"It works out — I can bring some wine along to sell. I'll slap a 'rare treasure' label on it. They are exactly that, of course, and with a strange story attached, it'll sell like wildfire."
"Like a dragon's hoard?" Ashina half-understood.
Field snapped his fingers. "Exactly, Ashina. Even a single boot, if you find it in a dragon's lair, is a boot guarded by a dragon."
"And we're not even lying — those fine wines really were guarded by powerful corrupted creatures. Never mind that the corrupted creatures have zero interest in wine." Ashina covered her mouth, giggling without end.
"So the carpentry can wait. First, get all the rubbish out of the Grand Winery — haul out the rotted equipment and the cave-in rubble, then clean it spotless. I reckon three days. Finish that and I'll reward each of you twenty copper."
"My lord, you're so generous!"
Field's generosity was already common knowledge across the domain. Beyond the Nightfall Territory, even a free man might not earn twenty copper in a month's work.
To Field, the coins he scattered would soon flow back into his own purse; they were nothing. He couldn't wait, in fact, for the slaves to become free folk fast — because only free folk could marry and have children, and likewise only free folk took on important duties, such as paying taxes.
Mid-thought, Field felt an invisible force pour into his body.
No gain in strength, but he sensed the difference at once: he'd advanced to first-rank Lord!
In fact, signing a contract with a Chosen carried the possibility of becoming a Lord.
Field had possessed the Lord talent from the start, so it all came as naturally as water finding its course.
In this world, there weren't only transcendent knights, mages, or Chosen — Lords too could have levels.
Not that it came with much killing power.
A Lord could see the rough state of his own domain.
Name: Field
Class: Lord
Domain: Starnight Grand Winery and nearby farmland
Contracted Chosen: Ashina
Population: 217
Development: 1 (nothing to its name)
Happiness: -32 (despondent and oppressed)
Environment: -89 (rife with corruption, uninhabitable)
Chosen Appearance Rate: 1 in 100 billion
Lord Talents: Mini-Map (detects nearby creatures; exclusive talent); Panel (visualizes a creature's attributes; exclusive talent)
Domain of Prosperity (disperses the death-fog within the territory; speeds the dissolving of corruption's effects)
Chosen-Granted Talents: Beast Taming (within the territory, war-beasts are easier to raise; provided by Ashina); Investiture (advance 50 wolf-cavalry to first-rank; provided by Ashina)
Field's eyes lit up; unable to press down the curve of his mouth, he laughed in pure delight.
"My lord, what are you laughing at?" Ashina scratched her head, all curiosity.
"Nothing. I thought of something funny."
Field had the domain's mist-dispelling lamp put out — which gave everyone a terrible fright; they thought he'd lost his mind.
"All right, I'll stop scaring you." Field spread his hands and laughed. "I've mastered a Lord talent. Even without the mist-lamp, I can keep the territory from being eaten by corruption."
The crowd was half in doubt, but didn't dare argue — until Field doused the lamp and not a wisp of mist seeped in. Only then did everyone relax.
What followed was wild joy; nearly everyone fell into happy celebration.
After all, a mist-dispelling lamp lasted only about a month; if the lord ran out of money to buy more from the Church, they could die at any moment.
But with the Lord's mist-dispelling power, they'd finally driven a real stake into the Nightfall Territory.
"Extra rations tonight — everyone gets meat soup and two loaves of bread." Field announced in a ringing voice.
Saving a single mist-lamp meant twenty-five gold — a windfall of two hundred fifty thousand black bread loaves.
"Hurrah!"
The crowd cheered and leapt for joy.
The maid Scissors hollered in her booming voice, "This is wonderful news! No wonder I dreamed last night of my grandmother smiling at me. Lord Field, you're a born noble — the blood of a true lord runs in your veins."
Field was almost embarrassed by the praise. He said to Kao at once, "Give my maids, manservant, and cook an extra slice of honey cake each."
"Heavens, my lord! We haven't much honey cake!" True to his fondness for offending people, Kao cried out, "The maids can eat your and Lady Ashina's leftovers — already the finest food in the whole domain. No need for extra rations."
"Skreek-skreek~" Scissors all but ground her teeth to powder, wishing she could pounce and claw Kao's face to ribbons.
The maid Sparrow rarely spoke, but she was furious too.
"Enough. It's a rare happy day. Scissors, what are you standing there for? Go to the storeroom and hand out the cake to everyone." Field never begrudged such trifling favors.
"Long live the lord!" The two sweets-loving maids cheered at the top of their lungs and, happy as a pair of larks, went bounding off to the storeroom.
Kao only sighed, silently tallying the domain's supplies.
To the southeast of the Northern Province lay Morningwind Province, where Field's good-for-nothing father resided; to the southwest, Highcastle Province; and north of the North lay the beastmen's homeland.
Field decided on a trip to Highcastle Province — a mostly mountainous province holding five counties.
Seated at the wooden table, the creak-creak of the broken window made him knit his brow. Forcing himself calm, Field carefully opened a book titled Gray Mist and Death, worth a steep ten silver, written by the Empire's famous scholar and explorer, Lucas.
"Twin Calendar, Year 147, September 1. Today should have been the nation's joyous Awakening Day. But for the Empire's future, I, Lucas, have resolutely entered the forsaken, cursed land — the Northern Province. Happily, I am not alone: two royal Chosen travel with me, along with the fallen noble Darren and his Chosen daughter."
Field plucked a slice of cut apple from the plate before him and chewed it leisurely.
The sweet juice lit up his taste buds; spirits lifted, Field read on.
"With three peerless beauties for company, this journey is sure to be full of delights. The royal Chosen are both terrifying fifth-rank, but that hardly stops me from enjoying the view. The North's three outer baronies — Cloudveil, Nightfall, and Dawnveil — I visited in my youth, all fine places brimming with good wine and beautiful women. Now they teem with corruption, including a hideous bat-woman that attacks us again and again. I believe they were corrupted from women of the night, my reason being that their limbs still bear distinctive tattoos and jewelry. My guard Steelfork seized a bat-woman to test the waters — what a brave, fearless fellow, full of the spirit of inquiry! May the Goddess bless him."
"Pfft~"