Chương 10: Allister Mansion

Moshan nearly dropped his cup of tea.

"... You'll lead us, Your Grace?" he asked.

"Yes." Alicia raised her chin, crossed her arms, and closed her eyes to appear nonchalant.

"Since you're all rather desperate for a powerful leader, I suppose it's time for me to take up that mantle myself, now that I've seen a little bit more about this world after awakening. That's all."

"Finally," Vittorio bashed his fist on the table lightly.

"This village, alongside all of Roster County, needs your leadership. I am glad that you finally saw reason, Your Grace!"

"Wait." Alicia frowned at Vittorio.

"Who told you that I'm doing anything about this 'Roster County' you're speaking of? I said I'm going to take this town under my wing, not an entire county."

"But—""Let her start from somewhere first," Moshan interrupted Vittorio, smiling at the draco.

"I myself am already content at being in the protection of Lady Alicia. That should be enough for now." Vittorio seemed a little bit disappointed about it, but he relented and nodded.

"Anyway," Alicia spoke up again.

"Now that we're on the same page, I need to know first what I'm dealing with. Sir Moshan, Sir Vittorio, I need both of your assistance today to learn more about this village. I wish to see the most pressing issues that need to be resolved, the state of the village, and how the people are faring."

"Of course, we will explain everything to you," Moshan said, bowing slightly.

"It shouldn't be a problem. Perhaps a tour of the village while we're doing it will do wonders?" Vittorio asked. Alicia agreed to that. And so, they began a full inspection and tour of the village that Alicia would be running from now on. First off, Moshan's village was marked on the map as Orevogorsk, the furthest and most remote town founded a few centuries ago by a gargoyle refugee who wanted to start a small mining operation far away from the chaos of the south.

Just like much of the remaining land of Vael, it sat inside the vast northern taiga, and it was the northernmost settlement in Vael, tucked near a river that was usually frozen. Indeed, as the village's founder intended, Orevogorsk was insulated from the wars and chaos the rest of Vael experienced. Unfortunately, it also meant that it was inaccessible most of the time to other Vaelrin towns and villages as well. It was outside of major trade routes.

No one cared about it because the mines near it simply never opened due to a lack of manpower, and it didn't even grow much food except to sustain itself. According to Moshan, food was so constricted in the village that more than half of what they ate came from hunters killing animals, alongside whatever they could forage around them. It was why Orevogorsk only had a population of around two hundred people in total.

Originally, four years ago, it actually had barely half of that number, but a bunch of refugees from the south arrived. The largest single increase was when nearly fifty people joined the town last year after Vael, the royal capital, was destroyed. Moshan offhandedly mentioned that there could have been a few hundred more refugees who tried to join the village as well, but they either died along the way in the harsh cold or were forced to turn back. Vittorio looked gloomy after being reminded of that.

When Alicia asked him why, he told her that the royal capital was once so large that it had more than a million people before its destruction. On the eve of the battle for the royal capital, one of the worst winters recorded started, right when hundreds of thousands of refugees were scattered on the land to find refuge throughout Vael's remaining territory.

The largest town in Roster County, for example, probably had thirty thousand residents right now, even when originally it only supported and housed fewer than ten thousand. In any case, compared to most other settlements in north Vael, Orevogorsk was uniquely sparsely populated because food here was hard to come by, it practically had zero economic value, and it was mostly untouched by last year's refugee crisis.

At this point, Alicia was slightly overjoyed and optimistic about this situation, thinking that there might be perks about starting out with a small town that was so well insulated from the rest of this world's cruelty. Alicia, Moshan, and Vittorio then discussed the actual problems plaguing the village when they left his house to begin inspections. While insulation from the rest of the world was indeed a slight perk that Alicia somewhat liked, the village was still a harsh place to live in.

Food, again, was hard to come by. Right now, Moshan said that the food in the village's communal store only had enough to last them twenty-eight more days at their current consumption rate. Naturally, Alicia visited it with the two to take a peek. Most of the food that the village had was barreled salt pork, which was from the wild boars their hunters hunted and butchered days before winter. There were also a few crates of grain, mostly barley and oats.

Everything else was rare, including basic spices like onions and garlic. The villagers did have their own food supply as well, but the village's communal store was essentially a rationing center to complement the meager food supply every household had, so if it wasn't looking good here, the households probably weren't doing well. As such, Alicia needed to find solutions to the food problem. Next, they inspected the homes destroyed by the earlier wyvern attack.

While the village did make great efforts to restore and repair the destroyed or damaged houses after the attack, the truth was that they simply didn't have enough time, manpower, or resources to fix everything before winter arrived. As a result, nearly a quarter of Orevogorsk's households were housed by their neighbors who were lucky enough to have intact homes.

It was obviously a major problem Alicia would have to deal with, because while the current arrangement was 'working' in a sense, she imagined there would be further tensions if families had no housing or if the families that still had houses had to keep sharing space with their unfortunate neighbors. She doubted that could be fixed in the middle of winter, though, so they moved on from that. The last thing that the trio inspected and discussed was security.

Usually, decent villages and towns had magical wards powered and maintained by magic crystals that could deter most low-level monsters—beastly creatures with mana cores within them that were hostile to human life. Orevogorsk didn't have that because they couldn't afford it. As a result, currently, the only form of security for the village for low-risk and high-risk monsters alike was the militia Vittorio raised. The Orevogorsk Militia was currently made up of every able-bodied man in the village.

Originally formed during the wyvern attack earlier, Vittorio ordered Moshan not to disband it to ensure that the village wasn't wiped off the map in any further monster attacks. Currently, while the militia had improved itself after weeks of training from Vittorio, it was still just a militia. Every member had low levels, with only a few people at level 40. Alicia, who was at level 999, might as well be a minor deity to them, now that she thought about it.

The strength difference between her and everyone else, including their strongest, Vittorio, was simply light-years away, and, as a result, security here was bad. That meant Alicia would also have to enact defensive measures to defend the village. Vittorio briefly showed off the militia he raised and trained, making them form formations and use their hodgepodge of weapons, like the bows and crossbows used by the hunter squad or pikes and shoddy halberds for the rest.

The militiamen did look rugged and well-built at the very least, but Alicia knew they were a hopeless cause considering their lack of levels. After all, there wasn't even a single mage in the village. Again, most were imp peasants, who, while capable of mimicking other races' perks through the system using their Envy trait, weren't able to do that due to a lack of levels.

To level up, one needed to kill a lot of monsters and other hostile creatures, in the case of standard classes like [Mage] or [Swordsman], or do things related to their job with professional classes, like [Merchant] or [Smith]. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Due to the lack of good jobs, equipment, and the fact that everyone here was simply trying to live another day, getting stronger was basically out of the question.

As for this problem, Alicia resolved that she was just going to cast powerful protection spells to make sure that most threats to the village wouldn't be able to come close and thus give Vittorio and Moshan more time to build up and strengthen themselves. By the time the trio was done discussing everything, it was already afternoon. Currently, they were standing on top of one of the hills overlooking the village. From here, Orevogorsk truly looked like a quaint, peaceful town on the edge of the world.

"Your Grace, I hope this discussion has been enlightening," Vittorio said to her from behind.

"If you have any more questions, feel free to ask."

"You sure care enough about this village to know a lot about it, huh?" Alicia curiously asked as she turned around, placing her hand on her chin while slightly tilting her head.

"You know, that's a strange behavior from a mercenary. It's like you know more about this place than Sir Moshan does."

"Perhaps." Vittorio closed his eyes, smiling to himself as he placed his armored hand on his chest.

"This village has been my battlefield once. One day, it may become my battlefield again. I do this to all places I visit. I must know everything about them, because all of Vael is a battlefield."

"What a cynical view on things." Moshan frowned at Vittorio.

"You're too young for that kind of outlook."

"I've seen the worst of war, sir. There's no place safe from it. It's just a part of my profession to know every battlefield in advance, so should I fight there one day, I will be prepared." Alicia clapped in an attempt to break the discussion between them.

"Okay, I don't want to hear more about that topic. As your leader, I assure you, this town is officially going to be the most peaceful place in Vael. Sure, there are a lot of problems that I've seen, but I'm optimistic we'll find a way to fix it all."

"Your Grace, I'm sure that you'll be our greatest leader. You already saved us once, after all!" Moshan praised.

"I'll work hard myself to see this vision come true. I'm sure that Orevogorsk will one day be the most wholesome jewel of Vael and the envy of the world under your leadership," Vittorio grinned excitedly.

"Okay, maybe that's a bit too much, though." Alicia retracted her earlier enthusiasm.

"We have to be optimistic about the future to motivate ourselves, but we shouldn't count our eggs before they hatch. For now, I'm just going to start planning and enacting measures to fix this town. Baby steps first." That's right. I may not be the best at city building, but if I try hard enough, I should be able to do some good here. Let's do this. Finally, we'll have a new lord in Roster County. The days of anarchy will soon be over. To say that Vittorio was overjoyed by this development was an understatement.

Since meeting this powerful vampire who saved his life, his schemes had been driven by his desire to become one of the first members of a powerful noble domain in the north. Of course, he understood that Alicia was no normal vampire and that she wouldn't stay in a dreary place like this, even if she wanted to revive her domain after being sealed for centuries. But that didn't mean Vittorio would give up. He worked hard, day and night, just to fix and prepare Roster County for her return.

Of course, he was just one mercenary, so it was impossible for him to do much about such a massive place, but, at least, in Moshan's village, where he hoped Alicia would return one day, he could make a difference. So he did everything. He worked hard outside of Moshan's village to make more money to sustain himself, and then he always went back just to train the militia and advise the village chief. He believed that it might take them years to create something worthy of Alicia's eyes, but he was ready for that.

Yet, she returned in just two months. Afraid that she would be disappointed, he rushed to Moshan's house, preparing to explain himself to her and make an appeal, but, to his surprise, she declared that she would lead the village immediately. Not only that, but throughout their discussion and inspections, while Alicia acted all cold and arrogant, unlike other vampires he served under, he was sure she was different. She paid special attention to the plight and problems of commoners.

Never had she once even mentioned taxation and other stuff that leaders demanded of their subjects. Instead, all of her questions and interests were housing, food, and security, the basic things the village needed. Most of all, she was willing to look deeper into the details about how the villagers lived their lives. She checked damaged houses, asked questions about how they stored and prepared food, and even occasionally helped struggling families with sick people and healed them.

The average noble, in Vittorio's experience, wouldn't do even a quarter of those things. It was why he was utterly sure to himself that Alicia was not only a powerful and capable lord, but she was also going to be someone merciful and kind. Under that icy exterior, he imagined there must be a soul genuinely yearning for a better tomorrow. Indeed, this was great luck. He couldn't believe it himself. He was eager, excited, and ready to follow her orders. All she needed to do was ask.

"Actually," Alicia suddenly stopped walking. They were on a trail back to the village.

"I wonder, is there a nice place here for me to build a house on? After all, if I'm going to be a proper lord of Orevogorsk, I can't stay in Moshan's house, right? No offense to his house, by the way."

"You're right," Vittorio said, placing a hand on his chin.

"But, with the tough weather, I don't think even I can mobilize people to build you a house. Not to mention, there are not enough resources here."

"I didn't say anything about forcing the villagers to work."

"Oh? Is Lady Alicia a skilled construction worker?"

"I wouldn't call myself a construction worker, but I have quite a lot of tricks up my sleeves."

"I see. Well, I suppose we can try finding a nice place for you to try out this 'trick' of yours, Your Grace."

"Sounds wonderful." And so, before they returned to the village itself, the trio began surveying the land around Orevogorsk to find a nice place for her. Though, to Vittorio's chagrin, he couldn't help his new master much, simply because she could fly, use magic to see things better, and much more. Most of the time, he simply gave her advice and details to look out for, and she did much of the work.

They tried to find a place wide enough, flat enough, and close enough to the village that it could be easily connected with a dirt road. It also had to be in a location that wouldn't interfere with people's livelihoods. The best candidate they found was an area west to the village, with most of its trees already either burned or cut down. After deliberating her options, Alicia decided that it should be the place where her home would be built.

Both Moshan and Vittorio stood at the side of the site, watching as Alicia flew high in the sky. Vittorio had his arms crossed, straining his eyes just to catch everything. Truth be told, he had some doubts in his mind about this 'trick' of hers because he had never heard about anyone in history capable of just creating a building out of thin air. In fact, even Moshan was doubtful.

"Hey, do you know what she's about to do?" Moshan asked.

"I'm not really well-versed about this magic thing…"

"I haven't the faintest of ideas about what she intends to do." Vittorio frowned.

"All we can do is wait for the results."

"I see."

"Watch. She's already chanting something."

"What the hell? It's so bright!" And indeed, true to Moshan's words, an intensifying form of light began to envelop the site that Alicia chose. Vittorio had to use his hands to protect his eyes a bit, but he could see that while Alicia was flying, there were bluish lines resembling a structure floating in front of her. The light intensified further, until Vittorio had no choice but to look away momentarily. Then, the brightness was gone.

Lazily, Alicia descended in front of them, her boots soon making contact with snow. On the other hand, Moshan tumbled on his backside beside Vittorio, while the draco remained frozen, staring in awe at the structure in front of them. It was a grand white mansion, easily dwarfing half of the village. It was four stories high, with its five watch towers easily reaching seven stories. It almost resembled a castle, and it was built on a raised stone platform. Furthermore, it also had a small wall and was gated.

Inside, he could see a statue of a knight in front of the mansion's entrance staircase, multiple pavilions, and a paved path leading to the mansion with light poles. He could even imagine that the area surrounding the mansion could have gardens in it if it wasn't winter, with topiaries, trees, and flowers in them. Alicia looked back to Vittorio, who was speechless.

"I hope it looks fine," Alicia said.

"I'm out of other options, as this is the only thing my remaining items can build, so it might not fit the style of this village. Still, I think it'll serve well as the seat of my domain—""You just…you just…you just summoned a grand manor out of nowhere. S-style? Who even cares?"

"What was that, Sir Vittorio? I can't hear you well."

"Nothing! Just…" He couldn't believe his luck. So I did make the right choice of choosing her as our lord. After seeing what she could do, he knew that everything would start to turn around from this day onwards.