"Are there no good seeds?" Jasmine turned her head and asked.
"There are; the major merchant guilds all sell them, but they are very expensive." With the meager assets currently possessed by the territory, they absolutely could not afford to buy good seeds.
Do not look at the fact that before Jasmine arrived, the territory did not have a Lord governing directly; every year they still had to pay a fixed amount of tax to the Capital.
There were times when the harvest was small, and they even had to think of ways to sell off the furniture in the castle to make up for the missing tax money; their suffering was unspeakable.
However, after Jasmine took over, the tax money no longer needed to be sent to the Capital. Whether the revenue was much or little was decided by the current Lord herself.
The old Butler lowered his eyes to hide his embarrassment. Jasmine looked at his appearance and guessed the meaning of the unspoken words; she gained a deeper understanding of her own extreme poverty.
Even if she had money, wanting to buy seeds now would be too late. Time had passed; the best planting season had already gone.
Even if the crops in the fields were not developing well, they could only think of other ways to salvage them, taking care of them more carefully to hold out through this year before making further plans.
The grain varieties here could only be planted for one season per year. Relying only on the meager harvest in the fields, wanting everyone in the territory to have full bellies every day was almost an impossible task.
Of course, Jasmine was the Lord. No matter how scarce food was, the old Butler could not let her starve and would certainly reserve the best portion for her.
But with Jasmine's personality, she would not let herself live in luxury while ignoring others facing the risk of starvation right before her eyes.
Since she had taken over this territory, the people living on this land were her subjects; she naturally had the responsibility to lead them to live a better life.
Moreover, owning such a large territory with abundant natural resources, it couldn't be so tragic that they couldn't even fill their stomachs, could it? If so, she would be too much of a failure as a Lord.
Walking a bit further, a few scattered silhouettes of skinny slaves could be seen. They carried wooden buckets heavy with water, their backs bent, their steps trembling as they moved with difficulty amidst the uneven fields, patiently watering the dry, cracked patches of land.
Jasmine stood watching from afar for a while, her gaze thoughtful, not speaking up to disturb the slaves' work.
The other party was carrying heavy loads. If they were startled by her, they would surely slip and get injured.
Through the brief contact with the female chef this morning, Jasmine also understood the fear and apprehension these people had toward her, or more precisely, toward her authority as the Lord.
The two walked around where the slaves were working, and before long, they approached the dense forest.
There was a small river here with water flowing musically; the slaves took water from this river to irrigate the fields.
Perhaps thanks to the abundant water source, quite a few lush green bushes grew on both banks of the river.
In this season, the bushes were already hanging full of brilliant flowers and green berries that had just fruited. Honeybees and butterflies were busy flying within the bushes, and occasionally a few sparrows perched on the branches, impatiently pecking at the unripe berries, creating a scene full of vitality in contrast to the barren fields.
Jasmine wanted to go into the forest to see if she could find any edible wild vegetables or mushrooms, but just as she was about to step forward, she was frantically stopped by the old Butler reaching out his hand.
In this dense primeval forest, poisonous insects and wild beasts were hiding everywhere. This noble Lord, who had just arrived from the prosperous Capital, had a delicate body and soft skin. Without brave knights accompanying them, the old Butler absolutely did not dare to let Jasmine risk entering.
This was the Lord their territory had longed for, their only hope. If she died right here, even if all of them were buried with her, it would not be enough to atone for the crime.
Jasmine also understood that this kind of sparsely populated primeval forest was not as beautiful and peaceful as its appearance. Seeing the old Butler resolutely stopping her, she did not insist on entering anymore.
However, she was not in a hurry to return to the stifling castle. Instead, she led the old Butler to continue walking along the edge of the fields, leisurely patrolling, breathing in the fresh air while listening to the old Butler continue to introduce the general situation and history of the territory.
The sun gradually rose higher, and the air temperature gradually heated up. Jasmine still had some lingering fatigue from the long journey from the Capital; being shone upon by the harsh sun, she felt slightly dizzy, and sweat beaded on her forehead.
She saw a large ancient pine tree providing shade ahead, so she called out to the old Butler, intending to rest for a moment under the tree.
Jasmine had not yet sat down when a scream tearing through the silence suddenly came from the dense grass in the distance. Jasmine started and looked up, only to see the vegetation swaying violently, and a huge black shadow charging straight toward her at a terrifying speed.
"My Lord, be careful! Hurry back!" The old Butler shouted, his face drained of blood. He took a few steps forward, spreading his arms in a defensive posture to block in front of Jasmine, even though his limbs were trembling.
But there was a figure faster than the old Butler. The other party rushed out from the side like an arrow, spreading muscular arms to directly pounce on that black shadow, then both rolled several times in the grass, crushing a patch of vegetation before stopping.
Jasmine heard the deafening roar filled with rage of a wild beast. Looking closely, she opened her eyes wide in astonishment, suspecting whether she had hallucinated from sun exposure for too long.
The shadow rushing at Jasmine and William was a giant wild boar growing sharp white tusks, while the person wrestling the wild boar to the ground was a slave wearing ragged coarse cloth clothes revealing a muscular chest. What astonished Jasmine to the extreme was that on that slave's neck was a bull's head with curling horns.