The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 99: End of a Long Winter (3) (Part 2)

Still, it displayed some fundamental rules—

The [Player] can gain Territory EXP to increase the Territory Level.
As the level rises, new research and beneficial effects for the entire territory can be unlocked and applied.

The [Player] can check the financial status, material resources, and human resources of their territory.

The [Player] can detect hidden resources within the owned territory.

There was no such function.

But while the phrase may have been exaggerated, it hadn’t lied.

‘So, I need to complete more quests to unlock additional features?’

That seemed to be the case.

It was a bit disappointing, but even as it was, the feature was more than useful.
I examined the information about the County floating in front of me.

Starting with the Battenberg Kingdom’s general standard for counties.

A medium-to-small County typically spanned about 500 km².
Larger Counties could exceed 2,000 km².
So this one—at 2,234 km²—was quite large, even beyond that of a large County.

‘But most of it is unusable land.’

An environment of year-round, relentless frost.
Only about 5% of the total area was even habitable.

And “habitable” didn’t mean “useful.”
There was a reason this region was called a “Survival Threshold Zone.”

In other words, its practically usable area didn’t even reach that of a small County.

Population? Needless to say—
It was comparable to that of a Barony.

Perhaps that was why its Prosperity Grade was only Township.
A territory that had barely surpassed the status of a mere village.

‘Can I view detailed information by category?’

Apparently, I could.
If I wanted, I could check detailed breakdowns by category.

So I selected the [Population] category.

◆ Gender Ratio
[Male] – 955 (51%)
[Female] – 916 (49%)

The gender distribution was viewable too—

◆ Age Distribution
[14 and under] – 531
[15–39] – 857
[40–59] – 306
[60 and above] – 177

Along with the age breakdown—

◆ Occupation Distribution
[Villagers] – 1,148
[Soldiers] – 598
[Artisans] – 77
[Employees] – 48

Even the occupational distribution was laid out at a glance.

‘…How is this even possible?’

It was right before my eyes, and yet it didn’t feel real.
Could this be magic?

Too many of its functions seemed outright impossible.

Granted, I wasn’t well-versed in magic.
But I had some knowledge from Iliana.

This wasn’t magic.

It was the kind of function you’d expect to exist only in fiction.
So if anything, it had to be a kind of Aura—but…

‘I can’t use Aura, though?’

It wasn’t just that I couldn’t handle it—it couldn’t even affect me.
Isolde’s holy healing didn’t work on me, which was proof of that.
So that meant it wasn’t Aura either.

Not magic. Not Aura.
It was Ian’s power.

‘Don’t tell me Ian discovered another usable form of energy derived from Mana?’

The primordial energy, Mana.

And its usable forms of energy:
Mana Force, Aura.

Both were discovered by humans and transformed from raw Mana into usable power.

So, theoretically, other usable forms could exist.
And if it were Ian, he might’ve actually discovered one—

‘But I can’t use Mana at all.’

It’s not even a matter of control.
I literally can’t accept Mana into my body.

So even if Ian did discover a new form of energy derived from Mana,
I still couldn’t use it, as long as it was Mana-based.

Which meant—

‘So… it’s not powered by Mana?’

That was the only conclusion left.
Which also meant that there might be another primordial energy besides Mana…

‘Hmm.’

Come to think of it—
Ian’s ability, Solo Leveling [EX].
That mysterious power that boosts my physical capabilities simply by leveling up.

It couldn’t be explained through Mana.

If it were based on Mana, it couldn’t apply to me in the first place.
Same for Player’s Will [EX], which had now evolved into Will of the Successor [EX].

Now that I think about it—

‘All of Ian’s abilities are rated as [EX], beyond standard classification.’

Could there really be another primordial energy besides Mana?
And did Ian truly master it?

‘…That bastard Ian better explain this next time I see him.’

The moment we meet again,
I’m giving him an earful.

Well, maybe he kept quiet because even he didn’t fully understand it yet.
But still—
Ian was the only one who could answer these questions.

And yet, his whereabouts remained elusive.

Was he drawing the Emperor’s aggro?
Or was he scouring the continent trying to find me?

No way to be sure.

In that sense—

‘I need to investigate the Empire’s movements and gather information.’

If Ian was drawing the Emperor’s attention, there would be traces of that in the Empire.

‘But contacting the Empire is incredibly risky.’

My information could leak, or worse—
I could get exposed to the Emperor’s surveillance, severely restricting my movements.

Especially since the Monarch of Frost, Serapia, was currently on my side,
I had to be extra cautious with anything related to the Empire.

That’s why I hadn’t touched any imperial intel until now.
Even Adelon and the merchant guilds didn’t have the reach to get inside.

In any case—

‘There’s more than one thing I need to ask Ian.’

……Not something I could figure out just by brooding.

I shook my head to clear the thoughts.
Then turned my attention back to the population breakdown in front of me.

What caught my eye most was the occupational distribution.

‘It’s expected to have a lot of Villagers.’

Villagers referred to territory residents not engaged in any specific labor.
That included children and elders, so of course the number was high.

Considering that—

‘But the soldier ratio is insane.’

The number of Soldiers was disproportionately high.
Normally, a healthy range is 1–5% of the total population.

Maintaining troops is expensive—
One soldier costs three to five times more per year than a common resident.

If the soldier count exceeds 5%?
You can’t sustain the costs.

For House of Whitewolf, even 5% would mean only 93 soldiers max.
But there were 598 soldiers.
Clearly abnormal.

‘It’s because there’s no other productive activity here.’

In this frostbitten County—
Farming is out of the question.
Even gathering or hunting is nearly impossible.

There’s only one source of income.

Selling monster byproducts.
And to hunt monsters, you need soldiers.

So of course their numbers were high.

Putting all this together—

‘It’s devastating.’

Truly, hopelessly devastating.

Of course, I expected it to be bad.
But seeing the numbers?
Worse than I imagined.

‘And I can’t leave the County now, either…’

More importantly—

‘I still don’t know what to do about Serapia.’

I still planned to use the County of Whitewolf as my base of operations.
Which meant it was time to get serious.

‘Let’s see how much money’s left in the inventory…’

Roughly 75 million gold remained.
A reassuring sum.

But I couldn’t rest easy.

‘If I use it for management, it’ll vanish fast.’

The inventory may be infinite—
But the money isn’t.

‘I need to build an economic system where the territory is self-sustaining through taxes.’

Which means I have to create jobs.
So the people can earn money through work.

And to do that—
I need to come up with business plans for the County.

‘Still a long road ahead.’

But even a giant fortress starts with a single brick.

And I wasn’t just well-funded—
I also had, in my head, the entire operational system of a coalition army that once united the whole continent—

◆ Territory Quest: [Unemployment Crisis! Damn It! Begin County Restoration!] has arrived.

Raising this County from the ground up?
Piece of cake.

Darkness fell upon the County of Whitewolf.

Thud!

A heavy impact shattered the silence—
Rustle…

Chief Steward Bernard slowly opened his eyes.

It was the pre-dawn hour, cloaked in thick shadows.
Bernard peered out the window.

And under the faint moonlight—

Huge crates stacked neatly.
Sacks of grain piled like hills.
Fine cloth and silk bundled in heaps…

“W-What in the world…?”

Bernard couldn’t tell—
Was this a dream or reality?

Translatin_Otaku

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