After eating this world's version of breakfast I felt like I had died and gone to a land forsaken by the god of taste and flavor. The meal itself looked to be a bowl of what I could only describe as a pale-ish white soup that felt too thick to be eaten for breakfast, and a few pieces of bread which honestly was not that bad in comparison. They were probably made of the same thing though which had to be some type of cereal grain, probably rye given the color and density of the bread though.
They could have also used wheat as well but I am sure that I would recognize the taste if that were the case, and I say that because the bread that I was eating earlier had a stronger taste than any of the wheat bread I had eaten back on Earth by a large margin. However, it seemed like I was the only person who had any complaints about the meal given that literally, everybody besides me finished their meal within ten minutes of it arriving.
Either way, the meal did its job of filling my stomach for the time being once I had eaten as much as I could, and after indicating that I was finished to Leon, he called in the same group of women who I spotted cleaning our rooms earlier came into the great hall to clean off the table and to refill our wooden mugs with more beer.
Now I was not a fan when it came to alcohol in any way, shape, or form, but I also didn't trust any source of drinking water that they had available, so I was kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place... In the end, I eventually decided to indulge in the beer not only because it was readily available, but also because the alcohol content within the beer itself was probably barely scraping one percent at the most, making it unlikely that even a lightweight such as myself would get drunk from drinking a few cups of the liquid.
Unlike the bread which had a sour taste to it, the beer was actually pretty sweet in taste which made the drink much more enticing to me, but the warmth and flatness of the liquid itself ruined any chance of me enjoying the drink beyond satisfying the thirst I had because of the several pieces of bread I had eaten earlier.
After finishing my third and final cup of beer, I spoke to Leon about the project I assigned to him last night before we went our separate ways.
"Leon, have you begun working on the project we spoke about last night?" Leon who had just finished his sixth cup of beer nodded at my question before speaking.
"I have, Lord. I sent ten servants along with ten knights to gather the materials described in your drawings. I have also stopped the selling of iron and coal as you ordered though I do not really agree with this." Leon said while lowering his voice toward the end of his statement.
I found his actions kinda funny but I couldn't allow a seed of rebellion to sprout right before me, so I confronted the man using just words for now...
"and Why don't you agree to this? If you don't mind me asking of course." I asked with a flat tone while staring the man down obviously in hopes of shaking him up a little bit.
But funnily enough, the man seem to not notice any change in the environment around him, unlike everyone else in the room who all went quiet once they noticed the staleness in my voice. Even his wife, Joann, seemed to get the message and tried to stop the man from speaking his piece but Leon simply ignored the woman before answering my question.
"Well, it is as you said last night... Stopping the sale of coal and iron will diminish my-- our already dwindling treasury. And without gold, we can not hope to secure our rightful place as nobles with the town." He said while puffing his chest out a bit before the pain from his healing injuries caused him to settle down.
'Strike One.' I said mentally before speaking to the man.
"I see... Well as I also said last night, this is necessary for the development of our power as a whole--" Surprising everyone at the table including myself, Leon decided to cut me off as I was speaking by speaking over me.
"Yes, You did say that... But how will stopping what little income we have help us 'develop our power'? These knights that you see protecting my... our castle do not stay around because of loyalty, Lord. They stay because we pay them wages while providing decent enough lodging and meals for them and their significant other. So, If these men do not receive their silver, we will not receive their protection. How does the 'lord' plan on solving this? *hiccup*" Leon said with a bit of authority in his voice which caused me to nod at the man.
Not because I agreed with his argument, but because the man had finally found the pride that had been stripped away from him in the forest not too long ago. I mean I guess it found him given all of this pushback was fueled by the beer that wasn't even all that strong by the way. But like that saying from Earth says 'a drunk mind speaks a sober heart', so this is probably what the man truly thinks about my plans. The sociopath inside me was yelling at me to get rid of the idiot who was talking out the side of his neck but as always 'sir reason' convinced me that killing the man would only complicate the situation that was already tricky as is.
If I were some power-hungry nut-case then I would probably consider this as strike two, therefore Leon should consider himself lucky given that I was only power-hungry, meaning I won't go around killing folks just because they disagree with what I want to accomplish... But there was a fine line between dissent and divergence, and the second he diverges from our original plans will be the last seconds of House Axecreek.
Once this thought passed through my mind, I caught myself smiling while staring at the man who sat at the foot of the table.
And before you say anything. No, I am not smiling at the idea of wiping out the last member of a failed dynasty. That would make me a nut-case after all... The thing that made me smile was something that Leon had said in his rant which sort of exposed a way for me to usurp his 'power' within the castle or just in general to be quite frank.
He said that he provided lodging and food for the knights and their significant others, but notice that he failed to mention the rest of the family unit which comes along with every couple no matter which age humanity existed in. To put it simply, he separates a husband and wife, not only from their children which is clear from the lack of children or even pregnant women on the castle ground, but he also separates them from the extended family that would normally be present, such as the siblings, the cousins, the aunts, uncles, and even the grandparents.
Now I doubt that was a plan or something like that from Leon's end as he really does not seem capable of thinking that deeply about anything if I'm being completely honest with you. Instead, I think that this was his way of saving money but cutting the costs that came with housing and feeding the rest of the people related to the knights and their significant others.
I also don't think his methods would have caused him any problems for the duration of his rule within the castle grounds since I am sure the other nobles offer their knights similar conditions, but the only difference might be that they pay their knights a couple of pieces of silver more per year.
Leon's biggest problem was the metaphorical devil he invited into his home, which of course was me although I dislike referring to myself as a devil...
I mean war, death, and destruction will probably follow me where ever I go, but I bring the gift of technology with me so... Fine I will only take 'demon' at most. I am not a devil!! But I digress...
As I was saying earlier, I am Leon's biggest problem because of what I offer to the common folk of this town, which is simply a better life than what they experience now. I only have to improve the lives of those underneath Leon in order to erase what power he thinks he has over those serving him. Doing so would not only give me a base of operations within the town itself, but it would allow me the chance to retrain most of these already existing 'knights' into proper leaders for the younger soldiers I plan on recruiting once my foundations are stable enough.
My smile deepen at this thought as I focused on my gracious host Leon who had begun to get impatient from waiting the dozen or so seconds that had passed since he asked his ridiculous question. I decided to indulge the man nonetheless as I still had the present to contend with, but his 'expired sticker' was being manufactured as I spoke.
"As I was saying before you interrupted me... Developing our steel-making capabilities will increase the power we have within the town due to how markets work. If our steel is of a higher quality than what the nobles can produce and we can produce more of that steel within a shorter time frame, then we can expect people to buy from us rather than the nobles. We can then-- *SLAM*" Leon once again decided to cut me off but instead of using his words like a big boy, he decided to slam his fist against the table we all were sitting at, which sent an echo through the already deathly silent hall.
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"DO NOT LECTURE ME, BOY! I knew you were letting this 'lord' nonsense get to your head. How about you and your filthy cousins get your rags and scurry back to that hole of a village you came out of! Pardon me if I mistake it for your mother... Ha!" Leon slapped his knee while laughing at his joke.
Joann, his wife tried to apologize on his behalf but he easily spoke over the woman as her voice was pretty meek as is. Leon then stood up from the table while pointing his finger at his wife.
"Woman, do not take up for this child. Have you forgotten your status as a noble... We aRe aBove tHEM! Yo- You would do good.. By remembering that... *Thump* *plump" Leon said before the alcohol evidently got the best of him leading him head first into the edge of the table and then onto the rug below. Joann obviously jumped out of her seat at the sight of this while screaming her lungs out as she practically dove onto the man's body. The two knights posted at the door also walked over although they had much less 'pep' in their steps when compared to Joann.
I heard some commotion going on outside the doors before the doors of the hall flew open revealing the two knights along with around a third of the knights I saw training earlier, so maybe twenty people give or take. I wasn't familiar with any of the men present besides Paul, who seemed to be leading the group of men into the great hall.
After rushing into the hall and seeing Leon on the ground with his wife crying while laying on top of him, Paul immediately rushed towards Leon while ordering the knights who followed him to secure the room. They obviously listened to his commands even though they were just as shocked as the rest of us and quickly scattered to various destinations inside and outside the room. Paul, who had reached Leon by now, dropped to the ground beside the man before placing his ear to the man's lower face area. After waiting a few seconds I saw Paul's expression change from worry to existential terror as he pulled Joann off of Leon's body into a hug.
This obviously caused Joann to scream bloody murder once the realization fully set in within the woman. I was shocked as well to be completely honest with you as I really didn't expect the man to die from a simple blow to the head.
'That is just...Sad.. ' As I thought I stood up from the table to walk over to where Leon was located.
Paul caught wind of my movements and eyed me like a hawk for some reason causing me to slow my steps while raising my hands as if I was surrendering.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Paul? You can ask those who were here before yall arrived. I had nothing to do with this " I said while slowly walking toward the three individuals.
"Oh? You need to make sure that your task is completed right? Men, Lock this spy up!!" Paul yelled while pointing at me but not a single guard moved a muscle.
This was not because they didn't hear Paul’s words, but instead, because those two knights who were present in the room the entire time stepped in front of me while shaking their heads. Before one of them then spoke aloud to the group of people spread out all over the hall.
"No one will move an inch towards the Lord! First I will start by saying that yes, Paul was our captain once upon a time but we do not know if the new lord will allow him to keep this position. Lord Rallo was granted the lordship of the castle last night during a meeting that was attended by Sir Leon himself, as well as Miss Sasha, Chef Karl, and lastly our former captain here Paul. They all took the vow of subservience while kneeling at his feet, just as many of us did some time ago. So do not let him fool you all into thinking he has the right to order you around anymore. Secondly, let me just say that Lord Rallo had nothing to do with Sir Leon's incident. Quite the contrary actually, Lord Rallo was just explaining how we could fill our coffers by siezing an important yet untouched market within the town, when Sir Leon suddenly burst out in his drunkenness as he does from time to time as you all know, before losing balance, falling over, and hitting his head on the table. And if you do not believe my words, then you can ask the former healer Miss Sasha to confirm them." The knight said while crossing his arms making his short speech just a tad bit more awesome than it already was.
His words seemed to hold a bit of weight with around two-thirds of the knights though. This was quite surprising to me since I thought the man was just a simple knight and not one who could garner such a reaction from the others knights, but clearly, I was wrong.
Nonetheless, I, as well as everyone else present inside the room looked towards Sasha, who had shifted her face to match the worry that Paul showed when he first came into the room. I sort of understood what was going on once I saw her expression, given that she wore a neutral expression for the entire time prior to the spotlight being shined on her. However, and perhaps this is more of a display of her skill than anything, no one else seemed to notice her actions, not even my cousin Zoe, who sat right beside the woman.
Sasha, seeing that she had the limelight decided to conduct the final act of this drama that was unfolding in front of me by speaking her piece.
"*sigh* Our knight Authur here is speaking the truth on all fronts... Sir Leon and the rest of the council including myself did indeed take the vow last night at Sir Leon's behest mind you... So like it or not, this brat here is now rightfully the lord of the castle..." She said as she stood up and walked over towards Paul, Leon, Joann, and me.
I was kind of 'triggered' by being called a brat as it was something I was definitely not used to. One had to know that I was pretty quiet as a.. well just in general. I never really bragged or complained about much of anything simply because I didn't know what I had or what I was lacking. To put it in context for you, my hometown had a population of just over eight hundred people, which was a few times larger than the village this world's version of myself came from, but just as 'isolated' as the village given it was also surrounded but a forest which separated it from the more 'civilized' areas around it. Though I should mention that the forest in question wasn't nearly as vast as the one present in the world. But my point still stands...
I finished my inner dialogue just in time, allowing me to return my focus to Sasha who was just about to begin speaking once again.
"But like Authur said earlier, this brat also outlined a plan to fill our treasury with the gold it is so desperately missing, and unbeknownst to you, he has also promised to improve the lives of not just those who serve him directly, but also the common folk who have been disregard by the nobles for time immemorial... Name a lord that has bothered to improve the lives of those who do all the work for them... I will wait." Sasha said as another round of silence rolled over the room once again. This lasted for around thirty seconds until the woman evidently decided that she had gotten her point across, after which, she continued speaking.
"Has Sir Leon ever mentioned let alone promise you all anything besides death or dishonor? And for what? The glory of his house which has already been stripped down to the minimum by the same nobles he strives to be like? And where does that leave you and your kin? Nowhere with absolutely nothing. But fine... If you want you and the kids you may possibly have to live with nothing to hope for. Then go ahead, and arrest the brat... But if you want the chance to improve your improve you and your kin's lives, if you want to prove to those wicked nobles that you can and will carve a future out for yourselves... Then make that first step here and now, rid yourself of this burden we call the 'noble', and follow my Lord Rallo into a brighter future, one where we all can bask in the glory." Sasha finished off her speech by kowtowing in exact same fashion as she did the night before, with her knees and elbows on the ground and her face almost touching it as well.
I was about to tell her to stand up but I was forced to halt my words as I saw one knight after the other drop to their knees in a similar fashion. From each direction around came sounds of metal and cloth hitting the floor with an increasing pace until only my cousins and I were left standing in the room.
This scene shocked me even more than the one that transpired last night and rightfully so given that I literally have not done anything that cause me to receive this type of response from the people present. I haven't even said much for the ancestor's sake... For the-- Well you get what I'm trying to say...
Instead of standing here like a knot on a log, I decided it would probably be better if I capitalized on the situation at hand, this was my goal after all... Right?
"err Everyone, please get up. You don't have to dirty yourselves in this way to prove your loyalty as you did before. So please everyone, up on your feet. And yall don't need to do all of that in the future, a simple bow at your waist will suffice." I said while helping the few maids and knights closest to me off the ground before waiting for the rest to follow suit.
Some of the people present, besides Sasha and my cousins, of course, were surprised simply by the fact that I was actually helping those around me. While the rest of the people seemed to be far too excited at the prospect of a better future to worry about whether or not I let them off the ground right now or not. But, once everyone had dusted themselves off I continued speaking to the crowd of people.
"I would have said 'I accept your vow of subservience' in the past but now we kinda have to call it something else since y'all are no longer servants to some noble. No, I will instead say that I accept your oath of allegiance since we all have the same goal in the end, which is a better future... But words are just words and one cannot suffice simply from words alone, therefore I decided to reverse the horrid decision of separating yall from your families residing outside the castle grounds by allocating twenty gold coins to pay for all of their fees, allowing them to enter into the town and of course the castle after that. We will then use whatever is left to build housing for them in the vast open spaces around this field here. " I looked and then pointed at the field through the window behind my chair, which had ample space for a couple of dormitories that could house the soldiers and their families, before turning back around to face the people in the hall, in order to close out my speech.
"I only have one condition though. Is it that every able-bodied man and woman, from the ages of 16 to 26, participate in general education classes, a standardized regime of physical exercises, while those people whose ages are older than those specified will help support those specified in their efforts by performing various jobs that will be assigned to them with skill as the reference point. Can we agree on this one condition?" I asked the people in the room who quickly agreed fervently in a tone that resemble an army already.
"Yes, Lord Rallo!!" They said in unison while bowing at their waist as I asked them to before dismissing themselves as they celebrated in their various different ways.
I had already blocked out their voices by this point while thinking of the peculiar situation I found myself in.