Traveling through The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Chapter 116 Ordinary People

"You mean, the prisoners in the mines can earn work points to redeem themselves?"

Lund nodded.

"Yes, but after redeeming yourself, you must settle down in the Bloody Throne. I have been observing for some time, and the captives are basically local people of Skyrim, mostly Nords. These people are either from poor families, and it is lucky that they don't starve to death throughout the year. How can they gather hundreds of Septim? Some of them simply have no one at home..."

Lund himself is an orphan and has a lonely personality, otherwise he would not be willing to hide in this small castle. When he talked about these people who were in similar situations, he couldn't help but feel sympathetic. He poured himself a small half glass of wine, took a sip, and tried to stabilize his voice that was trembling with excitement.

"Their only hope is General Tullius. But then again, there are refugees everywhere in Skyrim now. If Tullius wants, he can hire others at one-fifth of the price. Why should he give the money to his opponent? These people are just filling in the numbers on the battlefield anyway. Soraf said that only a little over 20% of the prisoners have a high level of training, otherwise they would not be defeated so easily by us. I'm thinking that if possible, we should show them a way to survive. We also need people."

Lund is right. Falkreath is a remote place. Even if the news of our recruitment spreads, not many people will be willing to abandon their homes and careers and come here. Even if they come, I am afraid they will give priority to Falkreath and Helgen. The living conditions in those two places are better, and there are more livelihoods to support a family. We cannot compete with them.

"I think it's okay. Let's arrange it as you say."

Lund smiled and shook his head.

"You think it may not be enough. These captives belong to the lord, and the ransom is also paid to the Nanya steward, who will contact us to release them. You'd better win the support of Lord Danger and Lady Rigel, and then bring this idea up for discussion in the parliament, so as not to give people a reason to accuse you of embezzling prisoners of war. I think according to Nanya steward's style of doing things, if you want to keep these people, you have to pay."

Nanya... is definitely capable of doing such a thing! No, didn't Danger promise to give me the ransom for the captives to make up for the loss caused by the suspension of the villa construction? Lund responded to my question with a sympathetic look.

"Do you think Butler Nanya is such an easy person to talk to? Anyway, we don't have much money on hand. We paid in advance for materials and labor when we built the house, and we spent a lot of money on buying books from Mrs. Montoya. The daily expenses of the castle here are also not a small number. So you have to find a way to get some money, otherwise, what we said before about starting a furnace and smelting iron will be a pipe dream. You know my popularity, I will definitely not be able to borrow money, so you have to go. But to be honest, Lord Danger and Lord Horrick may not have much money either."

"As for the money, keep an eye on Avustern of the Graymane family. Aren't you familiar with those prisoners? He just wants to ask them about something, you can make some arrangements, see if you can get close to him, and let him borrow some money from the people in the family who are in charge. As for the Tiger Man Trading Post, you can also try it. I brought back a few cats this time, and I will give one to you as your subordinate. As for the people, you can put it aside for now and talk about it after I come back from Hafingar. As long as Tullius is unwilling to pay, these people will be ours sooner or later. Speaking of Hafingar, how is Helgi doing recently?"

Lund's face fell for a moment. He was actually very reluctant to interact with people, especially the tiger people. But after all, we finished talking about business, and he relaxed. After filling my glass again, he sat opposite me.

Because of Lucia, Lund paid more attention to the other two girls living in the castle. Because Bryce and Helgi were both practicing martial arts, the two sisters also took Lucia with them during basic training. The poor Cyrodiil girl was originally a quiet person and almost vomited blood at the beginning. After persisting for a while, she was quite effective and became energetic.

In the afternoon, Lucia would work in Lund's office, while Bryce would continue to train with Custer. The 15-year-old Red Guard girl showed a high talent for martial arts, and she worked very hard to prove herself, so she made rapid progress. Custer once said that if she continued like this, Bryce would be able to go find Rhea in about a month, which was one-third earlier than the deadline set by the Red Guard girl.

Every night, Bryce and Helgi would accompany Lucia to read in the library in return for Lucia's exercise with them in the morning. According to Lund's observation, Bryce had another reason for doing this. Lucia and Riya had lived in Helgen for a long time and were very familiar with each other. So Bryce was trying to repair his relationship with Lucia in order to get the future mentor's preferences from this little sister. It is known that Riya likes to eat beef very much. Bryce once pestered Lund to raise cattle, but of course he was flatly rejected.

Perhaps she was inspired by Bryce's hard work, or perhaps just to maintain her image as a genius girl and the invincible U18 of Falkreath, Helgi filled her schedule without the supervision of a tutor. She trained in the morning, practiced archery or fighting in the morning, did alchemy as a rest and entertainment after the meal, studied magic in the afternoon, and read after dinner. She and Lucia sorted out the broken pages of books, classified them by content, and tried to restore them. In the evening, after the other two girls went to bed, Helgi would meditate for a while.

She seemed to be specifically looking for records about the history and mythology of the Reachmen. According to Lucia, Helgi had read all the papers or books containing such content repeatedly and made very detailed notes. The length of these notes even exceeded the original manuscript, so Lucia suspected that Helgi had expanded or supplemented many things that were not passed on in the tribe. But Helgi locked the notes in a small cabinet and marked the cabinet door with a lightning rune in front of the other two girls.

"You said Helgi is already able to cast rune-based spells?"

This girl has improved again. I don't know how she will laugh at me along the way. Now I am looking forward to her showing off her skills in front of me like before, instead of still being immersed in the sadness of Zoltan's death.

"That's what Lucia said. This girl is reliable and usually doesn't talk nonsense. Helgi is keeping such a close watch on her, she definitely doesn't want the two of them to see it. Bryce and Lucia didn't dare to ask. Apart from this, Helgi didn't do anything unusual. Lucia said she seemed to like poetry and drama more, and she was always very quiet and focused when reading, unlike Bryce who would walk around after not being able to sit still for a while."

"This Lucia is about to become your informant."

Lund smiled bitterly.

"I have no interest in prying into a little girl's privacy. But this child is very pitiful. She is different from the other two girls. Bryce and Helgi are both outstanding among their peers. Lucia is sandwiched between the two of them and feels inferior. So she sometimes chats with me, probably because we are ordinary people."

This is the feeling of helplessness when a poor student faces a top student... There are two top students... One of them is a genius who even the devil is jealous of...

I poured Folger into my own glass and clinked glasses with Lund.

"I understand. We are all human beings."

Lund rolled his eyes.

"You don't understand shit! What kind of normal person are you?"

"Why am I not considered an ordinary person? Babas, the dog that always follows Helgi, is actually a demon. He said that I have poor talent and bad luck. By the way, has the dog come back?"

"I'm back. I follow Helgi every day... Wait a minute... What do you think that dog is?"

"Demon, don't you know?"

This time it was Lund who poured the wine into his mouth.

"How can I know if you don't tell me? Tell me, Locke, have you ever seen an ordinary person who hangs out with the devil for no reason? Do you know how much pressure I felt when facing you and Eric? Eric joined the comrades-in-arms and provided everyone with food for the winter. You are even more amazing. You left home for more than half a year, and when you came back you were a knight. A few months later you became a baron, and your hometown is now your fiefdom. I can imagine what the folks in Loristed Town are saying about you. And what about me? Haha, a poor guy who was almost bitten to death by rats, a cruel official who can only take advantage of others' power and exploit and extort. Fortunately, I have no family, otherwise I would not be able to hold my head up in the town."

Lund shook the empty bottle, huddled in his chair, stared at the documents in the room with empty eyes, and sighed. This sigh blew away the little bit of euphoria brought by the alcohol. This was the first time I saw Lund so depressed. He had always shown a contented, calm and calm appearance, but I didn't know that he had such thoughts in his heart.

"You can't say that, Lund. Remember the last time we had a drink and chat with Eric? Didn't we agree that you would be responsible for managing our business so that Eric and I would have no worries? I think you're doing a great job."

Lund rubbed his face and forced a smile.

"Thank you, Locke. I can't drink much and I'm talking nonsense after just a little."

"You think I'm comforting you? I'm just stating a fact."

I dropped my empty glass, moved my chair over to Lund's side, patted him on the shoulder, and pointed to the documents in the room.

"Lund, look at these. Do you think anyone can do these things well? I have traveled around half of the world and can be considered a person who has seen a little bit of the world. Brothers, let's talk behind closed doors. I am not targeting anyone, but they are really rubbish. For example, Steward Nanya has been in charge of government since Lord Danger was the lord. In the past 20 to 30 years, look at what she has done with Falkreath. And Lady Rigel, if you hadn't stepped forward and turned the tide, we would have been exhausted by the Imperial Legion. As for Morningstar City, even food is a problem every year. Whiterun City looks glamorous, but the lord actually has little money in his pocket. Loristed Town was robbed, and Balgruuf can't even fart!"

Seeing that I was getting more and more excited, Lund tried to comfort me. But what I said was the truth. In terms of the ability to manage a territory, Lund is definitely the best among the people I know. He is not only down-to-earth and diligent, but also always comes up with solutions when facing difficulties. These solutions may not be perfect, but they are effective, such as the money-grabbing order he issued in Helgen Town.

What is more commendable is that Lund is making progress. In Helgen, he was appointed in a time of crisis, or rather, he was picked out to be a scapegoat for Rigel's extravagance. When he arrived at the Bloodthrone, he considered issues more comprehensively and his methods of doing things became more mature. You know, the tiger people and the Rich people are much more difficult to deal with than Eddie, and I have been away from the territory for a long time, so it is impossible for me to endorse him on key issues like my father did in Helgen. But Lund used both kindness and force, and handled things well, allowing people of different races to live in relative harmony and build our industry together.

The most commendable thing is that Rund's actions are full of the kindness of human nature. If I were to manage the territory myself, I would definitely use the prisoners of the Imperial Legion to death. Compared with the lives of these guys, I care more about my income. But Rund did not blindly obey my orders to exploit the prisoners. Not only did he not abuse these people, he also tried every means to find a way for them to survive in the troubled times. His plan is actually for me to pay for the redemption of the prisoners. In the short term, I will lose a large sum of cash, enough to make me feel painful for a long time, but in the long run, the territory will become more prosperous, and I may also gain people's hearts. This deal is a sure win for me.

If we think about this calmly, isn't it just the Skyrim version of the story of Feng Xuan burning bonds for Mengchang Jun and building three caves? Shouldn't I figure this out first? This Lund, who is the time traveler between us?

Lund didn't expect that I would speak so highly of him, especially since I was praising him while disparaging almost everyone I knew. He probably guessed that I had a close relationship with Rigel, and it would be fine if he criticized Nanya and others, but it was a different matter if he also criticized Rigel. In the end, he was a little embarrassed and repeatedly said that he was just doing his job honestly and was not as noble as I praised him to be.

"That further proves that you, Lund, are a genius at governing. I'm handing the territory over to you to manage, which is a manifestation of my ability to appoint the right people to the right positions. Now everything has just begun, and we brothers must keep up the good work."

Lund smiled and nodded.

While Lund was in a good mood, I told him again what I had told Lai Mei, and told him to make sure to keep an eye on Laidia and take good care of her injuries, and not to wander around. Lund agreed reluctantly.

When I left Lund's office, it was already late. Hayou was waiting in the hall with a few cats. When they saw me, they came up to me and reported on their mushroom cultivation achievements. I was pestered so much that I had to let them prepare the ingredients. Hayou quickly took out an apron and tied it on me.

"The meat and mushrooms are ready. We are just waiting for you to start cooking."

Who is the lord?

Soon, a fresh and fragrant aroma rose from the boiling water and spread throughout the castle.