We reach a part of town that’s rundown and old.

It’s the place that is basically the slums.

…It’s also a place, that even though I want to fix it, I will not completely fix it.

The slums are a necessary part of a city.

I don’t believe that many lords understand that, because of all the attempts they make to fix it.

See, the slums are places where the poor freemen and freewomen go when they cannot pay for a place to live in the city, but are stuck. It’s also a place where refugees often end up.

That’s because, even if the slums are absolutely miserable places to live, they’re also free to live in.

While no one moving to a city expects to live in a slum, in this medieval day and age, it’s a place that many end up going to.

They also make extremely valuable sources of unskilled manual labor.

It’s very easy to get a desperate person to work for little pay.

As long as you keep the population of a slum alive enough to not start looking to crime to survive, and in a bad enough condition that they are desperate, and wish to escape the slums, it’ll make the perfect condition for being a source of manual labor.

It’s really mean too, but it’s the best case scenario.

It’s not possible to get rid of the slums for long, either.

Even the capital city has slums.

I start thinking.

Okay, so…

Hmm… actually, wouldn’t it be better to replace the entire slums with something similar to a workhouse?

Though only being paid in food and accommodation would make the freemen and freewomen, who end up in the slums specifically because they want to avoid being paid in food and accommodation, which is what Villeins, Servants, and Slaves are paid with.

Villeins are people who live on the land of a lord in return for food and accommodation, Servants work for someone in return for food and accommodation, and Slaves… well, they just have to hope they stay alive.

I don’t know if the servants in the estate are Servants in these terms, or are simply serving the estate.

They want to stay free, really.

As such, it would be better to give them the ability to get out eventually.

I take note of it in my mind.

Make a giant building in the slums where people can buy cheap food that no one else wants, and buy pretty much public accommodation.

They can also find places to work in nearby buildings, which are controlled by the territory. Those buildings can also be rented out to merchants.

The places they can work will not pay them well.

People are allowed to enter, but must prove they are financially capable before leaving.

It’s a bit exploitative, but it’s mostly positive compared to just slums

Avoids death to many people living in the slums, Avoids a lot of crime that would spring up in slums, and is more productive for the territory.

Merchants may make a little less, but it’s also less risky. A trade off that enough merchants would see as worth it.

The carriage goes through the almost-slums.

There’s some buildings here and there that don’t look run-down, but a lot of buildings are.

Many people here can’t pay tax, since they can’t find stable work. They are also unwilling to lose their freedom by becoming a villein or servant.

There’s no easy way to stop being a villein or servant.

The poor watch the carriage pass.

I see Saith toss a hundred Klinel coin out of the carriage.

Klinel are what this world uses for the word money. It actually comes from the magic tongue. It’s also the only way to produce money, actually.

It takes a little bit more to produce money as the mage’s labor is worth, actually.

So most mages just work properly, except for the socially inept ones, which are more than there should be, who produce money with magic.

There’s actually nothing keeping money from fluctuating a bunch, since the entire thing depends on the price of a mage’s labor.

But since the currency is used seemingly universally, it’s only really regional fluctuations, and never really something permanent.

A mage’s labor is always worth about as much as money is worth.

I take note of what Saith does. Donating to the poor, huh…

It’s something that’s very much someone from the church faction would do. The church of this world’s actually quite holy. It’s avoided the corruption that most fantasy world churches seem to have.

I wonder how much money a hundred Klinel is?

We head through a few more streets on the way back. I can tell the driver skipped a lot, but it’s gotten a lot later than I expected. There’s nothing else to take note of though since we mostly went down busier streets that were clear from anything that needs much improvement.

I guess it takes a lot longer than expected when you’re going across each street though. Crossing something is bound to take a much, much, much shorter time than going through each and every bit of it.

The town is much larger than I thought it was, so I guess my plans weren’t great.

It’s almost dinner now, and we had only grabbed a muffin.

…hmmm, I said I shouldn’t eat a muffin, didn’t I?

…Oh well.

It’s not like one muffin will make a difference, right? That muffin was really sugary too…

I’m used to being forever skinny though, so I’m not really sure…

Eh. I’m sure it’ll be fine.

We head back into the estate.

…I have failed on all four of my goals…

I didn’t manage to get through all the streets, didn’t manage to go into any buildings at all, and didn’t manage to get to know Saith or Rosalie much since it was mostly silence. I also never did manage to enjoy myself. I was just mostly bored.

Well, I got enough problems taken note of to deal with though, right?

I guess that’s not a complete failure. I need to figure out my plans.

I head back to my room, climb up onto it with my stool, and sigh as I lay down.

I feel like skipping dinner tonight. Best to forget one’s failures and move on.

I shut my eyes and try to fall asleep.

Three operations failed today. I don’t fail often, but…

Failing isn’t nice.

At least it’s not a big deal. I can always go and finish it off.

The driver of the child viscount’s carriage stands in one of the town’s many new dark alleyways, along with one other man.

“Mission Success, I managed to keep the child viscount away from all of our locations,” the driver tells the man