Adapting to the New World
Charm was a stat that manifested its power through relationships.
Even if I did nothing, my subordinates would push themselves to their absolute limits for me. Other races, who usually refused to even speak with humans, would approach me with goodwill.
Of course, it wasn't an easy ability to utilize.
If I could convert my Charm stat into raw combat power, I wouldn't have to tread so carefully.
It would have been incredibly simple to win the power struggle—either by preparing to fight the entire territory single-handedly or by building a reputation by wiping out hordes of weak monsters on my own.
Even so, as long as I had the right conditions, I had no reason to fear.
The stage was set for me to lead the conversation from a position of strength. I had no intention of hesitating or holding back.
I looked at the village chief standing before me and offered a gentle smile.
"Y-Young Master Edrin... What brings you all the way here?"
"Naturally, I am here on official business for the fief. Surely you aren't suggesting I've come somewhere I shouldn't have?"
"N-No, of course not..."
My presence here was an absurd waste of manpower. To put it in perspective, it was like the president himself showing up for a routine military roll call instead of a regiment commander.
It was unprecedented, which meant the pressure was immense. No matter how bold the village chief might be, he wouldn't dare hide any able-bodied men right under my nose.
"I did not come here to reprimand you. I have many places to visit, so I will perform a quick check and move on to the next village."
"U-Understood, my lord!"
"There is no need for a grand welcome. My soldiers are weary, so food and drink to feed them will suffice. I have brought plenty of gold, so do not just give it to us; sell it to us for a fair price."
It was winter. Even though it was the off-season, gathering people quickly in a small village like this was no easy task.
"W-Where is Charlie? What is he doing?"
The moment the chief stepped out of my line of sight, he frantically hissed at the other villagers.
"Charlie went out hunting, but... he should be back by now! He'll be here if we wait just a moment!"
"Go call him if you can! And if he's already back, tell him to get over here immediately! Young Master Edrin has personally come all the way to our village!"
Our territory wasn't particularly vast, but rumors traveled slowly to remote villages like this.
They had likely come face-to-face with me before even hearing the news of my recovery. It was only natural for them to be flustered.
Now, shall we take this one step at a time?
After a brief wait, the able-bodied men of the village lined up before me.
I cast a sidelong glance at the chief, comparing the men standing here with the records I had brought.
"I trust you will not claim ignorance of the law, nor of the lord's direct orders."
"Y-Yes! Of course we know them."
"I have no intention of dragging them off to the battlefield this very instant. I merely wish to verify the numbers. So, I ask you."
I looked at the chief with a solemn expression.
"Are these all the men capable of fighting?"
Ultimately, it came down to a matter of trust.
The conscriptor and the conscripted were bound to have an uneasy relationship.
Having even one more able-bodied man remain in the village meant greater safety for the community.
To defend against the monsters and wild beasts roaming the forests, it was far better to keep their men at home rather than waste them in a territorial war that brought the villagers no practical benefit.
But for us, the rulers, it was different. While a territorial war was distinct from a foreign invasion, it still carried monumental consequences for the nobles involved.
It was a battle between those who wished to hide their assets and those who wished to uncover them. In the end, the choice lay with the chief. I couldn't stay in this village forever, but he would.
Of course, since I held both authority and the sword, it wasn't impossible to tear the village apart to search for hidden men.
But that would be tyranny. Every village had its own circumstances, and if I disrupted their lives, their resentment would be directed entirely at me.
Therefore, my solution had to be different. It had to be simple.
"The world is in chaos. The lords of other territories... they might not view this land as their home the way we do."
"C-Could there be a war..."
"No, that is not what I mean. Even if the clouds of war gather, we must do everything we can to prevent it. However, as the one responsible for this territory, I must know exactly how many soldiers we can muster."
It was a laughable attempt at persuasion. I hadn't promised anything, nor had I offered any tangible rewards.
It was nothing more than a mundane request: We might need soldiers, so please cooperate with the census.
Surely every soldier who had ever visited this village had said the exact same thing.
"Well, the thing is..."
But when I said it, the effect was entirely different.
There was a running joke in the game's community: When a specific stat exceeds 100, the game's genre changes.
If Strength exceeded 100, the game became an action game.
Strategic decisions, supply lines, domestic affairs, diplomacy, and politics all became half-meaningless.
You could tear through the battlefield, slaughtering a thousand soldiers a day and routing ten thousand more, return to base thinking, Ah, that was a productive day, and repeat the process a few times to completely change the course of the game.
If Intellect exceeded 100, you began to perceive the entire Empire as a massive puzzle.
You could achieve whatever you desired. You could predict anyone's thoughts, devise creative and brilliant strategies, and turn a hopeless battle into a victory.
Like playing a mystery or puzzle game, you could view every problem as solvable and dismantle them one by one.
And the Charm stat? It didn't make the world look like a typical game. If anything, it made the world feel like something warm and nostalgic, drifting from an old radio.
"Y-Young Master..."
Reality did not run on sincerity.
If a village chief who had never met me before would cooperate fully just because I was sincere, he wouldn't have hidden the men in the first place.
But when it came to someone possessing my level of Charm, the rules changed.
Just as Serena hadn't hesitated to join hands with a stranger who might have been an evil spirit.
"Tell me."
"Five men... were not registered."
"Why is that?"
"I-It wasn't our fault! The knights who came here last time took our grain and alcohol... and said they would turn a blind eye if we did the same for them..."
"Ah."
Corruption. Honestly, considering the era, this level of corruption could hardly be called an evil deed.
From the perspective of a knight tasked with traveling from village to village to conscript soldiers, the duty itself must have felt like torture.
Travel expenses were unlikely to have been generously provided, and the stress must have piled up.
Five soldiers... that's not a small number.
Yet, it wasn't a matter light enough for the lord's son to simply overlook.
"T-This is slander!"
The young knight standing beside me shouted.
"We won't know until we hear the full story. Let us wait and see."
The accusation brought before me was the corruption of a knight. And if it was a knight of this territory, they were far more likely to be connected to Irene than to me.
The female knight acting as my guard was well aware of this fact. That was why she immediately dismissed the report as slander before any facts could be verified.
"Can you name the one who gave such an order? The exact date! And why did you keep it hidden until now?!"
She was pressing him. If she couldn't force the chief to recant his words as a lie, I—Irene's political rival—would gain significant leverage.
"Answer properly! If your words are false, you alone will face death. But if they are true, the entire village will not escape punishment!"
It was a desperate threat. In truth, it was closer to a plea, begging the chief to take back what he had just said.
"Enough. I have no intention of hunting down the culprit now. It would be impossible to find them anyway, and it would only complicate matters. I will not hold the chief accountable either. When a knight bearing a long sword offers a deal, a village chief has no power to refuse."
Even if relations were strained, it was impossible to completely sever the connection between the commoners and the knights.
Irene managed her subordinates reasonably well. While there were knights who played minor tricks with military service or extorted supplies, none committed truly heinous crimes like assault, rape, or murder.
Furthermore, she wasn't the type to sit idly in the castle with her knights. She took action herself, subjugating monsters and wiping out bandits to accumulate military achievements.
Under such circumstances, isolating Irene and the knights from the common folk was out of the question. These villagers had their lives saved by the knights and their homes protected through Irene's efforts.
Therefore, I had to provide what she could not. I had to highlight the limitations of the knights, rather than just their misdeeds.
"First... let us sort out the details."
I let a faint smile play on my lips.