Chapter 6

In this world, a week is defined as six days, a month as five weeks, and a year as twelve months, which means a year consists of 360 days.

Noein and Matilda had already spent four weeks in the forest of the Arquvist territory. It was almost a month.

"What should we do from now on, Matilda?"

"......I am sorry. I cannot think of a good plan with my limited knowledge."

"Oh, no, that's not it. I was just muttering to myself. I'm sorry."

Seeing the earnest and loyal slave's genuinely dejected face, Noein hastily added those words.

Using golems to cut down trees for four weeks had expanded the flat land considerably. It was already so vast that Noein and Matilda alone could hardly manage it.

Moreover, the area of the fields had also expanded. They had planted additional vegetables like beans and barley. In the field where they initially planted potatoes, they were also tending to the sprouts that were growing vigorously.

The development was going smoothly, except for one point.

"......How do we gather the people of the territory, I wonder?"

To claim a territory, you need people. No matter what, a territory cannot be called a territory with just a lord and his slave, and golems cannot be counted as people.

However, to attract people to this place, you need something that makes them want to move here.

Is the Arquvist territory a place where people would want to move? It's hard to say, to put it mildly.

What they had were fields, tents, a large amount of wood from the logging process, and an endless great forest.

To begin with, even the lord himself was living in a tent. Who would willingly choose to live in such a place?

"At least we need a house of our own, don't you think?"

"Master Noein, should we call craftsmen from Retvick to build a mansion?"

"I'd like to, but......money is the issue."

The severance pay Noein received from his father when he was cut off from his family was 300,000 rebo. After deducting the 50,000 rebo for buying Matilda, he had 250,000 rebo left.

Considering that a family of commoners in a rural village could live modestly for a year with 10,000 rebo, this was a considerable amount. However, it was far from enough for a lord to develop a village.

Moreover, to ensure the basic convenience of the settlement, he had to purchase magical items like "Boil" and "Fire Seed" for fire magic, and he had to buy additional horse-type golems and wagons, as well as rare crops like potatoes and other various agricultural products.

As a result, Noein's current funds were less than 150,000 rebo. If he hired craftsmen to build a mansion, his wallet would be completely empty.

His damn father probably never thought that Noein could succeed in developing the territory with just this amount of money.

He probably thought that Noein, bearing the name Arquvist, would survive for a few years and then die in the wilderness, and the existence of "Maximilian Kivireft's bastard" would be forgotten by the world. This money was to sustain him until then.

"......Master Noein, your face looks stern. Is something wrong with your health?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. I just happened to think about my damn father who gave me this severance pay."

Responding to Matilda's worried look, Noein scattered his troubled thoughts and refocused on the development work.

......

Yuri was a mercenary born in the Kingdom of Lobdell.

No, "was" is the correct term.

To escape his position as the second son of a poor farmer, he fled his hometown village before adulthood and joined a mercenary group.

Starting as a laborer, he eventually became a key member of the group due to his physical build and growth.

Eventually, through accumulated achievements and seniority, he became the new leader of the group at the age of 35, following the death of the previous leader in battle.

However, his first battle as the leader was......being used as a pawn on the battlefield.

The long-standing conflict between the Kingdom of Lobdell and the Eastern Palas Empire. Yuri and his group, hired by a major noble in the southern part of the kingdom, were abandoned on the battlefield to buy time for the regular army to retreat, simply because they were rootless mercenaries.

Obey the absolute command of the employer, or save your own and your group's lives by fleeing from your post.

Faced with this extreme choice, Yuri chose to save his own life.

He left his post, killed the knights of the regular army who tried to capture him, and fled the battlefield.

He turned to banditry, robbing and plundering travelers and merchants, and continued to flee westward.

He fled to the northwest end of the kingdom and eventually reached a city that was the capital of a viscount's territory.

......

"Phew. I'm getting tired of cutting trees every day."

"I understand how you feel, Master Noein."

Noein continued to struggle with how to gather the people of the territory, but a good plan did not come to mind.

The best he could think of was "picking up destitute poor people and bringing them here."

However, to do that, he first needed to have the means to support the destitute.

For that, he needed abundant food and the land to grow it.

So, even though he was getting tired of the repetitive work, Noein continued the tedious development work.

Even without a plan to gather the people, the development progressed, his stomach got hungry, and he consumed food.

Exactly one month after starting the development, Noein, along with Matilda and the golems, headed to the Retvick of the Keonitz viscount's territory to buy food again.

This time, he visited Eliza's shop, bought several weeks' worth of food for Noein and Matilda, and paid the bill.

Leaving the west gate of Retvick, they passed through the farmland of the Retvick residents outside the gate, crossed the plain dotted with small forests, and entered the beast path of the Bessel Great Forest.

After walking a little, Matilda was the first to notice.

"Ah! Master Noein!"

Something, or rather someone, was rushing out from the bushes. By the time Noein realized it,

"Whoa, don't move. Don't move......"

He was grabbed from behind by the head and had a knife pressed to his neck by the man who had rushed out.