Preparations proceeded steadily. Dorby’s ability was better than expected. He said that he had negotiated a contract with a top company, but he knew that was not all. It didn’t matter. You just have to do what you are told to do well.
The worst of the condition of the territory was not the size of the territory or the finances of the territory. It was the fact that there was not much of a proper labor force among the remaining territories. Most of them were elderly and infirm who had no way to make ends meet after leaving the manor. Fortunately, the number is slightly over 100.
Yeongji’s labor force seemed to be considered virtually zero. If so, there is no choice but to take the minimum labor force here.
Since alter ego 1 has not yet arrived at the ecliptic, we decided to start with the part that can be solved when there is no 1.
“Jake, I’m going to visit the orphanages today.”
“Yes, lord”
The easiest way to acquire labor is to purchase slaves, but in the Aether Empire, the process of buying and selling slaves is very complicated. Ether, even as a prince, hated the slave trade. After becoming emperor, he tried to get rid of the slave trade, but he faced a lot of opposition and changed it to complicate the trade and pay a lot of taxes.
So, it was a bit fashionable to take children from orphanages, teach them, raise them, and use them as labor force.
In any case, there was no war recently, but the orphanage was overflowing with children who came in for one reason or another.
You don’t have to be a particularly talented kid. Of course, it would be better if they were excellent, but as a standard, it is better if they have talent among children with good minds. Among the relatively old children, I received children who said it was okay to follow me.
In the first place, people overflowing with talent aren’t rolling around like stones on the street…isn’t it?
When I went to the third orphanage, I found a child with a great soul. It was a boy who looked about the same age as me. I went in front of the child and held out my hand.
“You become my subordinate”
It was half a joke, but the boy grabbed his hand unexpectedly. and gave me strength It is a strong force. But I’m a high-ranking knight, no matter how young and strong I am, it’s like a shrimp attacking a whale.
I twisted my body and forced my face to turn red, but when I did not respond, I relaxed and let go of my hand.
“This is Argin.”
“It’s Germain Francois. Arginna come with me. What do you want?”
“I want to become stronger.”
Argin’s eyes were burning. It’s not easy to have eyes like that at that age.
“The knight standing behind me is called Sir Jake Hallendra. You’re a skilled man who’s about to become a high-ranking knight. Sir Jake will be your mentor. Is that enough?”
Argin’s pupils moved back and forth between me and Jake, then stopped. And he bowed his head.
“I will follow.”
“Teach me well Jake Argin. A great talent.”
“I’m just following the orders of my lord.”
I really like Jake because he doesn’t talk a lot. He is a simple and loyal knight. We were lucky to have such talent readily available.
We picked and brought about 20 children. Of course, the process was not simple either. How is it different from the slave market if you give your children away to anyone? When I was about to get into trouble, Dorby, who had been absent due to work at the upper level, appeared and everything was resolved. It was said that an incumbent imperial official would guarantee it, but nothing was more certain.
Among the children brought in, there are quite talented children and ordinary children. At least, being chosen by me is a story about being lucky. Before leaving, they rented an entire inn to feed and sleep the children. Again, I asked Dorby to buy and distribute clothes for the children.
Next were workers and mercenaries. Workers are needed when building a new manor house. The name is still a count’s house, but the place where Count Akasha is now lying is at the level of a decent village headman’s house.
Mercenaries must escort workers and children to the manor. And for a while, you have to take care of the security of the territory. It will be a long term contract. I remembered the curse words G-Zac said when we parted ways. And it came true.
“Hey, Bocchan”
As soon as I entered the mercenary office, Zizac, who was playing cards in the corner, greeted me by waving his hand. In fact, it would be reassuring if a mercenary like Ji-Zak would follow.
“What did I say that we would meet again?”
But this feels bad. I feel like I’ve lost somehow.
“Has anything else happened in the meantime?”
“I have a lot of work, but after one long-term mission, I need to take a break.
“Then, would you like to run one more long-term mission? For two years?”
Zizac’s face was strangely distorted. I feel a little better.
“Maybe there will be a lot of fighting. Of course, from my point of view, it would be better not to fight.”
“Hmm, then we should go.”
Succeeded in securing Ji-Jaq. But I feel strange.
“Maybe we won’t fight?”
“You know that, Bocchan?”
“What?”
“Bocchan smells strangely of blood”
The faces of G-Zac and mine were distorted in different ways. Anyway, I picked 30 mercenaries like that. Except for G-Jacques, it is a one-year contract. Zijak signed a two-year contract for offense. There was no talent like Jake at the mercenary office here.
The contract to transport workers and materials for construction was handled by Dorby. There was a lot to be sold there. It is not an easy task to start with building design and contract with the right amount of materials and technicians.
Everything that can be solved with money has been solved. Thanks to this, the wealth of the sub-space was considerably reduced.
A few days later, clone 1 finally arrived. Number 2 was following the chief of security and the magistrate who left to greet me at the Akasha estate. There were still a few days left for the vassals to arrive.
Once I spent a lot of money, I refilled it to some extent. There are more places to get money than you think. When No. 1, such as a backstreet organization or a corrupt aristocrat who is a blacksmith, went to collect money for a day, he made more money than he spent.
Then he wrote two letters and ordered number 1 to send to the emperor. Now, Yuri decided not to go through it and decided that it was better to communicate directly with the emperor because he was not a person with whom he could not communicate.
In fact, I also doubted whether it was the emperor’s intention for me to go to Count Akasha’s family. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is almost certain.
After hearing about it from Dorby, the Marquess of Illivad was not a noble family friendly to the imperial family. It is said that it has been rapidly increasing over the past few years.
In other words, even if I go to the Akasha family and maintain the status quo at the bottom level, the emperor will support me under the pretext that I am a child of the guardian spirit, and the imperial family will put a dagger under the chin of the Illivad marquis family.
So it must have been a talent like Dorby, I don’t know if it’s the quality of a great monarch, but anyway, the etheric father’s blood is still going on.
Of course, I have no intention of receiving support from the imperial family. However, he had no intention of fighting the Illivad marquis instead of the imperial family. Of course, if you fight, you will win in one way or another.
A few days later, the chief of the Akasha estate and the magistrate arrived to find me. After a casual meeting, Jake and Dorby, who were behind me, were introduced, and the two showed a rather uncomfortable expression.
“My name is Jake Hallendrahal, a follower of Prince Germain.”
Jake, at a cursory glance, he is a skilled knight. Moreover, these days, wearing the armor I bought, he has become even more cool.
“I am Baron Dorvi Agelahim, a 5th-class official in the Ministry of Finance. I am helping Prince Germain according to the imperial order.”
Dorby looked at the two with her eyes shining. It was like the eyes of a cat with its prey in front of it. I didn’t bother to hide the laughter that came out of my mouth.
The two were greatly shaken by Dorby’s introduction rather than Jake’s. From this point on, the administrators and security chiefs had to know that their designs were greatly out of sync. However, having already crossed the river of no return, they had no choice but to do what they had prepared.
“Ooh, let’s go get the most urgent thing done first.”
“Is there something urgent?”
When I asked with a face that I didn’t know, the administrator sighed and answered.
“It is necessary to register Prince Germain’s entry into Count Akasha’s family. Even if you apply now, it will take quite a while.”
The administrative officer tried his best to explain, but I didn’t ask because I didn’t know.
“Oh, that I have already prepared. All you need to do is get the count’s seal stamped, so you just have to go back to the estate and get the count’s approval.”
Dorby pulled out a completed document from a corner. I had already put in a word to the emperor in a letter, and had Dorby completed the preparations.
“okay. That’s a really good thing.”
The administrator was delighted and took out the official seal of Count Akasha, which was made into a ring, from his inside pocket. It is illegal and de facto treason to carry around and take the official seal of a lord who has become half unconscious like that. I already knew that the official seal was worn by the administrator. That’s what created this situation.
Their plans may have gone awry due to various preparations, but since they have been tyrannical like this for a long time, they don’t even know what they are doing wrong.
Dorby saw it and was about to say something, but I pulled Dorby by the hem of his dress and gave him a signal not to.
It was only then that Dorby nodded slightly and smiled strangely, probably noticing what I was about to do. Of course, Dorby must have known that Count Akasha was unconscious. The Imperial Intelligence Service wasn’t such an easygoing place. But you probably didn’t know that you could carry the seal of the family head in your pocket like that.
The administrator proudly stamped the seal of Count Akasha on several of the documents. And handed it over to Dorby. Dorby quickly took care of it, took it in, and went out.
“Have the magistrate and the chief of peace been with Count Akasha for a long time?”
“Kuhm! of course. It is no exaggeration to say that we both gave our lives.”
When Dorby left, the magistrate’s voice grew louder as if he were a little cheered up.
“Then, your children are also residing in the Akasha county, right?”
“It is not. My son is so clever that he is studying at the academy of the Marquis of Illivad. The grades are very good.”
“My children look like me and have a talent for swords, so they attend the swordsmanship academy of the emperor.”
The first is the administrative officer and the second is the chief of peace. If both of them resembled their father, I don’t think they would have such a talent, but anyway, the two of them boasted about their children for a long time. Thanks to you, I got all the information I wanted to know.
What I was curious about was this. Where to hide the wealth stolen from Count Akasha? It is where the children are.
“okay. Are you interested in education? I hope that my children will become talented people who will be of great help to the Akasha county in the future.”
From noble mtl dot com.
The two retainers smiled meaningfully, as if I looked like an idiot with a bright smile. Already, No. 1 set out to find the children of the chief of security, who were said to be attending the swordsmanship academy in the imperial capital.
Dorby came back while we were talking about this and that and extracting the information we wanted. Then both of them closed their mouths.
“The papers have all been passed. Prince Germain has now officially become Prince Germain Akasha.”
Dorbi handed me a document with the emperor’s seal stamped on it, and I received it, showed it to the two vassals, and put it in the subspace in front of their eyes.
“Uh, how is this so fast”
“Rather than that, was Confucius a high-ranking wizard?”
Their reactions were different, but they seemed very surprised anyway.
“Everyone has a vessel they are born with, so if you try to contain more than that, the vessel will break. Shouldn’t this be enough to contain the family of Count Akasha?”
The faces of the magistrate and peace officer began to rot.