CHAPTER 84: THE LORD OF THE LAND.

Reacting quickly, Zani stepped to the side, the gust of mist speeding past her.

She then grabbed Sophia by the hand, pulled her closer, and wrapped her hand around her neck.

Sophia, not wanting to back down, did the same, holding Zani by the neck.

Suddenly, they both halted, looking each other in the eyes.

"What did you do?" Sophia whispered.

At such a close range, she could easily use her mist and kill Zani. Yet, her body was not responding to her.

It was as though it was afraid to harm Zani.

"I’m sure you must have realized it by now. As the first subordinate of my prince, harming me will bring a direct punishment to you. Right now, your body must be warning you about it."

Zani released her hand from around Sophia’s neck and then took a couple of steps back.

Even then, Sophia was still staring hard at Zani, clearly angered.

More because she knew Zani was right—for some reason, her body was refusing to act, giving slight warnings as to the consequences that would follow.

She sighed, scratching her head.

"I really don’t like you, not one bit."

"I don’t care either, but as my master’s follower, I have no choice. If you wish to sleep, I’ll take you to your room."

Sophia narrowed her gaze. "One of these days, I’ll kill you."

"Till then..."

"Gah!" Sophia, frustrated, stormed past her, the bottom of her white dress scraping against the ground.

Watching her walk away, Zani sighed, then turned her gaze toward her hand.

There, she could see a bit of the black mist eating away at her skin, though it was already clearing away.

"What kind of summon has my lord brought into this world?"

She shook her head, erasing the thought before she walked away.

...

The next morning...

Sylus was already up and refreshed.

Dressed in his royal attire, he was seated at his working table, with papers stacked in front of him.

Most of them were information about the county of Linye, as well as the estimated budget and resources.

While he was in his room working on these, his subordinates were out doing other things.

For example, Sophia was in the room with him, making sure she attended to him whenever he needed anything, which was mostly gathering information from The Pillars.

Alfred was taking care of the mansion and making sure the workers were accounted for; that also included the soldiers.

As for Zani, she had gone to the main capital to speak with Elizabeth and deliver a list of things Sylus had requested.

This meant that, at the moment, Sylus was focused on two main things:

What the city lacked, and how to fix it.

With one hand holding a pen and the other a paper, Sylus turned to the system notification—

[Would you like to activate your aspect, Lord of the Land?]

The aspect Lord of the Land was an aspect he had gotten many years ago. He knew the importance of this ability, but he wasn’t in a position to use it then. Now is a different case.

With this ability, everything he needed to be a ruler was at his fingertips.

For starters, the aspect allowed him to get a rating on people who were more efficient in certain tasks. This was something he used on the Pillars before he gave them their lands, respectively.

In addition to that, he could also see the level of those who were loyal to him in his territory, though no one had gone below the score of 90.

There was also the fact that, with this aspect, he had information about everything in his territory. This included the population of every town and village, condition, value, number of leaders, status, and much more.

In truth, the ability was quite vast—so much so that even Sylus had no idea what its limit was.

To make matters better, it was evidently linked to his system, making the efforts less taxing.

’Yes, sure. Give me the current status of Linye.’ he replied.

[Request confirmed.]

[Territory status — County of Linye.]

The first multiple screens popped up.

[Total population: 54,000.

Demographic spread: (0–13): 29%, (14–55): 61%, (56+): 10%]

Sylus moved his gaze to another screen.

[Military strength:

Royal guard (Sigil-bearing): 178.

Unblessed Militia/Volunteer soldiers: 300

Training status: Fully trained (34%), Untrained (24%).

Star-blessed soldiers: 11 (Including Alfred, the Man Slayer)]

He folded his hands.

’True, on that day, not all the soldiers were gathered for the raid against the Red Vipers. Still, to think there were that many left. Eh? I’m pretty sure a few of them got their sigils after the battle.’

He moved his gaze toward the population screen.

’What is the percentage of people without jobs amongst the age 14–55?’

[78%]

’Wow, that’s a high number. So job opportunities are at an all-time low. I’m guessing it’s only for the lower city?’

’I need information on the economy.’

[Understood.]

[Current treasury balance: 34,000 gold coins.

Monthly tax revenue estimate: 8,500 gold coins.

Monthly expenses: 6,900 coins.

Civilian welfare: 1,000 coins.

Military wages: 1,000 coins.

Infrastructure: 2,000 coins.

The rest of the budget is unaccounted for.]

Sylus’s eyebrow twitched. ’That bastard was spending all the money on himself. No wonder the city is in such a crappy condition.’

[Merchant Guild activity:

Five major trade caravans are active.

Merchant immigration is rising due to new reforms.]

’I see. Well, I guess it’s expected to lose some merchants, considering all that has happened. They most likely feel they won’t make any profit now that all the rich people are done for. I’d most likely do the same,’

He placed one hand on his chin.

’It would be bad if we lose them, since they know more about Linye than most people. I’ll need to think of something fast.’

While in thought, he suddenly picked up on something else.

[Unexplored land: 68%

Highly recommended. Chances of mines, land promises, and runes are very likely.]

’Bingo!’

His eyes widened with excitement.

...

[A/N: If you’d like some additional Chapters, please see below incentives:

200 powerstones: 3 additional Chapters.

100 Golden Tickets: 4 additional Chapters.

100 privilege unlocks (Reached): 1 additional Chapter.

Castle and above (1 gotten): 6 additional Chapters.]