Became the Owner of a Poor Estate
Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Donghee’s eyes were aching, and she was about to simply answer ‘yes’ when she remembered that opening the shop had already cost her 60 points. She asked cautiously, glancing across at the butler to make sure he wasn’t waking up.
Perhaps due to exhaustion, the butler had leaned his head against the carriage wall and was now fast asleep.
“Do I have to pay points just to see the organized list?”
-You are unnecessarily sharp. You only need to pay an additional 5 points to view the organized list.
The price is cheap enough that even a monster from the back alleys could afford it, but since it might be quite a burden for a dirt-poor user like you, I will provide the first viewing for free.
Donghee wasn’t sure whether to say thank you or swear at it. While she hesitated, the status window flashed with rainbow colors for a moment, then revealed lines of text with a crisp scrolling sound.
-Here is the list of items available for 60 points.
Attention-Grabbing Whistle / Can draw the attention of at least 200 people at once.
Power-Up Gloves / Exert strength ten times greater than your usual power (based on the user’s base strength).
Thermal Cloak / Helps maintain body temperature in extreme cold. (For 1 person. Effect is halved when used by 2 people.)
There were only three items on the list, but they were quite tempting.
After careful consideration, Donghee chose option number 2, which seemed most suitable for protecting herself in her current situation. She didn’t know exactly how much Herculean strength she would possess, but being ten times stronger than usual sounded like it would be quite useful.
The moment she thought of number 2 in her mind, something dropped onto her lap from thin air with a soft thud.
Since they were called power-up gloves, she had expected something like leather gauntlets, but the items she purchased were dainty lace gloves.
Her first thought was: Did I get scammed?
However, the moment she put the gloves on, Donghee could instinctively feel that her grip strength had become incredibly powerful.
She didn’t particularly like the frilly lace design, but the effect seemed quite excellent. She felt a surge of power in her hands that hadn’t been there just a moment ago.
“The Hidden Shop is actually pretty good.”
For something bought with only 60 points, it was quite useful.
Donghee considered taking the gloves off and putting them in her inventory, but decided to keep them on just in case.
-60 points have been deducted for the purchase of the Power-Up Gloves. Your current remaining points are 0. You are a total beggar.
“Hey!”
Stung by the final comment, she shouted out in frustration. The blue window quickly vanished, and she found the butler staring at her blankly.
“Gasp! I-I am sorry. I stayed up late last night, and…!”
Startled awake, the butler hurriedly apologized while scrambling to pick up the documents he had dropped on the floor.
Because he had been nodding off against the carriage wall, his half-white hair was a mess, looking like a bird’s nest.
Seeing an elderly man fawning and apologizing so profusely to her, Donghee waved her hands in embarrassment.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“I-Is that so?”
The butler asked back, though he didn’t look entirely convinced.
“Yeah. I just dozed off for a second and had a nightmare.”
“Ah… do you still have nightmares often?”
It was just a random excuse, but the butler asked with a deeply tensed face. While Donghee was just opening and closing her mouth, unsure of what to say, the carriage gradually slowed down and came to a stop.
They had arrived at Morta Village.
Ruins.
That was the first word that came to Donghee’s mind when she saw Morta Village.
“My Lady, this village absolutely needs food rations. There has been a drought for two consecutive years, so the crops have withered away, and sick people are appearing everywhere. If things continue like this, everyone in Morta Village will starve to death. Please, just this once, show some mercy and…”
Sitting across from her, the butler, who had been looking uncomfortable for a while, spoke rapidly as if he had finally made up his mind. Seeing him squeeze his eyes shut and pour the words out like a machine gun, it seemed he had been bracing himself to say this for a long time.
“Do it.”
At the ready answer, the butler stared blankly before asking back slowly.
“…Pardon?”
“I said, bring some food here.”
Donghee replied while looking out the window, unable to even step out of the carriage yet.
Judging by how the butler had launched into a long explanation before she could even speak, it seemed he had requested food supplies multiple times, only to be rejected every time by the person who was the Lord. They ignored people in this state? And the Lord did that?
Donghee thought of the warm soup and soft bread she had eaten this morning.
Thinking that she was the only one eating delicious food in a luxurious place while people who might have been starving for days were so close by, an indescribable sense of guilt washed over her.
Furthermore, these people were under the Lord’s responsibility.
Ding, ding, ding.
-The current favorability of the fief residents is -199,450.
-The current favorability of the fief residents is -199,550.
-The current favorability of the fief residents is -199,770.
.
.
-The current favorability of the fief residents is -200,950.
The rapidly decreasing favorability soon surpassed minus 200,000.
Dammit.
As Donghee stood up abruptly, the butler, who had been wearing a dazed expression, stood up awkwardly as well.
“Are you going to step out?”
“Yes.”
“It could be dangerous.”
The butler whispered, glancing out at the bleak landscape outside the carriage with a voice full of lingering anxiety.
Above all, the animosity the villagers held toward the Lord was no joke. Although she was a Lord with no particularly likable traits, she was still the last hope of the Grace Territory.
Donghee wanted to get out and examine the village more closely.
“That’s why I came with the knights. Send someone to bring food to distribute right now.”
“How much…?”
The butler couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. He feared she might change her mind any second and throw a tantrum about leaving this filthy village immediately.
“Enough so that these people can eat their fill for now.”
“We don’t have that much.”
There was no strength at all in Butler Scrooge’s voice as he answered.
Donghee let out a deep sigh and then asked in a voice so low that others couldn’t hear.
“Then how much food is currently in the castle’s warehouse?”
Her heart was pounding throughout the question. It felt very similar to the feeling of receiving an electricity bill when you have no money to pay it, and stress involuntarily began to prickle at her.
Scrooge frowned for a long time as if agonizing over it, then answered with an incredibly solemn expression.
“If we scrape every last grain of grain from the warehouse, it would last the people of this village for about three days.”
“Then the people in the castle will have nothing to eat.”
“Yes.”
It was a difficult situation either way. However, she couldn’t just do nothing when people who looked like they were about to starve to death were lined up right before her eyes.
“For now, bring out enough for them to fill their stomachs today. I’ll take care of what happens after that.”
“Yes! Understood.”
The butler was overjoyed by Donghee’s words and hopped out of the carriage, scurrying over to the Knight Commander who had come along.
When the carriage door opened, the air inside turned chilly in an instant.
Donghee pulled the cloak Thelma had draped over her shoulders tighter and surveyed the outside of the carriage with a heavy heart.
Even the brief chill that entered the carriage made her body shiver, yet the children in the ruined village were wearing only thin clothes. Many among them were even walking barefoot.
If she were to see the ‘kkotjebi’ street children of North Korea, they would likely look exactly like this.
“This is truly the worst.”
The scene before Donghee was so bleak she didn’t even know where to begin.
First, she had to get out of the carriage.
As soon as the carriage door opened, a nearby knight ran over and placed a step stool under the carriage to make it easier for her to descend.
Donghee stepped out of the carriage, being careful not to fall. How terrible would it have been if she had come wearing a dress covered in layers of lace? Just thinking about it made her shudder.
The air outside the carriage was dry and cold.
Unlike other days when the carriage would just pass by or occasionally stop while she peeked out before disappearing like a fleeing tail, as the Lord stepped out of the carriage, people who had been hiding deep inside their houses began to appear one by one.
“Ah…”
It was chilly weather, equivalent to early November in Korea.
Among those who slowly crept outside, not a single person was wearing a proper coat.
“Is this the only clothing these people have? In this cold weather. They’re going to catch a cold at this rate.”
Donghee asked the butler, who had approached her again after sending word to the castle.
“They likely traded whatever clothes they had left for food. What they are wearing now is probably their last set of clothes.”
The butler explained kindly in response to the question, but his tone was somehow accusatory.
“Did you explain this situation to me before?”
Donghee asked, just in case.
The butler looked at her with an expression that asked what on earth she was talking about.
“Yes. I told you last month, and even last week.”
“Tsk!”
There was nothing to say other than clicking her tongue.
The eyes of the people—scared and hiding here and there like starving field mice—were filled with wariness, fear, and resentment.
She felt she had to at least distribute the food she currently had.
Since there were many eyes watching, Donghee pretended to take something out from inside the carriage and pulled out all the bread she had loaded into her inventory.
At Donghee’s gesture, the bread that had been packed tightly into each slot tumbled down onto the carriage seat.
“This isn’t enough. I need to expand the inventory quickly.”
Donghee muttered, looking at the bread that seemed woefully insufficient.
“Butler.”
Donghee called the butler. At that, the butler, who had been standing outside talking to the Knight Commander, quickly turned his head.
He still looked exhausted, but somehow more energetic than before.
“Distribute this to the people for now.”
The butler’s eyes widened as he received the pile of bread Donghee was pulling out from the carriage.
These were things that certainly hadn’t been there when they rode in the carriage together.
