The Colossal Sea Monster? (Seeking Votes, Seeking Collections~)

Making money could not be rushed; it had to come naturally. Nalant suddenly thought of something and asked, "Thomas, besides you, does anyone else in the castle know how to read?"

Although he knew the population of his territory, Nalant wanted to conduct a detailed census. He wanted to include the family situation of every serf, such as their age groups and whether they possessed any special skills.

This way, he could rely on the population data to arrange matters for the territory in the future.

"My Lord, I don't believe so!" Thomas answered cautiously. Although the three manservants in the castle had also come from Tulip Castle, they were not literate.

Thomas himself had been trained as an elite manservant from the start.

Tulip Castle only had a few dozen such elite manservants, and they had all received training in reading and arithmetic.

Under normal circumstances, they would become assistants to the steward of Tulip Castle, specifically sent to manage manors or other profitable industries.

Of course, occasionally they were also bestowed upon vassals by the Count.

Nalant was one such case; Thomas had come to him and immediately become an excellent steward, which saved Nalant the trouble of training one from scratch.

"None at all?" Nalant felt troubled. In this world, literacy was considered a high-end skill; such talent was not easy to find.

"My Lord, I... I can read!" Just then, a weak voice came from the side of the long table.

"Hmm? Vivian can read?"

"Yes, My Lord, my sister went to school for two years!"

As it turned out, before Vivian and Lilia were exiled to Storm Territory, they had lived in Tulip City. Their parents had run a tailor shop, which gave Vivian the opportunity to attend school for two years.

Of course, knowing how to read was useless before Nalant arrived in Storm Territory, so no one knew that Vivian was literate.

In fact, besides Vivian, Lilia could also read, though she had learned it through Vivian's teaching, so her knowledge was not as comprehensive.

"Very good!" Nalant was overjoyed. Vivian was truly a treasure of a girl. As he spoke, Nalant handed Lilia a piece of white bread. "Lilia, go and fetch your sister!"

"Yes, My Lord, thank you, My Lord!" Seeing the white bread, Lilia's face lit up with surprise. She happily took the bread and ran quickly out of the dining hall.

Once Vivian arrived at the dining hall, Nalant handed the task of the population census over to her.

Nalant even created a form, one more detailed than the household registers of his past life, which would record not only family member information but also their specialized skills.

After receiving the order, Vivian immediately began to organize the task with her second guard squad.

After finishing lunch, Nalant headed straight to the study.

"System, I want to draw a prize!" The weekly system draw was available again. He had been busy last night, so Nalant only now had some free time to perform the draw.

Following Nalant's command, the prize wheel appeared on his retina.

"Hmm? Affinity Fruit, Charm Fruit?" To Nalant's surprise, the fruits available in this draw had changed.

The Strengthening Fruit and Agility Fruit had been swapped for two others.

"Start the draw!" Although he was slightly disappointed that the Strengthening Fruit hadn't appeared, Nalant knew there would be other opportunities.

"Ding! Congratulations to the Host for drawing one Charm Fruit. Please collect it from the system panel!"

"Although the original owner of this body was a bit weak, he was quite handsome. If I eat this Charm Fruit, won't I become the most dashing guy around?"

Nalant was speechless, but he still took out the Charm Fruit and ate it.

It was as delicious as ever and melted in his mouth, but after consuming it, Nalant couldn't feel any effect. Even when he went to look in the bronze mirror, he still looked like his usual self.

"If I can't see it, then I can't. In this world, strength is what matters most!"

Time flew by, and two days passed. Nalant had been idle during these two days, spending his time in the castle practicing his Battle Qi.

The fishing rod was already finished, but the artificial bait he had the blacksmith forge still needed some time.

"My Lord, Village Chief Kenbi Cowdung has come to the castle to report that a giant sea monster has appeared by the sea!" Just as Nalant was practicing, Quick walked in with Thomas, his face filled with anxiety.

"What? A giant sea monster?" Nalant was shocked upon hearing this.

"Quick, take me to see Kenbi Cowdung!"

In the castle's front hall, Kenbi Cowdung was brought in.

"My Lord, that giant sea monster is entirely gray, its cry is terrifying and loud, and its body is at least this big... and there's a whole group of them! They were chasing the flying fish, and one of the monsters even made it to the shore and was writhing there!" Kenbi Cowdung's eyes were filled with lingering fear as he gestured wildly in front of Nalant.

He even ran a large circle around the open space to demonstrate just how massive the monster was.

"How are the villagers? Any casualties?"

"My Lord, except for the one on the shore, the other monsters are in the sea. I have already told the villagers not to go near the beach, so there are no casualties!" Kenbi Cowdung replied.

"Quick, gather all the guards and let's go!" Hearing that the sea monsters hadn't ravaged Misfortune Village, Nalant finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, as the Lord of the territory, he had to go and investigate such matters personally.

"Yes, My Lord!"

Soon, Quick gathered all fifteen sword-wielding guards.

As for Vivian, because Nalant had tasked her with the population census, the archer squad had been taken away by her.

Even though the territory only had a little over a thousand people, the workload for her to register them alone was immense.

Mounting his warhorse and having the guards board the carriage, Nalant and his party quickly set off for the coast.

Since the guards did not have to travel on foot this time, Nalant and his party arrived at Misfortune Village after only half an hour of rapid travel.

"The Lord is here!"

"The Lord is here!"

When Nalant's party reached the entrance of Misfortune Village, all the villagers, still shaken, had gathered at the gate. Upon seeing Nalant, they all let out a cheer, as if they had just laid eyes on a savior.

"Greetings, My Lord!" Following this, the serfs knelt on the ground one after another.

"Rise. Do not go near the coastline. Kenbi Cowdung, you just come with us."

"Yes, My Lord!"

After giving his orders, Nalant dismounted his warhorse and led the guards toward the coast.

Moving cautiously along the way, Nalant and his party approached the shoreline after a few minutes.

"My Lord, look, that group of sea monsters is still in the water!"

Not daring to get as close to the coast as last time, Nalant and his party stood upon a pile of reefs that provided a sufficient vantage point to observe the situation in the sea.

No sooner had he stepped onto the high point of the reef than Kenbi Cowdung pointed toward the near-shore and exclaimed.

Nalant and the others looked in the direction Kenbi was pointing.

"..."

"This is the sea monster that had me stressed out of my mind?" Nalant rolled his eyes, feeling an urge to strangle Kenbi Cowdung.