“May I ask, my lord, how much wealth do you possess?”
Fan You quietly suppressed the stir Zhang Yang had casually stirred up in him.
“Wealth?”
Zhang Yang couldn’t bear to hear that word right now.
How much wealth did she have in her pocket?
Did the game designers not know?
They’d dared to price a single Homestead deed at 888,800,880,000 Alliance Coins.
She’d managed to scrape together enough only by living frugally, working from sunrise to sunset, and wringing every last coin from her savings.
What wealth could she possibly have left now?
The game designers had arranged this quest to test her assets.
Did that mean the quest’s next stage would require her to spend a fortune?
Zhang Yang’s heart sank again and again.
Her own thoughts frightened her.
“I’m completely broke. My pockets are empty. I don’t have a single coin!”
Fan You looked a little surprised.
Zhang Yang was dressed plainly, but had an extraordinary air about her.
He’d assumed she was a young lady from some prominent family.
His question had been meant to test her family’s means and whether her clan might offer support.
He hadn’t expected her to openly admit she was flat broke.
“Could your parents help you out, my lord?”
“That’s a really unpleasant question.”
Where would an NPC get parents?
“I was born without a father or mother.”
Humans and other races could reproduce sexually or asexually, but how did NPCs reproduce?
Did both parties snip a bit from the data streams that made up their bodies, mash it together, then copy and paste it into a new little NPC?
Strictly speaking, the game developers were her parents.
But the people Zhang Yang complained about most were the game developers.
“I’ve never even seen them. I’ve heard from people (the observation samples) that they’re all damned scoundrels. I’m better off without parents like that.”
“My lord, do you have any kin?”
“I’m the only one on my household register. Why are you asking?”
Fan You: “…”
He wanted to ask what she was up to, too.
No parents, no family, no savings, yet she opened her mouth and demanded to unify the Three Enclosures and Four Symbols and all the various states?
The disbelief on his face was impossible to miss.
Zhang Yang replied with absolute conviction, “That’s your problem. You’re the one who gives people advice. If I knew what to do, would I be asking you?”
She wasn’t the one with 93 points in Intellect!
Fan You: “…”
At that very moment, the little guilt he’d felt toward Zhang Yang vanished without a trace, replaced by the urge to see her get into serious trouble. This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
How could someone like her be a lord?
He was a strategist, not some god or Buddha sitting in a shrine, granting believers’ wishes!
If he could come up with a way to unite the Three Enclosures, the Four Symbols, and all the states, why would he be assisting Zhang Yang?
He’d just do it himself.
He wouldn’t have ended up in this situation otherwise.
Fan You: “My lord, you’re asking the impossible.”
Zhang Yang thought it over and realized his mistake.
“Indeed, you can’t get fat in one bite. Let’s start with the first step!”
Then she stared at Fan You, waiting for an answer she could copy word for word.
Fan You: “…”
He felt his brain hurt more than his injured limbs.
After frowning for a long while, he sighed in resignation.
“What is your surname, my lord?”
“Zhang Yang, courtesy name Boyuan.”
“Your surname is Zhang?” Fan You mentally ran through the various Zhang lineages he knew.
“Jiukan is in turmoil, and several Zhang clans have been forced to relocate and vanished without a trace. If you’re willing, my lord, you could later claim to be a member of a collateral branch of the Jiukan Zhang Clan.”
It wouldn’t be too difficult to pass himself off as a member of a collateral branch.
Great clans had vast numbers of people, with countless generations of collateral branches.
Even elders holding the clan register couldn’t be sure how many people belonged to the clan, let alone all their names.
If Zhang Yang pretended to be one of them, no one would investigate whether her background was genuine.
“What’s Jiukan? Never heard of it. Why would I pretend to be one of them?”
“One needs a respectable background to make things easier down the road. Great clans build up their reputations over generations. Even if they fall on hard times, as long as they have a promising young scion, there will always be wealthy families and local gentry willing to form a friendly connection.” Fan You explained patiently.
If Zhang Yang hadn’t told him she had no one to rely on and no money in her purse, he wouldn’t have needed to think up a scheme like this.
“If Your Lordship really does achieve great things in the future, even if your claim to be from the Jiukan Zhang Clan is false, the real Jiukan Zhang Clan will be willing to help make it true. You needn’t worry about being found out.”
Zhang Yang nodded thoughtfully.
“Mm-hmm. And then?”
“Then, naturally, you cultivate a reputation.”
With the Jiukan Zhang Clan behind her, Zhang Yang could use a few tricks to cultivate a good name and build up her own standing.
The local gentry and wealthy merchants would then come knocking to make her acquaintance.
If Zhang Yang showed promise, she might even make connections with some wandering heroes.
In three to five years, she could build up her initial base.
After that, entering official service would be much easier.
Whether through military merit or some other route, she just needed to stop being a commoner.
“Step two: cultivate a reputation.”
Zhang Yang took a notebook out of her game inventory.
“How do you cultivate a reputation?”
Even though he’d been prepared for this, Fan You still felt his heart seize at the question.
“Does Your Lordship have any particular skills?”
“The Six Arts of the Gentleman: rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. Being outstanding in even one would do, and that’s also the easiest way to build up a reputation.”
If Zhang Yang had no talents, he had ways to deal with that, too.
Zhang Yang once again declared with righteous confidence, “I can’t.”
Fan You: “…”
Just as he was despairingly considering making up some outlandish, fantastical exploits to fool Zhang Yang, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed his mind.
His new lord wasn’t entirely without advantages.
Even if she had no money to her name, even if she came from a poor background, even if she had nothing going for her, she did seem to possess one exceptionally unusual, obscure talent.
“When the Starfall Curse descended yesterday, did you truly feel nothing, My Lord?”
“Nope. Didn’t even feel a ripple.”
Fan You would’ve been better off not bringing it up.
Now she was getting angry.
What a bait and switch.
What a fraud!
If Fan You couldn’t even do the job of a Strategist, he was a useless NPC to her.
Once she was done with him, she’d just kill him to vent her anger.
“Why are you asking?”
“The Starfall Curse has all kinds of side effects.
Among them are numerous negative curses that make people unable to control themselves.
People have suffered from them for a long time.” Fan You paused, then continued, “If even the twofold Starfall Curse can’t affect you, then the singlefold version is certainly no threat.
Perhaps you can start there and recruit one or two people who might prove useful.
That should help with your urgent predicament.”
If you have starting capital, you can spend a fortune to build your reputation and invite renowned scholars.
If you don’t have starting capital and can’t afford the steep price, then you can only turn your attention to a more cost-effective group of people.
As long as Zhang Yang can handle it.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she asked, “Where can we find these people?”
Fan You: “…”
He actually thought this approach was tantamount to digging his own grave, and had hesitated when suggesting it.
He had never imagined that this new lord would take to it so well, even seeming eager to get started.
Just as Fan You was about to speak, she added, “Ideally, we should find those among them who have money.”
Zhang Yang hadn’t put it so bluntly, but Fan You understood.
She didn’t want to pay, yet still expected others to pay her.
Fan You said, “…Let me think about it.”
Among his classmates and friends from the same year, there were also people who suffered greatly from the Starfall Curse.
But for most of them, it didn’t interfere with their daily lives, so they certainly wouldn’t submit to an obscure nobody with no accomplishments or reputation just to escape a few tolerable inconveniences.
Of the few who might agree, Fan You couldn’t bear to sell out any of them.
That would be deeply disloyal.
He thought it over, and there really was one hidden gem.