(Altura-MC)

As it turned out, an Archduchess leaving the city involved a lot more fanfare than simply walking about. Aswelth had insisted that I take a part of the guard and dress appropriately. Since all the dresses the original Altura had were ball gowns more fit for the royal palace than the countryside, so I had to acquire some better clothing.

At least I was now wearing some local clothing. It was a lot coarser than the ones I’d worn before and reminded me a bit of Khadi, but it was also a lot lighter. Kerrin had also gotten his own set of clothes and we both had plenty of spares to go with.

Was this what a noble’s retinue looked like? Guess I was a true blue noble now. But we did eventually, picking up one Village Head Verrin, who had yet to leave, on the way. That was one more squadron of guards added, but well we had too many anyway.

Clan Qunaris and the other Clans had been employing far too many people at unfair prices, and it had caused there to be a very large number of applicants. One gold a month was apparently a generous salary, who knew? I earned a few thousand each day after taking from the Clans’ either way.

That and Clan Qunaris had been, by far, the richest Clan. The amount of gold in Clan Head Welters collection itself had been over a million. Apparently they had been smuggling some rather restricted materials from the Kingdom to the Sect and back. I had shut it down and ‘informed’ Duke Reiner about it.

It would presumably reach the King and be out of my hands. I, for one, wouldn’t be crying over some smugglers suddenly losing their jobs. Besides, a few Seedling class cultivators posed no threat to me.

“So, did Labor accept its new inmates” I asked Kerrin. I was curious if the Xianxia Jail even verified the judgments.

“The envoys have yet to report back, your grace, but I doubt there shall be any problem. The paperwork on our side is satisfactory, aura pressure is reliable enough to judge on.” Kerrin replied.

“I see, and how have the other Clans been dealing with me enforcing the Laws?” I asked.

“Reluctantly, your grace, they have always been late to submit their taxes and their paperwork is always a mess, but with the extra fees for late submission they are actually aiding us.” Kerrin replied.

“Kerrin, why do I think that you are being exceptionally harsh on the Clans’ during tax collection? It seems to me that it does not benefit the Clans to hold the taxes at all and the only reason they would be late is that you keep picking their paperwork apart.” I said, smirking.

Kerrin had the decency to at least look embarrassed on being called out like this, “I may have been a bit strict, your grace, but it is only because the Clans’ paperwork is a mess. The fools have no organizational ability and mess up even simple formatting.”

“Then perhaps you could do them a favor and teach them when we get back?” I said, “Going against the Clans like this will only do us harm. Like it or not, the Clans’ are a part of the duchy, and we have to deal with them. Besides, we will soon dwarf them in size and influence if the guard continues to grow like this.”

“Very well, your grace, I shall attempt to teach them.” Kerrin answered, visibly reluctant.

Smiling, I turned to Village Head Verrin who had been trying to act like he hadn’t overheard the entire conversation. But I didn’t care if he spread it around, I hadn’t shared anything that wasn’t public already.

“So Village Head Verrin, what can you tell me about your farming methods? I am curious to know how farming is done in this valley.” I asked.

“Farming methods, your grace? I am sorry, I do not know what you mean. “Village Head Verrin answered, seeming confused at my question.

“How do you fertilize your fields? How do you plow them? Harvest your crops?” I clarified.

“Well, your grace, we don’t usually do anything particularly, a farm tried to keep animals some years ago. At first, they used their dung as fertilizer to excellent results, but soon died when the animals gained Qi. As for plowing them, we do what we can by hand, but it is limited. The Clans do the rest for us at cost price.” The Village Head replied.

“I see…have you ever considered getting a few cultivators of your own? I am sure you could get an Earth attuned one eventually. Besides, they could take care of the beasts. Limit their power. Few Beasts actually evolve.” I said.

Village Head Verrin looked puzzled at that saying, “And how we do that, your grace, cultivators are not something we can recruit. And having one of our members become a cultivator is impossible, none of us are worthy of such a privilege. The Village Elders did consider getting some of our men to join your guard, your grace, but it just wasn’t possible. The Village is undermanned as it is.”

“I may be able to help with that, but that is for later. Now tell me, what do you do in your free time? There must be interesting you do?” I asked. What? It's an excellent conversation starter. And I literally had nothing else to do.

And like that Village Head Verrin regaled me about the adventures of his village to feed the valley each year. I think he was just doing it in hopes of not offending me at first, but eventually his pride at their achievements took over, and he continued on.

“…this is what city dwellers don’t understand, your grace, you think farming is simply planting plants and then cutting them after they grow, but it is so much more than that.” Verrin said he had something similar after each story. It made me worry about how much the farmers really resented the city.

From Verrin’s tales I knew it hadn’t been an easy life. The Clans were almost always overcharging, and there was always less harvest than needed. Over time, they’d increased the variety, finding edible plants from the forest and growing them, but it wasn’t sustainable. With the city booming now, I expected a population boom in a few years.

It wouldn’t be an immediate problem, but eventually the farms would not be able to keep up with demand. Perhaps I may need to get a few of them to cultivate after all. I wonder what would happen if I ran into a issue that couldn’t be solved with ‘more magical people please’ or worse, ran out of low level beasts that could be hunted.

I think I needed to do something else. Or else I would keep up drawing doomsday plans otherwise. Time to actually do something instead.

“If you excuse me Village Head, I must attend to something. It was quite nice to hear the struggles of your village, perhaps we can work together to reduce them in the future.” I said, getting up and looking for Kerrin.

There he was, sitting on another carriage doing…something. Why was he scribbling on a slate? Did he discover art or something?

I snowflaked over to that carriage and said, “So, what are you doing Kerrin?” I said as I tried to sneak a look at the slate but did not succeed. Kerrin was holding it far too close to his face.

Kerrin suddenly shot up on hearing my voice, saying, “Wait what!”

“Well that is a good question. What were you doing Kerrin?” I asked, smirking.

Kerrin looked sheepish and said, “I was just drawing a map of the valley and its surroundings, your grace. I fear I am not very good, but I am hoping that someone back in the City can transcribe it. Such a map would be a great help in setting up supply lines between us and the villages.”

Ooh. Kerrin did discover art. Well cartography, but it was still art. But at least it was something that wasn't directly related to administration of the valley.

“And can I see it?” I asked, curious.

“Of course, your grace, but I fear it is not very good.” Kerrin replied as he reluctantly held it out.

“I shall be the judge of that, '' I replied as I took the map.

It was indeed not very good. It was mostly squiggly lines with some trees to show the forest, arrowlike mountains and a big circle where the city was. And some triangles for the farming villages. It was about what you’d expect for an untrained ten-year-old. At least Kerrin wasn’t an absolute genius here too.

But one thing caught my attention in the map

“Kerrin, correct me if I am wrong, but is the valley completely surrounded by mountains? The only path out I see here is through the pass that I came through, and that is not the easiest route of entry.” I asked.

Name

Altura Selrin

Title

Archduchess (In name) (landed)

Element

Dragon Fire, Snowflake ice

Age

10 years

Seeds

Military (ungerminated), Royalty (Seedling-Late(270.95/300)), Energy (ungerminated)

Stats

Strength[The amount of brute force one can use]

18

Endurance[The amount of time one can work continuously]

22

Flexibility[The range of movement of the body]

20

Precision[The accuracy of one’s movements]

22

Perception[The ability to notice nuances and advanced concepts]

18

Intelligence[The ability to comprehend advanced concepts]

21

Wisdom[The ability to effectively use the concepts]

22

Aura Force[The ability to force your will on your surroundings]

23

Combat[The speed of one’s reactions, ability to process situations and other general combat abilities]

22

Retainers

Kerrin

Mid-Seedling (260/300). Element of Blood, anomalous Seedling