The most important thing for a ruler is to win the hearts of the people.
No blessing or magic is greater than winning the hearts of the people.
Remember this, rulers.
When you truly win the hearts of the people,
you will witness miracles you have never seen before.
* * *
Baron, who worked at the Cron family’s salt farm, could never forget that day.
“Hey, is this for real?”
“I know. I can’t believe it either.”
That day, all the workers at the Cron family salt pans were in an uproar.
It was because of the news they had heard since morning.
『Starting today, daily wages will be doubled.』
That was clearly written on the proclamation posted on the salt farm’s bulletin board.
It sounded like a lie.
Could something like this really happen to workers like us?
In my twenty years of life, I had always thought it only natural to be dragged through the dirt, living day to day on whatever I earned.
But now, all of a sudden, our daily wages had doubled?
I couldn’t believe it.
“I went to check, just in case, and it was true.”
“And it wasn’t just talk. They really gave exactly twice as many silver coins.”
At first, everyone was suspicious.
We thought we must have heard wrong.
But after work ended that afternoon and we saw the ten silver coins in our hands, no one could deny it.
Their daily wage had been 5 silvers.
And overnight, it had become 10 silvers.
Old Hans, the oldest worker at the salt pans, stroked the silver coins with his deeply wrinkled hands and spoke in a choked voice.
“This is the first time in my life something like this has happened…”
His eyes were moist with tears.
My own chest swelled as well.
We had always been treated the same.
No matter how much salt was produced, no matter how much the lord’s wealth grew, our share had always been fixed.
But this time was different.
We had received compensation equal to our efforts.
That was when Head Steward Hart personally came to the salt pans.
His hair was streaked white, and he looked at us with an imposing air as he spoke.
“Everyone, listen quietly.”
The workers all held their breath at once.
Lord Hart, the head steward who had served the Cron family for two generations, was not someone people like us could normally see.
On top of that, it was the first time he had ever come to the salt pans in person.
What is he going to say?
He looked over each of us one by one and spoke in a low voice.
“This is not a favor His Lordship is bestowing upon you.”
His voice was firm.
We waited nervously for his next words.
“Our Cron family has lived for generations by one family motto: ‘From the lowest place, think of the highest.’ His Lordship has not forgotten those words. Without you, this family could not exist. Because you work in the salt pans, the family can endure, and the territory can prosper.”
Head Steward Hart took one step forward.
Then, in a calm but powerful voice, he declared,
“Therefore, by His Lordship’s will, your daily wages will be doubled. This is the rightful share created by your blood and sweat.”
For a moment, silence fell.
We could not say a word.
And a few seconds later, a cheer erupted as if it would shake the entire salt farm.
“Hurrah!!!”
“Long live His Lordship!!!”
“Long live Lord Calix!!!!!”
Some people cried.
Some clenched their fists.
Something hot welled up in my chest.
I had thought no one cared about us.
But there was someone who had not forgotten us.
His Lordship had recognized our efforts.
We couldn’t just stay still like this.
We had to repay what we had received.
That evening, as we enjoyed drinks at the tavern for the first time in a long while, we discussed it among ourselves.
“Let’s not just work. Let’s do this properly.”
“Of course we should!!!”
“Now I can feed my family properly every day!!”
“His Lordship has thought this much of us! We have to work even harder!”
Even Old Hans, who had always said nothing but negative things like, “I ought to hurry up and die,” stepped forward and began insisting that we work actively.
In an instant, countless opinions burst out inside the tavern.
“This is how we’ve been producing salt until now. We draw seawater, gather it in reservoirs, then dry it under the sun and evaporate the moisture to crystallize it. The problem is that this process takes far too long.”
“But is there even a way? In the end, we need sunlight for the salt to harden…”
I told everyone about the method I had thought of all this time but never mentioned.
“Right. That’s why I was thinking—what if we use the wind? If we cut down the trees around the salt pans in the right places and make paths so the wind dries the salt layers more strongly, the moisture will evaporate much faster.”
“Ah!! Then the crystallization time would be shorter!!”
Everyone murmured after hearing my words.
Then Leon offered another opinion.
“And what if we make the water in the reservoirs shallower? Shallow water dries faster than deep water, so instead of putting in a lot of water at once, wouldn’t production increase if we repeated the process with thin layers several times?”
“That’s right!”
“And let’s place stones beside the salt pans so a certain amount of heat is maintained even at night!! If the stones absorb sunlight during the day and slowly release heat at night, crystallization might continue even after dark!”
And so, for the first time in our lives, we began working voluntarily.
The way we dried the salt, the speed at which the water evaporated, even the way to use the wind—everyone put their heads together.
Working overtime was a given.
And as a result, salt production increased exponentially.
“If we do it this way, we could produce twice as much as before, couldn’t we?”
“No, not just twice. I think three times, even four times might be possible!!”
People were sweating, but they were smiling. Was the work hard?
That didn’t matter.
We now took pride in our work.
A few days later, we stood before Head Steward Hart once again.
After hearing the report that we had produced far more salt, he looked at us with a face full of emotion.
“…You are the greatest pillars of the Cron family.”
After hearing the production report, Head Steward Hart gave us an additional bonus.
The bonus was doubled as well!!
That night, everyone who worked at the salt pans raised a toast together. Beneath the lights, we embraced one another and truly felt this miracle.
We felt hope that we, too, and our lives, could change.
We were no longer mere workers.
We were the people who supported the Cron family.
* * *
“And so, the salt pans’ production has increased by 300 percent—312 percent, to be exact.”
At Head Steward Hart’s report, my head began to ache.
The document he had brought described in great detail the miracle caused by doubling the daily wages.
It said that the workers’ labor efficiency had risen, a new method of salt crystallization had been developed, and voluntary overtime had combined to increase salt production efficiency by 312 percent.
As a result, revenue from the salt pans had increased by 280 percent, and even after excluding the doubled wages and salt pan taxes, profits had increased by 82 percent.
An additional profit of over 80 percent… As someone who, in my previous life, had been trapped in domestic stocks and experienced a minus 80 percent loss, it was an unbelievable figure.
While my brain froze before this reality I could not accept, Head Steward Hart was looking at me with a face full of emotion.
“My lord… this is truly moving.”
“What is moving?”
“All of this is thanks to the policy you decided on to improve the treatment of your people!”
Head Steward Hart spoke with tears in his eyes.
Why is this old man suddenly acting like this?
“At first, we were all worried. We thought that if daily wages were suddenly doubled, the family’s finances would be shaken. But I failed to fathom the depth of your intentions, my lord!”
I screamed inwardly.
That wasn’t what I intended!
As if what I thought did not matter, Head Steward Hart spoke with his chest full of emotion and tears brimming in his eyes.
“The workers could not believe it at first. But after they confirmed that their daily wages were truly being paid at twice the amount, they were deeply moved. They believed that you had acknowledged them, my lord!”
Hart wiped away the tears flowing from his eyes.
He looked at me as though he were looking at a grandson who had grown up splendidly.
“All of this is thanks to your profound insight, my lord!”
“…”
“You told us to think of the lowest place. Is that not the very motto of the Cron family? Your command was never a simple act of charity. It was a noble policy that moved the hearts of the people!”
“……”
“Thanks to that, the people have come to truly respect you, my lord. Now they are not working because someone ordered them to. They are working because they want to!”
I was at a loss for words.
It had been part of my plan to receive the love of the people, but it had never been part of my plan for them to work this hard.
Head Steward Hart looked at me with eyes full of respect and spoke again.
“I am now certain. My lord, you are destined to become a great lord who surpasses the previous lord.”
Saying that, Hart knelt.
And he swore loyalty to me.
“Hart Ansus, in the name of House Ansus, once again swears loyalty to my lord.”
Head Steward Hart dragged his aged body down and pledged his loyalty to me.
Looking at his white, aged head, I clutched my own.
What is this… It was definitely a perfect plan…
Something had gone terribly wrong.