121: A man in the atmosphere (4000 words)

As the feast began, everyone was a bit reserved at first, but the atmosphere soon grew lively.

Meanwhile, at Lister's signal, Thomas arranged for Flora and the other maids, as well as the chefs and women of Ironthorn Town,

To quickly slice the Magical Beast Meat into portions and distribute them to everyone.

Looking at the golden-skinned, fragrant Magical Beast Meat on the plates before them, all the Serfs were collectively shocked.

They never expected that one day, as ordinary commoners and pariahs, they would be able to eat such precious delicacies.

Though it was only a small piece, it was enough to make them incredibly excited.

For a time, various praises for Lister rang out continuously, echoing throughout the night sky.

Seeing this, the laborers' eyes filled with infinite envy, as if it were about to overflow like water.

They had originally thought that providing food, housing, and wages for their labor was already an extremely generous gesture.

Who could have known that Lister would be willing to let the Serfs eat Magical Beast Meat? They had never heard of such a Lord.

If most of them were not Serfs and Slaves, they would have surely left Viscount Connor Territory immediately to throw themselves into the embrace of Ironthorn Territory.

"The Serfs of Ironthorn Territory are so happy!"

"Yeah, they actually have such a generous and wise Lord like Lord Howard. Did they do something great to save the kingdom in their past lives?"

"No way, that magical beast looks so tempting, I want to taste it too."

"Me too. But I think if we continue to work hard as laborers, maybe we'll get to eat it too."

"With Lord Howard's generosity, there's actually a high probability!"

"Exactly. Work hard. I'm going to get up even earlier tomorrow. My only chance in this life to eat Magical Beast Meat might be right here."

Sitting by the central bonfire near the castle, Lister, who had excellent hearing, overheard many similar excited discussions from the laborers of the Viscount Territory.

Although he remained calm on the surface, quietly watching everyone, the corners of his mouth were already curling up high in his mind.

This scene was exactly what he wanted to see; only through comparison would people know what was good and what was bad.

Doing this would not only leave an excellent impression in the hearts of these laborers but also maintain their motivation to work harder.

People fill in the blanks themselves. Although Lister didn't make a public promise, he had already stirred their restless hearts even more intensely.

Moreover, he had another most important purpose: to spread his reputation for being generous, wise, and other positive traits through the mouths of these laborers from the Viscount Territory.

When the time came, it might attract many outsiders to come, perfectly filling the population gap in Ironthorn Territory.

As for whether these people came from Viscount Connor Territory or other territories, that was not his concern.

Soon, the lively atmosphere of the feast reached its peak. The Serfs of Ironthorn Territory and the laborers of the Viscount Territory all began to sing and dance.

Various beautiful melodies and dances that existed in Lister's memories but which he had never seen with his own eyes were continuously performed at the feast.

After enjoying the performance for a while, Lister joined Red and the others in enjoying the high-level Magical Beast Meat before them.

To celebrate this feast, he had specifically instructed the brewers to bring out some newly brewed Distilled Liquor.

Although it wasn't as good as the long-fermented ones, it still allowed Red and the others to drink to their hearts' content.

The spicy, warm feeling in their stomachs made them feel hot despite the cold winter.

Midway through the feast, Lister gave Red a look, and Red immediately understood.

He stepped onto the high platform, holding a large piece of shuttle paper that recorded the names of the Serfs who had performed exceptionally during the Winter Wheat sowing.

As he cleared his throat, the eyes of everyone present were drawn to him.

As name after name was read out, everyone listened with rapt attention and anticipation, for fear of missing a single name.

Because it was very likely that one of those names belonged to one of them.

Soon, after all the names were called, Red scanned the crowd and said with a faint smile, "The Serfs whose names were called, those who are freemen will receive corresponding monetary or other rewards."

"As for those with serf or Slave status, from this moment on, your Slave status is officially abolished and changed to freeman status. Your new identities have all been updated with the magistrate, and the same goes for your Identity Cards."

As he spoke, he gestured with his hand, and two Soldiers immediately brought over a huge wooden crate together.

It was filled with the identity registers of those with Slave status. Under their incredibly emotional gazes, the registers were all thrown into the fire and burned to ashes.

For a time, cries of mixed emotions like gratitude and excitement gradually rose from the crowd.

This change in status caused the feelings of oppression they had harbored for years to completely shatter and vanish.

Freeman status meant they were now true commoners of the kingdom, not inferior pariahs.

Furthermore, the heavy taxes weighing on their hearts would no longer be as high as before and would be significantly reduced; this was what freeman status brought.

The Serfs and Slaves whose names had not been called were shocked, but they also couldn't help but look dejected. However, more than that, their faces showed a look of determination to work harder next time.

Because they saw the dawn of hope, which was the driving force that kept them moving forward.

After the Serfs with new identities had vented their negative emotions, the praises for Lister once again resounded between heaven and earth.

At this moment, Lister's prestige in the hearts of all the Serfs of Ironthorn Territory reached a new height.

The laborers from the Viscount Territory who were also Serfs and Slaves were already somewhat numb with envy. They felt both the pain of their own poor origins and an endless yearning for Ironthorn Territory.

As the night breeze blew colder, the long-lasting feast gradually drew to a close... It was unclear if the atmosphere of last night's feast had lingered into today.

At dawn, when the sky was just beginning to brighten, the crisp and pleasant chirping of winter birds had already begun.

Lister sat up from his bed, stretched, and performed his divination for the start of the day.

[Divination 1: After the baptism of rich energy from the Magical Beast Meat yesterday, Rodrigo, Pierre, Bertrand, and Vegetius all successfully advanced to Full Knights this morning. Marjorie broke through to Bronze Rank 2.]

[Divination 2: Recently, under Kim's instructions, all members of the Cole Family have been performing their respective duties, starting to promote and sell bathing products throughout Telris. Soon, due to the various advantages of the bathing products, a large number of Telris commoners and nobles have been attracted to pre-order. Because Kim needs to oversee the overall situation and cannot come in person, he had to dispatch core family members to lead a team to Ironthorn Territory again.]

[Divination 3: As winter is approaching and the Orc Race' winter supplies are not very sufficient this year, they are preparing to take advantage of the Pedan Kingdom's negligence during the cold winter to launch a large-scale looting operation against the Pedan Kingdom.]

'Not bad, they all successfully advanced. As expected of talents who can at least become Silver Knights in the future.'

After reading the first divination information, Lister felt a sense of joy in his heart.

These few people, including Aier, were all his key focus objects. From the current perspective, they indeed did not disappoint his expectations.

According to his predictions, it probably wouldn't be long before those with slightly worse talent, like Marjorie and Tony, would be quickly surpassed by these few people.

Although it was a bit cruel, this was the benefit of having strong talent; there is no complete equality in the world after all.

Without overthinking, he proceeded to look at the second divination information.

It could be seen from this that after Kim returned to his family, he had already told the core members of the family about becoming a vassal family.

And it seemed that no one objected; otherwise, they wouldn't have put so much effort into the matter of bathing products.

Now, the Cole Family could be considered to have completely submitted to him. Moreover, their family's network was clearly even stronger than what Kim had previously mentioned, and the capabilities of the core members were extraordinary.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to spread the good reputation of the bathing products in Telris so quickly.

Moreover, in a large city directly under the royal family like Telris, there must be more than one merchant family like the Cole Family. There were definitely many who were stronger than them.

Being able to achieve such a level was definitely considered having decent capability. It was just a pity that the Cole Family didn't have many core members.

It seemed that the next time he saw Kim, he would have to urge him. Even if Kim couldn't father children, the others could.

Especially his nephew Jacques. Although he hadn't practiced cultivation, Lister could still see that his physical fitness was good.

With such a good body, how could he not hurry up and carry on the family line? A good business mind had to be passed down quickly.

What if he got older and his thinking slowed down, affecting his descendants?

Keeping this matter in mind, Lister quickly scanned the third divination information.

Orc looting!

Normally, Orc Race wouldn't initiate a war in winter. After all, not only is the weather cold, but snow is frequent and accumulates deep in the north... This would naturally put the attacking side at a disadvantage. Moreover, the Sunset Fortress in the north of the kingdom has steep terrain and is easy to defend but hard to attack, which further increases the difficulty of attacking in winter.

Lister wasn't sure what the outcome of this war would be in the future, but for now, it still had some connection to him.

If the pressure on the Sunset Fortress really became too great by then, or if the scale of the Orc army was massive,

Then the royal family would certainly summon Lords from across the country to send reinforcements to the Sunset Fortress.

For a moment, he was also a bit conflicted about whether this matter was good or bad for him.

After all, the territory was still in its development phase. If he diverted troops to provide support, it would definitely be significantly affected.

But if he went, maybe he could also gain some unexpected benefits. After all, while war brings death and sorrow, it also presents good opportunities to 'make a fortune'.

"Forget it, why borrow trouble? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

After comforting himself, Lister didn't think more about it. Anyway, whether he went or not wasn't up to him. For now, the most important thing was to develop the territory during this period.

After breakfast, he went to the training grounds for his morning exercises.

Since receiving guidance from Liberi last time, his swordsmanship had reached the Proficient stage and had been improving rapidly ever since.

During his cultivation in this period, he would occasionally sense a certain mysterious and profound feeling.

Although he didn't know what it was, every time that feeling appeared, his understanding of swordsmanship would deepen a bit more.

This feeling of obvious progress was very enjoyable, but he couldn't precisely grasp that feeling; otherwise, he would have progressed even more.

At this time, in the open space behind the castle, accompanied by sharp cold flashes and the piercing sound of breaking air, sounds like dragon roars rang out continuously.

During this time, his Spearmanship had moved from the Introduction level to the Skilled stage.

Its power was completely incomparable to before. He even felt that the gap between Introduction and Skilled in Spearmanship was even greater than in swordsmanship.

Of course, he wasn't one hundred percent sure, because his talent for Spearmanship had always been quite average. Perhaps it was just his illusion.

Lister only stopped when his body began to sweat slightly from the training.

Coming to the outside training ground, he summoned Spartacus.

In a short while, the two began to spar in the center of the field.

Now, Spartacus could be said to have completely become his sparring partner.

But there was no other way. Locke and Carlyle hadn't returned yet, and among the knights, only Spartacus had strength comparable to his.

Moreover, Spartacus had a notable characteristic: he wouldn't hold back and was particularly reckless when sparring.

This feeling of fighting with all one's might was exactly what Lister wanted to see.

Because this could also stimulate the desire to fight in his heart, allowing him to enjoy the battle more.

As the longswords in their hands clashed back and forth, the 'clang clang clang' of metal hitting metal rang out continuously.

The violent combat qi energy caused the air in the entire training ground to stagnate for a moment.

The two of them never used wooden swords for training, but instead directly used the weapons from the training ground.

Therefore, every time Spartacus made a move, Red, who was watching from the side, would knit his brows and his expression would shift, fearing that Lister would get hurt.

But he couldn't go against Lister's wishes, so every time the two sparred, he would watch closely from the side.

This was so that if a problem arose during their fight, he could intervene in time to resolve it.

However, what he didn't know was that despite Spartacus appearing so reckless, he actually held back a bit of his strength with every move.

The purpose of this bit of strength was so that he could stop in time if necessary. After all, if he really hurt Lister, that would be a disaster.

As a man who always wanted to take Red's position, how could Spartacus really be so foolishly unaware of the consequences?

He was a bit blunt, but he wasn't stupid. Being blunt and being stupid were completely different.

Of course, even if he went all out, he wasn't sure he could really defeat Lister.

Although his realm was one rank higher, in terms of various weapon techniques, he was completely inferior to Lister's power.

But what Spartacus didn't know was that Lister had actually noticed his little schemes long ago, but he just never pointed them out.

It could be said that he was the man in the stratosphere this time.