The Alexis Empire Chronicle Volume 1 Chapter 38

That was how Leonard managed to secure an immediate fund. 

Claude History, year 211, 5th month, 30th day. 

Leonard returned to Alexis as the new Marquis. 

Together with Shera, Garai, and Tiki. 

In addition to them, approximately 500 Line town's men were escorted by 50 Knights led by Bauman. They were the first settlements from the previous Line town, and the same amount of people would come every two days. 

Then, Knight Frank and Frau who was his lady attendant, both of them had brother and sister relation. 

These two people then guided the rest into the hidden village located inside the large forest. 

When they saw the village, it was filled with energy and the vigor of working people. 

Garai and the others who knew nothing was surprised. 

“People are already here?!” 

“Or rather, it's not an abandoned at all isn't it?” 

That was the truth, if one had to disclose everything that would be— 

Leonard has already begun the reconstruction of the area even before he got his lord status. 

This was also part of Shera masterplan. 

Of course, they performed the reconstruction in secret and without permission. 

Leonard had already subdued bandits in many places in the past two years. Many of the people here were those who had lost their faith to their previous lords, had lost their ways and become bandits. They were victims who unwillingly committed crimes, in which their heart was actually still good. 

Leonard taking the extenuating circ.u.mstance into consideration, he saved all those who still had room for redemptions, settled them into new lands and instead of punis.h.i.+ng them, he makes them work to revive the abandoned villages. With a promise that eventually he would relieve them of their crimes and return their status as a citizen. 

The people then showed their will for rehabilitations, and thanked Leonard and the others in tears, and promised to become a good citizen again. 

The number of people Leonard had saved like that had reached 4,000 people. 

Under the leaders.h.i.+p of Frank who excels in military affairs and Frau who excel in civil affairs, they managed to revive abandoned villages one after another. 

Return to the present times… 

“Don't think that it would be easy to live here, you know?” 

Shera said that cruel words to Garai and the others and continued… 

“After all, there are still many abandoned villages in this area! I want everyone to cooperate with the people here to rebuilt those abandoned villages with a BANG!” 

“Of course, I will also help.” 

Leonard declared. 

Since he was already recognized as the Alexis Marquis, he could walk more brazenly without hiding anything. 

“My aunt always told me when she was drunk…” 

As a tool for politics, she was married to this remote territory, 150 Ri (Around 600 kilometers) away from the imperial capital. But at that time, Rozalia swore… 

[I would never think that I've gotten the short end of the stick!] 

“And I feel the same. And having everyone here with me makes me happy…” 

He returned to his second home and his soul hometown. 

He wanted to inherit Rozalia's will and make the land richer than even the imperial capital. 

If asked, instead of sadness, Leonard actually feels happy, to have the land. 

Despite the entire territory haven't been recaptured yet, and the territory capital city, Lint, was still under Admov possession. 

His final goal was still far away from his reach… 

“However, no matter how hard it is, I will keep trying…” 

No matter how long it takes– 

With his left arms that had already made a complete recovery on his chest, he looked up to the sky and swore. 

As he had proclaimed, Leonard took the lead in the reconstructions works from that day. 

His tough body plowed the land three times the speed of regular man, and he could easily cut down trees as if he was a skilled lumberjack. As for hunting, he would oftentimes go with Garai. 

It made the men who saw their works looking at them in awe. 

And even with all of that, Leonard still didn't neglect his martial arts training. 

Due to all of his action, even without a.s.serting his dominance, Leonard steadily won the people's respect. 

One day, Garai had managed to hunt a big deer, and treat Leonard and Shera. 

They did simple cooking by roasting the deer with a bonfire, but due to Tiki's cooking skills. 

They managed to cook the deer meat perfectly. 

As they bite into the meat, savory meat tastes entered their mouth. Unlike cows and pigs, the taste of a deer fat was lighter. 

Rather than glossing over the wild taste, Leonard thinks deer meat had strange refined taste compared to domestic animals such as cows and pigs. 

Since they could not eat everything by themselves, they decided to smoke the meat and share it with the others.