HTLCCBFT Chapter 90

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 90

Before the new Lord arrived in Laina, rainy days and winter were absolutely the most detested and feared times for the slaves.

The roofs, sparsely thatched with wheat straw, were utterly defenseless against the torrential downpour.

Outside was a raging storm, while inside, a steady drizzle leaked through.

Soaked to the bone, the slaves had no choice but to huddle together as families, squeezing into the small spaces enclosed by walls made of mud and rotten wood, seeking warmth from each other’s meager body heat amid the terrifying rumble of thunder.

Shivering from the cold, they prayed to nameless gods, hoping the ordeal would pass quickly.

In such harsh conditions, no matter how exhausted they were during the day, they couldn’t possibly sleep through the night—yet this was no excuse to skip work the next day.

If water accumulated in the fields, the newly sprouted seedlings might rot. So, whether it was effective or not, under the steward’s supervision, they had to brave the fierce rain, using worn-out wooden buckets to bail out water time and again.

It was during these moments that they felt an overwhelming envy for the commoners in the town district.

In comparison, the free folk were undoubtedly much better off: they had proper roofs over their heads that could truly shield them from wind and rain, and the slightly more affluent could even light a hearth to drive away the damp and chill.

Moreover, unlike the slaves, who had to toil in the fields every day doing the dirtiest and hardest labor, the free folk only needed to work every few days.

If they really didn’t want to venture out in the rain, many free folk would choose to pay a fine for delaying their work, waiting until the weather cleared.

Even when the weather improved, the slaves’ misfortune was far from over.

What they feared most… was if anyone was unlucky enough to fall ill from the rain, it would mean certain death.

A few years ago, a severe plague had struck another city, wiping out more than half its population—after hearing such grim news, to prevent a similar fate from befalling Laina, the Lord would order the steward to cast out any slave showing clear signs of illness from the territory.

Until they fully recovered, they were forbidden to set foot in Laina, left to fend for themselves outside.

Once abandoned in such a state, those sick individuals had no chance of survival.

But this year was different.

“The Lord is truly wonderful,” Marianne murmured, holding her youngest child.

Unlike the chickens, which grew restless and anxious from the relentless rain, the slaves staying quietly in their homes felt an unprecedented lightness in their hearts.

The new houses, built with timber treated by the game system and through charring techniques, were not only elegant and spacious but also absolutely sturdy.

“Yes,” Jack said cheerfully. “We owe all of this to the great Cat God and the merciful divine messenger!”

He had even been fortunate enough to receive an egg from that divine messenger once!

“Praise the Cat God! Praise His Highness!”

The children, who had been drowsy, perked up at the familiar names and couldn’t help but shout.

Though they were all very young, none old enough to work a full day in the fields.

Even the youngest among them had already begun to form memories.

They clearly remembered how unbearable the rainy nights used to be, how the darkness had terrified them, stretching on endlessly.

“Yes, all of this is a gift from the merciful Cat God and the divine messenger,” Marianne earnestly taught her innocent children.

Marianne: “You must understand how fortunate we are! When you grow older, you must repay His Lordship properly!”

Jack smiled foolishly, listening obediently to his wife’s chatter as usual without interrupting.

There was no moon tonight, only occasional lightning flashes tearing across the sky.

Yet even in complete darkness, he could vaguely make out the silhouettes of his wife and children.

For the entire family to sit together happily through such a rainy night… it was truly wonderful.

Tonight, nearly all the slaves were like Marianne’s family.

Though they couldn’t light candles for illumination like commoners, or make fires solely for warmth… just being able to live without being drenched by rain, battered by wind, or soaked in mud made them feel extremely fortunate.

This was the first time!

They could rest peacefully in their own homes, still hearing the rain’s clamor and the wind’s howl, but all blocked outside by their new house’s walls and roof.

Incredible – not a single drop of rain leaked through!

The slaves sat relaxed on clean floors covered with rush grass, their clothes dry, their shoes dry.

No pervasive raindrops, no bone-chilling cold, no fear that the house might collapse at any moment, no lingering dampness from soaked clothing.

“We must be the happiest slaves in the world!” someone couldn’t help exclaiming to their family: “Living in such good houses – even slaves in the royal capital couldn’t live better than us!”

In their imagination, commoners’ lives were naturally better than theirs, something they couldn’t aspire to.

The slaves they imagined having the best lives were those in the wealthiest royal capital.

They heard those slaves could eat their fill every day and didn’t have to do heavy work!

“All this was brought by our Lord!”

“And the great Cat God!”

“We’ve received so much, yet we’ve given nothing in return.”

“Even the fieldwork is much less than before, and our Lord always does it for us!”

“Our Lord is as omnipotent as the Cat God – everything he does is fast and perfect.”

“If we could work better, perhaps our Lord would trust us to do more.”

“Then we must work even harder from now on.”

“I don’t know why His Lordship makes us run along the ridges… I could do more work!”

“Fool! It’s not your place to question the divine messenger’s decisions!”

“Hey, that’s not what I meant! I just think those hateful bandits work too slowly, delaying our Lord’s plans!”

“I may not be much, but I work much better than them! Bunch of lazybones! Only our Lord’s mercy would spare their lives!”

Outside, lightning and thunder continued all night without stopping.

Yet they could no longer instill deep fear in the people of this land.

The slaves, whispering about “what to do tomorrow,” wore unconscious smiles of anticipation on their faces until they unknowingly fell asleep.

Even Oliver hadn’t expected this summer rain, which arrived nearly half a month later than usual, to last for a full ten days.

Of course, calling it “full” was a slight exaggeration.

The downpour wasn’t continuous but intermittent.

There had been brief periods of sunshine—but far too short to dry the land even halfway.

It was just enough time for the serfs to follow Oliver’s instructions: widening the drainage channels, propping up rain-beaten crops, and securing them with small wooden stakes.

It was also just enough for Oliver to hurriedly harvest the newly ripened corn and sunflowers from the fields. Fishing and mining were out of the question—the mining area was too far from the castle, and the Laina River had not only risen in water level but also flowed with dangerous intensity, making mere proximity risky.

Fortunately, the main drainage channels for both the farmland and the saline-alkali land had been dug, allowing the lower reaches of the Laina River to serve as an outlet, preventing excessive water accumulation.

Otherwise, with this amount of rainfall, many crops would likely have been waterlogged.

In the castle, watching as rain began to fall outside the window again, intensifying visibly… Oliver couldn’t help but frown.

“Has the rainy season in Laina always been this severe?”

He turned to Fosse.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Fosse replied unhurriedly. “Under your guidance, this is the least damage the farmland has suffered.”

Behind the soaring grain prices and spreading famine lay not only Laina’s plight but similar disasters in other cities.

Farmers who knew only the most basic methods of cultivation had no idea how to defend against such terrifying natural calamities.

Droughts, floods, fires.

The most despairing situation wasn’t newly sprouting vegetable seedlings being waterlogged—but nearly harvested fields being utterly destroyed by a sudden rainstorm,

leaving one to helplessly watch their hard work ruined.

Oliver absentmindedly murmured in agreement.

During these nearly wasted half-month, there was little he could do.

Aside from petting the chickens confined to their coop instead of roaming freely, he seized the rare moments of sunshine to hurriedly gather corn from the fields.

He also found time to retrieve the harvested “batteries” from where the lightning rods were installed.

Palm-sized blue batteries lay quietly in his game backpack, with no immediate use for them yet.

Oliver didn’t mind—what he valued most was the lightning rods’ primary function of “lightning protection.” The batteries were just bonus items, to be stockpiled as rare materials for now.

What troubled him most wasn’t being forced to idle in the castle, “persecuting” Farmur and Rebel—who had been constantly revising the autumn planting and saline-alkali land whitening plans under his orders these days.

Nor was it going to bed with an almost full stamina bar and nowhere to expend it.

Nor was it the daily settlement panel showing unchanged experience points for professional skills, except for the slowly progressing Farming bar from petting animals.

Rather… it was that he hadn’t dreamed of the Cat God for several days now.

Ah.

The blond lord lowered his gaze gloomily and sighed softly.

This emptiness of being unable to pet a cat…

With such heavy rain, it must be a nightmare for travelers forced to sleep outdoors.

Even the servants sent to Gregor City on Fosse’s orders to buy cats would have to return later than expected.

“Your Highness, the pig merchant has fully recovered from his injuries and has been requesting an audience with you since yesterday,” Fosse’s words pulled Oliver out of his thoughts. “Would you be willing to receive him?”

“Piggs?” Oliver emerged from his melancholy and couldn’t help but smile. “He’s already recovered?”

So quickly?

After receiving Fosse’s confirmation, he couldn’t help but marvel at the effectiveness of the healing potion produced by the system.

To avoid making the situation seem too exaggerated, he hadn’t allowed Piggs to drink a second bottle of the potion after seeing his condition significantly improve.

Yet even under these circumstances, someone who had been hovering between life and death just ten days ago could already move about energetically.

The remarkable effectiveness of the healing potion was undoubtedly good news for Oliver.

“Very well,” he agreed without hesitation. “Bring him in now.”

After all, it had started raining again outside, and by the looks of it, the rain wouldn’t stop for at least half a day.

With nothing else to do, he might as well receive this fortunate pig merchant who had narrowly escaped death.

Overjoyed, Piggs hurried in small steps through the gates of Laina Castle.

And at that very moment, a group of people covered thickly in mud appeared at the leftmost city gate of Laina.

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