Today is a good day.

Why?

Two reasons in particular: the changes being made to the fief were well underway, and secondly, our new magic specialist and tutor has finally arrived at the estate.

So, it's understandable I'm feeling a bit smug, like a cat that knows it has a big bowl of cream coming its way soon.

Between Ronnie and I, we managed to dredge up from our past memories the design for a simple bucket water wheel, a wooden wheelbarrow and a plough that could be drawn by livestock and people. The latter two devices were much simpler.

Even though I saw for myself on the inspection outing, the farming practices in this world really were abysmal.

It seems that seeds were simply tossed and scattered all over the field and the rest was left up to nature while the villagers prayed to the gods for a good harvest. The most they knew to do was pull weeds from the field. There was no form of irrigation practiced here. No fertilizer, no ploughs, there wasn't the practice of leaving a field to rest here either. Therefore, a single drought or parasite infestation could cause these people to be in dire straits. If the topography was that of a very dry area with little rainfall, then they couldn't help starving to death or succumbing to sickness due to malnutrition if the rainfall is even a little late. Added to this, they commoners are endlessly taxed by the nobility, so more often than not, they were extremely poor. The nobility likes to look down at them for it, calling them lazy.

When Ronnie and I found out from Reggie (who was actually a farmer's son), to say we were gobsmacked would be an understatement.

Truthfully, the pitiful farming practices in this world could be somewhat blamed on magic.

Some fiefs would hire low ranked magicians to cast magic on fields to raise crop yield. In this world where monsters and demons exist, magic and combat power are of utmost importance, so they are given all the emphasis, and research is most concentrated in this area. Not much if any thought is given to improving farming practices until there is the threat of famine, at which point it becomes a national dilemma and many magicians are dispatched to use runes on the fields to protect the crops.

... There's no way I can stand for this sloppiness. Live in opulence like Verne while the people under my rule starve to death?

Not a chance.

So, we decided to completely overturn this world's pitiful, half-baked preconceptions of what agriculture should be like.

I had to start slowly. Verne's ill-gotten wealth was finally put to good use, and over a hundred craftsmen were hired into the fief. I was pleasantly surprised to find them actually very passionate about their work. Unfortunately, they, like many other commoners, we're destitute. They were quick to snatch up any job.

In the main town of the fief I established this world's very own craftsman guild.

There were already two types of existences with the name guild attached to them: the adventurers guild and the alchemist’s guilds.

The adventurer’s guild was not aligned to any country, and was completely neutral with many branches. They are the individuals that are usually hired with escorting caravans and goods as well as clearing out monsters and demons. They are also hired to explore the more mysterious and dangerous areas.

At the mention of the adventurers guild Ronnie got all sparkly eyed, but I personally think calling them "adventurers" is just a way to avoid calling them mercenaries, an existence that is looked down upon for their disloyalty when a job gets rough, since they'd always save their own skins first.

The majority of the guards and servants including Maddie and Luke were past adventures that are now retired. They were mostly B and C ranked when they retired and decided to follow my father which is quite an impressive line-up for household staff.

The alchemist’s guilds work a lot like the adventurers guild except that it is comprised of individuals that are skilled at the art of alchemy. That is, creating potions, elixirs, tonics and all sorts of different medicines. Each of the big countries have their own alchemist guild while some of the smaller countries share guilds.

Basically, the function of a guild is sort of like a labor union. It prevents the members from being taken advantage of like what befalls some professions in this world. The craftsmen, carpenters, blacksmiths, stone masons, etcetera are a good example. People will sometimes refuse to pay for a job once it is finished or demand lower prices claiming it's shoddily done. They're usually overworked and underpaid.

A guild however will lay down certain ground rules for hiring its members. A price can no longer be haggled down to nothing or its members overworked for an insufficient price. In turn, quality service is guaranteed... according to the price that is offered, of course. A percentage of the pay also goes to the upkeep of the guild and its investors: me.

Their professions that usually aren't given too much importance has never had anything like a guild before, so the craftsmen, when faced with my proposal of a guild, were overjoyed and eagerly stated their willingness.

Like that, in the Duchy's main town of Viennes, the craftsmen guild was established in an old three-story building that might have once been some rich merchant's shop I've had repaired and refurbished.

In the future there would be plenty of work coming their way. The first of which I myself immediately commissioned. I handed over copies of the blueprints for the water wheel, plough and wheelbarrows Ronnie and I scrounged together with the instruction to build no less than twelve water wheels and over a hundred units of the other two devices. The wood and metal were also provided by me.

They set to work on their very first assignment with gusto.

With that underway, I proceeded with my next step: I sent a formal summons to the village chiefs of twenty of the largest villages in the fief.

The changes I had to implicate couldn't just be dropped on top of the heads of the people. That would be a waste of time and funds, seeing as many would find some of these changes too radical at first and refuse to or fail to switch over properly. I planned to introduce it slowly and let it diffuse, therefore the best place to stick these changes were in the big villages, where the smaller villages will almost certainly eventually copy them.

There was a slight stir in these villages because of this summons.

The commoners had suffered under Verne's rule, so their impression of the nobility wasn't very good. The news of Richard Verne's death nearly brought tears of joy to their eyes, but their relief gradually turned into slight wariness of who exactly was going to replace Verne. I had eased some of this wariness by making my first action as the new lord drastically decreasing all taxes. This made them outright rejoice.

..... It was needlessly high anyway. I'm not really losing anything from decreasing it, but I won't complain about gaining a favorable image at all.

Despite this new favorability, I'd still yet to show my face to the public officially so many were understandably curious. On top of this, commoners were being invited to the Lord's estate of all places. Many were speculating about the cause.

Several days later, right on time in the early afternoon, the twenty heads of these major villages were sitting at a long table in a large salon in the mansion looking quite out of place and feeling it. Some couldn't resist looking around the never before seen inside of the Lord's mansion with wide eyes. Although the tasteless, gaudy decorations were removed on my order, leaving behind only those giving a simple and elegant feel, even a blind person could tell that the furniture and things in there were extremely well made.

I finally made my entrance with Luke behind me bearing the documents I'd need.

The village heads blinked at me with wide eyes, openly gaping at me. It seems the poor sods were hit by the full force of my appearance with no preparation. They blinked hard when I sat myself in the host's seat at the head of the long table and steepled my fingers together on top of it.

One minute ticked by in stunned silence. It was understandable. It's not every day you learn that your new lord is an nine year old child.

Two minutes...

Three minutes...

Four minutes...

'Okay, this is getting ridiculous.'

"Gentlemen," all twenty of them jerked from their stupor at the sound of my voice, "thank you for answering my summons and coming here today."

"You... you're the Lord?" One of them to my right finally found his tongue and asked hesitantly. I smiled sweetly at him. Their tense faces melted immediately. I have to admit that being cute and lovable had its perks. My overpowered Charisma skill isn't anything to sneeze at either.

"That is correct," I replied. "Though I assure you that despite my young appearance, I have this fief’s best interest at heart." I injected as much sincerity into my voice as possible with a firm, mature demeanor that was probably startlingly out of place on my cherub face.

It seemed to work, because they all sat a little straighter.

"Why did Lord summon us today?" One of the more elderly village leaders questioned.

"I'm glad you asked," I told them brightly. "I have with me today several points that will revolutionize farming in the entire fief."

"Revolutionize farming?" Another perked up, looking a little shocked. It seems I had their undivided attention even more than I did initially. Farming is these people’s livelihood. Something that could make what they do easier would definitely be invaluable to them.

I motioned Luke to spread those documents on the centre of the table. The heads peered curiously at what was actually the blueprints for the three devices the craftsmen guild was currently busy building.

I launched into an explanation of what each of them does along with details on certain simple farming techniques from simply putting the seeds inside the earth and watering to mulching and crop rotation. Slowly the dubious expressions on their faces changed to that of wonder and hesitant hope.

"But, My Lord... How can we build these devices..." One of them spoke up gloomily.

Well of course they couldn't. The villagers were struggling to barely keep themselves fed much less build a single wheelbarrow. None of them were craftsmen either, so they had no hope of building even a single water wheel among them.

"Don't worry. I've already had the very recently established craftsmen guild begin building some in advance. From now on, if there's any need for construction or anything of that kind, you can go to them and hire craftsmen there in the future." I smiled at their shocked faces.

"But, Lord, how can we ever pay for them?!"

"Don't worry," I told them in a calming tone, "after you use the methods, we spoke of here today your yields will definitely be great. Paying me back then will be a simple matter. Even in the incredibly unlikely event that these methods fail to work, I- Kaoru Onyx, will compensate each of your villages enough to survive the next winter comfortably." I put forward this tempting plan along with throwing out my surname which is well liked by the commoners due to the beloved image my father left behind. "But after this harvest... It's very unlikely that you will need my help at all." I finished with a small confident smile.

Their eyes were shining now as they looked at me wearing the hope clear on their faces.

I heard a shaky exhale to my right and stole a glance at Luke to see him looking suspiciously misty eyed...