Chapter 53: Chapter 52: Population Structure

Many of the Free People in Mountain Forest Town could trace their origins back to the Wushan Territory’s Alliance Army, which had suppressed the noble resistance.

Take Tom, who surrendered, for instance. His father was a Professional Knight who died in the Battle of Mountain Forest Town.

Or the male servant, Gallon, whose father was a logistics soldier who also died in the war.

Civil Servant Wilson, though unconnected to the Alliance Army, had been a house servant to the previous Baron—a position similar to Chahar’s before he became a steward. This was why Wilson was quite literate and possessed a clear, logical way of handling matters.

At this moment, Wilson was sitting upright in a chair in the dining hall. Before him was a bowl of thick meat stew, and in his hand, he held a piece of white bread.

’How many years has it been!’

Wilson’s heart trembled. It had been many years since he had tasted such fine white bread, and just as long since he’d had such a rich stew.

“Praise the Lord!”

With every bite he took, he offered a word of praise.

The Lord himself had ordered the kitchen to prepare this dinner for him. The thought instantly washed away Wilson’s day-long fatigue, leaving him feeling completely revitalized.

“Praise the merciful Lord!”

Wilson had drifted through half his life in Mountain Forest Town without ever finding a satisfying job. He had once even sought to serve Princest, only to be flatly rejected.

Princest himself was a Civil Servant; he didn’t need an assistant.

Now that he was fortunate enough to be Ronin’s Civil Servant and so highly valued by the Lord, he felt it was all worth it, no matter how hard he had to work.

Before long, Gallon arrived at the dining hall. “Mr. Wilson, the Lord is available to see you now. If you’re ready, you may follow me.”

“Yes, right away!”

Wilson swallowed his last bite of bread and finished the last of his stew. He then stood up decisively and followed Gallon.

Inside the study, the Civil Servant met Ronin and immediately offered a heartfelt greeting.

Ronin gestured for the other man to sit in a nearby chair. “You’ve come to see me so late. Don’t tell me the census is already finished?”

“Yes, Lord. Apart from you and the people who came with you from Wushan Castle, everyone in Mountain Forest Town has been registered!”

As he spoke, Wilson pulled a large roll of sheepskin parchment from within his tunic and respectfully placed it on the desk.

Ronin took the parchment. It was organized by household, clearly listing each person’s name, gender, age, and occupation. The records were incredibly detailed.

He unrolled the scroll for several feet, discovering that Wilson’s script was exceptionally clear and neat, giving it an orderly, easy-to-read appearance.

“Completing the census in less than two days… I’m impressed by your efficiency!”

His gaze shifted to Wilson. “Making you my Civil Servant was indeed the right choice.”

Wilson responded to the praise with humility. “Thank you for your trust, Lord!”

Ronin clapped, applauding him. The topic then returned to the parchment scroll on the desk.

The statistics were incredibly detailed, but it was all just raw data. Further processing would be required to extract anything of value from it.

’Processing this data is, of course, a job for the Civil Servant,’ Ronin thought. ’I can’t possibly spend my time on this—otherwise, why would I have spent money to hire someone?’

“Recording this information is just the first step. Next, I need you to organize it for me.”

Ronin continued, “For example, I want you to group the population by age and tally the number of people in each bracket. Do the same for occupations, counting the number of people in each type. Also, calculate the number of unmarried men and women of marriageable age, and so on.”

Each of these categories served a purpose.

Take the “marriageable, unmarried population,” for instance. If the gender ratio were severely imbalanced, leaving all the eligible men in Mountain Forest Town as lifelong bachelors, then Ronin, as their Lord, would have to find a way to bring in more eligible women to solve the issue.

Wilson noted all these requirements for his follow-up work. He also felt a hint of pride, because he had already performed a preliminary analysis after completing the registration.

“Lord, if you would please look at the final page.”

“Oh?”

Ronin noticed the expectant, “please praise me” expression on his Civil Servant’s face and, intrigued, pulled out the final sheet of parchment:

Total Population: 1,993

Number of Households: 543

Ages 14 and Under: 410

Ages 15–20: 416

Ages 21–30: 505

Ages 31–40: 346

Ages 41–50: 243

Ages 51 and Over: 73

Number of Peasant Slaves: 1,356

Number of Free Tenant Farmers: 609

Other Occupations: 28

So Wilson had already broken down the population by age.

Ronin looked at his Civil Servant, his eyes full of approval. “Anticipating my needs like this… Wilson, you’ve done an excellent job!”

“You flatter me, Lord!”

Wilson replied with a humble smile, “I only anticipated a fraction of your thoughts, Lord. There was still much I failed to consider.”

“No need to be modest. Your performance on this task has exceeded my expectations!”

’Punish poor performance, praise good work.’ This was Ronin’s philosophy. “I believe the rank of Civil Servant is just the beginning for you. Keep up the good work, and you may have the opportunity to become my advisor one day.”

Official posts in this world weren’t divided into detailed ranks like First Grade, Second Grade, or Third Grade, but Ronin planned to design such a system himself.

For the territory’s civil officials, for example, he had so far come up with three Levels: Civil Clerk, Civil Servant, and… Advisor.

A Civil Clerk would be equivalent to an assistant to a Civil Servant.

Ranks equivalent to the Civil Servant Level would include Tax Officer, Defense Officer, and others.

The advisor tier would have similar distinctions as well.

For Wilson and the others, the most tangible result would be a pay raise with every promotion.

This would give them something to aspire to and the motivation to climb the ladder.

Sure enough, the moment Ronin mentioned the word “advisor,” Wilson’s eyes lit up.

He didn’t know what an advisor’s duties entailed, but it sounded a rank higher than Civil Servant, and the benefits were sure to be substantial.

“Lord, I will work hard!”

“I am looking forward to it.”

Ronin gestured for him to sit, then turned his own attention to seriously examining the data.

First, he was very satisfied with the population total.

A total of 1,993 people. Adding the Guards, Macken, and Elron he had brought with him, the population already reached 2,025.

The “Population Prosperity” achievement required the territory’s registered population to reach three thousand. Though he was still short by more than nine hundred people, it no longer seemed so unattainable.

In addition, Ronin observed the age distribution. If he considered those aged 15-40 as the prime workforce, there were a total of 1,267 people, accounting for 63% of the total population.

’That’s an excellent ratio!’

Furthermore, the number of children was 410, making up 20% of the population, which was also excellent.

The only thing that surprised Ronin was the number of people over fifty years of age; it was a precipitous drop.

At that age, a person was effectively considered elderly.

After all, there was no saying here like “an elder in the home is a treasure,” and there were no welfare benefits for the elderly.

The strength and health of those over fifty declined rapidly due to a youth full of hardship. Yet, pressed by the need to survive, they still had to perform arduous labor.

Thus, a higher mortality rate among the elderly was to be expected.

It was cruel, but it was reality.

Even as the Lord, Ronin couldn’t change this situation in the short term.

“These statistics are well-prepared.”

Ronin praised him again. “Tomorrow, find some time to dig deeper into this data according to the categories I just mentioned.”

’Dig deeper?’

Wilson had never heard such a term before, but he understood its meaning from the context. He made sure to remember this phrase, coined by the Lord himself, so that he could show it off to the unenlightened in the future.

“Also, I’ll be going to Pasture City the day after tomorrow.”

Ronin neatly rolled up the parchment scroll. “Before I return, there’s one more thing I need you to do.”

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