My Lord Who Is Being Prudent! [EN]: Chapter 150

§ 150 – New Vice-Administrator (2)

“What, what did you say?”

“The Marquis family is lending out grain?”

“I-Is that really true?”

At the man’s shout, the surrounding people questioned him with doubtful faces.

No, far from half-believing, their faces were full of suspicion.

“Have you people been living a lie? It’s true!”

“R-Really?”

“The Marquis family is lending out grain?”

“I’m telling you, they are!”

The man continued confidently.

“But you have to return as much as you borrowed during the fall harvest!”

“Aigo! That’s only natural!”

“If we can just hold out now, we can survive!”

At the same time as the man’s words, people shouted with great joy.

A famine meant a year with poor crop yields.

In other words, a year with an absolutely small amount of crops.

Even if you had something, there was nothing you could do because there was little grain harvested.

In such a situation, lending out grain was like welcome rain during a drought.

However.

“Ah…”

“Ah…”

Not everyone was like that.

Not everyone in the Marquisate had 余裕 [a Japanese word meaning余裕, or ‘余裕’ in Japanese, refers to having surplus, capacity, or room to spare, both materially and mentally].

A famine is a year with an absolutely small amount of crops harvested.

Basically, it was a year with many people destitute and starving.

“We can’t afford that…”

“My dear, I’m sorry…”

Even if they borrowed grain, not many could afford to repay it.

Some people rejoiced at the man’s words.

But most people just hung their heads low.

And.

“……”

Hurin was one of those who hung his head.

Hurin, a mere serf.

Hurin also hung his head low like most people.

Just then.

“Besides!”

The man’s shout was heard once again.

And the man’s following shout.

“They say that people who can’t afford it will be given free meals!”

Instantly, Hurin’s eyes widened.

The sight he saw.

There, countless people who had hung their heads were looking at the man with the same expression as Hurin.

“Of course, it’s just one meal… but still, giving us something to eat is a blessing!”

His eyes widened in surprise.

“W-What is that…!”

“Are you lying… right now?”

People shouted at each other.

The man’s words were that shocking and unconventional.

Giving free food to those who didn’t have it.

That meant the nobles were releasing the grain they had.

But that couldn’t be.

Hadn’t they been ignoring the starving people all along?

They were nobles who were only satisfied when their own bellies were full.

They didn’t even care if people starved to death.

But now….

“If you don’t believe it, go and see for yourself! They’re distributing food at the village entrance right now!”

With those words, the man disappeared somewhere.

The people blankly stared at the place where the man had left.

A silence as if a typhoon had swept through.

Hurin stood there like a dazed person.

It’s a lie.

Hurin constantly denied the man’s words in his head.

However, step by step.

Hurin’s steps were already heading towards the village entrance.

And the sight he saw.

“Aigo, my lord. Thank you so much! Thank you so much!”

“We’re alive! We’re alive now!”

First, he could hear the voices of people who were moved to tears.

Following that, he could find people receiving food.

“T-That was real…?”

Hurin’s mind went blank for a moment.

Not only Hurin, but also the people who had followed him as if possessed were the same.

“Those who are sick, go to the clinic over there!”

In the meantime, the voices of other people flowed in.

The place he looked at.

There, a man was shouting something to the sick and ill people.

Hurin hurriedly approached and asked the man.

“H-Hey! Clinic? Are you saying a clinic has been set up in our village?”

“Ah, that’s right. The healer is so good that my daughter got better quickly!”

“Goodness…”

Hurin’s mind went blank once again.

“Do you know that’s not all? They’re cultivating famine relief crops throughout the Marquisate right now!”

“Famine relief crops… you say?”

“Yes! They’re plowing the entire farmland and proceeding with it!”

“T-Then will we have something to eat soon?”

“That’s right! If we just hold on a little longer, this terrible famine will be over!”

The man shouted with a bright smile.

There was a clear vitality in the man’s voice.

Just a moment ago, the village was full of despair.

Starvation and famine, hunger and destitution.

It was a village frustrated by the despair brought by the famine.

But now.

“Mom! This bread is delicious! Mom, you have one too!”

“Aigoo, my baby, you have such a beautiful heart.”

The scent of hope was sprouting everywhere.

“Hey everyone! Come and eat together!”

“You’ve been starving a lot, so eat this porridge first! Hahaha!”

People were no longer suffering from the despair brought by the famine.

Bright hope was blooming all over the village.

“Ah ah…”

Hurin collapsed on the spot.

The days of being destitute and starving.

The sadness of watching the children getting thinner day by day.

The misery of not being able to do anything despite that.

The despair of the reality that did not improve despite that.

But now, the hope that they can rise again.

Numerous thoughts and feelings swirled in Hurin’s head.

And among them, the most prominent thought.

“Who on earth… who did this…?”

Who created this situation.

And the answer was soon heard.

“They say all of this was ordered by Young Master Cyan?”

“What? Young Master Cyan? That, that rascal of the Marquis family?”

“Hey, you! Rascal! What era are you talking about now!”

“He’s not a rascal, he’s a savior, a savior!”

People shouted and praised Cyan’s name.

And it wasn’t just happening in this village.

Every village, every territory under the jurisdiction of the Elan Dure Marquisate.

“Thank you! Thank you so much, Young Master Cyan!”

“Long live Young Master Cyan!”

The name of the new vice-administrator, Cyan, echoed endlessly.

#

Ding!

“Hmm?”

Cyan tilted his head at the smartphone’s notification sound suddenly coming from his chest.

‘Has Mobile Lord awakened?’

Cyan checked his smartphone with a hopeful heart.

The content of the notification window he checked.

〈Your name is echoing throughout the Elan Dure Marquisate.〉

〈Fame Point +300 P〉

〈Fame Point +500 P〉

〈Fame Point +200 P〉

〈Fame Point +150 P〉

.

.

.

“…What is this?”

Cyan wondered what this was.

The notification window that Fame Points were suddenly rising.

“…What is this.”

Cyan really wondered what it was.

That’s because Cyan didn’t have anything he was doing.

He really didn’t have anything he was doing.

He was just sitting on a luxurious chair, leaning back.

Of course.

“230 sacks of wheat to Jedra Village… Healer hiring fees and…”

Next to Cyan, Python was busily writing up various payment requests.

Next to him, Python’s numerous subordinate administrators were also moving their pens.

Cyan was just watching such a scene quietly.

To be exact, he was just giving orders and sitting there.

And occasionally pointing out problems?

“Young Master. Here is an additional budget payment request.”

Soon, Python placed a payment request on Cyan’s desk.

And.

Ding!

〈Fame Point +400 P〉

〈Fame Point +200 P〉

Once again, Fame Points began to accumulate on the smartphone screen.

‘What is this really?’

Cyan really wondered what it was.

But only for a moment.

‘Eh, whatever.’

Cyan put his smartphone back in his chest.

When had he ever understood Mobile Lord?

And well, Fame Points accumulating wasn’t a bad thing.

Anyway, he couldn’t use Fame Points until Mobile Lord woke up.

Thinking about it would only give him a headache.

Cyan shook his head and checked the payment request written by Python.

A payment request for various treatment supplies and healer hiring fees.

The amount was roughly 1.2 million gold.

“Hmm… not bad.”

Thump.

Cyan casually stamped the payment request with his seal.

#

Cyan stamped the payment request with his seal without hesitation.

And as the situation reached this point.

“C-Chief Administrator. I-Is this okay…?”

“If this continues, not only the mistress, but also the head of the family may punish you…!”

The administrators of Elan Dure began to express their concerns one by one.

That’s because the budget Cyan was using.

It was really appropriate to say that he was spending it like water.

At this rate, the budget might run out.

Of course, Elan Dure’s astronomical funds would not run out.

But the budget Cyan was using now made them wonder, ‘Could it be…?’

“The vice-administrator’s actions are excessive…”

“Chief Administrator, please say something.”

The administrators expressed their concerns to Python, the chief administrator.

But.

“Ahem…”

Python couldn’t say anything.

First of all, Python wasn’t in a position to say anything.

Of course, Python’s position was higher.

Chief Administrator and Vice-Administrator.

Python’s position was Cyan’s superior.

But that was only in name, and the reality was not at all.

Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t say anything.

Even if Cyan was a member of Elan Dure’s bloodline.

Even if he was a talent receiving Durac’s attention.

What was wrong was wrong.

He could say that.

But.

“Thanks to you, my lord, my wife, children, and family can live.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much, my lord! I will never forget this grace.”

“Even if we are ignorant, we know the grace we have received. Yes!”

Cyan had no justification to do so!

Cool-headed judgment and analytical skills.

And even the charisma to control the resisting vassals.

What was wrong? What was wrong?

Thanks to Cyan’s policies, the damage from the famine was rapidly subsiding!

Well, it was true that the budget was excessively allocated in the process.

But that was all for the people of the Marquisate.

So Cyan didn’t benefit from it at all.

Rather… if Cyan had committed embezzlement and corruption, Python would have stepped in long ago.

If he had secretly pocketed money, Python would have stepped in long ago.

“Are you meticulously writing the ledgers according to the budget usage?”

“Y-Yes. I am recording everything without missing anything.”

“Give it to me once.”

All funds were being used transparently and legitimately.

“Hmm? Hey, here. Isn’t the budget measurement wrong here? It looks like an extra 0 was written?”

He even accurately identified the parts that were accidentally omitted from the ledger.

This was no different from a veteran who had been rolling around in administrative work for decades.

Of course, Cyan knew that he had been appointed as the lord of Ruben.

But Ruben was just a small territory.

It was also a trash territory located in the Forest of Darkness.

The scale of Ruben and the Elan Dure Marquisate was different.

Well, it might be helpful to some extent.

“Ah, I-I’m sorry.”

“Always be careful when entering numbers. This is all money, money.”

But it wasn’t to this extent!

And that’s not all.

Cyan had no hesitation in using the budget.

He literally had no hesitation at all.

And Python could be sure of this.

Those who had been rolling around as merchants for years.

Or even a talent called a great merchant.

No, even if there was a resident director of a great merchant group that dominated the entire empire.

It wouldn’t be as much as Cyan.

They wouldn’t be able to keep up with Cyan.

The enormous funds of Elan Dure that are stamped on the budget request right now.

Anyone would stutter in front of that astronomical amount.

To put it bluntly.

Years ago, the Brahe Merchant Group, which had been famous as a great merchant group, would have hesitated.

If you touch it, it’s tens of thousands!

If you try to do something, it’s millions!

If you move in earnest, it’s tens of millions!

These were budget requests that made you say such things.

Python, who had been working in Elan Dure for decades.

Even Python’s hands tremble when he approves the payment request.

But what is Cyan….

“What. It only costs 5.2 million gold to plow the Marquisate’s farmland and plant famine relief crops? That’s very cheap? Is it because it can be replaced by manpower?”

He was approving the payment request without any concern!

No, far from being unconcerned, he was using the expression ‘cheap’!

“Was 5.2 million gold a cheap amount…?”

“W-Well…?”

Well, my ass [crude].

It was definitely not a cheap amount!

And it was definitely not an amount that could be called a mere amount!

How can an amount that can allow a family of four to play and eat for 14,444 years be expressed as cheap?

Of course, it wasn’t a huge amount when viewed on a territory basis.

Nevertheless, it was an amount that could never be expressed as cheap.

Payment requests for such amounts were coming and going countless times.

Where does such boldness and guts come from….

But it was that clear results were being seen as a result.

Also, the public sentiment towards Elan Dure was soaring.

Because of this situation, Python and the vassals of Elan Dure.

“Heo…”

“What to do…”

They couldn’t find fault with Cyan’s actions.

“Vice-Administrator. This time, we will additionally provide grains to the Reiple territory…”

“Yeah. Take it and use it.”

Because it’s not my money anyway.

Cyan stamped the payment request with his seal without hesitation.

#

Immediately after finishing the budget payment request related to the relief policy.

Cyan was organizing the ledgers in the place where the ledgers were stored.

While checking the ledgers one by one.

“It’s really amazing.”

Cyan burst into pure admiration.

That’s because the scale of Elan Dure’s funds was really amazing.

Even though he spent it like water, the finances were still sound, far from having a hole in them.

Cyan looked at the ledger he had written today.

Complicatedly intertwined numbers.

If you touch one place, the sound of millions! immediately popped out.

The sum of the funds written in this one ledger alone amounted to tens of millions of gold.

And right now, this place, the warehouse where the ledgers are stored.

Countless such ledgers were densely stacked.

“Indeed…”

Is Elan Dure Elan Dure?

It couldn’t even be compared to the gold Cyan used in Ruben.

Well, it was a scale that could be fully understood considering the size of the Elan Dure Marquisate.

The family that dominates almost the entire eastern part of the empire, Elan Dure.

It wasn’t for nothing that they were called the two families that support the empire.

That’s why.

“They must have created slush funds…”

Cyan couldn’t help but think this way.

That’s because Elan Dure didn’t just run clean businesses.

Immediately, he could count the gold spent when Isabel assassinated Cyan.

Things that cannot be revealed in the sun.

So things that cannot be written in the ledger.

There must be black money secretly used for such things.

And such black money is here now.

It must be laundered in the ledger and sleeping somewhere.

If he could find it, Cyan could swallow it [take it for himself].

That’s because it was literally Black Money.

Money that cannot be identified, blind money.

The slush fund that Elan Dure had hidden away.

It would lightly skim tens of millions of gold, even if he didn’t know it.

Really, it could even go to hundreds of millions.

“Embezzlement is embezzlement…”

Slush funds were a different story.

It could be a weapon that could shake Elan Dure itself.

Of course, it was also money that Cyan could swallow.

“Hmm…”

Cyan carefully examined the ledger.

But.

“I don’t know.”

He couldn’t figure it out even after looking at the ledger.

In the first place, the amount of ledgers was too much.

Besides, Cyan didn’t know how to read the ledger well.

There was a reason why Cyan delegated the writing of specific payment requests to the administrators, even though he directly ordered the relief policy.

Still, he had experienced administrative work like this.

‘I know why Hans died so much [from overwork].’

Elan Dure at least had many administrators.

Ruben’s administrator was only Hans.

‘When I go back, I need to hire some administrative staff.’

Anyway.

Elan Dure’s slush fund was important money even from Elan Dure’s point of view.

It didn’t make sense that Cyan, who had no special experience, could know just by skimming through the ledger.

Even if he didn’t know, he would have thoroughly laundered and hidden it.

There was no way Cyan could know right now.

“If it was Amelia, she would know.”

The Brahe Merchant Group that dominated the western part of the empire.

Amelia was the daughter of the Brahe Merchant Group

Although it has fallen now, its capacity has not gone anywhere.

Above all, Amelia that Cyan saw was a woman with outstanding talent as a merchant.

Enough to become a great merchant.

Such Amelia would be able to grasp the flow of funds by looking at the ledger.

So, of course, the source of Elan Dure’s slush fund.

Maybe he could even find a way to steal this slush fund.

But.

“How do I take this ledger?”

It was only in the case where this ledger was available.

This ledger is handled with great care even within Elan Dure.

Cyan wouldn’t have been able to do this if he hadn’t become an administrator this time.

If he hadn’t been delegated full authority by Durac.

Also, if he hadn’t shown such clear results and built trust.

It was a ledger that he couldn’t even touch or see like this.

Well, even now that it’s in front of his eyes like this.

There was no problem in secretly taking the ledger itself.

If he put it in his inventory right now, no one would know.

But.

“If the ledger disappears, they will naturally be suspicious.”

He couldn’t avoid suspicion about the missing ledger.

As Cyan had watched so far.

The ledger was being thoroughly managed.

In the end, the only way was to copy this ledger.

But that wasn’t easy either.

“Young Master. It’s time to go out now.”

The ledger was not checked by Cyan alone.

Python, the chief administrator, was approaching Cyan there.

Next to him, many administrators were preparing to leave the warehouse.

It could be said to be a kind of surveillance.

The ledger was that important and strictly managed.

In short, it was impossible to leisurely copy it.

It was absolutely impossible to copy it while avoiding their eyes.

So you memorize this vast ledger as a whole?

‘That’s impossible.’

That was impossible even for Arnaise Elody, let alone a dragon.

‘Too bad.’

Cyan shook off his regret and moved his steps.

No, to be exact, it was just then that he was about to move his steps.

Ding!

Suddenly, the smartphone’s notification sound was heard from his chest.

‘Did Fame Points rise again?’

Cyan smiled and checked his smartphone.

And.

〈You can use the photo shooting function of your smartphone.〉

‘Huh…?’

He could check a strange notification window.