Ghislain concealed his inner thoughts and glanced around with a faint smile.
"Does anyone else have any opinions? No? None?"
"Yes, sir…"
"Good. Then you all know what you need to do. Especially the mages—you must keep moving without rest. Other facilities are important, but the most critical task is expanding the farmland and the waterways, as well as the reservoirs."
There was so much to do.
First, they needed to establish residences for the settlers, add various facilities and workshops, and continue producing weapons and supplies for war without interruption.
The most critical issue was securing food.
For now, they were still purchasing it from merchants, but there was no guarantee when the supply might be cut off.
With the population set to skyrocket once the settlers arrived, they needed to expand the farmland significantly to ensure a long-term supply of food.
Everyone's expressions darkened.
'There's so much we need, when will we finish it all?'
'On top of that, we have to prepare for war at the same time—what kind of estate is this…?'
'But if we don't want to die, we have no choice. This is maddening.'
If the opponent were any other noble, it might be different. But it was Count Desmond, who had already suffered a blow from Ghislain once before.
If they lost to him, the estate would be utterly destroyed, and the vassals of Fenris and Perdium would surely lose their heads.
They didn't want to do it, but if they didn't want to die, they had no choice.
Among the vassals all wearing grim expressions, Alpoi looked the worst.
'W-What do I even start with? There's too much to do!'
Having slacked off while the lord was away, a backlog of work had piled up.
For now, they could use seeds meant for harvesting, so there was no need to create a new mana concentration circle. But they needed to produce rune stones in large quantities to keep up with the rapid expansion of farmland.
The mages would have to tirelessly inscribe magic circles just to meet the necessary quota.
But that wasn't the only task for the mages. They would also be dragged into other construction projects.
'So this is what he meant by "be prepared." I should've finished things in advance. I'm doomed.'
Faced with a murderous workload, Alpoi and the mages despaired.
They wanted to escape somehow, but didn't even have the courage to run.
Ghislain noticed the despairing expressions of the mages, smirked, and gave Vanessa some instructions.
"Vanessa."
"Yes, yes, my lord!"
"For now, focus on assisting Alpoi with the work rather than research. There's a lot to do, but… You can handle it, right?"
"Of course! Leave it to me!"
Unlike the other mages, Vanessa clenched her fist and answered boldly.
She always wanted to be of help to Ghislain, so she had no intention of turning down such tasks.
Moreover, as a 6th-circle mage, her involvement would significantly speed up the work.
"Good, I trust you completely."
Having mentioned it, Ghislain decided to check on the tasks he had assigned to others.
First, he turned to Lowell.
"How's the progress on the recruitment I asked you about earlier?"
"When you gave the order, I sent people out immediately. I think we'll be able to bring back everyone we can find within a month."
"Good. Once they arrive, report to me directly. Also, train more spies to gather information from the surroundings without fail."
"Understood."
After emphasizing the importance of information, Ghislain turned to Gillian.
"To make better use of the mercenaries, individual combat skills are crucial. Focus the training on improving everyone's abilities for now."
"Yes, understood."
Gillian nodded obediently. Of course, this docile attitude was reserved for Ghislain; during training, he would undoubtedly push the mercenaries to their limits.
Next, Ghislain turned to Kaor and asked.
"If Gillian's handling the mercenary training, you won't have much to do. Is there anything in particular you want to work on?"
Kaor raised his head and responded confidently.
"Absolutely nothing."
"…."
His sheer confidence left Ghislain momentarily speechless.
Clicking his tongue, he assigned Kaor a task anyway.
"While the mercenaries alternate between training, Kaor, you'll focus on maintaining order with the non-training mercenaries. The estate still lacks soldiers."
"Alright, sure… I'll do it."
Kaor replied reluctantly, his displeasure evident.
The reason for his reluctance wasn't complicated.
He simply disliked doing anything other than fighting.
Knowing this, Ghislain forced the work upon him. Otherwise, he would just lounge around, drinking somewhere—a sight he refused to tolerate.
"And Belinda…"
"You want me to make sure people can focus on their work and training, right? I'll do my best to ensure they're not inconvenienced in their daily lives."
"As expected of you, Belinda. How do you always know what I'm thinking?"
"If I didn't, who else would? Hohoho."
Her playful words made Ghislain chuckle.
Providing food and clothing, treating and managing the injured—someone had to constantly look after such things. Belinda, with her experience, was more than capable.
Ghislain surveyed everyone and reiterated his point.
"Don't forget—if we don't prepare properly, we'll all die. Always be ready to fight."
"Yes, my lord."
Everyone in the lord's office bowed their heads and accepted their orders.
Rising from his seat, Ghislain declared.
"That's it for today. Depending on how things progress, there may be changes. If necessary, I'll give further instructions. In the meantime, Claude will oversee everything."
As soon as he finished speaking, Claude gestured to the vassals.
"Alright, we all know what needs to be done, don't we? Let's move quickly. Bring me detailed plans as soon as possible."
With settlers soon to arrive, any delay would only worsen the burden.
Pushed by Claude's urgency, the vassals hurried out of the office.
Ghislain narrowed his eyes as he watched them leave.
He had warned them clearly about the impending war and the need for preparation.
If they still didn't listen and neglected their duties?
Then when Count Desmond arrived and slaughtered everyone here, they would have no one to blame but themselves.
***
With everyone buried in work, the estate began bustling more than ever before.
Of all the busy people in Fenris, Claude was undoubtedly the busiest.
As the chief Head butler overseeing estate development, he barely had time to sleep.
Traveling by carriage with Wendy to meet the merchant guild, Claude muttered to himself with his head bowed.
"Ah, I'm going to die. I want to run away. Honestly, I'd rather get killed by Count Desmond than be worked to death like this. Don't you want to die with me?"
"…."
Wendy didn't bother responding to his nonsense.
Truthfully, she wanted to smack him, but seeing his haggard face made her hesitate.
The dark circles under his eyes had been there for ages. He'd lost so much weight in recent days that he looked like a skeleton—it wouldn't be surprising if an actual skeleton called him "big brother."
Even in this state, his mouth refused to stay shut.
"We work to avoid dying, but this work might kill us. And I can't even complain to the lord."
Whenever he felt overwhelmed, Claude sought out Ghislain, hoping to convince him to let himself run away again.
But Ghislain was equally busy managing workers and expanding cosmetic production facilities.
He had to prepare shipments for Rozalin in the capital and set up a new branch.
"Ugh, if only our lord were like other nobles and lazed around, we could just pretend to work. But no, he's a workaholic. Honestly, he doesn't look like someone who works, does he?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think maybe he's just overthinking things? Or maybe he exaggerates minor issues because he wants to wrap them up quickly? You know how clueless people tend to blow things out of proportion. Don't you think that's it? He's probably just infatuated with his hardworking image. Isn't that right?"
"I don't know."
"You always play dumb when it's inconvenient for you. Always with the 'I don't know, I don't know.' You're really good at navigating social situations, huh?"
"…."
Wendy decided to stop responding altogether.
Claude, seemingly amused, mimicked her exaggeratedly.
"Oh, I don't know. Oh, I don't know. Ugh, I don't know."
'…Oh, for crying out loud, he's like a child.'
Wendy had never made such a ridiculous face.
Glaring at the juvenile Claude, she turned her head away.
Dealing with him only caused her more stress, so ignoring him was the best strategy.
Claude, for his part, knew full well how urgent and dangerous the situation was.
But the overwhelming workload left him venting nonsense as a coping mechanism.
Complaining about the boss while working was a timeless method of relieving stress.
Rattle, rattle!
As the carriage shook and rumbled, Claude shifted his complaints to a new target.
"Ugh, when are we replacing this clunky old carriage? There's nothing in this estate that's satisfactory. I want a luxury carriage too. Someone like me deserves that kind of thing."
"…."
With Claude's grumbling as background noise, the carriage moved toward the estate border.
Despite their lack of time, they had to come all the way here because of the estate's closed-border policy preventing the merchant guilds from entering the castle.
When they arrived at the meeting point, Claude immediately began the transaction.
"Alright, I'm busy, you know? Let's get this over with quickly."
For large-scale transactions, it was customary to exchange pleasantries over tea before starting. But for Claude, who was always pressed for time, such luxuries were out of the question.
The merchant, understanding Fenris' situation from experience, didn't mind.
After inspecting the goods, Claude nodded.
"The quantity is sufficient, and the quality isn't bad. I look forward to working with you again."
"Haha, of course! With such large orders, how could I be careless?"
With prices negotiated in advance, the transaction proceeded swiftly.
While the deal seemed smooth on the surface, both parties harbored doubts.
'The lord warned me to watch these guys carefully. They conduct transactions too cleanly for shady merchants.'
'The young lady told me to be wary of these people. If it weren't for the scale of the transaction… But so far, there haven't been any issues. What's the catch?'
The merchant in question was none other than Actium Guild, led by Amelia.
Actium was rapidly gaining fame in the north, building its reputation with high-quality goods and reliable contracts.
'We need materials for now, so we can't avoid dealing with them.'
'We need funds for now, so we can't avoid dealing with them.'
Ironically, both sides disliked each other but continued transactions out of mutual necessity.
Even Ghislain and Amelia were aware of this, but neither intervened—it would only harm them both.
Despite their mutual animosity, their pragmatism made them remarkably similar.
As the transaction concluded, the merchant hesitantly brought up an issue.
"Lord Head butler, I hate to bring this up, but the prices for the next transaction may increase slightly."
"What do you mean? Prices are going up?"
"Well, lately, the prices of food and raw materials have risen significantly. It's become challenging to procure goods…"
Claude squinted at the merchant suspiciously.
'So this is why the lord warned me about these guys. Are they starting to bait us with price hikes?'
With such shifty individuals, you had to stand firm to avoid losses.
"We've just started large-scale construction, and now you're raising prices? Are you targeting us? This is unacceptable."
"No, it's not like that…"
"You know who's backing our lord, right? Ah, I find it awkward to say this myself, but have you heard of Marquis Branford?"
Marquis Branford was Ghislain's guardian. Claude often invoked his name as if the marquis were his own guardian.
In Lutania Kingdom, no one leveraged Marquis Branford's name more than Claude.
Sensing Claude's aggression, the merchant quickly waved his hands in denial.
"Oh no, that's not what I meant! You know we've been supplying at the lowest prices with almost no profit. It's hard for us to even cover labor costs. It's just that resources are becoming scarcer…"
Merchants often claimed their prices were the lowest and that they barely made any profit. Claude wasn't one to fall for such tricks.
"Well then, why are supplies that were fine before suddenly becoming scarce? It doesn't make sense."
The merchant replied with exasperation.
"Why? Because Fenris has bought out everything!"
"Oh, right."
Claude finally understood, nodding in agreement.
It had been a month since the large-scale construction began.
During that time, Fenris had purchased goods incessantly from all active northern merchants.
The problem was that the northern region had fewer resources circulating than other regions, causing supply shortages.
"Sigh, we'll need to plan ahead."
With so much to do and so little time, delays in resource procurement could spell disaster.
As Claude pondered, a government official rushed over to report.
"Lord Head butler! There's an emergency!"
"Huh? What is it?"
The official glanced at the merchant and whispered.
"The wood stockpile is nearly depleted. If this continues, we won't be able to continue construction as of tomorrow."
"What? Already?"
Wood was the most needed material for building homes and was used for everything from firewood and furniture to tools, fences, and weapon handles.
'Damn it, what now?'
Claude's mind raced.
Fenris' forests and mountains had already been stripped bare.
Although wood had been purchased through merchants, even that had its limits.
'Damn it, even if we place an order now, the northern merchants can't handle the volume we need. Looking elsewhere will take time, too.'
With no immediate solution, Claude bit his lip in frustration.
At that moment, a soldier ran up, panting.
"Lord Head butler, they've arrived!"
"Arrived? Who's arrived?"
Confused, Claude asked. He hadn't ordered anything recently.
The soldier answered as if Claude should already know.
"The settlers you mentioned—they'll be here soon!"
With no homes ready and no wood to build them, thousands of settlers were about to arrive.
Claude clutched his head and muttered.
"We're screwed…"
A massive crisis was unfolding.
[T/L: Please support me and read extra chapters here: https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]