Chapter 8: 6

Third Run, Scholars Tempted by Greed

Four months have passed and it is now mid-august.

If one were to ask what Klein has been up to during this time then———the answer would be ‘Nothing in Particular’.

The only thing he did was do his best in managing his territory’s domestic affairs.

“U, Uhmm, Klein-sama. To be using your asset like this is—-!”

“Father had always told me to use this money in case of an emergency right.”

Rather than saying that he did not do anything.

It would be more accurate to say that he was waiting.

“I want to develop my territory but to be honest, my brain also has its limits.”

Just for today, Klein has been spreading certain advertisements in various cities.

“For the participants of the Proposal Contest, please line up here. Please proceed separately for each event in an orderly fashion.”

Klein’s head butler was protesting his decision while saying [Is this truly okay, sir?] when Marie passed by while carrying a placard as she guided a large number of people who gathered inside his territory.

The people gathered at the Asgard territory at this time are scholars, military strategists, mercenaries, merchants, and experts in various fields.

Innumerable people are flooding the city at the same time.

And they are all noisily gathering in front of Klein’s mansion.

“Umm, Klein-sama. I think that you might have set the prize money too high, sir……”

“It will be okay. With such promising human resources gathered in our territory, we will be safe.”

That’s right, alone, Klein can only do a better than average job at managing domestic affairs.

If that is the case then he just has to consult the experts in other fields.

That’s why he put 80 percent of the Asgard house’s assets as a prize.

He decided to hold a proposal contest where experts compete with each other to come up with the best policies for his territory.

With the words spread that the people who can come up with proposals that benefit his territory will be rewarded with a large sum of money, even people from a faraway land have come to participate in the contest.

He also intended to scout the people who caught his eyes when the contest concluded as well.

“Besides, my father always said that rather than spending my money for luxurious goods, I should spend it on the people right.”

“That is correct but, I think this is not exactly what the predecessor wanted to convey, sir…….”

Two hundred years of no wasteful spending.

The Asgard house has built up various kinds of assets over seven generations.

Not only gold and silver stored in the warehouse, but also land, cattle, horses, and buildings like the mansion and checkpoints are also counted as the house’s assets.

This time, only the saved-up cash will be used.

However, most of them will be gone after this contest.

It is difficult to suddenly liquidate land and other assets so in case of a disaster, they will be in quite a predicament.

It was not unreasonable for the head butler to panic but Klein’s attitude still remains carefree.

“My plan to buy grains from the north is working, right? It will be fine, put some faith in me.”

“Hmm….if you insist then I will not say anything more, My Lord.”

Around the second half of July, the effects of the cold summer were visibly apparent.

Among the territories around here, only the Asgard territory was not affected by the poor harvest.

However, if he can read so accurately ahead into the future, does he really need outside opinions from this contest?

Such an argument was raised against this contest but since his lord has proven both his governing prowess and foresight, the head butler obediently withdrew.

Now, the contest today was divided into three departments.

The first one is the Development Policy Department.

Agriculture, manufacturing, mining industry, steel industry, logistics.

Well, there are certainly many industries here but currently, there is no prominent industry in Asgard Territory, making it a mediocre domain.

In short, this department will focus on which industry the Asgard house should [Focus their investment in] and how to develop them.

“According to our research, the large forests in the southeast region of your territory are filled with precious ore, My Lord!”

A group of 6 people formed up and is having a heated debate among themselves.

However, you can clearly see the [$] mark in each of their eyes.

“That is true, there are certainly such records in the history book of my house.”

“Let us share information, if we do that, the grand prize will certainly be ours!”

In this department, the prize money will be given to everyone who makes a profitable proposal.

That’s why there is no tension between the participants, it’s a healthy competition.

The people at the same table would work together to win the prize money.

And Klein who has been listening in on them finally joins the conversation.

“It appears that there are silver veins inside the forest.”

“Can you narrow the search area down for me?”

Silver veins are located inside his territory.

That would literally be a treasure trove for him.

Klein can’t be sure how accurate this information is since he gathered them here with money but if a large silver deposit is found, this might be something that can reverse his situation in one shot.

“I hope even more good ideas will come up……..”

After praying so, he started going around to each group and was met with satisfactory results.

Thinking that his endeavor is bearing fruits, Klein keeps walking.

His next stop was the Military Policy Department.

He didn’t tell them where or for what reason but he is making them discuss among themselves on how to repel the enemy in case the territory comes under attack.

For today, 3 scenarios were set for this department.

Being attacked by a force consisting of 3,000 soldiers.

Being attacked by a force consisting of 20,000 soldiers (Which rely heavily on cavalry).

Being attacked by a force consisting of 30,000 soldiers.

In each scenario, priority was given to defensive strategies.

The most realistic proposal was to use dummies to compensate for the difference in number. What he is hoping for is a way to stand his ground against the Marquis or the Count’s army.

He doesn’t care if he can’t win against them.

The prize money was to be given to those who can present him with a plan that will allow his territory to survive.

“The only viable option is to use the hills on the northwest for stalling tactics right!”

“What do you expect to achieve by stalling the enemy even though you can’t expect any reinforcements!?”

“Oh, I do have a proposal for that.”

When he looks closely at them, not only scholars who excel in geopolitics, he can also see military officers from other houses mixing among the participants as well.

Klein doesn’t know whether they are here as a spy or if they are only trying to earn some side money but he does know that turning them away presents him with no merit.

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That’s why he left them alone.

Rather, Klaus is making a bitter smile when he sees so many familiar faces among them.

“…..Even so, it feels uneasy to see vassals of other houses attending such a competition so openly like this, My Lord.”

“Aren’t they just that desperate?”

The royal family poisoning incident was not that long ago.

According to the memory from his first life, everyone was desperate to survive.

Money was spent to curry favor with stronger houses and valuable treasures were presented as protection fees.

As a result, many small to medium-sized aristocrats fall into poverty.

“There was the poor harvest too.”

“Our house can still afford some leeway but it seems that the situation has become serious everywhere else after all, sir.”

Although the warehouse was already empty, the yield from the summer harvest was quite low.

The autumn harvest should be in a similar state as well.

Some territories have been forced to endure extreme poverty while others stopped paying salaries to their workers which resulted in riots.

Who can blame the unpaid vassals who are trying their best to utilize the most of their ability to feed themselves in a time like this.

That’s why.

Such wise men were lured in by the huge prize and flooded into his territory.

“Fumu, that being said, that one seems to be a success, sir.”

“Yeah, as I thought, martial arts really are exciting.”

And finally the Martial Arts Department.

It is a department where rough people from all over the world gather to fight each other to obtain the right to enter into the service of Asgard house.

That being said, the right to serve under the Asgard house is only a supplementary reward.

Most of the participants are probably only aiming for the prize money.

In his previous life, Klein found himself fighting the Count’s army.

He realized that he doesn’t have the talent to command his army and the soldiers of his territory are weak.

He was wondering if someone who can serve as his general to retrain his army from scratch will appear here.

That was the reason this department was established in addition to the first two.

“Oh, that spearman seems to be strong huh.”

“Hmm, it seems that he entered the competition under the name Spearmaster Randolph. He seems to be an independent Ronin, sir.”

(TLN: Ronin = a knight without a lord)

“Good, let’s go scout him later.”

While Klein was muttering such a thing.

He memorizes the name and affiliation along with the addresses of the participants who have caught his eyes.

After that, the various competitions held during the morning ended without incident.

It can be said that he managed to obtain various useful information from it.

Klein now has more concrete strategies than when he was trying to come up with them on his own.

He managed to gather all kinds of different ideas as well.

He has also memorized the talented people who caught his eyes so he can go consult them in case something happens without holding another contest.

“Rather, it would have been cheaper to hold this contest around winter huh…….”

As time goes by, the number of people suffering from the food shortage will increase.

If he waits for a little more, he would be able to lure in talented people with a relatively small investment.

However, since there are only 3 years left, he wanted to start reforming his territory as soon as possible.

That’s why he forcibly gathered people from all over the place to give him advice by setting such exorbitant prize money.

And the result he got from that is nothing short of excellent.

He even managed to obtain some of the other houses’ secrets.

In the end, the Proposal Contest, in which its contestants make use of barely classified information to win the grand prize, concluded with great success.

“Hahaha, being blinded by money, those scholars ended up giving me a lot of information. Let’s develop the territory with this.”

This is just an upfront investment.

He also found many people who seek to enter into his service so he will make sure that they spend their reward money here to stimulate the economy of his territory as well.

Since the gold coins that were gathering dust in the warehouse are now released into the market, the economic situation in his territory will surely improve.

He has such a plan in mind.

“This is perfect. It was a little expensive but the contest managed to gather many military officers and civil servants under me. The reform plan is also gradually coming together…….Alright, let’s do this!”

Klein, who managed to gather various kinds of ideas as he intended, decided to govern his territory with the ideas he obtained from now on.

Just like that he proceeds to give out the reward money in front of his people.

At a later date, dissatisfied voices against the foolish lord who wasted his people’s tax money began to circulate.

“What was Klein-sama thinking!!”

“If he has that much money laying around then he should have lowered the taxes!”

It is not uncommon for riots to occur due to such dissatisfactions.

Even in front of Klein’s mansion, a protest against the lord is being held.

“Ev, Everyone! Calm down and listen to me first!”

“DRAG HIM DOWN!”

“THERE HE IS!!”

After hearing that a coup was about to occur in the northern part of his territory, Klein hurriedly went out to quell the dissatisfaction of his people.

However, instead of extinguishing their anger, the situation escalated even more.

In that situation, someone among the crowd threw a stone at Klein and it hit him cleanly on his head.

“YOU BASTARD! WHAT DID YOU DO TO KLEIN-SAMA!!”

Upon seeing that, Hans the guard captain tried to suppress the group of citizens which has now turned into aggressive mobs with his spear in hand.

“SHUT UP! YOU ARISTOCRAT’S DOG!”

“DON’T BE AFRAID, GET THEM!!”

“UGHOOOH!?”

The protest turned into a brawl and the city was plunged into chaos—–

——-the stone that hit Klein’s head was fatal, and he passed away right after.

Kingdom Calendar Year 500, August 23rd.

On that day, a rebellion broke out in Asgard territory.

The lord passed away during the scuffle, ending the history of the Asgard house.

TLN: Next up, 4th to 9th run.

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