Chapter 17: A Wonderful New Day!
Author’s note: My main platform for publishing is Royal Road; I usually post more chapters there for those who are interested.
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Golden threads of morning sunlight slipped through the arched window on the second floor, falling gently upon Kaiden's face as he slept in peace.
His lashes fluttered slightly, then his eyes opened slowly, taking in his surroundings. Yesterday's heavy exhaustion had vanished entirely, replaced by a fresh feeling of vitality and energy. He stretched out in his bed, sensing new strength flowing through his body.
Kaiden rose and made his way to the window, gazing out through it. The sun had been shining for some time already, and from where he stood he could hear the familiar sounds of work: the ringing of metal from the blacksmith's workshop, the sound of wood being sawed from the carpenter's workshop. All sounds that spoke of his territory's vitality and his people's tireless effort.
"As a Lord worth emulating, I should be waking up earlier than this," Kaiden muttered to himself as he stepped away from the window.
"Ah~ it seems I forgot to read the books." He scratched the back of his head with mild irritation. He had fallen into a deep sleep the night before, forgetting all about the books he had promised himself he would read. But who could blame him? Yesterday had been extraordinarily exhausting, and that body preparation process was enough to fell anyone.
Even so, he unfortunately had to make use of daylight for things more pressing than reading. So he postponed it once again with a faint twinge of guilt.
With these scattered thoughts drifting through his mind, Kaiden went and washed his face, cleaned himself up, then descended to the ground floor. He still wasn't entirely accustomed to the changes in the new Lord's Hall, and felt a slight strangeness as he stepped down the wooden staircase leading to the main hall.
He pushed open the wide iron door and drew a deep breath of the crisp morning air. He returned the greetings of passing villagers with a warm smile. Kaiden noticed the scene today looked a little different — no more piles of wood and stone stacked out in the open. Ever since he had built the Warehouse, the villagers had been depositing resources directly inside it. Kaiden could draw on the wood and stone from the Warehouse as upgrade materials whenever he wished — one of the clever settings built into this world's system.
"A new day of development! Let's go!" Kaiden encouraged himself with energy and enthusiasm. He was eager to use magic, and the strange sense of familiarity with the earth was only deepening that eagerness. But at this moment he was extremely hungry, so he decided to put it off until after breakfast, and walked at a brisk pace toward Sidra's tavern.
Upon arriving, Kaiden sat at one of the nearby tables. He raised his hand in greeting to Sidra, who was busy preparing breakfast. She returned his greeting with her usual warm smile before turning back to stir the pot, from which a tempting aroma was already rising.
While waiting for his breakfast, Kaiden was not content to sit idle. He used the time to scroll through his inventory, which had nearly become filled with all manner of resources. He opened the interface and began reading through its contents:
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Lord's Inventory:
- Iron: 440 units
- Mithril: 20 units
- Monster Hides (various): 5
- Monster Parts (fangs and other): 18
- Blueprints: Apprentice Tailor's Workshop Bundle Blueprint, Apprentice Leatherworker's Workshop Bundle Blueprint, Large Water Tank Blueprint, Arrow Tower Blueprint
- Vegetable Seed Bundle
- Land Improvement Voucher (200m)
- Earth Manipulation Skill (Epic)
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Kaiden hadn't anticipated these enormous quantities. It was worth remembering that only two days had passed since his arrival in this world. Fortunately, the Lord's inventory included a smart function that allowed him to stack the same type of resource in a single slot — all types of meat in one slot, all different monster hides in another, and so on. Without that, his inventory of only twenty slots would have long since ceased to be sufficient.
"No… this system won't do anymore," Kaiden muttered as he closed the inventory interface. He began mentally planning a new organizational system to set up after building the workshop blueprints later.
Frankly, he had a million things to do. But for now, the most important thing was generating the day's territory quests — it was Day Three.
So without delay, Kaiden activated the territory quest generator. The system window appeared before him and the generation process began:
Daily quest generation opportunity available…
Generating daily quests…
6 territory quests generated:
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1 — Potion Merchant:
Quest Details: Sell at least 5 potions produced by your territory.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Rare Potion ×1.
2 — Territory Resident Upgrade:
Quest Details: Spend Origin Points to upgrade the class of at least 3 of your territory's residents.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Head Steward ×1.
3 — Nascent Mage:
Quest Details: Use magic to kill one monster of any tier.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: +3 levels in your class.
4 — Strategic Lord:
Quest Details: Finish reading all the books in your library.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Random Special Book ×1.
5 — Valuable Hunt:
Quest Details: Have your forces kill two of Lord Ashbel's Clan Territory's troops, with whom your relationship is Hostile.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Black Iron Treasure Chest ×1.
6 — Age of Farming:
Quest Details: Plant at least three types of seeds.
Time Limit: 24 hours.
Reward: Common Crop Seed Bundle ×1.
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Kaiden read through all the quests carefully. The first thing he noticed was that there was no Lord's Crown upgrade quest today. "It seems my talent is logical after all," Kaiden sighed with relief. Yesterday he had barely managed to complete the Crown upgrade. Had there been an upgrade quest today, he would certainly have failed given those exorbitant upgrade requirements.
He then continued focusing on the quests. When his eyes landed on the reward for the third quest — "Nascent Mage" — they suddenly lit up. "+3 levels in his class"? That would be a tremendous leap in his power. But he swallowed hard when he reread the details: kill a monster… with magic. Kaiden had never killed so much as a chicken in his life, let alone a massive monster. This quest would be brutal, and he genuinely didn't know whether he could pull it off.
As for the fifth quest — "Valuable Hunt" — it made his eyes gleam with a cool light. Killing that Twin-Headed Lord's forces… that meant sending Golan and the team on a direct offensive mission. Conflict with his neighbor was inevitable regardless — even without a quest, Kaiden would have sent his elite forces. He had no intention of leaving the enemy even a single moment to breathe.
Then, finally, when he saw the last quest — "Age of Farming" — a wide smile spread across his face. This was the easiest quest on the list. He already had the Land Improvement Voucher, and the seeds were sitting in his inventory. This quest was practically a free reward.
As usual, Kaiden decided to hold off on using the daily summon until after breakfast. He raised his head and looked around — Sidra had already finished preparing the meal. The enticing aroma of rice rising from the large pot reinvigorated his taste buds, dulled from days of eating nothing but meat, and set his mouth watering.
In the meantime, the villagers, craftsmen, and warriors were filing into the tavern like worker bees returning to their hive after a hard morning's labor.
After gathering, some helped others arrange the long wooden tables to form a communal feast.
Once everything was ready, Kaiden took his seat at the head of the main table — as befitted his standing as Lord. On the right row close to him, the elite soldiers sat under Golan's lead. On the left row sat the craftsmen: Luther the Alchemist, Hook the Blacksmith, and the Carpenter. The hall filled with the sound of quiet conversation and the smell of food.
Kaiden let his gaze travel slowly over this harmonious and lively scene. Tired but satisfied faces. People working together toward a single goal. His chest swelled with an overwhelming feeling.
"I am the leader of all these people!" he thought to himself — and felt pride fill his entire being.
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— End of Chapter Seventeen —