We met with Elpis at the side of one of the villager's field…we walked towards her, and I asked, "How is it going on here?"
Elpis answered, "It's same last week; we are still trying to take care of it…"
"They need two months to be harvested, so take your time to take care of it…how about the other fields? Is there any villager who wants their field to be planted with peas??"
"Unfortunately, for today, there is none…"
For a change, sometimes it took a long time and step by step, hearing there was no one who willingly planted peas, it made me hurt a little…
I said to her, "Well, surely there will be a feeling of doubt about this stuff; we can't just force them to plant these peas...…So what is your thought about the condition of these people?"
"My thoughts, your highness??"
I looked at everyone and said, "Everyone thought if you have a view or an opinion about the condition of these people, gladly share it with me."
Elpis, Cail, Louis, and Aldea were looking at each other…
I said, "Like the first time we arrived in here, all of you said the condition of these people are weird, especially with Rudyard condition…So I want to know your thoughts on why you can say the condition of these people is weird."
Louis was the first one who took a step to me and said, "As years become Squire, I had gone to some locations with the knights as their boot boy...In my experience seeing some locations and places, this village is the worst among the worst, your highness."
"Thanks for your honesty, Louis…" I said to him.
Next one was Cail saying, "Honestly, your highness, you actually don't deserve to receive this fief…"
I asked him with confusion, "Why??"
"All of the prince, your brothers, received better fiefs, not in rank but in fief condition…Yet, your highness received the worst fief among the kingdom…Where the lands already died, it was not ideal to plant a single crops, but the royal still instead gave you this fief…"
"All of my brothers' land is really that good and better than this?"
They nodded at me…
I was surprised; there must be something that they wanted to do with me. Father or the king just said to show my competency about governing a land…Wait, if I were a baron, did that mean I needed to pay tribute to the count? So I asked Cail,
"Do I need to pay tribute to the count of this county, Sir Regis?"
Cail answered, "Fortunately, you don't need to pay tribute to him; you just need to pay tribute to the king…Because you are a direct vassal of the king, not from Count Regis, and this land belongs to the royal."
I was relieved then…Yet, I read in the history book that tribute was not just gold or coins; vassals needed to contribute or give some levies or armies. Did I need to do that?
I looked at Louis and asked him, "Do I need to give some levies or armies to the king?"
"You don't need to do that, your highness…You just need to tribute gold."
Another relief from me…
In there, I was just looking at everyone working until dusk. After the sun was set, everyone came back to their homes, we came back to the inn, and we ended the day.
…
The next day, we did the same thing, overseeing the pea plantation. Because I still didn't have any access to the estate, where all the paper was, surely I couldn't do my job aside from watching everyone do the work in the field. Sometimes I joined to help them because of boredom. All of the people in this village still didn't know who was the real baron or the one in charge; they must be thinking that Rudyard ordered all of this. Unfortunately, that man was still hiding at the estate. While I was in here, Rudyard never showed his face again in front of me.
..
The second day, like yesterday, there was nothing that I needed to do, so I was watching and helping everyone. All the seeds had shown some growth, and some of them were out of the ground. Even though it was still the second day after I told Aldea that I would order to search Zoe in the next three days if she didn't show up, Aldea showed some concern again about Zoe's whereabouts. It made her come to my room while I was checking all the report of Cail about Census; he did it when I was paralysed.
Aldea opened my room's door and walked towards me when I was on my desk. I turned around to look at her; her expression showed some concern and a tense face. In front of me, she said,
"Your highness…May…you start the order to search for Zoe?"
I answered, "There is still tomorrow, Aldea…if Zoe don't sho–"
Suddenly she intervened in my talk and said, "What happens if it's too late?"
"Too late??"
"The rumour of that residence caught a rat…What happened if it was really her, and we are just standing here watching people plant peas, not rescuing Zoe."
"What will happen if I order you to search Zoe?"
"Of course, I will start to search her…"
"Where? In that residence? What would happen if they caught you?"
Suddenly the door was opened again, I looked at the door, and it was Louis…While walking towards me, Louis said, "Your highness, you still have authority of that residence; surely you can go there…"
Aldea said, "See! Even Louis know it…"
"*sigh* Fine then, bring everyone to downstairs, and I will come there in any seconds…"
Aldea immediately left the room along with Louis.
…
At the tavern, everyone was already there; there was no one beside us…
"Great, everyone is already here…" I said.
Cail asked, "Why does your highness want us to be here?"
Aldea immediately said with loud tone, "WE WILL RAID THAT BARON RESIDENCE…"
Everyone at once looked at her, and Aalis asked me about the truth, "Is that true, my lady?"
I said, "We will not raid the residence—"
Aldea again said, "We won't."
"Of course, we will not raid the residence, but we will be going there to check the truth of Rudyard's words."
Elpis asked, "What do you mean the truth of his words?'
"He said that the residence is under construction or under maintenance, whatever he wants to believe…So we will go there; if there is no construction or maintenance, I want that residence back."
Why did I not do this the first time we were here? Instead, I needed to deal with Alva and being paralysed.
I asked everybody, "Everything's clear…"
Louis raised his hand and asked, "What happens if there is a…blood…bath??"
"A blood bath??" I asked him.
"Yes, every fief should have levies or armies, but in here I didn't see anything like that around here; my feeling is that levies pulled out to be around in that residence, not in the village."
"How many people are we talking about in those levies?"
"It will be around 40-60 people…"
I only had three people who were great with swords; there was noway, we could win against that many people...But, do levies obey the landlord? The landlord of this fief was me.
I asked Louis, "Should they obey me as their landlord? Not Rudyard? They should obey me…"
"The rule is yes; they should obey you, your highness…"
"We have the paper, right, Louis? We just need to show them who the landlord is in this village…They should know who the real landlord is…Bring the paper!!"
Louis left the tavern to take the paper from the royal about my inherited title of baron. While we were waiting for Louis, Darryl asked me,
"For this matter, I think Aalis, Ame, and Cail should wait here and don't come with us…"
I looked at them and said, "Surely, like you said…they will wait here, and…" I pointed at Elpis and said, "What about Elpis? Will she be alright?"
Elpis said with confident tone, "~my~ I will be alright, your highness, I know one or two move and swings swords... So I can take care of myself…"
"Hearing that, relieving me…"
Louis still not coming, and I saw Aldea become more concerned; she kept tapping her finger on the table…I saw Elpis try to lower her concern that Zoe was alright. There was no way; she got captured…
We heard some footsteps from the stairs, and Louis came back to the tavern, bringing a roll of paper with the royal's seal…That was the paper from which I inherited this fief…He brought it to me, and I checked the seal and the content of it…It was the real deal, and it should make the levies of this fief kneeled down.
Before we went to there, I said to everyone, "First of all, I don't want any fight or commotion for this, so I hope everyone is calm; don't get provoked or anything…" I lifted the roll of paper and said, "with this surely, they know who they are messing with…and hope they know about the rule…Now…let's go to there…"
Everyone stood up from their seats and walked to the entrance of the tavern…Louis, Darryl, Aldea, Elpis and I left the tavern while the others were staying in the inn…