A Weak Body but a Strong Mind

After returning to the estate and leaving Alice in her new room, Michael returned to his own room. After entering, he began to collect and sort through the piles of clothes scattered about the floor. Ones he deemed clean were neatly folded and stored away within the unused dresser along the far wall. The ones he viewed as dirty were put aside to be washed in the near future.

As he separated the two piles, he also removed clothing that he had no desire to wear. Whether clean or dirty, they were set aside. He planned to dispose of them the following day before he changed his mind. He would in fact hold onto them until a time he could sell or donate them to his people.

Once finished with the cleanup of the room, Michael again stripped down and entered the connected bathroom. Slipping into the tub, he allowed his body to fully relax itself as he began to gather his own thoughts. After sorting through the memories of his predecessor, it was clear that he had an exuberant amount of work to do in order to improve his city and with it, his reputation.

After emerging from the tub and drying himself, Michael proceeded to bed for the day. Despite having not done much physically, he was mentally exhausted after everything he had been through thus far. The following day would come with the start of his long journey in this second chance at life.

Just as the Sun began to rise over the horizon, so did Michael. After stepping out of bed, he proceeded to pull on some light clothing before exiting the estate. The brisk morning air immediately assaulted him. Being early spring, the weather had yet to fully transition from the previous winter.

Approaching the iron gate that separated his estate from the rest of the city, Michael turned to the East before taking off in a light sprint. Running along the inner most portion of his estate's wall, Michael was quickly face with the physical condition of his body. Just after rounding the first turn along the northern wall, he started to feel fatigued and out of breath.

Seeing that he wouldn't be able to maintain his current pace for very long, he slowed himself by about thirty percent of his previous output. With the new pace, he continued to run along the inner wall. After nearly thirty minutes, he arrived back at the gate. He was barely able to stay standing and his breathing was haggard.

Not even four miles of running had left his body in shambles. The previous owner clearly did not take care of himself. Even with all the drinking, he had expected some form of stamina considering the number of nightly rendezvous' he had encounter in the memories.

To his disappointment, it appeared he would essentially be starting from scratch with his new body's physicality. Disappointed in his predecessor more than he was the day prior, Michael made his way back into the estate and up to the master bedroom. Quickly, he sank into the tun once again.

After washing away the filth his body had accumulated during the light run, he dawned a set of clean clothes and proceeded towards the kitchen area. There were not many ingredients left in the entire estate. Therefore, he settled on cooking a simple meal of eggs before toasting a few slices of bread on the still hot stove.

As he was placing the prepared food on the dining table, Alice walked through the door wearing a simple dress and flat shoes. A drastic change to the flashy attire she had adorn the day prior. In his opinion, this looks suited her more. It was modest yet alluring.

"Have a seat. We can get started with work after we eat. Later in the day I will need to leave to restock the majority of the pantry. You are welcome to join me, so you don't end up feeling trapped in this empty estate."

Preparing a second plate, Michael approached the now seated Alice before placing it in front of her. After returning to the other end of the table, he began to indulge himself in the food he had prepared. After hesitating and thinking he may have done something to the food, Alice was elated to see him carelessly eating. After all, who would poison the food then eat it themselves.

After the meal, the two proceeded back up the stairs and into the study Michael had utilized the day prior. The room was still in disarray so the first thing he turned to was collecting a variety of books from all over the room and returned them to the shelves along the walls.

After clearing a sufficient amount of space and exposing a second chair situated in the corner adjacent to the door, Michael motioned for Alice to be seated before he took a seat behind the desk, he had cleared off the day prior.

"The first issue that I need to correct is a matter regarding food. What few people remain in the city are faced with starvation on a daily basis. To my understanding, many can barely afford to eat even a single, simple meal a day. I want to know your opinion on this matter."

After a moment of consideration, Alice finally compiled her thoughts and address the matter at hand.

"After the majority of merchants stopped frequenting the city, we were forced to rely on what little food the local farms produced. There are only four families that have retained land left in the city. Many of the other farming households had sold their land to neighboring cities and left.

Of the remaining farmers, only a single family has been willing to donate food to the city's warehouses. It was never enough to feed the city. The remaining farmers would sell of a portion of their produce to the city at an increased price while selling a majority to neighboring cities for the standard exchange rate. Either those three families will need to be stopped from selling to other cities or the remaining family will need to drastically increase their production to correct this issue."