Became the Owner of a Poor Estate
Chapter 18
The people were still dressed in old, threadbare clothes and looked gaunt, but they appeared significantly more spirited and bright than the day before. At the realization that a mere handful of grain and a few cream buns were all it took to make them happy, Donghee felt a simultaneous surge of relief and pity.
“Butler.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
Scrooge stood with his back straight, his voice filled with newfound strength, seemingly pleased by the warm reception the Lord was receiving from the villagers.
“What is the total population of the village?”
Scrooge pulled a pair of glasses from his front pocket, perched them on the tip of his nose, and scrutinized a scroll with a serious gaze.
“There are about 200 households, so if we gather everyone, it should be around 700 to 800 people.”
“You don’t know the exact number?”
“Many have died of starvation recently. Had we not distributed food yesterday, that number would have dwindled even further in a single day.”
His gaze drifted toward the people standing outside the carriage.
Worry was deeply etched into the wrinkles around his eyes.
“What about the other villages in the territory?”
“The largest village has about 1,000 households, and the remaining three are similar in size to this one.”
Since Chloe had never once inquired about the fief until now, the butler could not hide his sense of pride even as he answered such basic questions.
Hearing his response, Donghee fell into deep thought.
‘So there are five villages in the territory.’
Given the scale of Grace Castle, she had assumed there would be far more.
As if reading her mind, the butler began to explain further without being prompted.
“There are indeed five villages remaining, as thirty-one others were annexed into Viscount Patrasche’s territory.”
“Thirty-one?”
Just as Donghee suspected, it seemed the fief had originally been quite large.
She didn’t know what kind of person Viscount Patrasche was, but Scrooge’s voice held a strange mix of wariness and hostility when mentioning him.
“Yes. The Viscount bought them up one by one, for a pittance. He will likely come again next week to demand we sell one of the remaining ones.”
Scrooge’s voice grew heavier than before, placing particular emphasis on the word ‘pittance.’
“What happened to the residents living there?”
“Most of the residents were colonus tied to the land, so when the land was sold, they were annexed as Viscount Patrasche’s subjects as well.”
“I see….”
Hearing that people she didn’t even know had been sold for money filled her with a sense of unearned guilt.
In any case, Chloe Grace had certainly made a habit of doing nothing but disagreeable things.
A foolish girl who cared for no one’s well-being but her own, obsessively collecting dresses with mindless, frilly designs.
Likely, a significant portion of the colorful dresses filling her dressing room had been purchased with the price of the subjects sold to Viscount Patrasche.
Donghee remained silent for a moment before speaking with resolve.
“Gather the people in the village square.”
“Everyone?”
“Excluding young children. Everyone else, including the women.”
“Yes, I understand.”
She had started this impulsively, and now her head was throbbing. Even a quick glance around revealed a mountain of work to be done.
As soon as he received Chloe’s command, Scrooge stepped down from the carriage and approached the servants who had come with them, instructing them to gather the people in the square. The nearly ten servants scattered quickly in all directions the moment he finished speaking.
It’s fine. I can take it one step at a time. I can do this.
Donghee, who had a strong workaholic streak, strangely felt her fighting spirit ignite the more work there was to do.
She would once again enjoy the catharsis of filling a diary with a to-do list and crossing them off one by one.
And this time, she’d be doing it while spending an astronomical amount of money.
At the sudden rush of excitement, goosebumps broke out all over Donghee’s body.
The village square felt as desolate and barren as the destitute people.
The fountain, where water should have been bubbling forth, was bone-dry and crumbling, having lost its function long ago.
Donghee narrowed her eyes at a peculiar statue standing in the center of the fountain.
Though one of its antlers was broken, it was clearly the figure of a human with deer antlers.
Except for the antlers on its head and its lower body, it looked human, appearing like a mystical being out of mythology.
“What is that?”
“It is a member of the Corus Tribe.”
“The Corus Tribe?”
“Yes, a race that is half-human and half-deer.”
“Where do the Corus live?”
“I heard rumors decades ago that they were discovered in the snowy fields beyond the Black Forest. But that was so long ago. Hardly anyone has actually seen one.”
“Is that so?”
The thought that people looking like that might be living in a place covered in white snow made her heart flutter strangely.
“There is a legend that they bring good fortune to a village, so you will find one erected in almost every nearby village.”
“So it’s like a village guardian post.”
“Pardon?”
“Never mind. Just something I know.”
Donghee waved it off. Scrooge stared at her curiously, but she ignored him and turned her head away.
While the two were talking, the villagers began to gather in the square one after another.
Unlike their initial joy at spotting the carriage, the people called to the square all wore terrified expressions.
It was understandable, given they had been told to gather without any explanation.
The tension among the villagers heightened due to the presence of armed knights stationed for any potential incidents. Their shoulders hunched inward with worry and anxiety as they stood in small groups across the wide square.
“She’s not going to make us pay for the bread we ate yesterday, is she?”
“Surely not.”
However, even the man who answered didn’t sound certain.
“But that bread looked so precious. It wasn’t something people like us should be eating. We shouldn’t have been so reckless as to eat it.”
The voices of the people were full of regret and worry as they belatedly remembered how selfish and pathetic the Lord of Grace was.
“What if we’re sold as slaves because we can’t pay for the bread?”
One woman trembled with anxiety, thinking of her children waiting for her return inside a broken hut where the wind whistled through the gaps.
Donghee stepped up onto the platform Scrooge had prepared in advance.
Calling it a platform was an overstatement—it was just two old tables pushed together—but it was enough to draw everyone’s attention.
Donghee, who had never spoken in front of a large crowd, felt her fingertips tingle with nerves, but she composed herself and cleared her throat without showing it.
The thought of possessing more money than she could ever spend in a lifetime gave her a sudden surge of confidence.
Confidence really does come from money.
Donghee began to speak as loudly as she could.
Even without a megaphone, her voice was strangely loud and clear enough for everyone to hear.
“From today, we shall begin a village purification project! All subjects of the territory are to lend their hands to clean up the village!”
The long-neglected village was covered in filth in various places. The hygiene was so poor that it seemed like diseases would spring up out of nowhere, so she had chosen village purification as the first task.
As soon as Donghee finished speaking, the expressions of the gathered crowd turned grim.
To suddenly demand labor from people who had been starving for days and had only just received enough grain to stave off hunger yesterday—it was natural for complaints to arise.
Seeing the people’s faces turn red with indignation, Donghee hurried to continue.
She was slightly intimidated by the way their gazes turned aggressive in an instant, but she didn’t let it show.
“The daily wage will be generous. To those who participate in the purification work, I will pay 1 bron for adults and 3 coupe for children.”
It was the appropriate daily wage Scrooge had advised.
In her heart, she wanted to give them even 1 gold a day, but fearing it would cause great chaos, Donghee decided to follow Scrooge’s advice.
1 bron seemed to be an amount roughly equivalent to about ten thousand won for a day’s wage.
However, since Scrooge had emphasized several times that it was a more than sufficient amount, Donghee announced the wage loudly, even while feeling a bit uneasy.
At the mention of being paid a daily wage, the crowd began to murmur. Donghee worried for a moment that the sudden commotion was because the wage was too low and they were angry, but after carefully observing their expressions, she realized they weren’t angry and felt relieved.
It was a natural duty for the subjects to participate in labor at the Lord’s command.
And yet, she was offering to pay a daily wage?
Following yesterday’s events, the subjects’ faces were filled with confusion at yet another unbelievable occurrence.
Donghee watched them murmur in silence before raising one hand.
As if that were a signal, the people stopped whispering and stared at Chloe with wide, startled eyes.
Their gazes were still full of distrust, but here and there, a glimmer of hope was visible, so Donghee put even more strength into her voice.
Don’t be intimidated, don’t be intimidated!
Perhaps because she was chanting the mantra internally, her voice carried even more power than before.
“Butler Scrooge, the general manager of this project, will select the necessary personnel for each field. After hearing the instructions, you may begin work in the area you desire. The work will begin tomorrow. Before that, we will distribute food for this evening.”
As soon as Donghee finished speaking, wagons laden with grain entered the village.
She had nearly emptied the fief’s storehouses to bring this, but she didn’t regret it at all. After all, she could buy as much grain as she wanted now.
The murmuring of the crowd grew even louder.
