercial: 16 / 050]
[Domestic – Security: 75 / 100]
‘What the. Is this a territory or just a piece of land meant to be thrown away? Just how much has Jared looked like a pushover for the king of bandits to send this trash?’
I’m beyond flabbergasted to see the updated land information.
None of the domestic figures were correct. The system is obviously full of errors because there’s just no way for this territory to have that high of a security stat; the level of security required is very low since the land is a small F-grade territory.
If you go to a large territory, it’s not uncommon for the maximum amount of security stat displayed on the right side of the slash to be 1000, or even 10000, instead of 100! In other words, Jared’s management of the territory had been a mess until I woke up. To sum it up nicely, it was neglected.
This is no longer just a game, it’s a reality now. If we keep going on like this, it’s basically saying ‘let’s all die together.’
‘Loyalty 18… This is the equivalent to the citizens cursing a crap ton whenever they think of me.’
It makes me feel worse knowing the citizens’ loyalty is that bad. At this point, whether they are eating, drinking, or whatever, they would be cursing at me. In nicer words, they’re full of complaints.
‘Yeah, let’s not get flustered about this. I already knew that this was a barren land from the get-go and that the management of the territory was an utter mess.’ I calm my heart.
It’s not like this is something I didn’t expect—I’ve known since long ago. From the time I woke up and saw whose body I’m in.
This is also just a hurdle to withstand and overcome. There’s no need to feel discouraged.
I’m someone who has the experience of transforming an even more messed-up territory into an S-grade territory in <Paradiso>! Of course, this was when my level was higher, but it still means it’s not impossible.
‘Let’s first check if there’s anyone in the territory who can be useful.’
I start looking through the documents containing the vassals’ information. The reason why the state of the land has been a mess so far may have been because most talents had not been placed in the right positions. If they hadn’t been entrusted with a task at all, the territory wouldn’t have been able to operate. Seeing how the territory is still able to function, it’s highly likely that they were individuals that were only equipped with well-rounded basic skills.
After reading the documents for a while,
“Wow, he sent this person, who has talent in marketing, to farmland development?”
“What the, why send a former military general to govern commercials…?”
“He left a notorious delinquent in charge of security??”
“The head of the territory’s guild of merchants is a rookie… who hasn’t worked very long in the field!”
I’m astonished. There’s not a single person assigned to the right place. Everything is a mismatch.
Looking at the summary of past activities, one can clearly see which field each person is interested in and capable of. However, that hasn’t been considered at all here.
To run a territory in <Paradiso>, it was common sense to assign talents according to their individual flairs, competencies, and propriety. The more you work in your field of interest, the more synergies you get. This is natural common sense.
However, in <Paradiso>, there were many cases where talent placement was messed up, resulting in the territory management falling into ruin. In order to prevent such mishaps, the user needed to interview these talents from time to time and listen to complaints to figure out their desired work area.
But even that was annoying so many users often just filled the necessary positions and left them unmonitored. Of course, the ending for such a user was obvious; you just lose your land and become an empty-handed, wandering user.
If territory management is such a simple matter that can be done in such a crude manner, I’m confident that I would’ve become the top ranker in <Paradiso>.
In conclusion, it’s hard to manage subordinates.
‘Let’s call up the vassals first. It should be easy to figure out their dispositions since I have Mind’s Eye.’
– Hand over my Mind’s Eye!
“Isabella, you haven’t left yet? And no, I don’t wanna. Mind’s Eye is essential for territory management. I will never give it back.”
– Let’s see how long you last without giving it back!
“You can take it if I die. I don’t know when I’ll die though.”
– Give me back my eye!
Ignoring Isabella’s sudden appearance, I head to the office. The first personnel reorganization would be carried out. In its current state, the management is on the verge of collapse. I have to prevent that first.
“Let’s see…”
While I wait for the vassals, I once again check my stats as a mage. The mana stat isn’t very high yet, so I can’t use magic to my heart’s content. But my current understanding level of 4th-class magic is plenty.
Blink. Flicker. Blink.
A magic sphere appears and disappears repeatedly above my hand. It keeps getting canceled at the casting stage, but fortunately, there aren’t any problems with the mana flow in my body because I’ve trained with mana uncountable times thanks to my father.
I’d practiced ‘Eucalates Mana Psychology’, the technique that has been passed down in my family from generation to generation since I was young. After the age of ten, I’d become so used to it that the mana circulates even when I’m just breathing.
For this reason, even though I’d given up on training this skill due to the shock of my father’s death at the age of fifteen, my body had been repeating the process on its own.
Knock, knock, knock.
At that moment, there came a few knocks
“Everyone, please come in.”
At the sound of my voice, the vassals that had been called to the meeting files into the office one by one.
‘What’s this smell?’
Something is off. In this somber place where the lord has convened his retainers, there’s a stench of alcohol.
‘What a disaster. Looks like it’s necessary to re-establish the lord’s authority.’
I tightly clench my fists. As a matter of fact, the authority of a lord is closely linked to how loyal his vassals are. If you run a territory like water flowing in a stream, you’re definitely bound to fail as a lord.
I rise from my seat.
Then, bellow at the vassals.
“Who is it? Which one of you came to this meeting after drinking in broad daylight?!”
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