9.

"Please be careful on the way back, Young Lord." Idom said as he bowed his head lightly.

I nodded as I entered the carriage. Melissa was the one in charge of being the carriage driver while Wilhelm followed us on horseback.

Our return this time was more carefree. I was expecting some kind of ambush from the opposing nobles but our return journey was smooth. It took us two days and a half to return to my territory.

After settling down, I made some plans with Wilhelm on how to improve the territory. I don't have to worry about the sewer systems in this world since it was already implemented. I only want to slight changes to the farming policies and economical policies.

I lowered the tribute that farmers have to give to 20% of their harvest, the 80% of the remaining harvest depends on them on how to spend it. I also offered support for basic start up businesses to get the economy going for long term. Of course I don't just give support to any Tom, Dick, and Harry. I had Wilhelm check the background and the feasibility of their business. If it would turn out to be a fruitless journey, I would decline it. Those who tried to con us were sent to the jail for a few weeks to repent.

I also gave Wilhelm a map with the location of the blankšum mine and tasked him to find trusted men to clear the mine without anyone noticing. He looked at me with an incredulous look as if wondering where I got the information but I just shrugged it off.

With the most important matters handed to Wilhelm, I started focusing on my training. I asked Wilhelm commission the magic tower, for a high price, to create a magic item that can increase the gravity that will help me train with it.

{Four months later}

A kid was running around the dukedom territory. Many people would greet him when he passed by and he would return the greetings with a bright smile on his face.

Everyone in the territory were already used to seeing this kid running around the territory.

"*huff* Uncle, two glasses *huff* of goat milk please." The youth asked the stall vendor and placed a gold coin at the booth's table.

"Lord Duke, you're giving me too much again." The stall vendor wryly smiled.

"Take it. The goat milk you produce are the best I've tasted." I said as I controlled my breathing.

"Hehe, its a secret passed down in the family." He said proudly and placed two mugs of milk in front of me.

I picked up the mug and downed it in one go. It was delicious and it was creamy as well.

"Hoo~! Its so good!" I praised as I picked up the second mug. This time I slowly savored the milk and didn't down it in one go.

"Thanks for the milk, Uncle." I said and before I left, I heard him murmur something.

"It was thanks to you, Lord duke, that our territory is prospering." He said and I heard it. My lips curved up into a smile as I heard his heartfelt thanks.

*

Many things have changed after four months of progress have passed by. My policies were passed through the town's crier. The people were overjoyed to hear about the changes and many upstart merchants went to get the support of the Duke. Wilhelm and I debated whether the policy I created would hurt the finance of the territory and I just laughed it off.

There was a reason why I wanted to support the commoners. In a time where commoners were persecuted for being suspected of joining the revolutionary, what if a sanctuary is created and reached out to help the innocent people? Although it wouldn't bloom at the moment, the moment the witch hunt for suspected commoners worsen, they would come to my territory in waves. And If we're lucky enough, maybe we could get some professionals off of it.

I already received the information from Wilhelm, that 4 blacksmith and many people who works in the crafts industry, moved in to our territory. Many talented workers would come rushing to avoid being persecuted.

With more people, means more taxes, the more money circulating inside our territory, the more we can fund the development of our territory creating an economic circle that will keep the territory running for a long time.

Of course there are downsides to it as well. Many revolutionary spies were caught hiding within people and were apprehended quickly. To avoid panic between the people living inside the territory, we would publish the evidence for the crowd to see, effectively telling them that we are not persecuting anyone who are innocent.

I'm also sure that the nobles would make a move as well to prevent our growth. Those old fools would do anything to lower the influence I have towards the Royal Family but I care none for that.

There are also rumors about defaming my name but because of the way I treated those living within my territory, none of them believed that.

Our army is also getting bigger. We didn't hire knights or mages which would probably cost us a lot of money. We hired those living in the slums. They accepted since they wanted to get out of poverty. In the future, I want the slums to exist no more. Wilhelm and the Guard captain trained them meticulously in order to become proper soldiers.

I also gave massive support towards the villages that are within the territory. We gave support so that the people in those villages will be able to contribute special products to our territory, increasing the diversity of products we have.

With such massive support towards the development of the territory, there will always be someone who'll get greedy. To answer that, I asked Wilhelm to crack down on those who wanted to reach their paws into the money placed for development.

In the future, I wanted to create an intelligence system around the territory and a squad who'll act as the 'police' of the territory.

*

I returned to the manor to see Wilhelm already waiting for me with a towel folded neatly. I could see in his face that he was tired but the joy in his eyes couldn't be hidden.

"I told you, Uncle Wilhelm to pass your work to someone capable, look at you. You'll age faster like that." I said while Wilhelm chuckled.

"It matters not. This old bag of bones will be serving you for quite a long time." Wilhelm laughed and passed me the towel.

While I was wiping the sweat in my face, Wilhelm continued.

"Your father and I worked for 7 long years before we managed to make the land prosperous while it took you like what, 3, 4 months?" Wilhelm said with a bitter smile.

"It was thanks to your hard work that set up the foundations of this territory that I was able to make a huge move like that. If I just recklessly passed those laws and we don't have the money to support it, this territory would crumble bit by bit." I said seriously.

"Is there anything for me to handle today?" I asked Wilhelm as he recalls if there is something that needs me to handle personally.

"Not at the moment. A package also arrived today. It came from the magic tower." My eyes lit up as the thing I wanted was finally here.

"Also..." Wilhelm paused for a bit. I could hear from his solemn tone that it was serious.

"The nobles intensified their hunt for revolutionary members. I'm sure they will come to this place to force us to let them check the populace by themselves." Wilhelm said as I paused for a second before grinning.

"If they force us, then we'll prepare a huge gift for them. Why do I have to comply just because they said so?

Its not us who wanted to become their enemies, its them who will come to our doorstep and declare themselves as our enemy.

If they want war, we'll show them how strong we are. It will also weaken those old nobles' influence who wanted to take us down.

They can pressure the Emperor for all I care but I'm pretty sure Uncle Gilltian already had a firm hold on the throne and the achievements we made inside the territory doesn't lie." I said with a menacing grin.

"Young Lord, you know, sometimes I find it hard to believe that you're a child." Wilhelm sighed.

"I wanted to be one too, but the circumstances didn't allow me to." I said and took the change of clothes that Wilhelm prepared.

The reason why I'm not afraid of a fight is that, the blankšum mine provided a lot of blankšum metal to our territory and with the help of skilled blacksmiths that are under a magic contract of secrecy, we produced a lot of weapons and armor to fit three groups of elite Knights. Those blacksmiths were showered in joy when they knew that they would be working on blankšum ores.

The blankšum mine that Wilhelm found was even bigger than I thought and it would be able to provide us of constant blankšum ores for 4 to 5 years. I'm not worried of the blankšum mine being depleted. I could just send another mine coordinates to Wilhelm and dig it secretly or I can even reclaim the land as my own.

Shaking my head, I went to back to the manor and entered my room. Looking at the boxes inside my room, I was like a child opening a box of present.

===========================

Was it too fast? or should I slow it down?