To Solve The Problem! (7)

The ones who played the biggest role in establishing the sugarcane fields were, of course, the beastkin. Since I had obtained permission, I could have brought in slaves, but I chose instead to entrust the fields to the beastkin after promising them a certain amount of wages.

After setting up the sugarcane fields, I was able to thoroughly prepare a plan to use fertilizer there by fermenting the ground-up trash with the fertilizer-making reagents I had bought from the Alchemists’ Guild.

To do this, I had to remodel several locations near the manor into new spaces, and in the middle of that I handed off some of the more bothersome merchants to Linda and Matilda to see how they would handle them. I was able to confirm that they resolved things quite nicely.

“Both of them are working hard for now… but do you think they have too much on their plates?”

I asked Demina, but since she seemed to have no interest in anything beyond guarding me, she just said she didn’t know.

Since Demina poured all her effort into getting stronger and protecting me, I gave up on asking for her opinion and instead adjusted the temperature there so the fertilizer would ferment well, made a stone table to sit at, and looked around.

There had been a lot of changes, and the domain finally looked like a place where people actually lived, but it still felt ridiculous how many things were lacking.

‘For now, I should probably be satisfied that many people are coming in from outside… but that also means problems are increasing just as much…’

I had first asked the Gyeon-in Tribe to take charge of public order, but there were still some people who behaved in ways they couldn’t handle, which caused trouble.

They weren’t landed nobles, but there were plenty of types who had climbed all the way up to count by playing political games in the capital and running trading companies. They would visit the domain from time to time and act like they owned the place, as if they were kings, which frequently caused issues.

The biggest problem, in particular, was the sexual side of things. Some of them wanted to “taste the new world” of beastkin that they had never experienced before, which meant I had to struggle just to reject them in a way that didn’t cause a scene. And when that didn’t work, a few of them even had mercenaries abduct beastkin and tried to assault them by force. We caught them several times and expelled them from the domain to put an end to those incidents.

‘No matter how strong beastkin are, they can’t win against sheer numbers… is that it?’

No—more accurately, I felt that the beastkin were holding back for my sake. After all, the beastkin woman who had nearly been abducted had been from the Ung-in Tribe.

Was it a trait of the Ung-in Tribe?

With their plump, voluptuous figures and cute faces, they were quite popular among humans. On top of that, their naturally easygoing personalities and the fact that they were not aggressive unless someone was openly hostile to them made them a tribe that was all too convenient for people to try tricks on.

From the start, humans had the sense to stay away from the notoriously fearsome Sain Tribe or Dragonkin, but as for the various other tribes, humans weren’t all that afraid of them, and that also played a part.

“People’s thought patterns really are scary… After being so terrified all this time, once they saw the domain lord—me—living comfortably with human slaves, they relaxed and now try to treat this place just like a human-run domain… Isn’t that downright ironic?”

As expected, Demina wasn’t interested.

She only nodded with an expression that said as much. I couldn’t help but sigh and wonder if she really had to be like this.

Since I had already finished touring all the places I needed to see, I dusted myself off and headed to the workshop to work on my current project.

Just then, I happened to run into Linda leaving the manor, and she greeted me with a bright expression.

“My lord, this is our first time meeting today!”

“I don’t think so.”

I had already seen Linda at work today, so I told her she was wrong, but she just tilted her head in puzzlement, then smiled brightly and said,

“It’s my first time, so it feels like our first time meeting!”

“Well… anyway, did something happen? You look like you’re in a good mood.”

“Ah, I actually have a report!”

I nodded at Linda’s high tension and headed for the workshop first, and she followed along at my heels, speaking as if giving a work report.

“First, I managed to draw out reasonable cooperation and trade from the merchant you instructed me to approach. Here’s the basic report—but as you’ll see if you read it, that merchant specializes in trading wool fabrics, and it just so happened that he sent an inquiry asking to buy ‘carpets,’ the traditional floor covering of the Ingrad Domain.”

“Carpets…?”

Since I didn’t even know about that tradition myself, I looked at her in surprise, and Linda pointed at the documents she handed me and explained.

“Ah, this is actually something we just found out. The Seorin Tribe that came down from the north had a talent for it. They said they had made their living by running sheep and doing pastoral work. After you were appointed to Ingrad, my lord, they migrated en masse to the Ingrad Domain with help from various beastkin tribes, and it’s been reported that they’re now living by driving sheep across the southern grasslands.”

So yet another beastkin tribe from the north had come in, huh. I decided I should ask Wijel and the others about it later to clear up my questions, then asked Linda,

“How was the quality of the carpets?”

“They were top-grade. Maybe because the sheep grew up eating the weeds from the Forest of the Demon Dragon, the condition and quality of the wool were outstanding. And the Seorin Tribe are very good with their hands, so they were able to weave all kinds of patterns into the carpets, making them quite splendid to look at.”

It certainly sounded like it had been a good deal. With that in mind, I decided to change the angle of my question.

“And the Seorin Tribe—did they cooperate well?”

“They said they would do anything if it meant repaying the favor they owe you, my lord, but since it seems that’s not what you want, I just paid them a fair price and bought a large amount. I’m sorry for taking the initiative and reporting after the fact!”

“No, it’s fine. You handled it well, so I think it’s all right. But next time, could you give me a heads-up first?”

“Understood. And as it says in the report…”

After that, I listened to Linda chatter away as she recounted the story of selling off the carpets. Apparently, she had first bought a huge quantity of carpets for nearly 1,000 large gold coins.

We kept a certain amount of those carpets to decorate the inside of the domain—the manor and the lord’s castle—and then she sat down to negotiate with the wool merchant we were dealing with this time. The carpets received glowing evaluations for their quality, patterns, and even preservation and finishing, and by selling all of them, she made a net profit of 3,000 large gold coins. I couldn’t help being a little surprised.

“That’s quite a profit. Is it a large trading company?”

“In the wool trade, they’re a giant company that ranks in the top three.”

“Why did a company like that stop by our domain?”

“They were on their way back from a trade expedition to the north and heard a rumor that a new road had opened into the Ingrad Domain, so they dropped by to see what they might find.”

“So it was a ‘might as well while we’re here’ situation.”

It had basically fallen into our laps, but when I heard that Linda had even managed to secure a contract for regular trade with them, I could only praise her for a job well done.

She had handled it cleanly. The only thing that still bothered me was that she hadn’t informed me first.

I pointed that out again and told her this kind of thing should only happen once. After getting her agreement, I found out she didn’t have any urgent work at the moment, so she kept following me all the way into the workshop, leaving me with no choice but to let her come in with me.

On top of that, Linda really liked the coffee I brewed.

“You’re going to try roasting coffee again, aren’t you?”

“That’s right. The degree of roasting changes the taste, aroma, acidity, and bitterness. While it’s important to find the optimal flavor, I’m also planning to build up data so people can enjoy various types of coffee.”

“That’s a pretty unusual hobby.”

I gave a wry grin at Linda’s comment and replied.

“It’s not a hobby. This is all part of development that will become flesh and blood for me.”

“…Don’t tell me you’re planning to sell it?”

“Of course. I’ve already placed a massive order for Mansia seeds, which are the main ingredient for this ‘coffee.’ I mentioned it before, right? That we’re trading with Dust of Sands Trading Company.”

“Ah… so that’s the product you ordered from them?”

“Exactly. I think the shipment should arrive in about a month. And once all the sugarcane grows and we can extract raw sugar… we’ll be able to do even more.”

“Raw sugar? What’s that?”

“I’ll tell you later. I want to focus on roasting today.”

After that, I ignored Linda’s curious questions and focused on roasting beans in various ways and writing notes, when she peered at my writing and asked,

“I’ve never seen that script before. Which country’s writing is it?”

To keep things confidential, I was using Hangul and Arabic numerals, and Linda was curious about it. But I had no intention of teaching her the characters, and honestly, I didn’t want them to spread widely either.

Whenever I needed to write down anything secret, I had always used Hangul. So I told Linda it was “my own language,” and when she asked if she could learn it, I flatly refused, which left her pouting in disappointment.

It was an expression that tugged at my conscience, but I had no intention of teaching it to her even as a reward.

Instead, I brewed a cup of coffee with minimized acidity and a focus on a rich, nutty flavor, handed it to Linda, and said,

“Sometimes, greed only brings misfortune. Just knowing this script could drag you into trouble later, so I’m being careful.”

“I understand.”

I heard Linda’s reply as she slurped the coffee, but for some reason I had a strong feeling that this smart young lady was going to cause some kind of incident, which left me rather uneasy.

After that, I sent Linda off to take care of her work and holed up in the workshop just as planned, focusing on coffee until late into the night.

Meanwhile, at the Pharmacists’ Guild, chaos reigned under the banner of “revolution.”

“At last… at last I’ve figured out Viscount Ingrad’s method!!!”

At the shout of one pharmacist, all eyes turned toward him. As he proudly showed off the medicine he had made and went to report his results to Marquis Doriyan’s attendant, the right-hand man known as Doriyan’s “right arm,” Irude Timaek, looked at the pharmacist with an icy expression and said,

“Who else knows this information?”

“As of now, I’m the only one who knows.”

“I see. Well done. Does anyone else know about the development?”

“Well… I was so excited that I might have…”

“Mm. For now, keep this information secret. Understood?”

“Because it’s information that mustn’t leak outside, correct?”

“Exactly. This is a matter of life and death for the Pharmacists’ Guild. That’s why I’m going to report directly to Marquis Doriyan right now. If we want to get back at those who’ve looked down on us, we’ll need to maintain secrecy. Good work, Pharmacist Rildan. I expect His Excellency Marquis Doriyan will grant you a lavish reward.”

“Kh… When I think of all the humiliation I’ve endured…”

After sending the pharmacist out, Irude Timaek hesitated. If he delivered the information Rildan had uncovered to Marquis Doriyan now, the marquis—who had been on the verge of collapsing politically—would rise again, and if that happened, Irude might have to swallow the resentment he had been building up all this time.

But he didn’t want to see Marquis Doriyan prosper again, and from what he had learned, wouldn’t he be able to cross over to another continent and enjoy meteoric success there?

That thought made up his mind, and he immediately got up, opened his personal vault, and began gathering all the bribes he had accumulated here and there over the years as well as the money he had saved.

‘First… I go to the Assassins’ Guild. I’ll eliminate Rildan, then leave this country. I refuse to spend my life being dragged around by someone like Doriyan and end it that way. I’ll start over on a new continent…’

Steeling his heart, Doriyan’s right-hand man—and now traitor—Irude Timaek decided to bury this new discovery. Whether this would mark the signal fire announcing the rise of a new tycoon remained to be seen.