“J-Just that?” asked a resident.
“If… If it’s just Poison Cloud… I have many of those growing around my house!”
“Me too!”
The crowd began to get excited. Loevar felt that the payment for a wheat soup was too cheap. After all, it was possible to get Poison Clouds by simply walking through the streets.
The young master was grinning. “I declare that from now on, no one shall starve during the freezing winter under my rule! This is the promise of Lark Marcus!”
Chapter Five
During the past few days, Blackstone Town became lively. Despite the falling snow, people were frequently seen outside their homes, harvesting the poisonous weeds on the ground. Since those plants were ubiquitous, fighting over them rarely happened except in some isolated circumstances.
As Lark looked through the window of his room in the mansion, he felt a sense of satisfaction. After learning that he was the lord of this territory, the first thing that came to his mind was to restore the order of the town. And to do that, the first step was to satiate the hunger of his people. After all, starving men were no different from mindless beasts. It would be unwise to hand important jobs to such people.
Three knocks were heard and the door creaked open. Gaston went inside his room and handed him a stack of papers.
“Young Master, these are the files and records for Blackstone Town,” said Gaston. He was inquisitively gazing at the young noble. He had never known that a time would come wherein the Young Master would be interested in actually governing the place. And to his utter surprise, the Young Master asked him to collect all available documents related to this town.
The stack of papers was as thick as a forearm. A scholar would normally take a week at the minimum before they would be able to absorb those that were written inside. However, the Young Master merely scanned each paper. His eyes swiftly moved through each document, reading them quickly using magic.
After an hour, Lark tossed the last document onto the top of the table. He nodded to himself while holding his chin. Afterwards, he pulled out a quill and began drawing a complex symbol on a parchment.
“I have a clear idea of the town’s status now,” said Lark. “Gaston, I want you to order the mason living in the town to create a hundred stone tablets for me.” He handed the old butler the parchment containing the drawing. “Tell him to carve these symbols on the tablets. For the size, half an arm’s length for both the height and width should do. Make it as thick as a finger.”
The butler was confused on what was happening. He said, “Young Master, a stone tablet of that size would cost us about two to three silver coins each. I don’t think it’s wise to spend it on unnecessary things—”
“—It’s not unnecessary,” said Lark. He sat on his chair then sipped some wine. “Those things will enable my subjects to survive through the winter, at the very least.”
“Young Master… I don’t understand,” said Gaston.
“There’s no need for you to understand,” said Lark, bluntly. “Just do it.”
Gaston creased his brows. “I will obey.”
After the old butler left the room. Lark stood up and took out a document from the stacked papers. Written inside was the number of households and families in Blackstone Town.
“Got to hand it to the merchant that lived here before,” said Lark. The file was around a year old, but it should be good enough as basis for now. “He sure made work easier for me. He even bothered to create a census for the families living here.”
Lark still have no idea why the second son of the powerful Marcus Family was sent to this decrepit town, but he deemed that since this place was a granted territory, he might as well nurture it. His current body was still young, and despite the very low mana pool, there would still be enough room for it to grow. It would probably take a few more years before he could perform Grand Scale Magic just like before.
***
After three days, the stone tablets were finally finished. To say that they were stone tablets was a bit of an overstatement. Those things resembled mud than stone. Their brown finish reminded Lark of the uneven ground in the outskirts of the Magic Empire.
Lark summoned the servants in the hall. Before everyone’s gaze, he announced, “I want these tablets to be strategically placed in between houses.”
“As for their use,” said Lark. He took out a pouch filled with golden sand. “These things are basically heat stones. They’ll adjust their temperatures accordingly, maintaining an optimal temperature in a limited radius. Since this town is small, a hundred stones should be enough.”
Gaston stared at the golden sand the young master held in his hand. If he was not mistaken, those were gold dust, a raw material frequently used to create golden threads.
‘The young master surely wouldn’t…’
Before Gaston could even react, Lark started sprinkling some gold dust on the symbols carved on the stone tablets. He then placed a palm on the center of the symbol, and soon, the hexagram glowed a golden color, before vanishing moments after.
After Lark was on his third tablet, Gaston finally managed to blurt out his protests.
“Young Master! Those are gold dusts! To use them like that—” squealed Gaston. He could not help but shiver upon seeing the gold dusts disappear before his very eyes. It was like throwing gold coins away.
Lark chuckled. “Relax. What’s the use of golden threads anyway? They wouldn’t raise the productivity of my people. With these heat stones, working during winter would no longer be a problem.”
As time went on, Gaston realized that the young master was becoming more and more eccentric. Where did the hedonistic, mischievous, and arrogant young master go? Old as he may be, Gaston could clearly feel that the young master had definitely changed.
Soon, all of the tablets were completed. Lark nodded satisfactorily at his work. Gaston noticed that the temperature inside the manor had changed. It was as though summer had arrived.
“Nice and warm, isn’t it?” grinned Lark. “The advantage of gold dust is that even after a long time, the magic wouldn’t easily fade away. That’s why these things are one of the catalyst when performing Grand Scale Magic. Of course, if it’s High Rank Magic, the effect would not last long with such poor materials.”
Once again, unusual words were coming out of the young master’s mouth.
Lark said to the butler. “The heat stones will easily melt the snow within a certain radius. Place them about thirty meters apart from each other. Just to be safe, bury them half a meter deep into the ground. Also, issue out a decree that anyone who destroys or steals them will be severely punished.”
Seeing the resolute expression of the young master, Gaston nodded. “As you wish, Young Master. I will immediately ask the servants to install it all throughout the town.”
Lark was smiling. “According to the documents, there're around sixty or seventy residents that are currently homeless. Spread the news to them – Lark of the Marcus Family is willing to give them free food and shelter in exchange of their service.”
Gaston was startled. “But young master! That’s absurd! We cannot support such a large number of servants!”
After reading documents, Lark found out that he still had around four hundred gold coins left in the treasury. It was probably a small amount when compared to the other nobles, but in this small town, it would be enough to hire a large number of individuals.
Lark deemed that it would be better to circulate the money than let it stay inside his treasury. After all, as the lord of this town, it would all come back to him in the form of taxes eventually. Right now, his most important asset was not the gold coins but the people. In this town that did not even have a thousand residents, it would be foolish to let them die from hunger and the cold.
He had seen the barren lands he passed by along the way when he was riding the carriage. According to Gaston, those lands were non-arable. Lark could not help but shake his head when he le
arned that the vast land surrounding the town was not actually fully utilized. According to the farmers, only a small portion of it was suitable to grow wheat. It was utter bullshit born from the lack of knowledge.
Lark was confident that it should be possible to convert those so-called nonarable lands to an abundant wheat field. It would take time, but it would definitely increase the growth of his territory later on.
And right now, those jobless and homeless residents were the perfect candidates for the job.
Chapter Six
Inside his room, Lark sat cross-legged on the floor. Since receiving his new body, he never neglected mana training even once. Although the current vessel was severely lacking, with proper training, he knew that it would someday become powerful enough to perform Grand Scale Magic.
With his eyes closed, he began to forcefully move the small amount of mana in his body. He channeled it through different parts, making it circulate repeatedly. Only through this way would his body become accustomed to the existence of mana. It was this simple and repetitive exercise that will help expand his mana pool.
His breathing slowed down and the sound of his surroundings disappeared afterwards. He could no longer hear the sound of pouring snow. He could no longer hear his soft breaths. He could no longer feel the carpeted ground. All that he could feel was the serpentine-like flowing energy within his body – the erratically moving mana.
Minutes turned into hours. By the time he was done, his entire body was drenched in sweat despite the cold weather. His heart was loudly pounding, his temples pulsating. Lark exhaled then stood up. A smile slowly emerged on his face.
“This is quite fun.”
The sensation of slowly expanding his mana pool was something he had long forgotten before. Back in his previous life, his body had already attained a colossal mana pool that it was no longer possible to expand it further.
Just when he was about to go down to grab something to eat, three knocks were heard on the door and Gaston’s voice was heard, “Young Master, the residents that answered to the job offer has been gathered in the hall.”
That was fast. Lark approvingly said, “Good job.”
After leaving the room, together with the old butler, Lark went towards the hall. The guards and the servants greeted him upon his arrival. The residents, on the other hand, wore nervous faces. Some were gawking at the paintings and furniture, while some were looking on the ground, seemingly afraid of the guards.
“Welcome,” said Lark. “I’m sure you know me already but let me introduce myself. I am the Lord of Blackstone Town – Lark Marcus.”
The residents bowed their heads upon this introduction. Lark quickly counted the number of applicants. Forty-eight. It was less than he had expected.
“I will cut straight to the point,” said Lark. “I am here to offer everyone a job – jobs that would feed them. Everyone will be well compensated.”
There was a small pause. “How many of you knows how to read and write?”
The commoners looked at each other. As expected, there were none.
Lark simply smiled. He had not really expected them to know of such an advanced skill. After all, you would need at least basic education to know how to do those things. Just right when he was about to continue his speech, to his surprise, a young woman raised her hand.
“I-I know h-how to read and write,” said the young woman. Her blonde hair was frizzy and her face was filled with dirt. Her dress was moth-eaten. After seeing that everyone’s eyes were on her, she hunched her shoulders to appear smaller.
“Oh?” said Lark. His eyes glimmered with interest. “Could you tell me how you learned it?”
There were a few seconds of hesitation. “I… I once worked for a noble in Lion City. During that time, the mistress would let me accompany her to her studies. I learned how to read and write from that.”
Lark felt that she was not lying. He locked eyes with Gaston for a moment, and the old butler seemed to have realized the young master’s intent. He pulled the young woman from the crowd and let her stay near the young master.
“Name?” asked Lark.
“M-Melody, young master,” replied the young woman.
He could see her trembling shoulders. Lark was aware of his vessel’s misdeeds before. Sexual harassment, physical abuse, attempted murder. The previous owner of this body, despite being young, was a total demon. He could understand why she was afraid of a young man like him. For now, all he could do was slowly change the perception of his subjects with the passage of time.
“If you pass my little test, I will grant you an important position later,” said Lark in a small voice, just enough for him and her to hear.
The young woman stared at him in bewilderment for a moment, before nodding once.
Lark cleared his throat. “Anyone else knows how to read or write?”
After some time, no one else raised their hands.
“What I need right now are three kinds of people: Farmers, builders, and soldiers,” said Lark. “One month from now, winter will end. Of course, it’ll take at least two weeks before the snow fully melts. Once that happened, I want my farmers to immediately work on cultivating the lands in the north and the west.”
Lark noticed that some of them wore confused looks upon hearing that statement.
“But young master,” said one of the commoners. “The northern and western lands of Blackstone Town are dead. It’s impossible to grow crops in that area.”
“We have a solution for that,” said Lark.
After reading the documents left behind by the wealthy merchant that used to live in this town, he learned that there was a certain area of the town wherein the residents dumped their night soil. This practice had been going on for more than a decade now, and that single fact greatly pleased Lark. Once winter ends, he would assign some farmers to spread those natural composts to the northern and western land. Of course, there would always be a risk for disease when using human excreta, but Lark planned to secretly deal with it using magic. For now, he simply had to wait until winter ends before he could finally start cultivating the lands.
Lark clapped his hands once. “Next are the builders. It doesn’t matter if they are male or female. Under my supervision, you will be tasked to create houses at the eastern part of Blackstone Town. I plan to expand the border of the town at least twice during this year. Payment will be 6 silver coins per month. The houses built will be granted to those without a residence in Blackstone House. Of course, it wouldn’t be given for free. You will be asked to pay a monthly rent of 2 silvers and 25 coppers. The construction project will start right away this winter.”
This way, the number of homeless locals would be reduced and at the same time, Lark would be able to effectively circulate his money via the salary and rent. Since the residents would still be required to pay taxes later on, it was a win-win situation.
The commoners were clearly interested with the proposal. After all, the normal monthly income of a resident of Blackstone Town was around three silvers. The offered salary of the young master was twice that amount. Even if they were to pay for the rent, they would still have more than enough left to pay for food and other necessities. Moreover, they would be able to have their own house to live in.
But there was one problem.
“But young master,” said one of them. “You said that you plan to start the construction this winter. The snow outside has piled up till our calves. We’ll freeze to death if we work under such weather.”
This was one of the reasons why Lark immediately created heat stones after receiving the documents of Blackstone Town. He could not really wait until winter ends before he started the construction project. Waiting one and a half month just because of the stupid snow would be simply a waste of time.
“I’ve asked some of the servants to install several heat stones near the eastern border of the town,” said Lark. “It will melt the snow and greatly reduce the cold. Of course, we will provide the wor
kers with thick clothes and hot soup to combat the cold. Rest assured, no one will die of cold during the construction period.”
The commoners were still obviously puzzled on what the heat stones were, but they nodded for now.
“Since the cultivation of the land will have to wait until the snow melts, the farmers will temporarily help the builders during this winter season. The payment will be the same, six silvers. Also, the farmers, builders, and soldiers are eligible for a house. They only need to pay the appropriate rent.”
“Lastly, the soldiers,” said Lark. Out of the forty-eight gathered here, only twenty-three were males. Lark secretly hoped that a lot of them would join his army. “Only males are allowed to become my soldiers. Soldiers will get paid eleven silvers, three meals a day, with a free small meat every four days. Also, I will allow them to stay at the cabin behind the Mansion. It should be large enough to accommodate everyone.”
The announcement stirred the crowd. Judging by the expressions of everyone, they would like to immediately jump on the offer. Eleven silvers were an absurd amount of salary for commoners like them. Moreover, they would immediately have a home once they were accepted. Even the old butler seemed shocked by the young master’s sudden declaration. Lark simply grinned at him and wordlessly told him to stay silent.
“Aside from Melody here, I have clearly stated the conditions of employment for everyone,” said Lark. “I will give everyone half an hour to decide which profession you would like to choose. Of course, if you don’t like to work for me, that’s fine too.”
Half an hour later, Gaston gave Lark the results. Twenty-three were interested in farming, while seven for building. As expected, more locals chose the job that was more familiar to them. Lark deemed that the shortage of manpower for the construction would be alleviated by the farmers during winter season. They could help move stones and wood, at least.
Legend of the Arch Magus- The Expansion Page 3