CH 174

If you ask me why I could tell, I can only answer that it’s a pattern of names or a sense of something that makes him demon-like. Well, I’m the only one who knows someone of the Demon Race, Mikoto, but I’ve never heard of such a name pattern in other countries, so it must be theirs exclusively.

“The name sounded like a demon’s, so I guessed as much,” I said.

“H-H-How do you know the demon clan’s namessss…?!” Charakusai yelled.

He’s a really funny old man. You could say he’s got rich expressiveness or something. Come to think of it, Mikoto also has intense emotions, and I wonder if many demons are of this attitude. If that’s the case, that’s not what modern Japanese people are like. Maybe it’s just people around me, but if anything, modern Japanese tend to be weak and docile. The Demon Country has a lot of similarities with Japan, but it’s not exactly the same.

“So you said your name was Itou Sarakusai?” I asked, recalling the kanji that would be his name in Japanese. 1

“Oh! That’s right, yeah! Ito Charakusai is my name,” Charakusai said. 2

Hmm…? Is it just because the old man’s pronunciation is strange that “Sarakusai” sounds like “Charakusai?” Or is it just that Charakusai is correct but my pronunciation isn’t conveyed to him?

Well, the small details are fine. It doesn’t matter which one you call him, he answers by either, so you can call him “Sarakusai” or “Charakusai,” whichever is easier for you to say.

“Mr. Charakusai, does that mean that Princess Mikoto sent you along with the tea trees to teach cultivation?”

“That’s right! That’s right, you know! Well, to be precise, I came here without permission because I thought amateurs would only kill a tea plantation, you see!”

Hey… if you came here on your own, if someone asks, “Did Mikoto send you?”, the answer is not “That’s right!” … I’m not going to get into what Mikoto said, exactly. It’s a completely different story.

Well, they probably came in with seedlings and seeds, so there’s no particular problem with the fact that neither the demons nor the people of Caan’s territory said anything. Besides, it wouldn’t so bad if an expert over there would be helping instruct us.

“That’s reassuring… By the way, is it okay to plant in a place like this? Tea trees are best suited for sunny, rainy, nutrient-rich, and well-drained acidic soil, aren’t they?”

I asked Charakusai based on my vague knowledge. It’s just the knowledge I’ve seen and heard on TV, so it doesn’t help much. I’m sure it went something like this, okay~? I was just recalling what I heard.

“Huh? Acidity, you said? And what was all the other stuff?” Charakusai asked.

Ah…… ahh~……. I see. From there… well, the land should have become acidic on its own even if left alone. Even if it is not possible to measure whether the acidity is appropriate or not, the tea tree should have been quite acidic and should have been fine, so there is no need to worry about it so much, right?

“Umm, the thing is…”

I tried to explain it to Charakusai appropriately. I’m neither an expert nor a knowledgeable person, to begin with, so it’s unclear if my knowledge was well conveyed to tea tree cultivation experts. I just tried to explain what I know as best I could.

“I understand now! Now that you say so, you must be right!”

So he didn’t know a damn thing after all! What was even the point of sending Charakusai as an expert, then?!

Well, it’s fine. Even if he didn’t know what to do, it is rather like I came from a civilization hundreds of years ahead of this world. Even the general education of ordinary people is as big as the difference between heaven and earth. It can’t be helped to say it to a medieval-level opponent who is operating on the level of, “This is what happened when we did this.” without any of the underlying scientific reasoning or research behind it.

In the first place, I only know it as vague knowledge, and the residents of this world practice it as a rule of thumb even if they don’t know the chemical formula or scientific basis. There’s no way to compare who is better between me, who just vaguely knows about it, and those who have actually experienced it.

“As expected of a noble who is importing and cultivating tea trees! We’re going to have to tell this to everyone at once!” Charakusai said.

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“Ah! Hold on!”

Charakusai forcibly dragged me into the office and held an emergency meeting with all the people in charge. I didn’t mean to do that, but I was forced to get involved and had to explain various things in front of everyone.

After being involved in an unexpectedly long meeting, I stretched my body a little. The time was later than planned, and I was suddenly asked for an explanation at the meeting, and I was mentally exhausted because I was forced to give a vague explanation without any preparation.

I don’t know if it’s right or not, but I explained some of the points I know about tea tree cultivation to everyone. For example, as I said at the beginning, the acidity of the soil. However, there is no way to measure acidity in this world, so I can only guess or guess whether it is properly adjusted.

If it is a species similar to the tea tree on the earth, the temperature should be neither too hot nor too cold, and the soil should be as sunny as possible, with good drainage, but with a lot of rain, rich nutrients, and deeply plowed soil. Moreover, since the tea tree will continue to grow for about 30 years, it will be difficult to relocate it later or improve the soil. First of all, you need to choose a good site and improve the soil to be optimal.

When I explained something like that, everyone was seriously thinking about it. When I mentioned the terraced fields, they said that they would look for a candidate site and consider it, so if it were to be cultivated in earnest, it would still be a long way off. It seems that what is being cultivated here at the moment is just a test to see if it can be cultivated in the soil and climate of the Kingdom of Ploiss.

Well, once the candidate sites have been selected, they will start planting them one by one, so there may be a good harvest next year. Things that grow from seeds or small seedlings take several years to grow, but things that are replanted or taken from cuttings may grow in a relatively short time.

After visiting the tea plantation and having an unscheduled meeting, I headed to the greenhouse that had been built since the early days. Both greenhouses and vinyl greenhouses are sometimes called “greenhouses” here, but greenhouses and vinyl greenhouses are different things. The greenhouse is the glass-walled structure I made in the early days, and unlike the vinyl greenhouse, I use it on a small scale.

If a vinyl greenhouse is a place where plants are actually cultivated for the purpose of harvesting, then a glass greenhouse has a more advanced purpose of research where a small number of specimens are cultivated for use in experimentation, basic research, breeding, etc. That I’m here, of course, is to visit…

“It’s been a while since we last met, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, good day to you, Mrs. Anneliese,” I said.

I came here to meet Anneliese, the wife of Dr. Eins, who is also a botanical researcher and the Director of the Botanical Research Institute.

To be frank, this glass greenhouse has already been completely taken over by Anneliese. I will no longer grow or research here myself. Most of the time, I left it to Anneliese, and sometimes I just popped my head in from outside and spoke up from the sidelines.

“How is your research going?”

“Yes. Thanks to the Caan Knighthood’s support, I am able to devote myself to wonderful research every day,” Anneliese said.

I asked about the progress of her research… Well, it’s not something that can be said in one or two lines, so is this okay? If there are any results or dead ends in research, we receive reports. What I can do is advise her on solutions, and she probably doesn’t have any particular problems right now.

No matter how many times I see it, I still can’t believe it… such a plump older sister type is the wife of that explosive-headed Dr. Eins… Appearance and age aren’t everything, but what is this indescribable feeling of incongruity?

Anneliese happened to be in the greenhouse today, but she usually goes to the Botanical Research Institute built in Hexennacht, so just because she’s here doesn’t necessarily mean Anneliese would have been reliably here. I didn’t have any plans to visit her, so it was really a coincidence that I met her today.

Since I had the chance to meet her, I listened to her various research results and where she was stuck, gave her advice, and talked with Anneliese about her next research. Caanza’s women’s products are especially important because they rely on Anneliese’s research. I told her, “Make essential oils!” and Anneliese was quite helpful in answering that request.

One of the results of recent research is the completion of face packs. Anneliese worked extremely well with them because part of their ingredients is extracted from plants and the like. I left the greenhouse after talking about how the sample product we released was very popular.

The final destination is the shipyard. I think that the Age of Seafaring will come from now on, so I’m putting a lot of effort into shipbuilding. Even though I said I would leave the large ships to Cien, I actually built a shipyard for large ships in Caanburg as well…

“Oh my,” I said. “Are you building a carrack here?”

At the shipyard I looked into, a carrack ship was under construction. I’ve seen it many times, so I’ve gotten to the point where I can tell the difference between ships if I look at it to some extent even during construction.

Originally, I was thinking of dividing up the construction and repair of carrack ships in Cien and caravel ships in Caanburg. But from now on, Cien will build another, even larger ship. That’s why Caanburg will be able to build even a carrack ship, and Cien will focus on larger ships.

For that reason, the Caanburg shipyard has been expanded considerably, and Cien is also constructing vessels one after another. In the future, my aim is to advance into the ocean. And then, international trade.

“Who are you!? You can’t enter without permission!”

Ah… this pattern again… Well, if a woman who’s old enough to say she’s still a girl is wandering around, she’ll get scolded everywhere. If I told them in advance that it was an inspection, the other party would probably be ready to accept it, but if you suddenly came without any advance notice like today, it would be like this. So this is my fault.

“It’s been a long time, Master Carpenter,” I said.

“Is-Is that you, Sir Floto? I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s my fault for coming here so suddenly. Come now, raise your head,” I said.

I’ve met this master carpenter many times, so as soon as I see my face, I can understand the story. I know most of the craftsmen. I don’t know if there are more people hired while I was in the royal capital, but other than them, I’ve met the staff at least once.

There are a lot of facilities and technologies that must be kept secret in Caan territory. That’s why there are strict rules for those who work there, and thorough background checks are conducted before hiring. I also meet face-to-face and confirm it at the end, and working at our important facilities is an unexpectedly high hurdle.

We will visit the shipyard while listening to the report of the master carpenter. A little while ago, I applied for the construction and ownership of ships in the royal capital to Wilhelm and Dietrich, which were three caravel ships and three carrack ships, but they were all built here alone. And many other ships are still under construction.

In fact, the area around this shipyard that I am currently inspecting is a shipyard owned by House Caan, only to build vessels to sell to others or to be used by the Caan Knighthood. Do you think that’s normal?

And next to this shipyard owned by House Caan, there is a group of shipyards owned by Caanza. Kukukuh. Do you know what I mean? Yes, House Caan doesn’t only own or build ships I have applied for within the kingdom. But Caanza is a different entity. Caanza Trading Company has its own shipyard and ships.

In addition, the Caan Knighthood Shipbuilding Union exists and has its own shipyards. Nominally, at least… the shipyard is actually owned by House Caan. House Caan manages both the shipbuilding union and the guild-owned shipyards. That’s why House Caan actually controls everything, even though they are nominally different. Except, of course, for Union-owned ships.

Furthermore, in Cien, a shipyard is being built that can build “that lady,” one even larger than the carrack ship. “She” is already under construction there. Of course, I only applied to the kingdom as a “prototype of a new ship.” However, in fact, the prototype is almost completed, and several ships of the same type are under construction, which is scheduled to be diverted from the prototype testing to live use.

And one of the highlights of this homecoming trip. If the trial-firing test of “that thing” from Eins’ research goes well… kukukuh! My aspirations will grow!

Among the big events during this homecoming trip, there are a few important ones. For example, the opening of the pioneering village will be held, and Eins’ research results will be unveiled. And… I plan to solve Lubek’s problem during this trip home.

It’s not just Lubek’s problem that the Hulk Sea is blockaded, it’s not fun for us either. House Caan’s ships didn’t take any direct damage, but that’s just because they can’t attack our ships. It’s a nuisance to us, and if it keeps wandering around in our sea, it’s only going to cause trouble for all of us in the future.

A navy with a large increase in personnel and equipment… oops, I made a mistake. We don’t have anything dangerous like a navy. The Caan Knighthood Merchant Fleet is about to take action in the Hulk Sea.

“Kukukuh…!” I snickered.

“Ahem! Miss Floto?”

Isabella noticed. Oh, no, oh no. It’s fine because it’s in the carriage on the way home, but you shouldn’t show your true nature in public. Thinking about the future, I hurried back to Manor Caan.