I'm not a lord

Chapter 39: Night Talk Before Departure
Late at night, the cold wind blowing across White Bear's territory still retained some of its chill.

In the bedroom on the second floor of the castle, the fireplace was burning brightly, and the room felt like warm spring.

Yagna curled up in Lin En's broad chest, a few strands of messy golden hair stuck to her rosy cheeks, her eyelashes drooped slightly, revealing a bit of laziness and tiredness, but the upturned corners of her eyes and eyebrows clearly revealed a hint of joy.

She is no longer the shy little deer she used to be.

Under Lynn's training, the young northern girl is rapidly transforming into a mature and attractive doe.

"Sir, please be mindful of the dangers in the forest, especially the wild folk."

Yagna had long been deeply impressed by Lin En's bravery.

But when she thought of the hidden risks in the vast and dense forest, the uneasiness in her heart still surged like a tide.

Lin En rubbed her firm and elastic young cheeks. "Don't worry, I'll bring enough people with me this time. If we really encounter deserters, I'll capture a few for you."

"Sir, I don't want barbarians. As long as you are safe, that's enough."

Yagna could not understand Lin En's attitude towards the wastelanders, nor could she understand his obsession with the forest.

What treasures are hidden in the northern forests that would make a lord risk his life to explore even his cultivated fields?

In her opinion, those uncivilized and dirty savages were the enemies of the entire Northern Kingdom and were to be wiped out.

However, Yagena did not show any obvious hostility towards the barbarians. She was sensitive and could feel that the men around her valued the barbarians.

"Just stay in the castle and remember to keep track of all the accounts. If I come back and find that the accounts don't match..."

As he spoke, Lin En's other big hand suddenly slipped into the depths of the quilt and squeezed it hard, "You know the consequences very well."

"Yeah~"

Yagena cried out in surprise and begged for mercy, "Don't worry about the accounts, sir. I will never make a mistake."

Lin En doesn't keep any idle people under his command.

Yagna had to serve him at night and was responsible for the accounts and expenses of the entire territory during the day.

When serfs cultivated the lord's public fields, they had to bring their own livestock and farm tools, but the seeds had to come from the lord's warehouse.

Not only that, the lord must also provide a filling lunch every day, otherwise the serfs will not have the energy to work in the afternoon.

When teasing the 'little doe', Lynn's actions seemed a little careless.

He casually kneaded the doe's body with one hand, but his eyes were fixed on the dark ceiling.

Thinking back on what he had seen and heard in the North over the years, he became increasingly certain that the aristocracy of the Northern Kingdom generally held a deep and chasm-like hostility towards the barbarians.

After conquering the lands of the barbarians, these nobles never seemed to consider ethnic integration.

Even if these nobles' territories were extremely short of population, and even if they had to spend a lot of money to buy serfs, they would still kill all the barbarians who appeared in their territories.

Not only that, they will also try their best to erase all traces of the existence of the wastelanders.

The language, customs, and even the objects and tools used by the barbarians were almost completely destroyed.

It is clear that the barbarians have lived and multiplied in the North for thousands of years, but Lin En has found it difficult to find evidence of the existence of this nation after traveling throughout the entire Northern Kingdom.

It was in a small town in the south of the kingdom that Lin En had the opportunity to meet an elderly scholar who could speak the language of the barbarians.

According to his own account, he is most likely the last scholar in the entire Northern Kingdom who is proficient in the language of the Savages.

He learned the language of the barbarians from a female slave of the barbarians.

However, it is difficult to find living barbarian slaves in the Northern Kingdom today.

In the nobles' subconscious, perhaps the barbarians were not human beings at all, but animals that could be hunted and killed at will. If the upper class was hostile to the barbarians, the lower class was afraid of them.

You can get a glimpse of this just by looking at old Albert's attitude towards the barbarians.

Of course, the lower classes lack education, and this fear probably comes from word of mouth within the family and from the fear of the unknown.

It's like the ghost stories parents tell when disciplining their naughty children.

The last large-scale war between the Northern Kingdom and the Savages dates back to thirty years ago, and the main battlefield was also on the Savages' land. Most of the lower classes in the North had never seen a living Savage.

This fear obviously does not come from 'understanding'.

But no matter what, Lin En wanted to accept the barbarians, he urgently needed population.

In his opinion, as long as one is a human being, he or she will always yearn for a rich and stable life.

The people of the wasteland are also human beings. They will never be satisfied with the bitter, cold and barren wasteland.

From the excavation traces found around the salt mine, it can also be seen that a tribe of barbarians left the northern wilderness and migrated south to the northern part of the White Bear Territory.

Lin En hopes to accept this tribe of barbarians, of course, on the premise that this tribe of barbarians can let go of their hostility.

In his eyes, there is no hostility or rift that cannot be filled by a bowl of fragrant hot porridge.

The barbarians were uncivilized and they didn't even have clear written language, only primitive and vague language.

In the absence of written records, it is difficult for hatred between ethnic groups to be passed down from generation to generation.

Thirty years have passed, and this group of barbarians has reproduced two generations.

Given the harsh climate and scarce resources in the wilderness, the older generation of residents who experienced the war are likely to have died long ago.

For the new generation of barbarians, the horrors of the Northern Kingdom are probably no different from "ghost stories".

At least that's what Lynn thought.

However, the specific situation can only be determined after he actually comes into contact with the wastelanders.

If this tribe of barbarians would rather die than become the people under Lin En's rule.

Then we can only let them die.

Lynn would never allow anyone who refused to submit to him to exist on his land.

At this moment, Yagna's soft voice interrupted Lin En's thoughts: "My lord, I heard that you want to build a school in your territory."

Lin En touched her head and said, "I did have this idea. What's wrong?"

Although Lin En has not yet revealed secrets such as the salt mine to Yagna, with his tacit consent, Yagna has gradually become involved in the management of the territory.

Today, when Lin En was inspecting the farming on the watchtower, Yagna was standing not far from him, so she naturally heard his conversation with Lao Liu.

"My lord, the Duchess once told me that it's actually a good thing that serfs can't learn or write. The more they know, the harder it is to manage them."

Lin En was already feeling a little sleepy, but she instantly became interested again after hearing this: "Really? The Duchess will still talk to you about this?"

"Well, she also said that words are a very special medium that can transcend time and place. Our lives are very short, but words can be passed down forever."

"and then?"

"So she believed that not everyone was qualified to learn writing. To use writing properly, one needed certain qualifications and upbringing. If anyone was qualified to leave behind writings, the world would become a garbage dump."

"It's an interesting idea."

(End of this chapter)