Foolishness?

Everything in the world has two sides.

Nothing happens without a reason.

The lowly are not born lowly, just as the ignorant are not born utterly stupid—and the so-called “clever people” are not born supremely intelligent, versed in all kinds of theories and knowledge.

She had considered the conditions she offered to be very generous: forgiving past debts, participating in the reconstruction and development of Evernight City, not only gaining residency but also receiving their own land.

For those who were originally lowly, poor peasants, or even ordinary villagers, these should have been very attractive and motivating conditions, right?

But why did she feel that the feedback she received… or rather, their enthusiasm, was so low?

Vivian pondered this as she walked, and suddenly, she overheard a conversation among the civilians.

“D-do you think… the Lady Demon Lord’s promise is real?”

“I don’t know, no idea—but at least we have a job now, and someone to protect us, right?”

“Hmph… you can’t be so sure. Once we’ve finished building the houses and the military officers move in, there’ll be nothing left for us here, will there?”

“Who knows…”

The murmurs among the laborers made Vivian pause.

Then she suddenly realized—didn’t they know that they were working and striving for their own future happiness?

No, they didn’t.

Because all these things belonged to the soldiers, to the lord, to her, the Lady Demon Lord.

They belonged to everyone but them.

Even if they were to live in these tents, shacks, and simple houses, they didn’t believe they could stay for long.

Sooner or later, once the wasteland was reclaimed and replanted, once the area began to expand, and once proper, sturdy, and durable houses needed to be built, they would be gradually driven out, pushed to the outskirts of the city, or even

sent back to the wasteland to continue reclaiming land.

And the simple shelters they were building now would be torn down to become the Demon Lord’s castle.

This was the general rule of this era, and everyone firmly believed it.

Vivian fell silent—she realized it.

She had been too idealistic and ahead of her time, and she also realized that some of the plans she had painstakingly developed might not be so easily implemented.

What foresight and ideas could they have?

The way of thinking that Bai An knew and had learned was the culmination of thousands of years of accumulated wisdom, the wisdom of countless great figures so easily understood and learned by transmigrators and modern people like them.

But, not to mention these civilian laborers now, even if Vivian broke it down and explained it to Aria, Luna, and the others under her command, they probably wouldn’t be able to understand her current thoughts and plans for a while.

This was not foolishness, but a continuous process of understanding, learning, and accumulation.

No great tower is built in a day.

And theory cannot be divorced from practical reality; it needs to be adapted to local conditions…

“Mm!”

After some thought, Vivian immediately summoned Aria and Luna.

Standing in front of a tent that looked acceptable at first glance but, upon closer inspection, was missing several supports and was entirely crooked, she pointed to the shoddy workmanship and said.

“What do you two think of this?”

Aria clearly didn’t understand what Vivian was pointing at at first.

She thought this was a reprimand for her work, so she immediately bowed her head.

“I’m sorry, Lady Demon Lord, this is my oversight…”
“No, this is not a problem of supervision—you can’t watch them hammer every single nail, build every single shed, and complete every inch of land according to my plan.”

Vivian interrupted Aria’s self-blame, pondered for a moment, and then continued, “This is a problem with the workers’ attitude.”

“Lady Demon Lord, you can’t be too demanding of these civilians,” Aria thought for a moment and explained.

“Most of them are uneducated.

Apart from doing the work their ancestors, or even their own race, are accustomed to in the fields, mines, and towns, they simply cannot master other, more complex tasks—”

“Wood-affinity demons are farmers, those with a certain affinity for fire and iron elements can become blacksmiths, strong trolls are for mining and logging, and agile shadow demons are hunters… The vast majority of these people have never even set up a tent—especially since you specifically stipulated the specifications and functions of the tents, as well as the layout of the entire camp.

This is too complicated for them.”

“If it were simple sheds or basic wooden houses, I think they would have completed the task very well, but for these proper tents, it would probably be better if our soldiers did it themselves.”

Vivian, however, shook her head at this.

“Is it really that complicated? Besides, our soldiers have more important tasks to do—contacting the other remaining settlements, gathering resources from the wild. Every task is important.”

And at Vivian’s confusion, Luna tilted her head slightly.

“Only military encampments are this strict. These civilians can’t do this, can they?”

“No, it’s not complicated at all. I have already given orders to have the squad leaders and soldiers break down and delegate the tasks to the most basic level, then teach the lower-ranking soldiers, who will then lead the civilians to do the work.

Each person only needs to do one thing—hammer a nail, or tie a rope, or saw a piece of wood.

They don’t need to know the entire layout of the camp at all.

What they have to do is not much more complicated than manual labor.”
Vivian looked at Aria and Luna, her tone meaningful.

“Do you think that serfs and poor peasants, even civilians, are so stupid that they can’t even grasp this?”

Faced with Vivian’s words, Aria and Luna looked at each other.

They could see that the Lady Demon Lord was very dissatisfied right now, but they still hadn’t realized what the crux of the problem was.

And as for Vivian’s question—in their eyes, the answer was self-evident.

Civilians and serfs were, of course, stupid.

They were born in this world, grew up in this medieval era of sword and magic, and neither of them was some well-traveled, enlightened thinker.

They were just a little succubus captain and a head maid.

At most, the latter had picked up some knowledge while assisting the Demon Lord and had received some education for military purposes, but it was impossible for her to have knowledge and understanding beyond this era.

Of course, even though they were demons and not humans—there were still so-called commoners, lowly people, poor peasants, and serfs among the demons.

The demons themselves engaged in production and labor based on their own specialized traits, but this was not unrelated to economic exploitation.

So, on the demon side, commoners and serfs were still of a lower class.

Perhaps they themselves didn’t think so, but subconscious beliefs cannot be denied just by saying no.