Although the immigrants arrived sooner than expected, it wasn't entirely unforeseen. Building housing for thousands of people within a month or two was clearly impossible. For the time being, they planned to set up temporary tents and gather manpower to expedite construction. After all, people needed a place to live before they could be put to work. The main issue was the lack of lumber, making it uncertain when or even if construction could begin. The longer it took to build housing, the worse the living conditions would become. Claude scratched his head and looked at Wendy with a pleading expression. “What do we do?” “...I honestly don’t know.” “You say ‘honestly’ when you really don’t know, huh?” “...” Even though Claude, the head steward, didn’t have a solution, it wasn’t like Wendy would have any brilliant ideas either. After all, her main job as an aide was to guard Claude. After mulling over the problem, Claude sighed and shook his head to push aside his thoughts. There was no time to waste on worrying. He needed to finish the current transaction and move on to the next task quickly. “Let’s discuss the price later. Is there anything else wrong?” he asked. The merchant, with a serious expression, replied, “There haven’t been any major issues yet, but... if this level of purchasing continues, problems will eventually arise.” “What kind of problems?” “You’re flooding Fenris with too much money. The prices in the North are starting to fluctuate wildly. While it’s beneficial for merchants like myself, some people are bound to suffer because of it.” The North was already a barren region to begin with. Now, with all of its meager resources being bought up by the Fenris territory, prices were naturally rising, and in some cases, supplies were drying up completely. “Hmm... Did we buy too much? But we only bought what we needed. We’ll have to keep buying more in the future, though.” “Most of what you’re buying is raw materials, right? Since Fenris is absorbing all of them, it’s inevitable that others doing business in the area are becoming disgruntled—especially the nobles. You know that, right?” Claude understood exactly what the merchant was saying. Because of Ghislain's relentless policies, an enormous amount of money had been flowing into the North. Saying they were throwing money around wasn’t an exaggeration. The merchants, thrilled to have such a generous customer, were grinning ear to ear, but not everyone was happy. The peasants of the poorer territories likely didn’t care who was buying or selling, but the nobles, who were deeply involved in economic activities, must have been furious. Claude nodded several times in agreement. “The nobles must absolutely despise our lord. Honestly, even I—ahem—let’s pretend I didn’t say that.” “It’s not the common people in big cities who are affected; they barely notice the price fluctuations. The real problem is the other lords and nobles.” A young, upstart lord had suddenly appeared and was disrupting the market in the North, buying up everything. Under normal circumstances, they would have formed an alliance and struck back, either crippling him financially or sabotaging his efforts. But behind that young lord stood the Marquis of Branford. So the nobles, though fuming, could only watch helplessly from the sidelines. They must be seething with jealousy and frustration, wishing they could wrest everything Ghislain controlled out of his grasp. Understanding the situation, Claude decided to make one last attempt at negotiation with the merchant. “I’ll keep that in mind. But... let’s take 1 gold off the price.” “Pardon?” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚 “Just take 1 gold off.” The merchant couldn’t hide his bewilderment. They had already negotiated the price during their last meeting, and the payment had already been made. ‘Isn’t haggling supposed to be done before you pay?’ The merchant couldn’t understand Claude’s reasoning, but this was simply Claude’s last shred of dignity. If he withheld a portion of the payment, it would be considered embezzling the territory’s funds. But if he paid the full amount and then asked for a small refund, he could pretend it was a sort of bonus for himself. That’s why he was trying to prolong the transaction, even after it had ended. “We’ve done business more than once, haven’t we? And we’ll do more in the future! Just take 1 gold off.” “...” The merchant stared at Claude suspiciously. The timing of his request was strange, and so was the amount. Asking for just 1 gold? That was a minuscule amount, especially for a steward of a territory. It was so odd that it made the merchant more suspicious. ‘What’s this about? Should I report this to Lady Amelia?’ No matter how much he pondered, the merchant couldn’t find a logical reason. The fact that Claude was more of a slave than a steward was unknown to him, so he couldn’t come to the correct conclusion. Claude’s request for just 1 gold was not part of some scheme. It was simply driven by a pure, almost pitiful, desire. When the merchant remained silent, Claude grew impatient and pressed further. “What, you can’t even give me 1 gold? Are you really going to be like this after all we’ve been through? Are you planning to stop doing business with us?” “Uh... No, I suppose I can manage that.” In the end, the merchant gave up on trying to figure it out and pulled 1 gold from his pocket. Claude happily accepted the gold and slipped it into his coat pocket. “Ah, thank you so much. See you next time. Let’s have a drink together sometime. The liquor in our territory is pretty terrible, though.” He was subtly hinting for the merchant to bring a good bottle of liquor next time. The merchant understood the message and, with a slightly reluctant expression, nodded. “Well, I’ll be sure to bring something good. I’ll be on my way now.” “Yes, take care. I’ll be nearby.” As the merchant rode off, Claude waved cheerfully, though the merchant could only muster a forced smile. ‘I think I’m starting to understand why Lady Amelia dislikes these people.’ The absurdly low amount of money he had just haggled over didn’t make sense, but one thing was clear—Claude knew how to squeeze people. If even the steward was like this, how much worse must that lord be? Ghislain was notorious for being one of the worst noble brats in the North, so it wasn’t hard to imagine. ‘Getting dumped by Lady Amelia must have been well deserved. But what’s the deal with that 1 gold? Is it some kind of signal to Lady Amelia?’ The merchant, unsure whether or not to report the incident, left Fenris deep in thought. Watching the merchant disappear into the distance, Claude grinned to himself. “Heh, the lord said they were enemies, so it’s fine to take 1 gold from them, right?” In his mind, he had just stolen 1 gold from an enemy. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless. Claude happily slipped his hand into his coat pocket, wanting to relish the feel of his own money for the first time in a long while. “Huh?” But there was no coin in his pocket. Thinking he must have made a mistake, he frantically searched every pocket, but still found nothing. “What the... Where did my money go?!” He searched the ground around him, but the gold was nowhere to be seen. After a long search, Claude finally gave up and cried out to the sky. “Why can’t I, Claude, ever be happy?!” “Sigh...” Wendy shook her head as she watched Claude's outburst. She quietly walked over to the treasury box and was about to put in a gold coin but paused. After glancing at the wailing Claude, Wendy sighed again and called out to him. “Steward, there’s a gold coin on the ground here.” “Really? Did you find it? How did it end up over there? Did the coin grow legs? Hehe, I found it.” Claude rushed over to Wendy and eagerly accepted the coin. The joy on his face as he carefully placed it back into his pocket was unparalleled. The people of Fenris couldn’t help but all have the same thought as they watched the immigrants steadily pouring into the territory. “Are they beggars?” Judging by their ragged appearance and gloomy expressions, one could easily mistake them for refugees rather than immigrants. They looked malnourished, with some of them even appearing sick. The retainers clicked their tongues as they observed the state of the new arrivals. “Judging by their condition, we won’t even be able to put them to work right away. This is just going to cost us money.” “It’s good that we’re getting more people, but... couldn’t we get better ones? Where did the lord even find people like this? Could it be that the lord got scammed?” It wasn’t just the retainers. Even the existing residents of Fenris looked on with concern at the incoming immigrants. It wasn’t out of territorial pride or prejudice, but rather a survival instinct they had developed after years of hard living. The sudden influx of so many new people made them worry about security and food supplies. Only Ghislain looked at the immigrants without much emotion. He had already anticipated that those sent would be in poor condition. “No one would willingly send healthy people,” he thought. Even though it had been decided that Ghislain would receive support, population is the backbone of any territory and the greatest asset to a lord. Given how greedy the nobles were, there was no way they would send competent craftsmen or able-bodied people. Instead, they had gathered the poor and struggling, sending them off under the guise of ‘relief efforts.’ In reality, they had cleaned out the slums. They had even rounded up those from villages that couldn’t pay taxes, slash-and-burn farmers, and petty criminals. The nobles didn’t care what happened to them once they were sent away. Brivant, the territory that had promised to support Ghislain, was rich in money but low in population, and they had the Red Flame Tower at their disposal. Though it might take some time, they assumed Ghislain would be able to manage feeding these people. As Ghislain looked over the new arrivals, he turned to Lowell, who was standing beside him. “Lowell, start conducting a census immediately. Sort those who can work from those who can’t. Tell Belinda to start treating the sick, and send the healthy ones to Gillian. We’ll be short on manpower for maintaining order.” “Yes, my lord.” “And as for the spies... Actually, forget about it for now. We can worry about them later. As long as they don't leave, they can’t do any harm.” There were surely spies from other territories mixed in with the immigrants. But trying to identify spies among people who had come from all across the kingdom was no easy task. With so many pressing issues, Ghislain couldn’t afford to waste energy on that. It was impossible to completely prevent spies from slipping in anyway. The best solution was simply not to let them leave. “Where’s Claude?” “He went to deal with the merchant. He should be back shortly.” “When he returns, have him ensure proper food distribution to the immigrants. They’re probably very hungry.” “Understood. I’ll take them to the temporary housing for now.” Since the construction of the housing had not yet been completed, the immigrants would have to live in tents for the time being. To prevent any unrest, mercenaries were deployed to control the crowds. Surprisingly, there were no major disturbances. The immigrants, seemingly anxious about being in an unfamiliar place, followed instructions without causing trouble. Lowell, in place of the absent Claude, led the immigrants to the temporary housing. “This is where you’ll be staying for now. I know it’s not ideal, but please be patient. We’ll provide proper housing as soon as we can. In the meantime, food will be distributed daily, so there’s no need to worry about going hungry.” The immigrants stared at the rows of tents set up before them. Lowell felt his face flush with embarrassment. These people had been forcibly relocated to Fenris at Ghislain’s request, and they likely had expectations about what their new living arrangements would be like. But here they were, being told to live in tents because the territory couldn’t even provide proper housing. It was shameful. However, the reaction from the immigrants was unexpectedly positive. “Wow, the tents are clean. This is better than where I was living before!” “As long as it keeps the rain out, what else do we need? Not starving is the most important thing.” “They’re going to give us food every day? We won’t starve anymore. But... can we really trust that?” Hearing their murmurs, Lowell nodded to himself. ‘They really did send nothing but beggars.’ It was easy to forget, now that things had improved somewhat, but Fenris itself had been a place where people used to die from hunger not so long ago. Remembering those times, Lowell couldn’t help but understand where the immigrants were coming from. ‘For now, as long as they’re fed, they’ll be happy.’ He sighed inwardly and began organizing the immigrants, assigning them tents. Meanwhile, as Ghislain was heading back to his office, Claude came running up, breathless. “My lord, we have a problem!” Ghislain frowned. His head was already buzzing with work, and now there was more trouble? “What is it now? You always have some kind of problem.” “This time it’s a real problem.” “What is it?” “We’ve run out of lumber. At this rate, not only will the housing construction be delayed, but all our plans will be thrown off.” Ghislain’s expression grew serious at Claude’s words. He had already accounted for the fact that the territory wouldn’t be able to supply enough lumber on its own, so they had been purchasing extra from merchants. Even so, the shortage had occurred faster than expected. “Damn, this territory really is a mess. No matter how much money I throw at it, the problems never seem to go away.” “With so many construction projects happening across the territory, materials are being consumed too quickly. We’ve reached the limits of both what the territory can supply and what we can buy from merchants. The issue isn’t just money; it’s time.” Money wasn’t the problem. If needed, Ghislain could extort more from Rosaline under the pretense of needing funds for cosmetics. But more time meant more lives at risk. After a moment of thought, Ghislain suddenly had an idea and let out a soft ah. “There’s a way to get a large amount of lumber quickly! And it won’t even cost us any money!” “What? Where? How are we going to get that much wood? And why won’t it cost us?” “We’ll go to Ferdiem.” “Ferdiem...? Do you mean the Forest of Beasts? If we even cut down the edge of the forest, monsters and predators will pour out!” Seeing Claude’s alarmed reaction, Ghislain clicked his tongue. “Of course not. Who has the time to deal with the Forest of Beasts right now? That’s for later.” “Then how... Wait, you don’t mean—?” Ghislain grinned. “If we’re short on resources, we’ll just have to take from their forest and mountains. Ferdiem and our territory are tied together by fate, aren’t they?”