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The number was very small compared to the beginning, but the remaining people couldn’t be taken because they had to repair the houses destroyed by the fight against the Goblins.

“Ten people? The lord must be crazy!”

“Even if the number of goblins decreases…”

The volunteers that were not there from the day before looked like they couldn’t believe what was going on. It wouldn’t be weird to shout out that it was a vain bluff if one heard it without context. And that’s what they did.

“We found a goblin village ahead. There are about 50 of them.”

After listening to the report, I turned to the ten volunteers standing behind me. All of their facial expressions were full of distrust and fear. The volunteers, who swept away a large-scale village with me the day before, weren’t here, so the others didn’t seem to trust me easily.

“Are you guys scared?”

They were silent at my question. It was hard to believe this. Honestly, if I were in their position, I would have thought that the others had taken a bowl of medicine as a group.

“I’m sure you’re all scared. You’re probably thinking, ‘Only ten people came to clear up the Goblin’s village. I think it’s right to kill this crazy bastard and run away.’”

I didn’t hear an answer, but they all seemed to be thinking the same thing. If it was hard to believe, I had to show them myself.

“As I have said before, I have never allowed anyone to die.”

Light begins to flow out with my words. Unlike the knights who realized what I was going to do, the other people’s faces looked surprised. Light started to flow out of my body. Then, after the buff magic settled on them, their distrust disappeared.

* * *

“Wahahahaha! Die, you bastards!”

“The Lord is with us!”

“They didn’t seem to believe me until a little while ago…”

It felt absurd, but I maintained my composure because I had already seen it once before.

“You bastards! Stick your necks out!”

“The saint is with us!”

Yeah, since I was cosplaying as a saint, I understood.

“God is with us!”

“Ha! Take God’s wrath!”

“Hey, you crazy shits!”

It was absurd when they even uttered remarks that would be considered blasphemy. Were they the ones who looked at me with disbelief because they couldn’t believe me? I felt sorry for Goblins, who ran away and trembled in fear because of the crazy followers. And those followers were the ten volunteers who didn’t even receive systematic training or proper weapons.

The time it took to slaughter more than 50 goblins wasn’t that long. If a weapon broke while using it, they could just break their bones with their bare hands. Every one of them was as brave as an extremely fortified warrior! This time, it was hard to kill all of them because I didn’t raise my bow, but since most of them were dead, I didn’t need to catch those that ran away.

Rather, it would be better to have them confuse themselves because they would realize how dangerous humans had become. After finishing the village instantly, I felt a sense of fear for a moment as they gathered to me in unison. I think it was worse than before.

“Lord! Some of them are running away!”

“Haha! They’ll never cross Hines again!”

“Hahahaha! Those losers!”

The scene of them talking made me smile awkwardly. Well, I guess it was a shallow distrust.

“Well…well done.”

Yes, as a volunteer who has to protect your home, it’s good to be loyal. At least they won’t be unhappy with what I’m trying to do. It’s a little shaky, but it’s not bad! I thought so.

It’s not bad to take care of your image. So, exactly two days later, as I was inspecting the changes taking place in my estate…

“Oh…Holy Saint!”

“The saint is here! Clear the way, you bastards!”

The rumors spread fast. Whether these are volunteers or missionary priests…I was beginning to regret the first decision I made.

* * *

As a lord, it was a success to win the trust of the people who resided in this land. It didn’t matter since it was my estate, and I was in the highest position anyway.

Astrea, the conquering king of the Borde, the Paladian Empire, told me every time.

[Don’t forget, it’s not livestock that you lead, but free-willed men. You have to make them follow you with their own will. You shouldn’t lead them forcefully.]

He taught me harmony and not politics, so I didn’t learn politics as a king in depth, but at least I sympathized with what he said from time to time. It was a small estate with only 200 people, but everything starts from poverty.

“From a nearby commercial city, Bernille sent me a charter. I heard that the leader of volunteers did a good job, so he had prepared a lot of supplies. That could delay the return date a little…”

Amy, who was waiting for my return, was also working as my secretary. It was unusual for a woman to be in this position in the kingdom of Al Rown, but I hired men, women, children, and old people alike as long as they were talented.

Amy seemed moved by my appreciation of her worth.

“The rest of the estate documents are here. What else do you need?”

“It’s getting late; I want to clean up. Go take a break, stop working.”

“Stop…working?”

She looked at me with surprise.

“Well, how long are you going to wait for me? You can’t even sleep properly.”

“I can’t…”

She tilted her head as if she were a puppy abandoned by her master.

“Don’t want to go home?”

-You know a lot, but you don’t know how a girl feels.

‘She had feelings for me?’

Perserk sighed as if she found something ridiculous.

-It’s not that she has feelings, but it’s hard to explain. Anyway, it’s not right to throw away a child’s heart that wants to help you.

Perserk was experienced and wise. After she said that, Amy’s gaze got on her nerves.

“Well…Si.. Davey…I can do well! I mean…”

I sighed briefly as I watched her fumble her words. I didn’t know that it would come out like this, even though I took care of it in my own way.

“Yeah, well, there’s nothing we can do now. Instead, I’ll need a lot of your help, so be prepared.”

“Yes!”

“That’s fine. So take a break for now.”

I couldn’t help it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yes!”

As soon as she regained her energy, she left the office. I let out a deep sigh.

“I’ve never really paid close attention to her, though.”

-Well, it seems that the girl feels quite responsible for you since you saved her life.

Ah, that corrupt, low priest’s business. I indeed saved her, but I couldn’t forget that it was only half my intention. I felt guilty for no reason for thinking so. Nodding without a word, Perserk sat lightly on the old desk. Then she squinted, peering through the papers under her butt.

“By the way, you’re thousands of years old, but you still know how to write well.”

-I didn’t just play and eat that whole time.

She said so and reached out to a document that was much larger than her body and swept it away.

“What do you think?”

-Do you want a cold assessment?

“For now.”

-If you lift the curse right now, the territory will be back to normal in at least five years. And it’s about 20 years before you make it into the land you want.

Her judgment was quite accurate. Lifting the curse on the dying land wouldn’t immediately change everything.

“So that’s just based on your judgment?”

-No way. Will you listen to what I think about the land?

“I’ll listen.”

She laughed with satisfaction. As she sat down, she reached for a small document and pointed to one across from her. Then the small document came up lightly with a light wind and flew in front of me.

“Are you able to deal with physical force?”

-It’s possible if I’m controlling just a small force. That’s enough to lift a bit of light stuff like this.

Nevertheless, she looked satisfied.

-This estate doesn’t have accessible water, so the water supply is a mess. Is that all? The livestock industry has shrunk rapidly in the past few years, while the food stockpile of crops has led to a low deposit of food.

She kept going.

– Thanks to a large amount of platinum you got from robbing the capital’s Information Guild, you can endure it for the time being, but it’s a temporary solution. The most serious is also the issue of funding.

It was as she said.

“This land has almost no profit.”

It is inevitable to feel extremely underdeveloped compared to other territories.

“But there’s a lot of ways.”

-I’ll tell me what you think.

Her eyes, smiling beautifully, seemed to be full of expectations. I’m sure she wasn’t checking what was on my mind either. After thousands of years of living, life would be as boring as it gets. It was understandable.

“The good news is that, despite my expectations, the region has quite a few able young people. The first way is to use them by hunting monsters or animals.”

– That’s the worst-case scenario.

Even if the government called for the reform of the territory tomorrow, the people’s trust in the territory is not great enough. If you use them for hunting monsters, you could hold out right away, but that’s where growth ends.

“The second option is to produce specialties, but it’s hard unless you solve the situation with the land.”

-I’m sure you’re right about that.

“Finally, trade. How do we get diamonds with corn?”

She tilted her head at my words.

-There’s no reason for another city to trade from here, and there are no items that we can trade anyway.

“If we can’t trade with people, we can trade with the other races. But just in case, let’s look into the territory first.”

We had to try anything we could for now.