'I'm tired' was all that Neo could say — how do nobles chat with people all day and night? Perhaps Neo was an extrovert, but Cheonji definitely wasn't.
"Are you okay, My Lord? I've never seen you so tired before..."
"I'm okay. Please prepare the bath. I want to sleep immediately." Neo slumped down on the couch in his room, looking like a man who lost his soul.
"As you wish."
It seems that he went about this the wrong way. He tried to make it seem that Leo was the one who came up with the idea, but the commoners — especially the ones he helped, found out and spread the news of how humble he was, increasing his image. He tried to bribe them to not tell anyone else to save what was left of his plan, but their conscience outweighed the price of money.
What could he do with people that were too loyal?
He sighed and covered his eyes with his arm, drifting in and out of his consciousness.
It was the first time in weeks that he took the time and thought about his past life— more specifically, the relationships he had built before.
He was far too busy to ponder on something like this, but with the moonlight peeking through the curtains, he felt a weird sense of tranquillity.
"My Lord, the bath is ready."
Still, time flies, and he can't afford to dwell on the past.
"Coming."
--
Today, he had set out to visit the village by the cave. Just like in the other scenario he solved before, the citizens here didn't seem to do so well. What he could see were the crops slowly wilting, and not many livestock were still alive.
'So there's food shortage...'
"Ah, Saviour of the Slums!"
Right. There was also that embarrassing nickname. Whenever Neo told them to not call him that, it did the opposite and led them to cheer even louder. They treat him like a blessing from god — an angel sent down to liberate them. Neo just thinks they're delusional. It wasn't like he didn't understand that delusional thinking, though.
"Have you come to help us as well, Saviour?"
"Ahh, I'm so honoured to be in your presence!"
Neo looked around the village which was mainly built with wood and prone to erosion. "Sure. You can say that."
Dante chuckled at his expression every time they called him his title. "It seems like you're enjoying the title."
"If only you had better eyesight, Dante," Neo grumbled and pushed his smiling face away.
"Haha, how could I not know when the lord I served for 15 years is happy?"
"Shut up. I'm trying to focus." Scribbling down things to fix as they asked the common folk, Neo and Dante made a full loop around the village before stopping at an inn.
Neo read over his notes to make sure nothing was left out.
"Miss Chloe and other housewives complained about the cleanliness of the water, Mr David's house is falling apart at the support beams... Miss Heather, Mr James, Mr Pete, Miss Iris, and Miss Martha have the same problem. We'll have to rebuild many houses. Each house is about a gold coin* depending on size... Miss Val, Mr Harry, Mr Gabriel and a few people were saying they were struggling with retrieving food... And the inn owner wants a school for the children." Neo snapped his book shut and looked at the inn where Cale would stay in the future. "Let's have a drink."
"I'll let the bar owner know. What would you like?"
"I'm craving something sweet."
"Understood."
Dante went into the inn to request the drink, while Neo stood outside to enjoy the breeze. Some children were hiding behind the fences...again. Neo wondered why these children came to him... I mean, don't they have someone else they could tell their problems?
"...What do you want?"
The children flinch back at his voice. 'I'm really feeling the deja vu.' Neo sighs and crouches down, making himself seem less intimidating. The children slowly come out from behind their hiding place, with flowers or little crafts in their hands.
"Um, we... we just wanted to thank you." A girl who seemed to be the oldest out of them all stood in front, stretching out the flower crown she made. "It isn't anything fancy like jewellery, but we all just wanted to show our, um, appre-appresiation."
"Appreciation." Neo corrected the girl and took the flower crown to place it on his head. It was created with care, along with vibrant yellow daffodils that complimented his hair. "This is more precious than gems framed with gold. Thanks," Neo said, but asked the children, "Why would you thank me before I did anything?"
"Well, because we believe in you... My friends near the shops also wanted to thank you too. You fixed my friend's houses, so I know you're... truss...writhy."
"Trustworthy."
"Yeah! That."
"...Thanks." A feeling of being trusted and believed in. He's forgotten how nice it felt.
The warm smile Neo gave caused the children's confidence to rise, and they shoved everything they prepared into his arms.
"My Lord, your drink— Oh my." Dante paused at the faces of grinning children and Neo who's gently smiling, his hair decorated with flowers.
Seeing Dante out of the corner of his eye, Neo's lips quickly straightened to a frown, asking the kids to return to their homes. He cleared his throat and walked up to Dante, "...Take this. Bring everything back to my room. Get me a vase too." Neo passed everything in his arms to him and walked into the bar, turning around when he noticed his butler wasn't following.
"What are you doing?"
"The flowers suit you, My Lord," Dante said, walking to his master.
Neo gripped his cup and growled, "Shut up. I'm doing this for the children."
"Yes, I know you have a kind heart."
Neo scowled and silently sipped his drink, giving up on retorting Dante's teasing. 'Sheesh. Maybe he's better at this than I thought.'
-
Neo evacuated the citizens elsewhere temporarily as they started to fix their corroding houses. The second on the list was to place purifying seals on the taps, and then it was food. He had an increase in wealth recently because of his last project, so he was able to properly refurnish the entire village.
'I wonder what expression will be on Venion's face when he realises that his sabotaging didn't work.' Neo laughed ominously.
It was a few days before the construction when he discovered that Venion was doing shady things behind his back. When the moon rose high in the sky and the trees swayed by, the fancy villa in the middle of the forest almost seemed like it was inviting him in. It was the place Venion Sten frequently visited and stayed at when he came to 'train' the dragon.
'They say curiosity killed the cat, but I'd say satisfaction brought it back.' Neo thought, opening the inn window. He asked Dante to not come into his room that night no matter what and left, dressed in a black coat he bought just in case.
The security was tight in the forest, where several guards were still patrolling. It was really thanks to the weapons he had that he could silently defeat the few blocking his way. He quickly scaled the walls and looked around through the windows on the top floors. When he found a room where magic was emanating from the desk protected by two guards, he had a feeling that this was it.
He lockpicked the windows and flung himself inside. There were several cabinets in the room, but he immediately went to the one with the strongest magic power. It seems like someone was trying to cover up the magic traces as well, but they did a fairly sloppy job. At last, he found a file with a seal on it.
'This painstakingly thorough bastard...'
It took a while for him to solve it, and not much time was left. He had to quickly copy the documents before the guards discovered the bodies he knocked down.
The spell to duplicate something perfectly was quite hard, but it always depended on the item it was duplicating. For something like written paper, that was easy. It was just time-consuming.
'Where are photocopiers in this world?'
Neo noticed the glimmers of torches outside the window, and the yelling of guards, but it was fine. He was on the last page, and it was time to leave the crime scene. He placed a fake seal on the real documents and threw it back, but before he left, something that felt off caught his attention. He cursed Venion, a certain thought arising in his head. He quickly climbed out of the window and followed the traces, earning a few 'He's there!' and 'After him!' before entering the empty storage room with no one present. They all rushed out to find the intruder who mysteriously disappeared. He swiped the item of interest, then left as swiftly as he did infiltrating.
-
* I don't know how the currency in Roan Kingdom works... so if a gold coin is under or overshooting, please tell me 🙏