Boundless Family Upgrades For The Deadbeat Lord

Edran hesitated before answering honestly. "Because there was nowhere else close enough. The children couldn’t continue another full day through the snow. The next proper settlement east is farther than Althoff, and we didn’t know whether it had already been attacked."

His mouth tightened slightly before he added, "To be truthful, my Lord... some of us believed coming here might be worse."

Several people behind him looked uncomfortable.

Raymond almost laughed.

At least they were honest.

Edran continued carefully. "Everyone in northern Zulor knows what Althoff used to be. We heard the stories about the famine and about... your previous reputation. But travelers passing Marden late in autumn said the town had changed. They said smoke was rising from repaired houses, that there were soldiers on the roads, and that House Althoff had bought winter supplies from Valmere. We didn’t know how much was true."

His eyes moved briefly toward the repaired gate, the armed guards, and the warm smoke rising from chimneys behind the walls. "We know now that at least some of it was."

Raymond remained silent. The decision should have been easy. There were freezing children standing outside his gate.

There were injured men who might not survive another night. There were people who had lost their homes through no fault of their own. Any decent human being would simply open the gate.

Unfortunately, Raymond wasn’t allowed the luxury of thinking only with his heart anymore.

He had twelve hundred people already depending on him. Every sack of grain inside the warehouses had been calculated for winter.

Every blanket had been counted. Every communal room had limited space. Every refugee he accepted became another mouth consuming the food reserves he had spent months building.

Eighty-seven people didn’t sound like muchcompared to twelve hundred, but what happened if another village fell tomorrow?

Then another?

Then five?

His Mandatory Mission required him to protect Althoff for four months. Opening the gates carelessly could create an entirely different disaster inside his own walls even if no Beast Tide ever reached them.

Raymond’s eyes moved over the group again: children, hunters, families and people with skills.

People who had survived Blackridge long enough to reach him. Then, almost automatically, his consciousness called up the familiar blue interface.

A small section of the Family Core Metrics appeared before his vision.

[ Total Population: 1,200 / 5,000 ]

Raymond stared at the number.

Then looked at the refugees.

Then back at the number.

His expression changed slightly.

Well... helping people and exploiting System mechanics have finally become the exact samething.

The thought was so absurdly convenient that Raymond almost felt ashamed of how quickly the calculation began working in his favor.

He needed population. He needed workers.

He needed people who understood Blackridge.

He needed people with occupations his tiny settlement lacked.

The refugees needed food.

Shelter.

Protection.

A home.For once, there was no conflict between doing the humane thing and doing the profitable thing.

Raymond almost wanted to thank the universe.

He dismissed the interface and looked toward Edran. "You said eighty-seven people made it here. Are all of them willing to follow Althoff’s laws while they remain inside my territory?"

Edran immediately lowered his head. "Yes, my Lord. We ask only for somewhere warm enough for the children to survive. We will work for our food. The hunters can hunt, the craftsmen can work, and anyone still capable of lifting a tool will do whatever House Althoff requires."

Raymond’s eyes narrowed slightly. "I’m not asking whether you’ll work because you’re desperate today. I’m asking whether you’ll obey the laws of this territory. No stealing from the granaries. No fighting over rations. No attacking the people already living here. No abandoning assigned duties because you suddenly decide you’re guests rather than citizens under protection. If I open this gate, you follow the same rules as everyone else."

Edran looked up.

For the first time, something resembling hope appeared in his exhausted eyes.

"We will."

Raymond turned toward Boris. "Open the gate."

The captain nodded immediately.

Heavy wooden bars were lifted from their brackets. The reinforced gate groaned as several guards pulled it inward, creating a widening gap between Althoff and the freezing road outside.

For several seconds, the refugees didn’t move.

They simply stared. Perhaps they had expected more questions.

Perhaps they had expected Raymond to demand payment.

Perhaps some still expected the infamous deadbeat lord to change his mind.

Raymond stepped aside and gestured toward the opening. "Get the injured inside first. Marianne, use the western communal longhouse for temporary shelter and send someone to prepare hot grain porridge and meat broth. Nothing heavy until we know how long they’ve gone without proper food. Lily,start a complete registration before nightfall. Names, ages, families, occupations, injuries, everything. Boris, have the hunters questioned separately about Marden and the migration route after they’ve warmed up. I want every detail they remember."

Lily nodded quickly and hurried toward Marianne, while guards moved outside to help carry the wounded.

Edran remained kneeling.

Raymond looked at him. "You can stand now. You’re freezing my road."

The older hunter stared for a moment before slowly rising.

"Thank you, my Lord."

Raymond gave him a small nod. "Thank me after you survive winter."

The first refugees crossed through the gate.

A mother carrying two children began crying the moment she felt the warmth coming from the guardhouse brazier. An elderly woman repeatedly whispered a prayer beneath her breath as a guard wrapped a clean blanket around her shoulders.

Several men looked openly stunned at the sight of stacked firewood, armed patrols, and the smell of cooked food drifting from inside the town.

The people of Althoff watched them enter.

There was curiosity, some are suspicion.

But Raymond also saw recognition. Only a few months ago, the people inside these walls had looked almost exactly the same.

Starved.

Cold.

Terrified.

Waiting for somebody to decide whether they were worth saving.

That memory seemed to prevent anyone from complaining.

The gate remained open until the final refugee entered.

Then the heavy doors closed again.

A crystalline sound rang inside Raymond’s mind.

[ Ding! ]

Raymond’s eyes shifted toward the newly appeared System panel.

[ New Population Successfully Integrated Into House Althoff Territory. ]

[ Refugees Accepted: 87 ]

[ Population Increase Detected. ]

[ Total Population: 1,287 / 5,000 ]

Raymond stared at the number for several seconds while the newly arrived families disappeared toward the communal shelters.

For the first time since he inherited Althoff, the population wasn’t shrinking.

It was growing.

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