CH 13

Then, he needed to solve the compensation problem quickly.

Luisen cheered himself up and headed towards the general’s office. He ran into a group of servants standing in front of the door. They recognized Luisen and greeted him with polite courtesy, but as soon as they passed by each other, they began to gossip in low whispers.

“That was the duke.”

“Wasn’t he locked up somewhere? Can he really walk around like that?”

“Didn’t you hear? He’s acting like Carlton’s servant.”

“Oh my lord, I can’t even be proud of myself anymore if I’m serving someone like that…”

Their secret glares burned at Luisen’s back. He scurried into the general’s office, pretending not to hear. Most of the servants he encountered while fulfilling Carlton’s errands had similar reactions–tongue-tied, thinking him pathetic.

Sniffling, Luisen rubbed at his eyes. Still, tears formed as he stood there, blinking at the ceiling.

‘I’m sad….’

It was a natural reaction for those who had no idea of the tragedy that Luisen had averted. But, especially now, Luisen couldn’t help but feel pain in his soul.

“Hn….” Luisen placed his hand on his chest. There was a secret ‘something’ hidden in his coat’s inner pocket. A red, firm ‘something’ swaddled in thin cloth.

That something was jerky.

Perhaps because he had once starved terribly, Luisen began to lose all reason when he became hungry. He returned to a primitive state–his body automatically prowled around the trash to find any stray morsel. So, he started carrying a couple pieces of emergency jerky in his pocket.

Maybe Luisen was abnormal, but now the pangs of hunger would make him severely depressed. On the contrary, a full belly made him feel as if everything was okay.

Luisen began to munch on the beef jerky. With his hunger assuaged, slowly his melancholic mood began to disappear.

‘That’s right…this is just depression brought about by hunger. It’s not about what anyone said…’ People who didn’t know him well may pity him, but he now felt comparatively calm.

‘They aren’t beating me nor throwing stones at me. It’s nothing.’ The abuse he had experienced previously made his resolve strong. With jerky hanging from his mouth, Luisen searched the general’s office.

‘Here it is.’

Hastily stuffed inside the general’s desk drawer, the north warehouse’s ledger was found alongside the key. It seemed the general had been searching for useful items in the armory in preparation for the castle’s defense.

‘If I take this to him, he wouldn’t make me organize the warehouse either, right? I’m ending work early today.’ Luisen skimmed through the ledger with delight. It was detailed with both illustrations and thorough explanations.

‘This is a water-dowsing tool from previous droughts…This is a new tool to direct water flow…

As many of the nearby locations were fields, many farming tools were stored in the warehouse. Come to think of it, agricultural research used to be conducted in great volume in the duchy, though Luisen’s previous lack of interest had made such study less common during his generation.

While searching the items one by one, a tool suddenly caught Luisen’s eyes.

‘Oh, the Flames of the Holy Spirit.’

It was a grandiose name, but it was simply a fire-breathing tool to eradicate locusts. Since the southern regions were a granary, swarms of locusts would gather every few years.

‘Nngh, locusts…those cursed pests from hell.’

It was not named ‘The Flames of the Holy Spirit’ for no reason. The pests would paint the sky black, consuming all the grain painstakingly grown throughout the year and leaving only ruin behind. In the midst of that tragedy, one couldn’t help but to search for God.

Luisen had observed the adults using the tool when he was young. Blessed with magic, it would burn the locusts, leaving the grain intact–the grandiose name was well-earned.

‘This truly is amazing.’

….Wait?

Looking lovingly at the divine tool, Luisen suddenly recalled a forgotten memory.

The estate would soon face one more crisis!

It was after Carlton left the duchy completely devastated. A swarm of locusts descended upon half of the burned and desolate fields. The people, already exhausted from dealing with the fire, had reported watching, stupefied, as the locusts carried off all the grain.

Carlton’s massacre had been so shocking, and Luisen’s escape had been so amusing. As a result, the locust incident had not received much attention. Locusts were a rare gossip; it did not often pass through Luisen’s ears while he was struggling. In fact, most had no interest in it. Compared to the foolish lord’s flight and the cruel butcher’s bloodbath, events that would go down in history, the insects were simply too dull of an affair.

Luisen had almost forgotten about it.

‘Since I had originally fled to Dubless, back to my territory, and again to somewhere else…I still have some time.’ Luisen did not know the exact date, so he estimated by tracing his past.

Though the previous events were alarming problems, locusts had the ability to control the year’s crops. Left alone, these pests would attack even people and livestock.

Once a swarm of locusts arrived, the upper and lower villages would join hands to fight them. The situation was troubling even for affluent households like the Anies family; for simple farming villages, the crisis was even more dire.

‘I need to stop the locust swarm.’

Fortunately, the duchy had one of the greatest agricultural inventions in history–the Flames of the Holy Spirit.

‘But how do I even use it?’ After Luisen became a lord, the territory lived through several locust raids. However, the advisors and vassals took care of it all. All Luisen did was watch the burning locusts and applaud them. And then, at some point, he spent the majority of his time at the Capital.

‘But since I’ve seen it used before, I’ll think of something…’

Luisen crinkled his eyebrows and thought for a long time, but he really didn’t remember anything.

He wanted to cry. He searched his pocket for jerky, but there was no meat left to soothe his mind this time.

There were many things Luisen couldn’t do. His problem-solving skills were severely reduced as Luisen had never solved estate issues on his own.

Luisen had learned a lot from the saint in his past life. Maybe that’s why, after returning, he recalled the saint’s words so often. The same was true of this time.

The saint had said, “If you don’t know what to do, don’t overreact. Stay still, walk the middle line.” But what if  Luisen couldn’t stay still?

Luisen went to find the general. The person who knew how best to run the estate, the person who had run the territory for a long time, was the general.

*Knock knock knock*

“General, it’s me. Luisen.”

No answer was returned. However, there was a soldier standing by, watching the general’s door, and a sure sign of life could be heard inside. Luisen was sure the general was inside, ignoring him.

“General, we need to talk. It’s important. I think there will be a crisis soon in the territory, and I’m not too sure what to do. A swarm of locusts are coming; what should I do?”

At the words ‘a swarm of locusts,’ a loud noise reverberated in the room.

‘It worked!’ Luisen was happy for a moment, but he then deflated after seeing that it wasn’t the general who stepped out of the room.

“What is the treasurer doing here?”

“….I’m looking after the general.”

“Oh.”

“He is not faking illness. The doctor’s been here several times.”

“What does the doctor say?”

“Overwork, stress, it’s obvious. What do you mean, locusts? What about those vulgar beings that have crawled up from hell?” The treasurer expressed interest. He was definitely a southern man.

Of course, any southern man would grit their teeth in vexation at these locusts. Feeling a strange sense of fraternity, Luisen informed him that soon a swarm of locusts would swoop onto their fields.

“Hm. There’s nothing to support a swarm forecast,” the treasurer continued.

“You can predict this?” Luisen asked.

“Yes. Locusts don’t just fall from the sky–they usually fly a certain path. Usually territories earlier in the path will tell us signs and sightings in advance…but we haven’t heard from them this year.”

“We had a civil war this year.”

“Ah, I see.” Though the treasurer nodded, Luisen could see he thought differently. The treasurer did not believe in Luisen, for he was a lord trapped in a castle with no access to outside information. How would he have received information about a swarm forecast? Even the general, the foremost authority in this household, had not been tipped off.

‘But, it’s the first time the lord has asked me about estate matters,’ he thought. ‘I don’t know why he’s so stuck on locusts, but at times like this, I have to answer sincerely.’

“It’s not so difficult–this has happened once every few years. With proper prior communication, each village, each chief or mayor, will take care of it: every village has their own ‘Flames of the Holy Spirit.’”

“I see.”

“We’ve left the Flames of the Holy Spirit alone while preparing for our defense, so there’s no need to worry about it….But there’s no way to give advance warnings…what to do….” Hesitant words flowed from the treasurer’s mouth.