Chapter 4 – The Three Eastern Delinquent Girls

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“Earl Baumeister, is the conquest of the island not proceeding well? I’d like to use the details for my summer vacation research project.”

“At a demon school?”

“I’m joking. Our race worships democracy to the extreme and there’s always a fixed number of demons who lean towards hating monarchies. I can’t use the story of an Earl who conquers an island which is embroiled in a maelstrom of wars. My school would kick up a fuss, claiming that it’d be corrected to liberate the people through a democratic revolution. As such, it’ll be fine as long as we get rewarded for the agricultural training and soil improvement.”

 

It’s been two and a half months since we landed on Akitsushima Island. At present, the island’s north, west, and central areas are under the complete control of the Baumeister House. Ootsu, the main base of the Miyoshi family, has become the stronghold of the Earl Baumeister family and the Miyoshi family members, who surrendered to us, moved to a mansion in Ootsu.

Having said that, we cannot afford to dispatch much personnel to this island from the Baumeister’s mainland. The power of the Miyoshis is necessary and thus they provided us with the necessary personnel to rule the land after becoming the family of the governor.

At present, Yoshitsugu, who had been opposing us in the west after gathering some soldiers, surrendered as well, so we were very busy with setting up a ruling system in the west. I appointed the lord of that region to be the governor and in exchange fro them adopting the laws and tax system of the Baumeister Earldom, our magicians dug wells, build new roads, reclaimed farmland, provided new seeds and seedlings, and passed on the methods on how to cultivate those plants.

As for the agricultural training, the demons under the demon king took charge of that. Depending on the outcome, I planned to pay the demon king an appropriate reward.

“There’s still half the summer vacation left. It actually tires one out, if such vacations are too long, doesn’t it?”

“That’s a very enviable problem you got there.”

The summer vacations last three months…isn’t that natural since the period of them being students is so long? To be honest, I’d love to change with them.

“Creampuff is in a sort of holiday mode all the time.”

Creampuff, the pet kept…obeying the demon queen, was lazily sleeping next to us as we were talking.

“Mall and the others are giving their best as well, aren’t they?”

Given that they’re relatively new employees at the demon queen’s agricultural corporation, they seem to still be in the middle of studying farming techniques. Then again, because they graduated from a good university, they’re quick learners.

Mall and his friends have various expenses as they plan to marry women they got to know at the agricultural corporation, so they volunteered to do this job as they’re getting paid for it.

Today they should be assisting Yuki.

Still, it was the same when they first met us, but those three are strangely quick in their decision-making. From my point of view as someone who worries about each and every little thing, this trait is very enviable.

Our current task is to bolster the power of the Akitsushima family, who’s going to govern over the entire island as representatives of the Baumeister family, and the Hosokawa family, who will serve as vice-governor. It’s inevitable for the Akitsushima family to be no more than figureheads, but if the Hosokawa family has no skill in actually running the government, it’s very likely for the lords to rise in rebellion at some point.

It’ll take many years to solidify the system of government, but right now the people over here are obediently following our orders after having seen the true power of our magicians with their own eyes. Because we dug wells and proceeded with the reclamation of new land in various areas as candies for the people, we enjoyed strong support from the residents.

The burden on Yuki is big, but for now Mall and his friends are helping her temporarily, and soon we will dispatch civil officials from the Baumeister house as well. The families of the lords, who surrendered to us, and their retainers have been sending personnel up until now as well, so we didn’t experience any bigger issues thus far.

“Oh, right, I got my hands on the magic tool you requested, Earl Baumeister.”

“That was fast.”

“They had a huge stock of them, so it was pretty cheap too.”

What I asked from the demon queen was a magic tool to filter ocean water so that it’d become drinkable. On this island, the outlying regions are proner to droughts, the further away they’re from Lake Biwa in the center.

We have been widening the few waterways and branches distributing water from the lake, but as a lot of it was prevented by the basalt bedrock, we had to give up on the idea. Accordingly, the demons’ filtration device should prove most useful here.

The magic tools invented by the demons are quite efficient, so we’ll be able to secure plenty of water by drawing water through hoses placed on the mountains along the shore. If we combine this water with the one from the wells, the farming output in the north and west will likely increase.

The filtered minerals and salts will also become usable salt, if we process it. This island tends to lack salt, so having a grasp on water and salt should boost the control of the Baumeister House over this island.

“It’s quite a magic tool, or rather, neither the Kingdom nor the empire are using these yet, are they?”

The magic tool guild might not even have begun researching devices to change ocean water into drinkable water yet. I don’t belong to the magic tool guild, so it’s possible that they’re doing it in secret, though. Even so, there’d be no point in doing so, if they don’t put it to use in a real life environment.

“Our country has plenty of water resources to begin with. In the past, those tools were in high demand, but with the current decrease in population, the jobs for water suppliers have waned and all the tools have been stored away. A part of the devices is being reserved for disaster measures, and some were sold on second-hand markets for cheap, but Lyra mentioned that fishermen occasionally buy those as well.”

It’s the same for this magic tool as well, but the tools created by the demons are generally mana efficient, sturdy, and potent. That’s also the reason why the trade negotiations with the Kingdom aren’t going well.

According to Roderich, the interference by the magic tool guild is quite something. Since they fear losing their jobs, I can understand them being desperate, but…

“Earl Baumeister, is it okay to arbitrarily buy such magic tools from the demons?”

“If it’s just for this island.”

If I were to use magic tools made by demons on the mainland, it’d likely turn into a problem. But, if it’s just on this island, it won’t be an issue since no one other than the people of our house will visit this place.

Or rather, I have to conquer an island with a population of 400,000 people and rule it. I don’t have much time to do it either, so if I’m not using that much of a bypass, I won’t be able to handle it.

“In the end, the islands, which can be settled on, around the Baumeister Earldom have exceeded a hundred in number, but since it’s difficult to use ships thanks to the serpents, the power of magic tools is indispensable for the development of those islands.”

The magic tool guild shouldn’t care much either, if it’s some southern backwater territory.

For some time we will be keeping this island off-limits for everyone but house members under the pretext of political instability, so I plan to use the magic tools purchased from demons for the development.

So far, no trade agreement has been signed between the Kingdom and the demon country, but it’s not like the laws in either of the two countries forbids the import of magic tools from foreign countries. The Kingdom’s laws prohibit unauthorized trade with the Empire, but since they didn’t expect a demon country, the laws don’t include them.

And in reality, some of the northern lords are actually smuggling goods to the Empire, and it’s an open secret that the Kingdom’s government is tolerating that. In short, the application of the laws is quite vague, at best. Thus, I’m not doing anything illegal either.

Should you call it evasion of the laws nonetheless?

Well, if Earl Platte heard of it, he’d surely criticize me for it, so I’m limiting the purchase and usage to this island alone for the moment.

“I might request many other things from you down the line.”

“As long as you pay us, it’s very welcome.”

The demon queen makes a profit by simply buying second-hand magic tools that are circulating on the demon country’s markets for cheap and bringing them here. Therefore, she’s more than happy to oblige with my suggestion.

As for the maintenance, currently we’re in the process of gathering and training magic tool makers on this island. Given that some of the demons of the demon queen’s corporation are also knowledgeable about magic tools, it won’t be a problem, since we can ask those people to handle the repairs for us in the worst case.

As for the mana to operate those magic tools, we have luckily many outstanding magicians in the Earl Baumeister House. Magic tools are convenient and the more the people use them, the stronger the Baumeister House’s power over them.

“Things like tractors to till fields are being sold all over on the market.”

“Are magic tools used that much for farming in the demon country?”

No matter how you think about it, I can’t imagine demons doing farmwork like tilling fields with a hoe. And just as suspected, they seem to till huge fields using big farm tractors like they’re used in the US.

“The number of farmers starting to gradually manage their farms like companies is growing and the fields have been increasing in size, too. There are many of the older, smaller farming machines left and the second-hand market is oversaturated with those. The only ones buying those are people who do farming as a hobby. Moreover, those machines don’t break easily.”

That’s clearly a luxury problem, but I guess I can’t use them anywhere but on this island.

No, wait…

Previously, we found all sorts of magic tools in huge quantities within that underground warehouse. If we start trading with the demon country, those items will be quickly treated as outdated and inefficient as well. I have stored away most of them, fearing for them to be stolen, but maybe I should actively use them here and push for them to be further developed on the mainland.

『I believe that would be a good idea. We have especially many complaints coming from the tunnel』

『Ah, the smell of horse dung is too extreme or something, was it?』

『Yes』

I immediately contacted Roderich through the MHCD and he agreed with actively approving of magic tools. It sounds like the dung in the recently opened tunnel has become a bit of a problem, too. I’ve heard similar complaints from Thomas, who’s in charge of guarding the tunnel.

『If there are merchants possessing storehouses on both ends of the tunnel, we could also charge them for a transport through the tunnel on larger vehicles』

『The tunnel is long. If you consider the extra pay they have to pay to the workers who transport their wares, they will be more than happy, even if we charge them transport fees』

Since there are many trucks among the magic tools we excavated, we could use those to make round-trips inside the tunnel. Moreover, if we designate a special lane for individual, smaller merchants, the amount of horse dung should drop significantly.

We could also hire workers to collect the dung with minitrucks. Even if it stinks, we should find plenty of applicants as long as we pay a slightly bigger wage. The gathered dung won’t be a problem either because we’ve been processing it into fertilizer for a while now anyway.

『We will put the magic tools we excavated to use on the mainland. Meanwhile we will promote the development with the second-hand magic tools purchased from the demon country』

『As you wish. I shall prepare everything at once』

This outstanding performance of Roderich is the reason why it’d be no problem for him to even be a lord.

“With that said, I ask you to procure second-hand magic tools from now on.”

“According to Lyra, many people will kick up a fuss, despite it not being illegal, so she’s planning to buy the magic tools while deceiving the demons cleverly.”

“I can understand that.”

Nationalists among the demons might criticize the demon queen and her peers for being traitors. Lyra-san is a superb tactician, so she’s likely not going to brave that danger.

Even second-hand magic tools, which have little use for the demons, have plenty of use for us. If it’s maintenance and simple repairs, the people knowledgeable about magic tools over here can handle it. The energy source can be covered with magic stones from the Demon Forest in addition to our magicians’ mana.

Most of the island, where Lulu used to live, is occupied by a monster domain. Once explorers and adventurers start their activities over there, the number of magic stones should go up as well.

It’s an inconvenient location, but if it’s the people of Akitsushima Island, they might strive in hunting as adventurers as long as we provide them with a magic airship flight path.

The disarmament will proceed after the unification and even the increase in employment through the establishment of new industries and the enlargement of agriculture won’t be able to fully absorb all of the former specialized soldiers. I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have those unsuited for regular work join the adventurer guild instead. Rather than allowing them to become rebellious after accumulating too much discontent or to fall into crime, it’s better to prepare the choice of earning a large amount of money as adventurers. In some sense, it’s going to be a way for them to vent their stress.

“Do you have any plans?”

“I must do my summer vacation homework and Lyra told me to always keep my diary updated.”

This demon queen is quite reliable and level-headed for her age, but in the end she’s still an elementary student, huh? Logically, she’s worried about her homework.

“Your Majesty, even if you forgot to write in your summer vacation diary, it would be best to keep a memo about the weather. And in addition, also note down the weather back at home.”

That’s because it’s scheduled for the demon queen to not always be here. If she writes about the weather over here in her diary, she’ll end up unable to keep it consistent.

“We are talking about Lyra, so I think she’s going to note down the weather for you every day. The diary’s content will be a harmless and safe record that way.”

“I don’t know how many classmates you have at school, Your Majesty, but as long as you don’t make any mistakes with the weather, your classroom teacher won’t go out of the way to make sure whether the entries in the diary are true.”

This knowledge mostly stems from my elementary school memories. Naturally I had to also keep a diary during summer vacations and the most troublesome part about it were the illustrations, but that’s because I suck at drawing. The diary had a row for the weather and although I ended up forgetting the weather after not caring about the diary for around a week, I could look it up online, contrary to the people of the past.

When I asked my Dad, he said that forgetting the weather was a huge deal in the past. Back then they had apparently obtained the missing information from classmates who were keeping their diary seriously.

“How about your research project?”

“I’ve been involved with farmwork everyday. I planted radish and spinach with a planter and observed their growth while taking care of them.”

It’s a very surreal scene to see a demon queen keeping an observatory diary while growing veggies.

“Once I harvest them, I’ll give you some as well, Earl Baumeister.”

“Radish and spinach are very delicious and can be prepared in various ways.”

“Hmmm, Earl Baumeister, you seem to know quite a bit about cooking. You may look forward to it.”

The demon queen was about to head over to her room in Castle Ootsu to do her homework, but suddenly she turned around as if having remembered something, and asked me, “Earl Baumeister, do you incidentally know how to calculate the surface area of a trapezoid?”

“Yes.”

So far as it goes, I went to university for quite a while in my previous life. Recently my memory has become vague, but if it’s at the level of elementary school arithmetics, I can somehow handle it. But, when it comes to math, I’m in the same category as Mall and his friends as a liberal arts guy.

“Mall and his two friends are busy, so they’re almost never at the castle, and there’s no one else who can teach me either.”

“I will show you what I know.”

“Sorry. Still, you have an extensive knowledge for someone so young, Earl Baumeister.”

I just memorized it by chance, it led to me regularly teaching the demon queen during her summer vacations.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

 

“Wend, since when have you been able to study so much?”

“Since when you ask…I’ve been studying magic all the time, you know?”

“Hmm, fair point. But, many of the books about magic are quite complicated.”

During lunch the demon queen happily told everyone about me teaching her, but hearing that, Luise questioned why, who had graduated the same adventurer prep school as her, can handle advanced arithmetics.

Then again, even something as simple as the formula to determine the square measure of a figure as it’s taught as elementary math in the demon country, is regarded as advanced study taught at prep schools, which prepare students for passing the entrance exam of the academy, in the Kingdom and Empire.

It’s useful to know the square measure of terrain, but as long as you don’t try to become a governmental official, there’s basically no need to learn it. A realtor will suffer losses if they don’t know how to measure the size of a plot, so the realtor families pass on the formulas to calculate it to their next generations as sort of family tradition, according to the shady Rinnenheim.

Of course there exist advanced studies which appointed nobles, whose families hold governmental posts for generations, must learn, but even if lords can read and write, it’s not unusual for provincial lords to be unable to read if you add kanji into the mix. This is clear proof just how far education has advanced in the demon country.

“Should I learn it as well?”

“Luise, those are math drills.”

“Let me see…”

Luise had the demon queen show her the math drills she did for her summer vacation homework.

“…Yeah, okay, no need.”

“Myuu myuu.”

Unfortunately it apparently didn’t mesh with Luise. On the other hand, she hasn’t been suited for studying to begin with anyway.

Creampuff peered at the exercises together with Luise while floating but easily gave up on this as impossible. But maybe that’s inevitable, seeing how she’s a dragon.

“Ahahaha! Studying is unnecessary to us! We just need to be strong!”

“Doushi, we are magicians. And to add to this, you’re the royal palace’s chief wizard, aren’t you? Don’t you need at least some level of education?”

“I am pinning my hopes on the next royal chief wizard!”

“*cough*”

Suddenly having my shoulder hit by Doushi, I choked on my food. As usual, he does whatever he likes, but he’s been tacitly tolerating my usage of the magic tools I bought from the demons to develop this island. Though it’s not like Doushi agreed to it, but rather His Majesty.

In return, I’m presenting a fixed number of magic tools to His Majesty. However, it’s weird that His Majesty apparently hasn’t informed the magic tool guild about the existence of those tools at all. Maybe he doesn’t feel any obligation to hand them over or tell them about it because they’ve been constantly getting in the way of the negotiations?

Given that the magic tool guild might start to interfere even more if they learn about those advanced magic tools of the demons being old, second-hand items, so he’s probably keeping it secret.

“Me?”

“Indeed. Earl Baumeister, you are a magician excelling in wisdom who has inherited the knowledge and magic of Alfred. Currently I am serving His Majesty as a magician who excels in martial arts! With us having this sort of individuality as magicians, you cannot really categorize either as being superior!”

“Doushi, you’re trying to dodge the issue, aren’t you?”

He claims he belongs to the type of physical combat magicians, leaving education and knowledge to me as the next royal chief wizard. In short, Doushi made it clear that he wouldn’t study until his death.

Well, even if Doushi studied seriously, it’s quite questionable whether it’d be useful in any way.

“I’m not studying as much as you make it out to be either, though…”

As might be expected, the stuff I learned in my previous life has mostly faded into ambiguity. I occasionally memorize things so as to not forget them, but there are things I’ve already forgotten before even doing that.

“Demons sure study complicated things from an early age, don’t they?”

Because the demon’s elementary education for commoners equals higher education on the Lingaia Continent, Erw was likewise surprised by the demons’ educational standards.

“What if you studied as well, Erw? Aim for succeeding Roderich-san.”

“I’m fine with being a military officer.”

Seeing the math drills passed around by Luise, Erw immediately handed them over to Ina.

No matter the world, there’s a lot of humans who basically don’t like studying.

“I can mostly understand this, but it’s amazing for this to be elementary education.”

“Oh, Ina, you get this?”

“It’s not like I properly studied it, but since I’ve seen it in books every once in a while, I picked it up in some ways.”

“Wow!”

Ina understood elementary math such as multiplication and division of fractions, calculating a mean value, and determining the square measure of parallelograms, triangles, and trapezoids. She seems to have read such books in her free time.

Wilma and Katia were surprised at that.

“But, if it’s this much, Elise knows about it as well.”

I wasn’t surprised about that. She was Cardinal Hohenheim’s granddaughter who had been regularly visiting the church. Moreover, she’s a perfect superwoman.

“The church will teach you all sorts of things as long as you bring the motivation.”

Some of the children couldn’t study because they came from very poor families, despite being quite smart. Many of those children aimed for getting employed as high-ranking government officials or at the academy while letting the church take care of them. And the church could also demand gratitude from very promising, intelligent children, allowing the clergy to bolster its ranks.

The people, who were taken care of by the church, would later teach children for free, once they got some time after their retirement. Elise had also been taught by such elderly people during her free time.

“I see. I guess the church also works as a societal safety net then.”

“What’s a safety net?”

“It’s a basic welfare system to save those who become too poor. It’s a relief system.”

“Hoh, Your Majesty, you do know some difficult words.”

“Well, I’m still the demon queen, after all.”

Luise admired the demon queen’s knowledge. But true, she’s aiming to become a statesman, so it makes sense for her to possess quite a bit of knowledge, but arithmetics might be one of her weaker parts.

“Hmm, this study is something scholars and experts would pursue, isn’t it? I don’t know anything but the basics either.”

“Low-ranking noble graduates like me naturally haven’t learned this. But, even though I don’t understand it, it poses no problem.”

Because Therese had received an education to become empress in the future, she had some knowledge about arithmetics. However, Katharina didn’t have any of that.

“Wendelin-sama, I don’t understand this.”

“Uh! For me of the Date family to not comprehend this…”

There’s no way that Lulu and Fujiko, who are five years old, would have learned arithmetics yet. Rather than that, they should prioritize the reading and writing of kanji, I think.

“Yuki, do you understand this?”

“Yes. We have a curriculum called mathematics on this island. It includes calculating interest, business taxes, the taxes from the harvest, the deduction of taxes during crop failures, and the land survey as well division each time new land is cultivated. On this island you’re not fit to rule if you don’t use mathematics.”

“Yuki is very smart.”

Her childhood-friend Ryouko told everyone that Yuki is called a genius excelling in literary and military arts. It was clear to me as well: the number one clerk among all those present here undoubtedly was Yuki.

“We have our magic! And since I’m helping out at home with the store, something like simple calculations is no big deal…”

“I’m the child of a merchant, so I can handle basic accounting.”

“Me too. Big bro was really bad at this.”

Agnes, Cindy, and Betty chimed in. It’s not like they need to compete with Yuki or the demon queen…

“Well, we’ve all gathered here for a rare change, so what are we going to do from now on?”

“Eh? We’re going to finish the merger of the eastern and southern areas, aren’t we? Since there’s also the matter with the demons, it’d be bad to dawdle with this, no?”

Luise advocated that we should hurry with the unification of this island.

“There’s nothing else as important as this. Yuki-san, what can you tell us about the east and south?”

“Both are in a state where several influential lords are trying to extend their sphere of influence.”

Yuki didn’t cut any corners when it came to spying on the east and south either.

First off, the east. This is a region where agriculture and commerce hold a good balance.

“There are several influential lords over there, but not a single of them sticks out. Even the five most powerful lords can at most mobilize 500 soldiers.” ¹

I’ve heard about it before, but there’s sure many lords over there.

“The south is similar to the east since it also has five prominent families.”

There seem to be no outstanding, greater families such as the Miyoshis. And because of that, the skirmishes between them have been continuing.

“I guess we’ll annex the east first.”

“I think that is a good idea.”

 

＊

 

Given that Yuki approved of it as well, the Earl Baumeister army attempted to advance on the east with 5,000 troops. However, on the way, we received an unforeseen report from a shinobi, whom Yuki had investigate the situation in the east for us.

“It’s terrible! The head of the Imagawa family died in battle!”

“Imagawa? You mean Yoshimoto?”

“Correct… Still, Milord, you are quite well-informed.”

“I heard rumors about him when I was digging wells.”

“I see.”

Of course I couldn’t say that there existed a daimyo with the same name in my previous life, so I dodged the bullet by making up a lie on the spot. Right now, there’s something worrying me much more than the name of the Imagawa family’s head, though. I feel like I heard he died in battle…”

“You said he died in battle, right?”

So far we had many battles, but no blood was spilled on either side. I thought this was a coincidence, but it’s actually how wars work on this island. Or rather, they seem to have a strong aversion towards soldiers dying in battle.

“This means it is a grave situation. For Utsuke of the Odas to be a woman who can’t even observe the rules of battle is despicable…”

“I’ve heard the rumors, but…”

“Moreover, killing the family head?”

Yuki, Miyoshi Yoshitsugu, and Sogou Yoshioki──I had Yoshioko succeed the family headship and name of the branch family Sogou to leave the west to him──criticized the Oda family for killing a family head during battle.

“But, it’s a battle, no?”

“Milord, I believe you already understand after having participated yourself many times over, but murder is considered a very unsightly act during battle.”

There isn’t that much of a difference between battles on this island and the disputes in the Helmut Kingdom, is there? But, there’s no one standing at the top who could mediate between quarreling parties. The battles themselves mostly seem to be comparisons of magic between the generals and contests of skill between the military commanders.

“Kannenaka, didn’t you demand surrender from Ryouko and Yuki?”

“At that time, we were lacking water, so we wanted preferential usage rights for the water around the old imperial palace, even if it meant suppressing the Akitsushima family by force. But, I had no intention to kill or destroy them.”

I suppose the cases where concessions and territory are taken at times can be seen as one of the differences in comparison to disputes. The inferior party will hand over land or concessions without trying to resist to the bitter end.

Because lords are generally magicians, the soldiers and residents won’t fight back if their lord loses in a contest of magic or strength. Maybe it’s based on the belief that the casualties will grow too high, if they start to genuinely kill each other on a small island such as this?

But, because of that disposition, my unification has become much easier, too. In a certain sense, you could say I’m bulldozing through with my huge mana pool.

“Hardly any lords are killed, even if they lose in battle. It’s normal for them to surrender and change their allegiance, or be driven out from the territory together with their family.”

Or they would immediately surrender if a high-ranking western lord sent his troops, just to quickly surrender whenever a high-ranking Eastern lord would send troops. This meant there would be no casualties, but likewise it makes conquering the island difficult.

“So Oda broke the rules, huh?”

“I don’t know what method they used, but killing a family head is outright rude!”

“True.”

“I guess we have to take appropriate steps against Utsuke of Oda…”

Yuki, Yoshitsugu, and Yoshioko clearly shunned Oda’s way of doing. For the most part I wondered whether the members of the Oda family lost it, understanding that these retarded customs were the reason why the island couldn’t be united.

“What sort of person is the family head of the Odas?”

“Their family head is Oda Nobuhide. I hear they’re very passionate about doing trade. The one taking down Yoshimoto was the eldest son, Oda Nobunaga.”

“Nobunaga?”

Finally the name Oda Nobunaga appeared. Since he was attacked by Yoshimoto just now, was this a re-occurrence of the Battle of Okehazama?

“The alias of the Oda family’s head is Nobuhide, right? I mean, they’re the present family head.”

“Actually, Oda’s Utsuke said, 『Passing on the same name for generations is so damn old-fashioned! I will claim Nobunaga as my new name!』. Her real name seems to be Kichiko, though.”

The Nobunaga of this world is a woman, eh? And her real name is Kichiko… Is that a suitable name, considering her actions which have been destroying the common rules of this island? ²

“I don’t really want to get involved with her.”

“Figures. Fujiko at least had some cute parts to her with the 『There’s a dark, crimson dragon underneath my eyepatch!』.”

“Luise, a dragon really dwells underneath my eyepatch.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.”

“Hey! If you make fun of me, the dark, crimson dragon is going to burn you to ash, Luise!”

Wilma, unfortunately a confrontation with Oda Nobunaga cannot be avoided. Luise, Fujiko basically uses that as a mental method to strengthen her magic output. Please don’t provoke her. After all, it’s going to be hot, if she lets that fire dragon out.

 

＊

 

“We must fight her anyway. In order to swiftly conquer the east.”

The 5,000 troops under my command surged towards the east right away.

“I shall surrender to you.”

The lords possessing territories close to the central area immediately surrendered since they knew about my Baumeister Household.

“I won’t be able to stop you with my hands anymore. The Houjou family surrenders as well.”

The family head of the Houjous, Ujiyasu, who possessed the biggest territory in the east, surrendered to use without even trying to fight us. The terrible shadows underneath his eyes were quite conspicuous, but we weren’t the reason for those. It was due to the three-sided battle between the Odas, Takedas, and Uesugis, which repeatedly took place in this region.

“Utsuke of Oda, Hikyou of Takeda, and the war lover of Uesugi; currently those three are glaring at each other, but I don’t know when they’re going to point their words at me. Your conditions for surrendering aren’t bad either, so if you can suppress those three families for me…”

Ujiyasu appeared to be completely drained from dealing with those three families, and capitulated to me without any resistance. He seemed like quite the worrywart to me.

“I have heard the Houjou family, the Imagawa family, and the Takeda family have formed an alliance. What about that?”

The daughter of Matsunaga Hisahide, who had been standing next to me, asked Ujiyasu plainly.

“Indeed. Recently, the lass from the Oda family has been meddling with the Imagawas strangely often and thus Yoshimoto sent a soldier to warn me about her.”

But then the Imagawa army collapsed after suffering a sudden surprise attack, and most of the territory was annexed by the Oda family. Moreover, even the Takeda, which was supposed to be allied with the Imagawas, snatched some of their territory amidst all the chaos.

“There’s nothing as vile as killing the family head during a battle!”

“Hosokawa-dono, Yoshimoto-dono is alive.”

“Huh? I heard he died…”

“The battlefield has been quite chaotic, that’s why. Yoshimoto-dono was injured quite heavily, and since his troops fell apart, his retainers brought him here.”

Thanks to that, he didn’t die, but his territory was taken away by the Odas and Takedas. His family wasn’t executed, but it’s said they were put under house arrest.

“Utsuke-dono of the Odas criticized the Takedas quite fervently. Saying that it was unfair for them to have taken the territory of the Imagawa family, which she had defeated in battle.”

“She’s not wrong there, but it feels like a classical case of her being the wrong person to whine about it.”

“Nobuhide-dono also protested against Utsuke’s way of doing things, but instead he had the seat of the family head taken from him and was exiled from the territory. Nobukatsu-dono, her little brother, was exiled together with him as well. The same happened in the Takeda family as well. The present family head Nobtora-dono was exiled and the eldest daughter Harumi hijacked the Takeda family as Shingen.”

The family head of the Takedas is a woman as well, huh…? Both seem to be strong-willed women.

“What about the Uesugis?”

“Originally they’ve been a small lord. Their family relies on its powerful retainers. After the sudden death of their previous family head, his daughter Tatsuko banished all the defiant, smaller lords and strengthened the power of the Uesugi family. She has changed the family head’s alias to Kenshin and increased her power by evicting or taking down the surrounding smaller lords.”

“The annoying part about this is the existence of three such troublemakers, huh?”

Those three naturally were powerful magicians in the intermediate level range. Because of the half-assed rules on this island, they were concerned by the current state of this island, which couldn’t act as one, and took action to unify the island, even if they had to use brute force to do so, but since their territories were close, they started to clash with each other as outcome from expanding their sphere of influence, Ujiyasu explained to us.

“Imagawa Yoshimoto, Yoshimoto-dono’s retainers, Oda Nobuhide, his son Nobukatsu-dono, Takeda Nobtora-dono, the Honjou family, who are former Uesugi retainers, and many other family have come here to rely on the Houjou family for some reason…”

“With you being the person of the highest rank, the danger of them losing in yet another battle and getting exiled once again is low.”

I think Erw’s conjecture is correct, but because of those three going berserk, the number of neutral, smaller lords has decreased and thus the options for taking refuge have shrunk down as well.

“The assets necessary to keep supporting this many people…”

The Houjou family has the best reputation among the five major families in the East, but if they take in this many defectors, they shouldn’t have much of a choice but to raise the taxes. Ujiyasu is likely fed up by the three idiots’ antics and at his wits’ end on how to deal with their egoistic activities.

“So, what about the three women?”

“I hear they’re going to settle it with a final battle. I received a letter from the three, asking for me to join as well. But, I don’t have any money to spend on war right now!”

Ujiyasu must have been born under an unlucky star to be burdened with three delinquent girls vying for superiority in his direct neighborhood.

“Dear, let us hurry.”

“I guess you’re right. Is Yoshimoto-dono alright?”

“Yes. His emergency treatment was good, so I was able to heal him relatively easily, considering the seriousness of his wounds.”

Elise had apparently succeeded in healing Imagawa Yoshimoto. This old dude is nothing but unlucky as well, seeing how he was on the verge of death himself while his family had been imprisoned by Nobunaga.

“Okay, let’s go then…”

The three girls gave me the impression that I wouldn’t want to get involved with them overly much, but if I let them do whatever they want, it’s quite likely that they’ll trigger genuine, bloody wars.

As such, the Baumeister army headed over to the place where their three armies were facing each other.

 

＊

 

“Heeeeeeey! You three dumb girls!”

“WHAT WAS THAAAAT!? You’re the rumored invade, Earl Baumeister, eh!? I’m Oda Nobunaga!”

The one jumping on Erw’s simple provocation first was delinquent beauty Oda Nobunaga. She had brown hair, apparently dyed, armor that resembled full plate mail, and Lingaia-styled military equipment, despite this island being isolated for more than 10,000 years. I don’t know where she obtained that, but only the part of her liking imported goods is quite similar to Earth’s Oda Nobunaga.

“I’m Earl Baumeister’s retainer, Erwin von Armin!”

“I’ve got no business with you! Is Earl Baumeister present?”

“Pfft, Nobunaga, you’re just some small-fry, so there’s no way he’d take you on, is there?”

“Now you’ve said it, you damn midget!”

“The size of one’s body doesn’t matter. A battle is won in here.”

The small girl in crimson armor, who held a military leader’s fan, pointed at her head. She seemed to be the second delinquent, Takeda Shingen.

“Just the number of your troops is impressive.”

“Scared, midget?”

“Don’t kid yourself, meathead girl!”

Nobunaga and Shingen started an ugly mudfight of words as if they had forgotten about our existence. Their levels seemed to be almost the same, both being quite low.

“No matter how many enemies there are, I’ll simply crush all of them!”

The third girl was a black-haired beauty in a warrior monk outfit, who held a naginata. But, since she was the third delinquent, her appearance didn’t cause my heart to throb, naturally. She seemed to be Uesugi Kenshin.

“This is why battle lovers…I’d like you to stay away from me since I’ll be treated as being the same as you otherwise.”

“I don’t want to be told that by a midget who constantly comes up with cowardly schemes!”

“Nobunaga is the same, but you people always treat others as midgets as well!”

“I just stated the truth, midget.”

“I’m telling you that’s rude!”

The three continued their low-leveled quarrel as if we weren’t present.

“It’s such a low-leveled conflict, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

Hearing their bickering, Erw and I lost all motivation. Or rather, I’d like them to soon realize that we’re their opponent.

 

 

“What’s with you foreign invaders? I shall challenge you to a fight as soon as I get rid of the midget and battle maniac! I will unify this island, annex the Baumeister Earldom, subjugate the Helmut Kingdom, Holy Empire Urquhart, and demon country, and become the king of the world!”

The Nobunaga in this world indulges in grand ambitions as well. However, it seems like she doesn’t have a clear grasp on reality…

“Since I have listened to your points, let us talk about the main topic. Even without you people trying so hard, the Baumeister House will unify this island, so don’t worry and surrender.”

“Are you messing with me? Just because you can use a bit of magic!? Katsuie!”

“Yes!”

Once I mentioned surrender to Nobunaga, she apparently snapped. A two-meter tall, burly guy, who had been waiting behind her, charged at me while riding a horse.

“Hahaha, You think you can win against Katsuie, one of the brave commanders of Oda Katsunaga?”

“Is there anyone who wants to fight him?”

“Here!”

He possesses some mana as well, but it’s around elementary level. I think he’d be invincible by adding mana to his power, if this was a skirmish between small lords.

As soon as I asked whether anyone wanted to take him on, Wilma raised her hand. Once I gave her my permission,she jumped on her horse and charged towards Katsuie while brandishing her great ax.

“You think you can defeat me, little one!?”

“Weaklings who act tough often drop such lines, even in stories.”

“Let me show you───!”

“Also, I feel sorry for your horse.”

Unfortunately, the Shibata Katsuie of this world was a hotspur who easily fell for Wilma’s provocation.

As for this island’s horses: They were one side smaller than the horses on the continent and Katsuie riding his horse looked like quite a burden for the poor animal.

Given that Wilma was riding one of the horses we had brought from the Baumeister Earldom, our side had no such issues.

“Are you really going to swing that big ax on a horse?”

“I can use it anywhere.”

“Now’s the only time you can brag like this! Next you will fall in front of my spear!”

Both made the horses gallop while readying their weapons, before passing each other for just an instant. To me it looked like they had merely ran past each other, but Erw seemed to have a different opinion.

“I’d say this is Wilma’s victory.”

“Is it?”

“She decided it in one strike.”

Erw’s words were proven correct as Katsuie fell off his horse in the next moment while Wilma held up her axe in triumph.

“He was okay.”

“Katsuie has been…”

“That was a bad joke, wasn’t it? The Takeda family will send out its four Heavenly Kings, Nobuharu, Masatoyo, Masakage, and Masanobu.”

“”””Yes, Sir!””””

“Yatarou!”

“Leave it to me!”

It’s not like Nobunaga, Shingen, and Kenshin were working together, but they probably judged that it’d be better to defeat us first. Those three might actually get along well.

By the way, if you wonder, why I know all those names, it’s because I have Tada-san secretly teaching me (T/N: Cut out some more JP warring states lore with names that don’t matter anyway).

“Tada-dono.”

“My father investigated all the influential lords and their retainers for a while now upon the order of Lord Nagayoshi. This information has only been passed on to Milord, who is the successor of Lord Nagayoshi. I would like Yuki-san to take charge of the military affairs without having to worry about anything.”

“Ugh!”

Yuki looked very frustrated as she had been beaten to the punch by Matsunaga’s daughter in information gathering. Tada-san is older than me, but she’s a tactful, pretty, young lady with a good head on her shoulders, who doesn’t butt in unnecessarily. She’s Matsunaga Hisahide​ ‘s prided daughter and he’ll apparently have her inherit the Matsunaga family after taking a husband. Since I don’t fit the conditions, she can tag along with me without any worries.

“Wend, I’m off.”

“I’ll go as well.”

“Me too.”

“Me as well!”

“No, Doushi, please don’t!”

Requests for duels started to flow in as military commanders stepped forward, and Ina, Luise, and Katia started to fight after accepting those duels. Doushi tried to join in out of boredom, but all of them were no more than elementary magicians.

No matter what you think about it, it’d be too pitiful for the enemies, so Burkhart-san stopped Doushi. In exchange, Kannenaka, who had been trained by Doushi, requested a duel while holding the hexagonal staff given to him by Doushi.

“As if any of the girls besides Shingen-sama, could win against us!”

“Girls should enjoy eating sweets in the rear.”

“Make sure to not cry after losing in the duels.”

“The outside world seems so weak that they have to make women fight for them.”

Takeda’s Four Heavenly Kings started to ridicule us for sending out girls to handle the duels.

“Man, people running their mouths like that exist everywhere, huh?”

“Ina-chan, Most of those running their mouths like that aren’t overly strong.”

“It doesn’t look like they’re overly strong, but it’s for Hubby’s sake.”

“Hmm, for some reason they seem weak. Is it because of Teacher?”

The four duels took place, ending in a complete victory for our side. The enemies weren’t dead, but they wouldn’t wake up anytime soon.

“Wh-!? My Four Heavenly Kings!”

“There being four of them means that they have a quarter of my Yatarou’s strength, right? My Yatarou…”

“He was not all that strong! It was disappointing!”

After shaking free from Burkhart-san’s restraint, Doushi had quickly knocked out Yatarou cold. He wasn’t dead, but was completely unable to fight on.

Unfortunately, it seems like Doushi didn’t even give him the time to draw his prized large war sword.

“So they were useless small fries, huh?”

Burkhart-san dissed the prided subordinates of the three delinquent girls.

“Actually, the strongest warrior of the Takeda family is me! Earl Baumeister, I shall have a duel with you!”

“How unexpected, Nobunaga. I just felt like dueling Earl Baumeister as well.”

“Seeing how Yatarou was done in, I must take the stage myself.”

“Three versus one, eh?”

“What are you saying? I sought a one-on-one, but Shingen and Kenshin butted in. Since the option of yielding it to someone else doesn’t exist for me, it doesn’t matter to me if those two try to challenge you at the same time.”

Nobunaga has a very “nice” character. She instantly knew that she wouldn’t be able to win against me by herself. Therefore she declared Shingen and Kenshin, who tried to fight me alongside her, would be unrelated to her, who had requested a one-on-one.

This underhandedness is refreshing in a way as it didn’t happen so far. She’s probably a woman who won’t choose her methods when it comes to winning.

“Nobunaga won’t pull back, but we have no time, so it cannot be helped. Ultimately I’ve challenged you to a one-on-one fight.”

Just like Nobunaga, Shingen schemes to defeat me here together with the other two, before resuming their three-sided battle.

“Well, I suppose it’s inevitable.”

Kenshin, the supposed battle maniac, also has no problem with being unfair when it comes to battle. Rather, she appears to be happy as long as she can win.

In the end, the three challenged me to a fight together.

“They sure have “fine” characters.”

“They aren’t mistaken as nobles and rulers, but still…”

Katharina and Therese were appalled. As a former duchess, Therese could follow their way of thinking, but now that it’s turned out like this, she seems to consider them nothing but cowardly.

“Dear, please do your best.”

“I’ll wrap it up right away.”

After answering Elise, I faced the three.

“Did you hear, Shingen?”

“I didn’t, but he sure is very relaxed, given his current situation.”

“Well, whatever. I, not us, will win anyway.”

Those three were quite chummy, despite having earlier glared at each other.

“You three are actually friends, aren’t you?”

“Who’s a friend of those two!?”

“We just have the same target by chance!”

“Earl Baumeister, if you surrender, I’ll spare your life.”

“I’ll give those words right back at you,” I answered Kenshin’s offer.

“No matter how confident you might be in your mana, there’s still three of us!”

“After taking down Earl Baumeister first, I’ll proceed to suppress the east and then all of Akitsushima Island, I guess.”

“Either way, I must settle my strife with Nobunaga and Shingen. So go ahead and get killed first, you two.”

Nobunaga launched a Flame spell, Shingen a Wind Blades spell, and Kenshin an Ice Bullet at me, but all of them were blocked by my Magic Barrier.

These three feel like they’re reasonably promising, intermediate magicians.

“There you have three different types of spells! Did you finally realize how powerless you are?”

Nobunaga kept laughing while chain-firing her spells at me, but since it was straightforward attack magic without any particular tricks to it, it bored me to no end.

It seems like only a few people reach the level where they can use magic in many different ways to fight against enemies with a lot of mana, like my Master.

“Don’t you have anything that’s more flashy?”

As the three continued with their dull magic, I got bored, resulting in me blurting out my real thoughts. The three took that as provocation and got enraged.

“You sure have a big mouth!”

“Then, take this!”

“Regret your idiocy in hell!”

The three readily fell for my provocation and Nobunaga created Fire Pillar spells, Shingen Tornado spells, and Kenshin huge Ice Bullet spells, before continuing their now intensified attacks.

But, I didn’t suffer any damage from this at all. My opponents were the only ones consuming a big amount of mana while I blocked all their spells with the smallest necessary MAgic Barrier.

“(I think it should be about time, huh?)”

Intermediate magicians are bound to fail, if they don’t use all their mana in one blow when trying to pierce through the Magic Barrier of an advanced magician. Thus their loss was decided at the moment they started to chain-fire spells with half-assed force at me.

At this point, any more would be a waste of time.

“Haa…haa…”

“Why won’t Earl Baumeister’s Magic Barrier break?”

“This shouldn’t be…”

The three gradually became more silent and then they finally ran out of mana, becoming unable to move as well. But, there was no way for them to escape from here either. They led their troops and retainers through the strength of their magic. If they ran away here, their armies would fall apart.

But even if not, their famous commanders have already been defeated by my wives.

“I suppose I must exhibit some sort of attack magic as well.”

I have to break the hearts of my opponents by confronting them with overwhelming power so as to win with as few casualties as possible. Accordingly, I used a huge amount of mana and flashily shot a gigantic Fire Pillar in front of the three.

“Doushi, you mentioned Something-Raging, didn’t you?”

“Earl Baumeister, Something-Raging does not sound cool at all! It is Blast Crimson Raging!”

“Ah, yeah, that!”

Anyway, since it’s a spell solely intended to scare the opponent, the height of the pillar exceeded 50 meters.

“This is hotter than expected…”

“It’s only natural if you manifest such a flashy pillar of fire.”

Given that this island was in the subtropics, the place became very hot, but it seemed to have plenty of effect as a threat.

“Hiii…”

“There’s too much of a difference in magic power…”

“I can’t win…”

Seeing the huge pillar, the three delinquent girls crumbled to the ground and even the soldiers under their command threw away their weapons without me having told them anything.

Afterwards, the Oda, Takeda, and Uesugi families surrendered and the east, which had been plunged into chaos by those three, was subjugated by the Earl Baumeister House.

 

 

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Translation Notes:

1. I’m cutting out all the Japanese names for families which surprisingly overlap with Warring states families cause most of them are just fillers.
2. She’s called 吉 (kichi) 子 (ko). 吉 (kichi) means good luck, but 吉 (yoi) means good, nice, pleasant, while 子 (ko) means child. So it’s a wordplay, pointing to her name suggesting her being a “good child” while her actions are clearly those of a “bad child.”