Property Delayed by a Winter

Property Delayed by a Winter

The weather was gradually warming. Ryan stood atop Rhino Horn Mountain and gazed into the distance. In quite a few places, the snow had already melted away.

There were no soldiers left in the territory now, because they had all been sent to supervise the slaves building roads.

Blasting through mountains and carving out roads had always been an extremely dangerous task. Over the past month, quite a few beastmen had been killed or injured.

Yet the more who died, the faster the road was built. The resistance Ryan had expected had not occurred even once.

He did not know whether the soldiers' whips hurt badly enough, or whether it was because the food he gave those slaves was considered plentiful.

"I wonder whether they can build a complete road before this batch of beastmen dies out."

Standing on Rhino Horn Mountain, Ryan looked south. He could already see great swathes of cleared gaps in the Mountain Forest—the direction leading to Northwind Province.

As Ryan watched from the mountain, Viscountess Whitman gradually approached. In the still somewhat frigid wind, the Viscountess, whose belly had begun to swell, was shivering slightly as well.

"Why have you come, Madam?"

Ryan asked. Given his talent for meditation, the Viscountess's value had plummeted, and he had assigned her to teach the maids how to read, write, and count.

"Lord Ryan, I would like to move down the mountain."

"Oh? Why?"

"You still have to teach them. Living down the mountain would be inconvenient."

As fellow nobles, Ryan still respected the Viscountess. The wild notions brought on by heated blood had gradually cooled during this period of dealing with the beastman slaves.

At that moment, seeing the Viscountess's slightly rounded belly and how her pregnancy had made her even more charming, Ryan almost instinctively wanted to refuse.

The Viscountess did not know how to explain it. As the weather had warmed recently, she had gone down the mountain several times, and every time, she heard rumors that made her blush.

"If I stay on the mountain, it will be bad for your reputation, Lord Ryan."

Before Ryan could say anything, Old Steward Beard, who had walked over from not far away, spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.

"Madam is right. Young Master Ryan still needs to marry. Now that spring has come and merchant caravans from the South are gradually heading north, it would be best to avoid gossip."

"I'll have a small estate built at the closest spot at the foot of the mountain. Madam can live there when it is finished. If Young Master Ryan wishes to meditate on magic, the climb up the mountain will be short as well."

Hearing Beard's words, the Viscountess's face burned. Ryan had nothing to say either.

After the Viscountess left, Ryan looked at the old steward.

"How are those children doing? Can they keep up with the lessons?"

Beard nodded. Since the territory's population had grown larger and larger, the old steward had found it increasingly difficult to manage everything alone. Ryan had directly told him to select a group of bright, clever youths and teach them to read and write, especially arithmetic. After Ryan's personal revisions, those youths had advanced by leaps and bounds.

"Ah, this should have been entrusted to members of the Clayton Family willing to follow Young Master Ryan to the Northlands. Only they could be trusted. Instead, these Mud Legs are getting the benefit."

"You don't know, Young Master Ryan. Whenever these Mud Legs learn that they will be taught something new, they practically want to carve the words into their own hands with knives."

"Eager to learn is a good thing." Ryan smiled, not caring that knowledge was being spread among commoners.

"This will lighten your burden too. Spring has arrived, and this old body of yours is worse off than when we first came to Frozen Earth Territory."

"Ah." Beard sighed.

"I would rather work myself to death than let those Mud Legs have a chance to interfere in Young Master Ryan's territory."

"Don't worry. They're very loyal to me, and they can't become my steward. That position belongs to Beard."

Ryan smiled. They truly were loyal. In all of Frozen Earth Territory, including the slaves, there was no one disloyal. Over the past month or so, Northwind Province had become a complete mess. At a time like this, every meal Ryan provided was enough to make those slaves cry.

The clever youths selected by Beard had been chosen first from among the most loyal of the loyal.

Hearing Ryan's words, Beard was somewhat moved, but concern soon appeared in his eyes.

"That boy was detained in Winged Gorge. I don't even know whether he's dead."

"Winged Gorge has been safe for so many years. It won't be that easy for someone to die there."

Ryan patted Old Beard on the shoulder.

"I've already sent people to find him. If Beard is still alive, they'll definitely bring him back."

Back when Ryan had traveled from the imperial capital to Northwind Province, the money on him had dwindled along the way, as had the number of people with him. Little Beard, the old steward's son, had also been detained in Winged Gorge.

As the road construction continued, it became time for spring planting. Fewer and fewer people remained in the villages and towns beneath Rhino Horn Mountain. Those commoners stayed in the fields day and night, fighting over even a lump of bird droppings falling from the sky.

Meanwhile, in Northwind Province, countless displaced people either became slaves or returned to where their homes had once stood, only to find nothing left.

For a time, wails filled the entire province. In the days ahead, more and more people would likely become slaves.

The more slaves there were, the lower their price became. The Empire's merchant guilds were like vultures spotting a rotting corpse. More than half a month early, they arrived in Northwind Province.

By coincidence, among those who came to Northwind Province with these merchant caravans was a group of people connected to Ryan.

"Young Master, Young Master Ryan, I've finally seen you again!"

In Frozen Earth Territory, a youth one or two years older than Ryan, his hair seemingly having had no chance to be washed or combed, was brought over by Rosen. He wailed as he ran toward Ryan.

It was Old Steward Beard's son, Little Beard.

"You were... released?"

Ryan was somewhat surprised, because by his calculations, the people he had sent should not yet have reached Winged Gorge.

"Thanks to you, Young Master Ryan. The lords of the Clayton Family brought me out with them."

Only then did Ryan notice the procession behind Beard.

More than a hundred imposing warhorses stood there, their flowing manes like silk scarves binding a woman's hair. They were not Highland Warhorses, but finer prairie steeds from farther south, not belonging to the Empire.

There were also twenty carriages, each carrying seven or eight oak chests. Judging by the weight borne by the wheels, they likely contained iron goods or something similar. Of course, one carriage was not for cargo, but specifically for noble lords to travel in. Its enormous wheels had actually been plated with silver along the rims, and expensive magic arrays were inscribed across the carriage body, like red roses with their light restrained.

The two white steeds pulling it made Ryan squint. They were magical beasts.

Even the weakest magical beasts possessed magic power, making them at least comparable to Bronze Knights. Formal Knights needed to form groups even to hunt them.

Besides these, there were one hundred and fifty armored soldiers holding spears and guarding the convoy, as well as the five descendants of the Clayton Family commanding them.

They were the people Old Steward Beard had spoken of, the ones who could truly be trusted to help manage his territory. Yet these five were clearly better suited to the military.

All five were Bronze Knights, and they cultivated the Clayton Family's Blaze Dragon Knight Breathing Technique.

"Young Master Ryan, the Count ordered us to place the soldiers and wealth belonging to you into your hands."

"A total of fifty thousand Gold Coins, ten sets of Enchanted Mithril Armor, one hundred Knight's Lances, one hundred sets of Knight's Armor, five hundred jin of grain seeds, fifteen hundred bolts of linen, Mammoth Fleece Cloaks brought back by the Count from the depths of the Northlands, one Clayton Family carriage, one hundred and fifty Knight Retainers, and five Clayton Family knights."