Chapter 157: Drowning in Work

After commissioning the work to the painter, I checked on the progress of the Feuzen ranch that Winter was planning. The framework was gradually taking shape, and the size of the lot had been finalized. Of course, room for expansion had been left.

"It can accommodate about 100 horses. Compared to the royal ranch, it’s a small scale, but the pasture is wider to compensate. Rather than housing many horses, I focused on creating an environment for raising them healthily. Mont Blanc and Schatten will love it."

"Good work. Continue as planned. When can it be completed?"

"It will take two months."

The complaints of Schatten and Mont Blanc, who had protested at being kept in the same stable as dairy cows, would be resolved by then. And the stables would be greatly expanded too. The aim was to shift the villagers’ lifestyle in a more hygienic direction.

Even now, the villagers of Feuzen lived under the same roof as their livestock. The traditional Germanic-style houses and lifestyles were still maintained in rural villages, and the issue was that lice were rampant.

I decided to gather all the livestock owned by the villagers into communal stables.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand their anxiety about losing sight of livestock that was practically their entire fortune, but please, let’s get rid of the lice. Eliminating lice was difficult, but their living habits needed to change.

But August brought me another task.

There wasn’t even a moment to catch my breath while sipping the rose tea Daniel had prepared.

"My lord, a report from the hunters and forest keepers."

"What is it this time? Did a herd of aurochs cross over from Euz, and they want permission to hunt?"

The hunters who guarded the lord’s forest had as their main duty protecting game from poachers. The forest keepers prevented villagers from indiscriminately cutting wood and worked to cultivate the forest.

It seemed the animals in question were aurochs, and the hunters were officially requesting my permission to hunt these wild cattle. What were aurochs again? I’d heard of them.

Ah, I’d seen them in a documentary on YouTube.

The massive wild cattle of Europe, now extinct.

Their numbers had drastically declined in the late medieval period, and the Polish royal family had been protecting them, but the last auroch had died in the early 17th century, rendering the species extinct. I wasn’t an environmentalist, but it filled me with regret.

"Auroch hunting is hereby prohibited."

"Pardon? But why?"

I explained that their numbers had already declined and they might go extinct, but August couldn’t even understand why he should commit manpower to protecting them. The concept of protecting endangered species probably didn’t exist yet.

I tried hard to explain, but it didn’t get through at all, so I simply issued an order.

The hunters and forest keepers officially became protectors of the aurochs. Having been mobilized for the suppression mission, they would faithfully follow my orders. Furthermore, I instructed them to continuously monitor the population.

The workload had increased, but I planned to pay them basic compensation.

If the population grew, there would be a corresponding bonus.

That alone would prevent aurochs from being killed easily on my land. I wasn’t sure how effective it would be, but with these measures, I’d done what I could.

"How’s the new house?"

"It’s quite nice. However, I worry that the traitors’ impurity might transfer to me."

"By that logic, I should be worried about Rosengarden."

The terrifying rumors about Rosengarden were no longer well known. Although the two families that had owned that mansion had ended in extinction, since I’d taken ownership, I’d been thriving to the point of becoming a lord.

August believed that my energy combined with the Baron’s energy had cleansed all impurities. Sure, that was a fitting interpretation for a devout believer. I’d given the seized estate of one of the wealthy farmers to August, who had been staying at Chief Wentner’s house.

It was to maintain the dignity of a vassal knight.

Living off your soon-to-be wife’s family wasn’t a good look in many ways. Of the four remaining estates, I gave one to Michael and his wife to use as a villa.

Naturally, I’d recovered all the slush funds hidden in secret compartments in the estates. These moments were the most enjoyable. So excluding the livestock, the total amount confiscated from the wealthy farmers came to twelve gold coins.

I’d spent eight gold coins on ranch construction, stable expansion, and other costs, which meant I’d actually turned a profit of four gold coins. This wasn’t some creative accounting—I was genuinely coming out ahead. So I decided to invest that much more into the village.

I left the remaining three estates undisposed and entrusted their management to Daniel.

Daniel balked at the sudden increase in his workload, but it was rightful retribution.

He’d been caught by me kissing Sabine in a corner when she’d stopped by the manor on an errand from the meeting hall. Thanks to that, I’d had to brew my own rose tea for the first time in a while. The taste was awful.

Slurp.

The reply to the letter I’d sent to Euznirk still hadn’t arrived. Judging by how the trade caravans coming and going from the north were dwindling, something seemed to be happening.

Slurp.

There was no special word from Old Man Bertheim. He was busy digging into the royal family’s conspiracy, but without knowing his progress, there wasn’t much I could do. Viktor seemed to be subtly pressing me for updates.

Ah, for reference, Simon and Natalie had decided to settle in Feuzen together once Simon was discharged from the duchy hospital. Leaving Natalie alone at the order’s headquarters seemed too dangerous.

The members were all good men, but if any of them suddenly fell for her, it would be a major problem. If something like that happened, things would get extremely awkward between Viktor and me. It could even come to drawn swords.

And Natalie was also going to be hired as one of Hilda’s handmaids. Bailey, Wentner’s younger sister, and Oscar’s wife had been complaining about being short-handed. It was because Hilda’s management style was Spartan.

With the Production (10%) increase passive applied, production volume started clearly exceeding previous records. There were no further increases beyond that, and after a few days of observation, Hilda doubled the quotas.

This was because once the set quota was met, workers often stopped working and just pretended to be busy. With the passive applied, this pattern became conspicuously visible.

By establishing a constant surveillance system using the handmaids, the workers couldn’t slack off and worked hard to meet the quota before Mass. Surprisingly, they met it in time.

That’s why production exceeded expectations.

Hmm, I should hang the shield here.

Hilda had more talent for management than I’d thought.

Bodo hadn’t yet submitted a report on the cheese workshop.

When production there increased too, I’d have to switch from a quota system to an hourly system.

I took half of everything the villagers produced in a day, so the more they produced, the more I collected. And the villagers’ share also grew accordingly. It really came down to efficiency.

I’d have to inspect the firearms once they arrived, and I needed to address the tariff and toll issues between Breisburg and Rosenheim. Honestly, they were too high.

Even if I lowered them, it would be meaningless if the other side didn’t reciprocate. The lords’ attitudes toward trade were broadly negative. With various complex circumstances tangled together like a spider’s web, it wouldn’t be easy.

With Beren’s largest consumer market right next door, if trade caravans could move freely without tariffs, prices would stabilize, and as a supplier, I could earn even more money. That was what made it so frustrating.

With these various headaches, my expression remained gloomy even as I had dinner with Hilda. Unable to watch any longer, Hilda pulled my head against her chest and spoke as if soothing an anxious child.

"Wolf, take it slow. I understand you have many things you want to do, but you can’t do them all in such a short time, can you? Trust in the tomorrow that’s still waiting for you in your youth."

"Did I look like I was rushing?"

"You looked like a child who had so many things he wanted to do that he couldn’t contain himself."

Her words snapped me back to my senses as if cold water had been thrown over me.

The intervals when I could spend leisurely time with Hilda had clearly been growing shorter.

I had so much already in motion, yet I was still creating more work.

I should be controlling the work, not letting the work control me.

"Thank you. I almost turned into a workaholic."

"Diligence is good, but in excess, it becomes poison."

When I beamed a rosy aura mid-meal, Priscilla, attending us nearby, gave a fake cough. The atmosphere had been so pleasant. Usually, I’d finish dinner like this and immediately start thinking about the next day’s tasks.

Now I was spending leisurely time with Hilda.

"You seem to have returned to your old self, Wolf. Honestly, I worried you might get angry, since bringing up something like that can be so touchy."

"What are you talking about? I might not listen to anything else, but I always listen to you."

"You trust me that much? I might give you bad advice."

That was something I could sort out for myself.

Hilda and I were playing a game on the Italian-style chess set Old Man Bertheim had given me. Hilda had said playing intellectual games with women could cause various conflicts.

She meant the petulant whining of men who couldn’t stand losing to a woman, but that didn’t apply to me. I’d been taught mounted combat and horsemanship by Hilda, so a few losses at chess wouldn’t cause any conflict.

"Oh my, Wolf’s precious king has been taken by my queen?"

"Ngh, lost again. Why are you so good at chess?"

"Is the queen only stronger than the king on the chessboard?"

It was getting late, and Hilda was subtly glancing at the bed and provoking me. Yes, I’m a king lesser than the queen. But on the bed, things are different! I’ll show you what it means to lose by day and win by night!

After flaunting the splendid techniques honed through adult videos and emerging victorious over Hilda, I gazed at her face as she slept soundly and began to think about the work ahead. As a lord, I couldn’t help it.

Rather than fussing over every little thing alone, the best approach was to develop and deploy capable bureaucrats. Besides, I had the Manager Scouter, so people management actually suited me better than fieldwork.

Just as the duchy government had four departments, I planned to create four core divisions under the lord—administrative, financial, judicial, and military—and test them in Feuzen first.

Having seen the spectacle of those departments fighting and clashing far too often, my impression of the structure was largely negative, but assigning bureaucrats was necessary to reduce my unnecessary daily tasks. If I sat back like the Grand Duke, I’d end up the same way, but I had the excellent tool of the Scouter.

Right—like Hilda said, let’s take it slow.

I wanted to live at a leisurely pace too, lounging around with my wife.

I was done with the workaholic life.