"Sigh... this idiotic predecessor of mine really was something else," Raymond thought to himself, his brows furrowing slightly as he kept his steady pace down the center of the road.
"He actually managed to make an entire town hate him to the point where they want to murder him on sight. Damn, this level of hostility is going to be quite difficult to resolve through normal means."
Just as the thought crossed his mind, a sharp, digital chime rang out inside his head, and a bright red system interface manifested directly before his eyes.
[ Warning: Extreme Public Hostility Detected! ]
[ Current Citizen Loyalty Index: -90% (Abysmal Hatred) ]
[ Current Status: Total Resentment / Imminent Rebellion Risk.(
[System Note: The local populace actively visualizes your demise every 4.2 seconds. Your public reputation is lower than a plague-infested rat. Good luck gaining a multiplier.]
Raymond was simply speechless when he processed the notification.
He shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose in sheer internal frustration. His felt heavy just by thinking about all of this.
A loyalty index of negative ninety percent meant he was starting from a deeper hole than he had originally anticipated.
It didn’t take much longer for the group to finally arrive at the main town gate.
When Raymond stopped to inspect the structure, he was once again left completely speechless.
"This... is supposed to be our main town gate?" Raymond asked, turning his head slightly toward Lily.
Lily poked her tiny head out from behind his silk pajamas, nodding her head cutely with a solemn expression. "Yes, Young Master. This is the official main gate."
Raymond slapped his hand directly against his forehead, feeling his internal frustration building up with every single passing minute.Instead of calling this structure a defensive gate, it simply looked like a wide, open invitation for trouble.
The town gate didn’t look like a proper military fortification at all. The two flanking walls were simply constructed from cheap, sun-dried red clay, and they weren’t tall either, standing there, Raymond could easily see right over the top of them, viewing the endless, cracked wasteland stretching out into the distance.
The actual gate itself was made from a series of thin, rotting wooden planks. It was hanging precariously on its last remaining iron hinge, creaking loudly as the dry morning wind whistled straight through the massive gaps in the wood.
"This is ridiculous," Raymond couldn’t help but protest aloud, his lips twitching violently as he stared at the broken barrier. "This is simply inviting every bandit group in the region to come inside and raid the town.
Lily gave Raymond a flat, unblinking look, her voice entirely deadpan. "Young Master, even the local bandits don’t want to take a single step into this poor, god-forsaken town. In fact, the criminal gangs in the Zulor Region view this specific barony as an omen of terrible bad luck. They believe that if they even come within a one-hundred-meter radius of our borders, it will permanently ruin their raiding business for the rest of the year."
Listening to Lily’s blunt explanation, Raymond felt a sharp pang of psychological pain in his chest. How incredibly poor and cursed could a territory be to the point where literal, notorious bandits intentionally avoided it just to keep from catching bad luck?
His temples throbbed with a rising headache.
He let out a dry cough, trying to look atthe bright side. "Well... at the very least, I suppose I don’t have to worry about external bandit attacks or military invasions for some time to come. No one wants this garbage."
"My Lord!"
Just then, a loud, raspy voice called out to him from behind. Raymond turned his body around to see Captain Boris hurrying toward the gate, accompanied by four of his newly converted guard units. Trailing feebly behind the soldiers were three malnourished, elderly men.
Captain Boris reached Raymond’s position and immediately dropped to one knee, greeting him with absolute respect.
"Greetings, your Lordship. I have executed your commands."Raymond nodded with his signature benevolent smile, gesturing for Boris to rise. His eyes immediately shifted to inspect the three elderly men who had stopped a few paces away.
The trio looked so incredibly frail, skinny, and hollowed out by hunger that it seemed like a strong gust of wind would literally blow them away into the wasteland in the next moment.
Their skin was like wrinkled parchment, their clothes were tied with rough hemp rope, and they held themselves up with wooden walking sticks, their hands trembling constantly.
"Are these the individuals?" Raymond asked, looking from the old men back to Captain Boris.
Captain Boris nodded firmly, his tone serious. "Yes, my Lord. After thoroughly searching through the entire town registry and asking around the residential quarters, it was revealed that these are the only three people left in the entire barony who possess any actual, functional farming knowledge. The rest of our citizens are either simple laborers or common people."
Raymond nodded slowly, his eyes gleaming with a sudden calculative focus. He stepped closer to the three elderly farmers, his demeanor completely calm.
"Do you three know of a specific location across this outer wasteland where the soil conditions are at least slightly better?"
Raymond asked them gently. "A place where the chances of successfully growing vegetation might be a bit higher than this dry dirt beneath our feet?"
The three old men glanced at one another with hesitant, trembling movements. They looked at Raymond’s elegant silk clothes, then shifted their gaze to the three massive, silent knights standing behind him.
Finally, their blank, dispirited expressions shifted slightly, and they nodded their heads in unison.
Raymond’s smile widened, a brilliant spark of excitement flashing deep within his eyes. His hand subconsciously drifted toward his system inventory icon, where the Tier 1 Land Upgrade Card and the Tier II Variant Seeds were waiting to be deployed.
"Excellent," Raymond said smoothly, gesturing toward the open, broken gate.
"Take me to that exact place rightnow."