Step By Step! (11)

“A ship is coming!”

At the whale beastkin’s words, I moved near the lighthouse and looked out to the open sea, but no matter how I looked, all I could see were a few black dots.

My eyesight wasn’t great, sure, but it also meant they were that far away. Still, one thing was certain: something had appeared, so I spoke to the beastkin.

“All right—wrap up the work, and first, let’s prepare to take custody of the ship. Ulde, are the beastkin to be assigned to the ship ready?”

“We’ll have to receive it first, but we’ve prepared thirty at a time as crew. But my lord—do we really have to live in a place like that?”

The place Ulde meant was the residential area built along the cliff. We had made houses by carving into the cliff itself and pulling space out of it, and Ulde looked at me as if stifled while staring at the long stretch of housing lined along the cliff’s lower edge.

“If you want to live in our domain, then for now, some of you will have to live there too. And there’s meaning in letting it be known that you have safe housing.”

“Housing…?”

“Yes. If it becomes known that you have a residence and a base in the Ingrad Domain, there will be many benefits in many ways.”

Hearing me, Ulde asked, looking puzzled.

“What benefit would we…?”

“Whale beastkin must be active all over the world. But they’re likely seen as a people who wander without a home. If this time, we tell the world that you have a foundation to live in within the Ingrad Domain—meaning my land—then it becomes a kind of safety device that prevents people from treating you however they like.”

“A safety device…?”

I nodded and conveyed my thoughts to Ulde as they were.

“In other words, you become domain residents of the Ingrad Domain of the Terakan Empire. I heard you don’t really threaten humans or attack them. Is that right?”

“Of course. If we attacked humans, humans would mobilize an army to wipe out our race. Rather, we often help in danger. At sea, there are threats—monsters and nature.”

Indeed, the whale beastkin’s actions weren’t the kind that provoked hostile feelings from humans. And now, if rumors gradually spread and it became known they were residents of the Ingrad Domain?

Then they could receive protection under the name of Terakan. Terakan was a giant nation that ranked within the top five in the world, and as such, it had powerful military and economic strength, and it also led culture in some respects.

The whale beastkin were entering under the influence of such a nation. Since they were a people who barely attacked humans even during rampages, I thought even Terakan’s upper ranks would have little burden in recognizing and accepting them as domain residents.

‘Well, for now, it’ll only be known as rumor.’

“Even just showing the information—‘you’re living here’—to trade caravans that roam the continent will already put you in a beneficial situation. So please bear with it.”

“…Understood. If it is your order, my lord…”

After that, as the dots drew closer and clearly took the shape of ships, I steadied myself while watching people carrying supplies.

All I could do was hope what we were about to do would succeed, but I was convinced there weren’t many ways it could fail.

A while later, many ships stopped in the waters before the port, and a few small boats approached to dock. We went down to the shoreline as well, watching the small boats swing in wide.

And when I saw a familiar woman at the very front waving her hand, I returned the wave lightly and waited. As the boats moored at the pier, many people disembarked with astonished expressions.

“So it really… existed?”

At Galea’s words as she looked around in fascination, I greeted her with a welcome.

“You must’ve had a hard trip. Was the weather not too bad?”

“There were rough waves, but it wasn’t so bad. And there’s someone I’d like to introduce. This is my father and the head of the Lilith Trading Company—Kadan Lilith.”

“I am Kadan Lilith.”

Kadan Lilith greeted me politely, and I extended my hand and spoke.

“I am Viscount Ingrad. It’s nice to meet you. It must’ve been quite a long journey.”

“Fortunately, we were resting at a port not far away, so it didn’t take long. But… I didn’t expect a port this splendid to exist.”

“Splendid?”

“Along the cliff—housing, a pier where many ships can moor, and is that a lighthouse?”

“For now, it’s only to the point of lighting torches, but in time, I plan to place magical devices and have it fulfill a proper role.”

“Remarkable. A port of this scale… ha, even though I roam the continent, I have never seen a port in this form.”

Kadan’s words made me feel the effort I’d put in had been worth it.

“There may be facilities a port needs. Are there any facilities you’d recommend?”

“Hmm… may I take a look around first, then speak?”

“Do so. But we can’t leave the ships out there as they are—how about bringing them into the port?”

“I’ll send a signalman. Thank you for permitting the first docking.”

Since it was no great matter, I nodded, then asked as I walked ahead and watched Kadan’s party follow.

“I consider this port a lifeline for our Ingrad Domain. You are the first outsiders invited to such a place, and I welcome you greatly. Please look around thoroughly, and tell me frankly whatever you think is needed.”

With a reply of agreement, we began touring the port in earnest. I started by explaining this and that while looking over the types of piers.

“First—do you see the flags installed here?”

“What do they signify?”

“They’re flags that mark sea depth using rainbow colors. The closer it is to red, the shallower the water. Right now, this area is purple, so it’s the deepest point.”

“Hoh… it will help when mooring ships, yes?”

“That’s right. I was advised that depth matters more for large ships. It was quite a struggle, but they said this place is about forty meters deep.”

“Ah… did they tell you that?”

At his question while pointing to the whale beastkin, I nodded.

“The Ingrad Domain has accepted the whale beastkin as domain residents this time. They plan to live here, using this port and the cliff coast as their base. Some have already finished settling.”

Kadan looked astonished at my words.

“They are a gentle people, but… is it all right?”

“I don’t think of beastkin and humans differently. And I’m not so coldhearted as to cast out those who trusted me and sought refuge.”

It was a bit of image-making, but hearing me, Kadan nodded with a surprised expression. And as I watched him carefully scan the surroundings, I was curious what advice he would give. The next place I guided them to was the large warehouses prepared inside the pier.

Through Hare, we were working with preservation magic, and while doing so, I guided them to a few locations where the work had already been completed and spoke.

“These are warehouses for storing living things and food. We finished them with magic so preservation magic can be maintained and the temperature can be kept low. I plan to lease these to merchants. We’ll steadily increase the number, and to move goods upward, you go up along that road.”

I had tried to devise something like an elevator, but since Hare told me a few top-grade magic stones wouldn’t even come close, it was on hold for now. Instead, we had installed a large ramp so loads could be moved up to the top of the cliff.

“For now, it’s all carts using Black Cow and the like, but in time, we plan to improve ‘golems’ so they can pull cargo wagons. That way, we can move massive supplies upward easily.”

“…Golems… impressive. To think you’d consider that… And the warehouses—what cost are you thinking of leasing them for?”

At Kadan’s careful question, I recalled the price I had discussed with Hare and answered.

“Ten large gold coins per day, for now. Since the warehouses are large, there was no helping but to set that price.”

“Hoh… may I know the grade of the temperature maintenance and the preservation magic?”

“It’s simple. The temperature is set about two degrees above water’s freezing point, and the preservation magic grade is said to be S-rank.”

“…Ten large gold coins for a warehouse of this size… that is an extremely cheap price.”

“Is it?”

There were thirty warehouses. If all of them were filled, it would be as if three hundred large gold coins per day simply rolled in, and I thought even that alone made building the port worthwhile.

“How many warehouses do you intend to expand to at most?”

“Hmm, the number I have in mind is around two hundred. The land area isn’t wide, and I’m thinking of carving into the cliff and using the inside as warehouses.”

“That’s an enormous storage capacity.”

“Is it enormous?”

“It will be to the point that the word ‘enormous’ won’t even be enough. With warehouses of this size, even a trading company like ours couldn’t use all fifty. That means more traders may come here to trade with the Terakan Empire.”

It was unexpected. I’d thought a company like Lilith would consume most of the warehouses we were building, but they couldn’t. Still, thinking ahead, I felt expanding warehouses would be something we needed to keep doing steadily.

“How is the port site overall?”

“If we can use the land route from here, we can reach Terakan’s heartland quickly… so I do think it’s good. And nearby domains have very narrow ports, and they aren’t well managed, so they may not be convenient to use.”

“How are the nearby ports?”

I knew there was a port in a neighboring viscounty. But since his evaluation was poor, it seemed there was a problem. When I asked, Kadan let out a sigh and said.

“First, the pier is made of wood, so it’s difficult to move heavy loads. A port with a pier this sturdy and stone-built… it’s correct to say there are almost none. Moreover, even when you leave the pier, the beach and the land near the coast are soft, and the ground is poor. But here, you can move straight up to the hillside, and most of the land is firm, so the difference is obvious.”

I thought it was a good assessment. After that, after touring the whale beastkin housing, the living spaces for people, and the basic facilities for crews and visitors for a long while, we were able to climb the cliff.

And Kadan was amazed as he confirmed the simple city facilities prepared atop the cliff.

“It may look like a ghost city because there isn’t an influx of people yet, but once this place really starts to catch the flow, I think even this city will become cramped. What do you think?”

“…I think it’s splendid enough to make me want to have our trading company settle here.”

It was a satisfying evaluation.