Josh woke up battered, his whole body aching and burning as if an ant hill replaced his bed. The headache and foggy memory that accompanied it did no favors, either.
What the actual fuck happened?
He couldn’t even muster enough strength to ring the bell to call for help, let alone get out of bed. Even remembering what happened was a challenge with a foggy memory to beat.
I was in garden? I’m pretty sure. Meditating…
Trying to gather mana…
An even worse headache assaulted him, completely numbing down his thoughts and leaving him writhing in his bed.
I need to find Elaria…
She was there.
With his body completely useless, he was staring at the white ceiling of his room, trying to process what his next steps as a lord should be. He was pretty sure Daim Village mayor was corrupt, or just a shit person that’s probably something he should deal with first.
He still didn’t visit the Shallow Lake Village, either. Not only that, but he needed to see in person what terror goblins brought to it over the past year and what he could do to deal with that terror.
Also, Leo did mention that the finances were tight, what does that actually mean for him? Is he or the people living in his lands gonna starve poor? Or just no wine, poor.
While he was deep in his thoughts, Bella entered his room, dropping a brush from her hands. “M-Milord, y-you are awake,” she stuttered out.
Totally common reaction to seeing a person being awake.
Yep, totally common.
“H-Hey, Bella, what’s up?” Josh painfully replied, his mouth thirsting for water.
“I h-have to go get Lady Elaria,” she uttered while bolting out of his room.
“Wai-“ Josh sighed.
I guess back to watching my favorite ceiling.
Only minutes later, a whole entourage burst into his room, full of worried yet relieved faces.
Bella rushed to her lord with a cup of water, slowly trickling it into Josh’s mouth.
With his throat no longer feeling like a desert, he thanked Bella and inquired. “Magus Elaria, Sir Leo, what happened?”
“You’ve been asleep for the past three days,” Elaria coldly answered.
Three days??
I’ve been asleep for the past three days?
“H-how?” He uttered with sheer disbelief on his face.
Relieved that their Lord was awake and fine, Leo and the servants left, leaving Elaria to explain what had happened.
“You took in more mana than your body could handle. Which resulted in mana escaping from your body and manifesting in the form of a fire whirlpool.” Elaria calmly explained to him.
“If it wasn’t for me dragging you out of that fire and taking the fire out. You would died,” she shortly added afterwards.
Josh gulped down his saliva. “H-how?” He asked the same question once more.
“From what i saw you are an emotional person. Very emotional person. And emotional mana-users either die young or live to become great. Now it's up to you whether you die young or live long enough to become great,” she coldly stated.
Just because I can feel things, I almost fucking died?
***
It took a whole week before Josh was comfortable enough to get out of bed. Sadly, according to his mentor, it’s gonna be at least another couple of weeks before he can start using mana again. Well, start trying to use mana.
Thankfully, there were plenty of things to do for him now that he was healthy enough that didn’t require him to use mana.
Josh invited Leo and Elaria to his study room. The latter so that she could cast the spell that makes him magically able to read this world's language. The former so he could explain what he’s reading.
Elaria, after casting [Oculus Comprehensio], didn’t linger around. She just dropped a couple of books for him to read after he was done with the territory reports.
Josh looked at the small mountain of documents on the table that described the state and finances of his territory, forced a smile, and dug into the pile taking the first document from the top.
Then another one, and another one, that turned dozens of papers that he went through, before he asked Leo who was waiting silently the first question.
“According to what I read, all of our lands combined collect a bit over a hundred ten platinum coins a year, with close to half of that coming from the wood exported by the Whispering Woods Village.” Josh cleared his voice before continuing.
“Yet if I were to look into how much we spend, it would be fifty-five to the crown as taxes or half of our income. Twelve for maintenance of the manor and staff wages. Twenty to the citizen’s wages that work in the village halls, with another twenty for the guards. Then, eleven coins for food to vary our diets,” Josh sighed. “That’s a hundred and eighteen platinum coins, Leo.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
If we were to convert to old reliable dollars, that’s eighty thousand dollars that we are missing in our budget, which, while a small amount for a territory that governs ten thousand people, it’s still a deficit.
And this only includes the profit that the main estate gets, it doesn’t include what we spend for seeds, exporting the wood and all the other stuff.
Leo looked down, not daring to meet Josh’s gaze. “Milord, the previous lord, knew of this issue with our finances, yet had no way of solving it.”
Josh sighed.
“How much money do we even have left in the treasury at the moment?” Josh asked.
“Forgive me, Milord. But the treasury is empty; only a couple of gold coins are all that’s left. We spend what we get as soon as we can to pay the wages.” Leo replied.
So this is what he meant by running a tight ship…
There’s no way a territory that is self sufficient and hosts ten thousand people should make only that much.
“Could you tell me who files and sends these documents to the manor?” Josh asked.
“It’s the Village halls that handle most of those documents.”
I guess I will have to check out the village halls once more sooner than I would like to.
Josh sighed. “I will think of a way to deal with this somehow… You are free to go, Leo.”
Not like you can do much when you and your previous Lord managed to run down a fertile territory with unique export down to the ground.
“Milord, in the next two weeks, we will need to find another ten platinum coins for Magus Elaria’s monthly salary,” Leo uttered while heading out.
Josh nodded, clutching his head as soon as Leo left the room.
A Hundred grand for a fucking salary???
The Norfolk four-course farming should double our farming yield. But it will take at least a couple of years until it shows the result.
I need to deal with the goblins now. That’s the only way to bring the finances to surplus, at least according to those documents Shallow Lake Village was bringing thirty platinum coins before the goblins started terrorizing it.
Another funny thing he learned from the documents is that a year here has thirteen months rather than twelve. Thankfully for Josh, at least months and weeks followed the same way as it was back on Earth, around thirty days per month and seven days a week. The added month made summer four months instead of three.
The months themselves also didn’t have a name; they were just called early spring, middle-spring, and late spring, with the same for autumn, winter, and summer. The only difference was that the fourth summer month was called Pertis month in honor of the royals. At least in this kingdom.
For the weekdays, it was simply called the first day of the first week and so on, with the current date being.
Early spring, third week, seventh day.
As Josh thought, he had enough of those documents and books for the day. He found an interesting letter still sealed with wax. Josh pried it open.
“Honored Baron Josh Brookes,
I, Maximus Voss, Count of Mosswood County, humbly invite thee to dine and greet at a banquet in my castle on the evening of Mid-Spring, 2nd week, 6th day, 1074 Aurelius Year. It would be a privilege to meet thee, who falls under my command, and share a night full of merriment and discussion.
Please be advised that attendance is mandatory, and absence will not be acceptable.
With respect, Maximus Voss.”
I guess I will have to go see my superior in two weeks.
He put down the letter and went to look for Elaria, there was a village he had yet to visit.
***
They left the manor through the same west gates as before, inefficiently it was the only road leading out of the manor, and if that wasn't enough they had to make merry trip through Daim Village and Blackthorn Village to even make it there, making a trip that should take no longer than an hour take close to three hours.
This time Josh was accompanied by Elaria, who was sitting inside the carriage with him. With Leo acting as a coachman and two guards whose names he didn't learn yet quietly following behind the carriage.
Josh couldn't help but marvel at the beautiful nature that surrounded the country side. It was yet to be heavily touched by a human.
The serfs were hard at work aswell, their results bearing fruits as most of the fields were already visibly green, part of them even seemed to be already working on the new farming method, probably ordered by Leo. He needed to check on that more once he got back to his manor.
“How long does it take until the crops grow up?” Josh asked the air, expecting either Elaria or Leo to answer.
It was Elaria who answered, “Usually around three to five months from planting to harvesting, depending on what you are growing and the climate,” she replied without even bothering to take her eyes off the book she was reading.
They didn't make a stop at any other Villages, as it was already mid-day when they left, and two hours later they finally arrived at the Shallow Lake Village.
The first sight that greeted them only made Josh despair. The buildings in the village were in a rundown state, with many of them looking as if a stronger gust of wind would blow them over, and the few villagers that remained in the village definitely didn't help with the look as they looked thin and weak, eyeing the carriage with suspicion and wariness.
They didn’t even need to look for the village chief, as she was the one who approached the carriage. The village chief was very young, a teen in Josh’s eyes. She was wearing a simple brown woolen dress and an apron. Her short stature and round face, with rosy cheeks, enchanted her youthfulness. Her thick blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun.
She bowed down after approaching the carriage. “Welcome, Milords, to our humble village,” she said, her head still facing the ground.
Leo replied, “Rise, child. Lead us somewhere inside where we can sit down and have a talk.”
Josh couldn’t help but get his out of the carriage and ask, “Why is everything so…” He paused for a second, looking for a word to describe the village. “Ruined.”
The young village chief stuttered her answer out. “M-milord, it’s the goblins?”
Josh facepalmed as he went back inside the carriage.
Of course, it’s the goblins.
Why did I even bother to ask?
They were led to one of the few buildings that wasn’t in a rundown state. It also was one of the bigger ones, having two stories instead of the usual one-story buildings.
The village chief led us inside the house and shown us to the room where the village chief resided. Not daring to take a seat for herself, she asked, “Would you like some tea, Milords?”
“The tea will wait. I have some questions,” Josh replied, his eyes burning with anger.
How did they let mere creatures put a village in such state?
Why is the count not helping? To get rid of the goblins.
Elaria stopped his rage with a chant [Mens Serena].
“Calm down. Emotions lead to magic, and you can’t use magic in your current state,” she scolded Josh.
It was as if he had taken a cold shower. As soon as the spell hit Josh, his grimace of anger melted. And his mind turned tranquil.
Josh sighed. “Tell me, how can I help?” he asked the young village chief.
“Getting rid of the goblins is the only help our village needs, Milord.” The young village chief stated, eyeing the ground, not daring to meet Josh’s gaze.
Josh turned to Leo as if to ask why the goblins were still terrorizing the village.
“Leo, care to elaborate, how we can help getting rid out of the goblins?” Josh calmly asked, his mind still tranquil from the spell cast by Elaria.
Leo sighed.
“Milord, there’s nothing we can do,” Leo replied.
Elaria threw Leo a filthy glance, expecting him to explain everything.
“Where do I even begin…” Leo said as he sat down.
