Constance Manor

When Lothar emerged from the royal palace, Baron Godfrey was already gone.

A servant handed him a note with Baron Godfrey's residence in the Holy City written on it.

The servant said the baron had invited him to visit once he had finished dealing with his affairs.

Stepping suddenly from the dim palace into the blazing sunlight, Lothar instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes.

No wonder so many Crusader nobles in the hall had adopted the dress of the Arabs.

He felt that he really needed an Arab-style loose white "keffiyeh" robe, along with a white turban.

The system prompt sounded beside his ear: You have activated and completed the milestone—"I Have a Small Manor."

Description: Manors are an important component of a lord's estates and a major means by which a lord earns income.

All beginnings are difficult. You have already acquired your first manor. Could the second and third be far behind?

Advanced milestone activated: "Real Estate Tycoon." Acquire ten manor estates or workshops. (1/10)

You have obtained one card draw opportunity.

The corners of Lothar's lips rose slightly. Sure enough, after arriving in the Holy Land, even without gaining a fief, card draw opportunities became more plentiful.

He had designed far too many milestones back then—so many that even he could not remember many of them.

Fringilla, who had been waiting outside for quite some time, was the first to come over. "What happened? Why are you smiling so happily?"

"Nothing. I just acquired a manor estate in Jerusalem. We can stay there instead of living in inns."

Delight appeared on Fringilla's face, but she immediately put on a stern expression and snorted. "A mere little manor is enough to make you so pleased with yourself?"

"I used to live in the royal palace of the Blood Court. The Blood Lord conscripted over ten thousand werewolf laborers, and it took a full three years to build."

"Compared to it, Jerusalem's royal palace is no more than a country lord's farmhouse."

Fringilla tried her best to appear more reserved and noble, but Lothar did not buy it at all. With a perfunctory expression, he pushed her aside.

"Yes, yes, Your Highness Princess."

Prajna watched the scene indifferently, her face still showing no emotion.

Yet Lothar still smiled at her with gentle warmth.

He had always held special feelings toward Prajna. She was someone who had built everything from scratch alongside him, stayed by his side day and night, and listened to his innermost thoughts—like a friend, and like family.

Of course, he could not rule out the slightest trace of romantic affection.

Living day and night with a woman as beautiful as Prajna, if he felt not even a hint of attraction, he could only be a eunuch from the Eastern Empire's court.

Lothar stepped before the others and said in a deep voice:

"Everyone, today I was granted an audience with His Majesty the King and swore my loyalty to him. His Majesty bestowed upon me a manor as our residence in Jerusalem."

"That's wonderful! His Majesty truly thinks highly of you, my lord!"

"I heard that many knights from Gaul were turned away even when they sought an audience with His Majesty!"

"My lord, it seems you are headed for Rapid Advancement."

Hans, Ryan, and Moder were all visibly delighted.

The settlers also felt honored by association.

Ever since they had followed Lothar across the sea to the Holy Land, their fates had become tightly bound to his.

If Lothar allowed them to live, they could live. If Lothar ordered them to die, they had to die.

Legally, they were free men, but in truth they were no different from serfs, because Lothar was the one who made the laws and could change his word at any time.

The only people who could barely be considered truly "free" were artisans and merchants in the free city-states.

"Lord Lothar, now that you have a manor, does that mean we'll have land to farm?"

Someone asked nervously.

If they could avoid fighting and killing, that would be best.

Even in a place like the Austrian March, not everyone was a fierce and warlike tough.

"I'm afraid not."

Lothar shook his head. "The manor His Majesty bestowed upon me is not a knight's fief, but a villa-style estate. It can be lived in, but it has no land and no serfs."

It was clearly still not enough to qualify as a "territory," so it could not help him activate the system.

"I see."

The man looked disappointed.

Among the male settlers, he had the weakest temperament. When he had taken up a blade to kill bandits that day, even his hands had trembled.

"You're Dieter, right? I remember your name."

Dieter muttered softly, "It's Tevir, my lord."

Lothar's tone caught slightly before he continued, "I know you don't like war, but you must understand this: if I acquire a fief in the future and grant you land, will you be able to defend it?"

"Or do you think that if the heathens come, kill your Lord—that is, me—you'll somehow be able to stay out of it?"

"Me?"

Tevir stood there, stunned for a long while.

Lothar looked at the others again. "Will you continue as before, trembling helplessly before bandits' butcher knives, or will you rise up and fight with the spears and shields I have given you? That is entirely up to yourselves."

"My promise will never change. Once I obtain a fief, each of you will receive land of your own, but how much you are granted will depend on your military merits."

"Tevir, you coward!"

Someone cursed loudly.

Andreas, who had once served as a knight's personal male servant, kicked him hard. "Tevir, serving our lord was an oath we once swore together. If you dare betray it, we will never forgive you. And after you die, you will surely descend into the fires of hell to be punished!"

Tevir looked aggrieved. "I—I never meant to break my oath. I was only asking my lord. I just prefer farming."

Lothar patted him on the shoulder and pulled him up from the ground. "There's nothing wrong with liking to farm. Once I obtain a fief, you can devote yourself to figuring out how to increase crop yields."

He said mildly, "For now, let's return to the manor Your Majesty bestowed upon me and rest. Everyone has had a hard time traveling these past few days. The manor is called Constance, a name my father chose—perhaps because my uncle once served as Archbishop of Constance."

On the way back, Lothar instructed Ryan and Moder:

"We have a base now, so we can begin recruiting and training a new army. Ryan, Moder, I'm leaving this matter to the two of you. Remember, use our seven—no, six male subjects as the backbone."

He lowered his voice. "You can observe Tevir a while longer. If he truly cannot manage, then give up on him and let him be a farmer."

"The only criterion for selecting soldiers is ability. Nothing else matters."

He did not care about the pilgrims' physical condition, because there was simply no need to.

Aside from malnutrition, anyone who had managed the arduous journey to the Holy Land had a strong physical foundation.

Even if they were still rather thin and weak now, they would recover after eating their fill and being properly cared for over time.

Nor did he care about loyalty. Without daring to bring out certain ideas far ahead of their time to win over the troops, absolute loyalty was simply impossible.

The faith, laws, and moral standards of this era were already enough to ensure that this army he had personally built possessed loyalty above the acceptable threshold.

Lothar emphasized, "Those who cannot read may serve as minor officers at most. Germans should make up the majority; otherwise, if they cannot understand one another's language, there's no point even talking about combat effectiveness."

Jerusalem lacked everything except unemployed pilgrims.

His pool of candidates was vast.

"We must move first. Put up signs recruiting pilgrim soldiers tomorrow, because the kingdom is also planning to arm the pilgrims to defend the Holy Land."

"We must pick out the very best among them. Remember what I said—make plenty of grand promises."

Lothar paused, sounding somewhat helpless. "Our family's resources are still limited. We can't offer especially good terms, so all we can do is make promises."

Ryan and Moder nodded repeatedly. Both understood the meaning of "making promises."

They simply took it to mean a pledge.

"As for numbers, fifty will be the limit. Every man must be armored; leather armor, lamellar armor, or scale armor will all do. In addition, each must be equipped with a hide-covered shield and a spear fitted with a refined iron spearhead."

"When purchasing these military supplies, you can seek out Andreas, who once served as a knight's personal male servant. He attended church school for two years and is skilled at dealing with those crafty merchants."

Count Werner had armed only one hundred soldiers in total, and he was a count.

Lothar had no intention of aiming too high. Fifty was more than enough.

This was already an armed force that most knights could never possess.

"Hans and I will be invited to Baron Godfrey's territory during this period. I'm placing these matters entirely in your hands. Make sure you handle them well."

Lothar paused, then made another promise. "If you handle this matter properly, each of you will be able to command a unit of soldiers and serve as an officer."

Both men immediately showed excited expressions.

"We will certainly not disappoint my lord's trust."

Lothar nodded slightly, frowning as he considered whether there was anything he had overlooked that needed to be explained to them.

For this journey deep into enemy territory, he only intended to bring the four retainers produced by the System.

The reason he said four was because he had not yet had the chance to use his newly acquired draw.

"Oh, right. When I return, I'll teach you some simple methods for training troops, focusing on making soldiers obey orders without question. You may decide, based on your own experience, whether to adopt them."

He decided to teach the two men the methods of military drill. Formation training was always effective at strengthening an army's discipline.