Chapter 098: Count Snake

June 8, 2022 - 2 minutes read - 348 words

County Snake is booming.

Previously, the territory had been deteriorating due to poor governance and then the rebellion, but since I’ve take charge the territory’s profits have shot up above historical highs.

The profits came mainly from my new alcohol varieties and the new crops of rice and sweet potatoes. Recently, I’ve added chess sets to that list.

When the economy starts to boom, people will gather. Merchants set up stores, people are employed in the new stores, and carpenters will gather to build the new stores and residences. Where there is wine, the dwarves will gather as well.

Dwarves are working to make equipment for my militia. Yes, the Snake militia was made up of survivors from the Riggsby and Harter militias, newly recruited soldiers, and some soldiers transferred from Baron Canaan’s militia. There’s currently 500 soldiers.

I trained them on a similar program as the Eighth Army!

A year later, the Snake militia would become known as the most powerful militia of the Kingdom. All the soldiers have matching green uniforms with a snake embroidered on the left breast pocket. Their leather armor was also branded with the Snake pattern, and they became known as the Viper militia.

I also constructed multiple temple schools in my territory. I want to improve the low literacy rate in this world. It’s a strategy to improve my territory’s prosperity.

With increasing wealth, criminals will gather to cheat honest people out of their money. The most common scam is cheating people by giving wrong change. So I want my citizens to have a rudimentary knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Lessons are free to attend and a meal is served. It was just bread and soup, but it’s a tradeoff that small farmers would take. Sure, they lose some hands for part of the day, but they’re fed while they’re gone.

The temple schools are my pet project, and they appear to be completely unprofitable for the territory at the moment. Key phrase being ‘at the moment’.

I’m fully convinced they will prove their worth in a few years time.