Dawn.
The gentle sunlight drove away the early spring chill. Martha tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and stirred the rice soup in the pot, letting out an involuntary sigh.
Since her child's father got killed by a wild boar, life had gotten harder and harder.
The new lord had also collected taxes, leaving the whole household with less than 110 pounds of rye—one meal less with each meal eaten.
She'd been thinking that if worst came to worst, she'd cook the seeds for food, but then the day before yesterday the lord collected all the spring planting seeds and issued an order forbidding cultivation.
Although the messenger said the lord wouldn't let anyone starve, looking at the lord's fierce appearance, could those words be trusted?
Martha felt completely lost.
She looked up at her two daughters working hard to carry water outside—one eighteen, one fifteen.
If it really came down to it, she'd have to break up the family and marry them all off.
But—
Martha glanced at the child lying on the bed babbling.
Who would want a widow with a one-year-old kid?
"Get up, everyone get up!"
Just as Martha was worrying, fierce shouting came from the street.
Martha looked out and saw it was the wealthy farmer Otto who had led people to collect seeds the day before.
Martha quickly ran into the yard, grabbed her child, and ducked into the house, closing the door and peeking out through the window.
What were they coming to take this time?
"Listen up everyone—the lord commands you to collect all the manure around your houses and haul it outside town. No more crap allowed on the streets!"
"At noon the lord will inspect every house. Anyone who hasn't finished can expect the whip!"
The loud voice echoed through the street.
Although the voice belonged to wealthy farmer Otto, the blade-wielding guards beside him were the lord's men.
Nobody would question whether the order was real.
But—
"Why does the lord want even the manure?"
Martha was totally confused.
Was it to feed dogs?
With so much manure in town, how many dogs would it take to eat it all?
The neighbor next door had the same confusion and shouted it out loud:
"Yesterday you took our seeds and banned farming—now you're even managing where we shit and piss?"
Crack!
The sound of whip meeting flesh was brutal, making Martha scrunch her neck and close her eyes.
When she opened them again, she saw the neighbor with his head down covering his face, completely lacking his earlier defiance.
"The lord is heaven itself—say another word and we'll cut out your tongues!"
This time it was the guard beside Otto speaking.
And with that lashing, anyone else wanting to complain didn't dare open their mouths.
Whatever they wanted, as long as it wasn't their lives, it was fine.
Martha sighed again and turned to her two daughters:
"Liya, Sandy, you eat first. After eating, put all the manure behind the house in baskets so I can haul it out."
Fortunately last night's waste hadn't been dumped yet, saving some trouble.
Bang—
Before Martha's two daughters could respond, the wooden door was suddenly knocked open.
Otto entered carrying a large sack of rye and threw it on the wooden table in the room.
"Martha, you've hit the jackpot!"
Otto chuckled: "The lord has taken a fancy to your two daughters!"
...
...
In Thane's courtyard.
Martha stole a glance at the handsome young man before her and immediately lowered her head.
"Noble sir, please let me first teach my two daughters how to serve men in bed, otherwise they might ruin your mood."
"In bed?"
Thane immediately realized Otto's message must have gotten twisted somewhere.
He gave the sturdy farmer a hard kick, then said to Martha: "I'm having them work as maids, not bed warmers."
"Every morning have hot water ready before I wake up, help me wash up, then bring breakfast, then clean the house and do laundry."
Thane had never been served, but having served others at Ividaya Castle, he roughly knew the drill.
"If you have time you can stick around too—handle food prep and cooking, live here, and I'll give you sixty-six pounds of rye each month."
Sixty-six pounds of rye was enough for Martha's food for a month. If she also stayed to work in Thane's courtyard, she could save all that rye.
The huge surprise left Martha stunned for a moment, until her elder daughter Sandy tugged hard at her sleeve to snap her out of it.
"Thank, thank you!"
The overwhelmed Martha immediately dropped to her knees and bowed to Thane, and her two daughters knelt down to thank him without needing any prompting.
"Alright, get up. Can you start working today?"
"Yes, yes, I'll leave the kid with neighbors and come back to work!" Martha said quickly.
Thane nodded and called over Kralfard, who was supervising slaves building houses: "This is my steward Kralfard. If you have any problems, go to him first."
Martha quickly bowed respectfully to Kralfard.
Kralfard returned the courtesy, then said to Thane: "Don't worry, I'll get everything sorted out properly."
"Good, I trust you."
Thane smiled and gave Kralfard's solid shoulder an encouraging pat.
Last night Thane and Kralfard had an in-depth heart-to-heart talk.
From the rich resources and mineral wealth in the Northern Borderlands mountains to the grain production potential of the vast wilderness.
From the natural barrier of the Frozen Mountains to plans for port trade on the eastern coast.
Plus all of Thane's advanced ideas for territorial development and economic plans.
Thane promised that in the future, Kralfard would manage an entire basement full of gold coins.
Of course, the more detailed discussion also covered how many pieces you could cut a fat man like Kralfard into before he'd die.
It got Kralfard's blood pumping.
That night's conversation opened Kralfard's eyes to Lord Thane's vast knowledge and sharp mind.
So he finally decided to follow Thane's advice and stay on as steward.
Kralfard also realized that without the lord's protection and powerful military backing, no matter how much gold he earned, it was just empty bubbles that bandits could pop with one charge.
Hire more expensive guards?
Given his penny-pinching nature, Kralfard felt he wouldn't be willing to do that—even after being taught a lesson, he'd still want to save wherever possible.
Being a steward was more suitable—no worry about bandit raids and he'd still receive gold coins.
Most importantly, he could stay alive.
Kralfard felt this suited him perfectly.
With Kralfard supervising manor affairs, Pamin was successfully freed up.
Thane took him and Eliric to the town's blacksmith shop—
A broken-down shack that didn't even have bellows.
"Looks like my plan to forge armor for you guys will have to wait."
Pamin and Eliric were Thane's strongest fighters currently. Thane wanted to re-equip both of them with full gear.
A blacksmith shop without even bellows couldn't handle such a demanding job.
"Pegin, can you make bellows?"
Thane asked Pegin under the shack.
The blacksmith, who was already questioning his life choices, shook his head.
"Pamin, go get the carpenter."
No choice—Thane had to personally draw up bellows blueprints and have the carpenter try to make them.
Of course, Thane himself didn't actually know jack about bellows construction—this knowledge all came from the game system.
After spending most of the day, Thane completed the bellows blueprints and explained them to the carpenter.
While waiting for the carpenter to study and build the bellows, Thane replaced the damaged posts in the blacksmith shop and re-laid the roof.
When the fire in the forge was lit again, Thane received notification that the blacksmith shop construction was complete, along with the corresponding trait—
Precision Forged Furnace.