Chapter 59 - Management Issues (1/2)

Gawain knew that Norris had no idea what the “position” actually meant or what kind of new administration would soon be implemented in this land. He was still in a confused state, caught in the joy of soon becoming a “respectable person”, but this old farmer probably could not even imagine the lifestyle of those respectable people in towns and cities.

But that was fine because what Gawain wanted to establish in this world was an unprecedented new order. It was not only Norris who could not imagine it, even Herti and Rebecca also could not imagine it.

He knew that he had to be cautious and take things steadily and under control as they moved forward in order to prevent being too impatient and be caught in the backlash from this era’s conservatives, but he had no choice but to do it. The recent alerts from the satellite monitoring station still rang in his ears. If the Dark Wave was truly inevitable, doing something was better than doing nothing.

When Norris left, Herti finally could not help but ask, “Ancestor, do you really intend for him to manage your fields?”

Gawain knew that Herti would have doubts, so he was not at all surprised. He only looked at her with a faint smile. “Anything wrong with that?”

“Although he is literate, he…” Herti was going to say that he was poor, but on second thought, she rephrased it, “I’m afraid that he might lack the knowledge, and he does not know of the rules of the upper class. If you let him manage your fields, I’m afraid he will screw things up and even get punished for no reason.”

Gawain just looked at Herti quietly until she appeared to show unease, and then he asked, “Where is this upper class you’re referring to?”

Herti was stunned.

Gawain smiled and pointed his finger to the surroundings. “Look around. In this empty piece of land, there is no upper class, nor are there any aristocratic etiquette or rules of being a lower class citizen. Throw all those old ideas into the scorched soil of the old Cecil territory! In this land, everything starts from scratch. Rules, laws, guidelines, everything will be brand new!”

Herti stared blankly at the land that was being opened for agriculture and the camp that had already begun to take shape in the distance. Here, there was no towering castle or the poor people’s small houses. The camp was being built according to the strict principles of “orderliness, hygiene, efficiency, and space for future development”. Here, there were no rules like “houses of the poor are not to face the castle”, ” noble estates must be separated from the homes of the poor by at least one street”, “serfs are forbidden to live in the intermediate or inner districts”.

She vaguely understood what Gawain meant.

Gawain looked at Herti. He knew that her traditional aristocratic views were not deep-seated. Being a noble of a declined clan, the tough situation was the best motivation for one to start using their brains more. Cecil Clan had been excluded from the core circle of nobles in recent generations. Thus, they would become more and more “unlike aristocrats”. Take Herti for example, she would even go to the construction site to help with work. Thus there was absolutely no problem with how flexible her mentality was. It was just that the habit and social constraints brought by being an aristocrat were not easy to deal with, so she instinctively thought that a farmer from a poor family would not be qualified to help Gawain manage the territory even if he was literate with language and numbers, even more so since his position was to manage the most important problem of food.

Seeing the change in expression of this descendant, Gawain knew that she had already understood roughly, but she still needed a little push, so he went on to say, “As to whether a poor farmer can become a manager, do you know of the ancestor of the Franklin clan of the west and what he used to do?”

“Grand Duke of the West?” Herti was stunned for a moment. “I remember the history books saying that Franklin’s ancestor was in charge of steelworks, and was the “Iron General” of the expedition force…”

“Yes, he was a blacksmith but with monster-like strength. And he was talented and fortunate enough to grow up during the northern expedition.” Gawain smiled. “What do you think I used to do?”

Herti was already shocked upon learning about the truth of the original Grand Duke of the West. Now, she could not speak as confidently, “I remember in the history books… I think it said that you were a knight among knights, the first of all famous knights…”

“Yes, I was a knight apprentice. When I was fifteen, I finally learned my first combat skills, but before my teacher could write a letter of recommendation to the Lord, he got drunk and fell into the river and drowned. I was left with no other choice. So I wrote a recommendation letter myself, used the teacher’s stamp, and brought it to the Lord. But before I could get there, the Dark Wave broke out, and the Lord died. Then I met Charlie, who was escaping with a group of people. He said that the south had already turned into a huge mess, and to go south would only lead to more deaths. I told him, ‘I still have to be named a knight. I have been studying for years and finally managed to pass.’ Then, Charlie said a few wise words to me in front of everyone.”

Gawain paused deliberately, sure enough, Herti could not help but ask, “What wise words?”

“Let’s just name ourselves knights. The lords of the south are all dead anyways.”

Herti, “… Name yourselves?! You can do that?!”

“However, that was how it happened,” Gawain put away his smile as he looked at Herti. “A youngster with delusions of grandeur, proclaimed himself as the leader of the northern expedition, led a group of blacksmiths, carpenters, apprentices, and unemployed people who then identified as pioneering knights. They forced their way across the entire wasteland of Gondor and built a kingdom here. Do you think it was because we had noble bloodlines? Or were we all blessed by gods?”

Herti: “…”

“In the beginning, there were no nobles, but it was the ones who first got up and took things for themselves who became nobles.” Gawain pressed Herti’s shoulders (she was older, and he couldn’t just pat her head like he did with Rebecca), “Putting aside this difference, Anzu is just a kingdom established by a bunch of peasants. Now the land before us is exactly what Anzu was like when we established it. And I am going to implement some new rules on this land.”

Herti frowned slightly. She felt vaguely apprehensive, but she did not know what was off about it, “I… I can’t imagine what the future would be like if we really do it…”

“Yeah, it’s a bit too early for me to tell you about this.” Gawain nodded slightly. “But I believe you will be with me on this.”

“Of course!” Herti replied without hesitation. “You are the cornerstone of this land! You are also the only person that Rebecca and I can count on…”