HTLCCBFT Chapter 32

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 32

After squandering the last bit of ready cash in Laina Castle’s treasury—a few coins that had only survived because the eighth lord died too suddenly to spend them all—

Of course, according to the complete ledgers, the finances of the Laina City domain had long been in the red. The books clearly recorded the debts incurred on credit by the successive, pleasure-seeking lords of Laina.

Oliver couldn’t be bothered with those for the time being.

The creditors for those bad debts were all great merchants from various cities. And those shrewd merchants, after suffering losses, knew full well that their money was mostly unrecoverable after those noble lords met violent ends. So they simply chalked it up to bad luck and decided never to come to Laina City again.

Ignoring Fosse’s earnest attempts to dissuade him, Oliver personally carried a cage of chicks, while several manservants carried the remaining cages, and headed toward the castle.

As for the five roosters and twenty hens that were also purchased, they had already been placed in the pasture.

Oliver was actually in a very good mood.

Logically, it should have been a great disappointment that his wish to buy pigs, which he had been dreaming of for over half a month, had suddenly fallen through.

But on second thought, raising chickens—which had a lower cost, was not difficult to start, bred faster, and could also provide manure—was actually more suitable for the current Laina City.

The only problem at the moment was that these chicks, only a week old and capable only of soft “cheep cheep” sounds, were not suited for free-ranging like the adult chickens. They still needed a period of meticulous care.

“Fosse,” Oliver said after leading the group to a stone corridor on the castle’s first floor. He motioned for the manservants to put down the bamboo cages, then turned to Fosse, his butler, who was frowning and staring intently at the cage in his hands. “These little things are still very fragile. I need a patient, meticulous, and responsible servant, loyal to me, to look after them for the next half-month, strictly according to my instructions. And besides yourself, whom I cannot be without for even a day, who comes to mind as the person most suited for these conditions?”

The one who truly and perfectly met these conditions was, of course, the multi-talented butler standing before him.

But to have this former knight commander of noble birth, this butler so loyal that he refused to leave his side for a moment, look after chicks…

Even though Fosse would certainly obey his command, Oliver was unwilling to make such poor use of his talent, which would even risk insulting his most capable aide.

Fosse pressed his lips together, considering with a grave expression for a long while. During this time, his gaze briefly fell upon the nervous manservant, Johan.

Just as Johan’s heart was in his throat, unsure if this task—which he couldn’t decide was good or bad—would fall to him, Fosse gave an answer that made his worries for naught. “Your Highness, I believe that the female slave who recently passed the great Cat God’s preliminary test may possess the loyalty and wisdom to be competent for this duty.”

“Lucy?”

Oliver had a good memory and certainly hadn’t forgotten the scrawny little girl with commendable perceptiveness.

He was just rather surprised that Fosse’s answer was Lucy… He had originally thought his butler would suggest his personal manservant, Johan.

However, after a moment’s thought, he felt that this choice was indeed the most suitable. These days, Lucy’s main task was in the stove room, teaching the slaves how to use the wood charring technique to treat the oak planks for the toilets and houses.

But as the initial phase of construction was nearing its end, Lucy, the technical instructor, was destined to be temporarily “unemployed.”

This had nothing to do with discrimination, but women generally did perform better than men at tasks involving the care of small, fragile lives.

If it were just a matter of casually raising a few chickens and leaving their survival rate to fate, any peasant woman on the domain could do it.

But Oliver didn’t want to be so careless.

He had spent every last one of his gold coins, and not just to raise a batch of meat chickens with a pitifully low survival rate. In his eyes, they were the future of Laina City’s vast flock, the starting point of its animal husbandry industry, the crucial “first generation of chickens.”

This meant that the person raising the chicks not only needed to be enthusiastic and meticulous, but also possess a certain level of skill and gradually build up experience.

He couldn’t say much about other things, but as someone who had once been a volunteer in an impoverished region, he could provide some simple animal husbandry techniques.

“Excellent,” Oliver said, nodding with a slight smile. “Have Lucy come here.”

When Johan ran to find Lucy, she was squatting quietly in the stove room, where the fire had long since been extinguished, unable to hide her dejection.

For the past ten-odd days, she had been the busiest person on the domain, second only to the Lord himself. All the charred wood the domain needed had to come out of this stove room, and she didn’t trust anyone else to watch over the crucial furnace fire, lest the temperature be wrong and the precious wood be ruined.

And so, day after day, she had to work around the clock.

During the three busiest days, she hadn’t even closed her eyes for a moment.

What sustained her through this stubbornness were two firm beliefs: “I cannot disappoint the Cat God,” and “I cannot disappoint the Lord.”

But as the construction work gradually progressed and neared completion, the demand for the wood charring technique dwindled. Growing increasingly idle, Lucy felt no sense of relief. Instead, she became even more terrified.

Was what she had done before really enough?

Could she truly pass the great Cat God’s trial and make the Lord smile with satisfaction?

Just as she was feeling her most anxious, she saw the manservant Johan suddenly appear at the doorway.

Johan, who was always cool and distant toward the other servants and full of admiration only for the Lord and his retinue from the royal capital, gave her a friendly smile. “Lucy, your luck has come.”

Lucy stared at him blankly as he continued:

“His Highness, that beautiful and noble Highness, has arranged a new position for you.”

“R-Really?!”

Lucy’s eyes widened, and she shot to her feet. “For me?”

“That’s right. It was Mr. Fosse who recommended you to His Highness.” At this, Johan’s gaze toward her grew complicated, a mix of confusion and envy. “Quickly, wash your hands and face and come with me to see His Highness.”

When an uncontrollably excited Lucy followed Johan to the stone corridor on the first floor, she was greeted by the sight of the Lord directing several serfs as they moved planks and straw to build a shed.

Lucy was dumbfounded by the scene. Although her reason told her that the trial the Lord had given her would be anything but simple, she was still deeply shaken when she saw the two-meter-tall chicken coop taking shape. It was rapidly constructed under the Lord’s methodical command, using bricks, wooden sticks, tarps, long poles, and costly roofing felt.

From Oliver’s perspective, it was just a very rudimentary coop, but one that provisionally met the standards for brooding chicks.

Except for the side against the wall, the other three sides were all fitted with vents that could be covered with thin wooden boards. The coop’s main body was supported by a frame of wooden posts, its walls were made primarily of burlap sacks and wooden planks, and the A-frame roof rested perfectly against the stone blocks of the castle’s upper level, providing some support.

Once the roofing felt was laid, it had the basic functions of sheltering from wind and rain and preventing water from accumulating or leaking.

The reason the chicken coop was built on the castle’s stone gallery was not only to make use of an otherwise useless area built out of extravagance, but also because the wall it leaned against was the “fire wall” of the flue connecting the stove room and the kitchen.

During summer days, the temperature was suitable, and with the burlap sacks removed, there was also ample sunlight. These seven-day-old chicks could already fully tolerate natural light.

At night, when the temperature dropped rapidly, the stove room and kitchen would be in use. The chicks would only need to huddle together near the wall to get warm, requiring no additional heat source.

Of course, the heat from the fire wall alone was not enough—even on warmer summer nights, the fragile chicks could not sleep directly on the cold stone slabs.

This was where bedding came in.

Oliver had people bring over all the leftover wheat straw, rice straw, and wood shavings from the construction. These materials, which had been sun-dried for several days and felt warm to the touch, were spread on the floor of the coop to a depth of a full finger’s width.

This absorbent, soft, and dry bedding had to be either replaced or topped with a new layer every so often.

It would be completely cleared out only after the brooding stage was over. Of course, it would then become excellent material for compost.

Lucy, naturally, was unaware of the ingenious thinking behind all this.

But as she gazed up at the large, sturdy chicken coop that had taken shape so quickly, a sense of awe couldn’t help but rise in her heart.

As expected of the Lord… the only person blessed with the divine favor of the wise Cat God. Even the way he raises chickens is so extraordinary.

To think that the coop for these little chicks looked even better than the houses of many commoners!

“Lucy, come over here.”

The coop was quickly assembled. Oliver watched it for a moment with satisfaction, then the corner of his eye caught the little girl standing dazed to the side, so he smiled and beckoned her over.

To let her directly feel how cute the chicks were and to spark a genuine enthusiasm for caring for them, Oliver, under the watchful eyes of the butler who was about to faint from fright, opened the cage door.

He very carefully picked up a chick that looked the plumpest and most lively, its downy feathers gleaming with a healthy luster, and placed it in the palm of his hand. “From now on, you will be the one to take care of these little ones.”

Lucy held her breath, staring without blinking at the little yellow-orange chick… and at the fair, delicate palm beneath it. It took her a long while to react, and she gave a slow nod. The Lord, with his beautiful golden hair flowing freely, seemed to shine like an angel as he said seriously, “Although no one might believe it right now, their healthy growth is crucial for the future development of Laina City.”

This isn’t just about whether they’ll be able to regularly eat delicious foods like fried eggs, boiled eggs, steamed egg custard, and cake… or even roast chicken, braised chicken, white cut chicken, beggar’s chicken, and shiitake mushroom stewed chicken.

More importantly, unlike the corn that relies on the game system to exist, these chickens, raised using scientific methods, are native to this land.

When their numbers are large enough, we can even consider making them into preserved egg-based side dishes to sell to the outside world.

Oliver’s gaze was gentle, almost affectionate, as he looked at the chick in his palm. It stared back with its beady black eyes, letting out a delicate yet strong “cheep cheep.” While speaking to Lucy, he naturally stroked its fluffy back.

It was an absolutely gentle motion.

Yet the little yellow chick, which had been standing nervously and cheeping nonstop just a moment ago, suddenly collapsed as if it had melted into a puddle, flopping limply into his soft palm.

Huh?

Oliver froze.

Could he have made it sick by petting it?

Startled, he stopped talking and lowered his head to check on it.

But he discovered that a pink heart was slowly floating up from the head of the little chick, which had blissfully entered a state of intoxication on its own.

It floated for just a few seconds before dissipating into the air.

At the same time, the game system slowly provided a notification: “The chick received its master’s gentle affection. Favorability has increased.”

All game players knew that an animal’s favorability toward its master was strictly linked to its productivity and value.

Furthermore, every time one petted an animal or harvested its products, one could gain a small amount of Farming experience points.

Oliver: “…”

After this accidental discovery, the Lord of Laina City’s gaze toward the 256 chicks transformed, as if he were looking at a pile of sparkling experience points.

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