46 — 5 (6)

To be precise, the treasury was 13.5. In the Civilization System’s gold, that was 13.5 gold—converted to present currency, 13.5 billion Dilant.

At the scale of Louis’s city, he would need steady revenue for about half a year to budget roughly 20 billion.

In other words…..

‘Only now has it begun to function as a proper city.’

It was astonishing by any measure.

In barely half a year after being thoroughly pillaged, the population had begun to grow; the finances had finally turned to surplus, and the coffers had firmed up.

‘I really managed to hold the line until now.’

It was no joke. Louis lived each day on the brink. Thinking back on the past and then on the present, he felt distinctly how much he had grown.

Not only the city—Louis himself, outwardly and inwardly, had grown.

‘But this is only the beginning.’

Louis craved an even greater ambition. He himself did not know how far that ambition would reach.

‘Even if I’ve grown, I’m still at a toddling stage.’

Indeed. Excluding the forces under Dekal, the army Louis could command amounted to a single unit.

The city needed to grow further, but the army was more urgent. With spearmen alone as a branch, he could not stand against his brothers.

If things took the worst turn….. sadly, Louis would likely end up collapsing here.

His eldest brother Fred was highly aggressive. If a succession war broke out, the first target Fred would aim for was surely Louis.

The cities run by his second brother Pierre were uniformly strong in defense, and under Pierre’s management, the roads were maintained with razor precision.

The ample goods and grain flowing from the port city could overwhelm an attacking force.

Moreover, as Louis remembered, his second brother’s strict nature came with great talent for defensive warfare.

Louis’s father, Remitri, often held debates. House Pontina’s banner bore a roaring lion. Not now, but in the past they had never failed to take the vanguard of the Duchy of Eron—blood of warriors ran thick through the line.

So even while in decline now, they had traditionally been rigorous in educating their children.

They waged war with logic. Louis had been too young to participate, but Fred and Pierre often fought mock wars head-to-head.

By a narrow margin, Fred’s record was better, but when the terrain was firmly secured, Pierre won most of the time.

In any case, what Louis envisioned was merely a worst-case scenario that had not yet arrived.

‘In the end, this money leaves me two choices.’

Population—or the creation of an elite branch.

If an elite branch, it had to be cavalry.

The lands around Proia were wetlands in the rear and opened to grasslands in front.

On grasslands, no arm performed more powerfully than cavalry.

With mobility, the strategies he could use would expand virtually without limit.

The second option was industrial formation together with a population-maintenance policy.

In the Civilization System, Louis’s population read 4; in actual numbers, about ninety thousand.

Proia had originally held between fifty and sixty thousand; the present increase Louis had brought about was virtually beyond imagination.

He had secured food and slashed mortality.

Effectively, he had drawn in all the population he could in the current situation.

In the long run, it would grow, but only after years had passed.

Right now, the usable population topped out at ninety thousand.

And hitting ninety thousand didn’t mean it would always hold; to maintain it, he needed more stable food output and reserves.

‘Points on hand: 1,800.’

With the 300 points scraping bottom, plus the 1,500 gained from the quest, he could unlock traits again.

‘Hold the decision for now.’

At least until the Library Wonder was built—that was the limit of postponement.

---

‘At last… it’s complete.’

The completed library was art. Louis felt his chest swell. He was not the only one—everyone who had worked on it felt a thrill.

‘To think we actually built this.’

Hector was so overwhelmed he nearly collapsed. That he had made such a masterpiece with his own hands… repeating the same words several times, he looked at Louis.

‘This came out of this man’s head.’

Fresh, refined design married to practical planning; the engraved motifs and sculptures were unusual and unfamiliar, yet once attached to the structure, not the least bit out of place. A building of this caliber was not something one could create with a lifetime of effort.

Suddenly, Hector felt envious of Louis. Until now he had had no time to feel inferior, focused as he was on construction, but the feeling had come upon him all at once.

‘Noble by birth and outstanding in talent, yet he treats design as a hobby… how unfair the gods are.’

From what Hector had seen, Louis didn’t seem particularly interested in architecture. His chief concern was city management… administration… administration. It was too consul-like to fault him, but in Hector’s view, Louis’s true talent lay in design.

Louis, meanwhile, was satisfied yet found one regret.

The special effect granted to the Library was Embedded Carvings. There existed effects two tiers higher; in effect, among the options that could be granted, he had gotten an ordinary one.

Naturally, he wanted a higher-tier effect next time.

‘Next time, I’ll use only the very best craftsmen.’

While Louis added that to his to-do list, ordinary citizens gazing at the building felt a kind of trance.

‘Is it a temple?’

‘Is this really a library? It’s too precious to use as a library.’

‘It’s so beautiful.’

‘Our Consul must surely be a man sent by the gods.’

Most raised in Proia had never left this place. Besides, to see a building of this level, one had to go at least to the Empire.

Many felt a religious shock at the sight of such a colossal work of art for the first time.

If Hector had shivered purely at the artistic achievement, it was natural that the uninstructed citizens tried to understand it this way; some even fantasized that Louis was a herald sent by the gods.

‘I should go in.’

The first steps, of course, belonged to Louis. Enjoying the quickened beat of his heart, he took the stairs and walked inward. The white-marble library shone with an almost excessive brightness, and the soldiers standing at attention from the entrance up the stairs added majesty to the edifice.

Louis opened doors that no one had yet touched since completion and stepped in alone.

‘There are no books yet—but now we’ll fill it.’

---

‘City growth has reached its limit.’

In terrain without a river, a figure like ninety thousand was already abnormal. To push population higher from here, he still needed to cut mortality substantially.

Numbers reducible by food would now improve only slowly; the most efficient method for the present was to improve medicine.

‘If I want more growth, that means investing in religion…’

Louis did not particularly want to cling to population. Using the Civilization System, he could, if he wished, push to 160,000 in the future—but the boomerang that would come back to hit him hardest was time.

Louis was young. And like most young people, he wanted a path of ever faster growth.

That didn’t mean conceit.

As a tool, Civilization was changing the world beyond his expectations.

‘There’s no need to pass time passively.’

Louis fixed the rough direction.

---

‘So it’s time to leave.’

Hector looked upon Proia with a regretful face. Short as it was, there had never been a moment so intense. In a way, he was happy: for a builder, constructing a building worthy of the century was a joy beyond compare and a purpose in life.

Moreover, in this place Hector had found the quiet pleasure of training a disciple.

‘Not a formal disciple, but a true prodigy.’

Hector thought of Ain. Ain came from low birth and was a boy who had only just become a soldier. He hadn’t even shed the tag of recruit when Louis spotted his construction talent and immediately attached him to Hector.

Slight of build and delicate, yet more to Hector’s liking than any disciple he had ever trained.

‘Even so, it can’t be helped.’

It couldn’t. His family all lived in the port city of Kayani, and Hector was tightly bound to the guild. If he moved to Proia, he would suffer the guild’s fierce denunciations.

No matter how satisfied he was with the work in Proia, he could not bring himself to abandon his hometown and earn the condemnation of his colleagues.

The sun was just setting. With departure tomorrow, the marble library melted even more beautifully into the dusk.

Then a familiar boy ran up from behind.

“Master, Young Master Louis is calling for you.”

He wasn’t supposed to say “Master,” but when they were alone he had been told to use it. At this hour, the only reason the Consul would summon him… was likely to pay him as the contract wrapped up.

“I understand.”

“Are you leaving tomorrow?”

“That’s how it is. This is where the contract ends; I wish you well going forward.”

“….Yes.”

The boy answered glumly, and Hector kept his true feelings to himself. That was his way of teaching a disciple.

The office. The broad chamber was also dyed orange. The light had deepened a little; soon it would vanish entirely and night would arrive.

“Consul. It’s Hector.”

“Come in.”

Hector entered.

‘Looks like Hector is quite taken with this place.’

Louis had many eyes and ears. News of Hector’s daily life reached him naturally even when he tried to ignore it. At first he thought nothing of it, but upon reflection, if he could recruit Hector, his building efforts would be secure. The Wonder he needed to raise was not just this one; as soon as the Library gathered Science, he planned to add more Wonders.

The more talent, the better.

The question was whether the man would accept an offer so easily.

‘What kind of offer should I make?’

What would tempt Hector? At minimum, Louis could offer security of life, but Hector was already comfortably middle class.

If he were greedy for money, perhaps—but he didn’t seem so.

Then it would be values related to family; on that, Louis lacked information.

“Here is the contract. Sign it, and I will pay your fee.”

“……I see.”

Hector drew out his words, and Louis didn’t miss it. Drawing out one’s words could mean regret.

Louis continued at once.

“……Before that, I’d like to hear your impressions.”

“…Pardon? Impressions? What kind of impressions?”

“My city—what do you think of Proia?”