When the hysteria had subsided, everyone returned to their business with much-brighter smiles on their faces. Many said that money did not make you happy, but for both Thom and the villagers of Seashore, that had quickly become a blatant lie.

Kei was called to the manor at the highest point of the village, from where one could see the sea and its vastness.

Seashore was not far from the sea, but it was even closer to the river that died on it. It was a delightful view that Thom could enjoy, which brought certain nostalgic feelings to his heart. Not because he was remembered of Pontya, but because he remembered his home, a village with a nearby coast and little but farming and fishing. When he thought about things like this, he was even more eager to make this place into a great land.

However, as a simple tenant of a baron, he couldn't do much unless the king himself guaranteed him a place as a noble. Thom didn't know this, and neither did Suu. But as long as they stayed in the village of Seashore, they would do their best to make it into a fine place.

They stopped at the porch of the big house. Kei was the one to push open the doors, which creaked and wailed as if they were old wood at the point of rot.

"Building with wood nearby the ocean in a warm climate usually runs down buildings, ya know?" Kei clicked his tongue, entering the house without a care for the people behind him. They followed him while nodding at his appreciation of the house's condition.

The walls made of wood looked tattered and humid, uncared for, even more than the ones back at town. The living room was ample, but it was also still furnished, so it's size came to be only for the placement of furniture. The kitchen seemed equally as expensive, with all kinds of trinkets, and even a small magic stone below the stove that could be lit on fire to cook.

Before they checked the second story or the rooms, Kei called them towards a small room on the first floor, connected to the living room. It was a small office with its own desk, much like the office baron Argrand boasted of.

"Good..." Thom whispered. "It's a pretty house. Shame that it was owned by a petty nobleman."

"Are you not nobles yourselves now?" Kei frowned, resting his hand on the desk. "Even if you're just tenants in Argrand's fief, this is still your land. I don't know what you did to get ownership of this village, but let me tell ya, you got the short straw."

"Is that so? This seems like a pretty place." Suu threw the books out of the shelves as she spoke, arousing a storm of dust that exploded onto her face.

"You live in a coastal city. It's great for trade and fishing, the climate is good, the people are nice. What are you so bothered about?" Thom smiled and took a sit on the wooden chair at a side of the desk.

"Have you let the excitement get into your head?" Kei's frown grew even deeper.

"... Perhaps." Thom raised an eyebrow.

"Well, this is no trading hub." Kei scoffed. "Fishing is sparse, our boats are a mess. We barely get to cultivate fruits from the nearby rainforest, if they're not eaten by insects first. The roads are almost all closed and even if they were open we'd have nothing to commerce with, and we have no opportunity of building a harbor since that's the privilege of the Allice duchy. We're fucked from here and there, Argrand gave you this land because he wanted to get through with it."

Kei seemed to be getting annoyed, which made Thom slightly uncomfortable. Of course, he had still paid attention to his words.

"Are those the only problems?"

"Houses are in pieces and every time there's a storm we lose about 10% of our structures. We've rebuilt the watchtower three times since last fall. Three!" Kei placed three fingers in front of his face, and Thom nodded in acknowledgment.

"So you need protection against winds and water..."

"Every time it rains a little too hard the river breaks into the village and we all have to come into this manor to stay away from water. We don't have livestock, and the little meat we get is getting even sparser because it's monster hatching season and our hunters can't get into the damn rainforest. Do you know how tired I am of eating fish with coconut? Fish with a banana? Fish with fish? Hell, sometimes people throw saltwater on the fish to give it some flavor!"

"I... I don't think that's-"

"Yes, dehydration." Kei sighed.

"Alright, I understand your frustration, Kei." Thom chuckled to himself and crossed his legs. "It does sound like a hard life. Did you get it all out of your system?"

"... Aye." The young blond sighed, and pressed his back against the wall, pulling back his hair with one hand. "I never thought I'd go into a rant while speaking to a lord."

"Well, you can see us as your friends!" Suu turned around and pointed at Kei.

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Uwah! I've been turned down!" She acted as if her heart had been broken as she fell to her knees.

"Well, I'm really awful when it comes to administration, so you shouldn't really trust me on those things. I didn't become a... I didn't get to be a no... a noble, yes, because of my smarts, you see." Thom shrugged. "But, what I gather is that all your troubles can be solved with money, can't they?"

"How exactly?" Kei tilted his head with an annoyed expression.

"Well..."

Thom put his hand inside his bag, and pulled a bundle of several gold coins, placing them on the table. Kei opened his eyes bright for a second, falling into thought. He had seen his father with that amount of money on his hands before, but he never really used it for himself. "One gold for the family, four gold for the village." Was his motto.

"You're kidding me... Do you really plan to solve all the villages troubles with that measly amount of coin?" He pointed at the seven or so coins that Thom had placed on the desk.

"No, not really. I was thinking of something, but again, I'm not very smart unless it's about talking. You seem like a pretty smart guy, tho."

"I had an education." Kei nodded

"Then you're already several steps ahead of me, haha..." Thom bitterly smiled. "But that isn't the issue. I'm trying to figure out how much money would we need to get the village back on its feet. Could you help? For instance, how much is a canoe?"

"A canoe...?" Kei crossed his arms and went into his head. "Certainly... About ten silvers. There were originally eight of them in the village but, tch, they have been slowly getting messed up. There's only two left."

"Alright. Let's buy ten more."

Thom smiled and placed a gold coin to a side.

"The power of a gold coin is pretty absurd..." Suu muttered with a pretty amused look.

"It is. Kei, was the baron not handing any kind of economic relief to the village?" Thom asked.

"Economic relief? The bastard taxes us like we were rich. 80% of everything. It was better when the lord of this land taxed us 70% at least. Rotten fucking bastards, should have killed him myself when I could have."

Kei let his ire take over him. He didn't remember who was in front of him, but the look on Thom's face did not represent any bother at Kei's statement. Quite the opposite, the new lord seemed rather happy.

"Well, I'm your lord right now. I have to pay 65% taxes to Argrand, but I can deal with that myself. I'll take nothing from you. How does that sound?" Thom crossed his hands and raised his eyebrows.

"That... Is..." Kei stuttered. "Quite unbelievable..."

"Then we're already on the right path. Then moving on... Aside from the ten extra canoes, that would be another gold for the twelve's maintenance. Kei, please keep telling me what things we need.

"Ah... Right. We're also short on fishing supplies. Nets, buckets, bait. We need about twenty nets and a few new buckets, thirty or so. Nets and buckets both run for about sixty copper."

"Aight, another 30 silver. What about food? I know teaching a man to fish is better than giving fish to a man, but this is an emergency movement."

"Hm... There's roughly one thousand people in Seashore. Food for a month? That would be..."

"And I'm not talking about bread and water. I want these people to eat well. Winter's closing in. Even if it doesn't snow, you'll have a bad time if you don't stock up."

"Right... Let's see. If we feed the villagers two meals a day, it would probably have to be rice and fish. We don't have enough fish to feed a whole village, so we'd have to trade for it. Same with rice. That would mean we'd need at least six to seven hundred grams of food per person."

"Let's say a kilogram." Thom raised a point.

"No, that's too much." But Kei shook it off. "Even if you are this generous, this is a matter of supplies. It's all good and well if our village is well-fed, but the supply isn't infinite. If we buy too much at an elevated price, the rest of the settlements won't make it through the winter. We have to stay low on the amount of food we buy. Actually, I say we buy only half, and we make up for the rest."

"Oho..." Suu's eyes were filled with sparkles as she looked at the young man. Thom's gaze was just the same.

Kei seemed to notice their admiring gazes, making him swallow dry and look away.

"W... What are you looking at? This is only common sense."

"Right, right." Thom effusively nodded as he held his chin. "It seems like we'll rely on you a lot, Kei. Are you bothered by this?"

"... Hey, as long as the village is fine, I'm fine. I have a little sister and my mother in this place, so I want them to live happily too."

"Ayshh...!" Suu held her cheeks with an enamored expression. "How cute! You're like a puppy, oh my!"

"Who are you calling a puppy?!" Kei's face went red as his foot stomped the ground.

"Well then." Thom uncomfortably coughed. "It's roughly one thousand people, and we should buy around four hundred grams of food from merchants for each. The rest can be supplied by the village itself. That would be around... Twelve tons in foodstuffs, no?"

"The price of rice is about 5 coppers per kilogram. That is-"

"Why do I hear some people say kilogram and some people say pound? What's the difference?" Suu was sulking at a corner of the room, playing with her hair as she tried to give the words some meaning. "Lexicon also says something about cenz, kics, lourjes, wetts, estones, wuds... Why... Why is there so many units..."

"Go on, Kei." Thom smiled.

"Right. A barrel is usually loaded with close to a hundred kilograms of rice, so five silver for a barrel. If merchants throw us in some discount because of mass buying, we might get them for less than that."

"And now that I think about it, we can't really buy fish without means to keep it fresh. We'd probably have to buy the twelve tons in grain. That's five times one hundred and twenty."

"... So six gold coins." Kei sighed.

"Aight." Thom nodded and placed six gold coins on the side.

"Shouldn't we buy half of that in something else? Like lentils?" Suu proposed.

"Alright. The difference isn't much. I'm sure that will relieve the merchants somewhat. 6 tons of rice and 6 tons of lentils. Should we also buy wheat?"

"That may be good..."

"We'll buy it as an extra." Thom said. "Add two tons of wheat to the mix."

"That would be 14 tons of food for the month... Hell, that's 140 barrels. "

"Do you have a place to store them?" Thom asked.

"Well... The mill is pretty broken and the storehouse is hardly any bigger than a regular building. We can store some there, but then..."

"Then we should use this manor as a storage house. It should have a cellar somewhere." Suu raised her hand with a bright smile.

"The barrels will be hard to bring uphill." Kei sighed.

"We'll hire strongmen." Thom placed another golden coin.

"The fee for the merchant's work?"

"We'll pay that, no problem." The clinking of coins was accompanied by Thom's smile.

"How much gold do you fucking have? Do you just throw gold at every problem you have?" Kei's lips twitched.

"That's correct. I still want to do some other things with the village, but this should do for now. I need to hire someone to clean this manor, too. And let's not forget about the housing for the new arrivals. I was originally thinking of sending them back to their village, but I think they'll have a better life here."

"Ha..."

The room went quiet for a while, as Thom started to nonchalantly count his gold coins. Suu was reading without any passion the books on the floor, judging them all by their cover, and throwing away the ones she didn't find interesting.

Kei observed their every movement, their expressions, and the way they talked. He had been prying into their minds for a long time, but he couldn't find anything suspicious. There was a trace of ulterior motives in their words, at least he thought so. However, that could also be due to his lack of trust in nobles.

What was so strange about this pair of black-haired idiots that threw money at every problem they faced?

"You... You like to play with money more than the baron himself." Kei groaned and looked away.

"Is that right...?" Thom took a concerned look at his bag. "I'm sure it's nothing serious, haha... Everyone likes to use money if they have it, no?"

"I guess that's right..."

That's how nobles become corrupt shits who can't think of anything besides money.

Kei thought, but did not vocalize it.

"Just so you know, I'm also looking towards building a dam somewhere in the river, or ask for the baron's permission and make a canal so the village doesn't flood all that much when it rains. I have some big plans with this place! What do you think about making a communal dining hall where everyone in the village can go at night? Do you guys have a bar here? A park could be really nice too... Ah! Wide farms with tons of fertilizer would be—"

"I'm sorry, could you stop?" Kei raised up his hand with a sigh. "I'm not saying all of that is impossible, but it would be really damn nice if you stopped talking like you can do all of that just because you've got some money. Do you know the cost of building a dam? Or a canal? Not only that, how many years would that take you? By the time you're done, the village would have withered away."

"I, I'm not saying it will be completed soon." Thom nervously chuckled. "I'm just... trying to get this place some nice things. Wouldn't it be cool if Seashore had an outer wall?"

"Yeah. Good luck finding people that could do all the shit you're thinking of. It's not a matter of money, it's a matter of resources and skill. Humans are just that."

"Wait, there's no need to be so harsh. Can't a man dream?" Thom laughed with closed eyes, throwing a coin up into the air and catching it back. "I'm doing this out of goodwill, believe it or not. Wouldn't you like Seashore to thrive and become a famous settlement?"

Kei felt discomfort in his heart, but did not have the courage to voice it in front of someone with such a passionate face as he talked about matters concerning his village. There was just something extremely bothersome about the way the man seemed to think he could do anything he wanted to.

"Yes." he said. "That would be very nice. But well... If you allow me, I think I'm leaving. Tomorrow the village's affairs are no longer my concern, but contact me if you need anything. Ah, especially related to monster hunting."

"Wait."

Kei was about to turn around and leave the office, when Thom called for him.

"Are you good at fighting, Kei?" The lord placed his hand on his cheek and his elbow on the desk.

"... Might be the best in the village after my father." He dropped his shoulders.

"Those are big words." Suu said from the side.

"I'm not talking lies." Kei frowned. "You can put it to the test whenever you like. I'm eager to cross my sword with someone, even if it's the lord of the land I live in."

"Easy..." Thom leaned back. "I was just asking because I might need some extra help. But you said your father's better than you?"

"Aye." The blond man nodded. "There's no way I'd be better than a knight at the baron's house, right?"

Thom's ears perked up. Suu smiled sharply as she heard those words. Although Kei got a glimpse of the girl's smile, since the words had aroused no reaction on Thom, it was hard to say if he had given away any delicate information.

"Do you have any more family here, Kei?"

Thom reached for his bag, and pulled two gold coins that he slid all the way across the table, as if implying Kei was entitled to them.

"Told you, a sister and my mother." Kei grabbed the coins and pocketed them. "Don't think you can get close to any of them. They'll despise you just for carrying the title of a lord."

"Hehe..." Thom opened his palms and shrugged. "Buy your mother and sister something pretty, Kei. You've truly helped us a great deal here."

The blond man twisted his lips with an irritated gaze, but didn't say anything. He turned around and stepped out of the office, not without faltering for a second. His boot pressed firmly on the creaking planks as he pondered over something. With a click of his tongue, he pressed onwards, and walked out of the manor.

Thom sighed as if pushing out all of the exhaustion from his lungs. As he leaned back on the chair, he touched Suu's head, and she raised her eyes with a particularly content visage.

"We've got a noble-hating family." Thom raised his brow.

"And a knight inside the house." Suu did the same.

"We rock."

"We surely do."

They fist-bumped each other like a pair of kids, laughing at how lucky they had been with how things had been.

The blond man descended down the hill with irritation and a feeling of lingering uncertainty, unbeknownst to him that his actions had determined the course of someone's life- and the end of another.