Step By Step! (12)

After that, I told them about things related to leasing buildings, facilities where carriages could be parked, and the fact that it was about half a day from the Ingrad Lord’s Official Residence, and I laid out the schedule of what we would do going forward.

“I’m planning to build a paved road. I’m thinking of making a road wide enough for six carriages to run side by side—at that size, it won’t hinder the flow of logistics, right?”

“With a road like that… it will take quite a lot of time and money… are you sure it’ll be all right?”

I understood Kadan’s question. But unlike his worry, I was confident I could complete it with a day’s investment if I used Construction. Still, there was no need to tell him that.

I didn’t think this ability needed to spread too widely. Up to now, what was known about my ability was that I got exhausted after building a few inns.

“I’m investing in the work because I believe we have to succeed that much.”

“I think that’s admirable. It makes me look forward to your future, my lord.”

After that, we watched the ships moor from atop the cliff. Their sizes varied, and there were quite a lot of sailors pouring out of them.

Looking down at everyone touring the pier as if fascinated, I asked Kadan.

“If this place is made public, how do you think people will react?”

“It will be tremendous. There are only a few ports like this on the continent.”

“Is that so?”

At the words “only a few,” I briefly wondered if I’d made a mistake, but I still felt pretty good. And I was curious about the domain’s future that would spread out into the world through this place.

“It almost makes me upset that we have to trade only iron ore for now.”

“Well, for now, I do have something to propose.”

Kadan’s eyes lit up at my words.

“It’ll need some coordination, but I’d like to propose a new deal with the Lilith Trading Company. I’d appreciate it if you would listen and make a quick decision.”

Then I reached out my hand to Demina, who was standing beside me with a document bag. She pulled out a stack of papers and handed them to me and Kadan. Kadan took them—and I saw him about to slump down on the floor, so I stopped him and immediately used Construction to make a table and chairs.

“Let’s talk while seated.”

Kadan looked at me with astonishment, and he asked quietly.

“I understand you have the Aptitude of Construction… but can you do even this?”

“When I think of it as a kind of ‘structure,’ it works. Isn’t it a shift in perspective?”

“You’re a fascinating person. Then, excuse me.”

Kadan sat and began examining the papers. When it looked like he had finished reading the first page, I opened my mouth.

“What I propose is this: on the way to purchase iron ore, I want you to sell goods from our domain in the Northern Continent.”

“Hmm… it is certainly a tempting offer. The profit we can gain is about two tenths, in the form of a commission?”

“That’s right. It’s a proposal guaranteeing you two tenths of the profit generated from selling, including transport fees. We will prepare all the sale goods ourselves, but wouldn’t your expertise be what we need most?”

I laced my fingers and looked at Kadan, and he lowered his gaze to the papers again and turned to the next page.

At that time, Galea asked a question.

“I know inland merchants are already taking a significant volume—can you prepare enough supply?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Honestly, even the volume they take now is something we regulate. If you think about the domain’s production, it’s not that much.”

It really wasn’t that much. It was just that the amount I had to infuse with mana would increase, so I’d get busier—but lately, work had dropped off absurdly, so I had plenty of slack.

Galea looked surprised at that.

“Even the volume Idlen buys comes to around two hundred thousand large gold coins, doesn’t it?”

At Galea’s words, it was Kadan who looked surprised. His expression said, Was it really that much? Looking at him, I said.

“If you convert the monthly volume of goods flowing out of our domain into money, it’s roughly five hundred thousand large gold coins. It’s an enormous amount, but most of it is consumed through reinvestment. This iron ore matter too, but also buying ships, expanding facilities, and the most money-consuming thing—‘food’—also costs an amount we can’t ignore.”

“Hmm… I heard you import all of your food…?”

“That’s right. We’re dependent on the outside. That’s why I want this port to be our lifeline. That’s also why we’re producing large quantities of preservation warehouses.”

“Hmm… are you thinking of bringing seafood inland?”

“Wouldn’t most of that seafood be consumed by our domain?”

If a port appeared, fishermen would appear too, and surely there would be people who wanted to migrate to our domain. Recently, there were quite a few outside Free Citizens visiting the official residence to register as residents.

Most of them were still settling in by being satisfied with shops or stalls, but I thought that with more time, merchants and many other strata would migrate in.

Now, excluding slaves and beastkin, domain residents numbered around two thousand.

“At present, domain residents are around one hundred thirty thousand including beastkin. That’s not a small number.”

For a viscounty, it was a small number. But Kadan’s party had no way not to know that most of those residents were beastkin, and they asked me while looking at me with odd expressions.

“I heard they all follow you, my lord… but what method did you use?”

“It’s a secret.”

I couldn’t tell them it was because of the goddess, so I kept silent. But they seemed curious. Honestly, I didn’t need to lie with this and that, so I simply left it as a secret, and afterward, I received a few proposals related to the contract.

One of them was that besides carrying iron ore, the Lilith Trading Company would bring food if they had spare capacity—would I accept that? I told them I’d welcome it instead, and after seriously coordinating the contract, as a finishing step, I boarded a carriage that was waiting so we could hand Kadan’s party over to Linda and Matilda.

Galea stayed behind to lead the company and handle the ship’s transfer, while I, Kadan, and a few merchants were able to return to the lord’s castle.

After that, the schedule went smoothly.

I had already given Linda and Matilda advance notice, and we proceeded with the contract by adding a few items including the changed matters, and soon, after finishing signing with Kadan and exchanging the contracts, we were able to bring the Lilith Trading Company into the fold.

Leaving behind the carriage that returned Kadan’s party to the port, I came back to the lord’s official residence and asked the two women following behind.

“Hoo… the work keeps getting bigger and bigger. It’s all still within what we can handle, but I don’t think it’ll end like this. What do you think?”

At my question, Matilda spoke first.

“I think the number of things you have to do is becoming too great, my lord. I think it would be good to prepare methods so that even in domain affairs, for tasks where you are not strictly necessary, things can be done without you.”

“That isn’t easy. If it were something that could be done easily, someone would have already copied it.”

“…But if work keeps increasing like this, you’ll lose your breathing room, and you may end up overworking.”

At Linda’s words, I recalled the time I had collapsed once and said.

“I’ll try, but I don’t know if it’ll be easy.”

To be honest, if I lowered the efficacy of the medicines I sold now by about half, there was a method. By manufacturing mana potions and making them seep into herbs and such the same way I infused mana, it would be possible. But with that method, there was a risk the information would leak. Moreover, the ingredients required to make mana potions weren’t simple either, and considering efficiency, it could be called the worst—so it was right to say I had cleanly declared I was giving up on it.

Still, as I thought I should find a method, fatigue washed over me, and I spoke.

“That’s the schedule for now. Anyway, you did well. I’ll need to rest for a few days. Living rough is tough.”

After sending everyone back, I was able to enjoy a long-awaited rest in the inner Keep.

Meanwhile, as Branne was pushing into Atoon’s territory like a breaking bamboo, she received new news from a courier and her head began to throb.

It was because of news that Atoon’s royal authority had changed hands, and that the front was about to collapse due to the Demon Tribe. She should have felt as if her actions had caused great harm to humanity, but her desire for revenge didn’t soften—instead, it piled up thicker and thicker.

“When was this news sent?”

“It is news from ten days ago. It is a message that Commander-in-Chief Agnes will split the troops, sending some to the front and some to pressure Atoon’s royal castle.”

“If they split the troops, they won’t have leeway.”

“They are the empire’s elite. They are not ones who would lose to an enemy of similar numbers.”

“I understand. Hand the news you brought to the strategy officer, then rest.”

“Thank you.”

After watching the courier withdraw, Branne fell into thought.

‘Five days until Atoon’s capital—there must be no trouble until then…’

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Agnes. She was only worried that the empire’s precious elite might take heavy losses. And what she had felt after fighting alongside Jillien was that he was a ‘fool.’

He was obsessed with merit, and his envy and jealousy toward the strong were great.

Moreover, even during war, he always kept women close and caused many scandals. That was why Branne could not accept the fact that she had nearly been violated by such an idiot.

But because of that, Branne had met a new turning point.

She had begun thinking far more than ever about “men,” a change so noticeable it was hard to miss, and the Empress’s conditions and hopes presented to her were fanning those feelings even more.

‘It’s not that I dislike him. He’s elusive, and little is known. Even that he’s a human from another world… isn’t something to take lightly. But… he was kind, and capable. And he’s someone whose future actions can’t be predicted… is that why…?’

Branne’s mind was tangled, but she quickly forced even that into the back of her head, then studied a map of all Atoon and spoke to her aide.

“We’ll pierce through by the fastest route. If we ignore whatever lies ahead and run—how long to the capital?”

“Three days.”

“Three days… if we push ourselves?”

“We can shorten it by half a day, but if it’s during combat, casualties may surge due to accumulated fatigue among our troops.”

“That’s troublesome. Even three days is a fairly forced judgment, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

Count Ishtain’s forces were elite. Considering the time, effort, and cost that went into training a single soldier, reckless actions couldn’t be allowed. Feeling stifled but thinking there was no choice, she gave an order.

“Three days. We join with Duke Agnes. There is no objection.”

At Branne’s command, several knights inside immediately moved outside and relayed the order to the senior commanders, and then, as the command passed down to the mid- and lower-level officers, they began preparing to march.

The season of war was arriving in full.