HTLCCBFT Chapter 185

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 185

Preparing so many artisans from various trades at once, conducting concise and effective assessments, then reasonably allocating the selected suitable candidates… was clearly an enormous task that absolutely couldn’t be completed in one go.

However, Oliver wasn’t in any particular hurry.

In his plans, the reconstruction of Gregor City would take at least three to five years to complete even at the fastest pace—work that required constant follow-up and absolutely tolerated no corner-cutting. Although in this era where commoners and slaves would face certain death if they angered their lord, few would dare to be so bold, close supervision remained essential.

Moreover, while his requirement list was drafted, Arte was the only “chief designer” responsible for translating all these plans into blueprints.

When the delicate Baron rushed eagerly from Laina after receiving the call from his beautiful muse, only to be confronted with the terrifying task of “replanning Gregor City’s internal construction,” he immediately saw black spots before his eyes and fainted on the spot.

Unfortunately, the ruthless lord didn’t permit him to escape for long, having the cat god use divine power to wake him directly.

After a period of painful internal struggle, Arte ultimately had no choice but to accept his assignment.

This was partly due to the comforting words from his muse.

Indeed, though no one knew yet how much use those painters of varying quality—whom the Duke had hired at great expense—would be, along with the precious mathematics professors specially poached from the city’s only university (so rare they could be counted on one hand), and countless artisans…

At least he was no longer struggling alone in difficult circumstances.

To avoid further distressing poor Arte, Oliver temporarily maintained silence, playing the role of the most amiable client who never rushed for deliverables.

After all, Arte was inherently a perfectionist who nitpicked over his own work, willing to lose hair from sleepless nights rather than allow barely satisfactory results to see daylight.

Oliver also understood clearly that even if he were mad enough to have the cat god use divine power to turn Arte into an iron man capable of working twenty-four hours nonstop, the blueprints couldn’t be completed quickly regardless.

They could only be slowly drafted in batches according to priority while Arte contemplated each aspect.

As for the plaza section, Oliver planned to postpone construction until late summer to avoid disrupting the upcoming Summer Market.

However…

That day in the council hall, while discussing construction details for the commercial district with the anxious Arte, Oliver distractedly glanced out the window.

These subtle movements were quickly noticed by Fosse, who approached and quietly inquired when the unaware Arte returned stiffly to his seat: “Your Highness, is there anything you require me to do?”

Oliver paused momentarily, then smiled gently: “Nothing major. I was just thinking—if I recall correctly, the Summer Market should be starting in these few days, right?”

Fosse bowed his head: “Just as you say, Your Highness.”

“That seems somewhat strange then.”

After pondering briefly, Oliver now felt genuinely concerned: “The number of foreign merchants entering the city district through the north gate… isn’t it rather too few?”

He had been sitting by this window with Arte since shortly after waking up, from which they could distantly see the North Gate.

The road outside the North Gate connected to the most prosperous neighboring city, Riche, yet the flow of merchants was not as substantial as what he had witnessed back in his castle in Albury, where merchants from three mining cities would arrive in greater numbers.

For Gregor city—which could be considered uniquely advantaged in terms of geographical location, hailed as the largest city in the south, and whose annual trade revenue far surpassed the value generated from farmland—this was truly abnormal.

Fosse paused upon hearing this.

After the young lord pointed it out, he quickly realized the anomaly as well.

How terribly negligent he had been!

As the subordinate entrusted by His Lordship to manage affairs both inside and outside the city, the one most deeply trusted and valued by His Lordship, he had failed to notice such a detail in time. Instead, it was the young lord who keenly detected it and turned to remind him!

At this thought, a trace of profound shame crossed the butler’s stern face. His previously slightly relaxed spine suddenly tensed like a fully drawn bow, and he bent forward sharply. “My deepest apologies, Your Grace, for my oversight—”

“No, Fosse.”

Oliver immediately reacted upon hearing his suddenly serious tone.

Regretting his earlier lack of tact, Oliver found himself both amused and exasperated. He gently grasped Fosse’s tightly clenched right hand and said softly, “Just as a loyal and agile hawk soaring through the skies must constantly survey the entire forest, how could it possibly notice a single spider’s web on a tree? In fact, its fierce and swift presence alone is enough to intimidate the timid prey in the woods. Should we blame it for being unproductive? As for me, though I wish to be a master worthy of the devoted service of an excellent butler like you, I often sigh at my own inadequacies.”

Hearing Oliver’s gentle reassurance, the silver-haired, green-eyed authoritative butler felt even more ashamed.

His thin lips pressed into a stiff line, and it was a long moment before he replied in a voice strained with deep emotion, “Please do not say such things.”

“I am willing to grant your request, my dear Fosse.”

Oliver smiled slightly. “But for the sake of fairness, I must ask you to abide by the same request as well, alright?”

Fosse: “……”

Seeing that the ever-loyal butler, who was always excessively strict with himself, seemed unwilling to let go of his “mistake,” Oliver decided to press further. Feigning sorrow, he said, “Just as my thoughtful and meticulous butler cannot bear to see me blame myself, I cannot ignore his excessive harshness toward himself either. Please spare me this distress, my Fosse.”

As the noble and beautiful Duke softly comforted the butler, whose presence was as striking as that of a hawk or hound…

In the vast hall, aside from Baron Arte, who was completely absorbed in his own world, only three others could clearly hear the conversation.

The young blond noble “Jin,” whose gaze never left Oliver — mysterious in origin yet undoubtedly of noble status, handsome and refined — remained utterly expressionless at this moment, as though he saw nothing strange in the bizarre scene before him.

There was also the knight commander, Noel, whose eyes had gradually begun to waver, yet who relied on the composure he had cultivated over many years to barely maintain a calm exterior.

And then there was the lowest in status among them — the unlucky manservant Johan, whose heart was now the most panicked of all, unable to sit or stand at ease.

…Great cat god.

Though trying hard to avoid eye contact, Johan still caught a glimpse of the iron-willed, stern-faced butler’s slightly reddened eyes from his peripheral vision, instantly breaking out in a cold sweat.

…This was truly terrifying.

The butler had indeed ultimately accepted the young master’s long-awaited coaxing comfort and quickly took action to atone for his “transgression.”

With Noel being appointed by Oliver as the sheriff of Gregor city and having too many affairs to handle, Fosse assigned the important task of investigating “the sharp decline in merchants arriving in Gregor city from the north” to Loyel, who had just arrived here.

Loyel was naturally swift and decisive in action, especially since he was filled with motivation this time, determined to prove his capabilities before the long-separated young lord and show he hadn’t failed the young lord’s deep affection. He immediately led a small squad of knights out of the city.

In just a few short days, he returned with concrete information and reported the investigation results to Oliver.

“Riche city’s lord Welph hasn’t been secretly causing trouble for now. Merchants are all permitted to normally leave Riche city and head to Gregor,” Loyel said respectfully. “The reason merchant caravans disappear along the way… is because of bandit groups.”

“Bandit groups?”

Oliver was momentarily stunned, then chuckled wryly: “I actually forgot about those ‘old friends’.”

It must be said this was definitely an answer he should have anticipated.

The reason he hadn’t thought of it earlier was because when he rebuilt the roads connecting Gregor, Albury, and Laina, he specifically had patrol posts established along the way capable of accommodating over a hundred soldiers. These were set up approximately every half-day’s journey along the route.

Soldiers were provided equally by the cities at both ends of the roads and, like the guards within the towns, were regularly rotated.

Oliver decided to do this both because he had nearly suffered from bandit groups before, serving as “defensive retaliation,” and to ease his conscience when collecting taxes from merchants. It also served as training for soldiers, achieving multiple purposes with one move.

Even modern small-time hoodlums collect money under the name of protection fees.

Oliver thought, since he was collecting high taxes, he couldn’t possibly give nothing back to the merchants.

The passionate guards, who endured the knight captain’s strict daily training but had never found opportunities to prove themselves beyond sparring with teammates or practicing on wooden dummies, were like hungry wolf pups eagerly awaiting action.

The diligent patrol frequency paid off.

Shortly after the patrol posts were established, they encountered several unfortunate bandit groups.

Just as those vicious bandits were about to loot their targets, they ran into the patrolling guards.

—Why would soldiers be wandering here?

This thought had barely formed in their minds when they were immediately beaten bloody by the highly motivated soldiers and scattered in all directions.

Captured bandits were all conscripted as laborers, unable to step beyond the stone circles until they completed ten years of service; the few who managed to escape were terrified.

Terrified out of their wits, they either quickly fled to other cities where they were captured, or temporarily joined other bandit groups, spreading Duke Oliver’s “reputation of terror.”

The three cities under Oliver’s rule became nightmares in the eyes of bandits and “dream cities” in the eyes of merchants at an unbelievably rapid pace.

After the roads were rebuilt with full consideration for drainage and maintenance convenience, travel time was significantly reduced. Merchant caravans moved much more smoothly on these roads, greatly decreasing the damage to goods caused by bumpy journeys.

Now with numerous patrol soldiers added to ensure safety on all trade routes, merchants enjoyed luxurious treatment they hadn’t even dared to dream of before.

To merchants who had never experienced real security, Oliver was truly deserving of the title Angel Duke—even real angels might not be so understanding and considerate!

In the past, merchants seeking any sense of security had to either painfully pay large sums to hire mercenary escorts, or wait to depart together with other merchant groups.

The former meant terrifying expenses that could easily leave merchants operating at a loss, and even with over a hundred mercenaries, they could only defend against small bandit groups.

The latter was like a fat sheep joining other sheep—while numbers might deter small groups of wandering bandits, against bands of hundreds, it was more like hungry wolves entering a flock.

The slowest sheep lagging behind was destined to be sacrificed.

Abandoned by companions, torn apart by hungry wolves.

Sometimes those cunning wolves would even ignore the timid thin sheep, focusing only on attacking the plump one.

Small merchants who missed traveling with companions and couldn’t afford mercenaries had no choice but to grit their teeth and gamble on their luck: Ticher’s father had been one of them, and when Lady Luck abandoned him, he met the tragic fate of disappearing without a trace, leaving his wife and daughter destitute.

But now, they only needed to pay taxes required for transactions in any city to receive so much protection!

“Thank the cat god! Thank the divine messenger!”

In the carriage compartment, the small, exquisite divine statue placed in the mobile shrine made of expensive fragrant wood had a slender, delicate form.

A pair of pointed triangular cat ears and a tail carved with lifelike patterns that looked fluffy hung behind it.

The smooth wooden surface seemed to emit a gentle glow.

Booke, who had become a fervent believer of the cat god and worshipper of the Angel Duke after narrowly escaping death, and who had grown fond of traveling only between these three safest cities… was piously praying to the cat god statue he had specially purchased.

He felt truly satisfied.

He had thought that business limited to three cities wouldn’t be enough to sustain him. It must be the great cat god and divine messenger’s blessing that made people suddenly love reading overnight, allowing his business to grow bigger and bigger!

Unnoticed by him, the previously dull wooden eyes of the divine statue suddenly gleamed.

It was as if God had truly heard his plea.

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