Chapter 150: Passive Skills

The news that I’d swept the wealthy farmers away spread among the villagers through Chief Wentner.

Truth be told, with the cavalry having descended on the wealthy farmers’ estates and turned them upside down, there was no way the villagers couldn’t have known. But when word got out that I was confiscating the livestock and distributing it all to them, the response was warmer than I’d expected.

When it was announced that Chief Wentner would be in charge of the distribution, there was some commotion, but it quickly died down once they learned it was on my orders.

The redistribution of wealth is the sweetest fruit of revolution that the have-nots most desire. In this way, I’d laid the foundation for the villagers’ support and for growing the village’s scale.

Right from the start, I’d killed two birds with one stone.

"My first official task being to wipe out the entrenched powers—that’s more dramatic than I expected."

Michael, who had drunkenly vented at me on the night of the feast, showed not a trace of awkwardness. As expected of a man with a face of steel. I couldn’t even imagine Michael being self-conscious around me. If anything, his wife was the more sensitive one.

"If they had been wealthy farmers who accumulated their fortune fairly, that would be one thing, but I merely purged those who had gathered theirs through corrupt means."

"That’s just a pretext. The truth is, it was politically necessary, wasn’t it? Your handling was impressive. You eliminated the obstacles, established the lord’s authority, and won the villagers’ support by distributing the wealth. As expected, brother-in-law—your political instincts are remarkable."

Hmm, Michael was sharp. Distributing the wealthy farmers’ livestock to the villagers had disguised the true nature of the act, but it had been an undeniable political purge.

It was because the wealthy farmers’ influence had been considerable. They’d even monopolized the cheese trade, one of Feuzen’s main industries. The chief’s family had tried to stop them but had been overpowered.

Moreover, these men were one thread in the massive scandal of royal tax embezzlement. So the justification for the purge was solid, and I’d swept them all up in one swift move.

"Heh heh, since it’s no ordinary matter but royal tax embezzlement, even the Finance Department won’t get off easy."

"I don’t know if the trail leads all the way up to the Finance Minister, but at the very least, some senior officials are going to lose their heads."

It wasn’t going to be easy to brush this off with a scapegoat maneuver like the fence incident. On top of that, estate managers under the Administrative Department were also implicated. The final judgment would be the Grand Duke’s, but it would be hard for them to escape responsibility.

"Those Finance Department people have their fingers in everything. Didn’t the merchant guild get smashed by the Judicial Department in that earlier incident? And yet they still haven’t learned their lesson—embezzling royal taxes on top of it."

"The Administrative Department is the same. In the end, it’s all the result of the royal family’s indifference."

If the Grand Duke had been as interested in the demesnes as I was and had been willing to keep watch, this kind of thing wouldn’t have happened. If Grand Duke Karlus didn’t change, this would keep repeating.

But Michael seemed to see it differently.

"His Highness has shown unusually little interest in the royal demesnes. But thinking about it from another angle, could it be that he’s neglected them on purpose? To weed out those who get tangled up in this kind of thing."

"If I hadn’t found this, far from being weeded out, they’d still be bleeding the place dry."

"No. The end result is that you—someone who holds His Highness’s trust, brother-in-law—are the one who exposed it."

...So it was like that, then?

The Lord of Feuzen, trusted by the Grand Duke.

That was also how noble society viewed me.

"If the letter has arrived by now, there must be a huge uproar. But since we’re out here, we won’t get caught up in it. Let those people at the center fight it out. Heh heh heh."

His attitude was clearly to start the fight and then watch from a distance.

To be honest, I felt the same way. My father-in-law back in the capital would have a hard time, but he gladly welcomed a fight with Finance, so this might actually be a good opportunity for him.

"By the way, brother-in-law, are you really planning to set up a horse ranch in Feuzen?"

"Besides the pastures, there are wide plains. I think it would be a good place to raise horses."

"If you can raise war horses properly, the duchy army could become a regular customer."

"It’s still in the early stages. War horses come later."

If the duchy army regularly purchased horses, that would be a good outlet. They would surely bill all the funds to the Finance Department. Finance would push back, calling it collusion between families, but as long as it was a legitimate transaction, there was no issue.

"That reminds me—would you be open to having me redirect some of the duchy army’s talent your way?"

"Redirect talent? What do you mean?"

Within the duchy army, there are not only soldiers who carry out combat but also those who handle administration, finance, supply, and other specialized management roles. That’s only natural. Every organization has its various functions.

"The problem is that positions are limited. And there are factions within the duchy army too. The ones who get pushed out are stuck, and finding placements for them isn’t easy."

"Every group has factions. Then again, even Feuzen had a faction formed by the wealthy farmers."

"They’re educated men who can write. They’d be a great help to you. What do you say?"

I’d welcome talent with open arms. But what I valued more than ability was disposition. I made it clear that even with Michael’s recommendation, they could be rejected based on the disposition check.

"Honestly, your eye for people is remarkable as always, brother-in-law. To be honest, when you brought the Gale Knights to the feast, I expected some of them to cause trouble. But surprisingly, nothing happened."

Contrary to Michael’s expectations, the order’s members had mingled with the villagers without incident, and a few of them had even hit it off with village maidens. From the perspective of a high-ranking duchy army commander, it must have been quite striking.

"I’ve never seen a knightly order that’s so well controlled and disciplined. I’m starting to understand why you emphasize disposition so much. An army like that would be a joy to lead."

The duchy army I knew was Beren’s only standing army, but its discipline was poorer than expected, with plenty of rough edges. This was the result of accepting volunteers without regard for their backgrounds in order to grow the size of the force.

The duchy army’s reputation wasn’t particularly good, but since it was responsible for the duchy’s defense, it remained an attractive employment option for the people of Breisburg.

In any case, Michael’s offer was attractive, so I accepted it.

I promised that I’d send specially screened men once I had them ready.

Having concluded his business, Michael left, satisfied with the outcome.

"Time to start making my choices."

In the now-quiet office, I logged back into the lord shop.

Since I had begun the livestock distribution, I decided to focus on production.

[Purchasing Village (S) Growth Passive Agriculture-Soil Fertility Stage 1 (10%)]

[Purchasing Village (S) Growth Passive Industry-Production Stage 1 (10%)]

[10,000 points have been deducted]

In Feuzen, where dairy farming is well developed, Holstein dairy cows, which can be milked for 250 days, make up the largest share. And this milk becomes the raw material for Feuzen cheese, which is supplied to Breisburg.

It’s a cool, rainy region with well-formed pastures, so the development of an industry suited to the climate was a natural progression. With an emphasis on fodder crops, they cultivated wheat, rye, and barley as well.

The reason I selected Agriculture-Soil Fertility (10%) was to improve crop productivity and enrich the pastures. As a result, it would have a beneficial effect on the livestock raised on those pastures. The same applied to the crops.

The harvest had ended, and winter was coming. Three-field rotation was also practiced in Feuzen, only with a greater proportion of pasture. Increased soil fertility improved the quality of this soil.

Industry-Production (10%) increases worker efficiency. To use cloth as an example, if one person makes 10 pieces of cloth per day, this passive skill increases that to 11.

I know from working as a factory manager that it’s easy to dismiss a single piece as insignificant, but viewed across the whole operation, it’s a massive boost. Back when I was working, even adding that one piece was incredibly difficult.

For 100 pieces, that’s 110. For 1,000 pieces, that’s 1,100.

The larger the scale, the greater the additional output becomes.

What if I continuously upgraded the passive skills?

The difference in production volume compared to other fiefs would become incomparably enormous.

This passive effect applies only to fiefs belonging to the Streit family. If I had three villages, the same effect would apply to all three. So it was well worth the investment.

Passive skills cap at five stages (50%), but the remaining 50% can be filled with items.

For example, if I purchase a Streit-crested shield with points and hang it on a building, that building gains an additional 10% effect. Combined with the industry passive, that produces a 20% effect.

For reference, this shield can be purchased for 1,000 points.

It was cheaper than I’d expected, but each shield applies to only one building.

So this was no small investment either. There were so many buildings.

Various other items remained, but just as you can’t do everything at once, my goal was to slowly fill in the gaps by applying things based on need.

The points I had left now were only about 500.

I’d dropped 10,000 points in one bold move.

It looked like I was going to be obsessed with earning points for a while.

Honestly, I’d planned to save them for the medical service, but since I rarely used it outside of the tournament, I realized that hoarded points just go to waste, so I splurged. After all, I could even go into the negative through advance billing.