Early in the morning, the blizzard had already stopped, making it a rare sunny day.
The pale, feeble sunlight filtered through the window into the room, leaving a faint warmth behind.
Eugene pitifully wrapped himself in a stiff quilt and leaned against a tiny patch of heating holy runes to absorb the heat, his eyes lifeless: “I am truly foolish, really. I only knew that a car accident would cause transmigration, but I did not know that playing a game would do so too. I am truly foolish, really. I only knew that transmigration would come with a cheat, but I did not know that cheats could also break down. I am truly foolish, really. I only knew that transmigrating to ancient times would be bitter, but I did not know there wouldn’t even be a single meal…”
That dinner last night could not save his hungry stomach. Eugene woke up starving in the middle of the night, his stomach churning and regurgitating acid back and forth, so he simply stayed up and complained to the system all night.
The System: …
“System under maintenance, please wait, Host.”
Watching the little red dot in his field of view fly away with a whoosh out of annoyance, Eugene finally crawled up sluggishly, hoisting his dizzy head as he walked down the stairs.
“Respected Lord, did you sleep well?” Abel was already waiting outside the door. Upon seeing him, he bent over, bowed, and saluted.
Eugene struggled to give a polite smile: “Fairly well. Regarding breakfast…”
He was planning to save his poor stomach first when his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a small, dark shadow flashing past right beneath the stairs.
Huh?
The young lord’s gaze was inevitably attracted over, immediately locking eyes with a pair of sneaky, bright black little eyes!
“Squeak, squeak, squeak.” The small, dark-gray creature was skin and bones, crying out twice at him while its bald, slender tail twitched.
A mouse!
Eugene broke out in a cold sweat, his mind going completely blank.
The next second, he saw another dust-covered creature pounce forward and grab the mouse in one clutch.
Abel was furious: “How dare these humble commoners be here!”
Moving extremely quickly, he fetched a whip from the side of his waist and lashed it down with a smack.
Fortunately, this whip missed its mark and only struck the ground beside the little slave, forcing the child to raise his head in panic.
Only then did Eugene see that the dusty little thing was actually a human toddler with a large head and a small body!
He had long since become emaciated to the point of being out of shape, his eyes shockingly large all over his body, without a shred of cloth covering him.
“Don’t hit him.” Eugene stopped the steward without a second thought, squeezing out a smile full of friendliness as he took a step forward: “You…”
His pupils constricted once more:
Seeing that he posed no threat, the child sniffed his nose and immediately opened his mouth to bite down on the mouse, wolfing down and sucking its precious fresh blood!
A child was actually eating a live mouse!
Eugene could almost see the terrifying hem of the Black Death’s skirt sweeping across this crumbling castle!
Without even thinking, Eugene snatched the mouse right out of the child’s hand, tossed it aside, and screamed under the toddler’s terrified gaze: “Clean up the castle!”
“The slaves just didn’t know any better…” Abel’s mind raced as he prepared to plead for the toddler, but the next second he saw the lord’s abnormal reaction and let out an “ah.”
Eugene wished he could soak himself and this unlucky child in disinfectant for three days and nights right now, but lacking the conditions, he could only emphasize with a shaking hand: “Tell the slaves to get moving, catch the mice in the castle, and never allow anyone to eat mice again!”
No, he had to raise a cat! Only a brave and formidable tabby cat could give him a sense of security!
Abel showed an expression of a burned-out CPU: “I will tell the slaves that mice are your property and they are unworthy of consuming them. But the new cook might not know how to handle mice…”
Eugene collapsed: “I don’t have that kind of fetish! I mean kill all the mice, as well as the cockroaches and other bugs.”
Abel nodded: “As you command.”
Eugene finally breathed a sigh of relief, turning his head to glance at the human toddler frightened silly to the side: “Boil some hot water and wash him…”
Abel: “Uh, the cook doesn’t know how either…”
Eugene despaired: “I am truly not a coprophage!”
“Find some water, I want to wash my hands. Go and wash the child inside and out with hot water,” he explained. “Remember, he must gargle! He must gargle! Also shave off his hair and catch all the lice clean.”
The steward looked thoughtful: “Alright.”
Thank goodness, at least there were soap-like items here.
Eugene scrubbed his hands fiercely, finally feeling a bit better, and then saw the unfortunate result of letting the slaves inside:
A massive amount of excrement piled up by the window.
Abel was somewhat proud of this: “The slaves are not allowed to excrete inside the castle.”
“But they can’t just poop everywhere either…” Eugene witnessed the filthiness of this world once again, muttering to himself.
“Steward,” he turned around, steadied himself, and continued organizing his plan, “have everyone get to work and clean up this castle thoroughly. I don’t wish to see feces near the castle anymore. After that, have them start building a toilet.”
Eugene subconsciously reached into his pocket for a pen, only to remember he had transmigrated: “I will give you a blueprint in a moment.”
Abel’s gaze flickered: “Understood.”
“Also,” Eugene instructed while walking toward the study, “remember to have them all take a bath with hot water, shave their hair, and catch all the lice clean.”
“That will consume a lot of firewood,” Abel reminded in a low voice.
Eugene paused in his steps, turning around: “Then let’s not rush that, guarantee one thing first.”
Do they have to finish the toilet by tomorrow? Or stop letting the slaves stay in the castle?
Abel speculated inwardly.
However, what he heard was indeed an unexpected request.
“Everyone must get an extra bowl of hot soup.” The young lord’s dark eyes were exceptionally firm: “I do not wish for any slave to freeze to death in the winter.”
Abel concealed the complex emotions in the depths of his eyes, obediently lowering his head: “Of course, I will not let any of your property suffer losses.”
The lord’s demand for the slaves to clean up the castle was quickly passed down.
Compared to toiling in the wind and snow, cleaning the castle was a rare and pleasant chore.
“The castle is both warm and clean, and catching a few mice isn’t tiring. The master is truly a benevolent lord.” The human slave caught another mouse, once again praising the new master from the bottom of his heart.
“Indeed,” his nod was accompanied by his wife swallowing her saliva as she looked at the scrawny mouse. “Can we really not eat it? This is meat, after all. As long as we just slightly…”
The human slave quickly covered her mouth, looking left and right to make sure no one heard this sentence: “How can you go against the master’s orders!”
It was already very good that they could obtain their current life. If they were ungrateful, they would definitely be chased out. Once they became vagrants without a lord outside, life would be worse than death!
Furthermore, the gods were still watching them from the sky.
Slaves who defied their masters would die a miserable death, and after death, they would plunge into hell to be punished forever!
“Have you guys heard?” Several dwarf slaves were discussing other matters, “Big Beard says we are going to build a kind of house called a toilet outside soon.”
“I don’t want to go outside.”
“It would be best if my child could stay in the castle this time, I can volunteer to go outside…”
“I heard that the people who go out and come back get an extra bowl of full hot soup. If they feel extremely cold, they’ll also be pulled back in.”
As soon as the news came out, ripples stirred across the entire slave community.
“If that’s the case, I’m going!”
“Being able to drink an extra bowl of hot soup makes it worth it even if I freeze to death outside!”
The goblin older brother subconsciously made a prayer gesture: “Thank the gods for bestowing such a good lord upon us!”
The goblin younger brother nodded: “Lord Lord is truly noble and great, simply our god!”
“Lord Lord really is like a god,” said the human toddler who had just been washed clean.
An older girl also nodded: “I peeked just now.”
She had previously worked hard to learn some knowledge from Abel in order to become a maid, and spoke more gracefully when she talked: “Lord Lord wears extremely precious and gorgeous clothes, which must definitely be something only people in the imperial palace can wear! My lord’s skin is like the snow outside, but very, very warm, glowing with a faint light. It reminds me of the divine statue in the church, solemn, beautiful, compassionate, and majestic. Only a god can be this perfect! Also, my lord’s hair is like the Goddess of Night’s dress! The eyes are like…”
Before she could finish, she was sternly rebuked by an adult: “Do not mention the lord’s hair and eyes.”
Black hair and black eyes were the taboo of the entire continent.
The slaves instinctively avoided things most likely to anger this lord.
The girl was forced to stop her praise, though she felt somewhat unconvinced in her heart: She felt that Lord Lord would never get angry over such a thing. He even let the little brat who offended him take a nice hot bath!
The grand cleaning of the castle proceeded vigorously.
The chief knight opened the door, gave a cold glance, and quickly knew what these humble commoners were doing.
“Fussy,” he recalled the young lord’s soft skin that would leave red marks from the lightest touch, and his full lips like flower petals that seemed as though they would squeeze out juice from a gentle bruise. “I thought he could endure a bit longer. It seems our young little lord still cannot hold back his composure after all.”
“Should we do anything?” a knight inquired.
“Keep watching.” The chief knight wiped his long sword, recalling the toilet the legendary little lord wanted to build. “Let’s see what kind of thing that group of slaves builds.”
The blueprint for the toilet was completed very quickly.
Eugene had always loved highly simulated infrastructure games and remembered the shapes of some dry latrines.
The main thing was to build a basic house to shield against the wind and snow. Considering the castle’s lack of building materials and the difficulty of winter construction, Eugene preferred remodeling.
Gritting his teeth, he flipped through the castle’s structural map. The knights had disliked the original stables and picked another building for the warhorses to live in, so Eugene simply cordoned off the obsolete stables and remodeled them directly on that foundation.
The remaining work was simple. As long as they dug a long trench, set up wooden boards over it for standing convenience, partitioned eight stalls in one house, and divided them into men’s and women’s restrooms, the simplest dry latrine could be completed.
After that, it was just arranging people to clean and transport the excrement to the fields for burial every day.
As for other functions like separating urine and feces, collecting, processing, and fermenting them into fertilizer, those could only wait for future modifications when time and supplies were more abundant.
Eugene planned mentally, stretched his arms, and picked up his cup intending to take a sip of the water the steward had just brought in.
Pfft…
An indescribable sour taste made him spit it out in one mouthful.
Only then did Eugene discover that what had been brought in was not water, but red wine.
Judging by the environment of the castle alone, clean water was very hard to come by here. Only the Holy See and high nobles possessing water-purification holy runes could freely drink safe and reliable clear water, while minor nobles and commoners could only drink wine to replace clear water, using alcohol for sterilization to ensure safety and health.
Figuring this out, Eugene helplessly put down the cup and decided to make a trip to the kitchen to see the cook and save his poor dining table.