Chapter 35: Gathering Of Experts
Raymond stood up from his chair, smoothed down his fine silk tunic, and walked directly toward the study door, unlatching the iron bolt with a sharp click.
The five summoned specialists fell into perfect formation behind him, marching out of the administrative wing like a silent, disciplined unit.He led the group down the winding stone staircases of the castle, bypassing the main servant halls and exiting through the rear courtyard toward the newly repaired stables.
The afternoon sun was already beginning its descent toward the western horizon, casting long, orange shadows across the packed earth.
Outside the heavy wooden stable doors, two of his summoned Bronze Rank Knights stood like immovable walls of steel, stepping aside immediately to let their master pass.
Raymond entered the spacious, newly reinforced wooden structure. The stables were large, built from heavy timber beams that still smelled of fresh pine, but they were currently mostly empty, housing only the ten workhorses and the six sturdy oxen Lily and Marianne had brought back from the Valmere Region.
"Stand back," Raymond instructed the five specialists, stepping into the center of the vast, empty straw-covered stalls.
He focused his mind on the final development package inside his system storage.
Deploy the Basic Livestock Starter Package directly into these pens.
Flash!
A blinding, localized wave of white light erupted across the empty stalls, forcing the five men to shield their eyes. The light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, followed instantly by a sudden, chaotic chorus of animal sounds that completely filled the wooden building.
Exactly twenty healthy cows, thirty sturdy goats, fifty thick-wooled sheep, a hundred vibrant chickens, and ten massive breeding pigs had materialized out of thin air, perfectly divided among the heavy wooden enclosures.
The animals weren’t sickly or stressed by the sudden transition; they were in peak physical condition, their coats smooth, their bodies fertile, and their eyes clear. The chickens immediately began scratching at the straw, the sheep bleated softly, and the heavy breeding pigs settled into the rear pens with low grunts.
Raymond looked over the sudden explosion of livestock, a wide, unholy grin spreading across his face. Combined with their existing animals, this ranching operation was completely unparalleled within the borders of the barren Zulor Region.
"My Lord! What in the world..."
A frantic, trembling voice suddenly echoed from the entrance of the stables. Raymond turned his head to see Gideon and Harlan sprinting through the doorway, their faces pale and their breathing ragged as they clutched their wooden walking sticks. T
hey had been working near the granaries when they heard the massive commotion inside the stables, and they had rushed over fearing an emergency.
The two veteran farmers stopped dead in their tracks, their jaws dropping completely open as they stared at the massive, impossible herd of livestock packed inside the pens. They rubbed their eyes frantically, utterly convinced they were experiencing a collective hallucination.
"My Lord... how... where did all of these animals come from?" Harlan stammered, his voice cracking with pure religious awe. "There wasn’t a single transport caravan spotted on the eastern road!"
Raymond maintained his perfectly serene, mysterious expression, his posture elegant and entirely composed as he stepped forward to manage the narrative.
He gestured toward the five summoned specialists standing calmly beside the stalls.
"Calm yourselves, Gideon, Harlan," Raymond said smoothly, his voice dripping with a calculated, benevolent warmth. "The heavens do not leave their tasks incomplete. These five highly capable gentlemen are agricultural specialists who have just arrived from the capital. My late father dispatched them in secret months ago, providing them with a hidden, high-tier spatial storage artifact packed with starter livestock to ensure my safety. They have been traveling under cover to avoid greedy merchant eyes, and they have finally arrived today to help us manage our territory."
Gideon and Harlan’s eyes went completely wide. They looked at the five stern, hyper-competent specialists, then back at the massive herd of healthy animals, their rational minds entirely accepting the lie.
In their eyes, Raymond’s late father must have been an incredibly cunning mastermind to hide such immense wealth for his banished son.
"From this day forward, you will all work together as a unified team," Raymond instructed seriously, looking between the old farmers and the summoned experts. "These five men will oversee the macro-scale restructuring of our livestock deployment, irrigation, and processing systems, while you two will continue to guide the local labor force using your native experience. Work in absolute harmony to build our paradise."
Gideon and Harlan immediately dropped to one knee, bowing their heads deeply toward the straw-covered dirt.
"We obey your commands, Young Master! Long live House Althoff!"
The five summoned specialists also bowed respectfully, accepting their roles within the newly established framework."Good. Spend the remaining daylight organizing the pens and securing the feed rations," Raymond said, giving them a final nod. "I have one last matter to handle at the storage vaults."
Leaving the stable block under the hyper-competent management of his new team, Raymond walked quickly toward the main castle storage complex situated behind the inner keep.
He didn’t waste a single second of his time. He bypassed the initial granaries where the heavy sacks of durable wheat and dried corn were piled, and headed directly toward the two lowest, most vulnerable storage facilities embedded in the damp stone cellars.
These two specific facilities were currently packed to the absolute ceiling with the most delicate, highly perishable portions of their hundred-ton harvest. Thousands of wicker baskets filled with giant, juicy tomatoes, rows of fresh green peppers, and mounds of delicate leafy greens were stacked along the stone walls.
Raymond knew that due to the natural humidity and the cold, stagnant air of the underground cellars, these specific crops were the ones that would rot and spoil early if left completely unmanaged. If mold or moisture touched even a single basket, the rot would rapidly spread through the entire vault, destroying weeks of hard human labor.
Raymond stepped into the center of the first damp cellar, the rich scent of fresh vegetables filling his nose. He focused his mind, targeting the system inventory.
"Extract and install the first High-Capacity Preservation Storage Artifact inside this room," he commanded mentally.
A sharp, crystalline digital chime rang out inside his head, followed by a sudden flash of soft, azure light that erupted from the stone ceiling. A beautiful, complex geometric magic circle manifested directly over the rows of baskets, pulsing with a gentle, cool energy.
Instantly, the heavy, oppressive humidity inside the cellar dissolved completely, the ambient temperature dropping to a perfectly stable, crisp coolness that felt entirely sterile.
The artifact had successfully integrated into the structure, locking the environment into a state that would drastically slow down biological decay and prevent any pests from entering the threshold.
Raymond smiled with deep satisfaction, walking over to the adjacent cellar to repeat the exact same deployment process for the second vegetable vault.
Within minutes, both vulnerable storage facilities were entirely locked down under the invisible, protective shield of his system artifacts, guaranteeing that their delicate agricultural bounty would survive the long-term dampness of the winter without a single gram of waste.
With his final logistical tasks for the day officially completed, Raymond slowly walked out of the dark stone vaults, ascending the castle steps until he reached the wide, open outer balcony overlooking the entire Althoff Barony.
The morning sun had completely vanished, and the evening sun was now slowly setting beneath the jagged western horizon, painting the pale sky in brilliant, sweeping fingers of deep crimson, orange, and purple light.
A sharp, freezing northern wind swept across the balcony, carrying a heavy, icy chill that officially signaled the arrival of the early winter transition.
Raymond rested both of his hands firmly against the cold stone railing of the balcony, a wide, completely unholy grin spreading across his chiseled face as he looked over his domain.
Below him, the reinforced communal longhouses stood strong against the wind, clean water flowed smoothly through the new lines, the granaries were bursting with over a hundred tons of food, and an elite private army stood guard over a thriving livestock ranch.
He was no longer the weak, trembling deadbeat who had transmigrated into a dirty bedroom just a month ago; he was the absolute, undisputed overlord of a rising empire.He stared directly into the biting wind, his eyes shining with an intense, unyielding brilliance as he let out a low, satisfied laugh.
"Winter come," Raymond muttered softly into the cold air, his voice dripping with an absolute, majestic confidence. "I’m ready for you."