Hillco has been so busy lately that he barely has time to catch his breath.
All because Louis casually said, "Go register the basic information of the Red Tide Territory residents and see what each of them is good at."
So he was thrown into this pile of messy handwritten files, staring wide-eyed at a group of confused farmers and blacksmiths.
Some people stammered, completely unsure of how to answer.
"I used to farm."
"Do you still want to continue farming?"
"...I don't know."
"..."
Others answered casually, "I'm good at staying alive."
Hillco almost slapped the record book on that person's face at that moment.
"Damn it, how did I, a future Alchemist, end up as a steward for a Border Lord?"
Hillco cursed under his breath while feverishly writing, copying name after name into the book.
He could only blame his own itchy hands for stealing some Alchemy Secret Recipe!
He was originally an Alchemy Apprentice who would steal his mentor's Magic Crystals to exchange for money, living an upper-class life in the Jade Federation.
Until one day, he met a mysterious person in the black market who offered a hefty sum to specifically ask him to steal one of his mentor's Alchemy Secret Techniques, a price that was tempting.
Hillco didn't hesitate for long, after all, the payment was enough for him to break free from his apprenticeship and open his own Alchemy Workshop.
However, the plan was far less smooth than he had imagined.
The Secret Recipe was too profound for him to memorize, so he simply took the entire thing.
Anyway, his mentor was forgetful, and missing one recipe wouldn't be noticed.
But he underestimated the importance of this Secret Recipe.
His mentor quickly discovered the loss, and the Golden Marrow Guild issued a warrant, vowing to bring the thief to justice.
The black market buyer was quickly caught and confessed about him.
Hillco knew that once captured, he would not only face harsh punishment but might even be sent to a lab to become a guinea pig for bizarre alchemy experiments.
So to save his life, he cleverly disguised himself as a slave, mingling among those transported by slave merchants, hoping to escape the Jade Federation and find a chance to get away later.
But these slave merchants were more cunning than he expected!
Whenever he tried anything sneaky, he was met with a long whip, leaving him no room to resist.
After tens of lashes, he became obedient.
Thus he indeed became an ordinary slave, and he didn't dare reveal his identity as an Alchemy Apprentice.
If the slave merchants knew, they would happily resell him to the Golden Marrow Guild, and Hillco would be sent straight to a lab table.
So, after going around in circles, he was taken to the black market of Frost Halberd City.
He thought he would be sold to a mine to dig for the rest of his life.
Who knew a young Pioneer Lord named Louis would buy him and take him to this godforsaken territory.
Initially, Hillco thought he might have escaped Purgatory only to fall into another pit, to be enslaved until death.
However, Louis didn't treat slaves like livestock as other nobility did.
Instead, upon learning that he could write and manage accounts, he revoked his slave status and made him an assistant similar to a steward.
During his time observing and interacting with Louis, he discovered something—Louis was a good person.
He would share his food with those starving slaves and even personally tore up the slave contracts, granting them freedom.
A noble who actually treated slaves as humans?
In Hillco's eyes, this didn't seem like a competent lord, but more like a religious follower.
"Tsk, guess I'm lucky this once..."
Though Hillco said that, he constantly plotted his escape.
After all, how could a future Great Alchemist spend his life in this godforsaken place?
......
"Master, this is the citizen survey you asked me to do." Hillco placed a thick book on Louis's desk.
His face showed deep fatigue, his steps were somewhat unsteady.
"Mm, thank you for your hard work." Louis took the book and casually flipped through it.
The handwriting wasn't exactly neat, but it was clear in arrangement and categorized meticulously.
Even the elderly who could barely lift a hoe, the women who could weave, and even the children who were good at hunting were noted, showing obvious effort in tidying up.
A talent, indeed.
Louis looked up at the young man in front of him.
Hillco stood sloppily, with deep dark circles under his eyes.
He, too, knew that Hillco wasn't an ordinary person at all.
After all, his Daily Intelligence System is not just for show.
He knew from the moment he bought Hillco that the kid was an Alchemy Apprentice from the Jade Federation's Golden Marrow Guild, and also a criminal.
However, he didn't expose him.
On the one hand, Hillco seemed harmless.
Louis wasn't in a hurry to reveal him, wanting to see when he would willingly speak up.
On the other hand, given the current situation of Red Tide Territory, an assistant who could read and had administrative skills was more useful than an Alchemy Apprentice.
The territory was still in its developmental stage, forget alchemy, even basic infrastructure wasn't fully established yet.
The priority now was to make this land function normally, not to conduct alchemy experiments.
If he directly exposed him, what if this guy decided to slack and stopped doing chores?
Louis glanced at the pile of documents and ledgers stacked behind him like a mountain.
If he lost Hillco, this new lord might have to personally chew through this pile of junk himself.
With this thought, Louis decided to continue playing dumb.
After all, in this remote area, the other party wouldn't be able to run away.
Putting Hillco's matters aside, Louis opened the survey book in his hand and quickly scanned the basic situation of the residents.
Seeing the results, he couldn't help but smile slightly.
Although Red Tide Territory seemed like a barren wilderness, in reality, its talent pool was richer than Louis imagined.
With over a thousand people, the majority engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, and over a hundred experienced fishermen.
There were dozens of hunters, blacksmiths, carpenters, and tanners, enough to build a basic self-sufficient territory.
This was exactly the information Louis needed.
He had Hillco conduct a population survey, not just for mere record-keeping, but to understand the fabric of this territory.
A territory is like a precision machine, where every gear needs to be placed in the right position to operate efficiently.
If you arbitrarily let a farmer forge iron, or a fisherman dig canals, or a hunter herd sheep, while it might operate, it would certainly be slow.
If a lord doesn't understand his people, he can't control the future of this land.
The next step was to reasonably allocate these people to get the Red Tide Territory on the right track as soon as possible.