[Lord of Abundance] Chapter 56: The Golden Goose's Shock
Chapter 56: The Golden Goose's Shock
“You can raise more than just fish in these ponds. We can also plant those young wasabi sprouts around the banks.”
“Mm-hmm. Exactly.”
Old Tate nodded with a broad smile.
Truth be told, even if Kun had announced he was planning to raise naga instead of fish, Old Tate probably wouldn't have objected.
Raise fish?
Unlike the Azure Armored Bear King, who was quietly drooling at the thought, "Leon" looked utterly disdainful.
She had never heard of a lord who farmed fish.
On this entire continent, Kun was probably the only one.
Then again, looking at these emaciated peasants who could barely keep themselves fed...
Raise fish?
More like feed the fish.
Having only started work that day—and spending it far from Emerald Heart—"Leon" still had no real understanding of Fengrao Territory. She naturally judged it by the standards of every other noble domain she'd ever seen.
It wasn't really her fault.
After all...
There had never been a lord quite like Kun.
She assumed Old Tate was simply flattering his master.
What she didn't know was that if you replaced Old Tate with literally any resident of Fengrao Territory, the answer would be exactly the same.
Raise fish?
Are you insane? Those things are dangerous!
Lord Kun wants us to raise them?
Oh, then that's fine.
Tell me how. I'm in.
"Leon" still didn't understand what it meant for a lord to rank above even the Six Gods in the hearts of his people.
After working nonstop all morning, a massive pond nearly two hundred meters long and thirty meters deep finally began to take shape.
The Azure Armored Bear reinforced both the pond floor and its walls with earth magic. Since it was intended to store water, durability was essential.
“Lunch!”
"Leon's" stomach had been growling for ages.
She accepted the boxed meal with satisfaction.
There was meat.
There were vegetables.
That shameless scoundrel might be unethical in every possible way, but at least he knew how to treat a noble "guest."
Then she glanced at the lunchbox of the worker beside her.
It contained noticeably more food.
And...
An extra chicken drumstick.
She froze on the spot.
“Hey, big guy. Lord Kun saw how hard you worked. This is your reward.”
How could I not work hard?
The Azure Armored Bear King thought helplessly.
That terrifying devil stood there staring at me the whole time. I'd rather not end up skinned and turned into someone's rug.
Curiously, the bear looked at the clay jar that accompanied the reward.
Inside was a thick, golden liquid.
It scooped out a pawful and licked it.
"...?!"
“Roar!”
Serving the great High-Cranium Demon Lord is this bear's greatest honor!
Only "Leon" could understand the bear's speech.
She nearly smashed her lunchbox into its face.
A single jar of honey?
That's all it took to buy you?
Where's your dignity?!
That afternoon, seemingly injected with limitless energy, the Azure Armored Bear dug two more ponds identical to the first.
When work finally ended, Old Tate's sharp gaze swept back and forth between the thick-skinned bear...
And the thin-skinned Golden Egg Goose.
"Leon" felt her face burning.
You idiot!
If you'd slacked off quietly this morning, nobody would've noticed!
Now everyone knows you were holding back!
Do you really think you'll get away with it?
To her surprise, although Old Tate's expression remained stern, the evaluation he wrote on their work sheets read:
Excellent.
He even paid both her and the bear thirty copper coins.
I'm... not going back to the dungeon?
As she accepted the work slip, "Leon" felt as though she were floating.
As long as she wasn't thrown back into that underground prison...
She was satisfied.
As for the thirty copper coins—
Or rather, the strange paper currency issued only within Fengrao Territory—
As a member of the wealthy Golden Family, she barely spared it a glance.
That changed the moment she learned what it could buy.
“One copper coin... gets you two chicken drumsticks?”
She coughed awkwardly.
“I mean... aren't your prices a little... strange?”
Realizing she'd gotten far too excited, she quickly composed herself.
Unfortunately, the involuntary swallow that followed betrayed exactly what she was thinking.
One of the villagers responsible for hauling away the massive boulders dug up by the bear chuckled.
“Lots of the good stuff here can only be bought with the money Lord Kun gives us. Kingdom coins don't work.”
He scratched his head.
“Oh, right.”
“Lord Kun calls it... an internal discounted price.”
Internal discounted price?
Turning the unfamiliar phrase over in her mind, the daughter of the Golden Family immediately sensed both the scent of enormous wealth...
And something profoundly unsettling.
What exactly is that man trying to do?
Break away from the kingdom's monetary system... and create one of his own?
If he failed, it would amount to nothing.
But if he succeeded...
It could shake the very foundations of the Dansu Kingdom.
Even if you're a Saint...
Isn't this ambition a little too great?
“Mama... Bear-bear!”
A little girl in her mother's arms pointed happily at the Azure Armored Bear King.
Smiling, the mother took a piece of coarse black bread from her basket and held it out.
The bear accepted it without hesitation.
Its tongue flicked once, swallowing the tiny piece whole.
It wasn't even enough to get stuck between its teeth.
“Pat! Pat!”
The bear obediently lay on the ground, exposing its soft belly.
The little girl climbed onto it, giggling as she played.
Life is hard.
This bear has to perform for food.
Though... it'd be nice if the bread were a little bigger.
Nom. Nom.
"Leon" kept a straight face.
By now...
She was almost getting used to it.
An Azure Armored Bear King—a creature powerful enough to dominate part of the Forest of Eternal Darkness—wasn't bound by any Beast Tamer's contract.
Yet it behaved more gently than a sheep.
By the gods...
Am I the one who's gone mad?
Or has the entire world lost its mind?
After walking for a while longer, Emerald Heart Farm finally came into view.
A flicker of surprise crossed "Leon's" face.
But the moment she actually stepped through the village gates...
She rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
Where... am I?
Is this really the same place I visited just over half a month ago?
The streets were spotless.
Clearly, earth magic had been used to flatten and pave them.
The main road was wide enough for three carriages to travel side by side, stretching all the way toward the black, three-story castle in the distance.
On both sides stood rows of brick-and-timber shops built from fine fir wood.
A blacksmith.
A tailor.
An apothecary.
A general store...
Wait.
A general store?
And beyond them, countless new buildings were still under construction, revealing the lord's enormous ambitions.
These weren't merely practical structures.
As someone with refined aristocratic taste, "Leon" could immediately tell that genuine artistry had been woven into their designs.
When completed...
This would become an extraordinarily beautiful town.
But what shocked her most wasn't the architecture.
It was the cleanliness.
This was supposed to be the countryside.
Filthy.
Covered in mud.
Littered with animal waste.
Instead...
It was cleaner than the gardens surrounding her own family's count's estate.
She swore in the name of the Sky Goddess—
She had never seen a village this clean.
Actually...
Not even a city.
Even the nobles' district in the royal capital had dirty corners, spit on the streets, and all kinds of filth.
Here...
She seriously suspected that any random villager was cleaner than most nobles.
Her fellow worker eventually led her to a building bearing a large sign:
Fengrao Territory Public Bathhouse
At that moment...
Her suspicion reached its peak.
“Go wash up. Anyone covered in mud isn't allowed into the cafeteria.”
“Oh, don't worry.”
“It's free.”
“Anyone working for Lord Kun can use it.”
“Well?”
"..."
"Leon" stared at the entrance marked Men.
Then at the one beside it marked Women.
She found herself facing perhaps the greatest dilemma of her life.
Thanks to a rare magical artifact, everyone saw her as her third brother, Leon.
But that was only an illusion.
In reality...
She was still a woman.
If she entered the women's bath looking like this, she'd probably be chased out.
But entering the men's bath...
After hesitating for a long time, she finally reached beneath her clothes and removed a jeweled cufflink hidden inside.
The diamond-shaped accessory shimmered with red and gold hues, intricate magical circuits faintly glowing beneath its gem-like surface.
Had Kun been present, he would likely have recognized it immediately.
It was a priceless magical relic from the ancient Elven Empire.
The illusion vanished.
In its place stood a breathtakingly beautiful young woman with cascading long hair.
Everyone nearby stared blankly.
Lifting her chin proudly—
Like an elegant white swan—
She strode into the women's bathhouse without a backward glance.
An entire hour later...
Betty hurriedly fastened the magical cufflink back into place.
She was known as the Golden Swan—
The most beautiful noblewoman in southern Dansu Kingdom.
If that despicable Yalan ever saw her true appearance...
What if he developed some filthy ideas?
She couldn't resist him in her current situation.
Bah.
Shameless brute.
Thinking of something decidedly inappropriate, a faint blush quietly spread across her cheeks.
Meanwhile, the Azure Armored Bear King had also finished its bath.
The bathhouse manager happened to be a water-element magic apprentice.
His daily assignment—given by Mage Melwald—was to thoroughly wash every inch of the enormous bear from head to toe.
Unexpectedly...
After weeks of this "high-intensity magical training," the apprentice realized that the magical bottleneck that had trapped him for years was finally beginning to loosen.
Once upon a time, he'd hated this assignment.
Now...
He threw himself into it wholeheartedly.
In fact, cleaning the bear was no longer enough.
His eager eyes had begun targeting every single person who entered the bathhouse.
Numerous residents had already filed complaints with Vittorio, the acting security chief.
The bathhouse manager's gaze was simply too...
Hungry.
It was genuinely frightening.
Many strongly demanded that he be replaced.
After waiting quite some time, her enthusiastic coworker finally saw Betty emerge and led her straight to Fengrao Territory's public cafeteria.
“One copper coin for two chicken drumsticks.”
“One copper coin for the boxed lunch we ate earlier.”
“Three copper coins... buys a slice of cake?”
Betty's expression turned increasingly strange.
Her eyes immediately locked onto a beautiful cake decorated with bright red fruit.
Her instincts told her...
This has to be delicious.
“I'll have this.”
“And this.”
“And that one.”
Now in possession of the enormous fortune of thirty copper coins, Betty showed no restraint.
She ordered three slices of strawberry cake, each costing three copper coins.
One for herself.
One for the coworker who had helped her throughout the day.
And one for the Azure Armored Bear King.
After all...
Twenty-seven of those thirty copper coins had been earned by the bear.
She couldn't very well eat everything herself.
“Wow...”
“This is incredible.”
“It tastes even better than the desserts made by my family's pastry chef.”
Her coworker, tasting strawberry cake for the first time, wore an expression of pure bliss.
Completely immersed in its smooth, sweet flavor.
What is this taste?
The taste of happiness?
No...
This must be what the Goddess promised the most faithful believers in her divine kingdom.
“You've never eaten dessert before?”
Betty found that hard to believe.
It wasn't that expensive.
With what he'd earned today, buying a slice was easily within reach.
Her honest coworker answered matter-of-factly,
“Something this expensive?”
“Who'd buy it?”
“This isn't one of the kingdom's copper coins.”
“This is a Fengrao Territory copper coin.”
“Here, one coin can buy a whole sack of fine salt.”
“Or enough grain to feed a family of three for an entire day.”
“This little piece costs three coins.”
“Two bites and it's gone.”
“That's far too extravagant.”
Betty fell silent.
Only then did she truly remember...
The man sitting across from her was nothing more than an ordinary farmer.
Under normal circumstances, someone like him could never have shared a table with a great noble like herself.
Nor could he ever have tasted food that even she considered exceptional.
For some reason...
The cake in Betty's hands no longer seemed quite as sweet as it had only moments before
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