Davey only brought a very small group compared to the first time, since the rest of the militia had to stay behind to repair the houses and palace that were damaged from the battle.

“Only 10 people? The seigneur has to be crazy!”

“Even if the number of goblins went down…”

The militia members, those who had not seen what Davey did yesterday, did not trust him at all. They struggled to believe the story of what had happened. It wasn’t too weird if they thought the events as a nonsensical brag.

‘They used to be like that.’

“We found a goblin village in front. There are about 50 of them.”

After hearing the report of the knight on lookout, Davey turned to face the ten militia members. They looked at him with distrust and anxiety. Since he didn’t bring anyone who cleared the enormous goblin village with him yesterday, this group of militia members had a hard time trusting him.

“Are you afraid?” Davey asked, but they stayed silent. He understood why they had their guards up. If he were in their shoes, he would've thought the others had been high or something during the battle too. He continued, “It’s natural to be afraid, since there are only 10 people to wipe out an entire goblin village. You might think that killing this lunatic and then running away is the right thing to do.”

No one answered, but they all seemed to agree with what Davey just said.

‘If they can’t have faith, I have no choice but to show them.’

“I have said this before, but I never gave permission for anyone to die.” Light began to flow out of Davey.

Unlike the knights who knew what Davey was trying to do, the residents were amazed to witness such a sight. And as the buff magic reached them, their distrust immediately disappeared all at once.

* * *

“Hahahahaha! Die, you bastards!”

“The seigneur is with us!”

“These guys, who couldn’t trust me a few moments ago…” Davey was bewildered. But he had seen the huge change once before, so he managed to remain calm.

“You! Bring me your necks!”

“The seigneur is with us!!!”

‘Well, I guess I did pretend to be a saint…’

“God is with us!”

“Wooahh!! Take the mace of God!”

“Hey, you lunatics!!”

Davey was dumbfounded by the militia’s blasphemous shouts and declarations. He wondered if they were even the same people who had looked at him with distrust after hearing the story. Watching the militia wipe out the goblins with crazy gazes and insane smiles, Davey almost felt bad for the goblins who ran or trembled in fear.

It didn’t take long for the ten militia members, who hadn’t received any proper training or equipment, to slaughter over 50 goblins. If their weapons broke, they simply crushed the goblins’ skulls with their bare hands. They were as brave as an intensely strengthened berserker!

Davey didn’t have a bow this time, so clearing all the goblins at once was difficult. But most of the goblins were already dead, so those that ran away probably couldn’t do anything. It would be best if this caused chaos among the goblins, since they should have realized how dangerous humans were by now.

Seeing the militia instantly clean up the situation and start gathering toward him, Davey was momentarily scared. ‘This is worse than before.’

“Seigneur! Some of them have escaped and run away!

“Haha! They will not be able to attack the Heins Territory ever again!”

“Kekekeke! Those headaches!”

Davey awkwardly smiled at the militia’s cheers, which just naturally came out of them. ‘What shallow distrust that was.’

“Y… Yes, good work.”

Well, it wasn’t a bad thing for the militia, who was responsible for protecting the estate, to have a strong sense of loyalty. At least they wouldn’t complain about what Davey was planning to do.

‘It’s a little uncomfortable, but it’s okay! An appropriate amount of image management never hurt anyone.’ Or so Davey thought. But after going around the territory to personally inspect the state of the territory exactly two days later, he switched to a ‘so be it’ mentality.

“Woah… Sir!”

“The saint has arrived! Move, you guys!”

News supposedly traveled fast. Davey couldn’t tell if these guys were the militia or priests doing missionary work, but he regretted his decision for the very first time.

* * *

It was safe to say that gaining the residents’ trust as the seigneur was a success. One could wonder why it mattered, since this was Davey’s estate and he had the highest rank; however, there was something that the conquering king, Astrea of the Paladia Empire, used to say.

[Even if you manage a small estate, always remember that you are leading people with free will and not livestock. You have to make them follow you on their own; dealing with everything alone will not last.]

Astrea taught Davey spearmanship, not politics. Davey didn’t learn about politics as a king in depth, but he agreed with Astrea’s comments once in a while. And although it was a small territory with only about 200 people, the estate started out in poverty.

“Royal Attendant Bernile sent over his carrier pigeon from a nearby commercial city. He said that the Leader did surprisingly well and bought quite a lot of things. Because of that, they might return slightly later…”

Amy initially only looked after most of Davey’s livelihood, but she was now also working as his personal assistant. She was quite bright, after all. It was quite unprecedented for a woman to be at a rank this high, but Davey hired anyone who was talented, regardless of their gender or age. Although, Amy seemed touched by Davey for recognizing her worth.

“The rest of the documents regarding the estate are here for you. Is there anything else…”

“I want a healthy work environment. It’s late, so go rest.”

“Go… Go rest?” Amy seemed surprised by Davey.

“Yes. How long are you going to wait on me and not sleep?”

“How…”

As Amy drooped her head like an abandoned dog, Davey tilted his head in confusion. “You don’t want to rest?”

-You know a lot of things, but a woman’s heart is not one of them.

‘She has feelings for me?’

As Davey thought that was ridiculous, Perserque let out a deep sigh.

-Not romantic feelings. It’s difficult to explain, but it’s similar to how a dog listens to its owner. It’s not right to refuse her keen desire to help that ruthlessly.

Perserque was experienced and very wise; after she said that, Davey was a bit bothered by how Amy was looking at him.

“Um… Sir Davey… I can really do it! So…”

Davey sighed as he watched Amy slurred her words. ‘I didn’t know she would feel like this. I was looking out for her.’

“Well, then I guess I can’t help it. But be prepared, because I’m going to work you pretty hard.”

“Yes!”

“Okay, then. Go rest for today.”

Amy seemed like she went through a rollercoaster of emotions, but it would be problematic if she stayed for the day. Davey waved her away, saying, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes!”

As Amy scuttled out of the room with her spirits lifted, Davey let out a deep sigh. “I didn’t even look out for her that much.”

-Well, to me, it seems like that girl is feeling a lot of responsibility from the time you saved her.

‘Oh, the incident with the heavily corrupted low-rank priest.’ It was true that Davey had rescued Amy, but he intended for the situation to play out that way. Upon that thought, he felt a little guilty.

Perserque floated down and sat on the old desk in front of Davey, who was silently nodding. Then, she scanned the documents that she sat on with squinted eyes.

“You still know how to read even though you’re from thousands of years ago?”

-I wasn’t just doing nothing in the meantime. The continent’s official language is nothing.

Perserque touched the documents, which were much bigger than her.

“So, what do you think?”

-You want my honest opinion?

“For now.’

-If you lift the curse right now and play it right, the territory will return to normal conditions. And I predict that it will take about 20 years to make it into the estate you want.

Perserque’s judgment was quite accurate, since breaking a curse on a dying land would not mend things right away.

“And that judgment is based on only my strength, right?”

-Of course not. Would you like to hear what I think of this estate?

“I’ll listen.”

Perserque giggled in satisfaction as Davey smiled. As she was sitting, she pointed at a document on the desk. Then, with a gentle wind, a small document floated up and landed in front of Davey.

“You have physical powers now?”

-I can only use a small amount. It’s just enough for me to be able to move light objects like this.

However, Perserque seemed pleased.

-Since an underground waterway doesn’t exist in this estate, the water system is a huge mess. Not only that, I can also see that the livestock industry has shrunk rapidly in the past few years. The food supply is barely enough to sustain the people because of the poor harvest.

As Davey silently listened, Perserque kept going.

-They will be able to endure, for the time being, thanks to the large amount of platinum coins you stole from the capital’s intelligence guilds. But that’s just a temporary fix. The biggest problem is definitely the lack of capital.

Agreeing with Perserque, Davey muttered, “Since this damn estate basically has no income.” The feeling that this estate was falling behind the others was inevitable, and he began to ponder. “There are many ways.”

-Tell me what you are thinking.

Smiling back at Davey, Perserque’s eyes were full of excitement. It probably meant that she was purposely not looking into Davey’s thoughts. She had lived for thousands of years, so life had most likely become as dull as it could be.

‘It’s understandable.’

“I thought that most of the younger generation would have left, but luckily, there is more manpower than expected. The first thing to do is hang in there by utilizing monsters or hunting.”

-Realistically, that’s the worst option.

The faith of the residents was so great that they would follow along, even if Davey began pushing for reform of the territory right away. He went on to explain to Perserque, “The second way is to create a special product, but this is difficult to do unless the state of the territory is taken care of.

-That’s understandable.

“And lastly, trade. A way of getting diamonds from corn.”

Puzzled, Perserque tilted her head at Davey.

-There’s really no reason to come all the way here and trade, and you don’t even have a trade product to feature.

“If we can’t trade with people, we can do it with something else. But let’s investigate the situation first, just in case. We have to use anything we can find.”