[Lord of Abundance] Chapter 55: Dietary Structure Reform Plan (Phase One)

 

Chapter 55: Dietary Structure Reform Plan (Phase One)

“Be careful on the road!”

Early the next morning, Nia led the convoy, taking half of Kun's Lord's Guard with her. A wagon loaded to the brim with a certain type of little blue pill—whose exact purpose was best left undescribed—rolled slowly toward the royal capital. It was pulled by Angrei Blackhorn Horses, sturdy beasts with half-magical bloodlines, while the people of Emerald Heart Farm sent them off with heartfelt blessings.

Leaving Fengrao Territory that day as well were Old Jili and the others from the Ice Fang Mercenary Company. Besides carrying a personal letter of introduction handwritten by Kun, they also brought home a family letter from "Leon," the third son of Count Breton.

Naturally, the letter claimed that "Leon" had willingly chosen to remain in Fengrao Territory as Kun's guest for a while and politely requested one thousand gold coins from his father for daily expenses.

As for the little tricks "Leon" had secretly hidden within the letter...

Kun simply pretended not to notice.

As the saying on Blue Star went: People won't give up until they hit the wall.

If nothing unexpected happened, Fengrao Territory would soon be welcoming a Legendary Great Warrior.

The Golden Family would understand soon enough which side was truly worth standing with.

That was exactly what Kun intended.

He planned to make Dawn, the Kingdom's Sword Saint, famous far and wide. Just the knowledge that such a figure stood behind Fengrao Territory would be enough to discourage a great deal of unnecessary trouble.

“Damn it!”

Covered head to toe in mud, shovel in hand, "Leon" glared fiercely at a certain shameless noble mage in the crowd. It was the first time in her life she'd ever worked as a ditch digger.

“Roar...”

Beside her, the Azure Armored Bear King, who had also been assigned to dig the pond, let out a low growl of consolation.

Easy there, little brother. That guy's a high-cranium demon wearing human skin. We're too small to take him on.

“Damn you, Yalan! A demon? He doesn't deserve that title! He's just a despicable scoundrel!”

"Leon," whose class was Intermediate Beast Tamer, spat onto the ground.

Laugh while you can. Once my letter reaches Father, you'll be the one crying.

“Back to work. If you slack off, I'll mark today's evaluation as Poor.”

The drama-loving bear and the golden egg-laying goose both shivered at the threat. They glanced at Old Tate, who sat leisurely outside the muddy pit supervising the work, but neither dared complain. Heads lowered, they resumed digging.

As the only two prisoners in all of Fengrao Territory, their treatment naturally differed from that of ordinary residents of Emerald Heart.

Not only did they have dedicated overseers—

They also had a dedicated punishment system.

If they tried to loaf around, they'd go hungry that night.

If they resisted Lord Kun's benevolent labor reform...

They'd be thrown right back into the underground dungeon beneath Blackstone Castle.

"Leon" truly had no desire to return to that cold, pitch-black place. Just hearing the word dungeon made a chill seep into her bones.

Just endure a little longer, Betty. Father will come save you soon.

And when he does, I'll rescue this poor Azure Armored Bear too.

Yalan, you miserable bastard... I'll make sure you experience that dungeon—and this mud-digging—for yourself.

Then I'll have the bear supervise you. If you don't work hard enough, it'll smack you straight into the mud.

Heh... hehehe...

As if venting every ounce of her resentment into the earth beneath her feet, "Leon"—or rather, Betty—dug with astonishing enthusiasm.

Old Tate nodded approvingly.

That's more like it.

These thick-headed fools only learned after a proper beating.

Others in the castle might fear the Golden Family's reputation.

He certainly didn't.

Forget a mere count's son—even if it were a count or a marquis, if the young master gave the order, he'd swing the whip without hesitation.

---

Meanwhile, after seeing off Fengrao Territory's trade caravan, Vittorio—the tax officer least favored by his lord—hurried over to Kun and immediately began reciting the territorial financial report that Kun found even more unbearable than the Tightening Spell.

In most noble domains, the tax officer was one of the lord's closest and most trusted officials.

With Kun, however, things were exactly the opposite.

Ironically, although tax officers were usually the least welcome people in noble territories, Vittorio was by far the most popular of Fengrao Territory's three chief officials.

Because every time he appeared in Emerald Heart...

It meant Lord Kun was about to deliver another one of his "gospels."

Before long, the villagers had begun calling every unbelievable decree issued by Lord Kun a divine revelation.

The kingdom wanted them poor.

Hungry.

Reduced to slaves.

But their lord had led them in building homes, reclaiming farmland, and treating them with dignity.

When the gods sent relentless storms and refused to leave them a path to survive, it was Lord Kun who used miraculous magic to disperse the heavy clouds that had blanketed the sky for half a month.

When wild beasts and magical creatures hunted them as prey...

Lord Kun personally led the guards into the Forest of Eternal Darkness and slaughtered hundreds of magical beasts.

Was this truly a lord?

No.

He was a god walking among mortals.

The greatest god imaginable.

No...

Even the gods couldn't accomplish what Lord Kun had.

He never made excuses.

He never lied.

Every promise he'd made upon arriving had been fulfilled—

And the reality had exceeded their dreams by hundreds, even thousands, of times.

Recently, every resident of Fengrao Territory had contracted a peculiar illness known as...

Lord Fanaticism Syndrome.

Even Grace, a Grand Apothecary, had no cure for it.

Or perhaps...

She herself had started catching it.

She had come here only because circumstances had left her no choice.

Yet somehow, she now felt as though she'd returned to her youth—the days when she'd first become an apothecary.

She seemed to possess endless energy and motivation.

What a strange territory.

What an extraordinary lord.

---

“You're saying things have been disappearing throughout Emerald Heart lately? Mostly food... along with a few insignificant odds and ends?”

Kun absentmindedly rubbed the knuckles of one hand against his lower lip—a habit whenever he was deep in thought.

He had expected another financial headache.

Instead, he'd received this report.

Someone was stealing...

Right under his nose?

Quite bold.

Vittorio smiled bitterly and nodded.

If the butler had been present, he would probably have scolded him mercilessly.

Something this trivial, and you disturb the young master? Why don't you hang yourself from a fir tree instead?

Food theft really was a minor issue now.

Not long ago, losing a little food might have meant an entire family starving to death.

Now...

The amount stolen each time wasn't much.

The problem was frequency.

Four or five households were hit every single day.

And Emerald Heart wasn't exactly a large village.

If this continued, strange rumors might begin spreading and unsettle the people.

Ordinarily, it wasn't even Vittorio's responsibility.

But after receiving Lord Kun's reward, Dawn had remained inside Blackstone Castle these past few days, unavailable to anyone.

So everything in Emerald Heart temporarily fell to Vittorio.

To catch the reckless thief, he'd personally led a squad of First-Rank guards, laid traps, and hidden nearby, waiting to catch the culprit red-handed.

Yet somehow...

The food vanished right before their eyes.

Not one of them had seen so much as a shadow.

It was as though...

A ghost had stolen it.

But what kind of ghost would dare stir up trouble under the nose of their great mage lord?

Was it tired of living?

The more Vittorio thought about it, the more unsettling it became.

Having exhausted every option, he had no choice but to report directly to Kun.

“Interesting.”

Excitement flashed across Kun's eyes.

If Old Tate had been there, he'd immediately have recognized that expression.

It only appeared whenever the young master encountered a particularly fascinating form of magic.

Sometimes...

It also meant someone was about to suffer.

Badly.

“First of all, we can rule out ghosts.”

Kun reached his conclusion without hesitation.

Not long ago, he had detonated a crystallized fragment of the Sky Goddess's divine power.

Even an ancient undead creature—at least Fourth Rank, perhaps Fifth Rank—had been purified.

No ordinary ghost would dare come anywhere near this place.

Besides...

Ghosts didn't eat human food.

So why would they go to all the trouble of stealing it?

If it wasn't a ghost...

Then who could steal right beneath the watchful eyes of an entire squad of trained First-Rank soldiers without anyone noticing?

Now this...

This is interesting.

Kun withdrew several magic scrolls from his storage ring and quietly instructed,

“Vittorio, distribute these scrolls. Place them beside every trap we've set.”

A smile spread across his face.

“Tonight...”

“Let's play a little game of catching ghosts.”

“Understood. I'll make the arrangements immediately.”

Vittorio hurried away with the scrolls.

Partly because he truly had been frightened.

He was an ordinary man with no means of protecting himself. Witnessing something so bizarre naturally left him uneasy.

And partly because he didn't want the flourishing Fengrao Territory to be plagued by fresh trouble.

If rumors of hauntings started spreading...

Things would become extremely difficult.

Such rumors could seriously hinder the territory's future development.

To prevent today's small problem from becoming tomorrow's great disaster, he had gritted his teeth and reported the matter to Lord Kun.

The fact that a grand mage and noble lord had been alerted simply because a farmer's food had been stolen...

Would have sounded absurd anywhere else.

Only Kun didn't mind.

---

With plenty of daylight remaining, Kun first inspected the newly excavated pond northwest of Emerald Heart Village.

“Young Master.”

Kun nodded in response, pleased with the pond's progress.

In truth, the main laborer had been the drama-loving bear.

The muddy figure beside it was merely there for decoration.

Still...

Fengrao Territory had no room for freeloaders.

So she could continue playing in the mud.

“Once it's finished, we'll divert water from upstream. When this reservoir is full, it'll supply enough water for a thousand people. After that, both the public bathhouse and the villagers' daily water needs will be taken care of.”

Fengrao Territory had a river.

A very large one.

Unfortunately, it lay far from Emerald Heart, forcing villagers to spend nearly an hour every trip just fetching water.

There was little choice.

Water sources attracted wild beasts and magical creatures, and even the monstrous fish in the river occasionally crawled ashore to attack people.

Building the village farther away was simply safer.

In the past, fetching water had never seemed troublesome.

When people were on the verge of starvation...

Who had the luxury of worrying about convenience?

But now things were different.

Daily water collection had become a genuine inconvenience—especially after Lord Kun introduced his almost excessively strict hygiene regulations.

Kun gestured through the air, outlining his plan for Old Tate.

“This is only the first pond. I'll make it deeper so it's used solely as a reservoir.”

He pointed farther downstream.

“As for the remaining ponds...”

“I plan to raise something interesting.”

A mysterious smile appeared on his face.

On the Continent of Eternal Dawn, almost nobody ate fish.

For one thing, local fish were incredibly dangerous.

For another...

They tasted terrible.

The result was rather bizarre.

Commoners didn't dare eat them.

Nobles looked down on them.

The only race that truly enjoyed fish was probably the naga living in the sea.

But things had been very different back on Earth.

There were countless species suitable for aquaculture.

If he could somehow obtain fish eggs...

There was no reason they couldn't be bred in this world as well.

After all...

He was the world's only Abundance Mage.

Meat.

Eggs.

Milk.

Fruit.

Vegetables.

His territory would have all of them.

Hmm...

Maybe he could raise crayfish and Chinese mitten crabs while he was at it.

The first phase of Fengrao Territory's Dietary Structure Reform Plan...

Would begin with these ponds.