The lamps on the walls gave off a bright glow, lighting up the whole room.
Richard sat propped up against the headboard, looking around at the furnishings before turning his gaze to the lamps, curiosity showing in his eyes.
Just a few minutes ago, he'd been a student running errands part-time to cover his living expenses. The next time he opened his eyes, he'd already transmigrated to another world.
As he recalled the original owner's memories, he realized this was a world with a medieval-style social system, but one where swords and magic actually existed—a fantasy world.
The original owner was named Richard Drake, born into a knight's family—the absolute bottom rung of the nobility.
His father Carter was a Celestial-Rank Warrior with exceptional strength and a string of military achievements. He'd been granted the title "Fearless Knight" and, while commanding the kingdom's Third Legion, held Lakeside Manor as his fief.
As Carter's only son, Richard had been born premature and too weak to become a warrior, which meant he couldn't gain the kind of power the king would recognize.
If Carter died, even if Richard could pay the inheritance fee, he'd have a hell of a time actually inheriting Lakeside Manor.
But after Carter's latest achievement, the king made a special exception allowing Richard to inherit Lakeside Manor for free—no strength assessment required, no inheritance fee needed.
Under these circumstances, even though Richard had no real power, he could still land some cushy position and live out his days in peace.
Too bad fate had other plans.
Not long ago, a space-time portal appeared inside Lakeside Manor—a gateway connecting to a secret realm.
As the lord of this territory, Carter didn't hesitate to petition King Eric for permission to deploy the Third Legion into the secret realm for exploration.
After several days of investigation, they confirmed this was a developable secret realm containing not just fertile soil, but also a medium-sized mineral vein.
This was fantastic news for the Drake family.
Because according to kingdom law, when a developable secret realm appeared within a noble's territory, aside from ten percent that went to the kingdom, the majority of the rest belonged to that territory's lord.
Only a small portion was distributed among the nobles who participated in exploring and developing the secret realm.
Even though the Drakes were bottom-tier nobility, this secret realm could let them accumulate massive wealth and become true landed nobles in one shot.
Only nobody expected that a pack of strange beasts covered in steel would come charging out of the realm's mines!
They were vicious and brutal, slaughtering tons of soldiers. Even Carter ended up dying together with the strongest of those beasts in their final battle.
Of course, even though Carter was dead, as his son, the original owner could still inherit the manor and the conquered Lakeside Secret Realm.
But the law was one thing—putting it into practice turned out to be way more complicated.
At the secret realm resource distribution meeting in Green Serpent Fortress, Count Orlando accused Third Legion Commander Carter of serious dereliction of duty!
It was Carter's negligence, they said, that led to devastating losses for the kingdom's forces, with multiple noble heirs dying for nothing.
This accusation immediately gained support from several nobles, and survivors from the Third Legion even came forward as witnesses, testifying that Carter had ignored their advice and rushed ahead recklessly, causing the massive casualties.
They not only demanded the king take back Lakeside Manor, but also wanted the original owner to pay hundreds of thousands of gold coins in reparations!
The Drake family had only been nobility for less than ten years, and their status came entirely from Carter's personal strength.
In such a short time, a family couldn't build deep foundations or accumulate enough reliable connections.
What's more, the original owner faced accusations led by a high-ranking lord like the count, backed by multiple nobles signing on together. With the king and his ministers staying relatively silent, he had absolutely no way to refute any of it.
At that accusatory meeting in Green Serpent Fortress, the original owner coughed up blood from anger and passed out on the spot.
As the transmigrated Richard reviewed those people's faces from the meeting, he could see right through them.
Whether the accusations were true or not, their ultimate goal was definitely the resources and wealth inside the Lakeside Secret Realm.
After all, as long as the original owner died, the Drake family would have no heirs within two generations, and naturally the kingdom would take back the manor.
That way, the resources in the secret realm would be redistributed, and they'd all get a chance at a bigger piece.
Richard was certain that most of the nobles, including the king, basically knew what this accusation really was.
"If Carter were still alive, as one of the king's trusted allies and a top-tier fighter, maybe they wouldn't pull this."
"But Carter's dead. The original owner has no power and can't find any backing. He's got absolutely no way to protect such massive wealth."
Like vultures circling a corpse—Richard thought bitterly of that old comparison.
Suddenly, his brow furrowed.
"Oh crap!"
Right now he was Richard Drake, still facing the same accusations from those nobles. Was he really going to get kicked out of Lakeside Manor and forced to pay hundreds of thousands in gold coin reparations?
"It's not just about getting kicked out and going into debt—my life could be in danger too!"
Richard took a deep breath, feeling pretty anxious.
He'd finally gotten a second chance at life, and in a supernatural world with battle energy and magic that actually interested him. Dying before he could really experience it would be such a waste.
"First, I need to figure out what the current situation is."
Richard had no idea how long the original owner had been unconscious, much less what had happened during that time.
He looked at the rope on the nearby wall and gave it a pull. A clear bell sound echoed out.
This was how the original owner would call for his personal manservant who rested in a room downstairs.
But to his surprise, there were no footsteps. It seemed like nobody was downstairs.
Though soon enough, he could faintly hear people talking.
"Marah, did you just hear a bell?"
This slightly raspy voice belonged to Ralph, the manor's butler. The Marah he mentioned was the manor's head chef.
"Was there a bell?"
Marah tilted her head to listen but didn't hear anything.
"You must've heard wrong—the young master's still unconscious!"
At this point, her tone filled with sorrow. "Old butler, what if the young master dies? What are we gonna do?"
"Don't talk nonsense!"
Ralph cut her off sternly. "With Lord Carter's spirit watching over him, the young master will be fine!"
As the two talked, they'd already reached the bottom of the stairs.
Richard heard them and pulled the silver bell again.
"It's the young master!"
"The young master's awake!"
They called out in delight and hurried up to the second floor, pushing open the door.
Ralph was the one carrying the oil lamp.
This butler had followed Knight Carter since his youth and was now pushing sixty, with wrinkles on his forehead and quite a bit of white hair, though his body was still fairly sturdy.
Head chef Aunt Marah wore an apron and carried a food box. She was a bit plump with a broad face, her hair completely covered by a yellow scarf on her head.
"Young master, you're finally awake!"
Ralph called out as he walked over. "I knew you'd pull through!"
"Yes, yes!"
Aunt Marah set the food box on a nearby table. "Young master, how are you feeling? I've got some soup here that'll be really good for you. Would you like some?"
The original owner must've been unconscious for quite a while—Richard definitely felt hungry.
"I'd appreciate that, Aunt Marah."
As he spoke, he looked toward Ralph. "By the way, how long was I out? What's the situation outside right now?"
The joy on Ralph's face faded a bit. "You were unconscious for a full two weeks! As for what's outside..."
He couldn't bear to say it, worried it would hurt Richard.
"Whatever's coming can't be avoided. Just tell me!"
Two weeks was way too long. A lot of things had probably already been decided.
Ralph sighed, his voice heavy.
"While you were unconscious, the king, Count Orlando, and a bunch of nobles argued for several days before finally reaching an agreement."
He paused before continuing. "Because of the mistakes Lord Carter made that caused devastating losses for the kingdom, the king agreed to their proposal. He's taking back Lakeside Manor and giving you one month to move out!"
Richard had figured it would be something like this, so he wasn't all that surprised.
"What about the debt?"
Moving was fine—he might be able to survive on the Drake family's savings.
But if he got stuck with hundreds of thousands in gold coin debt he could never repay, he was screwed.
Ralph's tone softened a bit. "His Majesty still had feelings for Lord Carter. He spoke up for you and refused that debt."
"At the same time, even though Lord Carter made mistakes, he played a crucial role in conquering the Lakeside Secret Realm. Though His Majesty is taking back Lakeside Manor, he's giving you another piece of land so you can live out your life in peace."
When Richard heard the first part, his anxious heart settled down. Not having to repay that massive debt was good.
But when he heard the second part, his eyes immediately lit up.
This king was actually that nice? Giving him another piece of land?
Only, when he saw the not-so-happy expression on Ralph's face, his heart sank.
"What land?"
Ralph said, "His Majesty originally wanted to make you a baron of a small town, but several nobles banded together to oppose it. Apparently they argued for quite a while, and finally both sides compromised and decided to make you the baron of Blackwood Island."
"Blackwood Island?"
Richard murmured the place name, and soon enough the related information came to mind.
This was an island sitting alone out at sea.
Even though it wasn't small in area, most of it had been contaminated by an "undevelopable" secret realm, and humans could only operate around Wavebreak City in the northwest corner.
If you compared Blackwood Island to a 900-square-foot apartment, 800 square feet was common area and only 100 square feet was actually usable space.
The Procrustes royal family had occupied Blackwood Island for over thirty years and had sent people to develop it.
But these developers either gave up because the investment was too high with no worthwhile return, or they got too aggressive during development and accidentally died at the mouths of magic beasts and strange beasts.
Gradually, the king and nobles lost interest in Blackwood Island.
Without a lord, there was no order.
Blackwood Island gradually became a place where criminals and bandits took refuge. Some nobles even got too lazy to guard their prisoners and just dumped them on the island.
So yeah, it was also called "Exile Island."
Making Richard the lord of Blackwood Island was, in a sense, the same as exiling him.
"What a... great place!"
Richard wanted to curse.
Ralph asked hesitantly, "Young master, I've heard Blackwood Island is really dangerous. Do you want to go?"
Richard rubbed his temples.
Could he not go?
This was something the king and those nobles had decided after discussion—he only had the right to carry it out!
If he actually refused, he'd probably face even more trouble, maybe even danger to his life.
"No matter how bad it is, at least I'll still be a lord, right?"
Richard consoled himself.
Just then, Aunt Marah brought over a bowl of soup. "Ralph, stop asking so many questions. Let the young master drink his soup first and recover a bit before worrying about all this annoying stuff!"
"My oversight!"
Ralph stepped aside apologetically. "Young master, please drink your soup!"
"Thanks."
This was Richard's first time being waited on like this, and he quickly took the bowl and had a sip.
The broth was rich, slightly fishy on first taste, but quickly turned subtly sweet with a nice texture.
As soon as it went down, he felt a warmth spreading from his tongue straight to his stomach, then throughout his whole body.
"Tastes amazing!"
He'd never had soup with this kind of special flavor before, though from the memories he could see the original owner had drunk quite a bit of it.
This soup was called Fire Source Beast Bone Broth.
Its main ingredient was one pound of Fire Source Beast bones, mixed with a small handful of White Crystal Fruit—a magical herb that neutralized the "burning energy"—plus a carrot for sweetness, then simmered over low heat for about an hour.
The original owner's weak constitution since childhood had been nursed back to normal levels for an average person using this Fire Source Beast Bone Broth.
Just as Richard's mind went through the recipe for Fire Source Beast Bone Broth, something unexpected happened.
A line of text actually appeared before his eyes:
[You have gained a basic understanding of Fire Source Beast Bone Broth preparation. Proficiency +3]
"Huh?" Richard was slightly stunned.
Before he could react, more information flooded into his mind.