I Inherited a Beautiful Wife and a Territory - Chapter 55

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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 055

55. Serpent’s Corpse

The introduction of a new method instead of the existing one.

When something goes beyond one’s common sense, people naturally become anxious.

“Oh my. What is our lord thinking?”

“You’re telling us to plant seeds when winter is coming?”

Plant in spring and harvest in autumn.

Winter was the season of death. What would they do if the seeds died in that cold weather…

Some seemed to be holding back from saying more than that.

Nigel sighed as he watched this.

‘The lord was right.’

The people here now were not domain residents.

All the domain residents who owned their own fields were busy with harvesting. Cliff had deliberately delayed the autumn wheat sowing on their fields.

-Give seeds only to those who want to do it.

This was Cliff’s order.

And Cliff had only called his slaves and soldiers. This was a kind of military farming system he was implementing for the first time.

“Stop complaining and get started. After all, the lord is providing all the seeds, and isn’t the lord responsible for the food you’ll eat?”

“Well, we’ll do it, but…”

“Still, common sense tells us this is really…”

Those grumbling.

Most of them were soldiers. The slaves who participated here said nothing at all.

Gusillon frowned.

“Even if farming isn’t their job, their attitude toward orders is hardly befitting of warriors.”

“Sigh. Please understand. Even so, they have the strongest loyalty to the lord.”

“Hmph.”

Gusillon snorted at Nigel’s words.

Strong loyalty?

Then they wouldn’t be making such sounds. They should trust and begin.

Of course, sometimes offering advice when something truly seems wrong is also loyalty. However, their method was wrong.

‘A loyal retainer advises their lord directly, not someone who speaks behind their back as if inciting the crowd.’

Perhaps in the past, even if they were like that, they were indeed an organization with strong loyalty. What changed them was that life had gradually become comfortable.

Now it was time for their true nature to be revealed.

‘Didn’t they say they recently returned victorious from a territorial war?’

Perhaps that was the main factor?

Still, befitting an organization said to have strong loyalty, only a few showed dissatisfaction. Most people were not swayed by this and simply moved according to orders.

“This reminds me of when we worked to build charcoal kilns before.”

“Sigh. Right. Come to think of it, that was around the same time as now…”

“What the lord did was right then, and it will be right now too.”

This was the kind of talk most of them had.

Still, the work of digging up the ground itself wasn’t difficult. There were no oxen or horses to pull the plow, but instead there were wolves that could fulfill that role.

Gusillon shook his head as he watched the wolves pulling the plows.

“…Those disgusting creatures are helping with farming, honestly.”

This domain didn’t follow Gusillon’s common sense.

Actually, it wasn’t the domain but the lord.

The lord here truly showed new aspects the more you got to know him. For Gusillon, the lord was becoming frightening.

‘To think he’d keep such monsters next to the manor…’

As far as Gusillon could tell, this domain was full of monsters.

First, there were the Shadow Wolves currently digging the ground and pulling plows.

Those wolves were fine, but the individual called Hades was already a high leader-class monster.

And Kyuung.

“Kyuuu!”

“Stop there!”

“Come with us!”

Right now it was herding geese and playing with children, but how sinister was the power hidden within?

Of course, the magical power Kyuung possessed was pure, but it was too overwhelming.

If you faced it, you’d feel like an avalanche that sweeps away everything was covering you.

And those corpses that the monster bear probably hunted.

The shock he felt when he saw them came flooding back.

Mellie was the first to discover it.

“Kyaaaah!”

She was so startled that she, an elder-level person, screamed like an ordinary woman.

“Wh-what is that? Why is the lake’s monster dragon…!”

“You knew that snake lived in this lake too, Elder?”

Cliff was surprised by a different aspect than her.

From his perspective, it was natural. He had already seen the Serpent killed by Kyuung.

He had directly experienced the fear that the Serpent emitted at that time.

Mellie trembled all over.

“…When our clan moved to the forest, we investigated the surroundings. We came here first and investigated before people lived here.”

So that’s what happened.

Cliff nodded.

He had been wondering about it. Gusillon understood the climate here too well.

“I saw that lake snake then. It wasn’t this big at the time…”

Even so, the threatening magical beast was precisely the Serpent.

Of course, if the Dark Elves had used their full power back then, they might have caught it. If only the Serpent hadn’t hidden in the lake.

“Kyuung caught it.”

Cliff explained this matter-of-factly.

At that explanation, Mellie’s pupils shook.

“As expected…”

Having already seen Kyuung, she seemed to have guessed who killed the Serpent.

Nodding her head, she seemed surprised by a different aspect this time.

“Where on earth did you meet such a powerful spirit beast?”

Kyuung, who now only served as a cute mascot for children to ride.

But its true identity was a powerful spirit beast that could bite even a Serpent to death. It was also the guardian spirit of this domain.

‘Though the restriction of not being able to leave the domain is too critical.’

Cliff smiled.

If asked where he met it, it would be difficult to answer. Actually, it was a very easy problem that even children knew, but it wasn’t an event that those who hadn’t seen it directly would believe.

“In the snow.”

Cliff simply said this.

“Perhaps…”

As if she had some guess about something, she muttered and then changed the subject.

“No. More importantly, lord. Why didn’t you use that Serpent’s hide and bones to make armor and weapons?”

Cliff made a bitter expression at those words.

Did she think he wouldn’t want to make them?

“There are no craftsmen in this domain who can handle such materials.”

The moment Cliff spoke.

Mellie smiled.

“That’s fortunate. Our clan will be able to help you even more, lord.”

At her words, Cliff’s eyes changed.

Cliff turned his head and looked at her.

“Are there people among the Dark Elves who can use those materials?”

It had already been quite some time since Kyuung had bitten the Serpent to death.

During that time, Cliff also wanted to don the Serpent’s hide and create swords for Teobaldt and others using the Serpent’s fangs.

‘If only that were possible.’

But it wasn’t feasible.

While they somehow managed to separate the hide, only a considerable craftsman could create good equipment from that hide.

Though the people of Elimis Domain were skilled with their hands, he couldn’t entrust such precious materials to them based on that alone.

Such materials could only be entrusted to the most renowned masters in the country.

“Of course.”

But Mellie nodded confidently.

“There’s a girl named Shasha. She’s the woman who gave birth to Lin, whom you know, my lord.”

Lin, who had first demonstrated shadow stealth techniques to him.

She was nearby. She would be listening to the conversation between Mellie and himself from within his shadow right now.

“She would gladly sew clothes from that hide for you, my lord. Her needlework skills are the best in our clan. I’m confident she’ll create more excellent clothing than entrusting it to any human craftsman.”

Mellie praised the female dark elf named Shasha.

Cliff’s eyes sparkled.

“Then should I send the hide there?”

“There’s no need. Shasha will come here too. Her skills can be put to precious use for you, my lord.”

Having finished speaking, Mellie now looked at the Serpent’s bones, stripped of hide, organs, flesh and all.

Bones that remained intact despite being left outside for a long time.

They appeared sturdy without any damaged parts.

“…And the eighth elder, Marun, is our clan’s greatest blacksmith. He’ll probably come with the people our clan sends to you, my lord.”

A blacksmith.

Cliff’s eyes sparkled the moment he heard it.

Blacksmiths were precious resources in any domain. Neither Cliff’s Elimis Domain nor the conquered Ballard Domain had any blacksmiths when he investigated.

That’s why it took time after establishing the army for all of Cliff’s soldiers to have iron swords.

And now a blacksmith had appeared.

‘If we can just obtain iron, independent weapon production becomes possible!’

They could arm themselves without purchasing weapons.

That alone was a great advantage. Above all, the reason Mellie was mentioning the blacksmith now.

“With his skills, he should be able to create weapons and armor using this Serpent’s bones.”

With Mellie mentioning this much, Cliff became thoroughly excited.

Just as Cliff’s eyes sparkled and he became childlike with anticipation, Mellie observed his expression and brought up the main point.

“And my lord…”

Mellie’s voice changed subtly.

Depending on how one listened, it sounded almost like she was seducing him. But naturally, that wasn’t Mellie’s reason for acting this way.

“Surely someone as wise as you, my lord, wouldn’t have thrown away the Serpent’s blood?”

She looked at Cliff and brought up her business.

Actually, from the moment she began recommending dark elf talents one by one, Cliff had been thinking.

‘There’s no reason that woman, who’s a mage and seems very interested in magical research, wouldn’t covet the Serpent’s blood.’

The Serpent’s blood was also precious.

Though not as much as dragon’s blood, it was still wyvern blood.

It would be stranger not to covet such blood. Cliff himself simply hadn’t used it separately due to his lack of knowledge in such matters.

“Do you also know alchemy?”

“Of course. While I’m confident in offensive magic, my original specialty is alchemy.”

She nodded.

Cliff also pondered after hearing those words, then nodded.

“Fine. It’s better for someone who needs it to use it rather than leaving it unused anyway.”

Cliff said.

“However, all research materials and results using that blood belong to the Elimis Family.”

Mellie smiled at Cliff’s words.

“Agreed.”

Cliff spoke to her again.

“And… please promise to raise a disciple in this domain who will inherit your research.”

“Even if they’re human, all who wish to learn knowledge are my disciples. I’ll gladly leave my knowledge here, my lord.”

With that, it was settled.

Mellie thus became the domain’s official teacher.

In exchange, she received the Serpent’s blood that had been stored in the domain.

“Ahh.”

Upon receiving the Serpent’s blood, she even wore an ecstatic expression.

At that moment, he honestly felt an off-putting madness emanating from her.

‘Like a witch.’

But now he thought he probably had a similar expression.

“I am Belgimov, the second elder of the clan.”

“I am Marun, the eighth elder of the clan.”

The dark elf party had finally arrived.

Among them was Marun, whom Mellie had mentioned.

The woman named Shasha was also there. She looked at the Serpent’s hide and made an expression similar to Mellie’s.

Marun was the same.

“…Wait! Aren’t these the fangs and bones of the magical beast from the lake? Such precious things are here… Oh!”

Marun cast off his initially heavy demeanor and became excited like a child.

He dropped to his knees with a thud.

“M-my lord. I beg you. Please entrust these to this Marun. I will gladly present you with the finest weapons for your sake!”

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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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