Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23: TERRITORY INSPECTION

I became Countess Dolknes, but I have no intention of leaving the fief like what my parents did . However, unless we defeat the Demon King and graduate from the academy, it would be hard for me to focus on the territory management . That’s why I must at least check the state of my territory once .

I’m going to the fief riding on Ryuu’s back . I went to the dungeon in my territory once, but I haven’t been visiting the feudal lord’s residence after I went to the Royal Capital .

「Ryuu, get down to the garden over there . Please be quiet . 」

When Ryuu landed in the garden, there was a low thud, and the ground shook . He’s a big guy, even if we try to be quiet, there’s no way to assure it will be quiet .

Hearing the sound, the servants came out of the estate immediately and noticed my arrival . It has been two years, not that I’m happy to see them again since I’ve only had a brief conversation with them .

They looked at Ryuu and me in surprise . Some of them even screamed .

I had sent a letter a week before my arrival, but I guess they must’ve been surprised to see a dragon for the first time .

「I’m home . It’s been a while . 」

「Welcome home, Mistress . 」

I bowed lightly, and they bowed deeply and stayed still . I can feel their strong desire not to be the one to talk to me .

Nevertheless, I’m their master . Is this happening because I was different from my parents?

A man soon came out in a hurry from the same door .

「I’m sorry for the delay in welcoming you . I’m Damon, the acting Lord . 」

The acting Lord, Damon, was a middle-aged man with a worn-out atmosphere . I haven’t heard anything about the fief being in shambles, the management must have been in good hands .

I don’t remember if I already saw him back then, though .

「Nice to meet you, Damon . I’d prefer it if you’ll call me Yumiela . 」

「As you wish, Lady Yumiela . You must be tired after your long journey, we have prepared a room for you to rest . Umm… 」

Damon looks up at Ryuu and goes silent . He doesn’t know how to deal with a dragon .

「You don’t need to take care of Ryuu . And I’m not tired yet, so I’d like to hear a quick update about the territory . 」

If I went by using a carriage from the Royal Capital, it would take us two days . But since I flew with Ryuu, it only took us an hour .

「All right . Let me escort you to your room . 」

「Thank you . Ryuu, you can rest in the garden, or you can go play . 」

Ryuu responded with a roar before spreading his wings and took off into the sky . Don’t bring back any monster as a souvenir, please .

Damon guided me through the estate . The other servants didn’t even try to make any eye contact with me .

The only heiress who was treated coldly become the head of the family and came back on a dragon, of course, it would be scary . First of all, I have to work on improving my relationship with my employees .

I don’t want them to be like Rita .

「How long have you been the acting Lord? 」

As we walk down the corridor, I asked him a question .

「I’ve been in this position for 18 years . 」

He’s been doing this for a long time, even before I was born .

「My parents will be here soon, but are you going to serve them? 」

「My loyalty belongs to House of Dolknes and this fief . I’m serving the head of the family . 」

I’m trying to probe how he felt about me succeeding the family, but he gave me a safe answer . He looks like a worn-out middle-aged man, but he’s a man with determination .

「This is the office . 」

I can see how tidy the room is, it didn’t feel like a workplace . He must have quickly cleaned it up after I sent that letter a week ago .

「Then, can you show me the recent account book? 」

「Yes . These are the financial reports for the last five years . 」

For the time being, I’ll just look at the yearly income and expenses . For the last five years, the tax revenues went up little by little every year . Funnily enough, it’s about the same amount each year .

「How has the population of the fief changed over the last five years? 」

「There has been a slight increase, but overall, it’s been flat . 」

「Have you passed any new policies in the last five years? 」

「No, we can’t change any of the policies without the lord’s authority . It’s the same as before . 」

It would be strange to see if profits kept rising for the last five years when nothing’s changed .

「Profits seem to have increased in the last five years, how about before? 」

「There has been slight increases after I was appointed here . 」

Sweats began to break out on Damon’s forehead, which meant he answered me offhandedly . I knew it, he’s tampering with the reports .

But if that’s the case, it’s strange that it kept increasing . If he’s going to fill his own pockets, he should gradually cut down the income and expenses .

If there’s something that bothers me about the decrease in income and expenses, it’s that I wonder how good his ability is? But agriculture, which accounts for most of the tax revenue, is dependent on nature, so there is bound to be some decrease . Who wouldn’t understand that?

「Hey, why did Damon’s predecessor quit the job? 」

「Our revenues decreased so they’ve been fired… 」

Wow, I knew it . To my father, the territory was only something that produced the money . If the acting lord increases the tax revenue, he won’t say anything, but if the tax decrease, they’ll get fired .

「So, what’s the real balance? 」

If changing the acting lord didn’t raise the tax revenues, my father could interfere and excessively raise the tax rate . To avoid this, Damon made it look like the tax revenues were increasing by a certain amount, whether they were going up or down . Fraud is fraud, but it was probably the result of him putting the territory first .

「Umm, I don’t know what you’re talking about… 」

While he feigned ignorance, the sweats didn’t stop to break out .

「I’m not accusing you of anything . I’d like to know if you turned in a deficit year or if you borrowed money from somewhere else? 」

「…Yes, I forged the reports . I concealed the actual balance for a good harvest year to make up for a bad harvest year . We don’t have any debts, but we are in a tight financial situation . 」

「It’s tight because you sent most of the money to my parents in the Royal Capital, right? 」

「Yes, but the truth is I forged the reports… 」

「Damon, thank you for supporting the Dolknes territory . My family was supposed to be the one who supports it . I look forward to working with you to support this territory . 」

When I lowered my head, Damon kept his gazes down . Eh, are you crying?

「I, Damon, swear to do everything in my power for the sake of this fief, Lady Yumiela . 」

He does his retainer’s courtesy . Hey, isn’t this in a similar pattern with Rita?

「Let’s bygones be bygones . And it would have been worse if you hadn’t forged those reports . Let’s think about the future . You have a public service project you want to do, right? 」

「But we have no savings, we will need a plan to raise money . 」

I can take care of that part, I’m a rich person with abundant raw materials from monsters .

「Don’t worry, I’ll bring you the money . If you need help like cutting a rock on the way or levelling down a mountain, I’ll help . 」

For the benefit of my fief, I’m not afraid doing the heavy works limited to destruction activity . No, should I stay out of it to open more job opportunities?

「Then we’ll build roads, no, we’ll start with the flood prevention project first— 」

Damon begins to talk about the development proposal for the fief as if to relieve his previous exasperation . So, when is this talk going to end?

The next day, Damon and I decided to go out to inspect the town . I told him I didn’t mind being alone, but he wouldn’t listen, saying he’d follow me .

「Lady Yumiela, um… Are you going out without any hat on? 」

「Yes, I’ve decided not to hide it anymore . 」

The townspeople paid attention to my hair, but I don’t care . From now on, we have to aim to create a society where black-haired people can walk openly .

「Ah, I miss this place . 」

I stopped in front of one of the stores . I used to sell my raw materials to them in the past .

「This particular store doesn’t have a great reputation because of its outward appearance . 」

As Damon said, the building is old, and the inside was dimly lit .

The reason why I chose to sell my raw materials there was because of its appearance . Because in a respectable store, they would never buy any monster materials that a child brought in alone .

The town looks pretty much the same as it did two years ago . It’s not desolated or run down, but it’s not vibrant either .

「I mean… This territory doesn’t have any character . 」

「Well, we don’t have any specialities . 」

I’ll have to think about it, whether it’s a new industry or adopting a successful method from other territories . It would be nice if we could use the dungeon to revitalize the town as Barias did .

「Lady Yumiela is very familiar with the town . Have you visited the town while you were staying in the estate? 」

To my surprise, they still haven’t found out that I slipped out of the estate uncountable times before .

「I’ll be honest with you… I’ve been sneaking out of the estate and levelling up in the mountain and the dungeon for a long time already . 」

「What on earth were the maids even doing… No, it’s all my fault that I entrusted everything to the maids . 」

「No, I’m the one who sneaked out, right? 」

If we’re talking about who’s to blame, it would be me, hands down . We need to stop arguing about who’s responsible in every argument because I’m the one who will be the most inconvenienced .

We decided that a visit to the town wasn’t enough, so we came to a nearby village not far from the town . Once again, the villagers’ eyes are focused on me as I enter the village .

「It’s the Mountain Guardian . 」

Eh, what did the grandpa say? The other villagers gather around and speak about the Mountain Guardian . Some even put their hands together in prayer .

「Damon, what’s this all about? 」

「I don’t know what’s going on either… 」

What kind of misunderstanding are they making this time?

「Umm, what is the Mountain Guardian? Maybe you’ve got the wrong person? 」

The old man answers on behalf of the villagers .

「The Mountain Guardian is a goddess with black hair . I was worried because recently there haven’t been any sighting… Are you the Goddess? 」

Is there such a god? It’s unusual for an ominous black-haired god to be a guardian deity .

「No, I didn’t mean it like that . What kind of goddess is she? 」

「The Goddess controls the darkness and drives out the monsters . 」

That’s a very militaristic goddess . It’s a pity that the world is going to treat her as an evil goddess for being able to control the darkness .

「Has that goddess always been residing in this mountain? 」

「No, the first time the villagers witnessed her was about ten years ago . She was a little girl at the time, but she’s gradually grown up . 」

Um, I knew it… It was me after all . The dark attribute gave it away .

「Ah, that was me . I used to level up around here in the past . I’m not a goddess, but a human . My name is Yumiela Dolknes . I’ve recently become the lord of this fief . 」

I explained the situation, and I wondered if the villagers would be disappointed .

However, the villagers’ cheers betrayed my expectation .

「Our Lord is the Mountain Guardian? 」

「Praise the Goddess! Long live the Lord! Long live Lady Yumiela! 」

…What is this? It’s better than… being hated, right?