Rowan''s cry of pain from the sudden ache in his head drew the attention of everyone around the small hut. Hearing his loud cry, they abandoned their tasks and sprinted towards the room.
"Young master!" a beautiful white-haired youngdy screamed as she flung open the locust-infested wooden door.
Following behind her were two older women and one older man. All of them, including the youngdy, were dressed in tattered clothes, evidence of the vige''s poor status.
Seeing the ragged group run into the room, Rowan, who had just finished arranging his fragmented memories and realizing his identity and situation, frowned at the stats of the firstdy disyed before him.
[ Name: Ri Vincred ]
[ upation: Tailor ]
[ Special Skill: x2 Sewing Speed; Can sew clothes two times faster than other professionals ]
[ Status: Emotional ]
He recognized her from his memories. Ri was the daughter of the former captain of the vige''s army, who had died protecting other vigers from goblins. She had been living with Rowan since then, and their rtionship was very close.
Seeing a healthy Rowan sitting on the bed, Ri eyes turned wet, and she immediately ran to hug him, pressing her body deeply against him as she cried her heart out in his embrace.
"I thought I had lost you Rowan, I''ve missed you so much," she wept profusely.
"You haven''t. I''m back now, Ri," Rowan consoled her, patting her soft white hair as he turned to view the stats of the others in the room.
His eyes fell on the man in front of him, whom he had also seen in the memory fragment.
[ Name: Brandon ]
[ upation: Assistant ]
[ Special Ability: Territory Management; Possesses extraordinary talent in smooth running of territory ]
[ Status: Surprised ]
''Exceptional ability, where are his other skills?'' Rowan pondered with a frown.
Almost immediately, a detailed stats with his rank included was revealed.
-------[ Brandon ]------
upation: Assistant (E-rank)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
?Territory Management - Possesses extraordinary in smooth running or territory (F-rank)
?Lord of Gambling - Probability of winning every bet, gamble, etc., is increased by 20% (Rank: E)
?Sweet Tongue: Smooth talker, can even fool a monkey into eating meat (Rank: D)
Status: Shocked
-------[ Brandon ]-------
Seeing this, Rowan was beyond impressed. ''I can keep him close to me to manage territory management while I concern myself with other aspect,''
While he didn''t want to copy the territory management skill, he decided to copy the gambling one as it will be useful for rewards in the future such as loot boxes and mystery cards.
Without wasting time, he proceeded to copy the skill.
On Brandon''s character tab, a special window popped out.
[ Confirm to copy (Lord of Gambling) ]
''Confirm,''
DING!
[ Skill (Lord of Gambling) has been copied sessfully ]
[ Are you ready to merge with (Lord
of gambling) ]
''Yes,''
[ Merging...1%...6%...100% ]
[ Skill merged sessfully ]
''It''s pretty easy to copy skills, haha. I wonder what impressive skills I''ll get to copy next,'' Rowan mused.
Still under Ri''s tight embrace as he felt the softness of her soft breasts, Rowan proceeded to view the stats of the two older women. Liora and Tiora were his personal cooks and had yed a role in his life since the death of his mother.
After Rowan was done noting their stats, his stomach began protesting violently for nutrition.
Hearing his grumbling, Ri let go of him and stood up.
Her cute face filled with worry faced him as she said, "I''ll go prepare something for you to eat," and left the room.
Tiora and Liora went with her, leaving only Brandon in the room.
"Young Lord, it is a big miracle that you have recovered. Everyone in the vige had given up on you, believing you would never be able to survive," Brandon said with a smile.
Rowan nodded in response as he stood up from the bed and proceeded to the mirror in the room to observe his visage.
The reflection in the mirror was that of a young man with rough jet-ck hair and ocean-like blue eyes; his face was well-proportioned.
While he looked pretty amazing, the roughness of his hair and other poor body-care factors reduced his attractiveness.
"Not bad," he muttered before turning to Brandon.
"Judging by the state of your clothes, I can tell the vige has declined significantly since I fell ill. Do you mind exining in detail what has happened during my absence?" Rowan inquired.
"Your observations are correct as usual, my lord. Not only has our vige declined, but we have also fallen and be vassals under Glenwood vige..." Brandon began narrating with a pained voice, informing Rowan of all the events during his absence.
ording to him, the poption of the vige had decreased by almost 45% due to the war and famine that constantly tormented Winterseed vige. Additionally, due to the decline in soldiers, goblin attacks had be frequent, resulting in the loss of food and lives.
Glenwood had seized control over Winterseed River for their horses, resulting in farmers being unable to farm properly, thereby leading to a further decrease in food production.
"Glenwood vige? Aren''t they the vige to the west that became vassals to another vige during my father''s reign? Has Winterseed fallen so much during my absence that we be easy targets for a small vige like Glenwood?" Rowan asked with a frown.
While Rowan hadn''t heard of Winterseed on earth, the news of Glenwood being the weakest vige was pretty popr. He couldn''t believe his vige was a vassal to such a weak vige; it was disheartening.
"I apologize, young lord. Even with my strategy, I couldn''t prevent these disasters, but I believe as you ascend to the position of vige head once again, we will survive," Brandon said, bowing his head slightly.
"No need for that. We will start preparing to end the vassal rtionship with Glenwood immediately and take back what is ours," Rowan said with a smile.
He had dealt with far worse territorial issues online; now it was time to implement the real deal.
"Gather all the able-bodied men at the vige square tomorrow morning for a meeting," hemanded.