The biggest difficulty in the Northern Territory was food.
However, Clayton didn't expect that on his very first day in his territory, before he even started thinking about how to exploit his people, he would face the problem of food.
"I'm a noble lord, and I have to figure out how to get you bread, right?"
"Indeed."
Clayton sighed, looking at the transparent panel in front of him, where his Spirituality was increasing little by little.
10, 11, 12, 13…
The final number reached thirty-five, and looking at the twenty-six villagers in front of him, Clayton roughly understood the source of the Spirituality increase.
Twenty-six subjects, eight Apprentice Knights, and one Old Butler, the principle was easy to grasp.
One subject could bring him one point of Spirituality increase.
It's just, what was the use of Spirituality? Could it conjure food out of thin air for him?
He didn't know if it could, but it certainly couldn't right now, because Clayton felt he needed more Spirituality to open something.
"Go, call all the villagers of Dungsoil Village over."
No matter what this village was called before, after Clayton's arrival, it would be called Dungsoil Village.
Beside him, Deren instinctively stepped forward, his robust and mighty appearance looking almost like a flood beast to these villagers.
A group of villagers scattered with a roar, but Deren still caught one of them and then threatened him into calling all the villagers over.
Soon, in the center of the village, at the location of a millstone.
Clayton saw all the subjects within his Baron territory.
Every one of them was wrapped up tightly, but not in luxurious cotton clothes, but in clothes woven from tree hemp.
Only a few people were able to wear clothes woven from wild animal fur, and their status was clearly different from the others around them.
Poverty and cold, Clayton finally realized what his territory looked like.
Fortunately, seeing his Spirituality reach over ninety, Clayton temporarily decided not to fuss too much with the villagers here.
One hundred and twenty-five people, including thirty-one elderly people who looked like they were about to die, exactly ten children who were half his age, plus the previous twenty-odd people, this village, all together, brought him eighty-four points of Spirituality.
"Ninety-three points of Spirituality, still seven points short of a change."
Feeling a bit helpless, Clayton temporarily set aside the matter of Spirituality and looked at the villagers of Dungsoil Village.
"Who is the village chief?"
An old man whose teeth had all fallen out walked out, leaning on a cane and supported by a middle-aged man beside him, and knelt down towards Clayton.
"Your humble servant, Hamiti, greets Lord."
"You may rise first. Is the person next to you your son?"
Clayton looked at the middle-aged man next to the old village chief Hamiti, young Hamiti.
"Yes."
"From today onwards, he will be the village chief of Dungsoil Village."
"Ah?"
Seeing Clayton frown, the middle-aged man beside Hamiti knelt down once more, his head touching the cold ground.
"Thank you, Lord."
An old man who probably wouldn't even survive this winter, Clayton didn't think he looked capable of working, so he simply replaced the village chief.
Such a thing was no big deal; as the Lord of the Frozen Earth Baron's territory, he possessed absolute power, and it was not an exaggeration to say that these villagers were his private property.
After dismissing the surrounding villagers, Clayton only left Hamiti, the middle-aged man who stood before Clayton appearing extremely nervous and apprehensive.
"You're not going to tell me that my Barons Fortress is over there, are you?"
Clayton pointed north, towards the Rhino Horn Mountain, where a fortress, visible even from where they stood, must have been built with imperial funds after the North Wind Province was conquered.
But looking at the snowstorm in the sky and the fortress that had not been inhabited for who knew how many years, Clayton couldn't help but curse the people who built this fortress back then.
He could tell how cold it would be up there just by looking.
"Those damn parasites, is this how they do their job with the Empire's salary?"
Beside him, Hamiti dared not speak, only whispered:
"It is said to be because of the good scenery up there."
Good scenery, does that mean people can live there? Clayton didn't think his current body could live there.
"Is there no one else in the Frozen Earth Territory besides you hundred-odd people?"
Hamiti shook his head.
"The Frozen Earth Territory hasn't had a Baron for a long time. The village used to have several hundred people, but gradually, those with some skills left. The villagers are all free people; as long as they are careful not to be caught and made slaves, they can survive in other lords' territories with their skills."
"Later, some blacksmiths and carpenters left here. After they settled down, the other villagers slowly followed them."
After hearing all this, Clayton said nothing, only instructed Deren:
"Go in the direction we came from and hunt two prey. Then, look for them; weren't there many bandits made up of slaves before? Tell them that if they come here, I will grant them the status of free people!"
Hearing this, Deren couldn't help but be shocked, "Lord, those mud-footed people should be burned to death!"
"Do you not understand my words?!" Clayton looked over, his gaze making Deren tremble and kneel down.
"I'll go now."
Beside them, Old Butler Beard remained silent, but his gaze towards Clayton became increasingly approving.
He felt that Young Master Clayton was truly becoming more and more like a noble lord.
Due to the reasons Hamiti mentioned, many houses in Dungsoil Village were vacant. After Clayton announced the expulsion of all those who had left, these houses became his temporary lodging.
"Sooner or later, I will live there!"
Clayton looked at the fortress on Rhino Horn Mountain, standing still with full concentration.
The Flame Dragon Knight Breathing Technique, the Clayton Family's Knight Breathing Technique. Clayton knew that to establish himself in the Northern Territory, he absolutely could not be without extraordinary means.
As a Lord, he certainly couldn't be frail.
One day, two days, Deren, who had taken five Apprentice Knights with him, still hadn't returned.
"They... they shouldn't have run away, right?"
Clayton asked Old Bearde, gnawing on a hard piece of black bread.
"They wouldn't dare." Beard looked at Clayton, who was emotionlessly eating black bread, with a heartbroken expression, and his eyes filled with killing intent after hearing this.
"Their families have all become free people in the Earl's territory. If they dared to run, their families would all become slaves, and even if they did run, other lords would not let them go if they found out."
Those who betray their lords would face pursuit across the entire continent.
At first light on the third day, Deren finally returned to the Frozen Earth Territory with the corpses of five elk and more than thirty disheveled vagrants, their clothes stripped away.
Clayton announced his ownership of these thirty-four individuals, who were originally slaves from other territories, and his Spirituality subsequently reached one hundred and twenty-seven.
Spirituality: 127
Clayton felt that he could consume Spirituality at any time to open a portal to the unknown.