9 The Situation
1477 Words
Janus leaned in closer to the window.
At first, he thought they were merely supervisors who instructed and managed the serfs in their work, but they were all armed with whips and clubs. Ready to strike at those who were working poorly.
"Is there anything wrong, your highness?" Oswald said.
"Serves them right for slacking off on the job." Arthan said.
Janus could hear sneers from the other carriage, which was following close by. Bodwin was laughing and pointing, while Dulfo repeated what Arthan said.
"Leave him out on the sun as a scarecrow, that's what my Masters did to us when we lazed off." Millen yelled.
"When I was young, slackers would be whipped ten times. Taught them not to dawdle." Cedi added.
Janus was shocked. Apparently this was the normal way of treating serfs in this Kingdom. Progress had always been brought about by exploiting people of the lower class. That was how the Ancient Pyramids were built, how skyscrapers were erected during his time. Part of Janus thought this was necessary for him to have a comfortable life as Prince.
But the raging heat that had swelled inside of him was stronger.
"Stop the carriage. I'm going outside." He said.
#
"Your Highness, that's not advisable." Oswald said.
"Stop the carriage, that's an order." Janus yelled out to the coachman.
He opened the door and went out. The other carriage stopped, and the servants came out confused.
Sir Arthan was behind him, all puzzled and confused but he followed him all the way.
"Who's in charge here? I have to speak to them." Janus called out
A spindly man with blond hair set in a bob cut approached and bowed. He was around forty years old and was dressed in workman's clothes.
His name was Ringo. The steward who managed the operation of the whole estate, and he was in the middle of counting the season's yield.
"Your highness, it's a pleasure to meet you. We didn't expect you to arrive, we thought it would only be Master Oswald. Apologies if--"
"Hello there Mater Ringo. Would you mind showing me around the manor please?" Janus said.
"Your highness." Master Oswald said. "Are you sure of this? Our journey has been long and you look tired. Perhaps we should rest for a bit and have some refreshments."
His party was huddled behind Master Oswald, they had wary looks on their faces. They must have thought that this was one of the old Prince's tirades again.
"I appreciate your concern Master Oswald." Janus said. In fact his backside was throbbing and he would rather enjoy a nice fluffy chair, but walking around in fresh air was the next best thing.
"There's a lot of things that concern me regarding the management of the estate." Janus said. "You may choose to stay with me or get back to the carriage. I have to stretch my legs as well."
None of them seemed eager to leave Janus' side.
"Very well then. For my first order of business, could you please order the overseers to stop using whips on my serfs? I find it distasteful and barbaric. Give the slackers additional work instead, one that doesn't involve them getting hurt."
"Of course your highness." Ringo flustered. He called out to the men with the whips and signaled for them to stop.
"Thank you, off we go then."
They first inspected the quarters where the serfs lived. It was exactly as Janus suspected. They were forced to fit into very tight rooms with up to four people in one room. Each settlement had up to three families who lived together. It was worse than the servant's situation in the castle.
He inspected the barns where the farm animals were raised. There were chickens, pigs, sheep, goats and horses. There was no collection of manure or any other animal waste.
He checked the food that was served to the serfs and workers. They had a kitchen that was stocked with supplies and sundries. The serfs were served stale porridge and vegetable soup, but there was too much liquid in the soup and not enough to be filling. Janus laughed at his retinue's reaction when he tasted their food. He was equally appalled that the nobility in this world didn't even taste what their peasants ate.
Wherever he walked he was greeted by people bowing and apologizing for their actions. It might have looked as though Janus was there to give out punishments. He drove this thought out of his mind. He had a lot to attend to.
He asked Master Ringo a lot of questions regarding the fields. Janus' curiosity was an unexpected thing for him, as the old Prince didn't have any interest in his estates at all.
It turns out that fertilizer wasn't used in the fields at all. Janus noted this as a missed opportunity.
He also noted the backwards situation of the workers. Children and the elderly were also brought to work, workers had long hours but production was still inefficient. Worst of all was that they weren't using the land as best as they could, around a quarter of the fields were weeds and wild bush.
The overseers and the estate managers seemed to think that punishing people would lead to more productivity.
He suppressed the urge to blame Master Ringo and the overseers for such inhumane treatment of peasants, this was the system's fault after all. And Janus had full responsibility for it.
At the end of the day, the only thing that he could prohibit was the punishment for the workers. There were too many things he wanted to change. He decided it was time to stop and retire to his manor.
That night he uploaded all of the data that he collected in the whole estate, and found books that would help him improve the lives of his serfs. He first read about estate management, crop production methods of Kalesia and how to make compost. He also searched for better food recipes that they could serve to the serfs to give them more strength.
At the end of the day there was a stack of books in his desk. He slept just before midnight struck, with his head still glued to one of the pages.
He totally forgot about the noodles.
#
Life in the Manor wasn't bad. He had enough servants to make his life comfortable and was free to roam around and explore. He actually preferred it to castle life, if not for the management duties that he forced himself to have and all the servants that were bowing and apologizing to him at any given moment.
He had meetings with Master Oswald and Master Ringo every day. He also met with the carpenters and overseers. Janus was planning some changes that they wouldn't be happy about. But it was necessary, he wanted to improve the daily life of his workers and gain enough yields to satisfy the King.
It was a tall order, and the old Janus would have crumbled from all the pressure. But the Golden Library was with him every step of the way, the knowledge it held was so vast and everything in it was reliable information. Unlike the internet, fake news wasn't an issue that at all.
In between his managerial duties and planning, he found time to explore the farmland for more Contribution Points. He uploaded the scenery and the surrounding nature. There were some exotic plants and vegetables that he found growing outside or stocked in the kitchens. He attended the Church and listened in to the services, much to the worker's fascination. The hymns yielded him a lot of CP. There were also old books in the Church's library, detailing the origins of the Holy See and its sacred doctrine. Janus collected it all up with glee.
If he wanted to survive in this world where monsters existed, he also needed to train himself at least for basic combat. There were low level monsters on the borders of the fields, and he sought them out. Arthan wanted to be by his side on these excursions but he had been battling these monsters when he was only a child. They would all die before Janus could collect data.
"Your highness, do you want to learn the art of the blade? I can teach you if you so please. Cedi would be a good sparring partner."
Janus wasn't sure if Arthan was being polite, but the knight's attitude towards Janus got better as the days went by.
He held a practice sword every morning but was still very scared to hold the real thing. At the end of their first practice, Arthan handed him a club.
The club was much better for him, there was no risk of hurting himself. That day he killed ten Green grubs, four Slime Bowls and a few Picky chicks. The basic combat manual he got from the library payed off well.
After two weeks of living in the Manor, Janus decided he had enough knowledge of it that he started implementing changes.
He knew it would be rough, but he had to try.
- Writer
