Lord: I Grind EXP with Warband Panel

Chapter 316: Chapter 74: Map Beyond the Pass

Robson looked at Ais curiously.

For an Officer like Ais, who came from a peasant background, the Beastman Prince’s armor should have been the most inspiring prize imaginable.

But now, faced with the Beastman Prince’s armor, Ais was claiming something else was more important. This piqued Robson’s curiosity.

"It’s over there, in that box..."

"I’m... I’m not sure if it’s actually useful, but I feel like if we’re going to be fighting here in the future, this stuff will be very important."

Robson followed Ais’s pointing finger to a wooden box in the corner of the tent.

The box looked quite ordinary at first glance, but upon closer inspection, he could sense a faint aura of Magic from it.

It was only a faint trace, though, likely just a few simple Magic Runes that any village layman could use.

Robson walked over, opened the box, and found it filled with papers and books.

’What is this?’

Curiously, Robson picked up the thickest book. A single word was written on the cover.

Accounts. Below it, in the space for the author’s name, was written the name Augustus.

Robson knew of Augustus. He was the patriarch of one of the two great clans from beyond the pass, with his fief located in Ehrlichland.

Seeing that word, Robson took a deep breath.

’No way... Are these really their accounts? A legendary drop?!’

If this book was truly the account ledger of one of the two great clans from beyond the pass, then Robson had hit the jackpot!

One had to understand that in any endeavor, while intelligence might not be the single most important factor, it was absolutely indispensable.

This was especially true for what Robson planned to do next: return to his domain and manage its internal affairs. And for governance, nothing was more important than information!

In terms of governing a region, a government needed detailed information on everything: the population of an area, the location of its armories, which places had been impoverished by taxes, and which places hadn’t been taxed yet and could still be squeezed a little. One could even say this information heavily influenced a government’s ability to allocate resources.

Of course, any people still left beyond the pass would have fled into the mountains by now. For Robson, the population data would only be useful later for finding refugees to expand his domain’s population.

For Robson right now, the most crucial part of this ledger was the information on resource development.

Some areas might look fertile but were prone to disasters. Other areas might seem mediocre but were already fully developed, arable land. These concepts extended to all aspects of production, such as which places were rich in iron ore or which possessed magical plants.

Ordinarily, Robson would have had to obtain this data through extensive trial and error, slowly learning and adjusting over time.

But now, he had information that had taken others generations to compile.

Robson opened the ledger.

"Lady Dolly requested fifty Gold Coins..."

"Lady Dolly requested another hundred Gold Coins, but she introduced me to Miss Hayes."

"Miss Hayes is very nice, but Lady Dolly is still a bit better..."

Dark lines etched themselves across Robson’s forehead. ’What is this garbage?’

’No wonder these clans were all broke when the Beastmen attacked. It’d be a miracle if they had any money with spending like this.’

Robson flipped a few more pages, and some useful information finally began to appear.

"Guangmu Town, ten horses acquired..."

"Viscount Affleck hunted a Bright Lion. Coincidentally, Lady Dolly wants some furs..."

’Lady Dolly again? This woman is quite the character...’

Robson grumbled to himself, but complaints aside, the information was still quite useful.

For example, the Affleck mentioned inside was Robson’s own domain.

Just as Robson had predicted, the Affleck Domain was located on the outskirts of the Demon Beast Mountain Range, a place where one could hunt magic beasts. It seemed his, Lord Robson’s, future Extraordinary Army was secured.

This Guangmu Town was also in Ehrlichland, probably near Viscount Jeffrey’s territory. According to the ledger, it might be a place suitable for raising horses.

"My lord, how is it? I wasn’t sure, but I saw a diagram inside and thought it might be useful," Ais said from the side. As he spoke, he took out several scrolls from the box and handed them to Robson.

Robson finally snapped out of his excitement, carefully placed the ledger back in the box, and took the scrolls from Ais.

He unrolled one and was stunned to see it was a map of the lands beyond the pass!

The first was a map of the various clans beyond the pass. Now that they were history, it had some collection value.

The second was a deployment map of the armies beyond the pass. Considering their disastrous performance, it served as a valuable lesson. Combined with their previous battle reports, it would at least let Robson know which locations were indefensible and which were vital to hold.

The third map, however, made Robson gasp.

It was a map of the mineral deposits beyond the pass! This one was far more detailed than the one from the Fengman Clan!

At the very least, Robson discovered from it that his own domain had several small mine shafts in addition to the large iron mine.

The subsequent items were each more staggering than the last: detailed topographical maps, charts of local specialties from all over the lands beyond the pass, crop distribution maps, refugee allocation plans...

After looking through everything, Robson discovered there was even a small, secret Magic Beast Breeding Farm and hunting ground next to his own domain. Though after so many days of war, the breeding farm was surely in ruins by now.

Flipping to the very end, Robson even found a treasure map.

It had to be a treasure map. It depicted terrain with several locations marked, and though they weren’t labeled, according to the customs of this world, it was most likely a treasure map.

He had no idea if it was authentic, but unfortunately, most of the locations weren’t in Ehrlichland. The only one that was lay deep within the Demon Beast Mountain Range, so Robson had no way to verify it.

After putting the scrolls away, Robson looked back at the box. There were still many more scrolls and books inside.

He skimmed through all of them.

There were account books from various clans, topographical maps of smaller regions, and even some books on magical crafts and Magic theory.

Robson even found two human popular novels.

Wasn’t this box confiscated from the Beastmen? Why would a Beastman be reading human popular novels? Was it to study human culture?

"My lord..." Ais looked at the visibly excited Robson, feeling a little uneasy. He rarely saw his lord act this way.

Realizing this, Robson quickly composed himself.

"Ais... You’ve performed a great service!

You’re at the ninth rank of military merit, right? This alone is worth a direct three-rank promotion.

From now on, you are an Honorary Knight of my Affleck Domain! I will make a formal commendation later," Robson said, looking at Ais.

"Ah? My lord? This... I..."

The surprise was so sudden that for a moment, Ais had trouble processing it.

Initially, Ais had only thought that the detailed maps would surely be helpful for future campaigns on the eastern front.

In fact, the item Ais valued most was the deployment map of the armies beyond the pass; he thought he could use it as a basis for improvement.

He never imagined that because of these things, he would be promoted three ranks at once, directly becoming an Honorary Knight!

One had to know that Robson’s current military merit system only went up to sixteen ranks. The higher one climbed, the harder it became, but the corresponding authority also increased.

At a normal pace, Ais would have had to command legions in several major battles to reach this point.

In Robson’s military merit system, the third rank made one a Half-Free Person, eligible to serve as a junior Non-commissioned Officer. The sixth rank made one a Free Person, able to serve as a mid-level Non-commissioned Officer. The ninth rank converted one’s status to an honorary citizen, allowing them to apply for a position as a Household Servant and serve as a senior Non-commissioned Officer or an Officer, at the level of a Battalion Commander or regiment commander.

Before the twelfth rank, everyone received only a basic salary plus a small stipend. But upon reaching the twelfth rank, one could apply to become an honorary noble. Once at this level, they could enjoy a fief granted by their lord.

A fief was a grant of land, but it differed from the fiefs of other nobles. The holder had no administrative rights over it, but they were entitled to an income equal to the average annual revenue generated by that amount of land.

For example, if Ais were to become an Honorary Knight in the future and receive a fief of one hundred mu, he would receive the income from one hundred mu of farmland for the year, with the income per mu calculated based on the domain’s average.

Ais could also receive a title associated with the land. For example, if Ais’s fief was in Bright Village, he could be called the Bright Knight.

Of course, the fief of a twelfth-rank Knight was certainly not hereditary.

Even though this wasn’t a true Knight, for the Peasants within the domain, it was still a title to be immensely proud of.

This was a modified system Robson had designed, based on the feudal dynasties of his previous life.

Under this system, he could ensure that capable people could rise to the top, and that only the capable could do so.

After all, if one only focused on killing Beastmen, they could chop away for a lifetime and never reach the twelfth rank.

"Don’t worry, this is a well-deserved reward. Once we’re back in the domain, I will issue it formally," Robson said.

Robson had already thought these matters through.

Although the military merit system had been implemented, it still lacked a clear role model.

Ais becoming a noble lord was undoubtedly the best choice. Besides, registering an honorary noble with the Holy Noble Council only required a report and some Gold Coins from Robson.

Robson, after all, was planning to use the military merit system as a basis for quantitative assessments in the future.

If Ais’s promotion could motivate everyone, the future construction of the domain would proceed much more quickly.