The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Lind, who had just acquired the title of lord, did not rush to deal with the huge pile of paperwork. Instead, he first called back Laurie, the veteran who had followed him all the way.

Because Laurie was a second-tier professional, the knights treated him quite well. After arriving in the territory, he started slacking off, joking around with Lena's knights, and had even become a celebrity among the knights.

When Linde called for someone to bring Laurie over, the guy wasn't too happy about it, saying he wanted to go with the knights.

But we made it through in the end.

"Is it really that interesting to hang out with those noble knights?"

Linde's face was full of helplessness. It was only because of the short time that Linde was able to get the man back. Maybe in another two days, these knights would consider Laurie one of their own.

"At least I won't get whipped."

Laurie casually found a stool and sat down lazily. The two had become acquainted during their escape and were considered old friends, so neither of them put on airs.

So Linde stopped chatting and said directly, "First, have everyone in the territory stop what they are doing and let your border troops take over the management. Register everyone's name, age, and occupation."

"If conditions permit, we should also compile a household register."

Linde had done the simple registration with Laurie when he led the people to flee, but Laurie complained, "Hey, Lord, the simple registration is fine, but those veterans don't know how to do the household registration. Household registration isn't like before where you can just register names. Besides, most of those border troops are illiterate. Only a few of them can read and write."

Linde looked at Lila beside him and replied, "This maid will assist you with the maids. There's no need to go into as much detail as other nobles do. Just figure out how many households there are in the territory."

Lena didn't need so many maids, so Linde simply brought the entire maid team over to Lila for management. Most of these noble maids were literate and natural service personnel; serving anyone was the same, so why not just send them to serve the people?

Then, as if he had planned it all along, Lind continued to give instructions: "Also, have everyone except Miss Lars's knights assemble on the riverbank tomorrow morning. I have something to announce."

After saying that, Lind prepared to get up and leave.

"Then what are you going to do?"

Laurie, watching Lind prepare to leave the lord's tent, curiously asked him a question.

"I want to see what resources Grand Duke Lars has given to his precious granddaughter."

Lin De picked up a list of supplies from his desk and muttered, "I also need to figure out how the tents are set up."

After arranging everything, Linde looked at the list in his hand and sighed.

"Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste."

Because Lena had taken the knights and run away, the transfer of power went very smoothly. After all, Lind was the nominal lord, and no one would refuse a day's rest.

The registration process was rather troublesome. Apart from Lena's knights, most of the people in the territory were ordinary citizens, and there were very few literate people. Because they needed to compile a household register, the people that Linde brought also needed to be re-registered.

Fortunately, the maids were quite responsible. After all, for these maids who had sold themselves to noble families, being busy was not scary; having no work to do was the most frightening thing.

Registering civilians and refugees for household registration was not an unacceptable thing for these maids, because it was at least a respectable job. Any gossip in the maid circle was much more perverse than this. It was not uncommon for nobles to abandon their maids to refugees after they got tired of them.

Several serfs were still nameless along the way, so Laurie had to scratch the back of his head and come up with a few funny names. After receiving their names, the serfs kissed Laurie's boots in gratitude, and Laurie accepted the kisses from them with a clear conscience, despite Lila's disdainful look.

Lindberg was even busier than the other two, because due to Lena's chaotic management, the numerous supplies had long been in disarray, and he had to personally board the ships to see which ships were carrying which supplies.

Moreover, setting up a tent was more tiring than Lind had imagined, and the standards for setting up tents even varied slightly due to different terrains.

With the guidance and help of the supervisor, Linde managed to set up a large tent all by himself.

After doing all this, it was nearly evening when Lena finally returned with her knights, carrying two pheasants in her hands.

"How is the work going, my lord?"

Lena took off her helmet as she entered the tent, glistening sweat mingling with her beautiful blonde hair. Although she was covered in sweat, Lena was clearly very excited. It had been a long time since she had ridden her knights so freely. After returning, she even had the mood to tease Lind.

"Awful."

Linde, who was still writing something by the light of an oil lamp, put down his quill and said to Lena with a stern face, "What you did before was a complete mess. Everyone ate different things every day, and did different jobs. The person who was setting up a tent today was approved to unload goods the next day, and then the next afternoon they went to build a fence. And the standards you required for clearing land and setting up tents were different every day, and even the goods to be unloaded were different every day."

"There are even three overseers and two knights managing one serf at the same time, you might as well do nothing."

Perhaps genuinely angered by Lena's previous disastrous management, Linde abandoned his previous subservient demeanor and began to assert himself.

Faced with Lind's criticism, Lena turned her face away and whistled awkwardly.

In fact, Lena knew that she had managed the territory terribly these past few days. She still hadn't settled hundreds of people properly, and she often forgot the instructions she gave in the morning by the afternoon. Then, she would be reminded by the knights the next day that it was inappropriate and immediately change them.

Turning her face away was Lena's last act of defiance.

Seeing Lena turn her face away, Lind calmed down. After all, the person in front of him was his big brother and sugar daddy, and cursing her wouldn't make the territory any better.

But most importantly, Lind saw that Lena actually listened to his complaints and even turned her head away, which showed that she still had some sense of shame and knew that she hadn't done very well.

Just like in the game, Lena is clear-headed yet a little foolish. As long as her former fiancé, the fourth prince Cran Augustine, is not involved, Lena knows the priorities of things.

Linde hadn't expected that Lena, the eldest daughter of the Lars family, would be completely incapable of governing the territory.

“Miss Lars, since the treaty with Grand Duke Lars stipulates that we will jointly manage the territory, there is something I need to tell you. I need to use some of the supplies at the docks first, is that alright?”

Then, Linde handed the list of supplies he had prepared to Lena. Lena only glanced at it symbolically before saying guiltily, "No problem, my lord, you can use whatever supplies you want."

After returning the list to Lind, Lena waved the pheasant in her hand and said, "My lord, calm down and have my chicken."