Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 191
Late at night when all was quiet, even the diligent lord had been forced into sleep by the system, yet Ticher remained awake.
Though it was clearly very late, her eyes were still open, deep brown pupils shimmering like starlight.
Though she still slept in the narrow rented room that had been perpetually dark, damp, and cold for years, her mood was unprecedentedly good.
“Oh great Cat God,” she murmured with a heart full of joy, “thank you for your generous divine gift, and thank the lord.”
Unable to sleep for the moment, she couldn’t help but replay the scenes from the past half month in her mind.
—After being hired as a cook, she underwent three days of intensive training before being assigned to work in this area.
Every day, she needed to prepare lunch and dinner for over a hundred workers here alongside four other cooks.
Though she had grown up in Gregor City, she wasn’t actually very familiar with this particular area.
If she remembered correctly, this place used to be a weed-chosen wasteland: it was said to have been used as farmland long ago, but after centuries of cultivation, the soil fertility had been completely exhausted. Even the least demanding crops couldn’t take root here anymore, eventually causing farmers to abandon it.
On the prosperous body of Gregor City, it was like a dusty, inconspicuous patch the size of a fingernail on the inside of a gorgeous sleeve – something no one would ever notice.
But now, for some reason, it had become the working center for over a hundred people assigned here, the main attraction surrounded by piles of new building materials.
What was the lord planning to do?
Ticher was certainly curious too.
But rather than satisfying vague curiosity, her work was more important.
Like her other companions from the slums, she cherished this precious opportunity that felt like a divine gift, and was deeply grateful for the generous pay.
Just diligently completing her daily work and using what little free time she had to absorb and consolidate new knowledge kept her hands full enough.
She had developed two new habits: before sleeping, she would always pray to the great Cat God, hoping He would continuously bless that noble and pure lord.
Then she would place today’s wages and her current savings on the bed, counting them over and over until her excited spirit gradually calmed down, finally falling asleep pillowed by these incredibly lovely coins.
Yes, considering there was a sick family member urgently needing money at home, the steward had actually agreed – after consulting with superiors – to pay daily wages to people in situations like hers!
When she completed her first day’s work and actually held the payment in her hand, she still felt like she was dreaming.
It wasn’t until her new friend Daining[mfn]黛宁(Dài níng) – ‘Dining'[/mfn] laughingly took her arm and walked home with her that she began to feel some sense of reality.
Yes, she had also made new friends – Daining, who worked as a cook with her.
The busy yet fulfilling and happy work, her new friend, and the coins jingling in her pocket all made her feel incredibly wonderful.
Daining’s family situation was slightly better than hers. After parting ways not long after, she entered the familiar narrow alley.
Before ducking into it, she habitually glanced around, then immediately realized something and showed a relieved, brilliant smile before returning to her dark little room.
Yes, she no longer had to fear being robbed by those annoying thugs—the newly appointed sheriff was very capable! Moreover, under the lord’s orders, their training program now included street patrols three times a day.
Even these cold, foul-smelling corners weren’t neglected. The most troublesome troublemakers had been reported and arrested during their last robbery of the tenants here.
“Mom.”
Her mother was still unconscious, but Daining wasn’t as afraid as before.
She gently held the patient’s thin, frail hand, pressing her cheek against it affectionately, wearing a bright smile: “Though I don’t know how long this job will last… I’ll work hard to save up and buy a small room that gets sunlight. You must wait for me.”
Her mother’s throat made a faint sound.
Startled, Daining quickly looked up and carefully examined her mother’s face in the dim light.
Though she soon confirmed that her mother hadn’t woken up… she still took that sound as a response.
“That’s wonderful.”
She murmured to herself and returned to her small room.
The recent changes around Gregor’s people were truly immense.
Even the poor, who were considered similar to serfs in the city and completely overlooked in the town, received boons they wouldn’t dare dream of.
Most of them had applied with that faint hope, and good news came quickly.
Except for a very few who were too weak or had poor attitudes, almost everyone got jobs!
No one pondered why the lord suddenly needed so much labor—they were just ecstatic to finally have decent, well-paying work again.
Of course, no one dared to think—what if the lord suddenly changed his mind and didn’t want them anymore?
With everyone working together, the tasks progressed smoothly, even completing the first construction project faster than planned.
Ticher, who delivered meals to the workers daily, undoubtedly witnessed how these three- or four-story buildings took shape under their hands—from initial foundations to gradual height increases, until their beautiful completion.
“It’s truly amazing.”
The houses were tall.
Standing on the ground, she had to crane her neck back significantly to see the beautiful bright orange tiles.
“Such fine houses.” Her eyes were full of envy: “I wonder who gets to live in them? Must be nobles or wealthy merchants.”
They used stone for solid foundations and the first floor, then high-quality lumber for the upper structures, with pillars made of metal she couldn’t identify, topped with lovely bright orange tiles. The windows were large.
Instead of expensive glass, the windows used thinly polished stone slabs that let light through, with many small round holes.
While watching the stonemasons polish the slabs, she wistfully thought that if she could ever afford a small room for her and her mother, she’d want such cost-effective window panels too.
Ticher was quite lucky.
On the afternoon when this batch of houses was completely finished, after delivering meals, she unexpectedly discovered that the person turning over the soil between these buildings and roads, and placing pots of tender seedlings in the small pits, was actually Byud[mfn]比由德(Bǐ yóu dé) – unsure of if this name is supposed to sound like anything[/mfn], her neighbor who lived in the same building.
She couldn’t help but squat on the ground and ask Byud: “Byud, do you know why the adults are building houses here?”
Not long ago, she had realized that this place was too far from the castle, unlike the style of those wealthy and powerful people who preferred living close to the castle.
The further away from the castle, the darker and smaller the houses became, and the more chaotic the surrounding environment, to accommodate the poor who were considered as detestable as filth in some people’s eyes.
However, this might only be a temporary situation.
Ticher looked thoughtfully into the distance, toward the direction of Havest Street.
It was impossible for her not to notice on her daily way home that many people had been assigned to road repair work… not only fixing and widening existing sections but also continuously extending outward.
The roads, like the veins of the city, were like a spider weaving a dense web, constantly spreading outward.
Could it be that they planned to build roads all the way to these new houses?
“I don’t know either.”
Byud looked somewhat embarrassed at this young woman who, though dressed in a simple linen dress with her long hair neatly tied up, was still beautiful, and whispered his guess: “Maybe it’s for the families of those selected as knight attendants?”
News about those impressive and dignified knights—former members of the Duke Knight Order—had spread quickly throughout Gregore City by the second day after Loyel and others arrived.
Both their noble origins and the Duke’s trust in them made them highly respected and admired figures in the city.
Of course, not everyone fortunate enough to pass the secondary screening and follow them would be promoted to knight attendants. And theoretically, knight attendants weren’t nobler than freemen, but the sense of superiority brought by that blurred status boundary was almost universally acknowledged in people’s hearts.
Especially since even the most impoverished low-ranking nobles still maintained arrogant attitudes and considered themselves rare commodities, knight attendants were undoubtedly easier to win over and more likely to be seen as good son-in-law candidates by wealthy merchants with many daughters—treated as a kind of bet requiring substantial stakes.
“Oh!”
Ticher was immediately convinced.
Most people working here actually thought the same way, so—when the steward clapped his hands casually and announced that this batch would become relief low-rent housing charging only 10 copper coins per room monthly, everyone was stunned.
“Those interested should come register. The first batch will be allocated within three days, so hurry up.” The steward clapped his hands but failed to rouse the dazed expressions, so he frowned and reminded: “The first batch definitely won’t be enough for all of you, but the second and third batches will be built soon… The first batch will prioritize families in difficult circumstances. Remember to bring your freeman identification credentials and at least tax payment records from the past five years! Alright, we’re closing early today, everyone go back and prepare.”
No one would consider such conditions harsh—paying taxes was a necessary requirement to maintain their status as free citizens, and it was also the very reason they struggled desperately to earn money.
Faced with such unimaginably generous rewards, people were left in a daze for who knows how long.
As for her own reaction that day, Ticher’s memory was somewhat hazy, for she had been far too excited: it seemed that after a bout of hysterical screaming, she had run all the way home like a complete madwoman, tears and snot streaming down her face.
Then, brushing aside the bedbugs that hadn’t yet been scared away under the low bed, she carefully retrieved the documents needed for registration from the wooden chest.
In her haste and frantic movements, she even scraped her elbow on the sharp edge of the small wooden chest, causing it to bleed quite a bit.
Three days later, she and her mother moved into the spacious, bright new home they had personally helped build, after paying an unbelievably low rent.
The old landlord, who had lost this source of rental income, felt no sadness or dissatisfaction whatsoever—he had recently heard that his old house and the surrounding area were to be demolished, and he would either be allocated a new home or receive a generous compensation payment!
There were many others in Gregor City who shared Ticher’s excitement.
The cat-eared secretary, as usual, was diligently recording the day’s work reflections for the lord in the study.
When he suddenly absorbed a far greater amount of the power of faith than usual, he tilted his head in confusion, and the divine power controlling the pen to write paused briefly.
“Suddenly… I received a lot of power of faith.”
The moment Oliver cast a questioning glance his way, he honestly replied, “But I didn’t do anything. It was all Oliver’s doing.”
“What nonsense are you talking?”
The lord, who was lying back in his soft chair, dictating with his eyes closed to rest, laughed in response, “I don’t agree with you. You accompany me every day without asking for anything in return, and when I need help, you spare no effort. It’s because of you that I’ve been able to stay relaxed, happy, and full of inspiration and motivation. How can that be considered doing nothing?”
The cat god was indeed overjoyed.
But the lord, who had spoken these words himself, felt a bit strange about it.
He coughed lightly, somewhat guiltily, and closed his eyes again.
His earlier description… ahem.
How arrogant it was to casually treat a God as his own supportive partner!
