The Wealth of Nations' Buff

"Ha, ahaha, of course I won't become a tyrant. Don't worry, Uncle!" Reiner let out a dry laugh, then glanced at the knights around him as he spoke.

He sighed and said, "Then let's leave it at that! Bury Lady Gwen. Although she committed suicide and cannot be buried as a holy believer, we should still give her the treatment due to a noblewoman!"

"Yes, my lord. May you be merciful!" Sir Cord said, bowing.

Reiner walked out of the room. The castle was in complete chaos. All around him, alluring moans and bloodcurdling screams rang out, while Reiner's soldiers were doing what they had always done.

He had to admit that although he had known this would happen, when the scene actually unfolded before his eyes, he still felt somewhat uncomfortable. Perhaps his actions had changed without him realizing it, but the thoughts deep in his heart would not change much.

Reiner frowned as he watched one of his soldiers assault a maid who looked quite young. The soldier moved frantically and relentlessly, while the maid beneath him had already stopped resisting. Her limbs lay limp on the ground like those of a dead dog, leaving her at his mercy.

Her body was covered in bruises, and her neck was swollen in places. It was clear that their interaction had been far from harmonious and was filled with violence.

"Is it really appropriate for us to let the soldiers do this?" Reiner said with a frown as he watched the scene before him.

"What's inappropriate about it? We're the victors. It's only reasonable to let the soldiers enjoy the fruits of victory, isn't it?" Sir Lumbard said frivolously from the side. He was only sixteen that year, but although he was young, he had already tasted the pleasures of women. He did not care about this sort of thing at all and instead considered it perfectly natural.

Reiner merely nodded without saying anything else, but he had already resolved to change the situation. Military discipline had to be strictly enforced.

"Tell the soldiers to finish as quickly as possible within the next two hours. There are still many things in this castle that need to be moved!"

Reiner said this to Sir Valas.

Reiner took advantage of the opportunity to visit Baron Lobean's study. He had no interest in the maids, and besides, he found it somewhat difficult to bring himself to engage in such behavior.

Well, that was a little hypocritical. He was simply looking down on these maids now that he had better options. When he had pushed down two personal maids before, he certainly had not possessed such scruples.

At that moment, Reiner was the only person in the study. He had sent the other knights off to search the castle for spoils of war. He wanted to see what books Baron Lobean had in his study. After all, the few books in Morland Castle had not provided him with much knowledge.

The technology of papermaking had yet to spread throughout this world, so books were extremely expensive to produce. Even though the Moreland family had the income from an entire fief, there were only a dozen or so books in Reiner's study.

That number also included the Moreland family genealogy and illustrated records of the crests belonging to the lords of the Northern Frontier and the kingdom's great noble families. Most of the rest were historical books with elements of storytelling and some biographical novels.

It was difficult for Reiner to gain a comprehensive understanding of the entire world from these books. Therefore, he hoped to obtain some knowledge from Goer Castle's collection. After all, in this world, paper and printing had yet to become widespread. Aside from the words of the Holy Father of Collin Church, which monks copied and disseminated on a large scale, most books were restricted to small-scale circulation by the limits of productivity and their high prices. Many were even unique copies.

Therefore, if Reiner wanted to gain a deeper understanding of this world, he had to collect as many of these books as possible.

Baron Lobean was merely a minor lord with a small fief and meager income, so his collection was more or less on par with the Moreland family's. It might even have contained fewer books.

He casually picked up a book and flipped through it. The parchment pages were slightly yellowed, making it look quite old. It had likely been written at least fifty years ago.

"The Wealth of Nations?" Reiner frowned as he looked at the lettering on the cover. The name sounded familiar. He seemed to have heard it somewhere before.

Suddenly, his heart jolted violently, and shock flooded him as he remembered where the name came from. In his previous life, this book had been thunderous in fame.

Adam Smith, the famous English Economist, had written a renowned book in the eighteenth century—one that influenced the structure of the entire world. That book was The Wealth of Nations.

At the time, capitalism was in its early stages of development. The book promptly summarized the experiences of capitalist development in various countries during the early modern period, critically absorbed the important economic theories of the day, and put forward a systematic and comprehensive economic doctrine.

From labor as the foundation of national wealth, to the division of labor that increased productivity, to the exchange brought about by the division of labor, to the medium of exchange—currency—and then to the price of commodities and the basic elements that made up those prices—wages, rent, and profit—the book contained detailed and incisive discussions of them all.

The book opposed government interference in commerce and free markets, advocated lower tariffs and free trade, and laid the theoretical foundation for a capitalist free economy. Even in Reiner's twenty-first century, it still held an extremely important position in the field of economics.

But how could something so epoch-making exist here? If such a book existed, how could Baron Lobean still be a mere impoverished lord of the Northern Frontier? He should have already developed his fief into a thriving land and conquered vast new territories!

When he impatiently flipped open the cover and saw the writing inside, his excitement instantly vanished. He finally understood why Baron Lobean had possessed such a divine book yet had been unable to grow stronger.

Much of the content inside had been torn out, and the remaining pages were extremely irregular, making it impossible to read smoothly. There were also large numbers of obscure characters. The combinations of letters formed words he did not recognize at all. Not to mention Baron Lobean—even if the book were placed before a famous imperial scholar, they would probably have great difficulty understanding it. It was practically a codebook.

A dejected Reiner helplessly stared at the book in his hands. He could not understand its contents at all. However, since the book's title was so impressive, he still planned to put it away.

Just then, the system's voice suddenly rang out, giving him a tremendous surprise.

"Ding! Congratulations, host, on discovering the item 'Incomplete Edition of The Wealth of Nations' (17). Manifested aura: increases the fief's overall development speed by five percent and commercial development by ten percent. Each additional incomplete edition of The Wealth of Nations collected will accumulate the same bonuses, up to a maximum increase of thirty-five percent to fief development speed and seventy percent to commercial development speed!"

The information sent Reiner into raptures, completely dispelling his frustration at being unable to understand The Wealth of Nations. Even if he could understand The Wealth of Nations, so what? Could it provide such a powerful positive buff?

In his previous life, Reiner had been a lazybones who spent his days playing games and reading novels. He only knew some basic economic principles, such as the idea that the economic base determined the superstructure. Even if he had read The Wealth of Nations, he might not necessarily have understood it. This positive buff was actually more useful to him.

Such a powerful enhancement was terrifying. To put it simply, overall development speed covered a great many things. Agricultural productivity, steel output, and even the number of lambs born would all increase by five percent compared to before. The commercial buff was even more formidable: more merchants would flock to his territory to do business.

Of course, the prerequisite was that warfare in his territory decreased, there were no invasions by the Krad People, the population grew, and the territory possessed many specialties. Only then could this commercial buff display its greatest effect.