The Vault Room

The carriage slowed down the instant Donghee finished speaking.

“My lady, are you feeling unwell anywhere?”

As soon as the carriage came to a stop, Handsome asked with a worried expression. Even to him, the young lord’s recent schedule had been nothing short of murderous.

His own body, that of a grown man, ached all over. Yet the lord was nothing more than a delicate young girl who had never known hardship. Moreover, she was only a year older than his own younger sister, who waited at home with bated breath for her brother’s return. That was one of the reasons Handsome kept seeing his sister in her.

“No. I want to walk and inspect the land.”

Despite the dark circles under her eyes, the lord’s answer was remarkably firm. Her eyes, which knew exactly what needed to be done and scanned the surroundings with purpose, shone with sharp intelligence.

The gap between her youthful face and those experienced eyes sometimes made him forget her age.

This was one of those moments.

“Understood, my lady.”

Handsome wiped the worry from his face and immediately looked for what he should do next. The moment the carriage stopped, Red Bear, who had been escorting it nearby, approached, opened the door, and helped the lord down.

Donghee stepped out of the carriage and strode briskly into the field thick with dry weeds. Even someone like her, who didn’t know the first thing about farming, could tell this dusty soil was utterly barren. A sigh escaped her lips on its own.

“What have you done with the dural stems?”

According to the information she had paid a whopping 500 points for, fermenting dried dural leaves together with moh moss produced excellent fertilizer.

At the time, she had thought the information was ridiculously vague for the price, but those details turned out to be the most immediately useful nuggets of all.

“We haven’t had time to deal with the stems yet, so they’re still in the fields.”

In other words, they had been left untouched.

Handsome kept stealing glances at the lord’s profile, anxious that he might be scolded for not having cleared the dural stems yet.

Fortunately, she didn’t look angry or irritated. If anything, she looked relieved.

“Really? Then don’t throw them away. Bring them here.”

“The dural stems, my lady?”

Handsome’s eyes widened at the unexpected order.

“Yes. The leaves are the most important part, so be careful not to let them fall off.”

Handsome was curious what she planned to do with the inedible parts, but since it was an order from his lord, he simply nodded without a word.

At some point, Handsome had come to see the young lord of Grace as someone young in years but fully worthy of trust and obedience.

“Yes, my lady.”

“We’ll also need moh moss. Is there any way to get it?”

“I will ask the women of the village to gather it.”

“It’s not a dangerous place, is it?”

She was worried they might have to enter the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Black Forest. Since she still hadn’t hired any mercenaries, she had no more manpower to spare for protection.

“No, my lady. Moh moss can be easily found near the village.”

“That’s a relief. When they bring the moss, make sure to pay them properly according to the weight. Ask the treasurer for a fair price. Bring all the collected moh moss here as well.”

“Yes!”

Handsome had many questions, but he held them back and answered faithfully. For some strange reason, everything the lord said seemed perfectly correct, so he couldn’t bring himself to ask anything casually.

Watching the handsome young man look so pleased just by standing in front of her and speaking so beautifully made Donghee extremely satisfied.

She was wearing a pleasant smile when a blue status window suddenly floated up before her eyes.

It still appeared without warning, but she no longer felt as startled as she had at first.

Donghee diligently read the text the status window displayed. Her chocolate-colored eyes sparkled with anticipation.

The residents’ favorability had risen by over seventy thousand points.

It had shot up so frantically.

Donghee felt a surge of pride as she looked at the favorability number whose digits had completely changed.

On top of that, her ability and trait stats had gone up by a tiny bit, and a strange compliment had been added to the trait section.

It was clearly praise, so why didn’t it feel good?

After that, Donghee circled the territory until the sun went down, and then circled some more, but she couldn’t find a single plot of land that looked suitable for immediate use as farmland. She had ordered the dural leaves and moh moss to be brought to this vast stretch of barren ground, yet she wasn’t confident it would improve. It was anyone’s guess how much this land—practically dead—could change with just two types of plants.

Still, the status window had never once given her despairing results, so Donghee decided to boldly carry out the plan this time as well.

Handsome and Red Bear, who knew the lord was searching for farmland, scanned the area with eyes just as sharp as hers.

But no matter how closely they looked, they saw no land suitable for farming. Well, of course. Land that had never existed before wasn’t going to suddenly fall from the sky just because they were looking for it.

Understanding how troubled their lord must feel, Handsome and Red Bear let out deep sighs every time their eyes met.

By the time the carriage carrying Donghee crossed the drawbridge of Grace Castle, the sun was already sinking low on the horizon.

As Donghee gazed tiredly out the carriage window, the houses inside the castle walls came into view one by one.

In the chilly weather, fires were being lit here and there.

Since the houses had yet to be repaired and none of them had fireplaces, people gathered in homes that did have fireplaces or at the community hall to escape the cold.

Condal, was it?

Donghee recalled the name of the village inside the castle walls that she had heard from Anna.

Renovations had begun in Morta and Enol villages, but she hadn’t yet looked at the place closest to Grace Castle itself.

Thanks to the dural harvest and grain purchases, no one was starving to death anymore, but these people would also need work that could generate income.

After getting out of the carriage, Donghee went straight to her office and called for Scrooge and Handsome.

Despite being run ragged by the suddenly increased finances and workload, making him look haggard, his expression overflowed with vitality.

“We need to renovate Condal.”

“Yes, my lady. Shall I call for Builder?”

“Should we begin with cleaning the village? Shall we recruit workers the same way we did in Morta Village?”

She had only mentioned it lightly, yet the two of them already worked together like a well-oiled machine.

“Yes. Scrooge, I’d like you to take charge of Condal Village. Since Morta Village has settled into a decent rhythm, that shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Yes, my lady. However, it will be difficult for me to handle alone. May I recruit additional personnel?”

“Of course. Hire as many as you need.”

“Thank you, my lady.”

At the lord’s generous permission, Scrooge’s face brightened.

“Oh, right. The room next to mine is empty, isn’t it?”

“Yes, my lady. It is the bedroom we offer to honored guests.”

“Honored guests?”

“Such as Young Master Ray or—”

The moment Ray’s name ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came up, the lord’s face crumpled so badly that a startled Scrooge quickly changed the subject.

“Or Viscount Patrasche.”

The lord’s expression twisted even more severely than before.

Scrooge found himself strangely delighted by the lord’s clear distaste for the two men, his shoulders bouncing with glee. After all, as the financial officer of Grace Castle, no one hated those two more than he did.

They say good things should be heard twice.

“Young Master Ray and Viscount Patrasche mainly stayed there. You, my lady, personally! gave them the best room in Grace Castle.”

“Stop saying those unlucky names already!”

“Yes, my lady!”

When Donghee waved her hand dismissively, Scrooge answered with a broad, beaming smile. When their eyes met, Donghee’s tightly furrowed brows relaxed and she let out a small chuckle.

“It’s not a guest room anymore. We’re going to remodel it.”

“Remo… what, my lady?”

“Remodel. I’m going to change the guest room into a different purpose.”

“What… purpose?”

Scrooge couldn’t begin to guess what the lord intended to use the room for.

“A vault room.”

“Pardon?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. I’m going to make a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠vault room. By the way, is there a blacksmith in Condal?”

Scrooge and Handsome looked at each other as if they had planned it, exchanging awkward smiles. Seeing the two of them unable to answer and looking troubled, Donghee asked with a hint of frustration.

“Why? Is there none? Do we have to bring one from another region like we did with the tailor?”

At ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the follow-up question, Scrooge scratched his head and answered.

“There is one, my lady.”

His answer was strangely hesitant.

“What do you mean by that?”

“The forge has completely fallen apart, and it has been over three years since Smith last worked. The calluses on his hands have probably all disappeared by now.”

A territory where the blacksmith didn’t work.

It wasn’t just weapons that needed to be made of iron. Farming tools and various daily necessities would all be produced through the forge. The fact that the forge had been idle for three years meant that farming and everyday life had essentially come to a temporary halt.

“Haa.”

A sigh escaped Donghee on its own.

“Smith hasn’t left for somewhere else, has he?”

“No, my lady. His wife is ill, so traveling far would be too difficult. Fortunately, the food situation has improved lately, and I heard that Smith’s wife’s condition has also gotten a little better.”

That was a relief. The more she heard about the village’s circumstances, the angrier she became and the more her body shrank with guilt.

“Bring Smith to me. I need to entrust him with building the vault room. And only you and I—the treasurer—will hold the keys to the vault room.”

“My lady…”

Scrooge didn’t know where to begin with his overwhelming emotions.

Should he rejoice at the lord’s change in abandoning the foolish act of willingly giving up the best room to that thorn-in-his-side Ray and that thieving Patrasche? Should he rejoice at the words entrusting him with the vault key? Or should he rejoice at the fact that Smith could finally do proper blacksmith work again?

It seemed he would have to raise a glass in celebration today.