Knight: Becoming King of the World

Henry nodded. This meant that, based on the current situation, the villages surrounding Westwood Laine Castle still had a great deal of potential.

Furthermore, the land had not yet been fully developed, and large areas remained uncultivated.

Of course, Henry had no intention of doing so. ’This is grassland. Over-cultivating it would be too destructive.’

The Forest Hunting Ground, horse pastures, and ranches also required vast tracts of land and grassland to support them.

Once the population of Westwood Laine reached about fifty thousand, he would relocate the serfs to the borderlands between Westwood Laine and Ximira Castle.

That area was a vast, uninhabited region capable of supporting at least another thirty thousand people.

Henry wasn’t like other stingy nobles—the kind who practiced a dog-in-the-manger policy, refusing to let their subjects use the vast empty and fallow lands available.

’Use it! Isn’t that what land is for?’

’When my subjects live well, eat well, and cultivate more land, I collect more taxes. My costs for maintaining stability are lower, and my grain reserves grow larger.’

’It’s a win-win. A shame that some people just can’t grasp such a simple truth. They’d rather give money to outsiders than their own people, keeping them in a perpetual state of being not quite full and not quite starving—ideally with a bit of debt on top.’

’So vicious. They really deserve to die!’

"Oh, right. Shouldn’t a batch of serfs be approaching their third year soon?"

Back when Henry had swindled a half-finished castle from that... what’s-his-name Honorary Baron, he had purchased a large number of serfs to populate it.

But serfs were apathetic by nature, so Henry improved their conditions and offered them a grand promise—one they would soon see fulfilled.

As long as they performed their duties well, after three years, they would be promoted to tenant farmers, become commoners, be given their own homes, and be leased land based on their performance.

Furthermore, to help them earn a little more, their first year would be rent-free. Besides, Henry’s agricultural tax wasn’t high to begin with.

The fiefdom’s finances currently depended mainly on Henry’s spoils of war and other rewards, along with fairly high taxes on commerce, trade, and transit.

’How much money can you really make from agriculture? It’s far better to have grateful farmers. I don’t need them to shed their blood and die for me, but just having them willing to help out when I call is worth more than anything.’

’If the farmers can’t even eat their fill, who’s going to grow the food? Those high and mighty types who act so aloof, so proper, so above it all... the moment they’re truly starving, they’ll be better at scrounging for trash than a farm dog.’

It wasn’t as if Henry had never been "poor." He knew that feeling of being unable to die yet not truly living. It was an awful state, like believing you were just one step away from climbing out of a bottomless abyss and into the light, only to find the goal was deceptively distant. What seemed like a single step was, in reality, a lifetime away—a task as difficult as ascending to heaven.

That’s why Henry was willing to give others—most people—a chance. ’Giving people small, tangible benefits is a million times better than promising some pie in the sky they can never see or touch.’

With a grand gesture, Henry increased the size of the Westwood Laine Militia Team to five hundred men and granted them the benefit of one meal per day. The size and compensation for militia teams in other regions remained unchanged.

When this order was issued, Philip was so happy he couldn’t stop grinning. He would now be managing more men, which was tantamount to a promotion.

He knew in his heart that Henry’s decision had given him not only greater authority but also greater responsibility.

He secretly resolved to manage the Militia Team impeccably, determined not to betray the trust Henry had placed in him.

’My abilities are limited; I’ve hit my ceiling,’ he thought. ’The fact that Lord Henry still remembers me has left me too grateful for words. Loyalty spoken aloud proves nothing. I can only spend my life proving it through my actions.’

The men of the Militia Team were also ecstatic. Ordinarily, the position didn’t pay and didn’t provide meals; they had joined purely for the prestige.

Without missions, there were no bonuses whatsoever. That was why they had been so zealous during the recent joint enforcement operation.

Their motto might as well have been: ’Enforcement with passion, every swing of the club with conviction!’ Benefits weren’t something you just waited for; they were something you fought for!

And now, things were great. They were getting a meal!

Even though it was just one meal, when you added it up over a month or a year, it saved them a huge amount of money!

Besides, who was Lord Henry? Would he ever skimp on things? A meal provided by him would definitely be a rich one. Even if it was just meat soup, that was still real substance!

Plenty of people couldn’t get enough to eat. Many Knights, and even some Barons, lived on a tight budget.

The wealthy in the empire were, after all, a minority. Even if there were one hundred, two hundred, or three hundred thousand people feasting on meat and wine and indulging themselves daily, they were still just a tiny fraction of the Caladia Empire’s population.

Therefore, providing a meal was, in itself, a generous reward!

A few of the Militia members who were born with the constitution of an ox would do manual labor in the morning and afternoon for one meal, then go help out at taverns and shops at night for a second meal.

Now, with the Militia Team also providing a meal, all three of their daily meals were taken care of!

The commoners of Westwood Laine were also delighted. The Militia Team was expanding; did that mean they might have a chance to join?

Just look at those Militia men! They spent their days hanging around the garrisoned soldiers, sometimes even chatting up officials. Patrolling the streets with weapons and shields, strutting with purpose—how impressive it all looked!

If a commoner and a Militia man were both interested in the same young woman, the Militia man would almost certainly be the one to win her heart.

Henry’s focus was entirely on training his new army, so he hadn’t paid much mind to the affairs of the Militia Team. When Philip told him about all this, he couldn’t help but break into an amused smile.