『Rikain Bach』
He was the knight commander of the Kron family, a veteran knight in his fifties with brown hair and a gallant build.
In World Archive, he was not an SSR, but he was an SR character with respectable performance.
In terms of command ability, he possessed the capabilities of an SSR-grade character, and depending on his magic tools and linkage with support characters, he even had the ability to take down SSRs.
He had served the Kron family for nearly twenty years, starting from the previous lord.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that he had devoted more than half his life to protecting the Kron family.
He had always offered unwavering loyalty to the Kron family, but lately, his thoughts had grown complicated.
“Did we really have to go that far, Commander?”
“What are you talking about?”
Rikain quietly watched the soldiers who had finished the night shift gather and complain.
They did not hide their dissatisfaction.
“I hear the wages of the salt-field workers doubled?”
“So I hear.”
“But what about our pay?”
The soldiers vented their complaints.
After word spread that the wages of the salt-field workers had doubled, dissatisfaction began to arise not only among the soldiers, but among the knights as well.
The soldiers trained all day and were responsible for defending the territory.
Yet the salt-field workers had suddenly begun receiving twice their wages overnight.
Even though the knights were paid more than twice what the workers earned, the fact that their own pay had not risen while the workers’ had left a bitter taste in their mouths.
“We’re risking our lives for the territory too. Does it make sense that only those people get double?”
Rikain understood the soldiers’ feelings.
However, he was the knight commander of the Kron family.
Even if they harbored dissatisfaction, he could not allow the discipline of the order to collapse.
“That’s enough!”
As the knight commander, he shouted in a heavy voice.
“His Lordship’s decision must have had sufficient reason behind it. We knights fight for honor. Do not complain over a few silver coins.”
The soldiers closed their mouths.
But Rikain himself was shaken.
‘Could our order not receive better treatment as well?’
In one corner of his heart, he held on to that bitter thought.
* * *
“My lord, how do you intend to use the increased profits?”
At Hart’s question, I scratched my head.
Thanks to the workers’ efforts, an excessive amount of additional profit had appeared.
If I did not spend this money quickly, it would eventually be plundered by other powers and only end up benefiting someone else.
How should I use this money…
How could I spend it in a way that would win the people’s hearts while still making me look incompetent?
As I was pondering, Hart cautiously made a suggestion.
“My lord, how about using this opportunity to renovate the castle magnificently? The Kron family’s castle is far too old for you to reside in.”
Hart proposed that we renovate the castle in splendid fashion.
I rejected it at once.
“No luxury.”
The moment I began indulging in luxury and my reputation declined, my probability of death would rise along with it.
I needed a method that would allow me to spend money while also raising public sentiment.
While I was worrying over it, I looked outside the castle.
I could see farmers, workers, merchants, and knights undergoing training.
‘Come to think of it…’
At that moment, I recalled something I had learned in history class in my previous life.
It was about how Zhu Yuanzhang of China’s Ming Dynasty did not pay officials proper wages, leading them to begin taking bribes, and I clapped my hands.
‘That’s it. Let’s invest in the knights!’
For starters, I was the lord.
I could not ignore the fact that one of the foundations of my power came from the knights.
On top of that, I had learned in history class that if knights did not receive sufficient compensation, they would begin committing corruption, which would eventually lead to the suffering of the people.
I would gain the knights’ goodwill, the territory’s people would be freed from knightly corruption, and I would waste money.
It was truly a method that killed three birds with one stone.
However, if I simply gave them money, it felt like some strange butterfly effect would occur, so I decided to support the knights in a different way.
“Hart.”
“Yes, my lord.”
I told Chief Steward Hart the method I had thought of for supporting the knights.
Go! Chief Steward Hart!!
Use “Tackle”… No, that’s not it! Support the knights!!
* * *
Under my orders, Hart began full-scale reforms for the Kron family’s order of knights.
First, the knights’ equipment was replaced.
All their old swords and armor were exchanged for new equipment.
The equipment that was so rusty and old it was hard to tell whether it was iron or copper was all sent off to the smithy.
They were issued gleaming swords, spears, armor, and shields made with the highest-grade iron ore.
The stable facilities for raising horses were expanded, and dedicated warhorses were provided to the knights.
From Calix’s knowledge, I learned that in this era, warhorses were managed at the personal expense of the knight order’s commanding officers, which had apparently been a burden.
I reformed it so that the territory would shoulder that expense.
Second, the knights’ living conditions were improved.
The lodgings used by the soldiers and knights were renovated, providing them with clean living spaces.
The lower-ranking soldiers and ordinary knights had been living in wooden houses that were more than fifty years old and on the verge of collapse.
At this rate, it seemed as if the Black Death might break out, so I ordered these to be improved first.
Lastly, the knights’ futures were guaranteed.
Land that was unused and lying idle in the territory was granted to the knights as private property.
This part was Hart’s idea. He said that if the knights could own land and farm it themselves instead of letting it sit unused, their future after retirement could be secured while also allowing idle land to be cultivated.
It reminded me of the “military farms” I had seen in Romance of the Three Kingdoms in my previous life, and since it seemed like a good method to me as well, I stamped my seal on it immediately.
In this way, the “waste of money”—no, the “reforms”—proceeded smoothly.
It was not a method of giving the knights money directly, but of changing their lives themselves.
If I did this, the money would be spent, and I could win the hearts of the knights too.
Thinking that, I drank tea while watching the sunset.
This time, it truly was a perfect plan.
* * *
Rikain and the other knights of the Kron family could not collect themselves.
They had only been tense for a moment at their lord’s sudden reforms of the order; after that, they tasted heaven itself.
“Commander! All our equipment has been replaced with new gear!”
“Commander!! From now on, the territory will manage the warhorses!”
“Commander!!! The lodgings have been repaired like new!!! Now they won’t leak even when it rains!!!”
The complaints the knights had held until now began to be resolved as if they were being uprooted.
And that was not the end.
“Is this place truly our land?”
“Yes. From here to there is the land His Lordship has bestowed upon the knights.”
Land had been granted to them.
Although it had not yet been cultivated, it was close to the village, and the soil was good, so it was land where farming could easily thrive.
“Heavens, land for us…”
“I can’t believe it, Commander!”
The other knights also looked around their land in disbelief.
No matter how dashing and romantic the profession of a knight might be, it was ultimately a profession where one’s life was in danger and retirement came early.
That was why everyone wanted a stable income after retirement, and land they could farm was the best retirement plan for them.
On top of that, Rikain’s heart trembled at his lord’s consideration.
A knight was meant to be a model of loyalty to his master, without greed.
That was why, if a knight showed desire for material things, his honor would be greatly damaged, and he could not recklessly give in to greed.
As if taking that into consideration, Calix had protected the knights’ honor while granting everything they wanted.
‘Ah… and I, toward someone so great…’
Rikain was ashamed.
A young lord who had suddenly inherited his position after the previous lord’s sudden death.
Everyone had looked down on him, and rather than lending him strength, they had thought only of what they could tear away from him.
They had not thought of the happiness the territory’s people had gained from the reforms he carried out, only of what they themselves had not received.
Even Rikain himself had been no different.
Yet His Lordship had clearly been thinking of them.
He had even taken their honor into account as he cared for them.
Filled with overwhelming emotion and shame, Rikain drew his sword and planted it into the ground.
In the light of the setting sun, the sword cast the shadow of a cross.
There, Rikain knelt on one knee and made the “Knight’s Oath” to Lord Calix.
“I swear to Ashuron, the god of knights and honor. I, Rikain Bach, shall remain loyal to Lord Calix until the moment my last breath is spent beneath an enemy’s blade.”
『Knight’s Oath』 An absolute oath sworn by knights to Ashuron, the god of knights and honor.
It is said that one who fails to keep that oath will, even after death, be pierced by Ashuron’s spear and become a laughingstock until the day the world ends.
It was an oath made only to a master chosen by the knight himself. Rikain had not even sworn it to the previous lord, yet now he swore it to Lord Calix in front of everyone.
And after seeing Rikain’s actions, one by one, the other knights followed his example and all swore loyalty to Lord Calix.
It was the moment the 『Kron Order of Knights』 was born, an order that would later terrify other lords with loyalty beyond imagination.
* * *
Having spent all the additional profit from the salt fields on reforming the knights, I was once again worrying over how to waste money.
Just then, Hart came running in urgently.
“My lord!!”
“What is it, Hart?”
Hart came running as if he were greatly shocked.
Feeling a sense of unease, I asked carefully, and Hart handed me a report as he spoke.
“The territory’s profits have increased again!!”
“………Again!?”
No, what is it this time!!?