HTLCCBFT Chapter 14

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 14

Having too few poultry and livestock in the domain was absolutely detrimental, with no benefits whatsoever.

This not only meant that the people of the domain lacked a stable source of meat, but also that related industries for animal products, such as wool spinning and leather tanning, could not develop. Furthermore, it would affect the three-field system he had just begun to implement—making it difficult for the fields to receive enough livestock manure as fertilizer to restore their fertility during the short fallow period.

The more Oliver thought about it, the more he felt this matter required someone to be dispatched to handle it as soon as possible.

If they could purchase a large number of livestock and poultry in early summer, the most suitable time for hatching and breeding… if all went well, they might be able to harvest the first batch of mature resources before winter arrived.

Fosse bowed his head respectfully and replied, “Your Highness, in previous years, the most suitable place for Laina City to purchase livestock was Gregor City.”

The only neighbor that could truly be called a neighbor to Laina City, located in the southernmost part of the kingdom, was the treacherous mountain range regarded as a natural border.

The royal capital was situated in the central region of the country, which was the most abundant in natural resources. When Oliver had first set out for his post, he had traveled straight south from the capital all the way to Laina City.

Geographically, the city closest to Laina was undoubtedly Albury City, which they had passed through on their way here and where Steward Fosse had just sent men to find a new cook. Even so, it was a three-day and three-night ride north on horseback.

And to the northeast of Laina City, at a slightly greater straight-line distance, was the Gregor City that Fosse had just mentioned—a city whose scale was larger than Laina City and Albury City combined.

To compare the disparity between the two cities with the most direct figures—Gregor City had a registered taxable population of a full twelve thousand people, exactly twelve times that of Laina City.

Although this did not represent the entire population of Gregor City, it was still more than ten times that of Laina, which was proof enough that the residents of that domain were far more prosperous than those of the impoverished Laina City.

Even the merchants willing to come to Laina City were all those who had hit a wall in the merchant-flooded Gregor City and had decided to try their luck elsewhere.

The many rumors about the grand and glorious Gregor City had also been spread throughout Laina by these merchants, who loved to boast whenever they were drunk.

To the slaves who overheard them, that city—where “rivers flowed with more milk than people could drink, day-old bread that people disdained to eat could be seen everywhere on the streets, and even the feed for a nobleman’s steed was ten times better than what the Laina citizens ate”—was a dreamland filled with all their aspirations.

Every year, there were always a few slaves who, unable to bear the torment of their supervisors any longer, would flee Laina City with their last shred of hope, attempting to reach Gregor City and settle down.

It was just that… even though the previous lord couldn’t be bothered to waste manpower chasing them, nothing was ever heard of those people again.

How could a place that took eight full days and nights to reach even by swift horse be a destination that a frail, dizzy-with-hunger slave could reach on foot?

“Gregor City?”

Oliver pondered for a moment, then quickly found the master of Gregor City in his memory. “If I recall correctly, that is Count McKenna’s domain.”

There were currently only ten counts in the entire kingdom. They either remained at court as the king’s vassals or lived freely as great lords on their large fiefs. The reason Earl McKenna was not summoned to court lay with the person he had once been politically close to: the first prince, who had been eliminated by the new king, Cameron, during the chaotic coup that followed the old king’s death. Although he had never clearly taken a side or expressed direct support, he had consequently earned King Cameron’s dislike and was strictly forbidden from setting foot in the royal court.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Fosse suggested in a slow, deliberate manner. “Although Earl McKenna would certainly not dare to be disrespectful to Your Highness, considering the journey between the two cities is too far, perhaps Your Highness should wait a little and see what the situation is like when the Summer Market opens?”

“The Summer Market?”

Oliver blinked.

Under his capable steward’s methodical explanation, he quickly learned about the important event Laina City was about to welcome—the market.

Strictly speaking, the Laina citizens held a small market three days a week, which was convenient for the people in the city to trade for some daily necessities.

But there were four seasons in a year, and the large market held once each season was on a much grander scale.

Not only would it last for an entire week, but the main sellers would no longer be Laina citizens, but rather merchants of all sizes from different cities, and even different countries.

For the Laina citizens who had some spare money, it was clearly the regular event they most looked forward to.

“I see.”

Oliver was indeed intrigued by the Summer Market. Especially after learning that it was scheduled to be held in just ten days, he completely dismissed the idea of sending people to Gregor City for procurement.

He thought for a moment, and a new question soon arose. “For such an important market in Laina City, where is it usually held?”

He had been in Laina City for several days now and didn’t recall seeing any square in the city suitable for a large gathering.

If the castle he lived in was considered the center of the entire city, then three sides of it were surrounded by fields, with the slaves’ dilapidated thatched huts scattered on the fields closer to the castle.

Only the plains on the east side were occupied by residents of other classes: the land closest to the castle was, of course, where supervisors who were not worthy of living in the castle but held considerable power had built their houses. Next were the scribes, sheriffs, and others, followed by the wealthier merchants, and finally, the commoners.

Fosse fell into a strange silence for a moment.

He pressed his lips together, a rare look of difficulty appearing on his face. Only after a long while, under the Duke’s curious gaze, did he answer softly, “Your Highness, the place where the market is held is… that open space surrounded by the four ditches.”

Oliver’s smile froze.

He certainly remembered the place Fosse was referring to, and the impression was very deep—it was nearly two miles from the castle, located on the easternmost edge of Laina City, and also quite close to where the poorest commoners lived. There, four open ditches, swarming with flies and reeking of a foul stench, enclosed a large, empty plot of land.

The stench he had faintly smelled on his first night in Laina City had been carried by the breeze from those four open ditches.

“Is it really there?” he asked in disbelief. Fosse continued his explanation with some difficulty, trying his best to avoid the crude words the locals used so as not to sully his pure young master’s ears. “Yes, Your Highness. The reason that place became so filthy and foul-smelling was initially because those awful merchants would wantonly dump excrement, animal hides, and entrails into the ditches…”

Of course, the merchants who came from afar weren’t entirely to blame for this.

Because Laina City’s location was so remote, with nowhere nearby to resupply, the safest method of transport for merchants selling goods like hides and meat was, of course, to bring live livestock into the city and slaughter them on the spot.

If they were slaughtered beforehand, they would have likely long since rotted after such a long journey.

And after slaughtering and skinning them, they would cut off the valuable parts, leaving a large amount of waste to be disposed of—the ditches around the open space were the best option.

Who would have thought that those ditches were originally a branch of the Laina River that flowed through the city?

The previous lord had shown no concern for where the waste from consumed raw materials went, let alone dispatched anyone to handle it properly.

All they cared about was whether the merchants’ arrival could provide them with fine wines from other places, or generate more tax revenue from trade.

Under the lord’s neglect, the merchants, who were there for profit in the first place, naturally did things the easiest way possible.

After the market, which lasted for a whole week, concluded, the once-clear river water was polluted and turbid from the mountains of accumulated garbage.

When the commoners saw that they could no longer get the water they needed for daily life from this river, they simply began to imitate the merchants, indiscriminately dumping their household waste and excrement into it.

As this piled up day after day, that branch of the Laina River became completely clogged, turning into what the residents, pinching their noses as they continued to dump trash, called the “Shit River.”

And those big merchants who had started this terrible trend, once the trading environment became extremely foul, gradually abandoned the marginal location of Laina City.

Only some smaller merchants, who couldn’t compete with them in the larger towns, could endure the stench and continue to strike deals in the area surrounded by the Shit River.

Oliver was simply stunned after hearing all this.

He had been busy with the summer planting and upgrading his other job skills these past few days, so he hadn’t found the time to ask about the situation there.

But subconsciously, he had regarded it as an open-air latrine for the Laina citizens, or perhaps a former livestock pen.

And now his loyal butler was telling him that it was… one of Laina City’s most important external trading posts?

Faced with a fact that defied all common sense, Oliver wearily pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling almost on the verge of a breakdown.

He truly had no idea how many neglectful former lords, concerned only with exploiting the common folk, it took to allow such a vile outcome.

It would be a miracle if this could attract merchants—it was clearly driving customers away!

Moreover, in the long run, besides the awful stench, the public health issue would be the most dreadful thing for the Laina citizens: it was the perfect breeding ground for plagues.

“In a few more days, the summer plowing will be completely finished, right? That will free up a lot of manpower.” Oliver took a deep breath, forcing a smile. “My dear butler, that place is simply too hideous. It must be filled in as soon as possible, don’t you agree?”

Fosse nodded obediently. “Your Highness is right.“

“A task like this can’t just be handed over to the slaves,” Oliver said. He loathed the irresponsible former lords, but he couldn’t approve of the commoners either, who had also had a hand in dumping the trash and didn’t even care to protect their own home. “Any commoner who has dumped trash in that river must also put in the effort to fill it in.”

After all, strictly speaking, the slaves, who weren’t even qualified to approach that area, were the most innocent ones.

It was just that the class hierarchy was strict; he couldn’t let the lowest-class slaves remain idle while making the tax-paying commoners do all the work. But he couldn’t let the ones who would ultimately benefit the most stay out of it.

For the freemen, who were usually so full of superiority when facing slaves, having to do the same work as them—aside from farming—would be a severe blow to their pride, and could be considered a punishment in itself.

“Once that place is filled in, it won’t be suitable as a marketplace anymore.”

If left to sit for a while, it could be used as new farmland, and it would surely be very fertile.

But for now…

Oliver sighed, a headache already starting to form.

Where should he hold this year’s Summer Market?

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