Chapter 192: Chapter 191: Financial Issues

The Guards watching over Swamp Castle had all been replaced by members of the Knight Squad from Pasture City. Meanwhile, the Guards from Sain Territory were all held in the castle prison, locked up with Finris Knight, as well as Reisen’s wife and daughter.

Ronin gave the manor a cursory tour.

Compared to Mountain Forest Castle, this place was clearly more luxurious. For one thing, it had quite a few Magic Crystal Lamps—items that were a rarity in Mountain Forest Castle.

However, the air was quite humid and there were many insects, requiring constant upkeep from the castle servants. Otherwise, things like furniture, clothing, and books would easily grow moldy.

After a quick look around, Ronin went to the castle’s keep and joined Galier in a brief interrogation of Reisen’s family and his Follower Knights.

When Finris saw Ronin sitting in the lord’s seat, he was finally convinced that Baron Reisen, the man he followed, was truly finished.

“Was it you, Joffrey? Did you betray Lord Reisen?” Finris, bound in iron chains, demanded through gritted teeth.

Joffrey stood at Ronin’s side. If not for Ronin showing him special favor, he would likely be dead in a Wushan Castle prison by now.

He held no fondness for Finris. The two of them had even argued back when Reisen had stationed Finris with the Black-collar Tribe.

“Reisen paid the price for his own stupidity. It has nothing to do with me.”

Joffrey said, “Finris, we’ve known each other for a while. I urge you to tell Lord Ronin and Sir Galier of Wushan Castle everything you know about Reisen’s relationship with the Skull Society. If you do, you might be spared some torture.”

Finris’s face darkened. He didn’t press the issue with Joffrey. Instead, he began to wonder, ’If I surrendered, would Ronin accept me like he did Joffrey?’

As soon as the thought occurred to him, his tone softened. But he truly didn’t know of any connection between Reisen and the Skull Society.

“I don’t know anything, but Philton might.”

Finris said, “Last December, Philton left Sain Territory and didn’t return for a long time.”

Galier looked at Ronin. “This Knight Philton…”

“My men will bring him here.”

Ronin said, “At the earliest, we’ll know by tomorrow.”

’Philton was captured too?’

Finris was shaken. ’Lord Reisen only went to Wushan Castle for the New Year’s celebration. What on earth happened in such a short time?’

Ronin didn’t stay in the keep for long. He wasn’t interested in the interrogation, nor did he intend to take a hard-to-control Professional Knight like Finris into his service.

On the contrary, he was more interested in the other, weaker Knights, and even the ordinary Guards and Archers who made up the Knight Squad of Sain Territory.

The Cavalry, Archers, and Infantry of Mountain Forest Town were still in training. If he could seamlessly absorb these men from Sain Territory, defending his own domain would become much more manageable.

He now had six locations under his control: Swamp Town, Mountain Forest Town, Cyan Bamboo Village, Purple Fruit Village, Grey Soil Village, and the Black-collar Tribe.

Swamp Town, needless to say, was the most populous place in the Wubei Territory and required people to guard and maintain it.

Mountain Forest Town was Ronin’s main base of operations, with its vast farmlands and the Ironwood Workshop, and it too required people to manage it.

Purple Fruit Village was his silk production base, and Grey Soil Village was his ceramics base; he couldn’t abandon them.

As for the Black-collar Tribe, he had learned from Joffrey that their land was extremely fertile with high crop yields. They had already reclaimed over six hundred acres of land and had even delivered over thirty-five tons of grain to Sain Territory last year.

This showed that the Black-collar Tribe also had immense value for development.

All things considered, it seemed only Cyan Bamboo Village lacked significant value. Ronin considered relocating the three hundred-odd people of the Cyan Bamboo Tribe first.

“You’re the steward of Swamp Castle?”

Ronin picked a room at random and had Joffrey bring in Reisen’s steward.

“Yes, my lord.”

This was a middle-aged man with short brown hair. He probably looked quite energetic on a normal day, but after several days of imprisonment, he now appeared extremely haggard.

“Your former master, Reisen, committed the crime of assassinating a nobleman and has been stripped of his title and territory. I, Roning Wushan, am now the new master of Swamp Town. Tell me about the production, operations, and financial status of Swamp Castle, and I will permit you to continue living on this land.”

“Sailin is happy to serve you, my lord!”

Just as when he had first taken over Mountain Forest Castle, Ronin didn’t need Reisen’s servants to work for him. He could, however, get information about the castle from them.

Sailin was clearly a competent steward; he had a firm grasp of Swamp Town’s finances.

Take the breeding of Black Water Buffalo, for example—he knew the exact number of cattle on the ranch.

There were 82 adult bulls and 566 cows, plus another 164 calves.

Ronin made a rough calculation. If each animal sold for an average of 20 Gold Coins, selling the entire herd would net him over sixteen thousand Gold Coins.

Of course, a price of 20 Gold Coins was likely too low.

Black Water Buffalo were large and excellent for plowing. A single, slightly higher-quality animal was comparable in value to an ordinary warhorse and could easily sell for 30 gold coins.

However, compared to the horse industry in Pasture City, Reisen’s buffalo business was much smaller in scale—he didn’t even have a thousand head of cattle in total.

Ronin planned to allocate some of these cattle to Mountain Forest Town and Black Earth Village to accelerate land reclamation and increase grain harvests.

In addition, Ronin learned from Sailin that Reisen also ran an aquaculture business dealing in fish and shrimp. Although it couldn’t compare to the operations in Lake Town, it still generated a tidy income each year.

In total, several thousand Gold Coins from Swamp Town ended up in Reisen’s pockets each year.

The only drawback was the lack of good farmland. To feed his territory’s population, Baron Reisen had to purchase grain from outside sources.

This was precisely why he had set his sights on the Black-collar Tribe to the north. The thirty-five tons of grain they’d supplied last year had saved him a considerable expense.

Besides this information, Ronin also learned the approximate population of Swamp Town from him: over ninety-eight hundred people.

Once Wilson arrived and completed a census, the registered population of Ronin’s territory would easily surpass ten thousand.

Based on his past experience completing the [Prosperous Fortune] achievement, Ronin wondered if he might complete two tiers of the [Population Prosperity] achievement at once.

After all, the second tier of the achievement only required a registered population of five thousand, so it was highly likely the third tier was set at the ten-thousand mark.

However, Ronin still hadn’t figured out how to complete the [Siege and Conquest] achievement.

’Logically, since I’ve now occupied Sain Territory, it should be complete,’ he thought. But the achievement’s status remained unchanged.

Ronin guessed it might have something to do with the word “city.”

Swamp Town was still just a town, not a city.

Whether a territory could be called a “city” depended primarily on its population size.

’If Swamp Town’s population surpasses ten thousand, could it be considered a city?’

Ronin decided to wait until after the census in Swamp Town was complete. Then, he would consider whether to leave some of the thousand-plus slaves he’d purchased from the Poisonous Snake Slave Exchange in Swamp Town to bring the population up to the ten-thousand mark.

Completing as many achievements as possible to obtain Attribute Points and Energy Essence was a top priority for him right now.

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