200: Chapter 200 Mira's Helplessness! Heading to Gino City

Three days later.

Gino County, Maple Flower Territory.

Maple Flower Territory is located in the northeastern part of Gino County, named after the vast stretches of red maple forests that remain red all year round within the territory.

As the spring breeze brushes over the treetops, those crimson maple leaves surge and roll like burning flames.

In the center of the Red Maple Forest lies Red Maple Castle.

On the third floor of the castle is the lord's study.

Several yellowed maps hang on the walls along with a faded tapestry embroidered with the crest of Maple Flower Territory.

A few books are scattered sparsely on the shelves, mostly territorial accounts and compilations of decrees, with a thin layer of dust on their spines.

Mira sat behind the desk, her hands supporting her forehead.

Her flame-like long hair was slightly messy at the moment, with a few stray strands falling across her forehead and cheeks, making her bright and generous face appear even paler.

After a long while, she sighed, leaned back against the chair, and gazed blankly at the ceiling.

She used to be just a mercenary.

After becoming an Official Knight, she left the castle, picked up her sword, and began to make a living with her younger brother.

Sleeping in the open and living life on the edge were common occurrences.

She knew how to navigate in the wilderness, how to escape from the pursuit of magical beasts, and how to protect her share of the pay amidst the internal strife of mercenary groups.

But, she did not know how to manage a territory!

She did not know how to read the dense numbers and entries in the account books, nor did she know how to distinguish whether the excuses reported by her subordinates were true or false.

The loyal retainers of the former Viscount of Red Maple were almost wiped out during the period when Count Farrell took over the territory.

By the time she took office after the church liquidated the Farrell Family, what was left for her was an empty shell with its backbone completely hollowed out.

This resulted in her having absolutely no usable personnel now.

It had been three months since she officially succeeded as the lord.

For three months, she had been trying every day to learn how to be a qualified lord.

She would get up before dawn to read through those boring legal documents and stay up until late at night scratching her head over the numbers in the account books.

However, she still couldn't understand what she needed to understand.

Obviously, she had no talent for this at all.

What made her feel even more stifled was that her subordinates were also blatantly fooling her.

First, there were the taxes.

The account books reported by the steward every month were always filled with words like "famine," "poor harvest," and "rampant refugees."

Behind those neatly and beautifully written entries, it seemed as if the entire Maple Flower Territory was shrouded in gloom and misery.

One day they said the East Village suffered from a pest plague, the next day they claimed the West Town had an epidemic, and the day after that they said the southern trade route was blocked by magical beasts, cutting off merchants and causing tax revenue to plummet.

Over three months, the reported income was not even enough to cover the castle's expenses for a single month.

But she was not blind!

She had personally disguised herself and mingled into the largest market towns in the territory to investigate.

The shops in the towns were bustling with people, and business was booming.

The winter wheat in the fields was growing well, showing no signs of a poor harvest at all.

Everything was flourishing.

Only the money bag of her, the lord, was empty.

Then there were the resources.

Maple Flower Territory had two small iron mines, a stretch of good-quality woodland, and a quarry that produced high-quality construction stone.

These resources had stable monthly outputs and should, by all rights, bring a considerable income to the territory.

But when she sent people to check the warehouse, what she saw were empty account books.

Refusing to believe it, she went to the quarry herself.

At the quarry, workers were sweating profusely as they moved blocks of neatly cut stone.

She pointed at the piles of finished stone and asked the manager: "Why are there no storage records for these?"

The manager smiled obsequiously and bowed as he replied: "In response to your words, Milady, these stones were pre-ordered by old customers and are transported directly from the quarry, without passing through the castle warehouse."

"And the payment?"

"The payment... uh, well... the buying merchant guild signed a ten-year imperial legal document back when the previous lord was still here and has already paid in full..."

She was livid, her face turning pale, yet she could not find any fault in what the other person said.

Imperial law!

She... naturally had to abide by it too.

She clearly knew what they were doing, but she couldn't find solid evidence and could do nothing about them.

Everyone was colluding to deceive her!

Finally, there were the administrative decrees.

Every order she issued couldn't even make it out of the castle.

Those guys below always wore a respectful and humble expression in front of her.

But as soon as she turned around, they would do whatever they pleased, completely treating her orders as if they were wind blowing past their ears.

She tried to promote a few newcomers to keep them in check.

As a result, those people were either ostracized until they couldn't stay, or they were won over before long, turning around to fool her together.

These people dared not deal with her directly, but when it came to dealing with the newcomers she promoted, they showed no mercy at all.

She wanted to flip the table, but... she lacked the strength!

Because the local church was also involved.

The priest at the territorial church had three sons and two daughters, and they were the largest family in the area!

She was only an Official Knight, but the church priest was a senior cleric.

She had heard whispers in her own castle more than once—

"She's just a vulgar girl from a mercenary background; I don't know what kind of good luck she had to sit in this position."

"What does she know about governance? I bet she can't even understand what is written in the account books."

"Just wait, it won't be long before she can't take it anymore and obediently hands the territory over to someone else to manage."

"Keep your voice down, don't let her hear you."

"So what if she hears? What can she do to us? Kill us? Does she dare? Father will uphold justice for us!"

...

Every time she heard these words, she could only pretend not to hear them. Because she knew that even if she lashed out on the spot, it would be useless, other than making herself even more embarrassed.

She had no evidence, and certainly no trustworthy personnel to have a falling out with these people.

The original text of the "Ripleyan Code" is very detailed:

No master or mistress may execute their male or female slaves or those who depend on them without a public trial...

If a master, purely out of malice, kills their own slave by their own hand or through others without a verdict, it is considered shameful and requires repentance to the Empire and the Church.

Repentance means paying compensation instead!

And she, had no money...

Thinking of this, Mira couldn't help but grit her teeth:

"This is absolutely outrageous!!"

She had previously not wanted to go to Golden Flame Castle to seek help from Rowan just like that.

She did not want him to think she was incompetent; she did not want him to see her as someone who couldn't even manage her own territory.

But reality gave her a harsh slap in the face.

She realized that if things continued like this, let alone managing the territory well, in another six months, the foundation of Maple Flower Territory would be completely hollowed out by those parasites.

By then, she wouldn't even have a place to cry.

She bit her lip and remained silent for a long time.

Finally, she stood up abruptly, left the castle alone, and headed towards Gino City...