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Chapter 60 Governing Salt Island
Managing a territory is no easy task; Dia has been scratching her head so hard lately she's almost gone bald.

The empire's border provinces still practiced the system of noble fiefdoms, without a clear division of responsibilities among government agencies. This meant that the nobles themselves were mayors, generals, and judges, and had to handle everything personally, keeping them extremely busy.

Established noble families often select trustworthy brothers from within their clans to train and share the burden of governing their territories.

The emerging nobility simply handed it over to professional tax farmers, not interfering with how the farmers governed their territories, as long as they paid taxes according to the contract each month—in modern terms, it was like handing over the house to a sub-landlord, saving them the trouble.

Dia was not a good sub-landlord.

Her personality was too kind, and her social experience too limited. Many of the slightly older residents could immediately see the best way to deal with this Salt Island official:
Selling miserably.

Being compassionate is a good thing for most people, but it can be a fatal flaw for some professions. Even though Bersalia had warned her beforehand, one's personality isn't something that can be changed just by being aware of it. As a result, Dia couldn't help but pity the weeping and wailing people of her people. Afterwards, she would gradually come to her senses and begin to hate her own weakness and foolishness.

She even felt that it would be better to be a bed warmer for Renn than to sit in this seemingly prestigious position and be treated like a fool by the people.

I heard that Ryan is finally back.

Daiya's small body was filled with pent-up anger.

If there weren't outsiders present, she would have used her unfamiliar dragon transformation move and killed him with a mouthful of dragon phlegm!

Enraged, Dia stormed out of the study, her fists clenched tightly, ready to smash her irresponsible master's head in.

But all we saw was Renn hurrying into the castle hall, still giving instructions to the castle steward beside him:
"Requisition all the idle fishing boats on Salt Island! Sea Rock City will be responsible for supplying them with three months' worth of food at once. I'm going to take these fishing boats to the Rainforest Peninsula."

“Your Excellency Raine,” the castle steward said hastily, “most of the fishing boats on Salt Island are too shallow to sail out to sea; they’d capsize in a single wave.”

“It’s alright.” Raine had clearly planned ahead. “Tie all the fishing boats together with ropes to increase their stability. As for the route, the family fleet will be responsible for escorting them, and we will try to stay along the coastline to reduce the risk of being capsized by the open sea… Oh, Dia, you’re here too.”

Daiya stared at him blankly.

What? You were thinking about going to the rainforest peninsula to save the lizard people?

“Um…” The anger she had been holding back had vanished without a trace. After a long pause, Dia said in a low voice, “Welcome back, Renn.”

The next second, she was embraced from the side.

Bersalia hugged Dia's little head tightly and burst into laughter:
"So you welcome me, right, little Dia?"

Ellina quickly rescued her from Bersalia's arms.

Ignoring the girls' playful bickering, Ryan strode to the long table and began examining the hydrographic maps of the continental coast.

The rainy season on the rainforest peninsula is coming to an end, but the White Walkers won't wait until the floods have completely subsided before resuming their attack. Dragon's Peak in the original timeline suffered from carelessness and underestimation of the enemy, but fortunately, the players fought bravely and selflessly, buying Dragon's Peak enough time to retreat.

Retreat is the only way out. The more time wasted on other routes, the fewer lizardmen will be saved in the end. Furthermore, since there are no players in this world, if Dragonpeak City makes another foolish mistake, no one will give them a chance to rectify it.

After hastily assigning the task, Renn summoned the castle steward to his study and coldly asked:
“Garyn Aurelrow, you have served in Bloodhold for over forty years. Before Salt Island was granted a fiefdom, you were in charge of its affairs.” “Tell me, why does my father trust you so much, even willing to entrust Salt Island to you?”

“My lord,” the elderly steward said with a slight bow, “to the Faher family, Salt Island is almost useless in every way except for its geographical location. The ancestors of the family have almost all regarded the people on the island as useless waste. As for who will settle these wastes and prevent them from causing trouble for the Faher family, it is actually not important.”

"Ancestors of the family throughout the ages?" Renn sneered. "I didn't expect you to be a historian. When Dia was serving as the territory affairs officer, you also helped her a lot. Many of the subjects who were dissatisfied with her judgments were appeased and resolved by you afterwards. Did I instruct you to help her in this regard?"

"Excuse my boldness, sir," the butler said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Miss Dia is not a good territory administrator. Although you did not specifically instruct her, I dare to guess that if she manages the territory in a mess, you will not be satisfied when you return."

"A steward like you, who is so devoted to the lord, is a rare find these days," Renn sighed softly.

Renn didn't believe a word of the butler's self-justification.

The most important aspect of the butler position is "to use someone you know well." This veteran butler, who has been deeply rooted in Salt Island for over forty years, should have been the first person Rein would replace upon taking office.

However, considering that tens of thousands of lizardmen will be coming to Salt Island in the future, there will inevitably be a severe shortage of management personnel in all aspects; and the lizardmen people are naturally supportive of the dragon's daughter, Dia, and are unlikely to be incited to rebellion by humans, so it is decided to let this old steward continue to stay in this position for the time being and squeeze out his remaining value.

Judging from the current test, this butler is clearly not the kind of person who is willing to be laid off. He even knows that it is useless to please Raine. For a girl like Dia, who values ​​emotions more, helping her once will make her remembered for a long time.

Very good, then continue to demonstrate your value.

Ryan waved to signal the old butler that he could leave, and then called Diamond, who was waiting outside the study, to come in.

“You’ve been doing very well lately.” He sat in his armchair, his fingers elegantly interlaced, and spoke slowly. “I see the trading market on Salt Island is thriving.”

“I dare not take credit,” Diamond said humbly. “Salt Island is too barren in terms of resources. Most islanders only buy the necessities sent from Searock City, and their income mainly comes from the wages they earn working in the forest, mines and shipyards.”

“You mean, we Salt Island are working for Searock City?” Raine understood almost instantly and said thoughtfully, “Grain and vegetables are essential commodities; we can’t just eat seafood. But the lack of equivalent trade goods forces the islanders to use cheap manual labor to obtain these supplies. This work takes up most of their time each day, so they can’t generate more profit for the territory, and consequently, it’s difficult to increase commercial taxes.”

“Your wisdom truly impresses me.” Diamond displayed a perfectly timed expression of amazement. He had thought he would need to explain the relationship between markets, trade, and taxes to Renn, but Renn understood immediately. “Thanks to the artisans you brought from Searock City, our islanders no longer need to pay higher prices to Searock City for ironware, furniture, and clothing, but…”

“Once the contract expires, these craftsmen will most likely leave Iron Harbor,” Raine calculated carefully.

Given the harsh environment of Salt Island, it's actually quite suitable for piracy. There are iron mines, forests, a good harbor, and shipyards; whatever you need, you can just rob it.

But who to rob? The Faher family and the nobles of the Fertile Lands are definitely out of the question, and the Gem Islands overseas... sorry, they can't beat the High Elf navy.

Therefore, the pirate route is also not feasible. If this problem cannot be solved, then after the lizardmen from the rainforest peninsula migrate over, they will only bring tens of thousands more low-level laborers, who can provide very limited value to the territory.

Ok?
Ryan suddenly looked at Diamond.

Pirates don't necessarily have to rob! There are ready-made examples right in front of us.

“Diamond,” Ryan said slowly, “I remember you said last time that you had all the hydrological knowledge from the mainland to the Gem Islands stored in your mind… right?”

(End of this chapter)