While Anke was using “borrowed” funds and resources to vigorously develop the infrastructure of Border City…
During a cold winter night, the first snow of the year arrived in Hanover Province.
The cold wind howled, and rows of sword-like icicles formed atop the castle.
The following morning, Mustafa, already dressed in winter clothes, stood by the window. He watched the white snow still falling from the sky and sighed to Anke, who stood nearby.
“Such heavy snow, a good snow indeed, Your Highness! Next year will surely be a bumper year!”
‘Winter, the season of White Death, full of cold and hunger.’ Vera looked out at the heavy snow and made this assessment in her heart.
“This snow… why did it come so quickly? I haven’t even found coal yet…”
Draped in a thick wolf-skin cloak, Anke reached out the window to catch a falling snowflake, watching with a melancholic expression as it melted in his palm.
“Mustafa, increase the charcoal and grain portions of the workers’ daily wages by 50%. Additionally, build another twenty free public hearth rooms in the city. In short, during this winter, I will not allow a single person to freeze to death in my Border City.”
“Increase daily wages by 50%? And build another twenty free public hearth rooms? Your Highness, not counting the subsequent cost of charcoal, the construction alone will cost at least 800,000 Gold Markors. Even though you are currently well-funded, you cannot be so wasteful,” Mustafa advised.
“Money only has meaning when it is spent; piled in a warehouse, it is no different from stones. But people only have meaning when they are alive; if they are dead, then nothing remains. Mustafa, just do as I say.”
Anke remained firm in his decision.
“Very well, Your Highness. I will see to it immediately.”
Mustafa finished speaking and withdrew to carry out his task.
After Mustafa left, someone else knocked on the door of Anke’s office.
It was Kano, the Library Manager who had been working in the castle for nearly half a month, and the Imperial Guard Knight Thomas, who had been responsible for protecting (monitoring) him.
“What is it? Did you find the items on the list I gave you?”
Anke looked at Kano with expectant eyes.
“I am very sorry, Your Highness. I have not yet been able to find the items you require,” Kano said, bowing his head to ask for forgiveness.
However, Vera noticed from the slight acceleration of Kano’s breathing and heartbeat that he was lying, just as he had the last time.
But after spending so much time with Anke, Vera had learned many things about humans.
She was no longer so impulsive; she did not directly expose Kano’s lie.
Instead, she prepared to wait for things to unfold and uncover more secrets from him.
“You didn’t find them? It’s fine, don’t worry about it. You may stand. There are so many logs that it’s normal not to find them.”
Although Anke was disappointed, he did not blame Kano.
“Then, do you and Thomas have something else to report?”
“Reporting to Your Highness, I hope Your Highness can grant me permission to leave the castle and return to the Southwest Slums of Border City to live. I swear that this will not delay my daily work!” Kano looked up and pleaded with Anke.
“Why go back to the slums? Is the accommodation arranged for you in the castle uncomfortable?”
Anke looked at Kano with a strange expression before turning to Thomas.
“Thomas, did you do something strange? Why is Kano saying he wants to leave the castle and return to the slums?”
“No, Your Highness. I swear it wasn’t because of me.”
Thomas immediately swore to prove his innocence and then lightly nudged Kano, who was kneeling in front of him.
“Kano, explain the reason to His Highness clearly. Don’t worry, His Highness is very merciful and won’t blame you.”
“Your Highness, it is not that the castle is bad, nor is it because of Knight Thomas. It is my own desire to return to the slums. Your Highness and my seniors in the castle have all treated me very well.”
“However, I am the only one enjoying this preferential treatment. The kind old man and his grandson who took me in before are still in the slums.”
“Now that it’s snowing, and Your Highness has given me half a month’s salary in advance, I hope to take that salary and go back to look after them, accompanying them through this winter.”
Kano became so emotional that he knelt down directly.
“This…”
Anke hesitated. He understood Kano’s desire to repay a debt of gratitude, but Kano wasn’t the only local from Border City working in the castle.
If he set a precedent with Kano, and every local requested to go back and care for their family and friends, wouldn’t everything fall into chaos?
“That would waste too much time. Why don’t you exchange your salary for grain and charcoal, and send them to that old man and the girl every few days instead?” Vera spoke up, helping Anke find a solution.
“Right, just as Vera said. If you live in the slums, traveling back and forth would waste too much time and energy. Sending them enough grain and charcoal every few days will take care of them without delaying your work.”
“Yes, I thank Your Highness for your mercy.”
Kano knew well that at his status, he had no right to bargain with Anke, so he accepted the solution.
“Shouldn’t you also thank Vera?” Anke pointed to Vera standing beside him.
“Yes, thank you, Lady Chief Knight.”
“Let’s not waste any more time. You can have half a day off today. Take your money, buy some grain and charcoal, and deliver them to your benefactors. Thomas, you take half a day off as well and accompany Kano to the Southwest Slums.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
……
Having received Anke’s permission, Kano and Thomas left the Lord’s Castle immediately.
They first went to the only grain and meat shop in Border City—one operated by Anke—and purchased 20 jin (approximately 16 kilograms) of coarse flour and 2 jin of air-dried pork.
Then, they went to the charcoal shop, also exclusively operated by Anke, to purchase a small cart of charcoal.
The total cost was only 350 Copper Markors, equivalent to 17 Silver Markors. The price was so affordable that Kano felt as if he were dreaming.
However, the commoners coming and going to buy grain made Kano realize very clearly that he was definitely not dreaming.
Kano and Thomas placed the grain on the rented charcoal cart, which was pulled by a donkey toward the slums.
Upon returning to the Southwest District, Kano was unable to recognize it as the slums where he had once lived.
The former slums had been dilapidated and filthy, filled with the stench of death from rotting corpses and garbage.
The few existing houses were simply built from broken wooden planks, liable to collapse in a strong wind at any moment.
Even more beggars, with no houses for shelter, could only curl up by the roadside, waiting for death to arrive amidst the foul-smelling trash.
Now, those rotting corpses, the garbage, the precarious shacks, and the homeless beggars by the road were all gone.
In their place were clean streets, tidy gray bungalows, and healthy-looking citizens.
“We… didn’t come to the wrong place, did we?” Kano looked at Thomas in disbelief.
“We didn’t. This is indeed the Southwest District slums, but His Highness ordered a renovation, so it has become much better than before,” Thomas said with a shrug.
“His Highness did this?” Kano murmured. His gaze swept over the ruddy faces until it suddenly froze on a figure carrying tools and preparing to head out.
That familiar, slightly hunched back, and that old coat covered in patches but washed until it was white—it was Uncle Smith! Old Man Hans’s old neighbor!
“Uncle Smith!”
Smith, who was about to head to the construction site for work, stopped in his tracks when he heard someone calling him.
Because Kano was wearing clean clothes and his face was no longer gaunt as before, Smith did not recognize him at first, assuming Kano was an official sent by Lord Anke.
“Are you calling for me, sir?”
“Uncle Smith, it’s me, Kano! The boy Old Man Hans picked up!”
“Kano! It’s you, kid! I didn’t even recognize you! I heard you found a good job under the Lord. Why have you come back?” Smith patted Kano’s shoulder and asked.
“The Lord gave me my monthly salary, and I thought I should repay Grandpa Hans. But I haven’t been back for half a month, and now I can’t find where his home is. Uncle Smith, do you know where Grandpa Hans’s house is now?”
“Of course I know! Come, come, I’ll take you there!” Smith said as he set down his toolbox to lead them to Old Man Hans’s home.
At the same time, a red light flashed in the eyes of a crow circling in the sky.
It was a Mimic Minion split off by Vera, currently monitoring Kano’s movements.
‘Old Man Hans? Is this the person Kano wants to repay?’ Vera’s minion thought as it followed them.