"My name is Bernard, sir."
Old Captain Bernard said, he was happy that finally a noble lord had decided to reside here in this old castle, and it was from an Oakvale lineage.
"Sir Bernard, I name you the chamberlain of Oldwyn Castle, and you can now rest easy from your guarding postion and stay in the castle. I might be abandoned, but I still possess redeeming qualities. Okay, does the armory have anything at all?"
Rowan asked, because he was also helping out his father previously and has a memory of it, he has also seen the payment negligence of his father, he even skipped paying for this castle holding sometimes.
"We don't have anything. The youngsters who volunteer for guard duty are also not full-time guards, they only patrol at night and do farm work in the daytime. We pretend so that bandits won't come here. The whole country is in turmoil, and we don't even have a lord to protect us. You are a godsend, my lord."
Bernard said he choked on the middle of the sentence and felt too emotional.
So that's why the system said there was only one soldier.
"I am here now, don't worry, everything will change from now on. You go and ask everyone in the village to gather around the castle, I want to meet them myself today."
Rowan said with a reassuring smile on his face that he wanted to take control of his life now, he was free to do anything now because he was not an heir anymore and had a system that would give him gold for his ambitions.
With this war-torn country, I can make use of my memory and this system to go very, very high.
Rowan's eyes glistened with ambition. He was here anyway, so he would see what he could do in a medieval fantasy world.
Bernard bowed deeply and then left, leaving Henry and Hynek with Rowan.
"My Lord, you handled things so well."
"Exactly, your charisma is unparalleled, you can maybe talk your way into a royal court and become a king."
Both Hynek and Henry smiled seeing Rowan in his old form again. Rowan was intelligent from birth and has studied, unlike them, who were illiterate.
"Sigh! It was exhausting. I had to dismiss him from the castle command somehow, and he knows the area well and is loyal. Of course, you keep loyal people by your side. He can be very useful as a chamberlain, but as a captain, not anymore."
Rowan said he sat on the bed once again. He was tired already, and he was feeling hungry. A maid came with food, it was not a fancy thing but simple gruel and a loaf of bread.
"What's your name?"
Rowan asked the maid who came, she was not even making eye contact with Rowan. She was young, maybe around fifteen, and was well built. Rowan could guess she was carefully chosen by the villagers.
"A…Agnes, my lord."
Agnes said she was trembling, she had never seen a noble before, but she had heard of them from her mother's mouth, and she knew they were better than them somehow.
"Agnes, thank you for bringing me food."
Rowan said, with a smile as he ate, Agnes's face turned red, she was steaming from her head as she had never seen a person as beautiful as this lord in front of her.
"You have to say, 'It was nothing, my lord,' or 'I don't deserve it, my lord.'"
Hynek said with a chuckle that he was just teasing the young maid.
"Alright, stop teasing the girl. Agnes, you may leave us."
Rowan reprimanded Hynek with a strict tone and dismissed Agnes with a gentle one.
After Agnes left, Hynek and Henry didn't talk because Rowan was eating. After he finished his food, Rowan asked them to sit down for a chat.
"You guys didn't ask anything, so I can guess you are very much interested in listening to what plans I have."
Rowan said with a smile on his face, Hynek and Henry being his childhood friends, he knows what they are thinking.
"Yes, my lord."
Both of them said, they were very sad when Rowan was sick and was in bed, they thought their adventure was over before it even began, but it seems Young Lord was still as intelligent as ever.
"How much silver do I have left after losing our horses?"
Rowan asked, They were carrying quite a lot of silver, but when they were attacked, it was in the horse saddlebag and vanished with the horses.
"500 silver coins, my lord."
Henry replied. Henry was a little more serious than Hynek and is a sword-wielding monster.
"500? Well, that can't even buy me a decent cuirass. Hmm. Okay, we will spend it all hiring eight more people in the garrison. Hynek will create an archery division, and Henry, you will create a swordsman division. Our basic goal is now to fortify our castle and then chop down trees to repair it back to be able to defend our selves. Bandits are roaming the country, and we better be prepared."
"In the evening, I have summoned the villagers to meet me. Choose whoever suits you the most. Try to recruit four each of you. I will need a ten-man garrison for now. The money won't be a problem for too long, so we will spend it on repairing and recruiting, and then we will go hunting."
Rowan said with a mysterious smile that he wanted to hunt robber barons and bandits in these troubled times, these were the easy targets.
Rowan dismissed the two of them as they had yet to eat breakfast, then he lay down. He was fascinated by the panel that was in front of him the whole time he had the conversations, and nobody was able to see it.
[Mission: Recruit Ten Castle Guards. Progress: 0/10. Reward: Stats Panel + 100 Gold Ingots]
Nice, so it knows I have dismissed Bernard.