Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 41
As outsiders who had witnessed the entire process, just like the other merchants who had come from afar, Wynn and Bir were almost dumbfounded.
Yesterday, when they heard the esteemed Lord personally announce “a day off for all commoners and slaves, as a day of celebration in gratitude for the Cat God’s boon,” they had initially thought it was just the usual method for nobles to use names like “God’s Day” to accumulate wealth.
Although including the slaves, from whom there was no profit to be made, seemed a bit strange, perhaps it was because Laina City was just too poor?
Unexpectedly, Lord Oliver’s next sentence was, “Everyone can come to the castle to receive food.”
Everyone! Receive food!
They practically suspected they were hearing things.
If it had only been that, it would have merely left them startled, making them think from the bottom of their hearts that this young duke was kind to an incomprehensible degree…
But when, on the day of the holiday, they personally witnessed the topsy-turvy scenes of “the Lord is working, the slaves are resting,” “the Lord is working, the slaves are drinking soup,” and “the Lord is working, the slaves are receiving food,” all the merchants fell into a dead silence.
…Whether it was the Cat God or the Lord, the methods they employed were completely beyond anyone’s imagination, as if they belonged to another world entirely.
After receiving their food, however, the slaves were not in a hurry to start a fire and cook. Instead, they soon walked out of their homes.
They first sat dazedly on the ridges between the fields, their gazes repeatedly shifting between the castle gate the Lord had just entered and the half-watered fields.
Their hands slowly clenched into fists, then relaxed, repeating the motion over and over.
“What are you doing!”
By the time the slaves had ended their internal struggle, it was the supervisors’ turn to be dumbfounded.
They had just been quietly discussing how the Lord was being far too good to the slaves, or what they would do on their own holiday tomorrow, when the corner of their eyes caught sight of those droves of slaves swarming toward the fields!
It was too late by the time the supervisors, brandishing their whips, came running toward the audacious slaves.
Right under their noses, these slaves expertly climbed onto the ridges, picked up wooden buckets, and began to draw and add water from the ditches.
“How dare you defy the orders of the great Cat God and the Lord!” the supervisors shouted in fury. “I think you’ve all gone mad! I order you now to put down the buckets! Put them down!”
What a bizarre scene!
Watching from a distance, Wynn and the others looked at each other, seeing the profound disbelief in one another’s eyes.
Oh, great Cat God, that they should live to see the day when supervisors brandished whips to threaten slaves not to work.
Yet the supervisors, who normally struck fear into the slaves’ hearts—whose mere raised voices would make them instinctively cover their heads and wait for a beating—seemed to have lost all their intimidating power this time.
The slaves only gave the fuming men a calm glance before ignoring them and continued to water the land.
The slightly turbid water, mixed with a bit of sand and soil, was poured onto the light brown earth.
It quickly spread and soaked into the fields, turning a much deeper color, and the clods of dirt became much softer.
The corn was watered.
The potatoes were watered, too.
The bean vines and the sunflowers were not missed either.
Compared to Oliver, who was fighting alone and couldn’t speed up no matter how efficient he was, the huge number of slaves who now poured in with one heart quickly completed the irrigation work.
The only part left out was the small cornfield on the northeast side of the castle, which Oliver had newly fenced off as a free-range area for the chicks.
—The supervisors didn’t even have time to stop them.
The slaves, who had always been numb and apathetic, for the first time clearly felt something quietly sprouting in their hearts.
That inconspicuous thought grew stronger and stronger, then suddenly pushed aside something incredibly heavy that had once left them breathless.
This was the only thing they truly wanted to do, and the most important one, besides the instinct to “survive.”
Before freezing to death in the cold winter, they would suppress their fear of being whipped to death to steal branches from the woods for warmth.
So how could they fail to suppress their fear of an unknown punishment… and follow their hearts’ desire to work for the Lord?
“Mr. Ed.”
Faced with this situation, just as the supervisors were at a loss, Rebel stepped forward.
He was not born a slave. Like Jonathan, he had once been a freeman.
It was only because last year’s famine was so severe that he couldn’t pay his taxes and had no choice but to sell his family, paying the high price of becoming a slave just to barely survive.
Ed looked at him and said blankly, “Rebel.”
The expression on Rebel’s face was one he found incredibly unfamiliar.
It was a hard-to-describe… almost fearless smile.
For a moment, Ed couldn’t put a name to the feeling in his heart. He sighed and said, “For doing such a thing, you might be punished by the Cat God.”
The reason he didn’t mention the Lord was that Ed believed from the bottom of his heart that their Lord, whose heart was as soft as a true angel’s, would never punish slaves who acted with good intentions.
But a god was a different matter.
Rebel said frankly, “The great Cat God is willing to protect his diligent believers and must also deeply love our Lord… Even if there is a punishment, we did all this willingly. Whatever the punishment may be, we will accept it willingly.”
“What a bunch of cunning vermin! Doing things to please the Lord, but leaving us with the trouble of getting scolded!”
Unlike the conflicted Ed, the other supervisors couldn’t care less about the slaves’ thoughts and desires.
They just had a headache over what to do now.
In their anger just now, they had indeed whipped a few of the slower slaves.
But those slaves had run with incredible speed. Even after being struck a few times, they didn’t stop grabbing buckets at all, determinedly irrigating the plants right in front of them.
In truth, they didn’t dare to whip them too hard either.
They couldn’t help it. That noble ducal lord was simply too kind—unbelievably good to the slaves. If they injured someone too badly, they might end up like Andison.
“There’s no other way. We’ll have to go ask Mr. Fosse.”
Ed rubbed his throbbing temples. Under the relieved gazes of the other supervisors, he volunteered to be the one to most likely bear the brunt of the anger.
Oh, revered Cat God, he thought. I’m also terrified of facing that deeply imposing butler.
Ed’s heart was pounding as he steeled himself and entered the castle. He walked down a long stone corridor and, at the very end, saw that figure who always stood ramrod straight, no matter the time or place.
Fosse wore a solemn expression, his gaze fixed solely on his young master talking with Lucy and the others, who had hastily finished their breakfast.
Upon hearing Ed’s footsteps, he gave the man an indifferent glance and gestured to the side.
Ed immediately understood, took a slight detour, and went into the kitchen.
Sure enough, Fosse came in shortly after.
After Ed stammered through his explanation of what the slaves had done on their own initiative, he was astonished to find that the butler’s brow didn’t even furrow.
No, to be precise, Fosse’s expression hadn’t changed in the slightest.
“They’ve all been watered?” Fosse said faintly. “Have them go home to cook their meals for now. Don’t let His Highness worry any further.”
Ed had expected severe punishment, not for it to be this simple. He asked blankly, “Then the slaves…”
Fosse gave a slight nod. “I will take responsibility for explaining these matters to His Highness later.”
Only then did Ed leave, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
After all, everyone had witnessed the trust the Lord placed in this butler.
Whether it was Ed or anyone else, they all felt incredibly reassured by Mr. Fosse’s promise-like words.
Oliver had no idea that the slaves, who were usually timid and obedient, had been uncharacteristically bold for once in order to repay him. He knew even less that the fields he had only half-watered had already been finished by a helping hand.
When Fosse approached him, he was earnestly supervising Lucy and the other two as they opened the wooden door of the chicken coop, carefully herding the batch of chicks that had just completed their weaning period toward the free-range area.
Of course, they weren’t just being released randomly.
From the very first day he had the chicks fed, Oliver had instructed Lucy to tap on the wooden basin before feeding them. By repeating this process, he helped the chicks establish a conditioned reflex of “sound equals food,” laying a good foundation for free-ranging them later.
According to his plan, he only intended to let them out for half a day on the first day to give the chicks time to gradually adapt.
To prevent the chicks from being afraid of the unfamiliar environment and refusing to leave the coop, Oliver had Lucy reduce the amount of their morning feed. This kept the chicks in a state of semi-hunger, increasing their desire to forage for food.
He also drew on his own experience to design a plan for Jonathan and Ziken to coordinate and “lure” the chicks out of their enclosure: Jonathan would stand in the open space between the coop and the cornfield, continuously tapping the wooden basin and scattering a small amount of feed. Meanwhile, Ziken would remain inside the coop, using a thin wooden stick to gently nudge any chicks that were reluctant to come out.
In Oliver’s mind, this plan should proceed quite smoothly.
He glanced over and saw Fosse approaching him, looking as if he had something to say. Oliver couldn’t help but raise a hand to stop him.
This was a critical moment.
Lucy’s heart raced as she opened the coop door with infinite gentleness.
As the warm sunlight poured into the coop, the “cheep cheep” of the chicks inside instantly grew louder.
Soon, a cute little yellow chick, its plump body covered in a mix of mottled adult feathers and downy fluff, bravely poked its head out first.
It puffed out its chest, tentatively took a step with its tiny claws, and with a series of small, quick steps, slowly cheeped as it walked under the encouraging gazes of everyone present.
It took its first step onto the ground outside the chicken coop.
Once there was one, a second and a third soon followed…
Watching these little guys, who were even bolder and more lively than he had imagined and full of curiosity about the strange new world, actually follow the path Jonathan created by tapping the wooden basin and scattering feed toward the cornfield, Oliver’s heart grew incredibly soft.
Just as the lord couldn’t help but break into a smile, the glossy, round eyes of a few chicks pecking at the feed on the ground reflected his figure standing not far away.
“Peep!” “Peep!”
The fluffy little chicks suddenly chirped louder!
Before Oliver could react, these little fluffballs, who had just been focused on pecking at the feed, acted as if they had just spotted their most trusted and beloved mother hen.
Flapping their tiny wings, their downy feathers puffed up, and their plump chests puffed out proudly, they charged excitedly toward him!
Oliver: “!!!”
The little monsters were charging him!
