Chapter 573: Chapter 364: Modou Scholars (Part 2)

"In truth, we came here to pledge our loyalty to you, Lord Levi. While we cannot wield swords—even a Goblin is better suited for combat than we are—I dare say that every member of the Model Race is a good, knowledgeable lad." The diminutive old man, Tang Jin, was an honest sort. He didn’t shy away from admitting the Model Race’s lack of combat prowess, and he also made their usefulness clear.

"No problem. High Cliff Castle is in dire need of knowledgeable scholars like you, Elder Tang Jin." The Lord snapped his fingers.

High Cliff Castle was currently full of fighting men who were all but illiterate. Both accounting and internal affairs had fallen to Leiden and Tina. It had been manageable when the operation was still small, but as High Cliff Castle grew, the two of them found themselves increasingly overwhelmed.

Just calculating High Cliff Castle’s income and expenses took a tremendous amount of effort. He even had to personally take up the pen for certain political correspondence, as letters sent to the Noble Garden and the Royal Court had strict formatting requirements.

Leiden was his personal advisor, and he didn’t want the Giant Goblin to get bogged down by tedious administrative tasks.

"As you wish, esteemed Lord Levi, but..." As he spoke, the little old Turtleman, Tang Jin, grew uncharacteristically embarrassed and began to fidget.

Having freeloaded at High Cliff Castle for so many days made him a bit ashamed. However, he couldn’t change the matter he had discussed with his kinsmen just because of a few meals. This left the Model Elder, who prided himself on not bowing for a few pounds of rice, feeling rather awkward.

"Elder Tang Jin, please feel free to speak your mind. Here, I’ve always maintained that everyone has the right to be heard." Levi saw his demeanor and knew instantly they weren’t pledging fealty for nothing. ’They must have a request.’

’But they’re talented people, so of course they deserve some preferential treatment. As long as it isn’t too excessive, I don’t mind satisfying their request.’

"Ahem, Lord, would it be possible for us to have an audience with Lady Sophia?" Elder Tang Jin hesitated for a moment before finally speaking with a wry smile. Before Levi could reply, he continued, "The Model Race possesses a trace of a Giant Dragon’s Bloodline. It may be hard to believe, but it is the truth. Therefore, we implore you, Lord Levi, to allow us a glimpse of Lady Sophia’s true form. If we old fellows can fulfill this dream before we return to the earth, our turtle-lives will be without regret."

His face was filled with sincerity, and the seven Turtlemen behind him also fixed their expectant gazes upon the Lord.

Levi’s mouth fell slightly agape. He took a serious look at the old Turtleman. ’I can’t believe the Model Race are fans!’

’And I never thought I’d one day be able to recruit scholars by borrowing the reputation of that timid, cowardly goofball, Sophia.’

This condition would be very easy to fulfill, but unfortunately, Sophia was currently hibernating.

"Elder Tang Jin, I’m very sorry, but Sophia is hibernating right now, so I can’t let you see her," Levi said helplessly.

Only a few of High Cliff Castle’s leaders knew about Sophia’s hibernation. After all, a Giant Dragon’s slumber could be incredibly long. During that time, enemies wouldn’t have to worry about Dragon Breath raining down from the sky, which would inevitably invite contempt from some lowlifes. That was why he had kept the news under wraps.

The Turtlemen were dumbfounded. No wonder they hadn’t seen Her Highness Sophia at all since arriving at High Cliff Castle. At the time, they had guessed she might have been away with the Lord of High Cliff Castle. They had waited with bated breath, only to find out she was hibernating.

"Lord Levi, we have plenty of time to wait for Lady Sophia to awaken," Elder Tang Jin finally said, being very understanding. "Seeing her sooner or later makes no difference. For now, let us take on our proper duties. Time always passes a little faster when one is busy."

"Then I’ll have to trouble you, Elder Tang Jin. High Cliff Castle does have a large backlog of administrative work," Levi said, breathing a sigh of relief.

He had been terrified that this group of Turtlemen would turn around and leave the moment they heard they couldn’t see Sophia. After all, scholars were generally a stubborn lot, and the more profound their knowledge, the more obstinate they became.

Fortunately, these Turtlemen were very understanding and much easier to get along with than he’d imagined. They were extremely amicable.

...

The Turtleman scholars demonstrated an astounding level of initiative. After breakfast, they took over High Cliff Castle’s finances, construction records, population census, and more from Tina.

They sat in a study built specifically for handling such matters, hunched over tables as they pored over page after page of parchment, studying High Cliff Castle’s finances, taxes, trade, and expenditures...

"So unprofessional! So irrational! What a waste!"

The more they studied, the more they shook their heads. Being outspoken, they directly pointed out that the data was too crude and that there were even errors in many places.

This made Tina, who had always been in charge of these matters, blush like a fresh red apple. ’And here I was, thinking I’d been handling it all so well. I can’t believe there were so many mistakes.’

Then, the Turtleman scholars pointed out an even more serious problem. Just by looking at the data, they could tell that High Cliff Castle was currently operating at a deficit. Although the profits from the arms trade were substantial, they were only enough to cover the living expenses of the castle’s subjects.

Military and territorial development were being funded entirely out of the Lord of High Cliff Castle’s own pocket.

This was a very abnormal situation. In a proper noble’s domain, the subjects should not only sustain their own lives, but their taxes should also be sufficient to maintain the military and fund territorial development.

Although High Cliff Castle’s policy of not levying taxes was enough to earn the highest respect even from the Great Monks.

But frankly, if things continued this way, the domain was doomed to stagnate.

Elder Tang Jin and his fellow scholars unanimously agreed that if the Lord wanted to be considerate of his subjects, he could appropriately lower the taxes, but he could not completely forego them.

Faced with the old Turtlemen who could grasp High Cliff Castle’s situation merely from looking at parchment, Levi gave them a sincere thumbs-up.

At the same time, he expressed his own view: High Cliff Castle was just starting out, and its subjects didn’t even own plots of land, making it unsuitable for taxation.

He planned to first reclaim vast tracts of fertile land in the Wilderness, then distribute them to the families of meritorious Warriors, and only then gradually extend the policy to other subjects.

Levi knew well that Rome wasn’t built in a day; everything had to be done slowly.

As for whether there was enough land to distribute, he wasn’t worried at all.

Seventy percent of the entire Wilderness was plains, making it a natural breadbasket.

The harsh environment and rampant weeds were no problem at all for High Cliff Castle, which possessed the Soil Fertility Technique.

They just needed to plow the grasslands, let the sun bake the soil, and then apply the Soil Fertility Technique. The land would be ready for planting immediately, and the following year’s harvest would be outstanding. The only unfortunate thing was that, to date, only Old Neil and one other Kobold knew the Soil Fertility Technique.

After he explained his ideas, he received the Turtlemen’s approval, which made the Lord feel even more confident.

After all, these old fellows had lived for over a hundred years. They had truly eaten more salt than he had eaten rice; they were all seasoned veterans.

To a large extent, they understood the underlying rules of how this world worked better than he did.

He exchanged a few more ideas with Tang Jin, and only when both sides felt they had gained much from the discussion did the Lord leave with his arm around Tina.

’Starting today, I can finally be a hands-off manager,’ he thought. ’I just need to make sure the general direction is correct.’

"Now I can finally relax too." Tina stuck out her tongue playfully. She had thought she was handling everything well, but it turned out that compared to the professionals, she was sorely lacking.

"That’s great. You can just focus on being a good housewife and give me a bunch of healthy sons." Levi chuckled, his hand naughtily shifting a few inches lower.

"Brother-in-law!" Just then, Mier came running over from the blacksmith forge, a look of excitement on his face. It was only when he got closer that he noticed his sister was there too, glaring at him for some reason.

"Oh, sis, you’re here too," he said, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish chuckle.

"What is it?" Levi nonchalantly pulled his hand back.

"My research on the new type of Magic Crystal Arrow was a success! The Griffin Knights are preparing to test-fire it now."

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