IHBWAT 03

Chapter 3

A Territory That Cannot Be Developed

Baron Elimis was, to put it mildly, not a good father.

When he had only a daughter and no son, he actually considered it fortunate.

‘Either way, this territory has no future.’

That was Baron Elimis’s belief.

Fortunately, Priscilla had shown promise from a young age. The baron immediately hired a tutor from the royal capital to educate her. That tutor was the very same old man Cliff called the old man—Nigel.

“I intend to make my daughter the bride of a prestigious noble house. That is the only way our House Elimis survives. Teach her etiquette and culture so she will be worthy of becoming such a bride.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Nigel educated Priscilla according to those instructions.

The very first thing he did was suppress her emotions.

If she had emotions, she would make mistakes.

If she dreamed of debuting in the central social circle, even a small mistake could become a major problem. So prestigious noble houses did not want daughters-in-law who showed emotion.

“A single mistake, especially one wrong word, can bring destruction upon a house in the central nobility.”

“You must never show emotion or agitation in any situation.”

“Your posture and clothing must always be impeccable.”

“An ambitious noblewoman becomes an obstacle and a source of discord for a husband doing important work. The only virtues of a noble lady are restraint and obedience.”

Not emotions.

Not likes or dislikes.

Not even dreams.

“The only thing a woman may hope for is her husband’s affection.”

Whenever her emotions showed.

Whenever her posture faltered.

Whenever she developed a preference for something, Nigel would raise the cane.

Of course, he never hit Priscilla directly with it.

He struck her maid instead. To the point that Priscilla trembled in fear and guilt, and the beaten maid would lie ill for days. That was how harshly Nigel disciplined her.

So when Cliff first mentioned “instruction,” even though she acted calm, she was very frightened.

“At times like this, you say ‘welcome back.’”

Her husband, who had asked for a kiss again after waking up in the morning.

Fortunately, Cliff was not a frightening husband.

Mwah.

“…Welcome back.”

Since it was not the first time, this time it was much easier.

Smiling broadly, Cliff left the bedroom.

* * *

The territory Cliff had received—

Even when he first arrived, he thought it was serious.

But after checking the reports, the reality was even worse.

“Tsk, tsk.”

Cliff clicked his tongue as he read the report.

He understood why his father-in-law, Baron Elimis, had neglected the territory.

“This is absolutely miserable. At this rate, only the lord’s family itself can barely survive.”

“Mm.”

“This is truly the kind of place where escaping a territory is a matter of intelligence.”

A territory without a future.

That was Cliff’s evaluation.

Nigel could not deny Cliff’s biting words.

‘The lord said the same thing.’

Still, it felt strange. He understood Cliff, and he knew Cliff was right, but it was bitter.

This territory had been abandoned even by its own master.

Then who were the people struggling to survive here supposed to rely on?

His thoughts were interrupted by Cliff’s question.

“What about the commoners? They probably already know a new acting lord has arrived, don’t they?”

It was an unfamiliar reaction to Nigel’s understanding of nobles.

Nobles did not care about what commoners thought.

“They’ll have heard through rumors, yes. But there probably hasn’t been much reaction….”

“So from their perspective, the marriages of important people are none of their business?”

“If I had to put it that way, yes.”

Nigel answered, still looking at Cliff with lingering doubt.

Cliff seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the answer.

“Still, I’m getting married, and they can’t even offer congratulations?”

“…Then would you like us to announce the marriage of the acting lord and the young lady and commemorate it with a monument or statue?”

Nigel thought that was a splendid answer in his own way.

But hearing that, Cliff was horrified.

“What nonsense is this old man spouting? Do you want to kill someone of embarrassment? What commoner would congratulate that kind of thing when they’re already worried about whether they’ll have food tomorrow or the day after?”

Nigel’s doubt deepened.

If that was not it, why had he mentioned it?

Cliff thought for a moment, then spoke.

“More importantly, how many commoners can be gathered within a day? Excluding those who haven’t come of age.”

“If we include women, perhaps around three hundred.”

“Three hundred….”

Cliff muttered the number after hearing Nigel.

Then he gave an order.

“Gather all three hundred. If it’s impossible today, then tomorrow will do.”

“That would not be difficult. But may I ask why?”

“You said it would be easy, didn’t you?”

Instead of answering, Cliff asked back.

Nigel acknowledged his mistake.

‘Ah, right. I just dared to question a noble….’

They are the ones who give orders.

Realizing his mistake, Nigel bowed his head.

“I apologize. I will carry out the acting lord’s order.”

“No, that’s not what I was trying to hear… actually, I was asking because I wondered whether there was some problem with my order. For example, whether the commoners would suffer some loss if they had to follow my command that day.”

Nigel was once again taken aback by Cliff’s words.

Why would a noble even consider such a thing?

Still, there was something he had learned earlier.

‘A vassal is not someone who questions his lord.’

If asked, simply answer.

“It is neither sowing nor harvest season, so the commoners are not busy at the moment.”

“Then bring them. Tell the adults to gather as many as possible.”

“I shall do so.”

After hearing Nigel’s response, Cliff looked over the report again.

‘Unless someone has been embezzling in between, the territory’s situation is indeed hopeless.’

Exactly as he had expected.

The fields did not grow well even when seeds were planted, and the isolated terrain made trade beyond the territory difficult.

If there had been some specialty product, that would have been different.

‘Let’s see.’

Cliff reviewed the information one by one.

The one piece of good news was the water source.

There was a river in the territory, and also a lake connected to that river.

“Is fishing possible?”

“The river is too shallow, so there are not many fish.”

“What about the lake?”

“There are fish there, but not only fish, so fishing is out of the question.”

If it was not only fish, did that mean sharks or crocodiles were swimming around?

Nigel added an explanation.

“That place is a serpent habitat.”

“A serpent… lives there?”

“Yes.”

That was a disaster.

Elimis territory was surrounded by mountains.

Rivers flowing down from those mountains gathered in the south to form the lake.

And from that lake, one could travel outward by river.

If the northern mountain path and this waterway could be used, then the territory would gain a means of access for people.

‘But of all things, there’s a serpent there.’

If there was a serpent in the lake, then one should not even think about putting boats on it.

To put it simply, a serpent was a dragon.

A sea serpent. They appeared not only in the sea but in lakes as well.

“Since it’s a lake large enough for a serpent to live in, it’s tempting… but no, still impossible.”

Along with the kraken, the serpent was one of the classic sea monsters.

In their home ground of water, even a Sword Master would be in danger.

“It seems some of the former lords had the same thought. But there was no way to subdue or drive away the serpent….”

“Well, we’ll manage somehow. Then what about the surrounding mountains? Anything like minerals?”

“As you can see from the report….”

He did not even need to listen to know.

“Tsk.”

Cliff clicked his tongue.

There were no rare medicinal herbs in the mountains, and the trees were not suitable as timber either.

They were filled with trees useless both for building houses and for firewood.

‘If only they were stone mountains, at least I could have used them for construction.’

But even that was not the case.

Naturally, there was no iron ore, copper, or any precious mineral deposits.

“…If there’s a serpent in the lake, surely there isn’t something even more frightening living in the mountains, right?”

“Why would that be the case? There have been sightings of cyclopes in the eastern mountains, and the western mountains are inhabited by a pack of shadow wolves.”

“Haah.”

The more he heard, the bleaker it became.

‘Why those two in particular?’

Cyclops.

A one-eyed giant, also called a cyclops.

They were as strong as ogres, but the problem was that even if hunted, there was nothing to gain from them.

Meat was out of the question, and while ogres could be sold for their hide or tendons, these things were so poor in value that they were not even worth that much.

‘And these shadow wolves….’

They were also called semi-spirits.

They had a physical body while alive, but when they died, that body vanished.

They left absolutely nothing behind.

“At least the thing that could be hunted and sold for a high price is the serpent.”

“Are you planning to subdue the serpent?”

“I have no desire to see what’s inside a serpent’s stomach.”

Cliff responded weakly to Nigel’s shocked question.

If he could subdue a serpent, he would not have been exiled to this territory in the first place.

‘The more I hear, the more this territory has nothing going for it. Now I understand why my father-in-law abandoned it and went to the capital.’

A clean abandonment of the territory.

Even to Cliff, this territory seemed impossible to develop.

“Unless someone is a man who brings miracles, developing this territory would be impossible, wouldn’t it?”

“…That does seem to be the case.”

It was impossible for the territory to develop on its own.

Nigel was even more certain of that than Cliff was.

His face turned heavy as he answered.

But Cliff was different.

“If there is someone who can develop this territory, they’d have to be a hero from legend. It would take a miracle.”

He repeated those words.

Cliff smiled.

“That’s fortunate. This territory just happened to meet its hero—me.”

“……?”

“I can bring about a miracle.”

“Huh?”

Nigel asked blankly.

Cliff set the report he had been reading down on the desk and closed his eyes.

“I’m the hero, you know.”

He said it with a mischievous smile.

Behind his closed eyes, he could see it.

Something that had appeared since last night.

<Recognition as Lord>

Description:
You have married Priscilla of House Elimis and have become the master of her, House Elimis, and the territory formerly ruled by House Elimis.
However, the commoners still cannot accept you as their master.
Gain recognition from them as their lord.
Then the territory will also acknowledge you and accept you as its master.

Conditions:

• Loyalty from 100 or more commoners (0/100)

• Those who have not come of age are not counted

• Outsiders are not counted

• Loyalty without sincerity is not counted

Rewards:

• Unlock Territory Status Window

• Unlock Lord Status Window

‘So it’s giving me two status windows.’

Maybe hope was here.

With his eyes still closed, Cliff said:

“…That’s just how it is.”

“Oh, yes.”

Naturally, Nigel did not seem to believe him.

Cliff smiled at that reaction.

‘That was my answer to the old man’s question earlier.’

Why he needed to gather the territory’s people.

It was simple.

He had to clear the quest.

Because he needed to obtain the status windows.