Chapter 228: We Built a New Mansion (4)

[ Request for bandit group subjugation in the territory's southern frontier region.

We are suffering immense damage due to the bandit group [Siamese Cat] currently swarming the south, so please dispatch soldiers for support immediately. The soldiers are exhausted, unable to overcome the bandit group's momentum. ]

[ Request for bridge repair in the territory's southern frontier region.

The road leading from the south of the territory toward Esta has collapsed. Please proceed with repairs. ]

[ Bandit group infestation in the territory's northern region.

Following the lord's arrest, bandit groups who heard the rumors are appearing. They are skilled individuals that the soldiers cannot defeat with their current capabilities, so please send support. ]

[ Promotion of statue construction within the territory.

We are pushing for funds to construct a statue to widely proclaim the lord's greatness. Please support this endeavor. We have attached a business plan and documents detailing the additional profit to be gained from the statue. ]

"Fuck."

Eve's head ached even as she skimmed through the documents one by one. The mansion's disheveled appearance was still like a beggar's, so filthy that there wasn't even a proper space to lie down, and the documents were filled with various tasks that Eve could not handle with her own hands. To begin with, the bandit group issue alone was a problem that could not be solved in an instant.

It was because bandits usually hid in the mountains and did not reveal their base. Even if they were to catch the bandit group, it would take an eternity just to search their base. Eve shifted her gaze to the other documents. They were full of complaint documents asking for repairs because facilities had collapsed, or asking to replace outposts with better ones. These were also documents she couldn't blindly sign.

To carry out a repair operation just once, she had to calculate a budget to call in the relevant craftsmen and bear the material cost, but the construction workload currently remaining in the Delmon territory was an amount that couldn't be covered by the Peta territory's capital. Therefore, to resolve this part, she first had to collect taxes. After tax collection, she would have to call Sieri and Aira over to dedicate themselves to accounting work.

Accounting work. Every year after collecting taxes, they calculated the tax to pay to the kingdom, separately estimated the cost of maintenance, and redistributed the money to employee salaries and the like. Sieri was managing the Archdeity Church donation on top of all this.

The Delmon territory's scale was more than twice that of the Peta territory. Considering that she would have to do twice as much work in the future, Eve's head was already beginning to ache. Furthermore, the mansion had to be repaired. The mansion, which the village chief had completely messed up and played in at his leisure for three months, had now suddenly turned into a battlefield of lust and gluttony.

Eve wanted to just roughly clean it and use it, but if one closely examined the appearance of the mansion's interior, they could tell it was broken beyond what a simple cleaning could handle. It was because the Royal Knight Order had smashed everything here and there, claiming to be searching for evidence inside the mansion.

They had smashed the gargoyle statue hanging on the mansion's main gate, saying secret documents might be hidden inside, and they smashed the jars decorating the mansion, saying there might be hidden mechanisms. They ripped out all the fireplaces to check behind them, and they shattered any wall surface that sounded even slightly strange to check behind the wall.

They had completely torn out the bookshelves and thrown them on the floor, and having flattened and read every single book, the luxurious hardcover books were full of folded marks. The underground warehouse below was left in utter destruction from rescuing the victims, and the path leading from the mansion's ballroom to the main gate was full of unerasable bloodstains and broken saplings.

And the higher you went to the upper floor, the more severe and cruel these traces of destruction became. Eve became depressed, feeling herself only sigh as she scanned the mansion inside and out.

"Fuck. What should I do."

"Mermaid. You said you were going to kill people, so why do you have a look of death."

"Shut up, fuck."

Elsi was standing beside Eve, looking at her surroundings. As soon as the official confirmed the signature, he disappeared humming a tune, claiming he had done his role. Now Eve had to maintain the status quo so that this territory wouldn't get any worse than it was now while waiting for her husband, not knowing when he would return.

Eve sat on the ruins and checked the roster of guards. She had the guards who were still remaining in the mansion gather the soldiers, but the gathered number wasn't even half of the roster. It seemed that as the knight order disbanded, all the soldiers had scattered as well. The soldiers were murmuring among themselves while glancing at Eve's legs, fangs, and one eye, as if fascinated by the fact that Eve, a mermaid hybrid, had taken the lord's position.

The first mission Eve gave the soldiers was to catch the deserters. She also added that she wouldn't administer corporal punishment this time, since the soldiers scattering was ultimately something that happened because the lord himself made a complete mess of things.

"Anyone have a question?"

"Will... Lady Peta continue to be in charge of this territory?"

"No. My husband is going to be in charge."

"Are you talking about Lord Peta Lucius?"

"Yeah."

The soldiers started murmuring again. They seemed to think they were speaking in a small voice, but Eve could clearly hear it.

"It's that nobleman this time?"

"I heard he governs his territory well, though."

"They say his private life is no joke. Rumor has it he can't feel sexual desire unless it's with a beastfolk or a mermaid."

"Hey, you fucking bastard who just spoke. Step forward."

Eve raised her head and pointed right at the bastard spreading the false rumor. The soldier stood up with a flustered facial expression and stood before Eve. Eve spoke.

"Repeat what you just said."

"Ah, well..."

Slap!

As soon as Eve saw the soldier roll his eyes, she slapped his cheek. The powerfully struck soldier spun round and round in the empty space like a spinning top before falling to the floor. Seeing the soldier trembling all over with his eyes rolled back, the other soldiers shivered in fear. Eve dusted her hands and spoke.

"Fuck, if any bastard runs their fucking mouth about my husband's private life, I'll kill them, so keep your traps shut. Got it?"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Eve grabbed her scimitar again. The soldiers hesitated and read the room in front of Eve. Watching them, Eve scrunched her facial expression and spoke.

"What are you doing, you bastards. Hurry up and go."

"Ah, s-sorry!"

The soldiers belatedly remembered the command Eve had given and hastily scattered. It didn't take that much time to catch the soldiers who had deserted or were slacking off in hiding using the lord's absence as an excuse. Eve pointed at the mansion and spoke.

"From now on, we are going to do some cleaning inside this mansion."

The soldiers looked like they had a lot of dissatisfaction about having to do the cleaning themselves, but when Eve subtly showed her scimitar, they all shut their mouths. The soldier who was stunned from the slap a little while ago had now recovered consciousness and was taking tottering steps. Under Eve's guidance, the soldiers swarmed in and began cleaning here and there.

They weren't a professional cleaning crew, but since they were guys with experience cleaning their own rooms, the work proceeded much more smoothly than expected. They completely wiped down the messy hallways and cleared the trash scattered across the ballroom. They took all the broken bookshelves and wall crumbs outside, and gathered all the messy food waste in the kitchen to send to the pig farm.

Only after spending an entire day dedicated to cleaning did the mansion regain a presentable appearance. The soldiers, who had been dedicated to cleaning from morning to evening, put on satisfied facial expressions with exhaustion-stained faces at the neat appearance they had created. Eve also looked back at the mansion with a satisfied facial expression.

Coming out of the mansion, Eve happily gave the soldiers the order to disperse. Leaving behind the soldiers who sighed in relief at the words telling them to go home, Eve went upstairs and began looking into the documents again. She didn't know the soldiers' living conditions at all, but she had to dispatch troops to block the bandit group as a temporary measure. Looking at the dates, they were letters sent about a month ago, so she had to rush the dispatch.

As Eve sat in the office and began working, Elsi came in and spoke.

"Mermaid. You work hard."

"Of course. It's my husband's territory."

"I thought Eve would push this kind of thing onto the cleric because it's annoying, so it's unexpected."

"Honestly, I fucking want to do that, but the work is too piled up. I want to see my husband right now."

While looking into the documents, Eve drooped like a dead weight on the desk and whined. It was because the tasks she calculated she had to do in the future were too daunting. She had no idea when Lucius would return from Ahildern, or if he would return unharmed. However, no matter what happened where, the territory's time kept flowing, and someone had to grab the reins and lead the territory.

"Fuck, how can they pass off work like this? Fucking bastards."

Eve expressed irritation while looking at the troop deployment plan. Because she had always fought alone, she knew nothing about efficient troop deployment. She erased the troop deployment and organized it again several times. She couldn't get a feel for how to do it, but she had to get it done.

"What are you doing."

"Troop dispatch. Because I have to catch those thieves. But fuck, I can't get a feel for how to deploy them."

"Cheer up. I will support you."

"Don't just support me, bring me some food from downstairs. Fuck, I couldn't eat anything all day today."

"Understood."

The only ones remaining in the spacious mansion were Eve and Elsi. When Elsi opened and closed the door, the only one remaining in the office was Eve. Eve once again cursed the official who ran away alone and started organizing the troop deployment.

"Fuck."

Eve threw her pen away while in the middle of writing the deployment roster. Being alone in the mansion, she suddenly wanted to see her husband. She wanted to see Sieri, and she wanted to see Aira too. She missed Cellu so much. She missed the servants who looked at her with fearful eyes, and the murmuring citizens as well.

She had only been isolated for a single day, but Eve was depressed. Perhaps it was because this office was empty right now. Eve tightly hugged her legs and looked down. Her ugly webbed feet came into view.

"...When are you coming."

Every time Eve saw those feet, she thought of Lucius. Only two days after he left, she missed her husband's face so much.

"Open the door. Mermaid."

"The doorknob is broken. Just kick it open."

Crack!

Elsi's foot broke through the door. Flustered, Eve swore.

"Hey, fuck! I meant push it with your foot!"

"The door is too weak."

Elsi said that in a nonchalant tone as she brought in a lump of meat. As she threw the lump of meat, which was the size of a human head, to Eve, Eve caught it with one hand and tore into it.

"You know what's good."

With an expressionless face, Elsi sat next to Eve and started tearing into her own meat. She looked at the documents Eve was filling out and spoke.

"Cheer up. Mermaid. I am supporting you."

"...You don't have any thoughts of learning to read and working with me, do you?"

"Beastfolk do not know how to read."

"...Bad bitch."

And the next morning. The soldiers gathered in the yard from early morning. Eve informed the soldiers of the dispatch plan she had stayed up all night drawing up and distributed the personnel accordingly. Elsi, who had stayed up all night beside Eve, was leaning against a pillar, dozing off. Only after confirming that the soldiers had dispersed did Eve sit down on the floor and sigh in relief. Having put out the urgent fires like the bandit issue and the mansion issue, it was now time for tax collection. To do this, she had to return to the Peta territory and draft personnel.

"Mermaid. Someone is coming over there."

Surprised by Elsi's words, Eve raised her head. Someone was approaching from afar. Seeing the armor stamped with the Peta family's seal, Eve spoke to Elsi.

"They're our guys. What's going on?"

"Isn't it the cleric who came?"

"I don't think so."

Even roughly calculating the date, it was too early. Eve raised her exhaustion-stained body and greeted the knight running toward them. The knight saluted as soon as he saw Eve. Eve waved her hand to receive the greeting and asked.

"So what's the matter?"

"Yes! Young Lady Rosalyn Yuba from the Rosalyn family has arrived! Originally, My Lord had promised to build a newlywed home, but um... a budget related to that hasn't been drawn up. I know you're busy, but um..."

"Fuck!!!"