Chapter 2 – Even this World Has Its Own One Eyed Dragon

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“We will gradually proceed towards that sort of governing method, but do you have any problems with it?”

“No, absolutely not!”

 

I informed Nanbu Harumasa and his people about the plans for how this island is going to be ruled, but they didn’t seem opposed to it. Of course I couldn’t deny the possibility of them resisting as soon as we were gone, but since I told them that I could come here any time with my Teleport, I think they will think twice before starting anything.

Besides, they were extremely happy to hear about trade through magic airships becoming available.

“Our great ancestors, who settled on this island, didn’t possess a magic airship. They didn’t have any engineers capable of building airships among them either.”

The Akitsushima family, which settled on this island, originally was a family of priests. The Mizuho family, on the other hand, seemed to have been a big mercantile house (apparently something like a company) in the beginning. The Mizuhos possessed many merchants and engineers in the main and branch families.

Even the Mizuho family lost many techniques and skills until the settled down in their current territory, so the same likely applied even more so to the Akitsushima family. Also, because there was no foreign trade, the magic engineering declined for the most part.

“Are you going to demand support from the Mizuhos?”

“I think many will be against such a move.”

Nanbu Harumasa had become completely docile. According to him, the other lords would strongly oppose such a motion.

“Although it happened 10,000 years ago, the Mizuho and Akitsushima families had been on bad terms. I heard in the past, both families regularly dispatched assassins, trying to kill each other’s family heads…”

“You’re awfully well-informed about such ancient events.”

“The Nanbus are descendants of higher guard officers who used to serve the Akitsushima family, so we have some records of the distant past still left.”

A named family that has been continuing for ten thousand years, huh…? That would be a startling story even in the Helmut Kingdom.

“Haruka, is that true?”

“It’s something I also heard from my father and big brother. As for why they took different actions despite being of the same race, I heard the two families were at risk of killing each other, not to speak of the internal conflicts that occurred whenever they were together.”

“But, ten thousand years have passed since then.”

“I think even the Mizuhos would find it hard to send support for free. They’re likely busy with the settlement and development of their new territory…”

After successfully helping in suppressing the civil war, the Mizuho family had been granted new land, which they were now trying to grasp and rule. It also meant that it’d be difficult for them to assist a distant island like this.

I believe they wouldn’t be overly happy to be told to assist the island after having been separated for more than ten thousand years. And the islanders likely have their own pride. They’d hate the idea of allowing themselves to be belittled for the sake of receiving support.

“If we consider the danger of us being then ruled by the Mizuhos, many lords will likely prefer bending their knee to the Baumeister House instead of being ruled by the Mizuhos.”

They have no choice but to obey us after losing the battle, but even if they’ve lost, they wouldn’t be able to bear being looked down upon by the Mizuhos, he basically said.

Still, it’s all such a pain…a discord lasting more than ten thousand years, eh…? But, thanks to that, they obediently surrendered to the Baumeister House, I suppose.

“Oh well, whatever. We will be confiscating the territory, but that’s no issue, right?”

“Yes.”

I thought he’d resist this as well, but he accepted it unexpectedly easily. The abolition of the local lords meant they would become my retainers, but as long as they didn’t become my vassals, they wouldn’t be granted territory. Having said that, I plan to appoint the former lords as governors for the land they’re currently ruling. This will allow them to do the administration, taxation, and public safety instead of the Baumeister house. As long as they don’t mess it up, we will appoint their family members as governors for many generations to come.

The ones consolidating all those governors will be the Akitsushima and Hosokawa families.

You could say there won’t be much of a change compared to now, despite us confiscating their land. The Nanbu family would be allowed land and mansion comparable to the territory he originally possessed with his lineage. In addition to his governor post, he’d be able to do trade and manage large-scale agriculture. However, he wouldn’t be allowed to levy taxes or demand more labor than decided by the Baumeister House.

The Nanbu family will have its land and housing officially acknowledged. Afterwards they’ll need to pay a fixed portion of the income they generate with that land to the Baumeister House.

The former lords will collect taxes as governors and pay those to the Baumeister House. In return, the Baumeister House will pay them wages.

All of this might not go smoothly at first, but if they make too many mistakes as governors, it’s also possible for them to be dismissed. Since they will be immediately subjugated, if they oppose the dismissal, it won’t become much of a problem either, I think.

Besides, Yuki is an outstanding woman, so she won’t have any issues with rallying them, I’m sure. I’ve heard she governed the Akitsushima and former Shichijo fiefs without any issues with the same system and Roderich even told me that he’d like to have her as his subordinate.

“If you accept our rule, it will also bring your benefits.”

First off, they’ll obtain the chance to trade with the outside world. They don’t even possess regular boats. Moreover, there’s a nest of serpents slightly to the north of this island.

So far, very many people sank in the sea after planning to trade with the outside, so they’ve now limited themselves to fishing near the island, it seems. But even that fishing is extremely limited as most of the island is surrounded by steep cliffs, leaving only few sandy beaches and places suitable for ports, so the scale of their fishing is rather small.

“Right now, we’re digging wells with everyone.”

“That’s very appreciated.”

“It looks like once dried-out wells will recover once you break through one more layer of bedrock.”

“It’s a big help to everyone.”

Harumasa, the head of the Nanbus, also had difficulties securing water. It was also proof of just how big the influence of the Miyoshi family, who owns Lake Biwa, has become.

“However, even if you use the water in Lake Biwa, it’s only enough to allow the people in the center to live comfortably.”

That’s why the Miyoshi family didn’t meddle with the outer regions. Harumasa went to visit them once a year, bringing some gifts. The Miyoshis returned the favor by sending gifts from their side. Those gifts were dried, salt-pickled fish from Lake Biwa. And it seems like Harumasa would have been able to make quite a bit of money by reselling these.

Given that the islanders couldn’t catch fish easily anywhere besides Lake Biwa, fish are valuable here.

“They also raise the frequency of peddlers coming to your territory. The Miyoshis are generous towards lords who go to greet them.”

“If that prevents the outer regions from falling into huge chaos, it’s a cheap price to pay, I guess.”

Since they would only make losses if they intervened in the outer fiefs in some imprudent way, the Miyoshi family opted for making the fringe lords obey by giving them trade benefits and gifts. I wonder how they’re going to react to the Baumeister House which is trying to become the new ruler of this island.

It’s worrying, but there are a lot of things we must do before that.

The magicians with advanced mana traveled around the fiefs of the smaller lords under the Nanbu family. They were reviving old wells or dug out new ones. However, even with their level of power, they needed three days of daily full-power strike to break through the bedrock, and in some cases, a whole week was even necessary.

Even so, we were warmly welcomed since none of the island’s magicians were able to break the basalt layer. They openly accepted the new rulers who provided them with life-saving water.

An increase in the usable water also connected to an increase of their beloved rice production, so it was only natural for them to welcome us. Elise and Ryouko healing the residents for free also played a big role in this.

Given that they were forced into submission through the stick of a huge, devastating spell being threatened at them, it was now necessary to give them some carrots.

“You also have my thanks in regards to the currency.”

Mizuho had its own currency and it’s not like this island didn’t have its own either. But its quality wasn’t good by any standard.

Only small amounts of gold and silver could be mined on this island and because there were several copper mines on the island, copper coins were the main currency. Their shapes closely resembled the ones often appearing in historic plays.

However, the copper coins weren’t standardized at all. The old copper coin 『Akitsu Coin』 had been issued when the Akitsushima family ruled over the island. But, the last one of these was created 500 years ago. Given the outstanding skill in casting, its value was high, but they were rare on the market.

Next, the 『Miyoshi Coin』 produced by the Miyoshi family. Its the coin circulating the most on the market and its casting isn’t that bad either.

Lastly, coins that are commonly called 『Miscellaneous』. They are arbitrarily minted by local lords and merchants. Their qualities range from trash to high-class, but since they’re local currencies, you can only use them on site. At the very least you can’t use them in the central area since they’ll be regarded as counterfeit money.

The majority of the local lords have emergency savings in Miyoshi coins and local currency.

There seem to also exist areas which don’t have copper coins and thus mainly use gold pieces, silver ingots, gems like crystals, rock salt, salt, or even bartering.

But, no matter who you ask, it’s clear all of this is quite inconvenient.

Accordingly, I obligated them to measure the amount of gold, silver, or copper, and exchange it with cents. The implementation will happen after we have grasped all of the north’s situation, but there should be no complaints if they can buy various goods with cents, given that trade boats will arrive from the Baumeister Earldom around that time.

Now that these areas have become part of my earldom, they can only use the Kingdom’s cent, so I have to crack down on them abolishing the Miscellaneous, which they minted themselves, first and foremost.

“Right now, we will devote all our effort in conquering the north.”

“The headquarters will be Yonezawa after all, huh?”

“That place is the most handy one.”

Because the Date family, the number one in the north, has its stronghold over there, it will become easy to rule over the north once we take that place.

I’ll establish a mansion for Ryouko and Yuki over there, leaving the standing army to Kanenaka. I’ll have Harumasa and his retainers send civil officials as help for ruling the land and focus on stabilizing the rule over the northern regions first.

“We’ll have a standing army as the main force. On top of that, we’ll also promote development in the north. We’ll need to dig a lot more wells for this, too.”

It’d also be fine to turn ocean water into drinkable water with magic, but it’s impossible for me to be present on this island at all times. Given the abundance of underground water, we have no choice but to continue with punching wells into the bedrock.

Once the population grows, they’ll immigrate to the Baumeister Earldom, I think. We have plenty of land left over and it’ll also allow us to show the children of the old lords a career path for the future.

We already have plenty of folks who are working for our family and many of the current lords and family members of their lords won’t have any place to go to either. Because of the inevitable water shortage on this island, simply reclaiming new land wouldn’t be a viable option.

I’m sure the younger folks will serve our family with sparkling eyes as it will allow them to leave towards the outside world.

Currently I’m putting together a reserve force unit under my direct control. During their training breaks, I usually head out to maintain roads and so on.

“Next up are the Mojoumis or the Dates, huh…?”

“The capture of the Mojoumi family comes first.”

“Why do you think so, Harumasa?”

“Both families are tied together by blood, but originally they shared bad blood.”

The present head of the Date family married the little sister of the present Mojoumi family in order to improve their relationship as much as possible. But, Harumasa believes that you cannot quite fix a relationship between two opponents with just one marriage.

“So the Date family won’t send any reinforcements to the Mojoumis?”

“The authority of the retainers at the Date family is even stronger than with my family. So far many of them have opposed the marriage with the Mojoumi family, so it’s questionable whether they’ll be able to send reinforcements.”

“You know quite a bit about them, don’t you?”

“Yes, the Nanbu family is called one of the three daimyo families of Akitsushima Island’s north, but we’re the weakest of the three. So we always paid attention to the movements of the Date and Mojoumi families.”

 

 

 

Even though he did it for the sake of survival, it still means being the head of a named family comes with quite a burden.

“Once we reach a good stopping point with the well-digging, we’ll tackle the Mojoumi family, I guess.”

The basalt bedrock is quite hard after all and thus it took us two weeks to dig enough wells for the residents, even after I joined the fray as well. During that time Elise and Ryouko provided healing for free and the soldiers were sent to cultivate new farmland, help maintain the roads in the fief, and get training from Doushi and Kanenaka.

Our next target would be the Mojoumis who are the second most powerful among the northern daimyo families. However, the current family head of the Mojoumis, Yoshiaki, made a curious decision…

“We will surrender. The Shimizus, Oyamas, Uenoyamas, Yamanobes, Tateokas, and Matsunes of our clan, the Sakenobes, Sagaes, Hinos, Shimuras, and Nobesawas of our retainers, as well as all of the other clan families will surrender to you.”

“Pardon?”

The Mojoumis, who ought to have much more forces than the Nanbus, declared that they’d surrender to us with the family head personally coming over to announce it. Just in case, Yuki sent them our conditions in advance, but not expecting that the Mojoumis would capitulate before we showed our might, even Yuki felt flabbergasted.

“You’re not going to challenge me to a magic duel or something like that?”

“It pains me to admit it, but there isn’t that much of a difference in mana between me and Harumasa-dono. I’m not that much of a fool to challenge you to a duel I cannot win.”

“Your territory will be confiscated.”

“It seems like inheritance of the governor’s duty and immigration into the Baumeister Earldom to work under your family will be acknowledged?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I see no problem with it.”

Does this Yoshiaki guy really mean what he’s saying? All of them have been living on that land as lords for more than several thousands of years.

“You don’t have any lingering affection for your fief?”

“It would be a lie if I said I have none, but if things continue like this, our situation will only get worse. The mana of our family heads and the family has been gradually decaying and at this rate, we’d eventually become unable to develop the territory. And just then, strong, foreign magicians landed on this island. Moreover, you didn’t demand harsh terms of us, but are actually offering pretty nice terms, so it’s only natural for us to surrender,” Yoshiaki explained. “A lord running his fief by his own power sounds great and all, but we have been continuously declining over the last several hundred years. The Miyoshi family only cares about the central area, too. If you bring us benefit as a strong magician, Earl Baumeister-sama, we will bow our heads to you.”

“I see…”

I thought he’d resist much more while desperately clinging to the land of his ancestors.

“I feel sorry for Akitsushima Takaomi-sama, but if only the Akitsushima family had maintained a stable order of rule, things would have been better.”

“In that case, I would have made them pay tribute to the Helmut Kingdom.”

At present the unification was proceeding favorably, but if we talk about costs and gains, we’re deep in the red right now. Even if we reach a point where we’ll be able to rule over the island without any further issues, it’ll likely take several decades to recover our expenses.

Then again, it’s not like we don’t have any money. The Kingdom will feel better about us using it flashily rather than oddly hoarding it all, so I’ve been using our funds lavishly.

I don’t have any hobbies that waste a lot of money anyway.

As such, I have to invest a big amount of money to subjugate this island. Though it depends on Roderich’s feelings how much we will be using.

“We surrendered, but I don’t know how the Date family will act.”

“Yoshiaki, I heard you’re the brother-in-law of the Date family’s head, though.”

“That’s true. I’m the brother-in-law of Masamune, the head of the Date family.”

So the Date family’s head is called Masamune, huh? He’s not wearing an eye-patch on one eye, is he?

“Also, one more thing…”

“Is there something else I need to know?”

“I heard rumors that Masamune has recently fallen ill. We tried to investigate the rumor, but of course there’s no way that they’d let others find out so easily.”

“This makes things even more complicated…”

It’d be perfect, if the family head surrendered to us, but if he passes away after his illness worsens, it could lead to internal squabble, couldn’t it?

Either way, we have no choice but to work hard at pacifying the Mojoumi fief until we find out more about the situation.

“In short, we’re going back to digging wells?”

“Well, no one else can take over the job.”

Seriously, that basalt rock is way too hard. Given that most of this island’s foundation is made out of this rock, we have no other options.

Since the rock is resistant to magic, we had the magic tool guild pay us a big amount of money when we showed them a sample of basalt. The guild was feeling in danger due to the sophisticated magic tools created by the demons, so they probably couldn’t pass up on the possibility of a new technology.

However, the basalt is even difficult to process because of its toughness. Apparently you can only work on it with orichalcum-based tools. I can tell that it’s going to take many years to create products using this. In short, at present it’s nothing more than an extremely hard rock.

“So we must fight the Date family after getting everything ready while digging wells. By the way, how much mana does the current Date family head possess?”

“As a matter of fact, his mana isn’t all that different from ours.”

Maybe we’ll be able to take down the Date family without any casualties as well?

While thinking about that, we dug wells, reclaimed new farm land and fixed the roads in the old territories of the former Mojoumi fief and his allied lords.

For the moment we had no option but to simply wait to see how the Dates would react, but this led to us fighting an unexpected enemy.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

“Father, how are you feeling today?”

“Sorry…Fujiko. If I were healthy, I’d have immediately dealt with the northern enemy, but…”

“Father, please rest up here.”

 

 

Right now my father, Date Masamune, was lying on his sickbed. A doctor had taken a look at him, but his state wasn’t good.

Accordingly we had planned to invite Takaomi-dono, the famous healing magician and head of the Akitsushima family. But just then, something unforeseen took place. Takaomi-dono surrendered to a group calling itself Earl Baumeister who had come from the outside, and those people started to take over the northern territories of this island.

Their advance was extremely fast. They easily swallowed the Nanbu and Mojoumi families, just like many other smaller lords. Naturally, our Date fief would become their next target.

Normally, it’d be father’s duty to deal with the invasion, but right now he couldn’t stand up due to his serious illness. Hence, I, his sole child, had to take on Earl Baumeister as Date Fujiko who would become the next Date Masamune.

I cannot allow outsiders to do as they please any further. I will show them the backbone of the prestigious Date family.

“In the first place, Uncle was such a let-down, too!”

“Still, Yoshiaki-dono is an outstanding man. The Earl Baumeister family is dangerous as it possesses enough power to make him surrender. If only I could head out by myself…”

“Father, leave this to me. I have heard that Earl Baumeister is a superb magician, but even I have been called a magician surpassing you, Father.”

I have more mana than my father. Seeing how it has become impossible for him now that he’s sick, I must lead our clan and allied lords into battle.

“But…Fujiko, you’re still…”

“Father, my age has nothing to do with the current, dire situation. I will repel that Earl Baumeister while having everyone assist me. Right, Kojuurou, Shigezane?”

“Milord, we shall protect Fujiko-sama at all costs.”

“As long as the other family members follow us, it will allow you to put your undivided attention to recovering from your sickness, Milord.”

Even our chief retainer Kojuurou Katakura and my cousin Date Shigezane approved of me departing to the front as my father’s proxy. Father will be able to use his wit in the Date family after he recovered from his illness.

“Got it. I will respect your will, Fujiko. But, make sure to not try the impossible, no matter what you do.”

“I will keep it in mind.”

I got permission from my father.

Get ready, you damn Earl Baumeister. It seems like you’ve become full of yourself after having the Nanbu family and my uncle surrender to you, but I will chase you off this island with my magic.

With that decided, I departed to the front while leading our entire army.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

“Listen, Earl Baumeister! There is no need for my father to come to the front to deal with the likes of you! I, Date Fujiko, who will inherit the Date family and take on the name of Masamune, will deal with you!”

 

Yuki had sent a letter to the Date family, persuading them to surrender and informing them about the outside world, but the Date family dispatched its troops without heeding the call.

We responded to that in kind, resulting in both our armies now facing off. Amidst the enemy army a person calling themselves Date Fujiko was giving us a speech with a brazen attitude, but…

“Oh my, how cute.”

“That girl is going to become the next family head of the Dates?”

“Hah, I’m much more of an adult than her.”

“Luise, that’s only natural.”

“Wilma, no need to say that! When will I become an adult woman!?”

Wendelin-san, are you going to duel her with magic?”

As soon as Elise and my other wives saw Date Fujiko, they lost all will to fight.

“Sensei, that girl…”

“She’s about the same age as Lulu-chan, isn’t she?”

“Sensei, are we really going to fight them?”

It was only reasonable for my three pupils to be worried.

She seemed to be a very smart girl, but above all, Date Fujiko looked like she was at the same age as Lulu.

“How old are you, Fujiko-chan?”

“Who are you calling Fujiko-chan!? Are you ridiculing me, Earl Baumeister!?”

I haven’t been ridiculing her, but no matter how you look at it, she’s clearly no older than five or six years. Wouldn’t I be labeled as childish if I fought her seriously?

“Fujiko-chan, it’s not good for a girl to refer to herself like a boy.”

Elise appeared to have no intention to fight against Date Fujiko at all. She kindly warned the little girl to use the correct pronoun.

“Gaaaaah! Just because you’re taller and have a chest, you’re treating me like a child, huh!? I will become the next Date Masamune!”

For me, this was the name of a very famous, historic figure. It sounds like the Date family in this world has been naming its family as Masamune for generations. It’s just like Yuki being called Hosokawa Fujitaka, I guess.

“Wendelin-sama, that girl is wearing an eye-patch. Does she have some eye illness?”

And the Date Masamune of this world also wore a black eye-patch. It was the same as the Masamune of my old world who was hailed as One-eyed Dragon.

Lisa was worried about her as Fujiko was still such a small girl in her eyes.

“Heeeey, brat!”

“Who’s a brat───!?”

“Now listen, it’d be better if you got your eye properly healed. Luckily Elise is here too.”

The next Date Masamune aka Fujiko was a little girl version of Date Masamune.

Katia didn’t feel any will to fight Fujiko either. Rather, she apparently couldn’t hold back from worrying about her after seeing that eye-patch.

“This eye-patch? Listen well! This eye-patch is the reason why I’m called One Eyed Dragon! An evil dragon has been sealed away in my eye!”

“Whoa! Did you hear that, Wend?”

“I sure did, but…(there’s no way that’s true, is it?)”

Erw, who had little knowledge about magic, seemed to believe Fujiko. He got all excited about how cool it was for her to have a dragon sealed in her eye, but this world’s magic wasn’t able to seal a dragon in someone’s eye in the first place.

Sealing magic would require absurdly large-scale facilities and devices. Moreover, it relied on techniques that were lost since the era of the Ancient Magic Civilization.

“Huh? But, what if?”

“A───, Earl-sama. That’s out of the question.”

“What if it was inherited as secret art on this island by some freak chance?”

“No, no, I cannot even feel such a response from her eye to begin with.”

“Meaning?”

“She is talking nonsense!”

Burkhart-san and Doushi immediately denied Fujiko’s claim.

“Who is talking nonsense, you muscle idiot!? The dark dragon sealed inside this eye is constantly trying to destroy the seal applied on my eye! I’m striving hard to hold it back from succeeding! Uh, my eye throbs…not yet! You mustn’t come out yet…”

 

 

“””””””””””……”””””””””””

All of us were flabbergasted, but I could understand it. That’s because one of my classmates at junior high in my previous life had been saying similar things. He had bandaged his right hand and regularly informed his surroundings that the seal of the demon king might come undone at any moment.

Whenever my other classmates heard him, they ridiculed him for having crazy delusions. I didn’t really understand much about this stuff, so I admired him for having an interesting, unique personality.

Fujiko was infested by the eighth-grader syndrome, despite being so young. She might have woken up to that sickness much earlier than my classmate because she was a bit too mature for her age.

“Fujiko-chan, you don’t need to push this any further.

“HEEEY! Don’t talk to me as if you’Re pitying me! Gah! Now I’m pissed! Eat this! 『Dark Crimson Dragon』!”

Enraged, she took off her eye-patch. At once a dragon constructed out of black flames rushed out of her real eye.

“Wend, a dragon was really sealed in there!”

“No, that’s impossible…”

“Erw-san, that’s normal magic.”

Even a non-magician like Haruka understood as much. Fujiko didn’t have a dragon sealed in her eye. She simply formed a dragon out of her black flame magic and released it from close to her eye.

“It sure is a weird method of concentration.”

Indeed. It’s just as Burkhart-san says. This is Fujiko’s very own way to mentally concentrate. At a glance it looks silly, but by doing it like this, you can actually raise the power of the spell. That’s how magic works for magicians.

“But, it’s also quite embarrassing. I couldn’t imitate that.”

It’s not just Therese. All magicians present except for Fujiko should think so as well.

“Wendelin, will we be okay?”

“Of course.”

“Hah! Burn to cinders by the crimson flames of the dark dragon sealed in my eye!”

She appeared to be quite full of herself, but Fujiko is just an intermediate magician at present. Once I created a 『Water Dragon』 and had it coil itself around her 『Fire Dragon』, Fujiko’s dragon disappeared in a big cloud of steam.

“No way! My dark crimson dragon!”

“Fujiko-chan, I’m sorry to tell you, but there are people far above you in this world. It’d be best for you to realize this as soon as possible.”

I created a 『Fire Dragon』 which was five times as big as hers, and let it circle above my head. I kept it in a state allowing me to send it forth at any moment.

“So big!”

“It looks like you have talent in magic, Fujiko-chan. But, your training is still lacking.”

“Uuh…”

Like a frog which is being glared at by a snake, Fujiko was mentally overwhelmed by my fire dragon and ended up becoming unable to move from the spot. From the very start, there has been a difference in our mana capacities, and Fujiko was finally catching on to this as well.

“A mana overwhelmingly larger than mine… For it to be this big…do you possibly have the demon king sealed inside your body?”

“…No, I don’t.”

The demon king (queen) I know isn’t that type of demon king…

“Now then, what’s it going to be? Are you going to obediently surrender here or should I burn down your army with this fire dragon above me?”

I want to limit the casualties as much as possible, but it’s not like our side is doing charity work here either. If they oppose us, we will have them pay with a considerable amount of lives in return.

Once I flexed my muscles, hesitation crept onto Fujiko’s face.

“I don’t think it’s anything requiring consideration.”

“It’s not just my personal problem. I’m the commander who has been chosen by Father as his representative. Surrendering without a fight will hurt the dignity of the Date family.”

Dignity, she says…

She knows some fairly complicated works for being such a young girl. Have they instilled that much of a sense of responsibility into her as next head of the Date family?

“In other words, you wish to continue the battle?”

“…”

Unrest spread among the troops behind her upon my question. Unfortunately for them, neither the Date army nor the armies of their allied lords had any magicians above intermediate level. If our magicians enter the fray, we will undoubtedly win the battle. And because all of them had realized as much, they wished for Fujiko to surrender. But, they couldn’t voice it out.

At least, that’s how it looked to me.

“Sometimes it’s the duty of those standing at the top to make hard decisions while considering their people, retainers, and soldiers.”

“I know that! But…”

“Fujiko, let’s surrender already…”

As Fujiko was struggling to make a decision, the calm voice of a man called out to her. The owner of the voice was inside a palanquin. His face was ghastly pale. He was apparently pushing himself quite a bit.

He’s probably the current Date Masamune who’s said to be sick.

“Father! Are you feeling well enough for this?”

“No, I don’t feel overly well, but in the end it’s bad for the family head to be absent from a war.”

His voice was gentle, but I felt that he possessed a very strong will. Even though he was weakened from his illness, he still exhibited the pride of a family head.

“Under normal circumstances, this would be an important choice I’d need to make. No matter how sick I am, having left it to you…”

The current Masamune looked at his daughter with an apologetic expression.

“Father, please leave everything to me and get some rest!”

“No, this is something I will decide as family head. Earl Baumeister, we shall surrender to you and your forces.”

Most of the soldiers and officers in the Date army looked relieved after hearing Masamune’s decision. However, a part of them was clearly unhappy with it. Several elementary magicians suddenly attacked us.

“As long as we kill Earl Baumeister!”

“The Date family will unify the north!”

The Date family has been a named family since the old times, so some of the people seem to be extremely loyal to them. They drew their katana and charged at us.

“They remind me of Ebb, you know?”

“I hear he has calmed down alot after I left.”

“Heeh, I see.”

While having this exchange with Therese, the aforementioned magicians were struck by someone’s lightning, resulting in them convulsing on the ground. They simply don’t have enough mana to resist the spell of an advanced magician.

“If magic doesn’t work!”

“You’ve got even less of a chance then.”

“Reckless.”

Next, around a dozen enemy soldiers charged at us, but Ina and Wilma easily blew them away with their mana-infused weapons. Those two are easily capable of such a feat after having raised their mana to intermediate level.

“Should we lop off your heads next?”

“Surrender obediently.”

Erw and Haruka cut the soldiers’ weapons apart with their orichalcum katana. And with this, all will to resist vanished within the Date army.

“Please forgive my retainers.”

“We paid them back appropriately, so they should obey from now on.”

“Leaving myself aside, I beg you to treat my retainers generously.”

Date Masamune bowed his head towards me. With this the Baumeister family had managed to take control of around one fifth of the territories in the north of Akitsushima Island in less than a month after arriving here.

 

“Say, Wend.”

“What’s up, Luise?”

“That girl was talking about a 『Dark Crimson Dragon』, but which part of it was crimson?”

“……Who knows?”

That’s something I cannot answer either, but my instincts told me that it’d be a very bad idea to ask her about the details on this.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

“At any rate, for now you mustn’t strain yourself. Please make sure to take this medicine twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Also, I will cast my healing magic on you every day.”

“You have my deepest gratitude for kindly showing me, who acted hostile towards you, such a kindness.”

 

Because of the Date family’s surrender, we switched our headquarters on the island to Yonezawa which also served as headquarters of the Date family. While recalling that there was a location with the same name in Japan too, I proceeded with the territorial maintenance and new administration.

Meanwhile, Date Masamune gradually recovered from his illness thanks to Elise’s healing and medication. His illness could be healed in the Helmut Kingdom.

The medicine was expensive, but since it existed, we had ordered it from the capital. Moreover, Elise cast her healing magic on him, so it was expected for him to fully recover within a month. But, because it was also possible that he’d relapse if he got tired, he had to abstain from straining himself too much for another half year.

He seemed to originally be someone with the disposition of a civil official and thus it’s probably not like he’s got a lot of confidence in his stamina either.

Even so, since I plan to have him work as governor in charge of the island’s north in the future, it’s better to let him rest while leaving the current affairs to Yuki and Nanbu Harumasa.

Date Masamune was deeply impressed and grateful of Elise’s healing magic. I’m sure he’s someone who will be able to contribute a lot to this island.

“Milord, are you going to reign over the northern region for a while?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you going to do about the Miyoshi family?”

“I’ll ignore them while remaining vigilant.”

If I desired temporary stability, I could go and greet them. But, doing something like that would basically be seen as an announcement of the Earl Baumeister House having become retainers of the Miyoshi family on this island. Of course, it’d be fine to deceive them for some time, if there was some benefit to be gained from it, but it’d be bad if the Kingdom found out about that.

The court nobles, who hate me, would likely kick up a fuss, so I’ll get our forces ready while preparing for an invasion by Miyoshi’s army.

Once again we broke through the basalt layer to dig wells, widened the roads, and performed topographic measurements with our magic airship. In addition, we created new roads, reclaimed fields, and selected sites to construct villages and towns. In preparation for the coming wars against the center, east, and west, we reorganized and trained our army. Right now, around 3000 soldiers helped with road maintenance while training.

Since they were part of a standing army, it cost money, but that couldn’t be helped.

“As a matter of fact, there’s a rumor going around that Miyoshi Nagayoshi has fallen ill as well. I cannot exclude the possibility of him sending out his soldiers to avoid people suspecting that rumor to be true, but I think they won’t be invading us for now.”

“However, the merchants stopped coming.”

Regular peddlers selling goods to individuals still visit, but bigger merchants have stopped bringing in trade goods. At this rate, unrest would start to sprout among the residents, so I contacted Arterio and made plans with him to regularly send trade ships.

Of course, the sea would be too dangerous, so I plan to lend him two or three small or medium magic ships. Combined with this, we also carried out the planned currency change.

The copper currency circulating inside the territory was forbidden and the cents issued by the Helmut Kingdom became the official currency. We decided to follow Yuki’s proposal and set the exchange rate to the value of the metal used in the copper coins.

This island has many currencies and their quality is all over the place, so this method will be the most efficient. Copper coins are pretty heavy and even the private coinage with the lowest quality uses the amount of copper equivalent to 1.5 to 2 cents.

Since there was no loss in the exchange, everyone assembled and exchanged their coins for cents. Gold dust, gold bars, silver nuggets, and so on were exchanged for currency in accordance with the market price in the Helmut Kingdom.

Given that there was only one type with cents, everyone rejoiced as it had become easier to shop. In addition, I entrusted Erw and Haruka with the trading of the items which were resting in my magic bag. This would be an emergency measure until Arterio brought his goods and because of that, I priced the stuff slightly cheaper than usual, boosting my popularity.

“Won’t it cause any displeasure among the merchants in the Miyoshi fief?”

We were certainly a mysterious, new power, but the northern regions were heading towards a time of stability. The wells and ponds increased all over the place, the farmland increased, the roads were serviced, and even the currency was unified.

I haven’t put any restraints on the merchants coming from the center and the peddlers were doing their business as always. Not being able to participate over here might foster dissatisfaction among the central merchants.

“There’s also the matter with the cent coinage. This island has had many types of copper coins for a long time, so they might be used in places other than the north, but the Miyoshi family likely won’t be very happy about this.”

Even if they were to be unhappy, they wouldn’t be able to attack the north because of the family head’s sickness. They probably used a tactic of damaging us economically by forbidding the coming and going of reasonably big merchants.

“In that case, the north will be developed through trade with the Baumeister Earldom, the Kingdom, and the Empire.”

In other words, the northern people simply have to not feel any inconvenience. Given that the roads and water supply are increasing, the Baumeister House’s rule was popular among the residents. As most of the former lords also become governors for their old fiefs, their work didn’t really change much and thus they might not have felt much desire to complain.

“Now then, I guess I’ll go to take a look at my pupils.”

After finishing my discussion with Masamune, I left the Date estate and headed towards the garden located within Yonezawa Castle. The Date family’s castle had a fairly impressive structure and its garden was big, too. Right now it has become the governmental seat of the Baumeister House.

The Date family kept its private funds and moved to a big estate adjoining the castle. Currently, Ryouko and Yuki were living over there together with us.

“Wendelin-sama.”

“Lulu, have you been training properly?”

“Yes.”

Lulu has been striving hard at her daily magic training after being acknowledged as my pupil and bride. She possessed quite a bit of talent as a magician, allowing her to grow rapidly thanks to the training by Agnes’s group and me.

“Please take me along next time as well.”

“I won’t bring a minor to a battlefield.”

No matter how outstanding a magician she might be, Lulu is still five years old. I won’t take her to the battlefield.

“Hehehe, Lulu, you’re still a child. I, the next Date Masamune, will assist Milord in your stead.”

 

 

Fujiko strangely ended up emotionally attached to me after her family surrendered. She became an uninvited pupil of magic and studied hard together with Lulu every day. Fujiko possessed quite a bit of talent too. She might eventually become the first advanced magician of this island in a long time.

It also explains why the Date army had functioned even with a little girl of barely five years being the representative supreme commander. Everyone was looking forward to her future.

“Fujiko-chan, I’m not at your age. Besides, I was a village chief, too.”

“Uuh, I’ve also done a lot of things as the next family head of the Dates.”

“A lot? As in what?”

“A lot!”

Fujiko was quite level-headed for a five years old, but since she’s a child after all is said and done, her family shouldn’t have allowed her to handle much of the actual governmental work.

After the capitulation, Masamune deeply regretted having put such a burden on his young daughter. Accordingly, he declared that she could freely spend her time until becoming an adult. For this reason, the number of little girls at my side grew to two. And because of Agnes’s group and my wives being present as well, my surroundings were full of women.

“Milord, if I cannot appear on the battlefield, I’d like to subjugate serpents like Doushi-sama.”

“That too has to wait for a bit longer until you become slightly bigger.”

Doushi and Burkhart-san had gone out to kill some serpents in the nearby ocean. They sailed out on a medium-sized ferry, which was usually used on the island, to defeat the serpents, which tried to eat them, with magic. It was very typical of Doushi to use himself as bait.

Burkhart-san was unhappy about it though after getting dragged along. The serpents hunted by the two would be dismantled by the residents for pay. Their materials and meat would be sold off to pay some of the expenses for ruling the north.

“Lulu would like to become much stronger and defeat a serpent too.”

“Lulu, you’ll be fine, if you train properly.”

“Wendelin-sama, Lulu will do her best to become a fine wife.”

“I see…”

She’d only cry if I turned her down here, and if I admit to it, my surroundings will arbitrarily take it for granted. It puts me into quite a bind.

“Lulu, Father said that I’d also become Milord’s wife. Instead of just being strong, I’ll turn into an adult woman like Luise.”

“……”

It seems Masamune told his daughter to marry me if she becomes big. Her becoming my magician pupil naturally aimed at improving her magic, but it’s also an excuse to create more opportunities for her to be with me.

Also, Luise is an adult woman…? Most people will consider her as a little child when meeting her for the first time…”

“Agnes, Betty, and Cindy seem to be unhappy, but since Milord is going to marry those three as well, is there any reason for them to look so disgruntled?”

“I don’t know either.”

Shit…I feel like I’m being surrounded by more and more women by the minute. And those two little girls appear to have absolutely no problem with me having many wives. Even nowadays I still can’t fully cope with the value system of this world.

＊

“As always, you surround yourself with many women, Earl Baumeister.”

“Haha, this sure is a fine island.”

“I’d like to go for a swim in the ocean later.”

“However, this place needs a lot more development.”

Moreover, the girl calling herself demon queen in a democratic demon country had shown up. Well, to be fair, I called her over since we lack manpower.

She brought Mall and his friends as guards.

The demon queen was currently enjoying her summer vacation at school, which lasted three months. As such, she came here to work away from home, study society, and enjoy the vacation. It’d be a fairly blood study of society, but according to Lyra-san, the demon queen needed this as ruler.

In the demon country they had established a farming corporation with Lyra-san as director and the demon queen as chairwoman. They organized the young demons who were growing their own fields and made their business by selling the agricultural and livestock produce.

I hear they couldn’t sell their crops well at first, but nowadays the corporation’s administration has stabilized. The trio of former neets managed to land employment, too.

The management seemed to go well, but since they needed money for the time being, they responded to my invitation. Of course you could ask whether it was fine for demons to work in a human country, but considering it objectively, both countries were still in the middle of negotiations. It seems like the Empire also joined the negotiations, causing the situation to become even more complicated.

Seeing how there’s no rule about it yet, there’s no problem with the demon queen and her retinue to work here, is there?

Although it could be seen as illegal in the worst case, I think it’s unlikely that anyone unrelated to use would come to an island we’re currently trying to subjugate.

Of course, the demon country has many people who hate monarchies and feudalistic systems, and thus I brought them here secretly with my Teleport.

“I’m expected to spend my summer vacations at a village in the countryside. Officially I haven’t left the demon country.”

Ultimately, her coming here is a secret. And Doushi or Burkhart-san won’t go out of their way to cause a big ruckus by revealing this to the Kingdom either.

In short, even if the demon queen and her group helps with the development and farming teaching on this island, no one will find out about it. Accordingly, I outsourced the problem to the demon queen since we lack manpower.

“A demon queen has to work away from home?”

Fujiko apparently couldn’t believe that a ruler would work by herself to earn money. Democracy was outside her scope of understanding and because of that, she couldn’t understand the current situation of the demon queen.

“I’m a demon queen who’s loved by everyone. But leaving that aside as a joke, I simply need the money.”

“The management of your farming corporation is going well, isn’t it?”

“That side is fine, but we suddenly found ourselves in need of funds.”

“Why?”

“We need money to build a school.”

The young demons had gathered in a deserted village. They earned some money by selling their own crops over there. In addition, it served as a place for the young demons to recover from failing to find a job after graduation or retiring from their company after becoming mentally ill from the bad treatment over there, so the administration of the farming corporation was going well because they had many capable people.

“The number of people marrying and giving birth to children after their life stabilized has grown, too. Hence, we now need a school for the children.”

The deserted village had a building suited to serve as school, but it direly needed some repairs and that cost money. It was necessary right away, but the demon queen explained that they wanted to earn some cash in preparation for that.

“When it comes to managing a school, you also have to include a big amount of yearly maintenance expenses. If a certain number of children gather there, the government will also send over some officials to inspect the school. However, because our school will be treated as a private school, it will cost us money. We also must repair the old school building too, otherwise the officials won’t allow us to run the school for safety reasons.”

Running a school in the countryside costs money. No matter the world, you always need money.

“Accordingly, we will help you, Earl Baumeister, with our magic and techniques. If we receive a fitting reward, we’ll be happy, too. It means, both of us will be able to gain from it.”

If they were to work for me in the Baumeister Earldom, Earl Platte and his friends, who hate me, might tattle unnecessary, false accusations about me to His Majesty. But, only people related to me are on this island, so I’d like the demons to exhibit their abilities at full power.

“Are Mall and the others your guards?”

She must trust them quite a bit.

“These people are just like their teacher. Their usual words and behavior is strange, but they’re capable of working. They have mana that goes beyond average and they train themselves regularly, too. They’re also useful as guards.”

“It is as you heard, Earl Baumeister.”

“Besides, if we work here, we’ll get a pay going beyond our usual wage, right?”

“Earning money in a distant land, huh?”

“Do you guys have such high expenses?”

I couldn’t really ask about the details, but is the pay at the farming corporation so low?

“You see, we’re going to marry.”

“In that case, we’d like to save up some money. We’ll also need some savings in preparation for the time when our children are born, don’t you think?”

“Since we heard about this possibility to work, we grabbed the chance like any real man would do and came here.”

Not much time has passed since I’ve gotten acquainted with these three, but they were successively facing turning points in their lives.

“Come to think of it, what about sensei?”

“It’s planned for him to come here a bit later.”

Arnest is scheduled to examine the island once things have settled down over here a bit more. Then again, this island has no ruins of the Ancient Magic Civilization’s era. Because it’ll be a purely academic investigation, Roderich has prioritized Arnest investigating ancient ruins in the Baumeister Earldom.

“What, and here I was expecting to get a congratulatory gift.”

“How regrettable.”

“He’ll come here sooner or later, won’t he?”

You lot, do you really believe Arnest would ever act so sensible?

“I won’t give you any congratulatory gifts, but I’ll add some extra to the reward. For the rest you can pin your hopes on the demon queen’s caliber.”

“Indeed. It’d be a problem if you handed rewards to my retainers. You understand well, don’t you? If you become my husband, many things would become much easier.”

“Please choose a suitable demon as a husband.”

Even now, I’m having a hard time since I’m being approached by Ryouko, Yuki, Fujiko, Lulu, Agnes, Betty, and Cindy. I’d like to be spared from taking the demon queen as a wife, seriously.

 

 

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