I didn’t know much, not having been properly educated, but for a domain to develop, it needed at least three things.
Administration, people, and money.
If you went further, plenty of other things would come up, but for now, I had thought those three were the basic necessities.
And in truth, out here on this vast empty plain with nothing but a factory, those were the very things we needed most, so it should have been the most hopeless situation of all….
But after I sat quietly for a while, it was more or less over.
“Honestly, I thought I’d suffer and stay busy for another two months, and only return to the Academy next year.”
“Come to think of it, quite a lot of time has passed since you entered the Academy.”
I was briefly lost in nostalgia inside the building we were temporarily calling the residence when Noel nodded and came closer.
The entrance ceremony felt like yesterday, but when I came to my senses, the year was already about to end.
“It means you’ve been that busy, Lord Aizen, so isn’t it good that things turned out well?”
“That’s true.”
“Then please sign here.”
Noel naturally guided my gaze to a bundle of documents, and I obediently checked the contents and signed again.
“If someone saw this, they’d think I got distracted because I hate paperwork.”
“Lord Aizen, what you’re interested in right now is going to the factory and further improving the completion of the next-generation unit… the Knight, was it?”
“That’s true.”
For the past few days, I had been trying to build it properly based on the data obtained from the technology demonstrator.
Mina had also approved the budget, so I planned to make about two new units.
“Though somehow I feel like a considerable portion of the domain’s profits were taken in return.”
Since this had originally been a building used by the mine supervisors, I could see workers coming and going outside the window.
They were all personnel Mina had brought in.
“…Honestly, we should have noticed when she said she had lobbied. That Lady Mina intended to actively intervene in the operation of the domain.”
“Most of it is toward development, so I get the impression there’s no helping it, but I don’t know whether that’s good or not.”
At my words, Noel looked a little surprised, then soon smiled.
“To give you the conclusion first, it was essential for now, and from here on, it will depend on what kind of relationship you have.”
“Really?”
“You saw that an enormous number of letters came addressed to you, Lord Aizen, asking to lend you money in exchange for permission for their merchant companies to trade and develop here, didn’t you?”
Since a lot had indeed arrived, I nodded.
Maybe it was because this was a world with magic, or maybe they had informants with incredible abilities somewhere, but around the time the people sent from Noel’s family arrived at the domain, a massive bomb of letters came flying in.
Along with small gifts, they said things like, if you permit road development, if you allow us to open waterways, and so on, while offering to lend enormous sums.
To put it simply, I used all the letters as scrap paper.
“They were clearly trying to make money off tolls or water.”
“When you started writing on them, Lord Aizen, I was startled because I thought you were granting permission.”
Maybe because they didn’t have the concept of scrap paper, she’d thought I was really sending a reply.
I remembered how Erika and Noel had practically charged in, probably because they’d been so shocked at the time.
“Roads, water, and land are things the lord must keep firmly in hand. Even if you can’t help logistics, if you hand over those rights, the domain will fall ill.”
“And if the domain falls ill, I won’t be able to do what I want because I’ll be busy cleaning it up.”
“Correct.”
I was in a situation where I had to neglect unit development for a while because of domain work, but there was no helping it.
If I didn’t handle this properly, I’d only end up spending twice as much time fixing it later.
Everything was a sacrifice for the sake of golems….
“Ah. I made another one without thinking.”
“It’s always fascinating, but you unconsciously use magic to make proper models, Lord Aizen. This is the fifteenth, isn’t it?”
I nodded at Noel’s words and handed it over, and Noel placed the model I had just made on the shelf.
My small hobby from my previous life, the fifteenth plastic model recreated with magic, took its place.
Of course, it wasn’t real plastic, but something made by imitating the shape with clay.
“…Somehow, it bothers me that there are particularly many that resemble Cyclops….”
“Even if they look like that, they all have different names. For example, that one is the high-mobility type, and that one is….”
Noel smiled at my words.
It seemed she didn’t quite know how to react.
I enjoyed talking about it, but forcing something the other person didn’t know well wouldn’t produce any proper result, so I stopped at a suitable point.
“Returning to domain matters, Lady Mina is certainly intervening a lot, but she is also being considerate. She says she has no intention of actively getting involved in the road projects or water control projects.”
“I think she’s avoiding them in advance because she knows you’d stop her.”
“She would, wouldn’t she?”
Mina said things that made it sound as though, if there was money to be made, she would sell off everyone she had lived with without hesitation, but if you looked closely, she cherished people in her own way.
Of course, if you let your guard down, I felt like she’d take a huge bite out of you even if you were on friendly terms, but she seemed to know the line where the other side would let her get away with things.
Besides, it wasn’t as if Mina only plundered profits.
-“It’s the company master’s order! Build the houses starting over there!”
-“When will the company headquarters be finished!”
-“Send the blacksmiths to the factory! If any of you don’t know what to do, hurry up and send them over!”
Domain development required manpower, and Mina was filling all of that manpower.
Since the situation could be seen as Mina’s entire merchant company helping with the domain’s rapid development, I had no complaints.
And it didn’t stop there; a kind of social experiment was also underway, so it would be fine to watch with interest.
-“Hey, hey, drive carefully! Carefully!”
-“Stop fooling around and lift these materials over here!”
Even though I hadn’t touched that side, Mina had put her company people to work on their own and created construction equipment that simplified the caterpillar golems even further.
It was fun to watch.
“I was surprised when the people from the workshop drove those over themselves.”
“They even reduced the size to a decent degree. Honestly, I kept putting off what they asked me for whenever I had even a little leeway, and in the end, she did it herself.”
Of course, it seemed they hadn’t been able to standardize them for mass production, so they were assembling them one by one by hand, but once it became more serious, we’d probably see them all over the place.
“An unexpected scene of industrialization….”
“At the same time, it means you have to be careful, doesn’t it? Someone may try to copy your golems, Lord Aizen, and they may be able to modify them.”
For a moment, I seriously thought that if that happened, wouldn’t it be good because the number of robots would increase?
“You thought something strange, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t?”
“Got it.”
I might like it, but it could end up strangling me, so I had to be careful.
I had already prepared countermeasures around the engine in case someone deliberately tried to sabotage it, but if I had the chance, it might be good to strengthen them further.
It was while Noel and I were alternating between work talk and ordinary conversation.
-“Lady Noel, excuse me, but the baron’s….”
“It seems there’s another place that needs your help, Lord Aizen. Since you’re heading to the factory anyway, shall you take care of it on the way?”
“That would be easier, wouldn’t it?”
Sadly, work only increases if you ignore it.
I wanted to go to the factory and immediately tune and test the unit, but I had to do what needed to be done.
Tilling fields with earth magic was something I had used so often to dig up potatoes that I could do it with my eyes closed, and if I applied golem magic, I could raise a building frame in an instant, so it wasn’t much of a burden either.
In fact, there were several buildings throughout the domain that I had raised with clay myself.
-“…Honestly, the speed of development is incredibly fast after all… I should inform the duke.”
-“What kind of mana capacity is that… How much training has he done…?”
While I was heading outside to do some construction work, lower-ranking officials and servants dispatched from the Nexia ducal family to help with administration would occasionally glance this way and whisper. Watching them, I went outside with Noel.
From afar, Mina, who had been giving some kind of orders to the workers, and Erika, who had arbitrarily given herself the position of maintaining public order and was wandering around, noticed us and approached. Watching them, I quietly gathered my mana.
“Shall I do something vaguely noble-like for the first time in a while?”
“It’s that area over there. Please take care of it.”
“Next, let’s make a space where Cyclops can have mock battles! As an attraction for the domain!”
I nodded happily at Erika’s suggestion and rolled up my sleeves.
And then Mina, who had clearly been looking at the buildings and the small caterpillar golems moving without rest, appeared behind me like a ghost, rested her chin on my shoulder, and spoke.
“Entrust the management of the Cyclops arena to our merchant company.”
“Why don’t you sell fries and beer while you’re at it?”
“Accepted.”
Having apparently caught the scent of money, our financial backer accepted immediately.
****
-“Just a little farther and we’ll reach the New Arclight Domain! We’ll rest there for a while!”
-“Sir Galled, there are no stragglers! However….”
-“If we really go there, you’ll support our livelihood for a year?”
-“It is the domain of the person who will become the greatest friend of the Phoenix County, so the count will continue to support you! They say a merchant company blessed by the church has also entered! There’s nothing to worry about! Just go and spread the rumors well!”
On the road from the Phoenix County to the New Arclight Domain.
The people who would soon arrive at the Arclight Domain were gathered in small groups, their faces half full of anticipation and half full of worry.
“I heard that if you go there, your life will really open up.”
“It won’t be easy. They say the domain has only just been established, so when we get there, it’ll be empty plains.”
“Then why did you come?”
“Because they said they’d pay us. Sigh. But now that I’m here, I can’t help feeling like I bought myself hardship….”
The reason for their anticipation and worry was very simple.
The New Arclight Domain, that is, the Barony of Arclight, was a newly established domain.
Those who could read maps a little all agreed that its location was outstanding, but no one was unaware that this only had meaning once it developed.
No matter how you looked at it, starting from bare ground meant there would be a lot of work and far too much to do.
“Honestly, I can’t shake the feeling that Count Phoenix is selling us off for profit.”
At one person’s words, several people nodded.
It was because they had been told they would receive as much support as possible, and in exchange, they were to start anew in the New Arclight Domain and spread certain rumors.
The amount had been large, so at first they had happily accepted, but once the domain drew near, there was no helping the regret that surged up, asking why they had come all the way here.
After all, they were leaving a place that at least had what they needed and going to a place starting completely from scratch.
“Well, as long as they feed us well and give us a good place to sleep, I’ve got no complaints.”
“That’s true.”
At one man’s words, several people nodded as if convinced.
He was a figure who wore his hood pulled deep, giving the excuse that his skin was weak, but his identity documents were so solid that no one suspected or blamed him.
From what they had heard, he was a fallen noble, but his family still had money, so he had a horse and a sword.
The knights of the Phoenix County leading the people had asked him for help as well, and the man had willingly done dirty work for them, building a measure of trust.
“Mr. Daniel, a moment!”
“Sir Galled, is it?”
Though he was a fallen noble, he had money and even had a squire who had received a reasonably high-class education.
When the man called Daniel nodded and went over with his squire, Galled nodded and said,
“Honestly, we received a great deal of help from you this time. We’ll be arriving soon, so I called you because I wanted to thank you personally.”
“There’s no need for thanks. A free knight has no need for such things.”
“Aren’t you a fallen noble?”
The squire sometimes gave such trifling retorts, but Daniel paid it no mind.
“In any case, it’s fine. By the way, Sir Galled, contrary to how you look, you’re someone who knows how to show gratitude?”
“I once made an irreversible mistake. Since then, I’ve toned down my temper a little.”
He did not say that, for someone like that, his temper itself still seemed very much alive.
Daniel smiled and nodded.
“Then let me ask something I’m curious about.”
“Please do.”
“From what I saw earlier, you seem to know Baron Aizen Arclight personally. Is that right?”
“He is the very person to whom I committed a great discourtesy, and he is also the one who gave great help to the Phoenix County.”
Galled’s words grew a little faster.
It wasn’t because he was displeased; rather, it seemed he intended to take this opportunity to tell Daniel about Aizen.
The story of how he had completed the mass production facilities for the Cyclops in the county while barely sleeping, how he had instead subdued Galled by force, and how, during the monsters’ invasion, though he did not have to step forward, he willingly did so and bravely fought and defeated the one-eyed giant in single combat.
Most of all, there seemed to be something Galled absolutely wanted to say.
“He is on a different level from rude fellows like the Avatus count family.”
“Isn’t that only natural, since he’s a baron?”
“A baron is still a titled noble. There are any number of rude barons. And even taking that into account, I believe he is on a different level from the likes of Avatus.”
Galled did not hesitate.
Then he lowered his voice slightly and said,
“If you are looking for work, I think it would be good to rely on him. The Phoenix Margrave holds Baron Arclight in great favor and intends to spare no support, so I believe your advancement would be reasonably guaranteed.”
“I heard the Avatus family has properly marked him as an enemy? They say they’ve been slandering him harshly because he didn’t attend the banquet after the investiture ceremony.”
“What meaning is there in a banquet that isn’t even held at the royal palace?”
At Galled’s words, Daniel nodded.
Even after that, words filled with goodwill toward Aizen poured out for quite some time, and Daniel listened attentively before leaving.
Then, while eating with his squire, he said,
“He gives a very different impression from what I had heard.”
“I heard many rumors that the baron was an incredible eccentric and impossible to converse with.”
At the squire’s words, Daniel nodded.
Then the squire lowered his voice and asked,
“What do you think, Your Majesty?”
“As expected, hearing rumors and others’ actual impressions is not enough; I’ll only know once I meet him. Still, I find myself hoping he is the right answer.”
At the squire’s respectful words, the man who had been called Daniel grinned and said,
“Even so, I suppose I can trust him.”
“Why is that?”
“Why ask the obvious?”
Daniel chuckled and added,
“He is a friend my greatly cherished niece, Noel, keeps close by. Of course he should be worth trusting, should he not?”
The Nexia ducal family was originally a house that had branched off from the Vespia royal family.
And so Danimus, who had called Noel his niece, chuckled and began drinking his grain porridge.
“Ah, hot.”
“Please let it cool before you eat, sir.”
Being scolded by his squire was a bonus.