HTLCCBFT Chapter 89

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 89

Although Oliver didn’t quite remember the abrupt ending of his wonderful dream, the first thing he did after waking up and sitting on his bed was to thoughtfully observe the palm of his right hand.

That fluffy cat tail… was truly wonderful to touch.

Oliver savored the memory for a moment, then glanced at the golden fortune cat statue standing solemnly by his bedside, feeling a slight pang of guilt.

“Good morning, Cat God.”

He smiled slightly, greeting the adorable statue as if talking to himself, then cheerfully accepted the new day’s gift—a brand new gold ingot.

The only difference from usual was that after receiving the metal ingot from the wealth statue, he didn’t go to the garden flowerbed to pick the most beautiful flower as a return gift.

Instead, he seriously “pinched” the raised smooth paw pad with two fingers and gently kissed it with a smile: “I have urgent matters today, so I owe you a flower.”

The so-called urgent matter was, of course, to install the lightning rods before the characteristic summer thunderstorm arrived.

Looking at the gloomy, storm-threatening sky outside the window, Oliver couldn’t help but speed up changing his clothes after storing the God of Wealth statue in his backpack.

The forest area of Laina territory was far more vast than the farmland, castle, and town parts combined.

While providing abundant resources for the Laina people—previously limited to the lord—it also meant that every summer, people entered a high-risk period for wildfires.

If any tall tree was unlucky enough to be struck by lightning, causing the entire forest to burn, the consequences would be unimaginable: even if all the Laina people brought buckets and used water from the Laina River surrounding the territory to fight the fire, they still couldn’t contain the spread.

There were plenty of “bat wings” left, but only 4 pieces of “earth crystals” remained.

Oliver didn’t keep even one, immediately using the newly unlocked recipe to craft 4 lightning rods on the spot.

He spent the entire day inspecting the territory, looking for the most suitable places to install the lightning rods.

Although he trusted the system-produced items completely, the tricky part was… the Laina forest had flat terrain with tall trees everywhere, but no place that could be called truly high ground.

The forest was too large—just walking around it took until nearly dusk.

Seeing the clouds growing heavier and the moisture in the air deepening…

Wait.

How could he have forgotten?

Oliver suddenly realized something, feeling somewhat annoyed.

He had indeed emptied his backpack before going out, but he had deliberately brought one set of main construction materials with him… he could definitely build one himself!

“Right here then.”

Oliver made a quick decision, choosing a soil slope relatively far from the trees, and began stacking stone materials on it.

For him, all he needed to do was take things out from his system backpack—it required no effort at all, making the efficiency remarkably high.

The attendants, already numbed by the frequent divine miracles, watched dumbfounded as their noble lord used his slender arms to materialize one gray stone material after another from thin air, neatly stacking them higher and higher…In what seemed like the blink of an eye, a stone platform taller than the surrounding trees suddenly appeared before everyone.

—And the beautiful Lord Laina stood effortlessly atop it, at a height that required all to crane their necks upward.

Against the backdrop of the gloomy sky, his shimmering, radiant golden hair resembled a true sun.

Fosse’s hands unconsciously clenched into fists as he struggled to suppress the urge to follow, raising his voice to ask, “Your Highness, may I come up?”

“Fosse?” Oliver paused briefly, then casually waved a hand from that terrifying height—which made the butler’s heart race with fear he might fall—and said lightly, “No need, I’ll be right down.”

True to his word and without deceiving Fosse, he soon descended via the simple stone steps he had laid out himself.

Before coming down, however, everyone present watched as the Lord suddenly conjured another… peculiar object out of thin air, solemnly placing it atop the stone platform.

What was that?

The question arose almost simultaneously in everyone’s minds.

Oliver, of course, noticed but unusually chose to ignore it, unlike his usual habit of immediately explaining things to his subordinates.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but he hadn’t yet figured out how to explain it.

This system-issued [ Lightning Rod ]… wasn’t just ugly.

Some of its details exuded an indescribable strangeness.

The long, dark gray cylinder was wrapped in raised spiral threads, and the tip—the part meant to attract lightning—wasn’t the sharp shape he was familiar with, but incredibly rounded…

As a man with a less-than-pure mind, Oliver found it hard not to let his thoughts wander.

In any case, once he realized he could simply choose suitable locations and build stone platforms to install the lightning rods himself, Oliver’s inspection tour quickly concluded.

He placed two in the forest, one in the town area, and the last one at the highest point of the castle tower.

By the time he finished, the sky had darkened completely.

Fortunately, the moment Oliver secured the final lightning rod, he felt the faint touch of raindrops beginning to fall.

As he and his attendants retreated inside the castle, the initially gentle drizzle abruptly intensified into a fierce, heavy downpour.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the long-anticipated torrential rain had finally arrived.

“The weather might stay like this for the next few days,” Oliver said, comfortably closing his eyes as the attentive butler dried the slight dampness from his hair upon returning to the hall. “If the rain doesn’t let up, have everyone stay home and rest for a while.”

Fosse kept his eyes lowered, meticulously drying the golden strands with a soft cloth. Without pausing his movements, he murmured softly, “Your Highness is far too kind to those people.”

He knew well that the “them” Oliver referred to included not only slaves and commoners but also prisoners.

Oliver chuckled. “No, it’s just that your view of me is too generous, Fosse. After all, aside from land reclamation, there’s not much to be done in the fields right now…”

“Then it’s just loosening the soil and irrigation. On rainy days, we can naturally skip the watering work…”

He was leaning back slightly, resting his head on Fosse’s deliberately extended left arm.

Not receiving any response from Fosse, he suddenly opened his eyes and met those deep, tranquil dark green eyes.

Oliver certainly knew that the butler hadn’t been convinced by his words, so he smiled gently and said, “Alright, the truth is, I was thinking that if they caught a cold from getting soaked in the rain, that would be really troublesome.”

Fosse pondered thoughtfully.

Indeed.

If it were just a minor illness, most people would be fortunate enough to endure a few days of discomfort and recover.

Not to mention his incredibly kind young lord, who even permitted those lowly laborers—who should have been working in the fields until completely exhausted—to stay at home without having to do anything.

But if they fell seriously ill…

Fosse pressed his thin lips together slightly.

Imagining the likely scenario, his cold eyes showed not a trace of pity, only a hint of irritation.

That Cat God, who appeared generous and benevolent to everyone, would probably trouble his poor young lord again to use divine-infused potions to save those worthless beings.

“Was it to protect those people,” Fosse suddenly asked, “that Your Highness specifically went to install those…”

He didn’t know how to describe those peculiarly shaped cylinders, so he trailed off.

Oliver had already prepared his explanation and continued without changing his expression: “No. That was the great Cat God’s instruction to mitigate the wrath of the Thunder God and protect Laina during thunderstorms, which is why I specifically placed them…”

The name “Lightning Rod” wasn’t really appropriate.

After all, when they actually served their purpose, people might quickly realize they weren’t for avoiding lightning, but rather the opposite—attracting it.

To prevent such confusion, he had originally planned to casually coin the name “Cat God’s Pillar.”

But just as he was about to speak, he suddenly thought of the somewhat suggestive shape of the lightning rod and the pure, innocent eyes of the cat-eared youth from his dream.

Oliver inexplicably changed his mind at the last moment and said instead: “Divine Pillars.”

Although aside from Oliver and Fosse, no one else in the Laina territory yet knew the function of the “Divine Pillars”…

The noble Lord’s every move quietly affected the hearts of all his admiring subjects.

Outside, the rain grew increasingly violent. Just the sound of raindrops fiercely striking the ground, leaves, and rooftops was enough to unsettle the chickens, who were experiencing such weather for the first time.

Worried that the chicks—in their crucial growth period—might fall ill, Lucy hurried back to the castle. After being announced by several servants, she finally found the butler, whom she usually feared the most.

Then, trembling with fear, she asked if the chicks could spend the night in the earliest chicken coop built in the castle corridor during the rainy period.

Actually, she had wanted to ask the Lord this morning when it wasn’t raining yet.

But although the Lord had come to pet the chicks, he seemed to have more urgent matters and left quickly.

She didn’t dare ask His Highness to stay, so while tending to the chicks during the day, she prayed for it to rain again tomorrow—so that she might have an excuse to make such a request of him…

The great Cat God did not indulge her greed this time.

The heavy rain she had hoped to avoid still arrived that night.

Lucy actually wanted to add that the chicken coop was quite spacious, enough to accommodate the not-yet-fully-grown chicks. Moreover, whether for warmth or shelter from wind and rain, it was definitely better than the temporary resting shed… The chicks had already learned to roost on perches, and with more perches added and considering the height, it would be more than enough to house them…

However, to her surprise, the butler with an icy expression merely listened to her first sentence before nodding slightly in agreement.

“R-really, Is it okay?”

Lucy widened her eyes in trepidation.

Could it really… be this simple?!

After receiving a stern glance from the butler, she bowed deeply to him in ecstatic joy, exclaiming, “Thank you, sir! Praise the Cat God, praise His Highness!” before dashing back.

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