HTLCCBFT Chapter 3

　　”Last night, I received a sign from the God of Fortune.”

　　After dropping this significant news lightly, Oliver covered the shame in his heart with a calm exterior, and continued.

　　“He will bestow upon me unparalleled divine powers and artifacts, on the condition that…”

　　Under the blank gaze of Steward Fosse, he conjured a seemingly ordinary hoe out of thin air and smoothly stated, “I must do my utmost to ensure the survival of all beings in the territory capable of thought and belief in his powers before the trial of winter comes. If my performance satisfies his eminence, he is willing to appear when winter arrives.”

　　After a brief moment of stupor, Fosse’s eyes slowly moved away from the hoe, struggling to digest the information his young master had suddenly thrown at him.

　　Unlike the ordinary people who, living in hardship, place their hopes for a better life on intangible beliefs, Fosse, coming from a minor noble background, was skeptical about the existence of deities.

　　He could not explain many phenomena with logic, thus he couldn’t completely rule out the existence of ‘God’; but from the so-called “indulgences”¹Indulgences refer to a practice within the Catholic Church where individuals could reduce the punishment for their sins by obtaining a certificate, issued by the Church, that absolved them from some of the temporal penalties. This practice became particularly controversial during the late Middle Ages and was a major point of contention during the Protestant Reformation. Reformers criticized the Church for monetizing forgiveness through the sale of indulgences, arguing that it corrupted the essence of penance and atonement. manipulated among the nobility with money and dirty means to enrich themselves, as well as knowing the ugly faces of some hypocritical priests, he truly couldn’t muster devout faith in God.

　　Moreover, according to the doctrines he knew, there was no such ‘God of Fortune’, there was only the one and only ‘True God’! This god of unknown origins, not only chose his delicate young master as the object of his trial, but was also willing to accept even those lowly serfs?

　　But the one who spoke these words was the little master whom he valued far more than his own life or faith ……

　　Fosse struggled for a short while, but chose to trust completely in the presence of his most important and noble existence: “Yes, I understand.”

　　”I know you’re absolutely trustworthy, Fosse.” Oliver smiled slightly, “I only need to explain all of this to my most loyal and trustworthy servant, and I’ll leave it to you to deal with the curious mouths of the others. Additionally, no one is allowed to come near me while I am being tested by the gods, they must leave the fields left of the castle gates.”

　　In fact, Oliver knew that he only needed to convince Fosse.

　　Whether it was those around him or others in Laina City, they all belong to those who deeply believed in the will of the gods, not minding the authenticity of the content.

　　After all, whether it’s the lord, the duke, or the gods… they are all noble existences far above them, undoubtedly dominating their lives. And if the gods truly manifested themselves, would they not choose the most noble lord instead of the lowly serfs?

　　Fosse managed a forced smile and left with heavy thoughts.

　　Oliver knew this capable, cold-hearted steward, who was wholeheartedly loyal to him, would handle the matter properly. Thus, he didn’t waste any more time, quickly finished his breakfast, and went back to his bedroom to change into dirt-resistant clothes, ready to start working in the fields as soon as possible.

　　“Your Highness,” greeted the manservant, who had been wearily standing guard outside the dining room. Upon noticing steward Fosse, who had always remained by the new lord’s side and for some reason now emerged alone with a grimace, he perked up slightly and now approached him boldly, “Please allow me to follow you, Your Highness.”

　　”Hmm.”

　　Oliver had already returned the hoe to the invisible game inventory, considering trying out plowing the field later, and glanced at him: “It’s you.”

　　It was the same man who told him last night that the hanging ‘jerky’ was the body of a thief.

　　Never in his dreams did the servant think the noble lord would remember his face, and he was ecstatic: “Yes, it’s me, Your Highness!”

　　Oliver nodded slightly: “Follow me then.”

　　While it was already out of the ordinary for a lord to work the land himself, it was better to break the rules as little as possible.

　　After all, he was the youngest and most beloved son of the old king, and even his former ducal mansion in the power-laden capital was a hub of activity.

　　And although Cameron had driven this troublesome brother out of the capital, he hadn’t been heartless enough — or perhaps he forgot — to confiscate his property as well.

　　Therefore, among the several wagons that followed him to Laina City, there were boxes filled with countless treasures of great value.

　　Velvet or silk garments studded with gems, of course, were not suitable to wear.

　　Frowning, Oliver picked out an outfit after some deliberation and, under the manservant’s careful attendance, changed into the only hunting outfit in the box that wasn’t elaborately embellished with gems, apart from pajamas.

　　”What is your name?”

　　Oliver gave him another faint look before leaving the bedroom.

　　The manservant’s heart leapt out of his throat with excitement as he was under the gaze of those beautiful blue eyes that couldn’t hold a candle to even the most precious of gems.

　　He took a deep breath, lest he keep His Highness waiting, and with the clearest articulation of his life, he spoke his name: “My name is Johan, Your Highness. It’s Johan.”

　　Oliver nodded: “Then Johan, if you wish to stay by my side, stay in the castle later and do not follow me out.”

　　”Yes.”

　　Johan unhesitatingly knelt on one knee, signaling his understanding.

　　Oliver was quite satisfied with Johan’s performance.

　　Compared to other servants who either acted dumb or trembled, Johan knew how to seize every opportunity, yet his attitude didn’t overstep in the slightest.

　　When serving him to change clothes earlier, he focused entirely on his task without any extra curiosity.

　　It was also true that he needed such a relatively resourceful and well-connected pair of eyes and ears as he was figuring out the specific situation around Laina City.

　　Thinking this, Oliver quickly descended the steps and walked out of the castle gate.

　　It was a fine, cloudless day. The sunlight, at the junction of spring and summer, was warm and pleasant—not as scorching as in midsummer, even after the gentlest dawn.

　　But for Jonathan’s family, who were abruptly driven out of the fields where they had been bowing their heads and working as usual, even basking in such gentle sunlight felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave.

　　Driven out by the servants of the grand castle, they stood shivering like bewildered lambs forcefully pulled from the flock by snarling wolves, despairingly awaiting their fate under the sad and sympathetic gazes of their kind.

　　He didn’t know if it was good or bad, but at least they were not the only ones who had suffered such a fate.

　　Jonathan, suppressing his fear, tried to converse with the stern-faced servants, but was quickly shut down with an extremely impatient “Don’t ask too many questions.”

　　He could only rely on his observations and the whispers of equally frightened people around him.

　　”It was the steward beside that new lord of the city who gave the order!”

　　”Good heavens, is the new lord not going to allow us to farm?”

　　”We’ve just managed to clear the weeds; we need to finish plowing the land quickly to sow the seeds.”

　　”Shh, keep your voice down.”

　　”It’s all over… we’re going to starve to death.”

　　Once Jonathan had barely composed himself, he realized something: the only people who had been driven away were those working on the land to the left of the castle gates.

　　The division of the farmland was irregular, never with clear boundaries; the tenants mostly made small markings themselves or used larger buildings to help divide the areas.

　　Did the new lord decide to requisition these lands for other uses, reducing the farmland?

　　Regardless of whether the land would be used for farming or other purposes, the lord would require laborers.

　　If that was the case, then he should still be able to support his wife and daughter if he worked a little harder.

　　Thinking this, Jonathan felt slightly more settled.

　　After all, he was not an ordinary serf, but a freeman who had once received a certain amount of education. He had even worked in a mill envied by many, and his knowledge was much higher than that of the other serfs, who showed only trepidation when faced with accidents.

　　If not for consecutive years of poor harvests and the second lord’s arrival, who, in order to extract more profit, forcibly sent his own people to work in the mill and drove him and the others away… he wouldn’t have fallen to the point of needing to sell his and his family’s freedom to barely survive.

　　Jonathan sighed and looked somewhat numbly in the direction of the castle.

　　His only hope was that the new lord’s character would at least not be as brutal as the previous lords.

　　Coincidentally, just as this thought emerged in Jonathan’s mind, a dazzling burst of gold suddenly caught his eye.

　　He couldn’t help but narrow his eyes slightly in the direction of the castle gates.

　　The next moment, he was thoroughly stunned.

　　God!

　　Jonathan couldn’t help but open his mouth wide, and his whole body went into a trance.

　　He had never, ever seen such a beautiful and dazzling being!

　　If he had the spare attention to look around at that moment, he would find that anyone who happened to cast their gaze towards the direction of the castle shared the exact same shocked expression as him.

　　Very few were lucky enough to have seen the lord’s appearance last night. First, the light was dim, and the chronically undernourished serfs had such poor eyesight that they only remembered ‘blonde hair as bright as sunlight.’ Secondly, the castle’s servants had never cared to interact with those from the outside, let alone speak disrespectfully about the new lord.

　　The softly curled golden hair shone as brilliantly as real sunlight, skin as white and flawless as snow, a beauty so exquisite that even the most critical and harsh king couldn’t help but call him ‘angelic’, and aside from being slightly slender, a physique as flexible and perfect as the willow branches in early spring…

　　The world’s most noble treasure, privately kept in the palace, always exalted and flattered with the most splendid words by the capital’s nobility, appeared before outsiders for the first time.

　　Jonathan’s mind was in turmoil.

　　Like a spreading stupor, everyone who saw the new lord with their own eyes couldn’t help but fix their gaze on him, dumbly following his movement.

　　And in the next moment, they saw the new lord, as elegant as a noble rose, as a holy angel surveying the mortal world, gracefully stepping into the fields.

　　Then—effortlessly swung a hoe, thicker than his arm.

TL Note:
Thanks for your patience! I’m still stockpiling chapters. I hope to have enough saved so I can start releasing chapters hopefully at least every other day – cause I, too, hate cliffhangers and waiting a week for a new chapter ;v;

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  Indulgences refer to a practice within the Catholic Church where individuals could reduce the punishment for their sins by obtaining a certificate, issued by the Church, that absolved them from some of the temporal penalties. This practice became particularly controversial during the late Middle Ages and was a major point of contention during the Protestant Reformation. Reformers criticized the Church for monetizing forgiveness through the sale of indulgences, arguing that it corrupted the essence of penance and atonement.