Chapter 2

My name in the world is Ark Noyadarma. What is the evil master?　And it's a title that makes me want to cringe. If anything, my parents are more like the evil ones. They are the so-called "evil master." They treat their people like trash, forcibly seize their livestock and land, create unfair laws and monopolize their profits, impose reckless military service on them, and levy excessive taxes on them. When the people were suffering from starvation, it seems that those people were spending lavishly to show off their wealth to the public. They took bribes as a matter of course. They were scum. My parents, who were such trashy people, died the other day. While they were hunting, a hobby of theirs, they were attacked by a monster that suddenly appeared and killed them. I tried to shed tears because my parents died, but no tears appeared at all. Maybe I had dry eyes. Incidentally, this world has fantasy elements such as monsters and magic. I like beastmen, but unfortunately, I heard that they don't need beastmen. 　It was so unfortunate that I was seriously moved to tears. 　I was far more shocked by the lack of beastmen than by the death of my parents. I doubt that those scum were attacked by a monster in the first place. Monsters don't appear that often. 　It is even possible that they were killed by someone. Well, they are scum after all. Probably, somebody must have had a grudge against them to the point of killing. They are dead, though, literally. Namu Amidabutsu. 　After the funeral of my parents, I needed to become a lord and rule my domain. By the way, I'm going to be the Earl Galum from now on. I heard that the Count Galum is a noble family with a historic dog emblem. And Galum is the name of a domain. Although I will be ruling a domain from now on, I am eight years old. I don't have the power to rule a territory like this. 　So I turned to Lampard. Lampard is the chief butler who has served House Noyadarma since the previous generation. He was an old man with a straight back and the face resembling a butler. The first thing I ordered him to do was to investigate all the wrongdoings. "Oh, Master Arc. I never thought that a boy with such a strong sense of justice would be born from those people. It's a miracle." Lampard was saying, "This is a miracle," but I had no idea what he was talking about. 　Of course, I have no sense of justice. I don't intend to live a straight life, so I think it's okay for me to cheat. But I will not tolerate cheating by others. I suffered from fraud in my previous life. 　In the first place, everything in this territory belongs to me. What I mean by cheating is taking my possessions away from me without fair compensation. That is something I will not tolerate. Lampard found evidence of fraud one after another. The evidence came out so thick and dusty that it was laughable. It's a parade of fraud. The names of many people in the mansion also came out. Seriously, this is a corrupt place. I felt sick with the memory of my previous life. 　I ordered Lampard to take care of everything. 　Some people suffered because of those scum parents. I paid them off to shut their mouths. 　Ha-ha-ha-ha! 　Money and power are all that matter in this world! The evil lord is the best! The territory was in ruins, but I don't know anything about managing a territory. 　I left it to Lampard. I was told that it would take a lot of money to restore the territory. Frankly, if the territory is in ruins, I'm not going to be rich. So it was necessary to restore the territory. 　So I sold off all the art and antiques that the scum parents had collected. Surprisingly, my parents had an eye for picking out the good stuff. Thanks to that, the amount of money they sold off was quite large. 　But even so, they said it wasn't enough. If money is not enough, we need to reduce expenses. I ordered Lampard to proceed with the disarmament. 　But Lampard was against it. "The recent appearance of monsters and bandits has left our territory in ruins. If we shrink our forces here, we may find ourselves in an even worse position than we already are." 'If the army is only for show, we are better off without it." My parents have been expanding the army for the sake of glory. But the military is a wreck on the inside. I love the good looks, but if it's just for show, it's better not to have it. Besides, I can't spend my precious money on such a useless thing. "If you get caught, it's the end of it." "It's already taken a hit. Otherwise, the bandits wouldn't be out there raiding the place." That's ....... "Cut the number of soldiers down to one-third, and quit everyone who is in charge. We can't afford to spend money on incompetents". "We can save money by firing the ones with the highest salaries first." With the extra money, I ordered Lampard to restructure the place. Lampard reluctantly obeyed. 　Ha-ha-ha! 　It's great to be in a position to give orders to others! In my previous life, I was just knocked down from above. Aristocrats are the best! I was giving Lampard all kinds of orders, but he said he was shorthanded. There are too few people in this mansion to begin with, he said. And because there are not enough people, there's no decent standard of service. That's not good! It's my house, so of course I need better service! I've decided to hire people whose parents have had their livestock and land confiscated to be my servants. I know they don't want to work for me, but I'm a lord. 　You belong to me. 　I know they have a grudge against me. So I said to them. "I don't ask you to forgive me. I don't expect you to forgive me. If you want to hate me, hate me. You have the right to do so. But I will tell you this!　You can't eat with a grudge! If you have a grudge against me, have it. But will it make your life easier?　Will it change your life? You have two choices. One is to die in the field with a grudge against me. The other is to hate me and obey me! Choose!　I don't care either way! But if you work for me here, I'll guarantee you a minimum standard of living." Well, I can only guarantee "a bare minimum." After all, I have no money. 　They were in tears, but I still forced them to work. My orders are final! 　Ha-ha-ha! I felt so confident and superior. 　I also reduced the salaries of those who had been working until now to the "bare minimum." 　I drank tea elegantly while Lampard and many other servants were working hard. Tea while others are working is very nice. "Tea is delicious.' Today, I am living as I please as a villainous aristocrat.