HTLCCBFT Chapter 102

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 102

Hahn followed behind knight Kane, his courage only mustering when they were nearly at the castle gates. He finally asked the knight who had been icy from start to finish, “Sir Knight, may I ask why His Grace has summoned me?”

His heart was filled with anxiety.

Since arriving in Laina, he hadn’t had time to do anything at all!

If it were about punishing him for privately borrowing books from slaves, that seemed unlikely: by all accounts, Booke should be the one punished for doing it first, and it wouldn’t necessitate being summoned to the castle to meet the lord.

But to think that he, a chicken merchant who always carried the stench of chicken manure that disgusted those haughty big merchants, had suddenly gained His Grace’s favor…

Even with the thickest skin, Hahn wouldn’t dare entertain such delusions.

To his surprise, the knight who initially seemed very unapproachable stopped upon hearing this and explained succinctly, “His Grace has a business deal he wishes to discuss directly with you.”

“A business deal?” Hahn’s eyes widened in astonishment. “His Grace… wants to buy more chicks?”

Kane nodded expressionlessly.

Hahn never dreamed in his wildest dreams that what he considered a pitifully low-profit, otherwise insignificant small transaction—whose only redeeming quality was having the Duke as the buyer, something he could boast about for a lifetime—would bring him such privileged treatment today!

He, Hahn! Was going to discuss another business deal with the Duke!

After Kane brought the dazed chicken merchant to the reception room and had him wait there, he withdrew.

The main seat was empty—the Duke wasn’t present, nor was the butler.

Hahn was dumbfounded.

He stood uneasily for a while, unsure what to do, when suddenly a footman entered.

This young footman named Johan was quite handsome, and unlike the stern knight from before, his demeanor was much more approachable.

Johan explained that he had received the Duke’s instructions: since His Grace was busy handling other matters, Hahn should sit and wait.

Once he received the Duke’s approval, Johan would take him to the chicken coop.

During the waiting period, Johan also had a maid bring some local Laina specialties for Hahn to taste—mayonnaise, corn crisps, pickled corn, and white bread.

But how could Hahn dare to eat and drink freely in the Duke’s castle?

He bowed nervously to the kind-looking young footman, about to express further gratitude, but the other had already departed.

Oliver was indeed very busy.

Without exaggeration, in the two months that had flown by in a whirlwind of activity, even setting aside the assistance of the game system, the numerous achievements he and his people had accomplished far surpassed what any previous lords had achieved over hundreds of years.

In the fields, slaves were working fervently, with autumn harvest and autumn plowing happening simultaneously. The now much-cleansed saline-alkali land had been experimentally planted with crops more resistant to salt—rapeseed, sugar beets, and winter wheat.

This suddenly multiplied the originally limited field area—which had initially been divided into three sections by Oliver for mandatory crop rotation, making it seem quite constrained—making it abundantly spacious.

As the other crops entered their harvest stage, the vast fields stretching as far as the eye could see were either golden or lush green, making the large plot of miraculously bountiful corn that Oliver had personally planted no longer stand out as prominently.

Since each harvested ear yielded at least one to three seeds… the golden sunflowers in Laina’s fields were being cultivated in increasing numbers.

In his spare time, Oliver efficiently utilized every gap unsuitable for other crops by planting these large flowers that brought an involuntary smile to anyone who looked at them.

The scattered dry toilets near the farmland had pits only half-full, so compost couldn’t be put to use yet.

But by next spring, after accumulation and fermentation through summer, autumn, and winter, it would become excellent fertilizer.

For the current fields, fertilizer wasn’t particularly scarce—besides the three compost bins every commoner household possessed for their own plots, diluted urine from slaves, along with manure and nutrient-rich water from the chicken coop and (miniature) pigsty, could be used in the fields after brief fermentation.

Oliver didn’t neglect matters beyond the farmland either.

Compared to the time constraints during the Summer Market preparations, the Autumn Market allowed for much more generous preparation time.

This time, instead of handling everything personally, he had slaves widen the gravel path he initially laid right after harvest, level the ground, and dig drainage ditches on both sides.

The original gravel path could only accommodate one medium-sized carriage, but now it could handle three carriages simultaneously.

In many people’s eyes, such a wide road might seem unnecessary—even during Laina’s most prosperous years, there had never been bustling “traffic coming and going.”

How expensive were carriages? Even the cheapest cargo cart cost several gold coins, not to mention the draft horses!

But Oliver thought differently.

To prosper, first build roads. Especially internal roads that Laina residents would regularly use—if they were to be built, they should be done properly from the start.

Buildings always leave the strongest first impression on outsiders, and roads are part of that overall image—the continuous exclamations of surprise from merchants attending the Autumn Market proved these efforts weren’t in vain.

Relying solely on external merchants wasn’t a long-term solution either. To make Laina more attractive to well-traveled merchants, besides improving purchasing power and infrastructure, Oliver had Arte design sample shops and had slaves construct rentable shop buildings according to the blueprints.

Even if only one out of a hundred merchants stayed, these efforts wouldn’t be wasted.

Of course, not everything proceeded perfectly according to Oliver’s plans.

His second-highest priority—literacy education—progressed particularly slowly, forcing the envisioned “sports meet” and “group examinations” to be postponed together.

This was due to both the frequent summer rains and the late completion of the final version of beginner textbooks.

After all, the only person in the entire Laina territory who could serve as a useful drawing laborer was Arte… leaving Oliver no choice but to keep pushing him to work.

Even with the enticing carrot of “drawing the sacred pillar of the Cat God” dangling before him, Arte—who was determined to obtain it—worked almost tirelessly day and night on his drawings, yet progress remained slow.

It wasn’t until the fourth-to-last day of summer that Arte, after countless revisions, finally passed what he considered a crude and barely acceptable final version—though his muse was thoroughly satisfied.

Having the carvers engrave the wooden boards and proceed with printing, even at the fastest pace, still took over half a month.

By the time the first batch of 500 textbooks was printed, more than half of the first month of autumn had already passed.

Though somewhat frustrated, Oliver consoled himself… at least it coincided with the end of the busiest period of autumn harvest and plowing. Now that the slaves had finished their fieldwork, they could free up time for physical training and studying.

All things considered, there were still nearly two months left for learning before winter arrived.

Of course, the timing of the competition couldn’t be too rigid.

So at this point, Oliver had Fosse publicly announce: “In the middle of the final month of autumn, the Cat God will bestow a trial and reward those who perform most exceptionally.”

Upon hearing that this was a trial from the great Cat God, all the slaves—who had previously believed “the Lord is too kind, but we’re utterly unworthy of learning the wisdom from the Cat God” or “we simply can’t learn”—suddenly transformed into different people.

This year, with winter supplies more abundant than ever, they were no longer excessively preoccupied with scavenging for wild vegetables. Thanks to Lord Oliver consistently permitting the gathering of fallen branches in the woods, their newly built houses were already stocked with gradually collected firewood.

They certainly couldn’t afford to burn their hearths vigorously for most of the winter like commoners could… but at least during those bone-chilling cold days, they could still find warmth.

Not to mention they now had new houses! Such beautifully constructed wooden homes that truly sheltered them from wind and rain!

Remembering that all of this was bestowed by the beautiful divine messenger and the Cat God, even Jack—who considered himself a fool—joined Marianne in last-minute cramming, burying themselves in books to avoid disappointing their benefactors.

Once they actually started reading, they were astonished to discover that if they persevered through the dry and difficult beginning—managing to understand the basic characters—and combined that with the vivid illustrations, they could roughly comprehend the stories!

Although acquiring real knowledge still required considerable mental effort… learning turned out to be far more interesting than they had imagined!

The slaves quickly realized that children who had just turned seven or eight learned the fastest.

Thus, without any urging from the supervisors or encouragement from the Lord, they automatically rounded up the roaming youngsters, brought them home, and sternly made them study.

After all, children of that age weren’t particularly useful besides running around the streets playing with their dangling snot—unable to carry much firewood, incapable of distinguishing edible from poisonous wild vegetables, and too weak to handle farm tools.

Normally, they could only do the lightest chores in the fields, picking up stones during road repairs… Now, they had to read books for their parents who eagerly wanted to hear more stories!

While their parents waited expectantly for them to finish studying and read those interesting, educational little tales aloud, the carefree days of these usually undisciplined children came to an abrupt end.

As the one who “ruined” the children’s childhood, Oliver was now standing outside the chicken coop’s… delivery room, alongside Lucy and other caretakers.

The once fluffy, golden-yellow chicks had officially entered adulthood this week: their soft “cheeps” had deepened into low “clucks,” their combs turned bright red, their wattles plump, and their eyes bright. Each bird was now fully feathered, with plump chests and crops filled from daytime foraging. Their rounded rear ends were covered in clean white down, their bodies neither too fat nor too thin, and their gait lively.

In fact, since last week, a few hens had already begun laying their first eggs.

Though only a small number, when Lucy excitedly reported this news to Oliver, it immediately caught his attention.

The appearance of the first eggs didn’t mean the entire flock had started laying—that would only happen when at least 50% were producing. But the crucial moment was undoubtedly near: by the 21st week, the flock would fully enter the egg-laying period.

For Oliver, who was deeply invested in the flock’s well-being, this was an extremely important time. Even though he had already explained key precautions to Lucy and the others, he decided to personally supervise tasks like introducing nesting materials, setting up egg boxes, adjusting feed, and preparing for breeding selection.

To avoid startling the expectant hens, even the golden-furred deity—who was usually allowed to shadow Oliver everywhere and even brazenly used the handsome blond Lord as a cat tree—was sternly left behind in the castle this time, forbidden from entering the chicken coop.

The Cat-shaped  deity, who had been hastily peeled off Oliver and placed on the bed: ……

“Bear with it for now.” Sensing the cat’s resistance, Oliver distractedly rubbed its cheeks and reassured with a smile, “I’ll come back for you once things are settled over there.”

It tried to get up, but Oliver swiftly pressed it back down.

The pressure was gentle, but enough to shock the deity, who had never been rejected before. It stared at him in confusion.

But this time, Oliver was firm. Smiling, he said, “Not now. This is the most critical moment. Even though you’re the cutest Cat God, I can’t bring you along. You might scare the timid hens and affect egg production.”

With those words, Oliver—preoccupied with the chicken coop—soon left.

The deity stared blankly as the bedroom door was heartlessly…… heartlessly shut by its beloved follower.

…… I……

Its ears drooped as it lay down dejectedly.

Its tail twitched restlessly, and an anxious feeling grew stronger inside.

After lying on the bed for who knows how long, its eyes suddenly widened with a sudden realization.

…… I don’t want…… to be a cat anymore…

In the next moment, the golden cat left behind in the bedroom vanished without a trace.

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