
by Kuzunalis
Try my other story : From Londoner To Lord William died chasing a promotion. He woke up holding a noble title. Reborn as Alden, the eldest son of a Baron, he wakes up in a medieval world where magic is real, monsters roam freely, and entire villages are abandoned every winter as people flee to a massive fortress city for safety. It's a brutal system—but one people could always rely on. Until now. For the first time in living memory, the ruling Duke demands an exorbitant fee for providing shelter in his fortified city, locking out anyone who isn’t rich enough to pay. Alden’s village is dirt poor—nobody can afford the fee. As it stands, his village doesn’t stand a chance in the coming winter. However, back in London, he was an engineer—overworked, underpaid, but grounded in logic and hard-earned problem-solving. That mindset carries over, even if the tools are cruder in this world. Parchments replace computers. Swords and bows replace guns. The tools are primitive, but the principles remain the same. In this world, there are elves, dwarfs, and orcs—not enemies, but fellow survivors, all struggling against the same monstrous horrors that descend south every winter. Even so, Alden was supposed to have years before real responsibility fell on his shoulders, time to grow into his role as the heir of the barony. Fate had other plans. Now winter is approaching fast, hordes of monsters coming with it, and no sanctuary is waiting this year. So Alden does the only thing he can do to protect his village and his siblings: build, adapt, and refuse to surrender. Armed with modern knowledge and sheer stubbornness, he sets out to do something that has never been done before. He plans to turn an overlooked frontier village into something that can endure the impossible—because if the world won’t save them, he will. What to expect: * Village Building (later Kingdom Building)* Weak to Strong* Use of modern knowledge in a medieval world* Battles against monsters to defend the village (mainly in winter months)* Detailed worldbuilding * Slow-paced progression (with cozy vibes)* Slice of life ** Story updates every Friday
#9
2/21/2026
Peak #50
0d
#8
2/20/2026
Peak #50
0d
#7
2/20/2026
Peak #50
0d
#6
1/24/2026
Peak #1
26d
#5
1/24/2026
Peak #1
37d
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 2 Oct 2026, 02:08 UTC
Entry forecast updated 2 Oct 2026, 02:08 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
A confirmed Rising Stars eligibility removal excludes this story from the Shadow queue.
beats 1% of similar stories
beats 28% of similar stories
beats 99% of similar stories
Readers arrive, few stick
Traffic is strong, but conversion trails comparable stories. The usual suspects are the blurb, the cover and the opening chapters — fixing the hook multiplies everything the existing traffic brings.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 5–9 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.