"Sir, Old Barek is here." Reidi pushed the door open.
"Oh, come in,"
Old Barek walked in clutching a scroll of beast-hide paper.
"Good morning, Sir." Old Barek bowed to Lorist.
"No need for formalities." Lorist waved his hand. "Old Barek, did you bring what I asked for?"
"Right here." Old Barek unrolled the scroll of beast-hide paper and spread it across the desk. It was a detailed map of the Morgan Hills region. "I rushed over as soon as I received your orders..."
"Sir, last year we conducted a preliminary survey of the entire Morgan region. Under
"You've done well," Lorist praised. "By the way, what is Master Hid working on now?"
"Sir, Master Hid is currently obsessed with studying the equipment of the White Lion Legion. It's a pity we didn't find any iron deposits in the Morgan Hills this time. What the family needs most right now is iron ore," Old Barek said.
Lorist nodded. "We originally had two processing workshops—one for forging iron armor and one for building siege crossbows—but I've already ordered them both shut down. First, with the trade caravan's return, the family is no longer short on quality weapons and equipment. Second, all the iron ingots have been redirected to making farm tools. We'll be expanding farmland cultivation next year, and we'll need a great many tools."
"If the weapons and equipment being produced now can't match those of the White Lion Legion, I have no intention of letting them continue. Master Farin has already accepted my commission and is researching the next generation of siege crossbows and longbows. Notify Master Hid that we're willing to fund his research—hopefully, he can develop iron armor superior to the White Lion Legion's standard-issue equipment soon."
"The main reason I called you here today is this: I want to consolidate all the workshops and mines across the family's territory into a single Mining and Industry Department, with you as its director. You'll be responsible for coordinating all mineral extraction and establishing new processing workshops across the family's lands. Take a look at this first."
Lorist handed Old Barek a thick dossier of beast-hide paper. "These are personnel selected from the five hundred thousand new settlers. They all have experience running workshops and mines. Choose foremen for the mines and workshops from among them. Let them handle the specific operations and report their progress to your department."
Lorist handed Old Barek another sheet of beast-hide paper. "This is the list of new workshops and mines the family is about to establish. Personnel, funding, and required materials and equipment have all been prepared. Take the list, select foremen, find suitable locations, and get them started."
Old Barek took the paper and read aloud: "Pottery workshop, leather tannery, garment factory, wooden writing tablet workshop, beast-hide paper workshop, furniture and woodcraft workshop, woolen bedding production facility..."
He looked up, somewhat puzzled. "Sir, why are we establishing so many consumer goods workshops right now?"
Lorist shrugged with a bitter smile. "This year, we have to make sure the new settlers survive the winter in their settlement villages. Fortunately, Ross and Josk led troops across the wasteland and killed quite a few magical beasts. Those pelts can be put to use making leather clothing and woolen bedding for distribution during the cold months. Next year and the year after, most of the settlers will have settled in permanently. Besides providing them with basic necessities, we also need to account for their growing consumer demand."
Lorist patted the thick file in Old Barek's hands. "Many of these people were small merchants and workshop owners. They went bankrupt and ended up here for various reasons. That's precisely why I've selected them—to give them another chance to manage the industries they know. Tell them: as long as they work hard, in three years they can take out loans from the family to take over these workshops. As long as they abide by the family's laws and regulations and pay their taxes properly, they can run their businesses without worry. Our
Old Barek nodded. "Sir, I understand what you're after. I'll complete this task."
Lorist pointed at the calendar hanging on the wall. "It's the end of the seventh month now. I'll give you one month to get everything arranged. Then we'll head to the Blade Ridge Mountains together to check out that valley you mentioned—see if those are really rubber vines... Oh, and bring Master Hid along. We can survey the mineral resources there while we're at it."
"Yes, Sir."
...
With the addition of the Mining and Industry Department under Old Barek, Lorist found himself buried under even more paperwork. He stared at the calendar on the wall every day, each one feeling like a year. He wished
I'm such an idiot! Lorist muttered to himself, slumped over his desk. Why did I give Fatty Shi a whole month of leave? Even Lermode said ten days or so of rest would be enough. Why did I have to act all generous and let him a full month? If I hadn't, I could've already gone back to Maple Forest Manor to see my precious son.
He glanced at the calendar again. Damn—Fatty Shi still had fifteen days left before his leave was over. This was going to be agony.
Settlement villages and the central town were under construction. Districts four and five were in the process of relocation. Districts six and seven were still clearing magical beasts—District seven was Beiye Town, but it was really District six with its dense forests and hills that had the most meat-eating magical beasts. It was a bit troublesome, but he believed they'd be cleared out by the end of the eighth month.
Bang! The office door was pushed open. Miss Tessie stormed in, her almond eyes blazing, a furious blush coloring her fair cheeks.
"Locke, how could you go back on your word like this..." Miss Tessie shouted. She was truly furious.
Lorist slapped his forehead. He genuinely had a splitting headache.
He gestured, and Reidi, stationed outside the door, caught on and quietly closed it.
"My dear Tessie, please, sit down. Can't we talk this over calmly?"
"Locke, you promised me that the mountain city's construction would follow my designs and plans. Isn't that what you said..." Miss Tessie's anger hadn't subsided in the slightest.
Alright, this was yet another mess caused by Fatty Shi. Lorist smiled bitterly.
He had previously promised Miss Tessie that the mountain city's construction and planning would be entirely designed and arranged by her. So the scholarly young lady had racked her brains and, drawing from her imagination and fantasies, designed an elven garden city of sorts, even painting several concept renderings of what the finished city would look like.
From an aesthetic standpoint, Lorist had to admit that the mountain city Miss Tessie had designed was indeed extraordinarily beautiful. Unfortunately, Fatty Shi had gotten his hands on it and torn it to shreds.
"No city walls, and built right in the Morgan Hills? Any meat-eating magical beast could turn the whole city upside down..."
"The city roads are supposed to prioritize convenience and efficient logistics, not aesthetics. These roads crisscross so much that ten people who enter would guarantee nine getting lost..."
"The windows in these houses are designed to be enormous. Has anyone considered the heating problem in winter?"
Fatty Shi spent a solid half hour eviscerating the mountain city design and planning documents before tossing Miss Tessie's labor of love aside and stowing it away on a shelf.
As for the already-completed
"Locke, my brother, you need to understand—the subjects under your rule now number over five hundred thousand. You're not some petty lord ruling a few thousand people. You need to turn Rock Fortress into Rock City. That's what befits the dignity of our Norton Family," Fatty Shi had said.
"But the Rock Fortress site is just this one valley. There's no way to expand even if I wanted to..." Lorist had been quite distressed.
"That's easy enough." Fatty Shi had grabbed a map of Rock Fortress and drawn a rectangle outside each of the front and rear walls. "Build a city in front and behind. The front city will be the military camp and commercial district—external trade and exchanges will happen there. The rear district will be residential quarters for the families of the family's soldiers. The current location is the immigrant camp. After we build the city, we can cultivate the surrounding area, turning the central valley into the inner city—the administrative and military hub. Once that's done, we can call it Rock City."
Lorist had to admit that Fatty Shi made a lot of sense. So he handed the wasteland development plan over to Fatty Shi for design and planning, and reassigned all of Miss Tessie's city construction command staff to him.
For Miss Tessie, she was somewhat of a homebody by nature and didn't care for crowds. After completing the Rock Fortress, she had reverted to her reclusive habits, spending every day in her room studying the books and materials her mother had left behind. She didn't even mind that her city construction command had been reassigned by Lorist to Fatty Shi. The only thing she cared about was when construction on the mountain city would begin. She hoped that when it was completed, it could be named after her mother—that was her one wish.
For Fatty Shi, he couldn't have cared less about the unspoken understanding and promises between Lorist and Miss Tessie. The most important thing for the family was settling the five hundred thousand new settlers, developing the wasteland, and building new villages and towns.
The first district of Fengle Plains' seven districts was centered on the planned mountain city. Fatty Shi had scrapped Miss Tessie's design and hired someone to create a new plan—simple and practical. Construction had already begun, and it had finally been discovered by the reclusive Miss Tessie holed up in her room.
And so the furious Miss Tessie had come to settle accounts with Lorist.
Lorist remembered that Fatty Shi had tossed Miss Tessie's design onto the top of the filing cabinet. He grabbed a stool, climbed up, and pulled down the thick, dust-covered roll of design documents.
Well. Seeing her life's work tossed on top of a cabinet, ignored and blanketed in dust, Miss Tessie burst into tears. They streamed down her face like pearls on a string...
"Hey, don't cry—let me explain why your design won't work," Lorist said in a fluster, scrambling to console her.
After Lorist rattled off a long list of reasons why the design wasn't suitable for building the mountain city—most of them borrowed wholesale from Fatty Shi's critiques—Miss Tessie defeated him with a single sentence: "But
Lorist paused, then sighed. "I did break my promise to you, and I'm sorry. But there's nothing I can do about it right now."
He pointed toward his own room, where stacks of documents towered high. "Look—Knight Shrade has already been worked to the bone, and now it's my turn as lord. Every day, endless documents arrive that need my decision. I'm exhausted too. But if we push through this, the Norton Family will have a bright future, so I have to persevere. Regarding your matter, I can only express my sincerest apologies. I hope to make it up to you once the family is settled..."
Miss Tessie dried her tears and looked around the office. "I can see you really are busy... So what kind of compensation are you going to give me?"
Lorist walked over to the Fengle Plains development plan pinned to the wall and pointed at the seven districts. "Look—these seven towns will be completed in three years. At that point, I'll establish a basic academy in each of them to teach people to read and write. And beyond that, I want to build an academy in the family's territory. If you're willing, I can name the new academy after your mother. That would be your compensation. How does that sound?"
Miss Tessie's face flushed with excitement. "My mother was a scholar. For a scholar, having an academy named after her is the greatest honor—one with the most lasting. Thank you, Locke..."
Miss Tessie couldn't help herself. She rose on her toes, wanting to plant a kiss on Lorist's cheek as a gesture of gratitude.
Tragedy so often springs from the most insignificant moments. Lorist turned his head, and his lips captured hers. Then, with commanding force, his tongue parted her teeth and found hers, tasting and savoring deeply. His hands were already roaming freely, touching until Miss Tessie went completely limp, boneless as a puddle of mud.
This was Lorist's office, not Miss Tessie's bustling city construction command center. Since making his move on the maid Ilena back in September, Lorist hadn't had any release. He was parched beyond endurance. With a flick of his hands—rip, rip, rip—Miss Tessie was reduced to a pristine white lamb.
The tearing of her clothes brought Miss Tessie back to her senses for a brief moment. She tried to push Lorist away, but he lowered his head and captured one of her perky pink buds between his lips. With a flick and a suck of his tongue, Miss Tessie's entire body shuddered uncontrollably, and she was lost once more in his embrace.
Lorist carried Miss Tessie to his desk, swept the towering stacks of documents to the floor with his left arm, and set her down on the surface. Spreading her long, smooth, porcelain-white legs wide, he drove forward into the deepest reaches...
With Miss Tessie's pained cry, a bright red plum blossom bloomed on the yellowish surface of the office desk. Miss Tessie had finally bid farewell to her maidenhood...
When the storm had passed, Lorist caught his breath while Miss Tessie weakly accused him: "Locke, you... you took advantage of the situation..."
Lorist bent down and began once more to taste the twin peaks on her chest, and then—slap, slap, slap...
"Locke, you... you're truly... despicable..." Miss Tessie stammered as she weathered another tempest.
And so Lorist proved himself despicable once more—slap, slap, slap...
Miss Tessie surrendered. She wept: "Locke, I can't feel anything below anymore. Please help me..."
Lorist gathered her into his arms and used his internal energy to massage her body.
"Tessie, now that things have come to this between us—will you marry me?" Lorist asked.
"No..." Miss Tessie shook her head firmly. "I swore an oath to remain single for life. I'm not going to marry anyone..."
"But you're mine now..."
"I'll just consider myself as having found a lover. Locke, I do like you, but I truly cannot break my oath..." Miss Tessie continued to shake her head.
"Locke, you just tore all my clothes to shreds..."
"I'll replace them—a whole trunk full."
"Then was what you said about naming the academy after my mother actually true?"
"Absolutely. Just give me three years. Or better yet—come help me. Be my secretary. That way you can remind me of my promises at all times."
"Fine then, I'll help you. And I'll keep my eyes on you..."
...(To be continued.)