Chapter 54

After finishing the distribution of merits regarding our family’s greatest achievements, the young knight continued to announce the awards for the other counts.

“… To Baron Crescent, in recognition of his merits so far, I grant him 20 towns around his domain. This concludes all awards. Count Nante, Your Excellency, will need to stabilize Helzman for the time being, so I request all barons to return to their respective domains.”

With those words, all barons, including Count Croilet, knelt on one knee and bowed their heads in respect toward the Count.

Seeing us pay our respects like that, the Count extended his right hand in a slight wave and said, “Everyone, I thank you for fighting honorably for me. Your loyalty has been rewarded, so now return to your domains and rest peacefully.”

“Thank you.”

Then we exited the audience chamber to return to our respective territories.

As I left the audience chamber and walked down a long corridor separated from the other barons with the count, I heard Baron Crescent’s voice.

“Count Croilet and Baron are finished, it seems. What good is ability if they have no intention of following the Count’s orders, blinded by their own merits? Because of that, what is this distribution of merits to us? Isn’t it, Baron Ren?”

“However, the merits of the Croilet family are different, aren’t they…”

“Such nonsense. If they had calculated that, they should have distributed some to us as well. Those fellows have taken all the credit. The territory they received is… isn’t it the best spot in the Count’s domain?”

“That is true… From the copper mines to the limestone mines… While they have indeed made significant efforts by seizing Helzman Castle, their domain has practically doubled. They have truly become the second most powerful after us.”

Baron Ren and Baron Crescent continued to talk behind our backs until their voices faded away.

To summarize their conversation, it seems they are trying to instill a sense of inferiority in the other barons toward our Croilet family, aiming to divide us into a ‘majority loyal to the Count’ and the ‘Croilet family.’

Even though both I and the Count have grown as vassals in the Count’s domain, if that’s the case, why not just order us to simply ‘be independent’ instead of engaging in this petty act?

Indeed, the peak of pettiness to try to keep one’s life intact by throwing away the honor of nobility…

A character who could learn from General Yi Sun-sin and the righteous army leaders.

As I walked from the audience chamber to our accommodation, the Count looked at me with a worried expression and asked, “SIEL. What should we do now?”

At that moment, I wanted to return to my territory immediately and say, “Alright, then I will be independent!!” and proceed to declare independence. However…

If I did that, Count Nante would likely take the opportunity to invade our territory and declare war.

If war were to break out, no matter how elite our soldiers are, they would not be able to withstand the sheer numbers pouring out from Count Nante’s domain.

No matter how powerful a trained soldier may be, he cannot defeat five serfs wielding pitchforks.

Thus, I gave the most standard response.

“There’s no choice. I will stabilize the newly expanded Croilet domain, so Father, please take charge of ‘Blue Port.’ Wouldn’t the best course of action be to grow our territory as large as possible to prepare for the next war?”

The Count nodded at my words and replied. “That’s right. Now that the other barons have started to envy us, all we can do is to achieve merits.”

“Yes, and if we can digest this fully and show our abilities… we will create a territory richer and more powerful than before. If we can utilize the copper and limestone mines well, what is there to fear?”

I guess my confident response pleased the Count, as he replied with a satisfied expression.

“Indeed, having received such a large amount of rewards, it’s only natural that those envious of our grace will emerge… For the sake of repaying the grace of the previous Count, we must strive.”

Given that he has been loyal to the Nante family to the extent of claiming the role of Count Schwabin’s guardian, it seems the Count must have been quite disappointed with Schwabin, due to the current Count attempting to check us through this distribution of merits.

Because, the nobles of this era are supposed to be those who ‘always’ pledge loyalty to their current lord, not to ‘dead people’ who possess human kindness…

It is as if he is indirectly saying in front of me, “The one I am loyal to now is not Count Schwabin but the previous Count Nante.”

“Yes, Father.”

**

After finishing the conquest war of Helzman’s territory, I, along with Count Croilet’s army, returned to the Croilet domain, while the Count decided to head to Blue Port.

Before parting ways with the Count, I made this request to him.

“Blue Port is a good harbor for trade with the Northern Alliance. Therefore, please promote trade with the Northern Alliance. If we say we will sell them ‘sugar’ and ‘grains,’ they will surely open their doors to us.”

“Right, that’s necessary. The Northern Alliance has the same Holy Romanian Empire as an enemy, so forming an alliance will definitely secure our rear.”

“Yes, Father. Please.”

The Count thumped his chest and said, “Look forward to it. In a few months, I will gather all the money the Northern Alliance has like a rake.”

“If that happens, we should be able to spend freely without worrying about money. I’m looking forward to it.”

After saying those words, the Count set off for Blue Port with five of my standing army battalions.

And the remaining soldiers, including Balt and myself, hurried back to the Croilet domain.

I thought to myself that I should hurry back and enjoy some delicious food with Ela and Balt…

And then, I would think of a way to kill that damned Count.

**

Upon returning to the territory, I first finished distributing the rewards to the soldiers and took a week off with them.

During the break, I woke up almost every day when the sun was high in the sky, handled only the ‘urgent tasks,’ and either took Ela and Balt out to the village outside Croilet Castle for fun or enjoyed a picnic on the back mountain.

On the last day, I secretly concealed my identity and entered a rural village to buy ‘three chickens’ to roast over a campfire…

Perhaps because I snuck away to eat in a place where the other vassals wouldn’t see, it was really delicious.

From then on, however, the workload necessary to manage the expanded territory began to pour in like a flood.

“Your Excellency, it has been reported that the copper mine in Southron has yielded no more copper ore since last year!! The miners are in trouble without jobs. What should we do?”

“Isn’t that something you should think of and report to me!! Find an alternative immediately!!”

“Your Excellency, there is a shortage of personnel needed for the limestone mine!!”

“Put the miners working in the copper mine there!”

“Yes, understood!!”

“Your Excellency, it seems that food is running short here because the Sa-yun cultivation method isn’t used well in this territory. What should we do?”

“Send all the hardtack that has been stored for more than seven months over there.”

“Yes, understood.”

In this manner, the work just kept pouring in, and ugh…

Back when I obtained Blue Port and the salt mine, things only got a little more complicated, but now having effectively received ‘one baron territory’ from the Count, the amount of work has skyrocketed…

At this rate, I feel like I wouldn’t be able to cope even if I had two bodies; I think I should appoint some of the gentry or knights as inspectors to filter the workload a bit…

No, let’s just make it a filtering system… I’m not Felipe II and I can’t oversee building a local monastery…

Thus, I decided to prepare ‘Inspector appointment letters’ for those I picked from the list of capable gentry or knights and put them together with the ones I had to appoint.

Of course, if they are competent, I plan to guarantee them a territory or a higher title as I did for the soldiers.

Ah, I also need to recruit soldiers from the newly hired territory…

Since food is still sufficient, I should conscript about 2,000 to 3,000 more from the entire territory this time to be able to confront the Count…

It seems that in modern nations, having soldiers exceeding 2% of the entire population is problematic, yet a standing army surpassing 3% of the population in a medieval territory…

If I hadn’t been able to duplicate money through sugar, I wouldn’t have even thought of this unprecedented feat.

If it had been another lord, with even half of what I have, they would have gone completely bankrupt…

When it comes to the difficulty of tasks, I think war is easier than organizing a newly acquired territory. Really…

Besides that, I have to deal with granting marriage permissions and matchmaking services for soldiers above ‘grant’ level, and I need to consult with the administrative officers about the amount of sugar to sell to the Northern Alliance. I should also start considering the full-scale poultry farming as the surplus of grains consumed by the army is approaching its limits…

Sigh, am I really going to die from this workload?

**

Thus, for a year, I lived tormented by internal affairs.

As a result, I was able to successfully absorb Orbo and Southron into my territory and coat parts of several houses and walls with limestone.

Moreover, I heard that there is someone in Hamburg who has learned how to make a ‘powder that cools water’ when put in water, and I was able to recruit that person for an enormously high price.

Thanks to the boasting of that person about making a high-end food called ‘ice cream’ with this powder, I ended up paying a lot for it.

What’s with paying 50 gold coins for just one technician…

However, if this powder is indeed what I think it is, it should be worth not 50 but 500 gold coins…

Let’s consider it a good investment and just let it go.

And as I had planned, I was able to recruit 2,000 more soldiers to train.

However, there’s always some bad thing following good events…

Finally, the incident symbolizing the turmoil in Elaline occurred.

The puppet emperor, despite being a ‘Your Imperial Majesty’, has passed away.

Damn, as a baron, I must perform the funeral for the not at all respected late emperor at the imperial capital ‘Elysium’ for the first time in my life, just like Count Nante.

And I must secretly convene with other great nobles… If I can gain Schwabin’s tacit approval…

I will be able to swallow the territory of Count Nante.

The cost might be a bit high, but if I have money, I can manage somehow.