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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Bobto
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“Alright. Then, as of this moment, I declare that my son, Schwein von Nantes, has become the lord of the duchy of Nantes.”
After saying those words, the old Duke sat down on his chair with a relieved smile, looking powerless.
Seeing that, the other retainers tried to quickly make the Duke rest, but the Duke raised his hand while sitting on the chair to stop them.
In time with that, Schwein came forward and continued the conversation.
“Glory to Deus, dignity and honor to His Majesty the Emperor of the Elaine Empire, and I will show loyalty and nobility as the Duke who serves them.
[T/N: Deus=God]
Therefore, you all shall repay me with loyalty and devotion.”
Everyone knelt on one knee on the ground and bowed their heads in response.
“Good. Then, as your master, if there is anything each of you desires, speak.
I, as the lord, will grant your wishes.”
Although he says he will grant all wishes, in reality, it is customary to ask for the tools needed to work as the “Duke’s soldier.”
And since he cannot grant everyone’s wishes one by one here, perhaps except for a few marquises, they won’t even be mentioned.
Instead, according to each person’s title and status, they can receive expensive weapons for free, so it’s an event where quite a bit is given away, but…
After a short while, the Duke’s stewards collected the notes on which each noble had written their “wish.”
A little later, only the notes written by the marquises or the successors of the marquises were delivered to the Duke, and Schwein read them and declared that he would directly grant them.
What was particularly surprising was that while people usually ask for weapons, the son of Marquis Ren asked for a “knight’s title.”
In the end, during the intermission, Schwein directly granted the knight’s title to the son of Marquis Ren, and from then on, that guy became Knight Ren.
And I…
After finishing the knighting ceremony, Schwein opened my letter and said in a surprised voice,
“Lastly, hmm?
Ciel von Kreutel, why did you ask for things like the second and third sons of peasants?
If left alone, won’t they become vagrants or wander around?
Well, they could also become bandits…
Won’t they just be a burden to you and your territory?
It’s not like you have an abundance of food.”
As he said, in most territories, people who do not receive tenant land to cultivate, such as the second and third sons of peasants, are expelled from the territory due to food shortage.
So, a few lucky men join mercenary troops, and the majority are exploited as the poor or low-class workers in the city.
If a woman has outstanding looks, she becomes a maid or concubine of some noble, or a prostitute following the city or mercenary troops.
Those who don’t want to do either become bandits or gangs of thieves.
However, our territory will change farming tools and reform the territory in the future, so surplus food will be created, and based on this food, various manpower will be needed to develop the territory.
People to do construction, people to make something, people to create farmland, people to become soldiers, and so on…
So, excluding the words “there may be leftover food,” I answered honestly.
“I plan to seek cooperation from the nobles of our marquisate, and while bearing some burden, I intend to pioneer uncultivated land and develop farmland.
For that, people are needed, and if possible, I thought it would be more helpful to bring future criminals who would trouble Your Grace the Duke.”
Satisfied with those words, Schwein in front of me replied with a smile.
“You are right.
It’s good to see you having a plan for the future and trying to devote yourself to me.
I will send some peasants to your territory within a month.”
“Thank you.”
As soon as those words ended, the other nobles returned to enjoy the banquet.
**
The next day, my father and I went around visiting the houses of the Duke’s retainers one by one to bid farewell before returning.
I don’t know why we have to visit and sit for more than an hour to say goodbye when we could just say,
“We’re going back.
Thank you,” and give a suitable gift in return.
“Hohoho, when we fought on the Litheim Plains, we parted like this, and I bought the ham you said you wanted to eat then.
Ah, but this ham…” They talk about this for an almost infinite amount of time.
Even if I could somehow understand this, what I couldn’t understand the most was buying souvenirs for the retainers when returning.
Of course, it is a good thing for the Marquis to buy souvenirs for the retainers who cannot come to the city.
When nobles receive expensive gifts, they boast about it being received from their lord for generations, and when they receive things like wine, they drink it and boast about it for days.
By doing so, loyalty that didn’t exist before is born.
But the problem is…
“Here, 20 bottles of 10-year-old wine, 40 swords with inscriptions engraved on them…”
After buying like this, when specially packaged for nobles, the original price jumps at least 2 times.
I also bought a box of cookies for Ella and a dagger for Varso here, but I feel like I lost money anyway.
2 gold coins for all of this combined…
**
After buying all the gifts like that, the Marquis and I returned to the Kreutel territory over the course of a week.
On the way back, the Marquis and I rode in the same carriage, and during that time, the Marquis asked me various things.
Important questions that are natural as a noble, such as
“When will you get married?
Do you have someone you like?”
For these questions, I brushed them off by saying,
“I’m too busy pioneering the territory to think about that.”
Fortunately, my father, no, the Marquis, did not question me for not reporting about the new farming method I created before he asked.
If he had questioned me, I would have had to rack my brain to come up with a plausible excuse, so I was relieved that I didn’t have to do that.
**
And as soon as we arrived at the Kreutel Marquisate, I joined Ella, who had been staying at the Marquis’ mansion, and got on the carriage to return to Windheim.
When I sat in the carriage, Ella very naturally sat next to me.
Slightly apart, but in a place where our shoulders or bodies would touch if we swayed a little.
Shortly after, when the carriage started moving, Ella spoke with a bright smile.
“Welcome back, Master. I really missed you.”
“Yes, I missed you too, Ella.”
Then I gently stroked Ella’s head.
When I stopped stroking, Ella spoke with a slightly lonely expression.
“I was really lonely while being separated from you, Master.
So I studied hard to be able to follow you next time even if you go far away.
Cooking, cleaning, etiquette as a maid…”
As she said, Ella’s way of speaking had changed from the innocent tone of a child to that of a maid at some point.
“The head maid said.
She said that one day, Master, you will surely inherit the Kreutel Marquisate.
And when that happens, more amazing people will stand by your side.
So she told me to cheer up too.”
In Ella’s quietly speaking voice, I felt as if she was saying, “Don’t go far away.”
It makes sense, after all, the pain and sorrow this child has experienced are beyond imagination.
The despair she felt when she lost her parents one after another and then lost her younger brother because of the bailiff.
Nevertheless, the resignation when she tried to give up everything and become mine.
How must she have felt when she had to bear all these situations alone?
And Ella looked at me, changing from the gloomy face she had shown until a moment ago to a slightly brighter face, and said with a smile,
“So, Master, from now on, I can follow you, right?”
“Of course.”
As soon as Ella heard those words, she brought her head closer to me as if asking me to stroke it.
I just endlessly stroked that head.
Just hoping that this child’s sorrow and grief would be resolved.
Then I handed Ella one of the cookies I had bought.
Ella ate that cookie and said with a truly happy expression,
“Master, thank you.
it’s really sweet.”
I’m glad I bought it.
**
Two months had passed since I returned to Windheim, my territory.
I have dispatched the old men who had been village chiefs in various villages of Windheim to various parts of the Kreutel Marquisate.
At first, everyone opposed the dispatch, but when I said that everyone could become a bailiff if they did a good job, they all happily went.
Hearing the stories now, it seems they are working hard in other regions as well, and are implementing the four-field crop rotation in their own way.
If everything goes as I thought, we should be able to secure enough food for our territory’s peasants and nobles to eat and still have leftovers.
And in Windheim, the peasants began to ride the carts I bought and supplied to go further and pioneer new fields.
It must be the effect of promising to reduce taxes on all cultivated fields if they finish pioneering the currently pioneered fields and additionally pioneer fields further away, and the increased land that can be cultivated using horses or cows for farming.
Around this time, they should still be plowing only the cultivated land allocated to them, but thanks to distributing horse-drawn plows to each household, they can create deeper and wider fields faster.
If there is no sudden natural disaster leading to a bad harvest this year as I expect, it seems we will be able to safely support the newly incoming peasants.
And when the peasants come, yes…
Varso ran up to my side and said to me,
“Young master! The peasants have arrived!”
I smiled and said to Varso,
“Is that so?
Tell the peasants I don’t like this forest, cut it down.”
I may sound like a division commander from a military variety show, but what can I do?
It’s something that needs to be done to make money right away.
To earn a tremendous amount of money that makes what I’ve earned so far feel like a mere child’s play…
I have to invest.
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