Early morning, the air after the heavy rain was pretty humid.
Richard hadn't felt sleepy since waking up, so he just got out of bed and went outside for a walk.
The Drake family's castle was on the smaller side, with a distinctly European architectural style.
Richard ran his hand along the wall—it felt cool to the touch.
"Secret Stone..."
This was a material produced in secret realms. After humans discovered it and mixed it with sand and gravel, it could be used to build houses and pave roads. Both its durability and corrosion resistance were top-notch.
It reminded Richard of cement, though Secret Stone was a bit higher quality.
"Secret realms really are treasure troves. No wonder they're fighting over them."
Richard sighed and, after making a couple loops around the castle, headed outside.
The lake in Lakeside Manor referred to Clearwater Lake.
The scenery here was beautiful, attracting quite a few people to come play and go boating.
On top of that, the lake had plenty of fish, which not only drew some noble youngsters who'd pay to fish, but also brought decent fishing income to the Drake family.
"This place really is a premium asset. Too bad it won't be mine for much longer!"
Richard felt like he was losing out on billions.
If things hadn't gone sideways, being a manor lord here wouldn't have been half bad.
Richard strolled along the lakeside, taking in the beautiful scenery and breathing in the fresh air. Before long, he'd wandered over to the training grounds on the castle's west side, where he could hear the sounds of morning practice.
He looked over and saw several figures on the training grounds going through their drills, making grunting sounds with their movements.
"Must be Kairon and the manor guards, right?"
Richard had already learned from Ralph that Kairon had decided to follow him to Blackwood Island.
Someone this strong and loyal was definitely part of Richard's core team—he needed to make contact.
As he got closer, he could see the situation on the training grounds more clearly.
The guard unit of a dozen or so people had now dwindled to just three.
Right now Kairon had a shield on his back and a one-handed sword at his waist, carefully correcting flaws in the basic swordsmanship of two young men.
Seeing this scene, Richard couldn't help but recall images of the original owner practicing swordsmanship.
Only what Richard didn't expect was that when he quickly ran through those sword practice memories, a line of text appeared before his eyes:
[You have integrated some Basic Swordsmanship techniques. Proficiency +5]
"Huh?"
Richard froze for a moment, then immediately called up the Attribute Panel.
[Strength]: 3.6
[Mental]: 1.8
[Basic]: Basic Swordsmanship (Beginner 5/100)
[Cooking]: Fire Source Beast Bone Broth (Beginner 69/100)
[Attribute Points]: 0
A new category called [Basic] had appeared on the Attribute Panel.
"So I can unlock new categories!"
Clearly, the Attribute Panel's entries weren't fixed—they could expand based on what he encountered.
"So besides cooking and basic skills, there must be others, right?"
"Like magic, maybe?"
Richard figured there probably were, he just needed to unlock them.
"More categories means more ways to get attribute points, which makes leveling up easier."
Richard broke into a smile.
From now on, besides increasing proficiency, he could also explore what other categories he could unlock on the Attribute Panel.
Finally, he didn't have to just be a cook.
"Huh?"
Kairon, who'd been correcting the guards' basic swordsmanship, noticed Richard and immediately ran over.
"Good day, young master... oh wait, I should call you Baron now."
He had brown skin and a smile that showed simple honesty. From the original owner's memories, Kairon didn't have any ambitions or schemes.
"Good morning, Captain Kairon!"
Richard greeted him with a smile. "Sorry for interrupting your morning practice."
"We're just going through the motions anyway."
Kairon said, "Ralph reminded me to get the visiting card from you when he left, but I was worried about disturbing your rest so I figured I'd come by later. Didn't expect you to be up this early."
"Couldn't sleep anyway, so I got up to walk around."
Richard said, "The visiting card's ready. Come by my room to get it in a bit."
He glanced at the two guards. "So it's just the three of you left in the guard unit now?"
Even though most guards were regular people, once they had armor and weapons and some training, ordinary citizens wouldn't dare mess with them.
And you couldn't underestimate armies made up of regular folks—as long as they were well-trained and worked together well, they could even wear down an Advanced Warrior.
Richard's own strength wasn't great, so when he got to Blackwood Island, besides relying on Kairon, he'd need a guard unit too.
"Those cowards heard from somewhere that staying loyal to you would get them on the Bloom family's bad side, and they got so scared they ran off!"
Kairon cursed, then looked back at the two who'd stopped practicing their swords.
"Good thing not everyone's a wimp. These two stuck around. I think they've got potential to become Junior Warriors, so I figured I'd teach them more."
The Bloom family was Count Orlando's surname. With rumors like that going around, it made sense the guards and servants would want to bail.
Richard looked over at the two young men. "If they can become Junior Warriors, they'd be really valuable to us."
The two saw the baron looking at them and got kind of nervous and awkward, hurrying to bow while offering respectful greetings.
Even though they were members of the manor guard, they rarely had a chance to interact with Carter or Richard, let alone have an actual conversation.
Nobles carried a lot of weight in their minds.
Richard was getting a taste of what being a lord was like.
Whether it was Ralph, Kairon, or anyone else, they all showed him a ton of respect.
"What are your names?" he asked.
Kairon waved them over, and the two immediately ran up.
"Sir, I'm Jack!"
"Sir, John, my name's John!"
The two were about the same height and build. The only difference was probably that the first one had short curly brown hair while the second had short blond hair.
"I'm really glad you decided to stick around and stay loyal to me!"
Even though Richard didn't have experience as a lord, he'd watched plenty of period dramas and knew what kind of things to say in situations like this.
"Train hard with Kairon. I'll make sure the kitchen prepares plenty of food to keep your energy up."
He emphasized, "The Drake family won't let down anyone who stays loyal!"
The two knelt on one knee in excitement. They both came from pretty rough backgrounds, and hearing the lord would provide meals got them so worked up they couldn't stop thanking him.
In this era, as long as commoners worked hard and their lord wasn't totally exploitative, they generally wouldn't starve to death.
Though not starving didn't mean being full or eating well.
Take meat, for example—being able to eat it once every three months was considered pretty good.
Kairon looked at the baron in front of him with some surprise. He felt like the young master's personality was gentler than before and seemed more mature too.
Richard waved for the two to continue sword practice, then told Kairon his idea about recruiting guard members.
Even though people recruited on short notice wouldn't have much combat ability, it was still better than recruiting on Blackwood Island where he didn't know anyone.
At least people brought from here would only have him to depend on, which guaranteed some level of loyalty.
"Sir, the rumors out there are really working against us."
Kairon looked troubled. "Getting warriors to join us probably won't be that easy."
Richard understood completely.
The Drake family was now considered guilty, Blackwood Island was a place normal people didn't want to go, plus there were those threatening rumors from the Bloom family floating around—recruiting wasn't going to be a walk in the park.
"Let's give it a shot."
He thought for a moment, then instructed, "After morning practice, help me deliver the visiting card to the royal palace. I need to see His Majesty before we leave."
"Happy to serve!"
After talking with Kairon, Richard left the training grounds, spending the whole walk carefully recalling how the original owner practiced basic swordsmanship.
[You have integrated Basic Swordsmanship techniques. Proficiency +15]
[You have integrated Basic Swordsmanship techniques. Proficiency +13]
[You have integrated Basic Swordsmanship techniques. Proficiency +9]
As the memories went through his mind again and again, the Basic Swordsmanship proficiency kept growing, but the amount added each time kept dropping.
Eventually, Richard had to carefully recall things several times just to get 1 point.
Fortunately, after half an hour, the proficiency maxed out.
[Basic Swordsmanship proficiency breakthrough, Competent (0/200)]
[Attribute Points +0.1]
In that instant, Richard felt like some kind of understanding appeared in his mind—he was more familiar with Basic Swordsmanship now.
Looking at the attribute points he'd gained, he didn't hesitate to add them to strength. This feeling of strengthening himself was really satisfying.
"After Basic Swordsmanship went from Beginner to Competent, just relying on memories probably won't cut it anymore."
Richard analyzed the situation. He figured from now on he'd need to actually pick up a sword and practice.
"Right now I've only restored my swordsmanship to what the original owner had when he was alive, so proficiency's been growing pretty fast."
He guessed that practicing with an actual sword would probably give decent proficiency too.
Back at the castle, Richard ate the breakfast Marah had prepared.
Two fluffy pieces of bread, a cup of warm milk, plus some sweet sauce—it tasted pretty good.
Richard noticed that eating bread and drinking milk didn't give him any attribute points.
"Maybe I can only get them from food with magical properties?"
He quietly guessed. If that was really the case, it was going to be pretty expensive.
"Master, I'm about to start making the Fire Source Beast Bone Broth. Do you really want to do it yourself?"
Marah asked out of respect, though in her heart she didn't want Richard going into the kitchen—it was kind of beneath his station.
"Of course!"
Richard's answer was firm, and he emphasized, "Don't touch anything. I'll handle it all!"
"Well... alright then!"
Marah reluctantly agreed. She couldn't understand why the young master, who used to be so particular about cleanliness, suddenly wanted so badly to go into the kitchen.