Chapter 192: Abundant Assets

Shanlin Keep.

"Tom, is what you are saying true?" Chahar, the steward, raised his voice high, his face masked in pure disbelief.

Inside the room, Elrond, Irene, David, and Wilson, the administrative officer, were all present; upon hearing the news Tom brought back, they were filled with both astonishment and pleasant surprise.

"Chief Steward, I would never crack such a joke about a matter like this!"

Tom, who had returned to Shanlin Town alone, had long anticipated this exact reaction, and he smilingly recounted Ronin's experiences at Wushan Keep.

The assassination in the colosseum, the knight tournament, forcing Rayson to face trial—it all sounded thrilling and breath-taking, leaving David's eyes brimming with jealousy, wishing he had been the one to accompany him this time.

"Now, Lord Ronin is no longer just the Baron of Shanlin Town, but the Viscount of the entire Wubei Territory!"

Tom drew a large circle with his hand, "With the Seyn Territory as the boundary, the entire northern part of the Wushan Territory is now Lord Ronin's domain!"

Hiss!

Everyone gasped, especially Wilson, who had lived here for many years; he had no idea just how vast the northern part of the Wushan Territory was, yet it had now all become Ronin's domain?

"The Lord is truly..."

Wilson felt his mind spinning, unable to find the words to praise him.

It wasn't long ago that he had begun taking over the administrative affairs of all the villages, including Haitu Village, and he never expected the Lord to acquire yet another territory so quickly, and the very Swamp Town that used to belong to Baron Rayson at that.

The population of Swamp Town already exceeded the total sum of Shanlin Town and its subordinate villages, making it easy to foresee that Wilson's workload would be immensely heavy in the future.

Yet, far from dampening Wilson's enthusiasm, it instead showed him the possibility of climbing higher.

If the Lord had a bright future, then people like them who followed the Lord would achieve an extraordinarily brilliant life ahead, as long as they served him with undivided devotion!

Changing one's social class through the position of an administrative officer was no longer an impossibility.

In truth, it wasn't just Wilson who saw a grand avenue before him; Chahar felt the same way.

Since childhood, he had wanted to become the chief steward of a castle, originally thinking that fulfilling this dream would be exceedingly difficult.

But since following Ronin, he had not only moved into the castle quickly but had also swiftly transitioned from a personal valet to a steward, and now, after such a short time, he was actually about to transform into the steward of a viscount's territory.

All of this happened so dreamily that he could hardly bring himself to believe it.

If there were anyone still fairly composed in the hall, it was Elrond and Irene.

The former had interacted with Rydal and knew what plans the Lord had for this trip to Wushan Keep;

The latter simply didn't think too much, not yet realizing what Ronin's promotion from Baron to Viscount of the Wubei Territory meant, she merely thought that Brother Ronin was amazing, her eyes twinkling like little stars.

Seeing everyone immersed in pleasant surprise, Elrond reminded them, "Tom, shouldn't you tell us what the Lord needs us to do?"

Wilson and Chahar immediately snapped out of their delight; indeed, they had to keep up with the Lord's footsteps and could not afford to slack off.

"The Lord wants Wilson and Chahar to go assist him in taking over Swamp Town, likely to handle some matters."

Tom said, "In addition, I need to notify the commander to have him escort that assassin and all of Rayson's retinue knights to Swamp Town, where the knights from Wushan Keep will take them to Wushan City to face trial."

Elrond nodded, "A few days ago, in order to campaign against the Black Collar tribe, Rydal deployed almost all the knights of Shanlin Town. To prevent Umbra from taking the opportunity to escape, he was transferred to Haitu Village under guard; now, this assassin should be locked up in the cells of the Black Collar tribe along with Philiton and the others."

Umbra had, after all, reached the bronze level and possessed the ability of stealth; with even a slight lapse in vigilance, he would likely escape.

Rydal knew the importance of this witness, so he had him transferred right under his nose.

Tom looked at the sky outside, noting that there was still over an hour before dark, "Then I will head to the Black Collar tribe right now to bring this news to the commander."

"Leave this matter to me."

David stood up, "I've been traveling back and forth between the two places frequently of late, so I'm more familiar with the mountain paths."

Elrond agreed, "Tom, you take a good night's rest, and tomorrow morning you will take Wilson, Chahar, and the others to Swamp Town."

"Alright!"

Tom agreed with a smile, which also gave him time to see his mother, Leah, and share the news that he would no longer have to wear a mask in the future.

...

The change of territory ownership was nothing short of a catastrophe for those living in Swamp Keep; their good days had come to an end.

Similarly, the small landowners and citizens living in Swamp Town were also living in constant trepidation, for they did not know how this newly arrived lord would treat them.

Previously, under the rule of Baron Rayson, most of them managed to scrape a living by working day and night for the lord, and quite a few had even managed to save a bit of private property for themselves.

Now that the lord had changed, how would the new lord treat them? They fell into deep anxiety over their property, safety, and future.

In order to quickly calm the uneasy emotions of the residents of Swamp Town and help them return to a normal state of life as fast as possible, Ronin requested Mars and Baron Tarun to gather all the citizens in Swamp Town the following day.

Unlike Shanlin Town, Swamp Town had a relatively high proportion of freemen, and they had many questions, such as what had happened to the old lord, the identity of the new lord, and how the new lord would treat them, among other things.

It was apparent that the people of Swamp Town were a bit more active than the residents of Shanlin Town.

To these questions, Ronin replied very amiably.

He placed emphasis on introducing the crimes Rayson had committed, making the citizens realize that their former lord was a criminal and inherently evil;

At the same time, to further dispel the public panic, Ronin guaranteed that he would not violate the private property of the residents of Swamp Town, and would restore public order as quickly as possible.

Given Ronin's special identity from the Wushan family, coupled with a friendly exchange, the residents of Swamp Town finally gained a basic understanding of this new lord, and the unease and trepidation in their hearts diminished considerably.

Next, Ronin would select a group of people from among them to help manage Swamp Town, such as re-recruiting servants for Swamp Keep and hiring administrative assistants.

Using local people for management would, to a certain extent, enhance stability.

As long as a stable environment could be maintained and this group of citizens could devote themselves entirely to their labor, whether the lord had changed or not did not actually matter much to them.

"Lord Viscount, you truly have great patience with the citizens," Mars, who accompanied Ronin, could not help but remark with emotion.

In his view, the matter of soothing people's hearts could entirely be left to subordinates; as a lord, there was absolutely no need to waste time on such things.

After all, unless pushed to absolute extremes, the citizens would not leave this land.

"Initial communication and exchange are still necessary."

Ronin said with a smile, "This way, the citizens will feel respected, which can reduce unnecessary misunderstandings and suspicion, allowing them to quickly return to the normal track of life."

Mars nodded thoughtfully.

It appeared that the rising star before him not only possessed remarkable talent in cultivation but also had his own philosophy regarding territorial governance.

No wonder his father thought so exceptionally highly of him.

At noon, Tom arrived at Swamp Keep with Wilson and Chahar, accompanied by five administrative assistants whom Wilson had recently trained.

Now that his own people had arrived, Ronin began his operations.

The first thing to do was a census; every household and every person had to be registered.

Wilson had already conducted censuses many times, so Ronin did not need to urge him on the finer details; he would naturally arrange everything perfectly clearly;

The second step was to conduct an inventory of the assets in the castle, including grain, weapons, money, and so on; these assets would not be taken away by Wushan Keep and would all enter Ronin's pockets;

As the saying goes, killing and burning brings a golden belt; occupying a castle brought even more substantial wealth.

If nothing else, taking Rayson's savings into account, there were over three thousand four hundred gold coins, and that was merely cash, not including other supplies.

Although Ronin had spent over a thousand gold coins in Wushan City to purchase materials for making magic scrolls, by relying on the rewards and bounties obtained at Wushan Keep, the number of gold coins in his spatial ring actually reached close to seven thousand six hundred!

Unwittingly, he had no idea he had become so wealthy.