Despite having prepared himself mentally all along the way, from the moment Oliver truly stepped into the castle, his endurance faced continuous challenges.
The servant’s casual mention of a “thief’s weathered corpse” was just the beginning; it was followed by an uncomfortable experience brought about by dishes meticulously cooked by a chef who absolutely did not want to lose the precious job of being the “lord’s chef”.
The dark green bean paste soup emitted a strong scent of spice that was not flattering. On a small silver platter beside it were two pieces of white bread, hard as stone, which could only be cut open with difficulty using the gem-encrusted sharp dagger once personally given by the old king.
Such hardness, if one wished to bite directly into it, would probably be too much even for the teeth of the young.
This also meant that he had to dip it in that appalling bean soup, which made one lose all appetite for eating.
Not to mention Oliver, who had memories of modern society, even the slightly favored servants in the noble residences of the royal capital would disdain to eat such nightmare-like food.
However, even such hard-to-swallow white bread was something the people of Laina City dreamt of. Especially since included in the ‘lord’s special meal’ was an amazingly large piece of smoked meat, prepared by the chef using all her skills!
For the people here, it was unbelievably luxurious.
To prevent steward Fosse, who looked at him with pity, from launching into a long speech of sympathy, Oliver glanced at the food on the table in silence for a moment.
Then, pretending as if nothing was amiss and perfectly maintaining noble etiquette, he finished the meal with difficulty.
… Finally, he could go bathe and rest in his room.
Unwilling to recall the contents of the dinner, Oliver was slowly led by his servant to his bedroom while he examined the interior of the castle.
Unlike peasant dwellings crudely constructed from wood and straw stems, the castle was built from countless large limestone blocks, with the gaps filled with lime mortar.
Compared to its grandiose exterior, the comfort of living inside could only be described as “less than ideal”.
The room chosen as the bedroom by the successive lords were inevitably the ones with the best lighting, the most spacious, and located on the highest floors—yet, when Oliver finished his bath and lay on the bed, which Fosse had personally made with the servants, piling up layer upon layer of clean soft bedding, he could immediately feel the omnipresent chill and dampness inside the room
He couldn’t help but sigh.
If even the living conditions of the lord were so unbearable, he couldn’t begin to imagine what life was like for the people below.
He had thought he would have trouble falling asleep, but to his surprise, his pampered body accustomed to luxury and comfort showed no aversion to the environment.
Almost as easily as the moment he stopped ruminating and truly closed his eyes, he fell into a deep slumber.
When his biological clock woke him, the sparse, hazy light was already shining in from outside the window, and at the same time, the sound of the bell could be faintly heard.
Mechanical clocks were considered a luxury only the nobility could afford in the capital, let alone in a remote and impoverished place like Laina City. Even the lord couldn’t enjoy the luxury of clockwork ornaments.
The largest and only timekeeping device in the whole of Laina City was the weathered clock tower, battered by wind, frost, rain, and snow.
The first toll of the bell signified the arrival of dawn and indicated that the subjects of the territory must set aside their tasks and go to work in the fields.
Of course, this did not include the nobles who did not engage in productive labor, except for those holding certain responsibilities at court. Whether they slept until whatever time they liked, ate in the bedroom or the dining room, went hunting in the forest with knights and hounds, or visited brothels for fun, it was all up to their whims.
This, of course, did not include Oliver.
Although he did not know how long he had specifically slept, after waking up, he inexplicably felt refreshed.
So, before the steward Fosse came to check on him, he simply went to the window first. Taking advantage of the castle’s height of four floors, he looked down upon the peasants entering the fields with their respective farming tools to begin their work.
The first thing that caught Oliver’s attention was not their pale and thin bodies, nor their flimsy clothes, but their ages.
A uniform appearance of young and tender faces, with middle-aged people rarely seen, let alone “elderly” people like Fosse, who was over forty years old.
If it was a lord who only saw the common people as sources of wealth to be exploited for their own luxurious enjoyment, the scarcity of middle-aged and elderly people among the populace was undoubtedly a boon: after all, robust labor was what brought greater benefits to the upper echelons.
Oliver frowned and his heart quickly sank.
Of course he knew exactly what that meant – it meant that the living conditions around the city of Laina were so exceptionally harsh that the common folk simply didn’t live long enough to grow old!
“Fosse.” After breakfast, Oliver suddenly raised his eyes and asked Fosse, who stood rigidly at one side, adhering to the most standard noble etiquette: “How much grain is left in the granary?”
As soon as he asked this question, he realized he wasn’t familiar with the units of measurement here, so he naturally corrected himself, “I mean, how long can the grain last if we want everyone to have enough to eat for two meals a day, without affecting the summer planting?”
When Fosse heard the kind and innocent words of his honorable master, a tender smile unconsciously appeared on his face, and he answered softly: “Your Highness, please rest assured. As long as the autumn harvest goes smoothly, it will be enough to last the winter.”
It seemed to be going a little better than he thought.
Oliver nodded slightly, and was just about to inquire about the next thing when a detail that he had almost overlooked swept through his mind.
No.
He looked back to Fosse and tried again, “What about the serfs?“
The smile on the calm and majestic steward’s face remained unchanged, and he said in his usual tone, “Benevolent Highness, how could those lowly serfs be worthy of Your Highness’s concern? Just as dirty worms naturally feed on rotten leaves, they will also crawl in the forests with their beast-like keen sense of smell before winter arrives, and eventually find enough food.”
Sure enough.
Oliver sighed inwardly.
For those standing at the top, serfs and freemen were both lowly existences. But the latter at least had a legal autonomy, while the former were simply objects – cheap items belonging completely to their masters from life to death.
They will never see an official name in their lifetime, and they certainly don’t deserve to be recorded in the register.
The registered population of Laina City was only a mere thousand, and the taxes generated were naturally pitifully low, which made the royal tax collectors disdain coming here.
But when he had just looked down from his bedroom window, even if it was impossible to see the whole territory, it was clear that there were definitely more than a thousand people below, perhaps even ten times that number.
“Fosse.” Oliver slightly lowered his eyelids and said softly: “Answer my question.”
In such a historical background, of course he was not naive enough to change the inherent perceptions of this loyal servant.
It was just that he knew very well, after integrating his own memories, that Fosse would unconditionally obey his words.
–Indeed, that was the case.
Hearing the seriousness and slight displeasure in Oliver’s tone, Fosse’s face quickly turned from indulgence and affection to a bit of panic..
Without hesitation, he bent his right knee to the cold, solid ground, and gazed sincerely at the beautiful angel who seemed as though he had abruptly raised his divine sword and frowned at the impious believer. “May the god bless, my master. Please forgive your faithful servant’s insolence.”
Then, without any reservation, he laid out all the information he knew.
The number of freemen belonging to the city of Laina was only 1,200, but the number of serfs was as high as 8,000. Most of them were unlucky freemen who had to sell their properties one after another because they could not afford to pay the high taxes due to years of famine. In the end, they were unable to maintain their status.
Becoming a serf directly under the lord meant a complete loss of their freedom, but at least it allowed them to be exempt from all future taxes and to receive some degree of shelter if the lord was kind-hearted.
Serfs did not own their land, and even if they worked day and night, in cases of poor harvests, it was hard to earn enough grain to feed their families — the portion they could truly keep and control themselves was pitifully small.
This was during spring and summer when food was relatively more plentiful.
When winter came, it was an inferno of misery: the freemen were able to warm themselves with fire pits made from fallen branches. The serfs, however, could not afford to pay the fine for gathering firewood, so they huddled together, shivering, and prayed to a vague god that they would not wake up tomorrow with a family member who had been taken from them by the brutal cold.
But in most cases, their prayers were in vain — just from the surprisingly young ages of the serfs, one could see whether their prayers were effective or not.
Having explained all this, Fosse had not the slightest pity in his heart for the miserable condition of the serfs. Instead, he only gazed deeply at His Highness, the foremost in his life, anxiously begging for forgiveness.
Even serfs would care about the Highness he serves.
He is compassionate yet majestic, beautiful yet noble, the angelic duke most valued by His Majesty, and the ultimate treasure bestowed upon the world by the God in Heaven.
”I see.”
Oliver’s thoughts were consumed by the dire straits of the food shortage, and he did not notice Fosse’s thoughts.
Looking at the skill panel that only he could see, now appearing gray, and the basic tools in the inventory………
Oliver’s psyche struggled a bit before he finally made up his mind.
There was no telling how many he could save, but he couldn’t simply watch the emaciated serfs die without making any effort, unlike the heartless lords before him.
”I have absolute faith in your loyalty, Fosse.”
Seeing Fosse’s expression of ecstatic joy, Oliver smiled helplessly.
He had thoroughly confirmed what kind of “use” could maximize this loyal servant’s abilities towards the righteous path.
After a moment of thought, Oliver, under Fosse’s eager gaze, straightforwardly said: “Next, I need you to do a few things for me.”
“These things are very important, among all the people around me, I only trust you to do them well…”
