Chapter 111: Life 62, Age 92, Martial Master 1
As a reward for his performance in the Trial, the prince had been awarded the position of Lord of Red Sword City. Moving his entire new retinue to the city took several weeks, and when it was finished, I was exhausted, but I didn’t have any time to rest. As soon as everything was settled, the prince called his council to determine how to proceed.
“As I am only a Martial Grandmaster 1, I need to spend my time raising my cultivation. Chancellor Fang will take charge of the council in my absence. Your only goal is to improve the city's prosperity sufficiently to allow me to swiftly advance through the Lord realm. Do whatever you need to do to make this happen.”
After giving everyone a firm look, he departed the room, leaving the council to rule in his stead.
I drew in a deep breath to help me concentrate.
“Ministers, you are the experts, and I will defer to your judgment on most things, but I need to be sure everything proceeds with the prince’s best interests in mind. Let’s take the rest of the day to assess the city and see where we can find places to improve. We will reconvene tomorrow at noon.”
The ministers all agreed so the council was dismissed. This began my stint as a city planner and manager. It wasn’t a role I had trained for, and it made me regret delegating away all my responsibilities in my last life, but I was determined to do my best to learn. These skills would be essential in the future.
My main vision for improving the city’s prosperity wasn’t too dissimilar from that of my last life. I wanted to raise up the lowest level of society. I viewed the city as a pyramid, and the mortals were its base. They were the foundation everything else was built upon. If we improved the lives of the mortals, we improved the lives of everyone.
Pulling out my designs for a pill factory would have been exceptionally foolhardy, so instead, I decided to work with several low-level alchemists to set up an Alchemy Association. Its goal was to train as many people as possible to make low-Rank pills. It was unlikely they would be able to find many people willing and able to make a substantial number of Rank 0 pills, but I convinced the ministers to grant various benefits to anyone who did so.
I could not focus my efforts on this task alone, though. I had to be involved in every area of the city, from planning celebrations for various festivals to making decisions on who to appoint to a myriad of important positions. The ministers were the experts, but they needed a firm hand to ensure that everything they did was to the prince’s benefit and not just their own.