Episode 103: Want to make a bet with me? (3)
There were countless tents set up in front of the castle, and many people were passing by.
The faces of the people walking around were familiar. They were all people who had previously lived in the territory. As rumored, they had been captured from all over the place.
However, despite being captured, everyone had bright expressions. The farmers were taken away by Jiselle, bewildered and unable to understand English.
Claude, who had been moving around busily, discovered Giselle and clicked his tongue in disgust.
“There are quite a lot today. You really caught an incredible amount. And you’re not even a fisherman.”
“Pursuit, surprise attack, and annihilation are my strengths. I’m also good at ambushes.”
“Yes, yes, you have the perfect talent to be a slave trader. If you had started down that path earlier, you would have made a name for yourself on the continent. Oh my!”
Claude, who had been nagging, only retreated after being hit once.
In a way, it was a talent to not be able to read the mood and always say something extra to get in trouble.
“Stop talking nonsense and take care of this quickly. I’m busy.”
“All right!”
He quickly wrote down the personal details of the farmers and recited them in one breath.
“We will stay here for the time being. Those who wish to do so will be sent back to their original residences, and those who do not will be given houses in the new village we are building. We are also recruiting laborers to participate in the construction, so if you are interested, please apply at any time.”
The Hwajeon people nodded their heads for a moment.
Anyway, the house I was going to return to was already broken, and I didn’t have much stuff I brought with me. But, I couldn’t help but bow to them and say, “Oh my gosh, I’m just going to give you the house.”
“We will also provide you with food for the time being. Please be grateful, as this is provided from the Lord’s personal wealth.”
Claude nodded to the soldiers as he spoke quickly.
Soon soldiers arrived carrying sacks full of wheat, meat, and vegetables.
The people of Hwajeon opened their eyes wide.
It was a food so abundant that it couldn’t even be compared to what they ate while hiding in the mountains.
Claude continued, watching them gulp.
“It’s my lord’s order. I’ll give you more if you run out, so please don’t be stingy and eat until you’re full. Don’t eat spoiled food because you’re being stingy. If you guys get stomachaches, I’ll be the only one who gets a headache.”
Claude pointed to one side. The eyes of the farmers followed his gesture.
In the direction he pointed, there were countless stacks of food sacks.
As if that weren’t enough, new batteries were brought in without a break.
The farmers looked back at Jiselle with dumbfounded expressions.
Are you really going to give me a house, a job, and food?
“If you had just followed along quietly, you wouldn’t have gotten hit.”
Jiselle clicked her tongue and gestured.
When the soldiers freed the tied up farmers, they fell flat on the ground and repeatedly expressed their gratitude.
“Thank you, thank you, my lord.”
“I won’t do it again.”
“I will work hard.”
The people who had been trembling in fear, thinking that their throats would be cut off, breathed a sigh of relief.
I still can’t quite believe it, but I’m starting to think that he’s a little different from the other nobles.
“Yes, I will guide you to the new town soon. Until then, don’t cause any trouble and behave well.”
One of the lower-ranking officials guided the slash-and-burn farmers to their temporary shelters.
Among the group of slash-and-burn farmers moving quietly, a child looked back. It was the child who had been gritting his teeth and holding back tears in the mountains just a moment ago.
Jiselle met the child’s eyes and winked with a playful expression.
“Look, I’m a good person, right? Am I right?”
Claude, who was listening from the side, picked his ear and said he thought he was hallucinating. Giselle snorted and ignored him.
The boy who had been hunched over bowed deeply. Giselle smiled and threw an apple she was holding to the boy.
“Eat this by yourself. Don’t give it to anyone else.”
The child nodded again and followed the adults.
The same thing happened again after that.
He searched for the runaway residents, gave them homes, and distributed food on a regular basis.
There were no complaints as the existing residents’ houses were renovated or newly built.
Rumors began to spread, mixed with anticipation, that the new lord was a good person.
As if responding to the rumor, Giselle moved busily.
Even while fighting against the mountain of paperwork, I practiced every day without fail and toured the spiritual grounds.
“Master, get some rest! You should have studied earlier!”
Belinda was horrified at the sight of him working as if there was no tomorrow and stopped him.
I was worried about my health, but there were other reasons too.
“Why are you so concerned about farming? It’s already been a month!”
I was working hard, but I felt like the important bets were being put on the back burner.
Isn’t all you’ve done for a month just arresting people and giving them a home and food?
“Oh, that? Don’t worry, there’s plenty of time. There must be a decent amount of people here, and we were planning to start soon anyway.”
Now that the people of Yeongji have gathered their energy and have a place to live, it is time to start important work.
“I will reclaim the land for farming.”
When the news came that laborers were being recruited, many people flocked to the area.
This was thanks to the news that those who participated in building the house were receiving handsome compensation.
It was to the point where even the elderly and children applied and had to be sent back.
Looking at the lively expressions of the people of Yeongji, Jiselle also smiled happily.
“Oh, everyone is so energetic. This is a good thing. It’ll be over soon.”
Claude had already taken care of the location of the new farmland and the procurement of agricultural tools to be used for the development.
All Giselle had to do was lead the people around.
The people of Yeongji couldn’t hide their doubts even as they followed Jiselle and tilled the land.
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“No, why are you reclaiming unusable land?”
“Won’t we just be the ones suffering because crops don’t grow in the future?”
Having farmed their entire lives, they knew better than anyone what kind of land Fenris Estate was.
Wouldn’t the previous lords have thought of reclaiming new farmland?
Since I have weak intelligence and get less out of it than I put in, I just gave up and didn’t cultivate it.
“Let’s just do as we’re told for now.”
“It seems like there’s no one around here who knows how to farm. Tsk tsk… … . I can’t tell them not to do it.”
“I’ll do it because they give me money and food… … Honestly, I’m a little scared. I wonder what they’ll say later.”
“Have you heard the rumor? This is a bet between the lord and the general. It’s whether crops will grow here or not.”
“Oh my, our lord is in trouble. I guess he didn’t know that this is a land where crops don’t grow.”
The laborers murmured with anxious expressions.
I was worried that if I lost the bet, the lord would harm me for no reason.
Still, I didn’t have the courage to step forward and offer advice to the lord.
Everyone started digging the ground as the lord instructed.
If you give money and food to people who were starving, it was natural for them to work hard.
As the landowners competed with each other, the reclamation work was completed in a few days.
Now when the season returns and the seeds are sown, it will be revealed that the Lord’s work was in vain.
The faces of the people of Yeongji, who had anticipated the coming future, were dark, but a smile never left Jiselle’s lips as she looked around the open field.
“The useless lands will finally become usable.”
The people of Yeongji were restless even as they watched that smile.
Why does the lord enjoy turning over useless land so much?
Wouldn’t you be angry if you realized that you were wrong?
We couldn’t even laugh together because of our worries, so we just looked into the distance.
But the anxiety was short-lived. When the work was finished and Jiselle called the people together, the people looked at each other with eyes filled with anticipation.
“You all worked hard. It’s really nice to see you working harder and harder.”
Satisfied that the work was done faster than expected, Jiselle smiled and patted the workers on the shoulder.
People started to crowd together and whisper.
“today?”
“I guess so. You look happy.”
For ordinary people, working with a lord can be quite a burden.
However, the people of Yeongji gave priority to the area supervised by Giselle over Claude or others.
There was good reason for that.
Claude was the most hated supervisor by the people of Yeongji because he constantly naggled them while they were working.
Do you have to finish all your work before you leave?
He was so cranky and nagging that I was dying of boredom.
Belinda would sit there, sullen, watching the workers work, then suddenly become irritated.
The workers who went to Belinda’s side pretended not to know anything and just worked because they couldn’t figure out what was going on.
He keeps muttering that he’s going to kill someone, and people who heard him nearby said that it seemed like the governor had a grudge against him.
The atmosphere around Gillian and Kaor was oppressive.
Their presence was so strong that it was difficult to breathe just by being next to them, so the people of Yeongji slowly avoided them so as not to be noticed.
It was ironic that the lord was clearly the most feared being in the territory, but he was also the easiest person to work with.
Of course, there was another decisive reason why the Yeongji people preferred to work with Jiselle.
“Drink some alcohol and get some rest. Next time, work hard like you did before.”
Because if you work hard, Giselle will reward you handsomely.
He paid the workers a few silver coins more than their regular wages, saying that they finished the work quickly.
The people of Yeongji happily accepted the money.
“Thank you, my lord.”
“I will use it well!”
“Just call me anytime!”
Although there was a set salary, there was a clear reason why Giselle paid extra allowances to those who worked hard.
Because I knew that appropriate compensation was the greatest force that moved people.
In fact, the people who worked with him worked harder than others.
Jiselle narrowed her eyebrows slightly as she looked at the delighted residents.
‘Everyone tells me to spend money sparingly, so why are you all saving so much? Time is important, you know. Tsk tsk… ‘
Even though we had set up a budget to give extra allowances to those who worked hard, no one used it properly.
It seemed like poverty had taken hold of him.
The idea that we must save money is so strong that we cannot even think about buying time with money.
In a situation where speed of work is more important than money, things just don’t work out.
‘I can’t keep nagging you. Ugh.’
If I nag at them one by one, they will change, but that is not a good method.
If you entrust someone with a task, it is important to trust them.
To begin with, Jiselle was not the type of person to kindly teach her subordinates anything.
All I can do is remind you of it by emphasizing it every now and then.
Jiselle continued to spend money on the estate without stopping, as if she wanted to spend even the share of her men who didn’t spend money.
“Okay, everyone, get moving. There’s a lot of work to do.”
Work was constantly pouring into the estate.
This is because there were many facilities that were so neglected and old that they were unusable.
As the facilities that needed maintenance were repaired and the farmland expanded, the atmosphere in the once anxious territory changed to a lively one.
For the people of Yeongji who were barely able to eat, even this much was a blessing.
“Our lord doesn’t know much about farming or anything like that, but I think he’ll somehow make a living here.”
“There were rumors that he was a total troublemaker. I heard he was a total troublemaker.”
“Hey, that must have been the case when I was young. Now, they give me a lot of money and work to do. If I were a loser, I would just drink and have fun, but I would do things like this.”
When the stomach is full, people’s hearts become kinder.
Even the people of the lord who had initially been afraid of Giselle began to show a sudden interest in the new lord.
As the people of the realm began to unanimously praise the new lord, Giselle called the magicians.