Can't I develop my own character?

"It does seem to be leaning towards the nobility, but what's going on with this gang? How can these two things get mixed up?"

Never mind, let’s go first.

[Game information confirmed, Wei Nei, female, entering the game...]

【Please select your birthplace.】

'Augustus', 'Wildea', 'Arcadia', 'Holy See'...

【The birth point is confirmed to be 'August'.】

As the interface slowly went dark and then brightened again, a large, exquisite and magnificent room appeared in front of Ryan.

[Vine is a baron of the Augustus Empire. She is a descendant of a fallen royal family, her grandfather having been exiled, and now lives on the borders of the empire, unloved. She owns her own castle and estate, is generous, and is a beloved nobleman.]

"Ohhhhhhh! Win, win!"

Ryan was excited.

Nobles, oh nobles, it is finally my grandpa Ryan’s turn to be a noble!

"I actually have a little royal blood in me. I've hit the jackpot!"

Although it is just a side branch, strictly speaking, it is also a member of the royal family.

Having this title and not having this title are two different things.

Just like Maganna, if she also had royal blood, her rebellion would be much smoother.

In the room, Vene, wearing a white long dress, was standing in front of the mirror. She looked at her whole body with her blue eyes and nodded with satisfaction.

She is nearly 1.7 meters tall, with a delicate oval face and perfect body curves. The concave parts are concave and the convex parts are convex. The convex parts are not like those in "horror anime" that can suffocate people and make them unable to run. The size is just right.

She was indeed the beautiful girl he had spent twenty minutes meticulously creating.

beep~

There was a knock on the door, and after getting Wei'e's consent, a maid walked in.

"My lord, the snacks you requested."

The maid was holding a cake.

"Let it go and step back."

Wei Nei said lightly.

"Yes."

The maid placed the cakes on the tea table and walked out.

"and many more."

"My Lord, is there anything else?"

"Um...no, go down."

I just want to experience what it's like to be a grandfather.

Unlike being a director, who has the power to direct his subordinates to do their work but those people only obey orders because of their positions, in the Augustus Empire, as a noble, you can be said to be the master of the entire territory. In extreme cases, the people of the territory are his "property".

Especially in the castle, maids like this are the property of "Vine".

Simply put, it is the difference between a boss and a master.

"It's a pity that he's only a baron. If he could become an earl, he would be on the rise."

Ryan sighed softly.

According to the laws of the Augustus Empire, a count could generally maintain an army of 4000 to 8000 men, depending on the size of his territory. He could secretly add more soldiers to his army, and some powerful counts could even have private armies of tens of thousands.

Of course, generally no one would raise so many soldiers. It costs money to raise soldiers, and if there is no war to fight, it will be very troublesome if they are discovered.

Ryan was just complaining. After all, some barons didn't even have territories. There was no necessary connection between nobility and fiefdoms, especially for minor nobles. Most of them only had titles.

Ryan spent half an hour to figure out the situation of 'Weine'.

The place where she was was called 'Los Town', a small town in Kyles City. Ryan was a little surprised to see this. Generally speaking, the game would start in Berman City. Even if it was not in the city, it would at least be in the territory.

Kyles is located close to the city of Nad, and is also a city on the border of the empire.

However, Los Town, located northeast of Kells and close to the border, enjoys relatively stable public security. The town's permanent population is approximately 2500, with a transient population reaching 3000, and at its peak, even reaching 4000.

The border is in chaos, and sometimes a town or even a small city is destroyed, and the displaced population will be dispersed to other places.

The town of Los was not considered wealthy, and its taxation was lower-middle in the empire. There were only a hundred soldiers in the entire town, and only twenty guards stationed in the castle.

When Ryan, who was used to being a grandfather in Berman City, saw this situation, the first word that came to his mind was "poor".

Because Wei's personal inventory only has less than thirty gold coins.

You know, before Lin Qi got in touch with Casradi, the nobles in Berman City put more than a hundred gold coins in the donation box and bribed Peter in order to make friends with her.

And all the money went into Ryan's pocket.

"Come to think of it, it seems that there are quite a few people in the Empire who secretly buy and sell noble positions."

Nobility can be transferred. If there is no way to obtain rewards from the emperor, the fastest way is to buy a title.

Because the title is based on a contract rather than a person, it can be transferred as long as both parties reach a contract. However, the nobility transferred in this way is one-time and not hereditary.

The hereditary succession cannot be changed, and if it is changed, the person will be beheaded.

Having said that, it is better not to show off Weinei's presence too much. After all, she is a branch of the royal family, and it is hard to guarantee that she will not be targeted when she makes achievements in the future.

It is not easy to keep a low profile while developing and getting promoted.

What's more important is that her attributes tend to be towards Ryan, so she can't find a suitable career. Otherwise, she can only find other hidden careers. It's a pity to waste such a high spiritual talent.

[AI idle mode has been set - territory development.]

Ryan set up the auto-play mode, then threw some steamed buns and roasted chicken from his backpack, as well as a few life-saving magic scrolls, and threw all the gold coins on him over.

Although Wei Nei is only a level 1 character, her initial conditions are good. If she dies accidentally, the loss will be huge.

Ryan then sorted out Lin Qi's things and took most of what she could take with her. According to the plan, she would follow Leah back to the headquarters of Janus Gate tomorrow to participate in the Saint Assessment.

"Just wait for the flowers to bloom."

...

The next day, Casradi, as the princess and lord, announced the appointment of Ryan as the acting mayor of Berman City.

As soon as the news came out, it caused a huge reaction.

First, the aristocratic circle jumped out to oppose it. Some influential politicians and wealthy businessmen united to express their opposition to Casradi.

Of course the objection is invalid.

These people seemed to have forgotten the difference in status between themselves and the princess, until the two thousand royal guards arrived in Berman City by train and saw the flag representing the royal majesty appear. The voices of opposition in the entire Berman City came to an abrupt end.

Who agrees? Who objects?

With these two thousand guards suppressing them, even if Bill were alive he wouldn't dare to fart, let alone others.

Casradi left five hundred men stationed near the castle, and the remaining royal guards were stationed outside the city, facing Maganna's Iron Blood Legion across the forest.

Neither side looked at the other, but both disliked the other.

The Royal Guards are the second most powerful legion in the Empire. They are mainly composed of sword and shield warriors, who are well-equipped and well-trained. However, sword and shield warriors are still at a disadvantage against heavy armored charges, so these two thousand people are also equipped with three hundred musketeers.

The power of the Empire's muskets is not comparable to that of Kainte. Even Maganna does not dare to try it easily with her iron-blooded army.

Once the regime stabilizes, the wind direction changes.

Those who originally opposed Ryan turned into bootlickers in the blink of an eye. Before he even walked into the door of the municipal office, he was stopped by a group of nobles and wealthy businessmen, and various invitations were respectfully handed to him.

Ryan suddenly felt that he needed a secretary. Otherwise, the daily trivial matters were too troublesome. A secretary could do things for him. A capable secretary could save him a lot of trouble.

Ryan accepted all these invitations. Whether he went or not was another matter. It was mainly a gesture to show those nobles and wealthy businessmen that he would not make drastic changes to their main arteries as soon as he took office.

To put it bluntly, a new emperor appoints new ministers. When Bill was in power, they had to have a good relationship with Bill. Now that Ryan is in power, they have to have a good relationship with Ryan.

As for Kasiladi, it’s not that he doesn’t want to be her lapdog, but their identities are simply not enough to qualify.

"Tsk tsk~ Even the invitation is made of gold, how rich must they be."

Ryan returned to the office and took a quick look at the invitations. They were all invitations to various banquets, and there were also invitations from two noble young ladies to have dinner alone.

After thinking about it, Ryan called Jonathan.

"Are you free? Go get two meals for me. There are beautiful ladies there."

Jonathan on the other end of the phone was feeling depressed. He didn't expect Ryan to become the mayor. After all, the two brothers had just spoken heart-to-heart about the purpose of the Fire Covenant, and now you've been promoted to the top?

"Let's put the meal aside. Do you really want to follow Her Royal Highness the Princess? The battle for the crown prince position is not that simple." Jonathan asked.

"What can I do? The princess put a gun to my head yesterday. I doubt she'll kill me if I don't obey."

"That's impossible. She wouldn't dare."

Kill the people of the Fire Covenant?

Casradi wouldn't be that stupid in this situation.

"I understand the logic. It's hard to refuse a favor from a big shot." Ryan sighed. Who knows his hardship? The Grand Duke on the left and the Princess on the right, why are you both looking for me?

"Too."

Jonathan smoked a pack of cigarettes before rejecting Casradi's recruitment.

A capable princess who is favored by the old emperor, not many people dare to refuse her.

Even if she doesn't kill you, it would be uncomfortable if she openly makes things difficult for you, especially now that you have become the lord of Berman City. If you really provoke her, you will definitely suffer the consequences.

Jonathan is a legitimate third-level investigator and has a status in the Fire Covenant headquarters. Unlike Ryan, who has just been promoted to a regular investigator, it is like the chairman's daughter asking a new employee to work with her. Would you do it?

Jonathan was thinking that once Ryan's strength broke through the second level, he would give him a promotion and a raise, and make him the deputy captain of the Fire Chaser Squad first.

Others can leave, but Jonathan must keep a talented young man like Ryan in the Fire Covenant.

What's so good about being a noble?

If I could really become a senior investigator, even the bigwigs in the imperial capital would have to smile.

Of course, he couldn't push Ryan up all at once, so he promoted him to the second level first. It happened that he had already become the mayor. In the future, the Fire Covenant would have made it to the top in Berman City and would not have to worry about being suppressed again.

Thinking of this, Jonathan suddenly felt relieved.

"What kind of meal were you talking about? A lady? Who is she? Is she pretty?"

Ryan threw the information of the two invitations to Jonathan. The latter was best at this kind of intersection.

In addition, he also planned to promote Jonathan to the position of director of the administrative department. It was quite shameful that he was still the director of a district after more than ten years.

Captain, can you do it?

Jonathan was silent for three seconds, cursed "fuck" and hung up the phone.

"You have quite a temper." Ryan smiled.

Leaving the lady's matter to Jonathan, he began to work on the mayor's job. This was his first time doing this, so he needed to take some time to familiarize himself with it.

The mayor is different from the director, as he has too many things to be responsible for.

As for the recruitment of new soldiers, he arranged it in advance and someone would naturally take care of it.

"The economy is growing steadily, but where's the money? Where has it gone?"

Ryan looked at the financial situation of Berman City in recent years. All industries have developed well, and the annual tax revenue is a huge amount.

The money collected from taxes in the territory belongs to the lord, and the lord only needs to pay a certain fee to the empire every year. How much you earn is up to you, and the empire will not care.

Judging from the accounts, Bill should be rich, but he didn't see any money when his house was searched, and neither was there in the bank.

Ryan guessed that he used all this money to secretly support the development of the Blood Archbishop.

Damn, you take my money and use it. Is this fair?

"We have to find a way to make some money."

Ryan didn't care about money before, but now that he has opened a noble account, he needs a lot of money as early development funds. Otherwise, he will have to rely on the little money from Los Town. Let alone development, he can't even afford to support soldiers.

There are certainly many ways to make money, but the ones that can really make quick money are all gray industries. Taxes cannot continue to increase, and it is unrealistic to squeeze the people to the point where they just have to survive. Casradi will not be the first one to have an answer, and Ryan himself is unwilling to do so.

If that were to happen, Berman City would be in chaos.

Relying on bribes from other nobles is not a long-term solution, and if Casradi is dissatisfied and removes his mayoral position, then it will be the end of him.