5

At the corner of the residence. When Louis arrived, Jerome was collapsed.

He had been living in a tent here for 24 hours to maintain the Ice Magic, but he had reached his limit and fainted.

After telling the accompanying soldier to take care of Jerome, Louis went to the frozen pond.

Inside, the Forest Wurm was still submerged.

‘Even if Jerome couldn’t maintain it all the time, I could barely keep this state going.’

It seemed quite a while had passed since Jerome had lost consciousness, but since the corner of the residence was shrouded in deep shadows, the ice had not easily melted.

After a while, Jerome regained consciousness.

“Ah, Young Master.”

“Are you all right? You had fainted.”

“Fainted? No, I was just a little tired.”

‘Hoo… being a mage isn’t an easy profession either.’

In truth, Jerome had been closer to passing out, but he didn’t want to sound weak in front of Louis.

Louis checked Jerome’s condition and took some additional measures. He stationed a soldier and a few attendants to assist Louis, ready to respond immediately should anything happen.

It had cost 600 points to raise the market to level 2, so Louis now had 900 points left.

He intended to spend 600 of those 900 points to unlock a Leadership Trait.

Leadership Traits were divided into several branches, but there was only one that could raise his Swordsmanship level.

‘Aggression.’

When he entered the Traits menu, the only name lit up was Military Charisma.

Beneath it were three connected traits.

Fortunately, the trait related to swordsmanship that Louis desired was at Tier 2.

‘If I choose Swordsmanship, I’ll have to give up all traits from the other branches.’

The other traits were also quite good.

In particular, the skills that tempted Louis were Authority and Expansion.

Authority helped manage slaves, while Expansion helped manage laborers.

Both were not just useful but invaluable for a city just beginning its development.

Authority especially caught his attention, as Louis believed there was no system more efficient than slavery to handle massive workloads.

Even if it caused social rigidity and criticism of leadership, the allure of rapid growth tempted Louis.

‘For now, let’s stick to the plan.’

If his Swordsmanship stat fell behind, then all the groundwork laid so far would collapse in terms of completing the quest.

In the end, Louis chose the planned Experience Bonus.

The Experience Bonus could be applied to many things. For example, a unit personally commanded by Louis could accumulate promotion-required experience faster.

‘Swordsmanship.’

Louis’s 600 points vanished. Now only 300 points remained. Though he smacked his lips at the sight of an empty points warehouse, he had built multiple foundations to solve problems.

‘Now, it’s time to cook up the quest.’

On the second day of receiving personal lessons from Boromir, evening came again. Louis arrived 30 minutes late because he had been distributing skill points.

On the other hand, because Louis had been early yesterday, Boromir had arrived 30 minutes earlier today.

In the end, he had waited for a full hour at the training ground.

‘Phew… yesterday you were early, today you’re late.’

“Boromir.”

“Young Master.”

“I’m a bit late today. Work, you see.”

“No, not at all. I also came a little late.”

“Is that so? Then that’s fortunate.”

The attendants who followed Louis lit the area, and one of them handed him an iron sword.

Louis received the sword and warmed up by swinging it lightly.

‘I should confirm whether it applies. And how much a 50% bonus really increases experience…’

A 50% bonus was significant. If someone like Dekal, a Sword Expert, had this trait, he might even rise to Sword Master.

The treatment of Sword Experts and Sword Masters was worlds apart, and upon reaching Sword Master, one could usually obtain the rank of duke and command a royal legion.

“Young Master. Let us begin.”

When Louis nodded, the real sword training began.

One hour later.

Exhausted to the point of being nearly knocked down, Louis ended the day’s lesson and opened his information window.

What greeted him was a dramatic increase in experience compared to yesterday.

‘That’s quite a number. If only I had a little more talent…’

It was regrettable. Because Louis’s Swordsmanship Talent was low, even with a 50% bonus, this was all he could reach.

However, it was not a small amount.

With steady effort like this, within a week he could reach the Swordsmanship 3 he aimed for.

The next day, dragging his sore body, Louis went to the Wonder construction site.

Just the rumor that the building would be made of marble had already spread enough to draw curious onlookers.

“What kind of building are they making?”

“A library, I hear.”

“A library? What’s that?”

“A place where books are gathered.”

The educational level of Proia’s residents was sadly disappointing. In truth, Louis’s real intent was to easily accumulate Science Points by selecting the Library among the three Wonders, but to others it appeared as if he was trying to educate citizens, slightly raising support from the clergy.

‘It rose by 1%.’

15%. The misfortune they caused was still immense. Many citizens, idle from strikes and clinging to faith, were trembling with unease.

‘Once this is finished, I’ll have to address it.’

Louis moved among the soldiers doing the groundwork.

Thanks to his instructions, the soldiers did not greet Louis individually. Otherwise, his simple walking around could have paralyzed the work.

Anyway, Louis’s fundamental reason for diligently touring the site was none other than talent scouting.

Talent Insight lv2 displayed construction talent as well. As Louis’s population would surge in the future, buildings had to rise at a similar pace.

In other words, he needed many capable individuals.

As he moved around, Louis noticed another person.

‘Construction Talent 5.’

This soldier was determined to have the highest talent. Just like when selecting administrators, it seemed that Talent 5 was the limit of Louis’s available talent pool.

If so, he could lower the standard and pair soldiers with Talent 4 under Hector.

“Write down that soldier’s name as well.”

“Yes.”

The clerk accompanying Louis wrote down the names of talents Louis picked. Louis intended to summon them later.

Just as he was about to leave the site, Hector came running to him in a rush.

“Consul.”

“……..”

“I… have a request.”

Louis looked troubled.

“As long as it’s not about money, I’ll gladly hear it.”

“Ah, not that. I mean the blueprints you showed me, Young Master. The patterns… the carvings on them…”

“You may ignore them.”

“No, I don’t want to. Even though I’ve never seen such designs before, I found them extremely refined. So I sent pigeons to craftsmen I know all across the Duchy of Eron. May I work with them on this?”

In other words, Hector wanted to complete the Wonder perfectly without flaws and was requesting more craftsmen.

‘Not bad…’

The problem was Louis had no money to pay them. Due to the nature of the Civilization System, completing something perfectly could yield extra rewards, but those were never explicitly stated. Even with the Colosseum, it had never said it would generate Culture, yet after fulfilling special conditions, it did so and even created Tourism Points.

And those Tourism Points… they were now bringing wealthy, curious visitors one by one to Proia.

“To repeat, anything about money…”

“Haha. I understand your concern, Consul. It’s true that our craftsmen demand high prices when hired. But what I am proposing is only permission for participation expansion. My acquaintances never take money for work they deem worthwhile.”

“Work of value…?”

“It will surely become a magnificent building.”

‘They’ll do it for free…’

Louis barely suppressed a smile. Completing the Library perfectly would surely bring additional bonuses.

Not only that, he could expect various side effects.

The craftsmen Hector invited would likely be well-known sculptors across the Duchy of Eron, and what would they see here? The Colosseum.

‘Word of mouth will spread…’

Rumors would bring more people coming to see the Colosseum. After all, nobles who couldn’t resist curiosity were everywhere.

“But isn’t the designer of the blueprint you, Louis?”

Louis knew what Hector meant. If the building’s design was shared, someone could copy it and construct a similar one. And stealing someone’s value to create an imitation was very common in this era.

But Louis didn’t care if the style was copied.

What he wanted was solely the special option granted by a Wonder.

“…….I grant permission.”

“Thank you very much.”

“However, you must also do me a favor.”

“…Pardon? What favor?”

Louis held out his hand, and the clerk handed him the note listing the talented soldiers’ names.

Shaking the paper, Louis spoke.

“A list. You remember you promised to give them some basic training while working, right?”

The high price he commanded included this reason as well.

“Of course, but this is five men. The agreement was for one. I don’t know if I can focus on my work.”

“Teach just one. The rest will only follow and observe.”

“In that case, it’s not a difficult condition.”

The ones Louis had selected all had good talent and would learn quickly. If one received knowledge and re-taught the other four, that would be enough. And if gaps remained, watching the construction itself would teach them the basics.

Beyond that, no matter the pay, craftsmen would not teach. That was the closed nature of guilds.

On the fifth day of private lessons with Boromir, Louis could feel his progress day by day.

Though his Swordsmanship Talent was only 2, with the Experience Bonus, he was learning at an efficiency equivalent to Talent 4.

Louis delivered a heavy strike, and Boromir, receiving it, clicked his tongue in amazement.

‘He absorbs everything I teach instantly. Perhaps he wasn’t talentless in swordsmanship, but simply uninterested until now. His stance is stable, his footwork strong, and that attack that pierced into my opening just now is something ordinary soldiers could never do…’

“Huaa… let’s take a break.”

“……..Yes.”

“Now, what has improved?”

“Everything, overall.”

Louis smiled. Checking his information window, only two bars of experience remained. In two days, he would surely reach Swordsmanship 3.

At the same time, he opened the City Information Window.

He had been waiting to check this.

‘Yes.’

The roadblocks he had ordered to maximize the market’s special condition were working.

Gold had finally surpassed its maximum usable threshold, turning the treasury from deficit into surplus.