Chapter 611: The New Lord and His Proxy

Tauro and his party were ushered into the castle and led to the office.

The reason it wasn’t the reception room was likely that Tauro wasn’t a guest, but the lord himself.

Robin, the dogkin woman dispatched by the Garfish Trading Company, personally guided them. She invited Tauro to sit in the office chair, then remained standing before him and formally introduced herself.

“Allow me to introduce myself once more. My name is Robin! Until Lord Tauro’s arrival, I’ve governed the Giro Sugar Viscounty as your acting proxy under the orders of Mardai Garfish, head of the Garfish Trading Company. The previous lord governed this land terribly, and the people’s lives were difficult, so I took the liberty of beginning with tax reductions and a purge of corrupt officials. I also reorganized the territory’s debts. Furthermore, to generate revenue, I opened negotiations with the autonomous regions and the Royal Frontier Special Zone. By resuming trade with part of the frontier zone, we were able to use the profits to offset the territory’s deficits. At present, we’ve reached the black—though only barely, so I believe how we manage things from here will be crucial!”

Robin had already handled many of the tasks that would otherwise have greatly burdened the new lord, substantially improving the territory before Tauro’s arrival.

Most notably, to eliminate waste, she personally interviewed every member of the estate’s overly large staff to determine whether each position was necessary. She punished those who were lazy or secretly embezzling funds, dismissing some and expelling others from the territory. The severity of her decisions was surprising given her appearance.

“The reforms you’ve carried out over the past six months are incredible, Robin-san… It’s clear how much healthier the territory has become in such a short time.”

Robin retrieved documents detailing the policies she had implemented over the past six months from a large shelf beside the office and placed them before Tauro. He skimmed through them and couldn’t help being impressed.

Aeris, looking over his shoulder, was equally astonished.

“Honestly, even without Tauro, wouldn’t the territory be perfectly fine if Robin-san handled everything?”

She voiced her candid impression.

“No! I’m, after all, only a merchant. I carried out various measures for the sake of efficiency, but beyond that, things haven’t gone well. Other than resuming trade with the Royal Frontier Special Zone, I’ve made little progress… The representatives of the autonomous regions don’t trust the people here because of the discriminatory policies of the former lord, Count Lunesk, so there’s still no prospect of resuming trade with them.”

Perhaps feeling the limits of her role as acting lord, Robin-san’s tone grew subdued as she admitted what she had been unable to accomplish.

“Turning a territory that had been running deficits into the black in just half a year is a remarkable achievement. It might’ve taken me much longer. And I’ve heard from Garfish that the people trust you deeply. I also heard that this trust led to the discovery of the mine.”

Tauro once again praised her accomplishments.

In truth, it was rare to find an administrator with such ability. The decisiveness with which she had carried out those sweeping reforms was genuinely exceptional.

“I merely acted as your proxy under Chairman Garfish’s orders. The people may be grateful, but all I did was restore their lives to how they should’ve been. I believe I’m better suited to running a shop as a merchant.”

Robin-san looked like a beautiful, coolheaded dogkin woman with an excellent figure, but her gentle, good-natured manner of speaking made her easy to like.

“It seems you also have a sharp eye for people, Robin-san. The servants we passed on the way here were all working very efficiently.”

Tauro complimented her again as she modestly downplayed her achievements.

“As a dogkin, I have a keen nose for telling people apart!”

Perhaps taking pride in her heritage, Robin-san puffed out her chest and boasted proudly.

“By the way, Garfish gave me a message. He said I could work you as hard as I liked, Robin-san… So, what do you think? Would you be willing to continue governing this land on my behalf?”

“W-What!? After I hand things over to you, I’m supposed to take charge of the Garfish Trading Company branch in this city, so that would be difficult!”

Robin-san hurriedly refused.

“Well, I’ve never managed a territory before, and having someone experienced like you—especially someone who turned it profitable in only six months—would be a huge help. In that case, could you at least stay on until we find a new proxy? I also travel to all sorts of places as an adventurer, so even that much would help enormously.”

“Uh… Chairman Garfish ordered me, ‘We bought the territory without Lord Tauro’s permission, so leaving it in the red would be terrible. Get it into the black no matter what!’ I’ve accomplished that, so I’d like to return to being a merchant… But this letter also says that, since the company prepared this territory for you without permission, I’m to make sure it doesn’t interfere with your adventures. So… I can stay until a replacement is found.”

Robin-san hesitated at Tauro’s request and thought it over. But given how much Tauro had contributed to the trading company’s growth, she could hardly refuse, so she proposed that compromise and accepted.

“Really!? Thank you very much! In that case, could you tell me how you think the territory should be managed from here? I’d like to use your views as a reference.”

Grateful to the dependable dogkin woman, Tauro decided to hear Robin’s thoughts on the territory’s future in detail.