The "castle" was not large, and there were too many servants, so they basically slept in the hallway, but it was the hallway behind the kitchen—it rained all year round, and it was damp and full of moisture. Lex's room was probably the most luxurious place in the whole castle. It had a bed, a desk and chair, and a hide was spread on the floor to serve as a carpet.

An iron vase was placed on the table, with a few bunches of wild flowers in it.

The windows were made of wood and had rotted from the wind and rain, and the whole room smelled musty.

Despite this, it was still the best room in the castle.

Lex couldn't complain, after all, others were living in worse conditions than him, so what right did he have to complain?

The two knights were also assigned rooms. Their rooms could only fit a bed and a chest, and there wasn't even a table or chair. However, they didn't mind, and they did their best to strike up a conversation with the butler, asking him to move them closer to Lex's room.

Alwin was assigned the same room as the knight, but because he was a guest, even though he did not have a title, the butler still arranged for him to be next to Lex's room.

On the first night here, after touring the entire castle, Lex took a long shower, changed his clothes, and listened to the butler's introduction to the territory.

The butler told Lex, "Most of the slaves in the territory come from the north. They are not expensive to buy. Slaves are cheap these days, and you won't feel bad if they die. Don't worry. Although the rainy season is almost here, there will be more grain this year than usual, and you can trade it for a lot of things at the end of the year."

Lex asked the butler, "Do we have a lot of grain?"

The butler said seriously, "Enough for everyone in the territory to eat until the next harvest."

Lex said, "I mean, if we let them eat two meals a day, how long will they last?"

He had read in a book that slaves only ate once a day, and that meal was never enough to fill their stomachs.

The steward's eyes widened in surprise: "They only need one meal. Slaves have very small stomachs and can only eat a little at a time."

Was the steward serious?

Lex was surprised in his turn.

The steward said firmly: "A former lord once gave a slave meat to eat, and the slave ate too much and died."

"Slaves cannot eat meat, and they cannot eat too much, or they will die."

Lex understood. Although he had forgotten the principle, he knew that if a person was hungry for a long time and suddenly ate too much, they would indeed die.

But as long as the amount is controlled, taken slowly, and the stomach is nourished, it will be fine.

So he said, 'You only need to tell me, can you last until the harvest season with two meals a day?'

The butler pursed his lips and said seriously, "Yes, but you can only eat beans for the other meal."

Lex then realized that at the end of the year, a certain amount of the grain grown in the territory had to be used to purchase necessities from merchants, such as spices, cloth, and other things, and the remaining amount was the food ration.

In the past, the lord would use two-thirds of the grain to trade for things from merchants, such as exquisite cloth, quills, and expensive things like parchment.

Therefore, the food ration for the slaves was very small.

Lex was relieved. As long as he didn't trade the grain for luxury goods at the end of the year, there would be enough for everyone to eat three meals a day.

Lex: "Then let them eat two meals a day."

The steward wanted to persuade him, but when he saw Lex's expression, he swallowed what he wanted to say.

He felt that the new lord still had a benevolent concern for the slaves.

But he also felt that the slaves did not deserve any kindness. They were just human livestock, so they didn't need to care too much about them.

Perhaps it was because the new master had come from the Holy Court?

The steward sighed. Slaves were good at taking advantage. If it weren't for the need to farm, he wouldn't even want them to eat.

Lex had a rare peaceful night's sleep, although there was always a faint musty smell at the tip of his nose.

But it was better than sleeping in the carriage before, at least there was a bed, and it was quite soft.

The next morning, he was woken up by the steward.

After he had dressed, the butler asked, "My lord, would you like to eat?"

Lex was indeed very hungry. He had lost his appetite on the wagon, and he didn't dare eat anything because the road outside was bumpy and the wagon rocked so much that he vomited many times. He only drank a little water and ate a little bread every day.

The bread was not delicious.

It was neither sweet nor fragrant, dry and hard, and he had to chew it with water to swallow it.

This was the only thing he and the knight had, and the coachman refused to eat anything else, no matter how much he was persuaded. He only ate black bread.

– Black bread was even more unpleasant, because it was made with the bran, and was hard to swallow.

But the coachman was already very happy, saying that he could only eat mush before, which was a mixture of various beans cooked together. Many of them were already flat, and the good beans were not even available to servants like them.

Lex was led to the dining room by the butler, and once again, he thought that this place should not be called a castle.

It was just a stone house with no decorations inside, but in this era without industry, it was already considered ingenious to be able to build a three-story building with stone.

The table was a long square table made of a single piece of wood, with grooves and stains from years of use. The dishes were also made of iron.

The butler went and summoned two knights and Alwin. Elijah and Alex had obviously slept well, their faces full of contentment. Only Alwin looked a little listless. He was still wearing Lex's clothes, which were a little short in the cuffs and trouser legs, revealing his wrists and ankles, but it didn't seem strange, but rather had a unique beauty.

Unfortunately, Elijah and Alex did not feel less hostile towards Alwin because of his appearance. They gave Alwin a glare and snorted in a strange voice. It was probably because Lex was there that they did not mock him out loud.

Alwin sat to Lex's right hand side, with the knights sitting to Lex's left and right. As for the seat opposite Lex, it was reserved for the future lord and lady.

Once everyone was in place, the maids began serving breakfast. They all bowed their heads and were all very young, the youngest being no more than fourteen years old, probably because they were not getting enough nutrition and looked like ten-year-olds.

Lex had never imagined that after his time travel he would become a heartless landlord who employed child labor.

His conscience ached.

The breakfast served was a few slices of bread and a bowl of thick soup.

However, only Lex's bread was not black bread, while the other three all had black bread, but they did not show any signs of resistance.

Lex takes a sip of the soup.

Then he gulps it down with a grimace.

The butler, on the other hand, says, "The cook is very good at making thick soup, and the previous lord also liked it."

Lex: "...really?"

It's not as good as the cabbage soup he cooks.

It has a strange taste, like spices, and it's hard to say if it's fragrant or smelly.

It's also very salty.

Lex doesn't really like Western-style thick soup anyway.

Elijah and Alex, on the other hand, were full of praise for the thick soup: "Not many cooks in the Holy City have such skills! They dare to use so many spices!"

The butler was proud of himself: "Merchants often send spices over."

The merchants would send over slaves they couldn't sell, and after Lex bought them, they would give the spices as a bonus.

Lex really couldn't drink the thick soup, so he ate the bread with water to finish the meal and appease his stomach.

After the servant had collected the dishes, he said to the steward, "If possible, I hope to repair a few toilets."

Otherwise, he guessed that he would never set foot outside the castle walls in his life.

"Find someone to collect and bury the excrement..." Lex's expression was strange.

The steward did not object, as the lord's requests must be fulfilled by his subordinates unless they were extremely rude.

Although he did not understand, he was willing to faithfully carry out the orders given by the lord.

After all, the position of steward was created for this very purpose.

That morning, all the "slaves" in the territory learned of their new task – repairing the toilets and burying the excrement.

They had been enslaved for so long that they never questioned the decisions of their lord, except for the gnomes, who were not very happy.

"My lord! We bury our excrement in pits!" The green-skinned gnome pointed at the others, "We don't want to bury their excrement!"

The butler was very unhappy. When he became unhappy, a servant swung his whip and struck the short-statured goblin who had just spoken. The goblin did not dare to dodge and took the blow hard. The cracking sound of the whip was extremely harsh, and the goblin's face was immediately left with a snaking bloody scar from the whip.

The butler's face was cold: "Slaves have no right to refuse!"

Everyone shrunk their shoulders, lowered their heads, and did not dare to speak or look up.

When the butler had gone, the people moved. The goblin's mother hurriedly hugged her child and reached out to touch the injury on her child's face. She was so thin that she was just a handful of bones, and her chest hung down to her abdomen like a deflated balloon.

She caressed her child's face with pain.

The goblin, however, said with hatred in his eyes, "Mom, let's escape! Escape from here and go live somewhere else!"

The female goblin quickly covered the child's mouth, looked carefully left and right, and said after noticing that no one was paying attention to them, "Don't say silly things, how will we live if we escape? No one will feed us outside, and we will be caught by merchants and made to work as laborers."

At least here they only need to farm and do odd jobs, but if they become laborers, they will have to work all the time, from morning until night, until they die. And laborers don't get enough to eat, and if one dies, there will be more laborers.

Although they don't eat enough here either, they will never starve to death.

Besides, the short gnomes have no advantages other than burrowing. They can't run fast, and they don't have the strength and sturdy bodies of the minotaurs.

The female gnome pulled her child along, saying, "Just go back and apply some herb ash, it might leave a scar..."

The goblin bowed his head, his teeth clenched, wishing that time could turn back, so that he could pounce on the steward and bite his neck open.

The trolls went about clearing the land in silence. They had to cut down the trees and dig out the roots, but they only had two axes, so the trolls without axes had to pound the tree trunks with their fists. If the trunks were relatively thin, they could hammer them into a bend and then break them.

Dwarves are very short like gnomes, the only difference is that dwarves have more muscular bodies. Even though they are always hungry, their muscles still look very strong, while gnomes have green skin.

Dwarves do all kinds of manual labor, such as plowing the fields. They will put the plowing wooden tools on themselves and work like oxen, burying their heads in the ground.

They rarely communicate with each other, and work from the moment they open their eyes until the sun sets and they can't see anything anymore.

They also had no place to live, because the previous lord did not allow them to build a house—even a thatched hut. He felt that if they had time to build a house, they would rather work more. Many slaves died, but the lord did not lack money and could always buy more slaves.

As for the human race, they were responsible for sowing and watering. If the harvest of a certain field was not good, the human race in charge of that field would be in trouble.

Their punishment was not much, but it was cruel.

Whipping is only the lightest punishment, and the heavier ones are being stripped naked, hung upside down, and then whipped. If they faint, they are splashed with water to wake them up.

If the punishment was more severe, such as trying to escape or damaging crops, they would be stoned to death in public, and their bodies would be left where they fell, to be eaten by animals or rot on their own.

Lex did not know what kind of life the people in his territory led. This was the first time he had been a lord. The biggest official he had been before was a Study Group Leader. Because he was addicted to playing games in junior high school, he was only in charge of one semester and was dismissed by the homeroom teacher. Since then, he has never been an "official" again.

So he very humbly asked Alwin for advice: "Do you think I've made a mistake by letting them eat twice a day?"

Alwin was wearing a white nightshirt with his chest open, revealing a snow-white chest. Lex had seen his body before, but at this moment, only a little of it was showing, which added to its seductive charm.

Alwin was sitting by the window. His room had a window with a half-meter-wide ledge where one could sit.

He glanced at Lex obliquely.

Lex subconsciously swallowed, then quickly spat out his own shallow infatuation with beauty. The other person was a man, with the same body structure as his own.

Alwin: "The same."

Lex: "Huh? What's the same?"

Alwin: "If you don't let them eat enough, it costs a fortune to buy new slaves every year. If you let them eat enough, the food costs the same as buying slaves."

Lex: "That's not what I meant. What I meant was that if I do this, no one should come looking for trouble, right?"

Alwin looked at him strangely: "Who would come looking for trouble?"

Lex sighed: "The Holy Court. I don't know if one meal a day is a rule of the Holy Court."

Alwin: "No, this is your territory. As long as you can guarantee the Holy Court an adequate amount of wheat every year, the Holy Court will not interfere with you."

Lex: "That's good. I was going to let them build their own straw huts. What if they catch a cold sleeping by the road every day? I heard the butler say that the rainy season is coming, so they need a place to shelter from the wind and rain."

Alwin looked at him with even more of a strange expression.

Lex: "What are you looking at?"

Alwin withdrew his gaze. He felt very strange, so he said seriously, "You are a kind person."

Lex was inexplicably praised, touched the back of his head, and said with a smile, "Really? You are the first one to praise me like this."

It's just a bit silly.

Alwin said to himself.

Lex: "Okay, then I'll do it!"

Although he had been forced to come here, he had no grudges against himself. He thought better of it and had no interest in the life of a monk.

Only by increasing productivity could he have a good life.

He had had enough of dry bread and strange-tasting soup anyway.

Since he had inexplicably come to this world and become a lord, he wanted to make a name for himself.

After all, when he played games, he loved to play Minecraft.