The first event to occur in this game was always fixed.
An incident where the Magical Beasts that had multiplied beyond what the farmland could contain invaded the residential area.
The farmland happened to lie to the northwest, so it was not difficult to guess what incident the compass was pointing toward.
Even so, there was one problem with the situation….
“Three days is way too soon…!”
He complained, but looking at the numbers on the status window, it made sense.
The situation was so atrocious that it would not have been strange for the domain to collapse in three days.
“Haa….”
With a sigh, Alex rubbed between his brows.
He knew dozens—no… if all the variations were included, nearly hundreds of progression routes by heart.
Even so, there seemed to be no clear way to salvage things from this state.
If this were still a game, I’d just quit and reset!
He wanted to writhe in frustration by himself, but just then, a knock sounded at the door.
“Are you awake, my lord?”
It was one of only two retainers left in the lord’s castle, and the sole administrator.
Hamilton, the butler, had come to visit.
A middle-aged man with a rigid expression and manner of speech, his hair streaked with white, he was surprisingly large for someone with such a neat appearance.
Name : Hamilton Ruth
Position : Head Butler
Special Notes : Keeper of Secrets, Keeper of the Vault
Skills : (Locked)
Facing someone he had thought of as nothing more than a game NPC made Alex’s heart pound rather intensely.
For the most part, this butler obeyed the lord.
“Do you have any particular plans for today?”
However, the moment the domain’s operating funds fell into the red, his relationship with the butler completely fell apart.
From then on, Hamilton would find fault with everything, refuse orders, and sometimes even run the domain however he pleased.
There was even a bad ending where poor management ultimately resulted in the butler murdering him.
‘And our Loyalty is at 1%….’
Alex looked at Hamilton through the system window.
His sharp eyes and tightly closed lips gave him an overwhelming charisma that no mere butler seemed like he should possess.
On top of that, the operating funds stood at 50G. One wrong move, and he could practically see himself getting murdered on the spot.
‘No, wait. With Loyalty at 1%, it wouldn’t be strange if anyone in this domain killed me….’
If he wanted to survive, he first had to do something about that catastrophically low Loyalty.
Alex immediately uttered the first words most likely to win Hamilton over.
“Why don’t we start with work?”
But the stony expression did not soften.
Hamilton immediately began explaining the domain and the lord’s minor duties in his usual blunt manner.
“Many areas are closed off for various reasons, so whenever you leave the castle, please remain within the designated safe zones.”
Alex could not tell whether he was being considerate of a lord raised elsewhere or threatening him.
There were five major closed-off areas.
The problematic farmland, the Maze Garden, the mines, the harbor, and the Old Quarter.
Hamilton diligently explained them using a map, but Alex did not listen very carefully.
He already knew this domain so well that he could probably draw its map with his eyes closed.
“Even so… the number of residents in the domain has currently stabilized to a certain degree.”
Stabilized…? Usually, we call a state like this having nothing left to lose, Mr. Butler.
Every corner of this domain was a disaster for one reason or another.
The Maze Garden had become a living maze after its plants transformed into Magical Beasts.
On top of that, the mines where gold had once poured out like water had long since become the cultists’ main stronghold.
The harbor and Old Quarter were even worse.
Barbarians from across the sea, marine creatures, and all sorts of random things had turned into Magical Beasts and were wreaking havoc.
‘And the farmland, where Magical Beasts are going to pour out like a swarm of ants in three days….’
All the pigs that had once been raised there had transformed into Magical Beasts and become Orcs.
The only area currently usable was the cramped safe zone around the lord’s castle, wedged right in the middle of it all.
Alex, who already knew that perfectly well, smiled with resignation.
“In addition, recently there have been many people who attempted to relocate outside the domain, like you did, only to return.”
But that was not the problem right now.
He had already decided what his first move would be.
Having settled on a plan, Alex briefly focused on Hamilton’s voice for formality’s sake.
“I have heard that those born in this cursed land suffer considerable persecution and oppression. That must be why they all eventually return.”
The butler spoke calmly, as though he understood why those who had left had come back.
Anyone looking at Alex’s backstory would assume he had returned home almost as if fleeing discrimination.
“Do you think that’s why I came back?”
But Alex deliberately put on a grave expression.
“I’ll show you myself why I returned. Follow me.”
***
Blond hair, blue eyes, and silver armor bearing the divine insignia that proved he had once been a Paladin.
The hollow eyes of the residents who followed Alex held no will to live whatsoever.
Far from expectation or respect, they did not even show interest.
Their lifeless gazes were closer to hostility toward the lord who had been raised outside the domain.
[Epithet : Outsider Lord]
[Domain Production reduced by 20%, Loyalty reduced by 20%]
He had already known it would be like this from the effect attached to the epithet in his status window.
Still, actually experiencing those sharp gazes pouring down on him was, frankly, a little frightening.
“There’s only one person conducting proper trade within the domain, right? His name was Gilbert?”
“…Yes, that is correct.”
Since Alex already knew every road by heart, he hurried toward his destination.
Commerce had declined severely in a domain where people were nearly desperate enough to boil and eat whatever grass roots they stepped on.
But in truth, the domain’s location and soil fertility were not bad, and even though the safe zone was small, the population had decreased just as much.
So why did this vicious cycle keep repeating in its self-sufficient economy?
The old Alex had once wondered about that.
“And aside from Gilbert, merchant caravans don’t even enter the domain. Right?”
Alex’s words sounded less like a question and more like a reminder to Hamilton.
Hamilton wondered why he was suddenly asking about Gilbert, but nodded.
“…Gilbert’s family has barely kept this domain breathing since his forefathers’ generation. Without him, no merchant would even try to enter this town.”
That was why, early in the game, most players who met Gilbert would speak to him amicably and trade for goods from outside.
Unfortunately, Alex was looking for him for an entirely different reason.
Alex grinned at the butler, who had given him such a bland answer that it bordered on perfunctory, and stopped before Gilbert’s merchant company, which they had already reached.
“O-oh! Goodness! Well, if it isn’t our new lord! Welcome, welcome!”
Gilbert, a painfully skinny man with a pitiful appearance, greeted him with exaggerated enthusiasm.
Regardless of that, Alex was starting to feel as though the murderous gazes of the residents might crush him to death.
“What…? The lord’s here…?”
“Tch… How long is he even going to last?”
“He only looks impressive on the outside….”
I’m still the lord. Isn’t openly bad-mouthing me right in front of my face a bit much?
Hoping their gazes would change soon, Alex forced himself to smile even more casually.
“You’re the man responsible for the only merchant trade in the domain. I figured it was only proper for us to greet each other.”
Gilbert still looked confused at Alex’s words, but Alex continued with even greater ease.
“To think you’ve kept up trade with a domain everyone else avoids because it’s dangerous, generation after generation! How admirable. Don’t you think?”
There was a vaguely sarcastic edge to Alex’s tone, but for the moment, it sounded like praise for Gilbert’s accomplishments.
Hamilton’s expression remained as stony as ever despite the cryptic remarks.
The butler had no idea what Alex had come all this way to show him in the first place.
“Your family must have developed its own methods for surviving here over all that time.”
“Y-yes! Of course. Yes, indeed…!”
At Hamilton’s remark, Gilbert hurriedly answered in an oddly awkward tone.
To everyone else, he merely looked like a resident nervous before his lord, but Alex saw him differently.
‘Because this bastard is a traitor.’
Once the truth about Gilbert was uncovered, the reality was completely different.
His family had served as the cultists’ agents for generations, colluding with them all the while.
The cultists wanted to swallow up the domain, while Gilbert wanted the gold coming out of their stronghold, making their interests perfectly aligned.
“Then I suppose I’ll be relying on you from now on as well. You’ve worked hard, Gilbert.”
Alex held out a hand to Gilbert.
A lord offering a handshake to one of his residents was an odd sight, but then again, this was an unusual domain.
Wondering if perhaps his efforts for the domain were finally being recognized, Gilbert nevertheless took Alex’s hand with an uncomfortable expression.
“For someone like you, it isn’t much, but I’ll offer a prayer in God’s name.”
“What?! N-no…!”
The moment Alex spoke, Gilbert’s face went deathly pale.
When Gilbert tried to pull his hand away, Alex tightened his grip instead.
Holding his hand firmly, Alex activated a Paladin skill.
[Radiant Light Lv.1]
[Uses divine power to repel wicked curses. If a cultist is nearby, their identity will be revealed, and they may suffer minor damage.]
White and blue light that looked unmistakably holy glittered as it spread around them.
Whatever else might be true, the arrival of a Paladin in this cursed land could hardly be considered a bad thing.
It was an impressive enough sight to remind every resident in the domain of that fact.
And then an even more striking scene followed.
“Ugh… Aaaaaaargh!”
The instant the holy light touched him, Gilbert let out an ear-splitting scream.
The hand Alex was gripping swelled red as though badly burned.
For a human who was not a Magical Beast to react like this to divine power could mean only one thing.
A cultist.
“What…?”
“Don’t tell me….”
Suspicion and unease began spreading among the residents.
The cultists were the root cause that had reduced this once-prosperous, gold-rich domain to its current state.
The fundamental evil.
The enemy they had every reason to hate above all others!
And now the proof was plainly revealing itself through Gilbert’s body.
In particular, Alex’s earlier words only deepened their unease.
The reason Gilbert alone had been able to conduct trade safely.
What if it was because he had been working with the cultists…?
“I think Gilbert’s merchant company and his house need to be searched. What do you think, Hamilton?”
If the residents’ Loyalty was low, then he simply had to make use of someone they trusted.
Hamilton stared at Alex for a moment. Unlike the shocked residents, Alex did not look surprised in the slightest.
“Yes…. I will investigate. Able-bodied men, follow me.”
He, too, looked startled, but soon began moving according to the order.
Hamilton, who had devotedly served the domain since the previous generation, wielded the greatest influence in the domain after the lord himself.
The able-bodied men nearby all rallied at his words and rushed forward.
The unimpressive Gilbert staggered as he tried to stop them, but they shoved him aside without the slightest difficulty.
“No! No…! Everyone, sto— Urgh!”
The residents trampled past him and began tearing through his merchant company.
They had once felt grateful to Gilbert, which only made their sense of betrayal all the greater.
They barely even had to try. The moment they broke open a single storehouse, an enormous amount of goods spilled out.
Sacks of wheat and bags of food kept appearing one after another.
“Wow… This just keeps coming out. Whew, that one over there looks practically rotten already.”
Alex’s role in this situation was simply to pour oil on the fire and fan the flames.
All he needed was to direct the impoverished residents’ anger toward Gilbert.
“Th-this is… I mean… Right! An… inheritance! I just inherited it….”
“As if. Do I look like I came all the way here just to chase the wrong lead?”
Alex, who had been acting carefree until now, snapped back sharply.
His words were instantly overinterpreted and spread among the residents.
“My God… Then did our new lord come back to solve this…?”
“So he became a Paladin and returned for us…!”
The louder the residents’ murmuring grew, the more Gilbert felt like he was going insane.
“I… I’m not! You! What the hell are you?! Do you have any idea how much I’ve done for this domain while you were eating well and living comfortably on the continent?!”
Gilbert lashed out, trying to tear Alex down.
But Alex could already feel that the atmosphere around him had completely reversed.
Alex was merely someone who had left and then returned.
The cultists, on the other hand, were the source of all their suffering.
Now that Gilbert’s identity had been exposed, there was nowhere left for him to escape.
Only rage awaited a traitor who had fattened himself by sucking the residents dry.
“I, Alex Goldenwood, hereby issue my first command as lord of the great Domain of Carcosa.”
With the situation turned this far around, much of the hostility in the gazes directed at Alex had already disappeared.
A trace of expectation and hope.
Those emotions now shone vividly in the eyes of residents that had once looked dull and lifeless.
“In accordance with the wishes of my revered grandfather, Theodore, I hereby confiscate all assets belonging to the criminal Gilbert and redistribute every last bit of them among the residents of the domain!”