Bruce walked into his house and sat comfortably on the seat by the fireplace, and little Lorianne walked behind Bruce angrily, looking angry.

"What's wrong?" Bruce smiled slightly, and without looking back, he knew that Anne must be looking at him with disdain now.

"Nothing." Anne pouted and said to Bruce that even if Bruce did something wrong, as Bruce's maid, he was not qualified to accuse him.

"If there is anything unpleasant, it's better to say it, otherwise it will make people ugly if you hold it in your heart for a long time." Bruce said jokingly to Anne.

"Really? Well, I'll just say it. Anne listened to Bruce's words, and her beautiful eyes widened immediately, even a little girl has a heart for beauty.

"Say it." Bruce picked up the tongs next to the fireplace and gently flicked the wood that had not yet burned out in the fireplace.

"Why do you let that scoundrel Todd bully the poor serfs, I know that in the minds of all the nobles, the serfs are just tools, but among them there are old people and children, it is cruel." Although little Lori Anne was also born in the nobility, because of the low family, she entered the Locke Manor to work since she was a child, and she did not have much class consciousness in her heart, but was very sympathetic to people with low status.

"You're blaming me for not stopping Todd, are you?" The corners of Bruce's mouth turned up slightly, he liked this little girl with a lot of mouth, and reminded him of a little girl in charge of finances in the village, who was always full of illusions about the world with a sense of justice.

"Yes." Anne nodded, if it weren't for the fact that she was too young to have the strength, she would have rushed out with a rolling pin to chase away the hateful villains.

"I asked the serfs if they would believe me, and if they would rebel against Todd, just tell me and I would call the shots for them, but they were silent, and in that case I could not interfere." Bruce rested his elbows on the armrests and explained to Anne with his hands crossed.

"What, they're just lowly serfs, how dare you make them rebel against Todd?" Anne said unconvinced.

"If they consider themselves inferior, and are silent when they are oppressed and bullied by others, but put their hopes in others, then why should I, a new lord, risk offending Todd for their sake? Don't forget that we don't know each other well! Bruce patiently said to Anne.

"But, but, you are the lord, and you want to protect them~~." Anne listened to Bruce's words and felt that there was some reason, but she still didn't want to admit defeat like this.

"Yes, the lord must protect his people, but this protection is not gratuitous, and don't forget that the lords also have an obligation to obey the loyal lord, but are they loyal to me? No, no, and when they heard the rumors that I was going to raise taxes, they came to besiege me with their pitchfork weapons, and they violated their immediate interests and gathered people to make trouble, but they were submissive to the wicked, and this kind of poor person seemed to me to be extremely hateful. Bruce stood up abruptly, his iron sword in one hand, and said impassionedly.

"I, I." Anne looked at Bruce who stood up, her little face turned pale with fright, on the one hand, facing the fear of high-ranking nobles, deeply imprinted in the depths of her soul, on the other hand, what Bruce said was really reasonable.

"Okay, of course I won't care about this matter, if you trust me, just leave it to me." A gentle smile returned to Bruce's face, and he stepped forward to pat the little maid on the shoulder, and hung the sword on his leather belt.

"Where are you going?" Anne asked hurriedly.

"Of course it's going to patrol my territory!" Bruce said in a relaxed tone, and walked out of the house.

To the south of the house was a dilapidated stable, which contained a pack horse provided by Todd, which Bruce unceremoniously used, and tried to ride the somewhat weak pack horse, but after several failed attempts, he had no choice but to walk with a sword at his waist.

Bruce patrolled his territory on foot, this is an extremely barren land, even in this era when the environment is good and undeveloped, there is only a small forest in the territory, and the absence of wood means that large-scale construction cannot be carried out, Bruce's brow furrowed.

"This is really cross-era poverty alleviation!" Bruce said with a wry smile to himself.

Bruce, the lord's main source of income, was in a low-lying terrain, and for some reason, the villagers chose where to breed, and a dirt path that the serfs had stepped on passed through the village, lined with crooked and low thatched huts.

A shack, which is the simplest kind of house, is a half-pit dug in the ground and thatched on top of it to live in, but whenever it rains, the rainwater pours into the shack, and people who live in it for a long time are prone to rheumatism.

"Jingle bell, ding bell." Walking through the villages of the territory, Bruce heard a crisp sound, which he immediately refreshed.

"There are blacksmiths, which means that this village still has a certain handicraft capacity." Bruce hurriedly followed the sound of striking iron.

However, when Bruce saw the blacksmith's shop, he was immediately disappointed, and a snotty young man, holding a disproportionate hammer, was striking an old horseshoe on the felt.

"Oh?"

The boy suddenly saw Bruce appearing in front of him, and stopped in some surprise, he was a little frightened and overwhelmed, and the hammer in his hand stopped.

"Why did the little mongrel stop?" Suddenly, a rough voice came from the humble blacksmith shop, made of thatch and sticks, and there was a man sleeping in it, who stumbled to his feet and cursed.

"Father, father, yes, lord." The boy stammered.

"What, are you drunk too?" The boy's father muttered and cursed, and when he got up, he rubbed his eyes, and when he found out that it was really Bruce, he was very surprised, and quickly wiped the crumpled clothes on his body with his rough hands.

"I heard the sound of striking iron, and I followed it." Bruce smiled, and he pointed to the dirt path behind him and said to the blacksmith.

"Oh, yes sir, I'm sorry I'm teaching my unskilled son to make iron, he's too weak, if he can't be stronger, I'm afraid he won't be able to eat this bowl of rice." The blacksmith was about 1.6 meters tall, which was of average height in this era, his arms were thick because of the long-term ironwork, his face was messy, and the corners of his eyes were piled up with dung.

"He needs to eat more." Bruce looked at the snotty teenager, and it was clear that he was the result of malnutrition.

"Yes, I'll be able to get him some food when I'm done with Master Todd." The blacksmith sighed, looked at the horseshoe piled up next to him and some farm tools that needed to be repaired, and said to Bruce.

"How much does Todd pay you?" Bruce looked at it, and he was keenly aware of the disproportion between labor and pay.

"Two meals, master, very, very cost-effective, my son eats a lot, I eat a little." Although the blacksmith scolded his son, he touched his son's unkempt hair with his hand very lovingly.

"Two meals." Bruce frowned, this kind of oppression was simply hateful, and suddenly he had an idea in his mind.

"Come on, bring your son with me, I have some work for you to do." Bruce gestured to the blacksmith.

"Really?" The blacksmith smiled when he heard this, this village is poor and jingle, except for the need to use farm tools when farming and sowing, so he will ask him to repair the broken farm tools, there is almost no work to do, and now that he can receive the lord's work, then at least there is no worry about eating.

"Father, are we going to the big house on the hill?" The blacksmith's son also had a bright eye, and although the lord's house on the hill seemed low and dilapidated to Bruce, it was no less than a palace to the serfs who lived in the shacks.