“So, as you can see, we really just stopped by for supplies and to check on progress,” I explained as we ate some tavern food.
The mayor had wanted to throw a giant party to celebrate me becoming a lord. I had to explain to him that we weren’t going to be in town very long. He had me write down the stuff we needed, and then he sent someone out to go get the supplies for us. It was nice to be a lord.
When I mentioned money, the mayor said that the cities money was my money and that at the moment our coffers were actually pretty good. Most of the rebuilding was done by volunteers. Since so much of the city was unsettled, if someone worked hard enough, they could be given a property practically free of charge. That meant most people would bring in coin to spend as they planned to live here permanently. It was currently that kind of monetary system.
It also turned out that a lot of people that fled when Salicia invaded the village ended up coming down to Chalm. It was a safer journey than trying to make it north through the Bandit infested forest. Well, it turned out that the problem was one the Prince was going to handle personally, but with the King missing, he’s been stuck in the city. Subsequently, he had no one that he could trust to send in his place, so that was why they’ve become an increasing problem. It was pure chance that Salicia was caught by the church, and that didn’t seem to make things any better.
After speaking a bit, Celeste asked to leave to go play with her mother. Lydia and Miki also left with the rest of the girls to go back to our Chalm property, where they had a few outfits still left that hadn’t been in their storage rings. My request list had also included armor and clothing for all of the girls. That included Shao. I actually didn’t want to bring her, but I was more scared of leaving her to her own devices, so that was why she was with us. I let the other girls know they needed to watch over her, and they all agreed to treat her as a sister. Well, they didn’t need to go that far, but if it made things easier, that was fine.
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After that, we got down to business and went through the paperwork I had handed him. When he saw how much territory we were handed, he looked a bit dizzy. Since Chalm was the first city in the wilderness if the area did become developed, wouldn’t this make Chalm the hub of western Aberis? His thoughts were something like that.
“My salary of 100 gold should arrive in a few weeks as well. If I’m not here, well, invest it into Chalm’s defense, that should be fine.”
To be honest, the bandit situation sounded pretty bad. I wished I had brought Salicia with me so I could have spoken to her about it. She should have been able to provide me some insight.
“Did you decide who your knights will be? In general, once a Lord leaves, it’s the responsibility of a Knight to handle the affairs of his territory.”
“Is that so? I thought Knights were like bodyguards or something.” I said.
The mayor shook his head wryly. “Not at all. They’re your right-hand men. They have a noble status. They train and lead troops, act as treasurers, handle spy networks, and many more administrative tasks.”
It looked like in Aberis, Knights were like department heads or supervisors. As my territory grew, I’d need more knights to take on more and more of the activities as I become unable to handle them myself. I now felt glad I didn’t act on impulse and just make people in my party Knights. Still, I wondered what kind of skills the job had to be so multifaceted.
The boy who the Mayor had sent for supplies came back. He had a helpless look on his face. Behind him, three familiar faces stormed in. It was the blacksmith, the seamstress, and the enchanter. They all looked somewhat lost. What now?