I Inherited a Beautiful Wife and a Territory - Chapter 15

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Inheriting a Beautiful Wife and Estate Episode 015

15. Strange Lord

【Winter Preparation 1】

Content: A harsh winter is approaching. As a lord, you must prepare so that the commoners can spend the winter warmly and safely.

Secure sufficient heating resources and food, as well as means to prepare for any possible accidents.

Give the commoners a warm winter!

Conditions

-Secure charcoal (3.195/100.000t)

Rewards

-Estate experience 50

-Lord experience 50

-Winter Preparation 2 Quest available

‘Oh, it’s a chain quest!’

Cliff’s eyes lit up.

He had never imagined this before.

Then he just needed to proceed as planned.

Cliff opened his mouth.

“How many more kilns like this can you make?”

“It depends on how much time you give us. If we work with the people we’ve coordinated with this time, to build one kiln… this time it should take about 8 days.”

8 days for one kiln?

That wouldn’t do. This was pure construction time. It also took a similar amount of time for a kiln to produce charcoal once.

‘There’s too little time.’

Winter preparation was something that had to be finished before winter came.

And this was Winter Preparation 1.

And there was also 2.

There might even be a 3. He didn’t know how far they’d make him go, but he wanted to succeed at everything.

‘The period until winter is roughly 50 days.’

During those 50 days, he would really burn through everything.

For that, he first needed people to build kilns.

“If the current team members become team leaders and we assign able-bodied men to each, how many could you make?”

“The time we spent building our first one was about 11 days. But since we’ve already done all this work… fast teams could make a kiln in 7 to 8 days, and even slow ones within 9 days.”

“9 days, you say…”

Cliff’s eyes sparkled.

They were pressed for time right now.

For reference, the current team, excluding Anton who was speaking, was 9 people total.

’10 teams.’

How many people should he mobilize for each team?

When he had recruited soldiers, over a hundred able-bodied men had easily shown up.

And now the harvest season was ending too. He needed to call all of them to work.

“Nigel.”

“Yes, Lord’s representative.”

“You and the other mansion servants and maids all saw the charcoal being produced in the kiln, right?”

“That’s true, but…”

Nigel looked as if asking why he was asking this.

Cliff’s eyes sparkled.

“Then I’ll entrust this kiln to you. You can’t rest. To produce as much charcoal as possible, the kiln must keep working hard continuously.”

This was simple but arduous work.

Above all, they had to watch the kiln carefully without sleeping.

“And have the soldiers go out now and each bring back three or four able-bodied men. Tell them we’ll put them to work and feed them well during that time. While working, and of course after the work is finished, they’ll each be able to receive a bag of wheat.”

Lords of this era had conscription rights.

They could call upon their domain’s people and order them to perform labor. There was no need to pay wages to the laborers, nor any need to provide food.

Truly absolute power.

They would be dragged here by the lord to work while buying food with their own money or bringing packed lunches.

‘It’s really unfair. It’s good from my position, but anyway, all of this is being done to save people.’

He intended to provide rations even without forced labor.

If he didn’t, people might die from the intensity of the work. The people here were all malnourished without exception.

‘It would be really nice if I could give them meat too…’

Unfortunately, that was difficult.

Still, it was quite fortunate.

Thanks to the trade with merchant Tom and the subjugation of Bellman, the estate had sufficient provisions. Also, since there were no taxes this year, each household would have more leeway than usual.

A great construction project for the estate proceeding instead of taxes.

‘Before that…’

Cliff examined his status window.

The estate status window, the most spacious among the status windows.

[Ellemis Domain (Lv. 3)]

[Economy (Lv. 1)] [Military (Lv. 1)]

[Culture (Lv. 0)] [Environment (Lv. 1)]

[Mana (Lv. 0)] [Special (Lv. 0)]

[Diplomacy (Lv. 0)] [Education (Lv. 0)]

[Remaining Points: 1]

‘Should I look at Environment first?’

The Environment category level that had risen automatically.

Thanks to that, skill points had been generated.

-Fertile Land (Lv. 0): Soil quality improves, increasing crop growth speed and quality

-Resource Regeneration (Lv. 0): Slows the depletion rate of resources like forests and rivers

-Disease Prevention (Lv. 0): Reduces occurrence rate of epidemics and pests

-Climate Immunity (Lv. 0): Grants heat and cold resistance to living beings

‘Oh!’

There wasn’t a single one that didn’t look appealing.

Still, option 2 was excluded for now.

‘I don’t really feel resource depletion yet.’

To feel this, the current number of commoners was nowhere near enough.

More people were needed.

Only then could he feel resources being consumed.

‘So looking at just right now, Climate Immunity would be right…’

Increased probability of surviving the cold winter.

It wouldn’t make winters warm or summers cool, but it would build resistance to heat and cold.

Nothing was more important than this for winter preparation.

‘I have 3 skill points for now.’

At least one of them had to be invested.

So his choices were Climate Immunity 2 and Disease Prevention 1.

He didn’t choose land this time either.

‘I’ll have another chance to raise it later.’

Winter preparation came first.

Colds were also infectious diseases(?), so Disease Prevention would be right, wouldn’t it?

And he invested the remaining point directly into Military.

‘This time it’s physical training!’

Stamina increased just by receiving training diligently.

But still, there were limits to what could be raised through that alone.

He was planning to deploy even the soldiers for forced labor. Truly a mobilization order issued to the entire estate.

There are absolutely no exceptions here.

“Here.”

When the work was about to begin, Cliff handed a shovel to Teobaldt.

He seemed to be thinking about Cliff’s intention for a moment.

Then he accepted the shovel that was offered to him.

“Let’s dig.”

“…Am I doing this too?”

“Of course. Did you forget that you’re the finest labor force in our estate?”

Teobaldt frowned.

‘What do you mean finest. He’s literally treating me like a slave.’

But there was nothing he could do about it.

He picked up the shovel. And as Cliff said, he headed to where the workers had gathered.

The person who had become team leader was giving instructions on what to do.

First, they needed to level and compact the ground.

“Our team is going to finish first!”

The person who had become team leader was full of ambition.

It was natural.

He too was a slave. Originally captured by Bellman, he was later owned by the lord.

He was able to stay in his homeland, but became a slave instead.

Most of the workforce that built the first kiln were in the same situation.

So Cliff declared:

“I’ll free whoever finishes their work first. How about that?”

Of course, this didn’t apply to Teobaldt.

“Even if the others are freed, they’ll become my people anyway, but you’re different, aren’t you?”

Cliff explained the reason this way.

Because Teobaldt was someone who would leave immediately.

Teobaldt gripped his shovel and got into position. But rather than starting work, he hesitated and stopped.

‘What is this?’

He saw an unbelievable sight.

And it wasn’t just him – all the workers felt the same way.

“L-Lord’s representative?”

What lord’s representative in the world would be standing among them holding a shovel?

“What are you just staring at? Why aren’t you moving your hands right now? You’re not planning to make a spectacle of me, a noble, while you all slack off, are you? This estate is really strange. Isn’t it normal for subordinates to shovel so fast their hands become invisible when their superior is working?”

Cliff scolded them and began digging.

At his words, people couldn’t stop him and picked up their shovels. Even the team leader, who had only been giving instructions, grabbed a shovel.

Only one person wasn’t moving – Teobaldt.

“…Are you working too, master?”

“Of course. If you’re the top labor force in our estate, then I’m second. Right now, you and I need to dig quickly so the work can be finished even a day sooner. But with the master working like this, isn’t a servant resting too much?”

Cliff.

He had been a suspicious person from the beginning.

But today, rather than suspicious, his appearance was fascinating and made him laugh.

‘The greatest labor force…’

It was a strange feeling.

He had heard the same words earlier. But then he had felt cynical, thinking he was being treated not as a knight but as a slave. Now it felt warm.

He felt recognized.

That’s what it felt like.

It reminded him of those moments in childhood when he received praise from his master.

“Don’t worry. Just because I, the estate’s top labor force, rest a little, would my work output be less than my master’s?”

“Oh, really? Want to make a bet?”

“What kind of bet?”

“If you win, I’ll let you bathe in warm water today. Hey, Team Leader. You be the judge.”

Cliff resumed work as he spoke.

Teobaldt laughed once more at Cliff’s attitude.

“Fine. Let’s do that bet. Today I’ll bathe in warm water for the first time in a while.”

“I’ll even add slime.”

“I can’t lose then.”

The two people called the estate’s top labor force.

Those words weren’t wrong.

In just a few hours, all the leveling work was finished. Work that could have taken up to two days was completed in not even a full day, but half a day.

“…I lost, I lost.”

Cliff raised both hands in surrender.

Since they had started work late, it was already evening.

Now it was time to stop working.

“Everyone disperse and get plenty of rest. You need to work tomorrow too. Good job.”

Cliff dismissed the workers.

“Let’s go. I’ll let you bathe as promised.”

Cliff kept his promise.

However, it was in a way Teobaldt could never have imagined.

“…Do you prefer men?”

“Hardly.”

“Even if it’s not true, such rumors will spread.”

Right now, two men were in the bathtub together.

Cliff chuckled and spoke.

“Refusing flowers and calling for a man is that serious a matter.”

“Who cares. And even if that were true, there wouldn’t be anyone bold enough to dare spread such rumors. Your face is scary enough. If they don’t want to die, how could they gossip about you and me?”

Crack.

Something about what he said was irritating.

One thing was certain.

‘He really is an unpredictable person.’

Lord’s representative Cliff.

He was curious.

About why he was going through such hardships.

“Why… do you go through such hardships, even using your own body? Even without doing this, this winter wouldn’t be a threat to you and your lady, would it?”

“Hmm. That’s true. But… living alone is no fun, right?”

Cliff pondered before answering.

“Everyone should live. I have no hobby of looking at corpses. When I see people who seem like they’ll have funeral after funeral this winter if left alone, how can I just sit still?”

Because of such thoughts, he personally picks up a shovel and joins the work site?

What a strange lord.

Yes, truly an ideal lord.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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