Silco had been incredibly busy lately, barely having ti to catch his breath.
It was all because of Louis's casual remark: "Go register the basic information of the Red Tide Territory residents and see what each of them is good at."
So he was thrown into a pile of ssy handwritten files, staring blankly at a group of bewildered farrs and blacksmiths.
So people stamred, completely unsure how to answer.
"I used to farm."
"Do you still want to continue farming?"
"...I don't know."
"..."
Others simply answered carelessly: "Good at living."
Silco almost slapped the record book onto that person's face then.
"Damn it, how did I, a future alchemist, end up as a housekeeper for a frontier lord?"
Silco muttered curses under his breath, while writing furiously, copying nas one after another into the ledger.
He only had himself to bla for being so reckless as to steal an alchemy secret formula!
He was originally just an alchemy apprentice who occasionally stole his ntor's magic crystals for so money, living a high-class life in the Erald Federation.
Until one day, he t a mysterious person in the black market who offered a large sum of money, specifically asking him to steal one of his ntor's alchemy secret techniques, a price so high it made his heart pound.
Silco didn't hesitate for too long; after all, the price offered was enough for him to escape his apprenticeship and open his own alchemy workshop.
However, the plan was far from as smooth as he had imagined.
This secret formula was too profound for him to morize, so he simply took the entire thing.
His ntor was always forgetful anyway; he wouldn't notice if one secret formula was missing.
However, he underestimated the importance of this secret formula.
His ntor quickly discovered the missing secret formula, and the Gold Marrow Guild, where his ntor belonged, imdiately issued a warrant, vowing to bring the thief who stole the secret formula to justice.
That black market buyer was quickly caught and confessed to his involvent.
Silco knew that once caught, he would not only face severe punishnt but might even be sent to a laboratory to beco a guinea pig for various strange alchemy experints.
So, to escape, he cleverly disguised himself as a slave, mixing in with the slaves being transported by a slave trader, hoping to sneak out of the Erald Federation and then find an opportunity to escape.
But these slave traders were even more cunning than he imagined!
As soon as he tried to make a small move, he was t with a series of whip lashes, leaving him no room to resist.
After a few consecutive beatings, he beca obedient.
Just like that, he truly beca an ordinary slave, and he dared not expose his identity as an alchemy apprentice.
If these slave traders knew, they would be happy to sell him back to the Gold Marrow Guild, and then Silco would be sent directly to the experintal table.
So, after much circling, he was brought to the Frost Halberd City black market.
He originally thought he would be sold to a mine and dig for the rest of his life.
Who knew he would be bought by a young pioneering lord nad Louis and brought to this godforsaken territory.
At first, Silco felt that he had probably escaped purgatory only to stumble into another hell, where he would be enslaved until death.
However, Louis did not treat slaves like livestock, unlike other nobles.
Instead, after learning that he could read and do accounts, he revoked his slave status and made him an assistant, similar to a steward.
During his ti observing and interacting with Louis, he discovered one thing—Louis was a good person.
He would share his food with the starving slaves and personally tear up slave contracts, granting them freedom.
A noble, actually treating slaves as people?
In Silco's eyes, this hardly seed like a competent lord; it was more like a devout follower.
"Tsk, guess I got lucky this ti..."
Silco said this, but in his heart, he was always calculating opportunities to escape.
After all, how could a future grand alchemist spend his entire life in this godforsaken place?
...
"My Lord, this is the census you asked to conduct for the territory's residents." Silco placed a thick ledger on Louis's desk.
His face showed deep fatigue, and his steps were sowhat unsteady.
"Hmm, you worked hard." Louis took the ledger and flipped through it casually.
The handwriting wasn't neat, but it was clear and the categorization was ticulous.
Even the elderly who could barely wield a hoe, won who could weave, and even children who were good at hunting were marked, clearly showing the effort put into organizing it.
He was indeed a talent.
Louis looked up at the young man in front of him.
Silco stood loosely, with deep dark circles under his eyes.
He, of course, knew that Silco was no ordinary person.
After all, his Daily Intelligence System was not just for show.
As early as when he bought Silco, he knew that this kid was an alchemy apprentice from the Gold Marrow Guild in the Erald Federation, and also a criminal.
However, he didn't expose him.
On one hand, Silco didn't seem to bear any ill will.
Louis wasn't in a hurry to expose him, wanting to see when he would be willing to speak up himself.
On the other hand, given the current situation of the Red Tide Territory, a literate assistant with administrative abilities was more useful than an alchemy apprentice.
The territory was still in its early stages of developnt; let alone alchemy, even basic infrastructure wasn't fully established.
The most important thing right now was to get this land running properly, not to engage in alchemy experints.
If he exposed him directly, what if this guy decided to slack off and not do chores?
Louis glanced at the mountain of docunts and account books piled behind him.
If he lost Silco, then he, the new lord, would probably have to sit in this pile of rubbish and pore over docunts himself.
Thinking of this, Louis decided to continue playing dumb.
Anyway, this place was a wilderness, and the other party couldn't run away.
Putting Silco's matter aside for now, Louis opened the survey book in his hand and quickly scanned the basic situation of the residents.
Seeing the results, he couldn't help but curve his lips slightly.
Although the Red Tide Territory appeared to be a desolate wilderness, in reality, the talent here was much richer than Louis had imagined.
With a population of over a thousand, farrs and herders accounted for the majority, and there were over a hundred experienced fishern.
There were dozens of hunters, blacksmiths, carpenters, and tanners each, enough to build a basic self-sufficient territory.
This was exactly the information Louis needed.
He had asked Silco to conduct the population survey not just for simple record-keeping, but to understand the Context of the territory.
A territory is like a precise machine; every gear must be in the correct position to operate efficiently.
If a farr is casually asked to blacksmith, a fisherman to dig ditches, or a hunter to herd sheep, it might still function, but it would certainly operate slowly.
If a lord does not understand his people, he cannot control the future of this land.
So, next, it was about how to reasonably arrange these people and get the Red Tide Territory on track as soon as possible.
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