I Was Reincarnated as a Marquis in Another World- Chapter 19

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Bobto
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Upon hearing those words, I unconsciously grabbed Helmut’s hand with both of my hands and said,

“Yes, Helmut, good job!

You did really well!”

Perhaps because I showed too much joy, Helmut replied with a dumbfounded expression.

“Y-yes, thank you. My lord.”

I was too excited, Helmut will be surprised if I show this kind of appearance.

But I tried to wipe my mouth as if nothing had happened and said,

“Guide me as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Ah, and… call only a few trustworthy people.

It’s important.”

Helmut tilted his head upon hearing the words I said that he couldn’t understand the meaning of.

“Yes, understood.

But do we really need to go this far just to run a factory like this?”

As he said, if we were going to produce something ordinary, it would be cheaper and more convenient to install it in a location where everyone can see, regardless of security.

Especially in this world where there are no proper land transportation means other than carts.

So I smiled and answered,

“Yes, you’re right. But I’m going to make something extremely important, so just follow me.”

Helmut seemed to want to ask, “What nonsense are you saying?” upon hearing my words, I ignored his reaction and hurried.

Because I wanted to make the secret item I had in mind as soon as possible, even an hour, no, a second earlier.

**

In the place where the trees of the forest that I said I didn’t like were cut down, a factory had already been built.

Even though it’s called a factory, it’s just built next to a fairly large river, using the power of flowing water as a driving force instead of fossil fuels.

So it was built in a horizontally long shape along the waterfront to use many waterwheels.

Inside, there was a space to wash radishes in the flowing water, rotating knives to easily cut radishes to the desired size, an enormous pot, and a hearth.

Looking at it like this, it looks like a giant kitchen rather than a factory.

Helmut, who entered the giant kitchen, no, the factory, was looking around with Varso with a puzzled expression.

“Sir Varso, Why did the lord deliberately push down the forest and make such a large kitchen?

Could it be that the lord… is thinking of secretly learning to cook here…”

Varso looked around the interior of the factory that looked like a kitchen, and then replied in a slightly subdued voice.

“Be quiet, Helmut. No matter how much you’re a mercenary…

Our young master wouldn’t be someone who secretly cooks, would he?

Even if he sometimes acts strangely, he’s a proper noble.”

“But why do noble people sometimes build houses or factories in deep forests like this and do strange things?

One of the people I served before built a factory in a place like this and every night, his lover…”

“There’s no way our young master would… No, since the young master is 17 years old this year and hasn’t gotten married yet, maybe… it could be possible.”

Suddenly, the two nodded their heads with a convinced expression.

I slapped Varso’s back hard with the palm of my hand and said in a serious voice,

“Stop talking nonsense, Varso.

Are all the peasants called outside trustworthy people?”

“Yes, young master.

Among the second and third sons granted to you by His Excellency Duke Nantes, I only selected guys who have nowhere else to go but here.”

“How many?”

“About 20 people.”

“Bring them in.”

**

Before long, 20 peasants entered.

Seeing high-ranking people like me and Varso inside the facility, they quickly knelt down and looked up at us only with their heads raised.

Nevertheless, perhaps because it was a facility they had created, they seemed to have no rejection of the facility itself.

Rather, they were curious about how the facility they had created would be used, so they were looking around the surroundings of various machines.

I guess anyone wants to know if what they made is working well or not.

To focus their attention, I shouted loudly.

“Everyone, attention!!”

At the sudden loud voice, the peasants stopped looking around and began to focus on my words.

“From now on, you will no longer farm and instead will work in this factory.

I will directly show you what to make in this factory, so work accordingly.

First, you over there.”

The peasant who was called answered in a startled voice.

“Are you talking to me?”

“If you look to the left of this building, there should be a warehouse.

Go to the warehouse and bring those radishes.”

“Yes, understood.”

And after some time had passed, that peasant came into the factory, pulling a cart full of radishes covered in dirt.

Since the cart is full of radishes, there should be about 150 kilograms.

“Good work, now move as I instruct.”

“Yes, my lord…”

I precisely instructed the peasants on how to work, and then I came out for a moment to get some air out of the stuffy factory.

Since we have to boil the peeled radishes for several hours, I just need to go in the middle and instruct them on the appropriate boiling temperature and when to put in the lime.

“I think I’m going to live… I thought I was going to be steamed to death…”
“That’s what I’m saying. It feels even hotter than when wearing plate mail and walking around in the summer!”

“It was hotter than the Vigos Desert.”

Like that, the three of us complained that we thought we were going to die from the heat, and then scooped up and drank the water flowing near the factory.

A glass of water after escaping from that factory that was like a steamer was too sweet.

“Ha… I thought I was going to die, young master.”

“Me too, Varso.. I really thought I was going to become a steamed chicken in a steamer.”

“haha.. Young master, in that sense, how about asking Ella to steam some chicken for you when you finish all the work today?”

Steamed chicken, although it won’t taste the same as the one I ate in Korea because there’s no soy sauce, there are various seasonings here, so it’s delicious if you dip it.

No, even if you just dip it in salt as it is…

Ha, saying that makes me want to eat fried chicken.

I haven’t been able to eat it even once since being reborn here…

Ah, no matter how delicious steamed chicken is, it’s a bit lacking compared to fried chicken, so if I eat steamed chicken, I’ll only become more desperate for fried chicken.

“No, let’s slaughter a pig today.

How about a whole roasted pig with all the mercenary guys?”

At those words, Varso and Helmut’s attention was focused.

“You usually say we have to save money and only grill chicken, why suddenly today…”

“Thank you, young master.

It’s been a while since I’ve given the guys some different food.”

“Don’t you slaughter a chicken and eat it once a week?

what do you mean it’s been a while?”

Then Helmut gave an extremely strange answer.

“Young master, chicken has little fat, so it doesn’t count as different food.

It has to be at least pork or beef.”

“… Go slaughter a big one.

Let’s salt the leftovers.”

“Long live the young master!!”

**

After a few hours, the final product was finally made.

A solidified liquid about the size of a large bowl made using a cartload.

The peasants who were already exhausted and turned into rice cakes, as well as Helmut and Varso, were making blank expressions looking at the solid with a corn syrup color.

They must be dumbfounded after working hard for hours to make the radishes they painstakingly grew into this shape.

But this is the very result I had been longing for.

So Varso, as if he had made up his mind and took the lead, asked me.

“Young master… ”

I cut off Varso’s words and said firmly,

“Varso, bring a hammer and a wedge.”

“…. Young master?”

“Bring them quickly.”

Upon hearing those words, Varso grumbled and brought a wedge and hammer that were rolling around in the corner of the workshop.

As soon as I received them, I placed the wedge on top of that solid and kept striking it with the hammer.

Every time I struck, powder flew and sometimes even splashed on my face…

But I kept striking without minding such things.

After striking like that in a state of ecstasy for about 5 minutes, it roughly turned into small lumps and powder.

Among the small lumps, I put a lump the size of a single bite into the mouth of the peasant closest to me.

The peasant whose mouth I suddenly put a strange lump into was startled and had a fit.

But after a while, the peasant chewed that lump a few times and then made an expression mixed with rapture and shock.

“Young master, it’s sweet. It’s as sweet as honey.”

Then I also quickly put that lump in my mouth and chewed it.

It was so hard that it felt like chewing a lump of stone with my teeth, but I definitely tasted the sweetness of sugar.

Since it was a sweetness I tasted after a long time, I quickly chewed and ate the lump of sugar that was like a jawbreaker to savor that sweetness to the end.

And only after I finished eating the lump of sugar did I realize that they were all focused on me.

I looked at them and said with a more serious expression than ever.

“What we made is sugar.

Everyone, try it.”

At those words, everyone began to eat the sugar I had crushed.

Those who tasted the pure sweetness couldn’t hide their smiles with the sugar in their mouths.

Some even had their mouths reaching their ears.

That’s understandable.

In the Elaine Empire, sugar is not produced at all, so it is a luxury item that has to be imported from Spenia, which takes one or two months by ship or four months by carriage, so even nobles use it sparingly.

Therefore, no matter how well they are treated, it is a “luxury item” that is difficult to taste even for Varso, a rural knight, Helmut, who leads about 30 mercenaries, and furthermore, the peasants who are the lowest class in the territory except for slaves.

So much so that 1 kilogram of sugar costs 2 and a half silver coins.

Since 1 silver coin is the food cost for a peasant for 10 days, it’s roughly the amount of money a peasant can live on for 25 days.

If converted to Korean value, the real value is about 300,000 won.

Therefore, sugar will have an even more special meaning to them.

To focus their attention, I clapped my hands.

Then the people immersed in the aftertaste of sugar immediately turned to look at me.

“You have to make this from now on and never reveal it to nobody.”

As I looked at them, I put a knife to the neck of a peasant in front of me,

As little blood flowed from the neck of the peasant the knife touched, and the peasant’s pants started to get slightly damp as if he had wet himself.

Without considering that at all, I solemnly declared,

“Ciel von Kreutel swears by the holy Deus and says.

Those who reveal it will die on a breaking wheel, and their families will also suffer the same death.”

At those words, the peasants began to look at me with a terrified expression.

“Instead, I will guarantee you who work in this factory a standard of living that knights would envy.

Just wait until I make money by selling this.

Clothes woven with soft cotton, your families will eat chicken once a week, no, once every three days, and you will even grill and eat beef from time to time.

I will pay you a salary that can make that possible.”

At these words, the peasants made a dumbfounded expression.

The luxurious life that only knights can enjoy must be unimaginable for peasants.

But soon, they couldn’t hide their smiles, as if they were looking forward to their own future of enjoying a luxurious life they had never even imagined.

“Then I will be leaving now, from now on, you are the workers of this factory.

And as a sign that I will keep my promise, I will have you eat plenty of pork and various dishes.

Varso, I will pay later, so prepare enough dishes for them to eat and still have leftovers.”

“Yes, understood.”

**

When I came out of the factory, Varso asked me in a voice that he couldn’t understand at all.

“Young master, even if they are guys who make sugar, why are you guaranteeing them the standard of living of knights?

Aren’t they just technicians?”

I smiled and answered those words.

“Just technicians… Do they really look like that?”

“Well… it’s not a very special skill, is it?

So much so that they moved swiftly following your instructions, even though you’ve never held a carving knife, and made sugar in just a few hours…”

Then Varso’s expression hardened.

He must have realized how great the thing I had done was.

So I smiled calmly and alternately looked at Varso and Helmut and said,

“Varso, about 150 kilograms of sugar beets go into one cart.

If we sell that at the market, it’s about 2 silver coins.
But if we process it the way I said, it’s 10 kilograms of sugar, and if we sell it, it’s 25 silver coins.

Moreover, it’s easy to follow and make.

In other words, if the technology is leaked, everyone and their dog will follow it.

To prevent that, we need to treat them well and hide them as much as possible.”

Upon hearing those words, Helmut asked with a serious expression.

“My lord, were you perhaps thinking of… eliminating us?”

I smiled as if it was nothing and said,

“No, do you have any thoughts of being appointed by me? I’m treating mere workers at the level of knights, so how would it be for you guys?

I will at least treat you to the extent of eating a chicken every day, aren’t you tired of wandering?”

Upon hearing those words, Helmut pondered for a few minutes and then knelt on one knee.

It seemed he meant that he also wanted to be made a knight.

But to achieve the goal I have in mind, I need a mercenary who can play the role of a “training instructor”…

And to get through the upcoming wars, we need a case of someone being recognized for their abilities and achievements and becoming a “noble” in this way.

I drew the sword I had, placed it on Helmut’s left shoulder, and said,

“Based on the rightful authority I, Ciel von Kreutel, possess, I hereby appoint you, Helmut, as a knight.”

“Yes, my liege.”

” don’t call me, my liege.

just call me young master.”

“Yes, young master.”

**

And a few weeks later, after a certain amount of sugar had been collected, I moved to sell the sugar.

Leaving the territory to another knight, disguising myself as a merchant along with Helmut’s mercenary group.

Beyond the city where Duke Nantes resided, to the great free city of Hamburg.

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