Lord of Reclamation: I Can Unlock Abilities By Building Civilizations
Chapter 30: The Price of Kindness

Chapter 30: The Price of Kindness

The moment Thane walked into the room, he locked eyes with the girl.

Her bright eyes zeroed in on Thane—she could clearly tell at first glance who was running the show.

"Thank you for saving my life, noble sir."

The girl’s voice was crystal clear, her tone gentle and polite. "I’m starving. Could you spare me something to eat?"

Thane nodded, turned around and had a guard bring dried meat and bread for the girl, then poured her a cup of water.

You could tell the girl was absolutely famished, but she still tore the bread into tiny pieces and quickly popped them in her mouth instead of just biting into it.

This was obviously second nature from years of noble etiquette training.

She ate with total focus, head down, nibbling the bread delicately but quickly like a little rabbit, swallowing hard before hurriedly tearing off another small piece to stick in her mouth.

The wooden house suddenly went dead quiet, with only the soft sound of the girl chewing.

Only after she polished off the entire piece of bread did Thane speak up.

"I’m Thane Ividaya, lord of Shadowpine Ridge. I’m glad to see you’re awake, but it wasn’t me who saved you."

Thane didn’t sugarcoat anything and told her exactly what had gone down when they showed up and what he figured had happened.

"I’m sorry—I’m the one who got that hunter killed."

The girl bowed apologetically, looking pretty bummed out.

The hunter’s three kids hadn’t snapped out of their grief yet, keeping their heads down without saying a word, quietly sobbing.

"It’s all that damn bear’s fault. After spring plowing, I’ll organize hunting parties to drive them back into the forest."

Thane spoke to lighten the heavy mood, pulling out the brooch and handing it to the girl.

"My subordinate Aleya found this on you when she was checking your injuries.

I’m thinking you must be the lord of Razor Plains who was supposedly killed recently?"

"I totally spaced on introducing myself—how rude of me."

The girl apologized again, then said, "You’re absolutely right. I’m the eldest daughter of the Redgriffin Earl, lord of Razor Plains—Avril Redgriffin."

Nailed it.

Thane thought to himself, but this girl was nothing like what he’d pictured.

She seemed way too delicate.

Her father, the Redgriffin Knight, had back in the day led just five guards to punch through a circle of over a hundred rebels and brutally crushed his brother who tried to overthrow him—the guy had balls that ordinary people couldn’t match.

But you couldn’t see any of that fire in this girl.

Actually, it was totally normal for a noble lady to be refined and gentle.

The real question was—how could someone so fragile end up in the Northern Borderlands?

Thane’s head was spinning with questions.

"Unfortunately, my territory got taken over by rioters, otherwise I could take these three kids back and raise them," Avril said helplessly.

"That won’t be necessary—I’ll handle their situation."

Thane didn’t hesitate to shut down Avril’s idea.

Thane would take care of his own people, even if they were just kids.

"Why did the people of Razor Plains want to hurt you?"

Thane changed gears, frowning as he asked, "How much tax did you squeeze out of them? Seventy percent?"

His own sixty percent tax was collected right at the survival line. If Avril had hit them for seventy percent, that would definitely be hard to swallow.

But regardless, from a lord’s perspective, their attempt to hurt Avril was dead wrong.

Avril shook her head.

"Huh? Higher than seventy percent?"

Thane asked, totally shocked.

This seemingly delicate girl was more ruthless than he was?

Avril shook her head again, saying weakly, "No, I only collected twenty percent tax. I didn’t want anyone to starve to death."

Thane went silent.

Pamin clammed up too.

Twenty percent tax—even lower than the tax Thane used to win hearts and minds.

Eliric, who was watching from the doorway, was also floored, his eyes going wide as he whipped his head around.

"Noble lady, you didn’t mess that up, did you? Twenty percent tax? And they still wanted to hurt you?"

"I knew they were barely scraping by, so I only took twenty percent tax."

Avril’s gaze went blank as she stared at the floor. "I don’t get it either. I thought I was being good to them, and I even shared the cheese I brought with them."

Thane crossed his arms and said casually, "In a place like the Northern Borderlands where only the toughest survive, mercy often looks like weakness.

The right amount of kindness is a good thing, but blind kindness just feeds greed."

"But... they got along great with me. Everyone smiled and bowed when they saw me."

Avril looked at Thane, totally confused. "Back when I was at Redgriffin Castle, I treated the townspeople the same way, and they’d often bring me little gifts."

Her delicate appearance was like those fragile heroines Thane had seen in movies and TV shows from his past life, making people want to protect her.

Thane also dialed back his harsh tone, saying gently, "I believe what you’re telling me. Maybe there are plenty of decent folks, but the Northern Borderlands also has tons of troublemakers.

Have you thought about the fact that you had zero foundation in Razor Plains? When you got attacked, the good people wouldn’t stick their necks out for you, so the jerks who wanted to hurt you took over.

And then things ended up the way they did."

Thane spread his hands helplessly.

Avril nodded, looking pretty sad. "Baron Thane, you’re totally right. I really screwed up."

"It’s okay—you’re alive, and that’s what counts."

Thane tried to comfort her, then asked with some curiosity, "So how exactly did you get out of there? You know, word on the street is that you’re dead."

Avril hesitated for a moment, then asked kind of shyly, "Can I... not say?"

Thane paused.

He’d figured Avril might not answer this question, since it probably involved some life-saving secrets.

He’d imagined a million ways she might dodge the question—beating around the bush, lying, even just going silent.

He just hadn’t expected such a timid request.

This kid was way too honest, wasn’t she?

"Of course you can—everyone’s got their own secrets."

Thane smiled as he got up. "Then get some rest. Tomorrow I’ll have someone escort you back to Fontdmer Town, and then you can head home to the Redgriffin Family.

It’s all water under the bridge now."

Thane comforted Avril, his handsome face showing a rare bright smile.

"Noble Baron Thane."

"Yeah?"

Thane turned around, puzzled. "Something else on your mind?"

Avril’s eyes swept over the other people around them, then she said softly, "Could I talk to you alone?"

Thane thought about it for a few seconds, then waved his hand.

The others got the hint and filed out of the wooden house, shutting the door behind them.

"Go ahead, Baron Avril."

Thane sat in the wooden chair, quietly watching Avril.

"Can I not go back to the Redgriffin Family?"

"Huh?"

If you don’t go home, where the hell would you go?

Thane naturally didn’t say that last part out loud, just stared at Avril in confusion, waiting for her to keep talking.

"My father’s getting old and isn’t all there most of the time. The Redgriffin Family is now run by my stepmother and uncle."

Avril sighed slightly, her eyes full of sadness. "She can’t stand me. I came to the Northern Borderlands because she banished me here.

If I go back to the family, she’ll just ship me off again—maybe married off to some noble, or worse."

This intel was a total curveball for Thane.

Thane frowned and thought for a while, then looked up and asked, "So in this whole mess with those people trying to hurt you, was your stepmother pulling strings too?"

"I have no clue. All I know is that the family isn’t safe anymore, so I was thinking..."

Avril looked at Thane with vulnerable puppy-dog eyes. "Could I stay with you?"

"With all due respect, Baron Avril, Shadowpine Ridge isn’t exactly Disney World either."

Thane didn’t want to babysit this noble lady.

According to what Avril said, the Redgriffin Family was under her stepmother’s thumb, and the stepmother wanted to hurt her.

If Thane took Avril in, wouldn’t that mean butting heads with the Redgriffin Family?

The kicker was that Thane would get absolutely nothing out of it.

"Your place is really safe, and you’re closest to Razor Plains."

Avril’s voice was soft and pleading. "You saved me, you’re a kind and handsome baron..."

"Whoa, hold up—I’m not kind. I’m a hardass baron."

Thane quickly waved his hands in denial.

Being kind in this day and age would bite you in the ass—he didn’t dare be kind.

"Sigh—"

Avril sighed and, after thinking for a long time, actually reached out to unbutton her clothes, showing the undergarment underneath.

Thane quickly waved his hands to stop her. "Baron Avril, keep it PG, please."

"You’ve got the wrong idea."

Avril smiled softly as she pulled out an emerald green diamond-shaped crystal from a hidden pocket in her undergarment.

"This is a Life Gem. Wearing it close to your body can boost your physical condition, and supposedly it makes breathing technique training way more efficient."

Thane slowly stood up, staring hard at the gem.

A magical gem.

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