Winter Begins

After rescuing Count Rademacher, he hurriedly left with his men. Reiner also looted valuables worth roughly ten gold coins from the bandits' cave.

Ten gold coins might not sound like much, but that sum could cover the Moreland Family's expenses for half a year. For these bandits to amass such wealth after years of robbery was no easy feat.

What pleased Reiner even more was that he had earned seventy-five merit points in the battle. That meant he could exchange them through the system for three more Crimson Gryphon Knights if he wished.

However, Reiner still preferred to save his merit points for emergencies.

Over the following days, Reiner devoted all his energy to taking control of his territory and handling its affairs.

He thoroughly enjoyed this decadent life of feudal nobility, having completely betrayed his class and forgotten the fine education he had received under the red flag.

The sun hung high in the sky, shining through the window into the room. Two delicate-looking maids stood waiting inside, carrying wooden basins for washing and soft, finely woven linen towels, awaiting their master's awakening.

"Mm..." Reiner unconsciously groaned, slowly opening his eyes. He glanced at the two maids standing beside him and gradually sat up.

The two maids hurried forward to attend to him. One took a damp towel from the warm water and gently wiped Reiner's face, while the other held the clothes he needed to wear, waiting to help him dress.

What a decadent life! Reiner sighed inwardly after enjoying the maids' service.

The maid holding the towel stepped back, while the other maid came forward to dress Reiner. Once he threw off his quilt completely, the inevitable physiological condition brought on by morning was exposed before the young maid.

Even so, the two continued serving Reiner with meticulous care, though their crimson cheeks said everything.

Looking at the two lovely young girls before him, his heart stirred. As a model young man of the new century, he naturally had never had any intimate and wonderful relationships with the opposite sex.

Though he longed for one, his own circumstances had made it entirely impossible. But now that he had come to this world, he too was one of those lofty noble lords. As a great landowner under the feudal system, what was so remarkable about having two maids?

Naturally, he had already found an opportunity to take these two pretty little maids into his bedchamber. After kissing each of them on the cheek, he strode out of the room feeling refreshed.

It was early autumn, and the weather had begun to turn slightly colder. Morland Castle, located in the Northern Frontier, was becoming even chillier by the day.

The seeds planted in spring had now ripened. Golden waves of wheat rustled beneath the autumn wind as serfs and a small number of freemen harvested the grain that belonged to them.

Serfs and freemen were different. Serfs were the property of their lord—Reiner, in this case—and had to pay taxes amounting to as much as seventy or eighty percent of their yield.

Freemen were different. They only needed to hand over twenty to thirty percent of their income. Their comparatively comfortable living conditions also made them physically stronger; for instance, most of the soldiers under Reiner's command were freemen.

When he entered the dining hall, cooked meat soup and passable white bread had already been placed on the table. There was also some fruit, making the table look considerably more appealing.

This white bread was not the white bread Reiner remembered. Unlike the soft, sweet bread fragrant with wheat that he knew, it was less bread than a flat cake baked from unfermented flour.

Not only was it neither soft nor sweet, it was rather dry and hard. Chewing it felt somewhat like eating steamed flatbread from the countryside in his previous life.

Even this was a rare luxury in this era. Ordinary freemen still ate black bread, while serfs could barely even get inferior black bread mixed with wood shavings or sand.

Most filled their stomachs with a pot of oat porridge made from cheap, terrible-tasting wild oats mixed with bitter weeds, giving off a strange smell.

This was also the chief culprit behind the short stature of the people under Reiner's rule. Reiner very much wanted to improve this situation. Setting aside the support of his subjects, having a source of tall and sturdy recruits would be immensely worthwhile.

However, this was not something that could be changed overnight. It would take years, perhaps even decades, to truly improve.

Besides Reiner, those at the table included his uncle, Sir Cord, and Sir Cord's eldest son, Reiner's cousin Lumbard, an experienced Squire Knight.

There were also Reiner's younger brother from the same mother, Wendell, his sister Fiana, and Lady Moreland, the nominal mother of this body.

Two guards wearing Leather Chainmail beneath surcoats, carrying short spears and wearing Longswords, stood watch at the entrance. The castle's cook and two kitchen maids waited beside the dining table.

Basil, the castle's Secretary, stood respectfully beside the wooden chair at the head of the long table. It was Reiner's exclusive seat, and had once been his father's as well.

Several maids also stood beside the table, respectfully attending to the family's meal.

The two guards respectfully saluted Reiner. He passed through the doorway and took his seat at the head of the table. Since this was merely an ordinary family meal, no one rose to salute him; they simply greeted him.

During the meal, Reiner casually asked Sir Cord, "Dear uncle, has anything happened in the territory recently?"

Reiner had not been in this world for long, nor had he established a fully secure rule over the territory. He was not well informed, and he had yet to cultivate an intelligence network of his own.

He needed to learn about the territory's condition from every possible source. In the future, however, he would vigorously foster forces completely loyal to himself. For some reason, he had always felt an inexplicable distrust toward the forces his father's body had left behind.

"Nothing has happened. Everything in the territory is peaceful," said Sir Cord.

That day, Reiner began taking stock of the territory's condition in his study. According to the current figures, the Morland Castle region had a combined population of more than two thousand one hundred serfs and freemen, not including fugitive serfs who had fled to avoid paying taxes.

The Moreland Family possessed roughly fifteen thousand mu of cultivated land. In fact, the entire Morland Castle area only contained close to twenty-five thousand mu of land. The remaining five thousand or so mu belonged to the fief villages granted to knights. As a branch of the royal family granted this land within the past century, the Moreland Family's territory was relatively concentrated.

There were also one hundred and twenty sheep, ten plow oxen, fifteen Plow Horses, seven mills, twenty Draft Horses, and five Warhorses. They consumed more food each day than the army under Reiner's command, but their output was also immense, making them well worth the cost. After reviewing all this, Reiner finally gained a clear understanding of his own assets.

And so the days passed one by one, while winter gradually arrived.