Chapter 202

Chapter 202 \n\nSponsored Content

　Lithia and I were late for the meeting.

　The vassals had already gathered.

　Ritsu, Mireille, Russell, Charlotte, and the others were already there.

“Sorry for being tardy.”

　I apologized the moment I entered.

　Mireille was grinning, for some reason.

“You’ve been busy since this morning… Well, you’re newlyweds, so what can you do?” (Mireille)

　I was being teased by her.

　It’s completely obvious…

　Were we seen through?

　Or was it just a guess?

“It’s important for a lord to have an heir. Don’t worry about it, milord.” (Ritsu)

　Ritsu said with a serious tone and expression.

　No… If he acts that seriously, I’m going to be embarrassed.

　My face turned red, but I think it might have been better to be teased.

　Ritsu would never tease me though.

　Anyway, I can’t keep talking about this.

　In order to change the subject, I started talking about something else myself.\n

“By the way, I heard that Mireille has been residing in Canale, but is Lamberk’s territory management going well?”

　I’ve entrusted Mireille with the management of Lamberk, but she seems to have built a residence in Canale and is basically living there.

　It’s good to be able to call on her for meetings like this, but I was worried about how the Lamberk itself was being managed.

“Canale and Lamberk aren’t too far apart, so it’s alright. It’s not a problem if you throw the basic daily operations to your subordinates.” (Mireille)

“What do you mean by ‘throw’…?”

“Well, if there’s a problem that can’t be solved, I’ll take care of it. That’s OK.” (Mireille)

　It was a very reasonable approach.

　I wondered if this kind of attitude really works.

　I’ve heard reports before that there are no major problems at the moment and that Lamberk is growing steadily, but I don’t know if Mireille’s actions are correct or if things are just going well by coincidence.

　Once I left her in charge, it was hard to tell her to quit in the middle of the project when she hadn’t caused any obvious problems.

　I guess I have no choice but to leave it to her for now.

　After that, we talked about the future growth of Canale.

　With the end of the Messiaen civil war, there will be a positive economic impact.

　The counties on Basamark’s side had been unable to do business with the counties on the Clan-sama’s side, including Canale, but now that trade has been reopened, the entire Messiaen economy is booming.

　The flow of people has also become more fluid.

　Naturally, Canale would benefit from this as well. From now on, the revenue and expenditure will increase.

　As the number of new residents increases, it will be easier to find new talent.

　When the war was going on, the signs were taken down, but now they are back up.

　I’m sure I’ll have to appraise a lot of people, but I guess I’ll just have to do it.\n　Also, this time Clan-sama gave me some money for my war efforts, and I decided to use it to fund the construction of Shin’s airship.

　With Basamark gone, many of the nobles attached to Basamark had been exiled or in some cases executed, leaving a lot of land open. Those were not given to me this time.

　If I were to become a great lord and gain power in one go, there would be a great deal of opposition, so I guess they were thinking about that.

　We’ll just have to work steadily.

　Alcantes will be ruled by Clan-sama, and Sempler, which was originally ruled by Clan-sama, will be ruled by his son Leng-sama as the lord.

　To be honest, I was worried that he would not be able to rule properly since he seemed to be quite incompetent. It seems that he will have an assistant, though.

　We didn’t get any land, but we did get a lot of money, so Shin will be able to build an airship once we have enough money.

　In addition to investing in the airship, we discussed various other ideas, such as developing mines and investing in the craftsmen in Canale who were making tools such as catalyst engines.

　We can’t do all of these things because we have a limited amount of money.

　Investing in craftsmen would be more successful if I could use my appraisal skills to properly identify those with a high aptitude in Weaponry.

　Since Canale is not a very fertile land, it is more likely that we can boost the economy by selling the products of our human resources rather than selling goods obtained from nature, so we decided to prioritize investment in that area.

　The discussion moved on to other matters.

　We discussed equipping our army.

　Even though there would be no war, for the time being, we must not let our guard down.

“I still want more mages.” (Charlotte)

　Charlotte reiterated her previous assertion here.

“Especially cute girls like Musha. They are worth training.” (Charlotte)

　Apparently, she likes Musha so much that she wanted to see more female mages as well.

　Of course, I also believe that an increase in the number of mages is a must, but again, they are not so easy to find.\nVisit wuxiaworld.eu for extra chapters.

“I also have an idea for the mages, how about establishing a new magic cavalry unit?” (Russell)

　Magic cavalry, as the name implies, is cavalrymen that can use magic.

　They mix with the cavalry and use magic to assist the cavalry in their assault.

　What does Russell mean when he says, “magic cavalry unit”?

“I’m not aware of any unit of a few hundred to a thousand people that consists entirely of magic cavalry. It’s hard to find people who have both magic and cavalry talents. With Ars-sama’s help, I think we might be able to create one.” (Russell)

“How effective would a magical cavalry be in battle?”

“I can think of many ways they could work on any operation. For example, they can quickly get behind the enemy and attack with magic, or we can quickly move the cavalry to guard against a surprise attack from enemy mages. You will have troops with abilities that are useful for both offense and defense, and they have high mobility. However, magic cavalrymen can only be equipped with small catalytic engines, so they will be inferior to mages in terms of sheer power.” (Russell)

　As far as I heard about Rosell, I thought that if I could form a magical cavalry unit, it would certainly be a very effective weapon in battle.

　However, no matter how much I use my appraisal skills, I feel that it is not something that can be organized so easily.

　Both Cavalry aptitude and Magic Soldier aptitude will need to be at least B.

　In the first place, it seems that it will not easy to recruit people because it is not easy to find a person with high enough Magic Soldier aptitude.

“Is it okay for me know? I was just wondering, do you know how my brother Thomas is doing now?” (Mireille)

　Mireille asked me that.

　I believe Thomas was captured, but I don’t know what happened to him after that.

“Do you know Ritsu?”

“It seems that Thomas Grangeon was transferred to the prison of Alcantes. He hasn’t shown any sign of following Clan-sama.”

　Ritsu answered immediately. He has a lot of information in his memory.

　It seems that Thomas is still in prison.

　I’m sure he is. Clan-sama executed his master, Basamark.

\n　There’s no way he’ll obey.

　I wonder if he will be imprisoned forever, or if he will be executed.

“It doesn’t have to be right now, but I think I’d like to go see him and bring him to you if that’s okay?” (Mireille)

“You’ll bring in Thomas?”

“Yes.” (Mireille)

　Mireille nodded.

　Will she be successful?

“Lad, do you see him as someone capable?” (Mireille)

　I remembered Thomas’ status.

　I don’t remember the exact numbers, but I think he had several abilities in the 90s. There was no doubt that he was capable.

“Yes, he is competent.”

“So you have no problem making him your vassal.” (Mireille)

“No… I don’t, but can you bring even bring him in, in the first place? Surely Mireille was Thomas’ sister, but you don’t seem to like each other very much.”

“He doesn’t like me and so do I, but no matter how much I dislike him, he’s still my brother. Also, I’m sure he’ll obey you.” (Mireille)

　Mireille said it with a sly grin on her face.

　It seems that this is something only those siblings can understand.

　If Thomas becomes my vassal, I see no reason to oppose her.

“I understand. Let me know when you decide to go and persuade Thomas. I’ll send a letter to Clan-sama.”

“Very well.” (Mireille)

　Was Mireille’s reply.