Chapter 80: Rise to Fame (2)

Fifteen days passed since Lloyd, and the others left the city. The journey back home was peaceful. Not a single snowflake fell from the sky, even though the wind was chilly as the new year started. Thanks to it, everyone traveled happily. Lloyd, the baron, the baroness, Sir Bayern, and the soldiers’ footsteps were light. No accidents happened on the peaceful, tranquil journey. And they arrived at the Frontera barony after 15 days of travel. At the same time, Lloyd’s vacation came to an end.

Now that I’m home, it’s time for me to work! The joy and coziness of being back home were practically nonexistent to Lloyd. He had a mountain of work to finish on his plate.

I should finish supplying the ondol. And there’s also the checkup on the water pipes to make sure that they won’t freeze in the winter. The villagers should be running out of wood soon after heating their floors since early winter, so I have to get ready to sell bituminous coals.

That was how he would make money and pay his family’s debt. It was only after paying his debt that he could live the rest of his life in comfort. A life of indulgence and peace would be promised for his remaining days then. To actualize such a grand dream into reality, Lloyd called the barony’s administrator as soon as he was done unpacking.

“You called for me, Master Lloyd?” asked the administrator.

“Yes, I did. I have a favor to ask you.”

“What could that be?”

“Can you get in contact with Shiloh and Meatloaf?” asked Lloyd.

Shiloh and Meatloaf. The Scrawny and Fatso. They were the loan sharks who borrowed a huge sum of money from the baron and extorted an unreasonable amount of interest from them.

The administrator nodded and said, “Yes, I can.”

“Then send them a message right away,” said Lloyd, “that I want to meet them now.”

“Is there any other message other than that?”

“That’s all. That would be enough,” explained Lloyd.

“Yes, Young Master.” And the administrator left the room.

A messenger was sent to Shiloh and Meatloaf just as instructed, and in the afternoon, they visited the baron’s manor. But something about their attitude was different from the past.

“Hahaha, how are you doing?”

“Ehem! Ehem! I pray everything is going all right with you!”

Shiloh and Meatloaf watched out for their manners, which had never happened before. And on top of the changed attitude, they were even holding a basket of flowers and a glass of wine as a git. This would have been entirely unimaginable in the past. Their usual foul-mannered and arrogant looks couldn’t be found on their faces, and the reason behind it was simple.

They don’t want to die. Lloyd chuckled as he had the thought. The two had personally experienced what it was like to be threatened by Arosh, the orc warrior. And they were now all aware of the blood alliance between the Frontera barony and the orc Sand and Steel tribe. To orcs, blood allies meant dear friends whose enemies were also the orcs’ enemies. The rule of thumb for orcs was to slay their enemies. The two knew this very well, so they were treading carefully lest they become the enemy of the barony. Wearing a smile on his face, Lloyd sat them down and jumped into business right away.

“It’s been a while. I actually called you both to inform you of good news.”

“Good news, you say?” One of them replied.

Lloyd looked straight at them and said, “I have made a bit of money recently.”

Shiloh and Meatloaf cocked their heads to the side. It occurred to Lloyd just then that the event back in Cremo hadn’t spread to this remote province just yet. He smiled meaningfully at them.

“So it appears that I can repay what I owed to two of you.”

“Pay us?”

“Yes,” confirmed Lloyd.

“Then how much…”

“About half of the entire principal debt.”

“Eh?!” Their eyes widened in surprise. The news shocked them. It was unbelievable. The debt the barony owed to them was not insignificant. It was considerably large.

It shouldn’t be a manageable amount to begin with. How…? Shiloh and Meatloaf had the same thought in their heads. And they also recalled the time when Baron Frontera came up to them to borrow some money.

At that time, the baron was full of himself like now. When the baron visited them, he explained that he planned on buying some land. But he was just borrowing some because he was short of a portion of the land price. Shiloh asked if he was really doing it because the interest rate was high. The baron nodded as if it were fine. He further explained that the land he was going to purchase would soar through the roof. And paying back the loan would be a breeze, given his massive profit. But in the end, the baron went under.

Turns out, the guy who connected the baron to the land was an impostor. These loan sharks got some men to look around, and they found out that the impostor had eloped after embezzling all the investment funds of the baron. Making things worse, the land which the baron invested in was nothing but a false listing, which only existed on paper. The baron was duped in every degree. But Shiloh and Meatloaf weren’t the types of loan sharks who would be compassionate to his mishap.

He judged for himself and borrowed the money, and he’s got to be responsible for his actions. Who cares about compassion when they’re talking about money? A contract must be complied with, and that’s what was terrifying about money. They were extreme sticklers for such a principle, so everything in the contract was strictly adhered to.

The short-term repayment came at a cost, which was a massive interest rate. The loan sharks added daily interest to the principal without a single day amiss. The principal blew up in sum with interest. And with the increased principal, the interest was adjusted accordingly. Interest increased interest, and the principal snowballed. And so, as the baron dragged things and struggled to pay off the interest, the overall loan amount multiplied to an unimaginable sum, which stood incomparably higher than the money he’d borrowed. As such, Shiloh and Meatloaf thought to themselves that he’d never be able to pay the money during his lifetime. A man like that wouldn’t be capable of doing so. So all they could leech off from him was to squeeze him to death until they’d get their hands on the manor and some worthy stuff in his inheritance.

That’s how we do things. And his manor and other stuff would render way much more profit than the principal we first lent him. So they waited, much like a spider watching a struggling fly caught in her web or like a viper looking down at a mouse whose body was dying as the poison spread in its body each second. But no death came. The baron, who they thought would perish under surmounting pressure, brought out a card against all expectations. It was his eldest son, a once brute, who initiated several projects all of a sudden. And that was when the winds of change began to blow in the barony. And now, that hooligan Lloyd Frontera just declared to them that he can pay half of the entire principal.

“Are you… telling the truth?” Shiloh asked, too incredulous to trust what he had just heard. Lloyd simply nodded his head as if there was nothing strange about this.

“Yes,” confirmed Lloyd.

What Lloyd said was most certainly true. He had amassed more than half the amount of the overall debt. Heck, he had actually earned to the point that he still had some left, even after clearing half of the debt.

It’s all thanks to Count Cremo. Lloyd smiled, his eyes curling in satisfaction. He thought of Cremo, the city of commerce, with gratitude, for it has left him with heaps of profits. He had sold every bit of the treasure acquired from the orcs, and that granted him a considerable amount of sum. On top of that was the project commissioned by the count, in which Lloyd built an artificial ground in the water. The payment for the construction was considerably larger than initially promised. It was because of the negotiation Lloyd successfully struck with the count the night before he left the city.

“Do you plan on going back to the barony tomorrow?” asked the count.

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“I am sorry to hear that. I wasn’t able to even properly reward you for stopping the Gigatitan.”

“If that is the case, could you return the favor now?” asked Lloyd.

“Is there a reward that you have in mind?”

“Yes. Money.”

“…”

“I ask for twofold of the construction fee for building the platform in the water.”

“Hmm… Let us settle at 1.5.”

“Did you not just say that you wished to return the favor for my merits?”

“1.6.”

“Ha… I worked so hard to kill that Gigatitan…”

“Whew. 1.7. I can’t give you more than that.”

“Thank you, Your Excellency.”

So the massive profit was the result of a constructive and peaceful negotiation.

“All in cash,” Lloyd remarked.

“I am sure you will need confirmation. Let us go then.”

Lloyd then rose, leading the two transfixed loan sharks downstairs. And there, he opened the vault with Baron Frontera and the administrator who were waiting for him. It opened up to reveal shining gold coins and bars, whose sight prompted the loan sharks to smile ear to ear. And just like that, half of the debt the barony was burdened with was taken care of, not to mention the interest was slashed in half as well.

And this means that half of the water bill I’ll receive from the viscounty will purely be my profit from now on. Lloyd lifted his gaze with satisfaction after punching the numbers in his head. The vault was now empty, but he brimmed with confidence that he’d be able to restock it again. And to do that, he needed to busy himself without a moment of laziness. His days began to fill up with work again.

“Here! Hold it!” shouted Lloyd.

“Yes!”Lloyd had his tool belt wrapped around his waist, and he now grabbed the tool at the construction site for the first time in a while. He was at the construction site of the ondol house he had continually supplied to the barony. This was the last site, so he personally led the effort. From the first ondol contract to the ones that followed, he fulfilled the terms of the contract and had finished all the constructions.

Ding Dong.

[The installation of ondol flooring to the homes in Frontera fiefdom is complete.][You have successfully accomplished the work of introducing a new method of heating the floors in a province. The residents will adapt to this new and convenient method and be greatly satisfied.]

[The ondol heating system has now settled as the residential tradition distinct to the Frontera province.]

[A new page has been written in the Laurasian continent’s history books as the “Frontera Floor Heating System.”]

[For this monumental achievement in construction, you have been awarded a large amount of bonus RP.]

[You have acquired 400 RP.]

[Current RP: 1,946]

Wow. A pleasing message adorned the air in front of Lloyd’s eyes. This reward was something he had never thought of receiving. On top of the RP, he received some construction fees. The profit was something he never expected, but it nonetheless pleased him. But Lloyd didn’t stop there. The profit didn’t make him smile for even a split second. He didn’t relax and goof around. Instead, he decided to work harder, dealing with things that were left unfinished.

I vacated the fiefdom way too long because of the Gigatitan incident. He had a lot on his plate. He headed to the coal mine, coming and going for several days and making sure that everything was safe there. Next, he checked the construction status of the leasing houses in the Maritz land, as the migrants would live there come spring.

So I must build them well. The migrants who signed the contract to live here were mostly tenant farmers who, though modest, led a stable lifestyle. And they took on this big adventure of working for their personal lands instead of working for others that promised security. They decided to come here, taking such a risk.

I should be thankful to them. They took on a lot of risk to move here. That was what risk was for poor people. Moving out of a rental house or starting out in another job after leaving. Or canceling the insurance because one’s short of cash, even though that would be a great loss. Each of these small decisions meant a tittering adventure on a steep cliff.

One failure, and there was no chance of picking yourself up back on your feet because you had no assets. Someone with a stable life would never understand the feeling. However, Lloyd personally felt what it was like, back in his days in the dorm rooms. He went through this struggle on a daily basis. He could only execute his plans after much consideration when the choice may have looked trivial to others. This feeling of being alone without support and how very opportunity cost translated to your livelihood. Since Lloyd had experienced this personally, he was well aware of the mentality of the migrants in the reclaimed land.

First, I need to make sure that they will be relieved. That’s how I can make them concentrate on their work. Lloyd wanted to ensure that they’d feel comfortable, at least during the time they stayed at home. That was the key to encouraging the migrants to exert more effort and build the land into a more fertile one. Lloyd’s thinking was that a comfortable home where they could rest was the beginning of settling into the reclaimed land. So, he spent extra care in inspecting the construction of the leasing houses.

More work followed after that was done. He meticulously worked to ensure that the water pipes were not frozen and checked the status of the stored coals. Such a hectic and busy lifestyle continued for almost 20 days, and that was only when he was able to take care of most of the work. But even after he was almost finished with his work, no time for rest was given to him.

“M-master Lloyd!”

Lloyd was walking out of the storage after checking on the coals when the administrator ran toward him in a hurry. And he shouted at Lloyd, his voice shaky.

“Uh, now, you, you have a v-visitor!”

“A visitor?” Lloyd asked casually.

“Yes, Young Master!”

“Then, what’s making you so flustered?”

Lloyd cocked his head to the side, thinking how strange this all was. The administrator was a seasoned worker, and yet he was now stuttering over a visitor. He frowned. Could it be that a high-ranking visitor has arrived?

“What is all the fuss right now? Who on earth is it? And if it’s an important guest, shouldn’t you be informing the baron first, not me?” asked Lloyd grouchily.

Actually, Lloyd was about to take a nice, short because he had almost finished everything. So, he frankly felt annoyed to be bothered by this fussy man who should have gone to the baron. The administrator stuttered again at his snobby question.

“I-it’s, it’s… It’s…”

“It’s what?”

“A royal messenger is here,” the administrator said at last.

“A royal messenger? What?”

“The royal messenger of Her Majesty has come from the kingdom.”

“Her Majesty’s messenger is here?” repeated Lloyd.

“Yes,” said the administrator as he nodded hard.

And in a dazed expression on his face, he added, “So, uhm, the royal messenger of Her Majesty wants to see you, Master Lloyd.”

“What?!”

The royal messenger is here to see me? And finally, Lloyd’s eyes widened just like the administrator’s.