As I exited the throne room I began exploring the keep. The keep was sparsely decorated say for the red carpet underneath me and some suits of armour standing vigilantly every corridor or so, strangely enough they also had the armarments as the aptly named honour guard. A way to show to visitors the duchies militaristic views and seriousness I suppose. In any case the keep was definitely made more for practicality than grandeur, bar the throne room with its pillars and one of the only two rooms to have glass windows I had spotted in the whole keep. I hadn't exactly examined the throne room in detail. The second room to have glass windows was my bedroom with its wallpaper, carved out designs and paintings of people I should probably know in case they are relatives.
The windows of the keep were open holes to allow archers to shoot through and had a large green circular patch around it before meeting the castle walls. From what I could see from looking out the windows in my exploration there was a stables and a large wooden building, a mess hall or quarters of some kind? Despite the far distance I could still easily see the shape of the gatehouse, the people standing on top of it and the weapons they carried despite the shine provided by sunlight reflecting off the moat.
Wondering how I could see with such clarity I focused my attention on the suit of armour to the left of the window I was looking out of. I noticed how despite normally looking completely still and statue like I could see a tiny bit of movement. The longer I stared the more probou bced the movement came and I swear I saw it shift a little to the left. It was at that point I realized something, these "suits of armour" weren't weirdly equipped but actual people. Noticing that their movements became more pronounced the longer I stared I realized I must've been stressing them out with how I've been staring at them for over a minuite with very noticeable scrutiny. Deciding to defuse the situation I turned to walk while saying, "Continue with your duty." In that moment I saw as their posture slightly relxed despite almost no visual changes.
A bit weirded out by being able to "see" such small movements and changes despite how unnoticeable it was in post I was relieved to finally find the study. Entering I was greeted by the smell of parchment and the sight of scrolls and bookshelves lining the rather small room I found myself in. On the far side sat my desk with an assortment of what looked like a mix of reports and a bunch of messages addressed between Reynauld and Perraut. On the top of the bundle was a note that read,
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My dear friend,
Below are all the reports I could collect to ensure your plans are enacted with the vision you desire. Due to that blasted physicians failures I've also delivered many of the letters that we've used to coorespond with each other during our youth. Since if your memory is hazy in regards to recent happenings I fear what has happened to those in our younger years. I wish you a swift and smooth recovery.
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Honestly at this point I'm starting to wonder if Perraut is trying to manipulate me because this feels way too convenient. Nevertheless I have to actually know what I'm supposedly planning, so let's get on with it.
Reports about causing religious discourse between the peasants and church, reports on hunters during those hunting contests and the marking of their names for recruitment. There were also reports on forcing blacksmiths to take at minimum 3 apprentices due to how it was actually stupid to take apprentices since it harmed profits. In order to appease them however they received what amounted to child support in compensation. It was beneficial in the long run since it'd drive up competition and lead to lower prices, and if it didn't, there'd still be larger production. Everything seemed rather standard so far and mainly looked like some rather big, but smart economic reforms.
The larger picture however formed when you looked at it farther away and from a different lense, one of war. Even though the realm oftentimes made itself back 50% of the earnings of these hunting competitions, it still worked to have the people train themselves. Forcing blacksmiths to take apprentices would allow for greater production of cheaper weapons if competition took hold. And this led me to a rather interesting idea, what if I made a bank? This wasn't something like taking control of the economy and militaristic power of 2 other duchies, but it would be beneficial if done right.
I wouldn't be able to set up systems like investings as there just wasn't enough to invest in, and with a peasant economy based around harvesting grain and little bits of everything else bonds would be more detrimental than anything. So why not set up loans and a borrowing system? I quickly came to reject that decision as there just wasn't a market. Not taxing the peasants "less" didn't make them something along the lines of the middle class, moreso a slightly less impoverished lower class. Even then I wouldn't say that it's less considering there's a social stigma to what amounted to working hard so you could get more money to donate it under the pretext it would be use to improve their life.
Despite the promises it was practically a scam as in my meeting with the steward he mentioned on how the standard tax was actually taken from the donations to make up for the lost income. The extras where then routed to actually improving the town and villages creating the illusion that their money was being well spent. The most important faucet of this however was one very simple fact, they can't read. I'd have to set up an entire widespread educational system to do so, and even then it'd be a massive money sink for something that won't even be that beneficial in this point in time.
Even that raised a question however, do I even want the people I rule over to have power? I'm in the age of monarchies, what's stopping me from just controlling the economy. Hell it's practically encouraged to do so. I've visited and have experienced first hand dictorial countries, made use of their flaws to further my goals and have witnessed all levels of governance in some level. I have an opportunity here, I could create a motivated, advanced and most importantly loyal country to serve my goals.
The only problem came in the gorm of my physical bodies shelf life. Despite Reynauld's efforts to paint the Catholic church as an evil entity, I don't believe they'd be accepting to what looked like an evil shadow spirit ruling over them. I would only need to find out how to make my physical body immortal to forever experience the benefits. Not to mention how loyalty and devotion could sprout from a person being seemingly immortal, the [System] soon answered my call.
[Quest Received: "Immortality"]
You've set your eyes upon a concept that most can only dream of, you are not most men. Within 75 years of life left you must find a way to at least make your physical body ageless before it shuts down. Methods of extending your life may give you more time, but will not complete the [Quest].
Due to having 05-1 level access codes you may know that the location of SCP-006, "The Fountain of Youth", is located 60km west of Astrakan, a southern Russian city next to the Caspian Sea.
[Rewards: [Title], [Building], [Summon]
I didn't know those would have a use outside of when the Foundation came to be. I'd have to look into what else it allowed me, it's probably related to that [Authority] tab. In any case, although this was nice there was a rather large problem, how the fuck would I be able to get anything to Russia? No less commit what is likely a heist on a national treasure that's most likely heavily guarded. If I know anything about history it's that invading Russia isn't smart so I'd have to build up my spy network to actually take it. That's a long term goal though I have 75 years to get it, and I'm going to take my time with other matters.
Even then I haven't received my 50% bonus to my body from SCP-207 yet so I have time. Hell the only reason I'm even holding off on using it is I want to make the most out of it by measuring out 5ml to get the estimated hundreds of uses to boost my followers. Plus I don't know if it builds up on existing strength and intelligence, or provides its 50% bonus to what's already there. If it's the latter I want to get the most out of my body by improving it physically and mentall to its limit.
That led me to another question, why am I so calm about everything? I viewed my transformation from a soul (I guess) possessing a body to then becoming a "Shadow Walker" that "imitates" humans through controlling their bodies with nothing but curiosity. I haven't craved food, sleep, water or enjoyment of any form, my anger has all but subsided. I can still feel emotions yes, but it's all so shallow. Like the sort of fake happiness you conjure up within yourself to laugh at someones unfunny joke because you don't want to be rude.
Even when discovering what seemed to be magic with those strands I viewed it with cold hard pragmatism, going so far as to test the limits of my body and abilities. Is it even a bad thing? I'm living and have a second chance, some things were bound to change, I was going to become a different person. I suppose I hoped it just wouldn't be this severe.
As I looked up at the suit of armour in the corner I ordered. "Me and you are going to have a training session after lunch." The slight shiver that I could somehow see despite the armour when they nodded told me all I needed to know about how "out of practice" I would seem to Perraut if I didn't at least learn the basics of swordmanship. I'd have time considering Perraut would be investigating those nobles for treason, but there's only so far my supposed "recovering from grave illness" could take me. Realizing that I wouldn't have time to learn both the theoretical and practical aspects in a month at most I glanced at the [Summons] tab and wondered just what SCP-5094 could have turned into. Before focusing back on the reports to finish before lunch.