CH 214

Aaah! Geeze! I’m too busy! Even if you work hard, it’s not going to end, it just keeps piling up more and more!

I only have about a week left to stay in Caan territory. And yet, this thing, and these things, that thing, and those things, nothing, nothing gets done! Work increases one after another and accumulates faster than I can clear it out! I’ll either start losing hair or wear a hole in my stomach!

The Caanza Alliance is doing well. Too well. The number of applications to join the alliance is steadily increasing! Stop it already!

In the end, all the cities after Lubek dissolved their councils and entrusted all their sovereignty to me. As much as possible, I go to the location once to confirm their situation and negotiate with the councilors before the dissolution, but it’s too easy to entrust everything to me.

After dissolving their councils, the Caanza Alliance sent governors to the free cities to manage the local area. Naturally, the governor must be a trustworthy person, and a monitoring mechanism for the governor is also necessary. Each free city that has become my territory is working on things that need to be done as soon as possible, such as conducting population surveys and deciding tax systems.

Using the collected taxes to increase the city’s defense capabilities, road maintenance, port maintenance, and so on…. the days would pass quickly if the administration decided what to do from the onset.

I told everyone to play freely after the naval battle on Goslant Island. I have to go to the mansion for food to-go or head to a free city wanting to join the alliance and negotiate, so I don’t have time to play with everyone.

When I told Christa to go out with Helmut in order to get to know him better, even though she was worried about me, she blushed and nodded and the two of them went out. I shouldn’t worry too much about Christa. It’s a little strange to say that, but I shouldn’t care, or rather, it’s good if Christa and Helmut have more time to be together without me interfering and hindering them.

In comparison, most of my beloved girls are stubborn. I don’t have time to go out, so I’ve been saying that it’s okay to go sightseeing or go home to their families, but most of them won’t leave me. Well, I’m happy about that, but it’s kind of painful for me.

“Pardon me,” Isabella said as she entered my room. “Miss Floto, we have received a report that a prototype of ‘that thing’ has been completed.”

“A working prototype?” I asked.

There are just too many things I’m trying to invent for anything specific to come to mind when you say “prototype.” I make a lot of things, this and that, so I don’t know what you’d mean by “that thing.”

“This one,” Isabella said, bringing her hand to her mouth and making a gesture.

“Ahh……” I said, finally understanding it.

I see. Were they able to make it work? I have to attend to this.

“The ones that require my approval have been completed,” I said. “Please turn the rest of the papers over to the officers in charge.”

It’s already troublesome, so I’m throwing the rest of the work away today. Basically, I’ve finished things that require my approval. The rest is all at the level that each officer in charge of whatever aspect can decide at their discretion. I’d like to tell them not to hand over all of that to me, but House Caan and Caanza Trading Firm are both rapidly expanding and don’t have enough officers. There’s a lot of work going on for everyone, so this will be unavoidable.

“Understood,” Isabella said. “Then, Miss Floto…”

“Yes,” I said. “I’ll take a look at this prototype,” I said, putting my hands to my mouth and mimicking the same gesture.

I left the delegation of the rest of the documents to Isabella and left Manor Caan in Caanburg.

Today is the first time in a while that I can go outside, so I invited everyone to come out with me. All my wives came, but Christa and Helmut had already left before that time, so they weren’t around. The two of them went to Viscount Royce’s mansion in Carruzan. I don’t know the purpose, but it’s probably a discussion about the future, such as their marriage.

Anyway, today is a date with my cute and lovely brides, so I’m a little excited. I’m sorry that I left my work to the officers, so I can’t be happy without a care, but… since that’s their job, isn’t it strange that it’s coming to me instead? I’m probably still poisoned by black company culture. I’m a workaholic through and through.

“Hey, hey, Floto!” Mikoto said. “So what are we going to see today?”

“Look forward to it after we arrive,” I said.

Mikoto asks me over and over again as if she can’t stand it anymore, but I dodge giving answers. However, if I raise the bar too high, depending on how the prototype works, she might be disappointed. I don’t want to raise the hurdle too much, but that’s why it’s difficult to explain…

The easiest thing to do is to have them see the actual product, and it is difficult to explain it verbally to someone who has never seen such a thing. Well, there was something similar in this world, but maybe I should say that I improved it…

We soon arrived at a certain workshop in Caanburg. It’s just a normal workshop in the city. Well, it’s not a private company, it’s something like a government-owned or publicly-owned one, and it’s a workshop funded by House Caan…

Research and development take a lot of effort. It costs money and doing it doesn’t necessarily lead to profit. Even if an individual wants to research and develop new things, it is not so easy. So I’m creating related organizations here and there to give opinions on what kind of things I want and whether I can make such things and have them research and develop them.

This is one such example, and the role of this workshop is researching and development of metal processing and metalwork.

“Sir Caan! Please, feel free to come inside,” one of the workers said. “We’ve prepared the demonstration prototype. Come on, come, let’s go at once!”

We were greeted and went into the workshop. Of course, it wasn’t the inside of the metal processing workshop that we were led to, but the building behind it.

“Here it is!” the worker said.

“You’ve done well,” I said.

The prototype shown in the back building was of splendid workmanship. Well, it’s not just how it looks… I will not know if this works properly until we actually try to use it.

“What is this? A trumpet?” Mikoto asked, peeking at the prototype behind me like she’s reached the end of her patience.

Well, she calls it a trumpet because it is a trumpet.

“It’s a brass instrument, but it’s not just a trumpet,” I said. “It’s an (experimental) trumpet.”

““(Experimental) trumpet?”” everyone asked.

I’m trying to make an instrument in this world. This is one of the brass instrument prototypes. Of course, there are musical instruments in this world. However, they are quite underdeveloped. No, it may be a fairly recent history that various musical instruments have appeared on Earth.

Of course, it’s not just a hobby, making prototypes of brass instruments. In fact, I can even say that I’m not that interested in music. I only know what I learned at school, and even if I can read sheet music, I only know what I learned at school. There’s no way I’d memorize sheet music, and even if I made an instrument in this world, I wouldn’t be able to reproduce the sheet music I had in my previous life.

So what use does it have? One is the military. The other is to improve technical and industrial strength.

After the Middle Ages, Earth’s armies beat drums and blew signal trumpets (bugles) as a means of communication for military operations. It is important to signal the morning call, signal a gathering, signal an enemy attack, and signal a fixed pattern of sounds for messages.

Besides that, it also has meaning for ceremonies. Military bands don’t exist in this world yet. That’s why you don’t hear military bands, drums, and fife corps making loud noises in military operations, and they don’t march with musical instruments in parades and ceremonies.

We still have a small number of soldiers and use artillery. More guns will be developed and deployed in the future. Once guns are widely used, military bands and drum and fife corps will not be used as cues on the battlefield, but they are still usable enough. I also want to use them for marches and ceremonies.

I thought the last time we crossed the river and marched to Lubek was fine, but it would have been effective if the military band played some sort of marching music there and the flag bearers marched in an orderly fashion. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it in time then, but if you imagine how it looks, you should know how effective it is.

Who do you think is more amazing to watch, the mercenaries walking lazily without good command, or the army marching neatly in line with the military band playing in time? It should be considered amazing in all aspects, such as aesthetic quality, luxury, and high morale.

The Caan Knighthood is few and not very well-known. However, if you can march together there, it will have a considerable visual impact. If you make others think that they can’t compete with us, I can avoid unnecessary conflicts.

Of course, if you start spreading your name around, I may get in trouble if it has the opposite effect… but it’s a world where you can’t avoid fighting whichever path you take. If that’s the case, even a little bluffing and intimidation would be a good sign. Besides, it’s not just a show, but as I said at the beginning, it also has the meaning of a signal for military action, so it also has a tactical purpose.

And with the second reason, there is technical power, industrial power. Bugles seem to change sounds by changing the rate of air blowing into them. Therefore, there are a few types of sounds that can be produced. But instruments like the trumpet have something called a valve, and by manipulating it you can change the sound that you can’t accomplish with just breath control.

Even with the same player, the trumpet changes the sound by changing the length of the tube the air travels to. The trombone is probably the easiest to understand visually. It is easy to see how the sound changes by moving the slide held in the hand back and forth to change the length of the tube the air travels in.

The longer the tube of a brass instrument, the lower the sound. Therefore, the pitch of the sound is changed by manipulating the valve and changing the pipe through which air flows. A trumpet lowers its sound by pressing the valves and changing how the tubes connect.

Well, as I said earlier, I only know what I learned at school. Even if I understand the theory and structure, I don’t know how long the tube will be to lower the sound, let alone write the score for it. All I did was teach them rough ideas and let workshops, craftsmen, and musicians study them.

Why does this lead to improvements in technological and industrial strength? This is because it is directly related to metalworking technology.

In addition to making the main body of the instrument, it is not possible to process, finely craft, adjust, and make parts for the valves without a high level of metal processing technology. In other words, it is not something that can be done simply by knowing the structure of the instrument, but it is necessary to have metal processing technology to make it.

Such research is the job of the workshop, and the finished product is further adjusted in cooperation with the musicians. That’s how this working prototype finally took shape to some extent.

In addition to the trumpet, I have made several other instruments as prototypes. We also need percussion instruments and drums for the marching band. Their processing technology also plays a role in increasing industrial strength.

The Japanese were quite familiar with dexterity in their handiwork, and this gave them a high degree of industrial prowess. For example, if we improve our metal processing technology in this way, the day may come when we can rifle cannons and guns. Industrial products are not something that can be made freely. I think it’s also important to expand the base like this, even if it seems unrelated at first glance. 1

“So… is there anyone who can play this?” I asked.

“Yes. Leopolt!”

“It’s my first time meeting you, Sir Caan,” a man said as he came up. “My name is Leopolt.”

Apparently, this Leopolt seems to be a musician who cooperated in making the instrument. Of course, since he worked together to create it, he must know how to use it, more or less.

“Well then…” Lepolt says before he puts his lips to the trumpet and blows.

…… Yes. It’s noisy.

I’m sure it would be noisy if the trumpet was blown so close to you. But I can’t say that I want to listen to it myself, but I can’t tell him it’s just noise. Besides, the sound is loud and deafening, but the tone is rhythmic like music. It’s not just loud and chaotic.

“What do you think!?” Leopolt cried.

“Eh… well… I think the sound was good…” I said.

As I said, I don’t know music. I just had them make musical instruments for the military band and to improve their metalworking skills. Other instruments that were prototyped one after another were played, but it would be noisy if they were played in front of me. That was all I needed to see.