Let’s Go All-Out

“We have been awaiting you, Lord Fels.”

Right before me as I teleported into the village, a young man with blue hair and an intellectual air offered a crisp salute.

“Kiriku. So you were here in the village.”

“Yes! I have a report for you, Lord Fels.”

“Hm. Then I’ll hear Kiriku’s report first. Ururu, Jōsen, take Karmos and the others to the prisoners. As for us—”

“The location has already been prepared.”

“Guide us there. Lynferia, Ilmitt, we’re going.”

““Yes!””

Following Kiriku’s guidance, we walked for a short while. Not far from the village center where the mana collection device had been placed, a building came into view—far sturdier than the village houses around it.

“This is… did you build it?”

“Yes. In this village, you have been conducting various experiments, Lord Fels, so I thought a place like this would be necessary and had it prepared.”

As Kiriku explained, he opened the door and invited us inside.

“I see. That helps.”

The building seemed to be something like a meeting hall. Right inside was a spacious room, with long tables and chairs arranged within.

Lynferia pulled out a chair for me, and when I sat, Ilmitt sat beside me, Kiriku sat across from me, and Lynferia stood diagonally behind me.

“Thank you for coming all this way, Lord Fels.”

“Think nothing of it. More importantly, what is the report?”

“Yes! By your command, we have dispatched an expeditionary force. However, in two days it will have been one week since the last battle, and the summoned soldiers’ summoning time limit will expire.”

“Hm. I was intending to speak with you about that matter as well.”

“I see.”

Good. I didn’t have to bring it up myself—Kiriku reported it on his own. So this was the importance of reporting, communicating, and consulting…! You only truly appreciate it after you’re on the receiving end…

Alright. I’ll confirm various points with Kiriku and decide our policy going forward.

“I hadn’t yet heard the details, but how many cities have shown submission to us at this point?”

“Three. When bringing them under our control, we avoided low-population villages and selected only cities of roughly ten thousand people.”

“Oh? One expeditionary force took three cities. Well done.”

“Yes. I am humbled.”

In one week, leaving it to Kiriku increased our population by thirty thousand… Meanwhile, after a month in this world, I had only managed to add about five hundred, including goblins…

So this was the difference between a Strategist and an Overlord (lol) …!

“However, the truth is that we have not yet been able to install mana collection devices, and even if they have shown submission, we currently lack effective methods of management.”

“That is exactly what concerned me most.”

“As I suspected… My apologies. Even though you were deliberately slowing the pace of the invasion, Lord Fels, I acted thoughtlessly and expanded our territory.”

“No. It’s fine. You have done well. We have brought the lord Karmos over to our side. If we didn’t seize the cities swiftly, we would only invite more trouble later.”

Of course, it was not actually true that I had been “deliberately” slowing down the invasion… I just had no idea how to acquire cities in the first place.

So Kiriku really had done an excellent job. As expected of Kiriku. Truly, “Kiriku-sasuga.”

“Besides, Kiriku. Even though in the past you would only have the summoned soldiers fight at one base once per week per unit, this time we secured three bases from a single summoning. A new method unlike before… Your achievement in seeking it out and putting it into practice… I am truly glad.”

“I-I am unworthy of such praise!”

Still seated, Kiriku bowed with force and slammed his forehead against the table.

That was a huge sound… Was he alright?

Ignoring my concern, Kiriku raised his head and continued with a perfectly serious expression.

“It appears the Lumoria royal capital is gathering troops, but it will still take some time. For our part, we intend to seize control of Yōntsu Territory while the royal capital is still bogged down.”

I couldn’t help feeling awe at Kiriku, who moved on as if nothing had happened.

“Hm.”

“To that end, we wish to make the capture of the territory capital—currently without its lord—our objective, but…”

Kiriku paused and his expression shifted slightly.

“The mana collection device. That is the problem.”

“Exactly. The city that showed submission today is the nearest city to the territory capital. I expected at least some resistance there, but when we brought the unit close, they opened the gates easily. We have dispatched Otonoha there and begun installing the mana collection device, but as expected, installation still requires five days.”

“It can’t be helped. But if anything were to happen to cities that have submitted, it would disgrace us. For now, send one thousand troops from this village to each of the three cities that have submitted. Once installation is complete, it shouldn’t be necessary, but do it as a precaution.”

“Understood. I will make those arrangements. May I handle personnel allocation on my side?”

Right—this was it. I needed to tell him not to dispatch Marie and the others.

“Yes. In principle, I leave it to you, but keep Kamila in the castle again this time. And there is something else I wish to mention. Do not send commanders like Eisha and Marie—who look to outsiders like mere children—to the battlefield for a time.”

“Eisha and the others…?”

“Yes. Other than that, you may move as you wish at your discretion. Besides, within Yōntsu Territory, there likely won’t be any major battles anymore. According to Karmos, he committed most of the troops he could move to the war against us.”

“Understood. And speaking of Karmos, since he came up just now, we are thinking of having him participate in the next assault on the territory capital.”

Good… I’d made a vaguely suggestive remark and managed to keep the Eisha-and-the-rest issue vague. Future me might suffer, but I’m counting on him to deal with it.

“Yes. I heard that. You’ll have him join up with the expeditionary force.”

“Yes. Our pre-investigation indicates that little in the way of forces remain in the territory capital, but it seems Karmos’s son-in-law is preparing to resist as acting lord… so I thought to leave that response to Karmos.”

“I see. You will also be evaluating Karmos’s ability there.”

“Yes. Arandor and I will also move to the frontline city with Karmos. The territory capital reportedly has a population a little over thirty thousand, so we intend to apply stronger pressure. In addition to the expeditionary force’s one thousand, Arandor and I will each command one thousand as well.”

“Hm. That is fine, but Kiriku—do not go to the front.”

“Yes! I will keep it in mind.”

Kiriku was a strategist-type. In the game, one unit was basically three commanders per force, so even a strategist like Kiriku could be deployed to the battlefield, but that wasn’t the case now.

In the last war, I had attached two deputy commanders to Kamila as a single unit, but in a real battlefield, putting Kiriku up front was far too dangerous. In terms of combat power, he had the same starting baseline as the maids.

Well, Kiriku surely understood that well enough, so it should be fine.

Still, if it did come to an actual battle, I would probably need to use Hawk Eye. In a battlefield, there was nothing as powerful as my abilities.

“Then we would like to act at once, if that is acceptable.”

“Very well. Ilmitt, anything else?”

When I asked Ilmitt beside me, she touched her cheek with a finger, tilted her head, and spoke.

“Let’s see~ For the small villages and towns that still haven’t come under us~, would it be possible to inspect their populations~? The diplomats are busy right now~, so it would help if the army could handle that kind of inspection~ And if possible, their specialty products too~”

“Hm. Indeed, it’s not a bad idea to push forward with confirming population and investigating specialty goods. What do you think, Kiriku? Can you do it?”

“Yes! No problem! We will proceed with that investigation in parallel as well.”

“Good. Then that is all. Apply yourselves.”

“Yes! Excuse me!”

After rising and bowing deeply, Kiriku left the meeting hall.

Once I confirmed he was gone, I spoke to Ilmitt at my side.

“Alright, Ilmitt. We will move as well. First, an inspection of the cleared fields, and checking cultivation progress with the village head… but perhaps it’s more efficient to meet up with Jōsen and the others first.”

“In that case, Lord Fels, please wait here. I have told Jōsen and the others to come here after checking on the prisoners. If Kiriku went outside and hasn’t returned, then they likely haven’t come back yet.”

Rather than Ilmitt, Lynferia made that suggestion.

When did she arrange all that…? Lynferia could really handle things, too.

“I see… then we will wait here. Lynferia, you sit as well.”

“But I am your guard, so…”

“It’s fine. In this village, it’s unlikely I would be attacked. Resting when you can is an important duty for a knight as well.”

“…Understood. Excuse me.”

With that, Lynferia sat down on a nearby chair.

“By the way, Ilmitt—before the inspection, I want to ask: do you know how the seeds we provided to this village are doing?”

“Yes~ The progress has been smooth~, and I heard all the seeds have sprouted~”

“Oh? All of them?”

“Yes~ all of them without issues~”

“Hm… All of them sprouting is better than expected.”

The “seeds” I meant were plant seeds stored in the castle’s warehouse—seeds that could yield special vegetables and fruits.

In Sword and Legions, each month your own cities and villages provided specialty goods as items, separate from mana stones, but some small villages and towns had no specialty goods assigned.

If you gave plant seeds to such a region, it would become assigned as a specialty good, and monthly harvests would be delivered.

The meals eaten in the dining hall had effects that changed depending on ingredients and cooking. If you used specialty goods as ingredients, they were inferior to ingredients obtained in dungeons, but they provided support effects far stronger than ingredients purchased with mana stones. And above all, unlike dungeon ingredients, they were delivered regularly every month, making them easy to use while still being potent—specialty goods were, in other words, an exceptionally convenient item.

Of course, there was a drawback.

Only one specialty good could be assigned per village.

If you gave pumpkin seeds to a village whose specialty good was tomatoes, for some reason it would stop producing tomatoes. Honestly, I wanted to say, “Just produce both,” but… that was the system.

Still, some parts were “because it’s a game.”

It ignored soil and seasons… and could be harvested every month.

There were no diseases or pests, no bumper crops, and no bad harvests.

Once you gave the seeds, it produced endlessly… I had to test that.

Of course, I was acting while recognizing this as reality, so I didn’t actually expect “monthly harvests,” “ignoring soil and seasons,” and so on… to happen.

But I thought experiments were necessary, so I handed over about five kinds of specialty seeds to this village.

The seeds I gave were… tomatoes, pumpkins, green onions, green peppers, and strawberries. There wasn’t any particular reason for the lineup. I just grabbed what caught my eye. For the record, I don’t like green peppers.

I honestly didn’t know which were in which seasons… so I assumed there had to be some mixed in from different seasons… and I didn’t think they’d sprout all at once, but… it seemed seeds from Legions ignored the seasons and grew anyway.

“I never thought we could cultivate five specialty crops at once in a single village~”

“Yeah. I figured it would be good if even one sprouted, but all of them was beyond expectations. And seasons don’t matter either… Now we need to observe long-term—how long until harvest, whether continuous-cropping damage occurs, and so on.”

If, like the game, we could harvest a steady amount every month—without bumper or bad harvests… Einheria might become an agricultural superpower.