BXBX NOVEL Chapter 3: Winterseed -III-
Following behind her were two older women and one older man. All of them, including the young lady, were dressed in tattered clothes, evidence of the village's poor status.
Seeing the ragged group run into the room, Rowan, who had just finished arranging his fragmented memories and realizing his identity and situation, frowned at the stats of the first lady displayed before him.
[ Name: Riela Vincred ]
[ Occupation: Tailor ]
[ Special Skill: x2 Sewing Speed; Can sew clothes two times faster than other professionals ]
[ Status: Emotional ]
He recognized her from his memories. Riela was the daughter of the former captain of the village's army, who had died protecting other villagers from goblins. She had been living with Rowan since then, and their relationship was very close.
Seeing a healthy Rowan sitting on the bed, Riela eyes turned wet, and she immediately ran to hug him, pressing her body deeply against him as she cried her heart out in his embrace.
"I thought I had lost you Rowan, I've missed you so much," she wept profusely.
"You haven't. I'm back now, Riela," Rowan consoled her, patting her soft white hair as he turned to view the stats of the others in the room.
His eyes fell on the man in front of him, whom he had also seen in the memory fragment.
[ Name: Brandon ]
[ Occupation: Assistant ]
[ Special Ability: Territory Management; Possesses extraordinary talent in smooth running of territory ]
[ Status: Surprised ]
'Exceptional ability, where are his other skills?' Rowan pondered with a frown.
Almost immediately, a detailed stats with his rank included was revealed.
-------[ Brandon ]------
Occupation: Assistant (E-rank)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
➔Territory Management - Possesses extraordinary in smooth running or territory (F-rank)
➔Lord of Gambling - Probability of winning every bet, gamble, etc., is increased by 20% (Rank: E)
➔Sweet Tongue: Smooth talker, can even fool a monkey into eating meat (Rank: D)
Status: Shocked
-------[ Brandon ]-------
Seeing this, Rowan was beyond impressed. 'I can keep him close to me to manage territory management while I concern myself with other aspect,'
While he didn't want to copy the territory management skill, he decided to copy the gambling one as it will be useful for rewards in the future such as loot boxes and mystery cards.
Without wasting time, he proceeded to copy the skill.
On Brandon's character tab, a special window popped out.
[ Confirm to copy (Lord of Gambling) ]
'Confirm,'
DING!
[ Skill (Lord of Gambling) has been copied successfully ]
[ Are you ready to merge with (Lord
of gambling) ]
'Yes,'
[ Merging...1%...6%...100% ]
[ Skill merged successfully ]
'It's pretty easy to copy skills, haha. I wonder what impressive skills I'll get to copy next,' Rowan mused.
Still under Riela's tight embrace as he felt the softness of her soft breasts, Rowan proceeded to view the stats of the two older women. Liora and Tiora were his personal cooks and had played a role in his life since the death of his mother.
After Rowan was done noting their stats, his stomach began protesting violently for nutrition.
Hearing his grumbling, Riela let go of him and stood up.
Her cute face filled with worry faced him as she said, "I'll go prepare something for you to eat," and left the room.
Tiora and Liora went with her, leaving only Brandon in the room.
"Young Lord, it is a big miracle that you have recovered. Everyone in the village had given up on you, believing you would never be able to survive," Brandon said with a smile.
Rowan nodded in response as he stood up from the bed and proceeded to the mirror in the room to observe his visage.
The reflection in the mirror was that of a young man with rough jet-black hair and ocean-like blue eyes; his face was well-proportioned.
While he looked pretty amazing, the roughness of his hair and other poor body-care factors reduced his attractiveness.
"Not bad," he muttered before turning to Brandon.
"Judging by the state of your clothes, I can tell the village has declined significantly since I fell ill. Do you mind explaining in detail what has happened during my absence?" Rowan inquired.
"Your observations are correct as usual, my lord. Not only has our village declined, but we have also fallen and become vassals under Glenwood village..." Brandon began narrating with a pained voice, informing Rowan of all the events during his absence.
According to him, the population of the village had decreased by almost 45% due to the war and famine that constantly tormented Winterseed village. Additionally, due to the decline in soldiers, goblin attacks had become frequent, resulting in the loss of food and lives.
Glenwood had seized control over Winterseed River for their horses, resulting in farmers being unable to farm properly, thereby leading to a further decrease in food production.
"Glenwood village? Aren't they the village to the west that became vassals to another village during my father's reign? Has Winterseed fallen so much during my absence that we become easy targets for a small village like Glenwood?" Rowan asked with a frown.
While Rowan hadn't heard of Winterseed on earth, the news of Glenwood being the weakest village was pretty popular. He couldn't believe his village was a vassal to such a weak village; it was disheartening.
"I apologize, young lord. Even with my strategy, I couldn't prevent these disasters, but I believe as you ascend to the position of village head once again, we will survive," Brandon said, bowing his head slightly.
"No need for that. We will start preparing to end the vassal relationship with Glenwood immediately and take back what is ours," Rowan said with a smile.
He had dealt with far worse territorial issues online; now it was time to implement the real deal.
"Gather all the able-bodied men at the village square tomorrow morning for a meeting," he commanded.