I Became a Lord in the Game

Chapter : 7

The next day, I ordered Isabella to be confined in the spire and immediately held a trial for the surviving nobles of Isabella's faction.

The charge was conspiracy to assassinate the lord.

The verdict was death.

I could have ended it with confiscation of property and exile, but I pushed for a strong sentence as an example. It was a warning to other factions who were watching the situation.

[Meticulous Planner effect activated!]

[You have used a political stratagem once again.]

[Your warning will appeal more strongly to the surrounding factions.]

And that intention was further amplified by the effect of the trait I had just acquired.

"Did you hear? They say the lord planned this whole thing."

"No way? It wasn't Chamberlain Hamil who did it?"

"I heard Chamberlain Hamil just assisted on the side.

I secretly asked the knights who participated in this incident, and they said the lord himself led from the front and carried out the great undertaking."

"Well, I'll be damned… It seems the blood of the Bellua Margraviate hasn't gone anywhere."

"We'll have to lay low for a while."

"Yes, it's best to avoid the downpour for now. Coming out so strongly like that… It doesn't seem like the Bellua Margraviate will be shaken for a while."

The feudal vassals, who had once harbored other thoughts, set aside their insolent hearts.

As if it had never happened, they pledged their loyalty and hastily led their soldiers back to their own domains.

And that wasn't all.

"I have come to see Your Excellency the Margrave."

"With what audacity have you come here?"

"Your Excellency. Count Bozen is in no way involved in this matter. Count Bozen has sent me here to clear up the misunderstanding."

"Ha? A misunderstanding? I don't think Isabella thinks so."

"It is truly not so, Your Excellency the Margrave. It was her delusion alone. Count Bozen was in no way involved in this matter, and he said he would entrust Isabella's treatment entirely to Your Excellency the Margrave. So please, calm your anger."

Count Bozen hastily sent an envoy, drawing a line in this matter along with a lavish gift. He was startled by my resolute action and had taken a step back.

Furthermore, from the domain's people to the merchants, officials, and even the clergy.

They all trembled at the Margrave's sudden change, but at the same time, they began to cheer. A resolute and decisive lord was more trustworthy in their eyes than a lord who was dragged around by his stepmother, Isabella.

Even though it was a bloody purge.

-Tiriring.

And this change in the political situation immediately returned to me as a reward.

[Isabella's Faction Wiped Out!]

[You have reclaimed power with a firm decision. Your ruthless and tearless tales of martial prowess will spread widely among the nobles.]

[Status abnormality, Regency, disappears.]

[Legitimacy increases by 100, Stability increases by 3, Prestige increases by 30.]

[Notification: The impending disaster, the threat of assassination, disappears.]

[Notification: The impending disaster, Domain Claim Rebellion progress decreases.]

[Notification: Due to your great achievement, the probability of merchants and nobles visiting the domain increases.]

"Oh-!"

The various stats that had been hitting rock bottom had risen to a normalized level.

On top of that, various disaster debuffs had either disappeared or their progress had decreased, so I could finally take a breather.

Moreover, the notification 'Due to your great achievement, the probability of merchants and nobles visiting the domain increases.'

This was a pretty good buff in [Pangea Universalise].

Talented people would come on their own even if I did nothing, and the exchange with merchants would increase, temporarily raising tax revenue. Now, all I had to do was set the stage well for it.

Nevertheless, I couldn't just be happy.

'There's still a long way to go.'

Despite so many increases, Stability was still 0, Prestige -27, and Legitimacy 52.

On top of that, the Corruption level had actually risen to 10 due to the process of persuading the bishop last time.

It was hard to see it as a normal domain state. Furthermore, the disasters had not disappeared but only had their progress decreased. If this state continued, I didn't know when the disasters would erupt again.

'Good grief. The difficulty is truly terrible. Terrible.'

Even though I had purged my political enemy, Isabella, I was still in a dangerous situation.

* * *

Inside the office.

Once the executions were over and the aftermath was settled for the time being, I called for Chamberlain Hamil.

Right after ousting Isabella.

It was a time when my authority was at its strongest, as everyone was watching my every move.

'It's a good time to push for various things.'

There was so much to do to develop the domain in preparation for the coming [Great Famine].

By combining the knowledge of a modern person and the future information of [Pangea Universalise] that I knew, I would be able to develop the domain very quickly.

'So, let's first check the state of the domain.'

Thinking that, I spoke to Chamberlain Hamil.

"I need to check the state of the domain."

"I have already prepared it, My Lord."

He was indeed a man with a quick mind. Chamberlain Hamil gestured behind him and had an attendant bring a pile of documents.

Then, various administrative documents and accounting ledgers were piled up in front of me.

I looked at them with a weary expression.

"There's quite a lot, isn't there? Haha… And it's a bit… complicated. Please take your time to look through them, and I will be waiting outside, so please call me anytime you need me."

The condition was a mess, and there was no unified format.

In the game [Pangea Universalise], it was all neatly organized and easy to see at a glance, but that was all a lie.

The ledgers in reality were all fragmented, so I had to tally them up by hand myself.

I knew that the administrative level of the Middle Ages was a mess, but I didn't know it would be this bad.

Thanks to that, as Chamberlain Hamil said, I had to spend a long time deciphering the documents.

And after reviewing these documents, the conclusion I came to about the state of the domain could be summed up in one sentence.

"It's a complete mess."

The size of the domain is at the level of a small to medium-sized kingdom, but the actual scale of the domain is less than that of a county within a kingdom.

The population of a typical county is about 50,000 households of 8 family members each.

But the number of my domain's people is only about 20,000 households.

In terms of population, that's about 160,000 people.

Not even half, but almost a third.

"Is this for real? Not a lie?"

"...I am sorry to say, but that is the current state of our domain."

"That's insane. How on earth did she manage the domain, that woman Isabella?"

Furthermore, since the population was small, the income was also small.

1,700 gold from taxes, 1,000 gold in taxes from the city, and 300 gold from the sale of Bollinwood.

This brought in a total of 3,000 gold in annual taxes for the domain.

If half of this was paid to the hired officials and knights, the remaining money was only 1,500 gold, which was only enough to hire 1,000 soldiers.

In fact, considering the money spent on subjugating the monsters that periodically descended from the Arhen Mountains, the domain was essentially operating at a deficit.

As expected of the representative shithole land of [Pangea Universalise].

There was no money coming in, only constantly losing money.

In modern corporate terms, the Bellua Margraviate was an insolvent company that had fallen into capital impairment.

'Domain development, my foot. I'll be busy tightening my belt. And I need money so badly.'

A lot of money was needed to prepare for the [Great Famine] event coming in 5 years. It wasn't called a global event for nothing.

Due to the [Great Famine], the existing order of [Pangea Universalise] would collapse, and a world of thorough survival of the fittest would unfold.

A major turning point where the feudal system collapsed and transitioned to a centralized system.

To survive at this inflection point, I had to secure enough food and soldiers and raise the level of the domain itself. So that it could withstand invasions from external forces.

'The best thing would be to confiscate all the manors…'

The manors that were tax-exempt on the condition of providing soldiers during wartime.

If only I could reclaim them, the domain's finances would surely become abundant.

Saying they provided soldiers was just a formality; weren't they all private soldiers in the end? This was a major factor in the weakening of the lord's power.

But tax-exempt manors were the core of the feudal system.

No matter how strong my power had become through a large-scale purge, if I pushed for this, a rebellion might break out immediately.

'Besides, it's not easy because there are also tax-exempt manors attached to the church.'

The disputes with the surrounding lords were already burdensome enough; there was no need to antagonize the Holy See as well. Now was the time to increase allies, not enemies.

At that moment, Chamberlain Hamil cautiously opened his mouth, glancing at me.

"Still, we have recovered 20,000 gold and about 40,000 acres of manors from Isabella and her faction.

Considering the unsold works of art and valuables, it seems possible to get up to about 30,000 gold, so it will be a great help to the domain's finances, My Lord."

"Oh?"

That was truly a relief.

30,000 gold was the equivalent of a three-year budget for a decent county.

With a Corruption level of 10, it seemed they had been diligently helping themselves all this time. For a high corruption level to turn out well in the end. It was just laughable.

Moreover, 40,000 acres of manors were recovered.

Considering that the total size of my domain recorded in the ledger was 200,000 acres, I had recovered an enormous amount of land through this purge.

Tax revenue accounted for a significant portion of the domain's income.

With an additional 20 percent of land added in one fell swoop, as Chamberlain Hamil said, it gave a moment's respite to the extremely poor finances of the domain.

"But was the situation like this during the previous lord's time, I mean, my father's time?"

"During the previous lord's time? Well… In fact, the domain's situation was not very good during the previous lord's time either.

On top of that, the previous lord was someone who hired many soldiers. It was actually worse than now."

This meant that while the high corruption level may have exacerbated the deficit to some extent, it was not the fundamental problem.

In short, the territory itself lacked productivity. Well, it was sandwiched between the Arhen Mountains and a great forest, so it wouldn't make sense for its agricultural productivity to be high.

Then, a sudden thought crossed my mind.

'Then how did the previous lord run the domain?'

A domain full of deficits and no particularly profitable goods.

It was a wonder how he had managed to perform his duties as a Margrave defending the frontier from there.

And Chamberlain Hamil's answer to that was a spectacle.

"Well, he borrowed diligently."

"Borrowed… money?"

"Yes. Whenever he was short of money, he borrowed from merchants and nobles."

"No, wouldn't he be unable to repay the money? He's already in the red, so how would he handle the interest burden?"

"Well, he could just win a war and pay it back, couldn't he? Hahaha. Our domain has many people living in the mountainous regions, so we had many good-quality warriors. Thanks to that, we had many wars during the previous lord's time. Repaying money wasn't very difficult."

As he said that, Chamberlain Hamil's eyes sparkled. He seemed to be reminiscing about the glorious past of that time.

Of course, watching him gave me a headache.

'Oh, my head.'

He won it and paid it back.

As expected of the Middle Ages, the solution was very medieval.

The previous lord seemed to have actively participated in wars and traded in war reparations and ransoms of nobles.

"So, you don't have to worry too much, My Lord. The timing is right, we have a large sum of money. You can use that money to train soldiers and solve it through war. If you leave it to me, I will make sure to do it."

"Don't talk nonsense. War, my foot."

At that, Chamberlain Hamil smacked his lips as if in disappointment.

This warmonger.

I couldn't pour precious money into a war.

"No, then what do you intend to use it for? Surely you don't intend to just hoard it in the treasury?"

"Do you think I would do that?"

In fact, the answer was already there.

The obvious repertoire of a domain-building novel.

Namely, large-scale land reclamation.

Trade or commerce, I don't know,

First, I need to create farmland.