Episode 154: Isn’t the situation a bit uncomfortable? (3)
Giselle hid her feelings and smiled broadly as she looked around at everyone.
“Anyone else have an opinion? No?”
“Yes… … .”
“Yes. Now everyone knows what they need to do. In particular, wizards need to move without rest. Other facilities are important, but the most important thing is to expand the waterways and reservoirs while increasing the cultivated area.”
There was so much to do.
First, we need to create a residential area where immigrants can settle down and add various facilities and workshops.
At the same time, we must continuously produce weapons and supplies needed for war.
The most important thing is securing food.
We are still buying from merchants, but we don’t know when the supply will be cut off.
The population was expected to increase rapidly soon due to the influx of immigrants, so in order to prepare for a long-term war, they had to expand their farmland on a large scale and produce food like crazy.
Everyone’s expression turned gloomy.
‘There are so many things I need, when will I ever get them all made?’
‘And on top of that, I have to prepare for war at the same time. Is this my territory…?’
‘But if you don’t want to die, you have to do it. It’s driving me crazy.’
If the opponent were another noble, it might be different, but this is Count Desmond, who has already been beaten by Giselle once.
If he were to lose to him, the territory would surely be reduced to rubble, and all of Fenris and Ferdium’s vassals would be beheaded.
I really didn’t want to do it, but I had to do it if I didn’t want to die.
Among the vassals who all had grim expressions, the one with the worst complexion was Alpoy.
‘What, where should I start? There’s so much to do!’
Since I’ve been a bit lazy while the lord was away, a lot of work has piled up.
There was no need to create a new mana cluster since the wheat grains could be used as seeds for harvesting soon.
However, runestones for use on land must be produced in large quantities to match the speed at which cultivated land increases.
All the wizards would have to continuously carve magic circles to barely fill the required amount.
But that’s not all the wizards have to do. They have to be dragged around to other projects as well.
‘So this is what it means to be prepared. I should have finished up some work in advance. I’m dead.’
Seeing the murderous workload, Alfoy and the wizards despaired.
I wanted to run away somehow, but I didn’t even have the courage to run away.
Seeing the wizards’ expressions, Giselle snickered and gave Vanessa a word.
“Vanessa.”
“Yes, yes!”
“For the time being, I’d like you to focus on helping Alpoy with his work rather than on your research. It’s a lot of work, but… … Is that okay?”
“Of course! Just leave it to me!”
Unlike other wizards, Vanessa clenched her fists and shouted excitedly.
She, who always wanted to help Giselle, couldn’t possibly refuse such things.
Moreover, since Vanessa has reached the level of the 6th circle, if she devotes herself to her work, the speed will be much faster.
“Okay, very trustworthy.”
While we’re on the subject, Giselle decided to check on the tasks she had assigned to other people.
First I asked Lowell.
“How’s the matter with the people I asked you to come to before?”
“We sent people right when the lord gave the order, so I think we’ll be able to bring everyone we can within a month or so.”
“Yes. As soon as those people arrive, tell me right away, and train more spies to gather all the surrounding information without missing anything.”
“All right.”
Jiselle, who had been emphasizing the information-related part, looked at Gillian this time.
“If you want to utilize mercenaries in the future, each individual’s strength will also be important. For the time being, focus on improving each person’s skills during training.”
“All right.”
Gillian nodded obediently. Of course, this gentle attitude is only shown to Giselle, and she will push the mercenaries to death during training.
Jiselle looked back at Kaor and asked.
“If Gillian is in charge of the mercenary training, Kaor will have nothing to do. Is there anything in particular you would like to do?”
Kaor raised his head and spoke confidently.
“Absolutely not.”
“… … .”
He came out so confidently that even Jiselle was speechless for a moment.
Jiselle clicked her tongue for a moment and then spoke to Kaor.
“The mercenaries will take turns training in half. Kaor will continue to focus on maintaining order with the mercenaries who are not participating in training for the time being. There is still a shortage of soldiers in the territory.”
“Yes, well… … . Let’s do that.”
Kaor answered with a very trembling expression.
There is no particular reason for the trembling.
He just doesn’t want to do anything else but fight.
So, Giselle forced Kaor to do the work. Otherwise, she would just be drinking and hanging out in a corner, and she absolutely couldn’t stand that.
“Now, and Belinda… … .”
“I think it would be good if we could just focus on people’s work and training. I’ll do my best to support them so that they don’t feel inconvenienced in their lives.”
“Oh, as expected from Belinda. How is it that you know my heart so well?”
“If I don’t know, who will know your heart? Hahaha.”
Even Giselle couldn’t help but chuckle at her witty words.
Someone has to constantly take care of everything from providing food and clothing for people to treating and caring for the injured.
Belinda is used to such things, so she can handle it well.
Jiselle looked around at everyone and emphasized once again.
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“Don’t forget. If you don’t prepare properly, you will all die. You must be prepared to fight at any time.”
“All right.”
Everyone in Daejeon bowed their heads and followed the lord’s orders.
Jiselle said, rising from her seat.
“Okay, that’s it for today. Depending on how things progress, there may be changes. I’ll give separate instructions if necessary, so Claude will usually be in charge.”
As soon as Giselle finished speaking, Claude gestured to his followers.
“Okay, let’s get on with what we have to do. Do you all know roughly what you have to do? Make a detailed plan as quickly as possible and bring it to me.”
Immigrants will soon flock in, and if we hesitate, the burden will only increase.
The people rushed out, pushed by Claude’s urging.
Jiselle narrowed her eyes and watched the scene.
He clearly warned that war was coming and that we must be prepared.
You still don’t understand and are slacking off in your preparations?
Even if Count Desmond came and killed everyone here, I wouldn’t have anything to say.
* * *
As everyone was busy with work like crazy, Yeongji started to get busier than before.
There was no one in the Fenris domain who wasn’t busy, but Claude was the busiest of them all.
As the person in charge of all land development, I had to oversee all the work, so I didn’t even have time to sleep.
While riding in a carriage with Wendy to meet the boss, Claude lowered his head and muttered.
“Ah, I’m dying. I want to run away. Wouldn’t it be better to die at the hands of Count Desmond than to be squeezed like this? This doesn’t seem right. Won’t you die with me?”
“… … .”
Wendy didn’t respond to Claude’s nonsense.
To be honest, I wanted to hit him once, but it wasn’t easy to do that when I saw Claude’s appearance.
The bags under my eyes had been dark for a long time, and in the past few days, the flesh had swelled so much that I thought the skeleton would call me brother.
Even in that state, that bastard’s snout showed no signs of rest.
“I work because I don’t want to die, but I feel like I’m going to die while working. But I can’t argue with the lord.”
Whenever Claude felt like he was going crazy from all the things going on, he would go to Giselle to try to convince her to run away again.
But Jiselle was also busy adding a lot of cosmetics equipment with her laborers.
Because I have to send new cosmetics to Rosalind in the capital and prepare to establish a branch.
“Sigh, if you were to just play around like the other lords, we would have to work while keeping an eye on things. If you look at it, you’re secretly a workaholic, right? Our lord honestly doesn’t seem like he’d do anything. Isn’t that right?”
“I don’t know.”
“Could it be that the lord is mistaken? Or is he just trying to get things done quickly and making a big deal out of something that isn’t a big deal? That’s what people who don’t know anything do. What do you think? Do you think I’m right? He’s just intoxicated by the image of himself as a hard-working lord. Isn’t that right?”
“I don’t know.”
“You always say you don’t know when it’s disadvantageous to you? You always say, “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. Dude, you’re really good at socializing.”
“… … .”
Wendy gave up answering altogether.
Then Claude suddenly made a strange expression and imitated Wendy.
“Uh, I don’t know. Uh, I don’t know. Uh, I don’t know.”
‘… … Ah, he’s not really a brat.’
I never said anything with that kind of expression on my face.
Wendy just turned her head away as she glared at Claude, who was snickering childishly.
The more you deal with that snout, the more it harms you, so it’s best to just ignore it.
Claude also knows that the situation is very urgent and dangerous right now.
But the work is so hard that I have to solve it by talking nonsense like this.
Gossiping about your superiors while working has been a stress reliever for ages.
Rattling, rattling!
As the carriage that had been running smoothly began to shake, the object of the grumbling immediately changed.
“Oh my, when are we going to replace this old carriage? Seriously, there’s nothing I like about this damn estate. Ah, I want a luxury carriage too. People like me have to ride around in things like that.”
“… … .”
With Claude’s grumbling as background music, the carriage moved towards the border of the estate.
The reason why I came all the way here despite the lack of time was simple. Because of the territory blockade policy, the merchants could not enter the castle.
Claude, who arrived at the meeting place, immediately started dealing with the person above.
“Okay, you know I’m busy, right? Let’s check this out quickly.”
Usually, when making a large-scale transaction, it is customary to start by exchanging greetings and having a cup of tea.
But for Claude, who was always pressed for time, even that kind of leisure was a luxury.
The other party also had a rough idea of the situation in Fenris Territory through past experiences, so they didn’t pay much attention.
Claude nodded after checking the items brought by the top.
“The quantity is not a problem and the quality is not bad. I will ask for your help again next time.”
“Haha, of course. How could I be careless when you buy such large quantities?”
The merchant who brought the goods also answered with a hearty laugh.
The price had already been negotiated in advance, so the transaction proceeded quickly.
On the surface, the deal seemed to be without any problems, but their thoughts were different.
‘Didn’t the lord tell you to be careful of these guys? For such a quiet guy, he makes very clean deals.’
‘Well, the young lady told me to be careful of these guys. If only it weren’t for large transactions… … But it seems like there’s no problem since they don’t use fake gold coins? What’s the problem?’
The group that carried out the transaction this time was the Actium Group led by Amelia.
The upper part of Actium began to make quite a name for itself in the northern part of the fortress.
The company was rapidly growing in size by increasing its credit rating while strictly keeping contracts based on quality products.
‘Hmm, we still need a lot of materials… … So for the time being, we have no choice but to deal with these guys.’
‘Hmm, I still need a lot of money… … So for the time being, I have no choice but to deal with these guys.’
Funnily enough, both sides were hostile to each other, but they pretended not to know and continued the deal because they needed each other.
Jiselle and Amelia also knew that fact, but they did not try to stop it.
Even if he tried to stop it, it would be a loss for him.
The two were very similar in that they hated each other, but did not care about the means and methods to achieve their goals.
I thought the transaction was going to end safely, but the merchant opened his mouth looking a little embarrassed.
“Excuse me, sir. I’m sorry, but the prices of items will go up a little during our next transaction.”
“What do you mean, prices are going up?”
“These days, food and raw material prices have gone up a lot. It’s hard for us to get things… … .”
Then Claude glanced at the merchant with a suspicious look.
‘The lord told me to watch out for these guys… … Are they slowly spreading bait to trick me?’
You won’t suffer any losses if you take these bad guys to task.
“No, we just started a large-scale construction project… … and you’re raising the price like this all of a sudden? Are you intentionally doing this? It’s problematic if you do it this way.”
“That’s not it… … .”
“Do you know who is behind our lord? Oh, it’s a bit embarrassing and difficult to say, but do you happen to know the Marquis of Branford?”
The Marquis of Branford is Giselle’s guardian. However, Claude often uses the Marquis’ name as if he were his own guardian.
In the Kingdom of Lutania, the person who sells the name of the Marquis of Branford the most is probably Claude.
As Claude tried to cheer up the customer, the merchant waved his hand urgently.
“Oh, what do you mean? That’s not it. You know that we offer the lowest price with almost no profit. To be honest, it’s hard to make up for labor costs at that price. It’s just that the quantity is getting more and more insufficient these days.”
The words that our prices are the lowest and that labor costs are insufficient were always on the merchants’ lips. Claude was not one to fall for such words.
“No, then why are the goods that were in good supply until now suddenly in short supply? Doesn’t that make sense?”
The merchant answered the question in bewilderment.
“Why is it lacking… … . Didn’t they just scrape everything from the Fenris territory?”
“Aha, I see.”
Claude nodded, as if he now understood.
It’s already been a month since the large-scale construction began.
Meanwhile, the Fenris Estate traded with all the merchants operating in the North and constantly purchased the necessary items.
The problem was that the northern region had less resources than other regions, so it was becoming increasingly difficult to obtain materials.
“Ugh, I guess I need to come up with some countermeasures in advance.”
There is already a lot of work to do and not enough time, so if there is a delay in obtaining materials, it will be a big problem.
One of the administrators of the estate rushed to Claude, who was worried, and reported.
“General! General, we’re in trouble!”
“Huh? What?”
The administrator glanced at the merchant standing in front of Claude and whispered.
“Our timber stockpile is almost depleted. What should we do? If things continue as they are, we won’t be able to start construction starting tomorrow.”
“What? Already?”
Of all the materials used to build a dwelling, the most essential one was wood.
Wood was used for everything from firewood to various furniture and tools, fences and palisades, and even arrows and spearheads, so it was bound to run out quickly.
‘Oh, shit. What should I do?’
Claude’s mind became complicated.
It is no exaggeration to say that the forests and mountains within the Fenris territory have almost completely disappeared, as trees have been cut down to the point where there is no back.
Since trees grow slowly, they should have been cut down in moderation while controlling the quantity, but the Fenris Estate was currently in no position to afford such leisure.
Although I was steadily buying through the top, there was a limit to that.
‘Damn, even if we place an order right now, the merchants in the North won’t be able to handle the amount we need. It’ll take time to find merchants in other regions, too.’
Claude chewed his lips because he couldn’t think of a good solution right away.
At that moment, a soldier came running from afar and said.
“Sir, we have arrived.”
“You’ve arrived, what brings you here?”
Claude tilted his head and asked back at the soldier’s unexpected words.
What do you mean it arrived when I didn’t buy anything separately?
Then the soldier answered with an expression as if to ask why he didn’t know that.
“I have received word that the immigrants you mentioned will be arriving soon!”
They say that thousands of immigrants will soon arrive, even though they have no wood to build a home, let alone a place to live.
Claude muttered, holding his forehead.
“Ah, this is f*cked up… … .”
A very big problem has arisen.
