Chapter 68: Chapter 67: Hearing the Reports

Tonight, Mountain Forest Castle was bustling with activity once again.

In the kitchen, Mrs. Bandele and her helpers, who had been honing their cooking skills for days, finally had a chance to shine. They poured all their recent concern for the Lord into delicious dishes and bread.

The newly promoted Basic Level Knights, Juliet and Sim, entered the Inner Castle’s dining hall with a reserved yet proud air, joining their Lord and many seniors for dinner.

Ronin had gotten the details on these two newcomers from David.

Neither Juliet nor Sim was yet twenty years old; the former was nineteen, and the latter was eighteen.

To be honest, the chances of activating a Fighting Qi Spirit Seed and becoming a Professional Knight at the age of eighteen or nineteen were incredibly slim, which probably meant their future potential was quite poor.

But then again, Mountain Forest Town was lucky to have new Transcendents at all. This was no time to be picky.

At the table, Ronin first formally introduced Ridder to everyone. Especially with Macken’s supporting description of his abilities, all present came to understand the red-haired man’s strength, officially cementing Ridder’s position as Commander.

At the same time, he also commended the newly promoted Juliet and Sim, raising their salaries to thirty Copper Coins per day, the same level as David.

With this, aside from Tom, the minimum daily salary for all the Transcendents present was now thirty Copper Coins.

Considering Tom’s performance and his good attitude toward everything recently, Ronin generously decided to grant him his “permanent status” ahead of schedule. His pay was also restored to the same level as the other Basic Level Knights.

Tom was moved beyond words by this gesture.

At tonight’s banquet, he had finally earned the Lord’s recognition and could be considered part of Mountain Forest Town’s core circle.

The pleasant banquet came to an end. With Bella’s help, Ronin took a nice, long bath, washing away all the dust and grime from his journey and feeling refreshed.

He hadn’t seen Bella in half a month, and her complexion had become much fairer. Perhaps the change in her life meant she had to endure far less hardship and toil than before.

’Hmm, I suppose I deserve some credit for this,’ Ronin thought. ’At the very least, I’ve improved some people’s lives and brought a measure of happiness to them.’

He believed that there would be more and more people like that in the future.

In the study, Chahar and Wilson arrived to report on their work. Ronin had Gallon serve them each a cup of barley tea to quench their thirst.

“My lord, all one hundred and two slaves have been settled. However, there is something we must bring to your attention: there aren’t many vacant houses left in town.”

Chahar immediately began to air his grievances. “I can’t possibly allow those slaves to live in the castle, not even in the Outer Fortress. So, Wilson and I housed them in the former homes of Defense Officer Disen and Knight Kate.”

Disen and Kate were Knights that Sain Territory had stationed in Mountain Forest Town. After Ronin killed them, their houses naturally became the property of Mountain Forest Castle.

“But, my lord, their two houses are in fairly good condition. To be honest, I’m reluctant to let this group of slaves use them. It’s just a shame there are no other vacant houses in town.”

Wilson agreed with Chahar. “My lord, if more new people join Mountain Forest Town in the future, I believe we should start planning housing construction in advance.”

Ronin nodded slowly. “Correct. What you’ve brought up is exactly what we need to do next.”

“The growth of Mountain Forest Town is inevitable. In the future, our population will catch up to, and even surpass, that of a normal Baron’s Domain. Building enough houses in advance is essential.”

Ronin didn’t need to provide the slaves with any form of wages or remuneration, but he did need to provide them with clothing, shelter, and food. Constructing housing was indispensable.

Of course, the housing requirements for slaves weren’t high. They didn’t need individual rooms; it was enough as long as the dwellings were habitable.

“Let’s put the matter of the slaves aside for now. Wilson, how is the village partitioning coming along?” Ronin asked.

Wilson quickly stood up and pulled a sheet of parchment from his coat. “My lord, the divisions are complete. There are four villages in total, each with a population of over 490 people. Excluding the 20 people who serve you in the castle, the numbers are basically the same.”

Ronin took the parchment and looked it over. Among the four villages, the largest had 503 people and the smallest had 492. The populations were indeed very close.

At the same time, Ronin noticed that the names of the village heads and group leaders were written after the village names, clearly indicating they had already been chosen.

“Good work, Wilson. But you haven’t named these villages?”

Wilson said humbly, “I thought it would be best for you to decide on such an important matter, my lord.”

“Also, the village and group leaders listed here are people I selected after some observation. They are either strong workers or good farmers who get high yields. If you feel any of them are unsuitable, I can select new ones.”

“I have confidence in your work.”

Ronin didn’t have the time to vet each farmer individually. In any case, the village and group leaders were just there to get the work done. As long as they did their jobs well, it was fine.

“Let’s go with the village and group leaders you’ve written down. As for the village names…”

Ronin was quite interested in naming things, so he picked up a pen and wrote four village names in the blank space on the parchment.

The one with the most people would be called Fuqiang Village, the one with the fewest Diligence Village, and the two in the middle, with populations of 496 and 498, would be Qianjin Village and Jingye Village.

He handed the parchment back to Wilson. “Tomorrow afternoon, gather these village and group leaders for a meeting in the main hall of the Outer Fortress.”

Then he looked at Chahar. “Although you are the castle’s steward, the expenses for these village and group leaders are paid from the castle’s accounts. Wilson is responsible for their civil affairs, but you need to supervise matters related to their performance and assessments.”

Trusting Wilson’s work ethic was one thing, but having someone to supervise was another matter entirely.

He knew Chahar was capable. The man had to manage the castle’s accounts, resources, and so on; he also needed to keep track of all external expenditures.

This arrangement might make Chahar busier, but who wasn’t busy? Ronin himself was the Lord of Mountain Forest Town, and he was plenty busy too.

“I will divide the hundred-some slaves we bought into a Construction Team, an Ironwood Team, a Logging Team, and a Manure Collection Team.”

“The Construction Team will be composed of carpenters and masons, plus ten men and ten women. They will be responsible for building housing. The initial requirements aren’t high; have them build on a plot of hilly land in the farm area, far from the town center.”

“The Ironwood Team will work with Carpenter Uncle William to develop the Black Iron Trees. It will require fifteen strong men and two women for logistics. Have the Construction Team first build a few simple structures to the west to serve as a temporary base for the Ironwood Workshop.”

“The Logging Team will be composed of ten men and five women. They will be responsible for providing the lumber needed by the Construction Team and, later on, for building a road south out of Mountain Forest Town.”

“The Manure Collection Team will be in charge of gathering manure and waste in the town. Later, I will instruct them on how to compost and ferment it into fertilizer. For now, assign five men and five women to it.”

Ronin looked at Wilson, who was now sweating profusely, having pulled out his portable quill and rapidly taking notes on his palm.

“I’ll decide later if I need to keep a few of the remaining slaves for other tasks. If there are any left over after that, assign them to the four villages to farm. For tomorrow, just focus on dividing them into the teams I’ve outlined.”

“Yes, yes!”

Wilson responded while continuing to write. More work had come his way, and it was a big job.

Chahar, standing to the side, chuckled to himself. ’Good thing I’m not the Civil Servant. I have it so much easier.’

“Chahar, tomorrow morning I want to distribute salaries for the Guards, Castle Servants, and the Civil Servant. Tonight, I need you to tally up everyone’s pay and give me the list in the morning,” Ronin said.

“Er… yes, my lord!” Chahar quickly adopted a serious expression.

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