Planning

It has been a few days since Kent last left the castle. Ever since Kent's encounter with that religious nun, he had been reflecting on his actions.

He had realised that perhaps, he had been much too willy-nilly in his daily life. Although he understands very well that he is a noble of the Alfhard family, he has not yet truly realised the implications of his identity.

Nobles are people of great importance, each noble is like a chess piece on a board, each fulfilling a crucial role in the grand scheme of things. And Kent's status as a chess piece brings many adversaries and challenges.

Perhaps a fellow noble wants to take over his fief, perhaps a bandit group wants to rob his city clean. Perhaps someone wants Kent to fulfil his master plan. Whatever the possibility, Kent can't act so casually.

This may sound silly, but for a transmigrator that had taken over the identity of the previous Kent. Even though he has Kent's memories, he has barely any, if not, no experience in managing a fief. This is in part due to the previous Kent's rebellious nature and sloppiness in his studies.

Thus, it has been Kent's utmost urgency to learn about everything there is to know about the political, geographical, and historical information regarding his new world.

Currently, Kent is sitting in the library reading a massive world map. Next to him, books on various topics were piled high into the ceiling.

Kent stared intently at the map, often falling into deep contemplation.

Currently, the world Kent living in is the world of Monia. In comparison to Earth, the world of Monia is only about the size of 25% of the Old Earth. As a world that is small in comparison, Monia has only 2 massive continent, often regarded as the Twin World

In this world, 15 Great States ruled over all of Monia. Hestanar is a city under the Tetbury Dominion, which is located at the bottom left corner of the Twin World

Looking at Hestanar's location within the Kingdom, Kent could see that his city is located at the south-eastern edge of the kingdom. Hence, it isn't too outrageous to call Hestanar a border city as it is right next to their neighbouring kingdoms.

Whilst many nobles often viewed controlling a border city as a tedious task due to the potential of an enemy attack, Kent thanked God for blessing him with such a great location.

With a neighbouring kingdom right beside his city, Kent could foresee his city developing into a crucial commercial crossroad that connected the two kingdoms.

Looking at Hestanar's location on the map in front of Kent. There were no mountains, nor were there forests near the city. There was only an endless stretch of grassland. There were resources like trees and stones, in the area, but they just weren't in abundance.

Though Kent certainly was a bit frustrated at his Hestanar's nearby resources, he knew this city is a location perfectly placed for trade. Kent scrutinised the map for a few long minutes before grabbing a single red pin and placing it right on Hestanar city.

Then, as if he could see the far distant future, Kent placed a few more red pins on nearby settlements. Then with a single long string, he connected the locations. All the strings connect to his small city.

Kent grinned as he looked at his map. He imagined the future where traders and merchants congested the city of Hestanar.

Hestanar city will become the centre of interstate trade. And Kent was going to make it happen one way or another.

Starting with the very small city he owns.

But this is only a dream for the future. With Hestanar not even able to feed its citizen, it's a pipe dream to dream so big.

Right now, Kent is more concerned with how to increase the city's revenue. As the city lord dwelled more into the city's financial statements over the last few years, he realised the city's shortage of gold is a more concerning problem than he had envisaged.

Hestanar had been losing money year after year, something which is further aggravated by Kent's lavish expenditures on decorative products.

Remembering those mountains of paintings, sculptures, tapestries, and metalworks that were stored away in the cellar, Kent couldn't help but feel a headache, partly ashamed of his past self, partly frustrated at how poorly the city was managed.

He swore that when a travelling merchant comes by, he would sell all those useless art pieces. It would at least help alleviate the city's finances.

But still, selling those art pieces would give the city an immediate boost in cash, but it wasn't a long-term solution; Kent needed a way to stop the bleeding directly. With funded projects such as the role of streetsweepers, and monetary incentives for studying, the city finance is tight.

It was clear to Kent; that Hestanar needs to find a new source of income.

A soft cough sounded behind Kent. He didn't stop glazing at the map as he already knew who it was.

"Speak, Sebastian."

Kent asked the always humble butler.

"My lord, preparations are underway, carriages, horses, supplies, and equipment are being prepared."

Kent nodded in understanding.

Recently, Kent's orders had always been organised and managed by his butler. It surprised him with how capable the old man was serving as an assistant for him.

No matter if it was organising troops, managing finances, and starting new projects. He always handled them with excellency. Personally, Kent thought Sebastian was the type of guy that would make a perfect assistant under a big CEO.

"That's good. Is there anything else to report Seb?" the lord asked whilst he continued to study the map.

Sebastian: "Modifications on the new classrooms will be completed by tomorrow. Also, the new streetsweeper jobs have been quite successful, with many applicants interested. How should we deal with this?"

"Accept 20 streetsweepers for now, hire more people when necessary," Kent answered without blinking an eye.

"That's all, my lord." The old butler finished his report.

"Then you may leave," Kent replied

The butler again performed a bow before exiting the castle library, carefully closing the door on his way out.

Just when he exited the library, Sebastian smiled as he thought about Kent.

Compared to before, the way he is conducting himself now was completely different to how he acted before. They were worlds apart in Sebastian's mind.

He thought that perhaps, the death of his father caused it all to happen. But whatever the change was due to, Sebastian was grateful for it.

But for now, Sebastian was going to return to continue his duty. He couldn't bear the fact that the master is doing more work than the servant.

'I must be more useful.' the butler told himself.