CH 230

Aaahaaa! I’m so bus-yyy~!

What in the hell is this? It never ends! The work never ends! No, it’s not never-ending, it’s just piling up higher and higher! No matter what I do, it won’t decrease, it only increases!

“Miss Flora, new documents have arrived.”

“Uuhaa!” I groaned.

A new pile of documents is brought before me. What in the hell is this? It never ends! It’s not reducing! I can’t see the end ahead of me! By the way, I can’t even see the door in front of my desk because of the pile of documents in the way!

How did this happen…? About a week ago, I was summoned to the royal castle and suddenly made to participate in the ceremony. Well, rather than being made to participate, it was a ceremony for me, so I was suddenly promoted from a knight to a baron without any meetings or rehearsals.

A few days later, I was summoned to the royal castle again. After that… I’ve been so busy…

A few days after I was suddenly made to participate in the ceremony and was promoted to a baron, I was summoned by Wilhelm himself and reluctantly came to the royal castle. I have a lot to say here as well. But it would be impossible to say it openly…

Well, it would be nice if I made an achievement for the country. Since I am a noble, I may have been promoted for it. Regardless of whether or not my work was equivalent to that, Wilhelm and Dietrich must have had some sort of motives to have promoted me.

That’s good. That’s fine, but when you usually have a ceremony like that, do you want to suddenly go live without a meeting or rehearsal? No matter how you think about it, it’s weird, isn’t it?

I’ve never done a ceremony like that before, so what would I do if I didn’t know the etiquette and procedures!? I happened to be learning the basic manners and procedures, so I pretended to know them perfectly, but I still don’t know if what I did was correct.

Normally, if there was such a ceremony, they would have a meeting beforehand, and they would also teach me the manners and procedures! Why is it suddenly a performance on the day itself?! Thanks to that, I might have ended up showing off in front of the other nobles that I’m a potato-brained baron who doesn’t even know how to behave!

After returning, I checked with Katharina and Helmut, but it seems that they didn’t hear the news, either. The only info that reached them both was the date and time of day, the tools and dress, and nothing about the procedures and manners of the ceremony.

I wonder if Wilhelm and Dietrich have some sort of grudge against me. Were they trying to embarrass me in front of the other nobles at my own promotion ceremony?

Well, that’s enough of that. There’s no point in talking about the past. Rather than that, why I was summoned today is more important. I often come to see Wilhelm and Dietrich, but I don’t get summoned specifically. And when I’m summoned, it’s usually when I’m doing something wrong.

I walked to the inner palace as the servant guided me, even though I was a little wary. Yes, this time as well, I was sent to a private room in the inner palace instead of an audience room, an office, or a public room.

This King is also so reckless… you can’t just let a baron go to the inner palace, right? I want you to have a little more self-awareness of your position as King.

When I was led to a private room, I greeted him without even showing a hint of what I was worried about, then sat down across from Wilhelm. I wait for a while, thinking that Wilhelm will bring up the topic. By the way, Dietrich was also sitting with me this time. Also, he didn’t say anything about the canal bill not being ready yet.

“Now then… let’s get down to business,” Wilhelm said.

“Right,” I said.

It was after we drank the tea they served and talked about trivial things. You might think you don’t need to serve tea when your guests arrive, just say what you wanted to say, but this is also the noble’s way of socializing.

The same is true of modern business negotiations. If it’s a door-to-door salesman coming to have business with someone, he might just be able to talk while standing near the entrance. But that wouldn’t be the case when senior executives and presidents meet and talk to each other when concluding a big deal.

In a reception room, a conference room, or a restaurant somewhere, we sit down together, drink tea and eat food, relax to some extent, and after talking a little about small talk and recent events, we get into the matter at hand. It should be rare to go straight to the point without serving tea the moment you suddenly meet face-to-face.

The same is true here, and the higher the nobles, the more troublesome the courtesies are. If you’re a low-level official or a low-ranking aristocrat, you’ll probably be summoned and told just what you need to do on the spot and that’s the end of it… wait, huh? I’m a baron, so I’m a low-ranking noble, right? Well, it’s fine, but…

Anyway, it looks like Wilhelm is finally getting to the point, so I listen.

“Which one should I start with… perhaps the easy ones first?” Wilhelm said.

Hey, hey… if you’ve already talked that much, can’t you have spared time to decide what to say… what was the tea time for? Isn’t that time to summarize how you’re going to discuss the serious business?

“First of all, regarding your applications to own more ships, we have approved the construction and ownership of 50 ships in 2 years,” Wilhelm said.

“Ah… thank you very much.”

And speaking of that, now it’s happened. In reality, some of the ships scheduled to be included in the 50 were already completed and used in the naval battle with the Kingdom of Hollant but it would be better to keep it quiet. I’ve already received permission, so there’s no problem even if I already have it before it was legal!

If each of the 3 towns of Caanburg, Cien, and Floren build 10 ships in 1 year, 60 ships can be built in 2 years. We could have built the ships themselves. The problem is securing and training sailors, naval officers, and ship staff.

Lamor, a former admiral of the Royal Navy of Hollant, and some of his subordinates have settled into our navy, so now we have more manpower than ships. I also instructed Schwartz to put Lamor and his men under his control, to manage and monitor them. They should also be conducting joint training by mixing personnel from both sides.

However, if there are 50 galleon ships in the future, there will be an overwhelming lack of personnel as it is now. Sailors can be recruited from the general public, but not naval officers. In the first place, we can’t let untrustworthy people board our ships, which are floating masses of confidential information. Securing and training officers will be a challenge.

Well, it’s a good matter to think about sooner than later, but it’s not worth thinking about if you haven’t first built the ship they’re supposed to man. Permission to build that ship has been granted, so let’s say it’s good for the time being.

By the way, there is a limit to how many ordinary professional soldiers you can have against the population. In a peaceful time and country, at most, about 2-5% of the population would be fine. If you look you can see how 15-20 can be mobilized during the modern total war, but then the countries were devastated and declined from the sudden loss of manpower, so you can see how severely warfare would damage a country’s economy and agriculture industry.

We have a slightly larger number of soldiers than our population. The reason we are still able to survive is that we receive food and labor from Carruthers territory. Also, it is possible because we are making huge profits from trade, and if an ordinary territory has a similar ratio of professional soldiers, it will soon suffer food shortages and economic collapse.

Also, the army can be staffed exclusively by professional soldiers, but the navy is a little different. As the name of the Caan Merchant Fleet suggests, our navy is still a battle-capable naval force, but in peacetime, it’s just a merchant fleet. They’re usually just trading ships, and the navy men are no different than normal sailors. While they are trading, they maintain public order in the surrounding waters, but since they are working while trading, they are a little different from ordinary soldiers.

Besides, not all the crew members in a navy are soldiers, and there are civilian sailors and cooks on board, so not all the personnel necessary for ship operation are military personnel. I can’t carelessly put people I can’t trust on the ship, but the people on board now are all trustworthy people I’ve known for a long time.

“Next… on the development of the Tertu Plateau, now Charlottenburg, which has been granted to you, Baron Caan,” Wilhelm said.

“Right…” I said.

I currently have the Caan Knights Territory in the northern forest of Carruzan and the Caan Barony was given the Tertu Plateau in the suburbs of the royal capital. I don’t like the fact that House Caan’s territory was renamed Charlottenburg without my permission, but this was also announced on a large scale at the ceremony, so I can’t change it now.

A lord who is given a territory must manage and develop that territory. This fief is mine specifically, so it’s mine alone! Not only that, but I also have to bear the corresponding obligations.

Currently, the Tertu Plateau is an uninhabited wilderness, it looks like a forest outside a town, but it’s totally untamed… so it’s promised tax exemption for the next 5 years. However, it is only a 5-year exception, and from the 6th year onward, the tax must be paid to the country. You may think that there is no poll tax because no one lives there, but there is a land tax even for undeveloped land in your ownership.

If I don’t develop anything in these 5 years, I’ll just be forced to pay taxes on land that has no value to me. Financially, House Caan can pay the land tax even if they don’t do anything to the Tertu Plateau, but that’s just an assumption that we’ll still have the income we do now.

You never know when a business will go downhill, and unlike tax revenues that are sure to rise, it is unstable and the future is uncertain. Just because you can pay for it doesn’t mean it’s a good thing to just waste that money. Putting aside the question of whether or not to make a town by letting people live in that land, there is no meaning to being granted this land if we never did anything with it.

Create a village, plant fields, and make the residents pay taxes. This is the basis of town development. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be in that direction just because you’re given territory and are ordered to develop it.

For example, I wanted a research institute and a testing site, so one way would be to not allow ordinary people to live in the Tertu Plateau, and to keep people away by building House Caan research institutes and testing sites there. If that’s the case…. it might be worth owning the Tertu Plateau even if you pay the land tax with the income from other sources.

Whether or not it will be worth it will depend on the utility value of the research institutes and testing sites. And it’s my duty as the Lord to make it something worthwhile.

Well, whether to create a town or a village, or whether to create a special facility for House Caan and not allow ordinary people to enter, it’s fine to think about it later. It’s not something that you have to decide right away, so let’s discuss it carefully with the person in charge and decide.

“And then!” Dietrich said. “The canal-related bills have been completed! Come now! Take a close look!”

“I see…” I said.

It seems Wilhelm’s part is over. Now, with Dietrich laying a bundle of documents before me, it seems it’s his turn. It’s quite large, so if you read it slowly, it will take some time. Let’s switch to work mode and handle it quickly.

“…………Can you read everything at that speed?” Wilhelm asked as I flipped through the papers.

“Huh? Yes, of course, I can read and memorize everything, can’t I?” I said, pausing to answer him.

If it’s time for work, I can read it without stopping, but as expected, it’s too rude to the King. Apparently, the discussion was over for now, so I continued reading the document.

“I see… understood,” I said.

“Have you finished reading now?” Dietrich asked. “Something I and the bureaucrats wasted no time on, ever for sleep, and worked on for the past month?”

“Thank you for your hard work,” I said. “I think it’s very well done.”

I properly reply to Dietrich’s question and move on. Of course, that’s their job. I struggle with paperwork every day, myself.

The canal bill is well done for its time. It is an epoch-making bill that clearly shows that the kingdom basically holds the rights to rivers and canals. Therefore, it was decided that the main body of construction would be carried out by the kingdom. However, there is a consideration that they can respond flexibly to a certain extent, in the event that a request from the lords of the various territories or an urgent response is required.

Well, that’s an excuse, and the truth is that I somehow had them invent a rationale for the construction of the canal, which I proposed while the state still held the rights. By applying it, it is possible to cooperate with each Lord in the event of future disasters and disaster countermeasures.

A feudal Lord proposes flood control or canal construction to the kingdom, and if it is recognized as urgent or necessary, the proposer and the Lords involved with the waterway will bear a share of funding and carry out the construction jointly.

Specifically, regarding the construction of the Dierbe-Welzel Canal, I made a proposal to the country, so House Caan and the kingdom will bear the appropriate investment and build it together. It seems that the kingdom will secure a part of the labor force as well.

If I wanted to recruit the entirety of House Caan, I would have had to recruit people whose identities were unclear. It would be helpful if the kingdom would gather proper workers for that. However, it is not free, and there is a benefit to them learning our construction technology and construction methods.

The right to pass through the canal, the right to operate it, revenue, etc. are to be decided on a case-by-case basis, but…

“What about passage, operation, revenue, and such regarding the Dierbe-Welzel Canal?” I asked.

“”…………””

At my question, Wilhelm and Dietrich stared at each other in silence. Do old men find it so fun to stare at each other?

“Of course…” Dietrich said.

“We’ll leave everything to House Caan,” Wilhelm said. “No… the entire canal itself belongs to House Caan.”

“I see, is that so…?” I asked.

I was more surprised by their answers. Even though they paid for the construction costs and manpower, if they told me that everything would be mine once it was completed, I would feel embarrassed and like I was receiving too much. It’s to the point where I wonder if they’re plotting something by being this generous.

However, I can’t say “I don’t need it.” or “Let’s split it in half”. I might be afraid of the aftermath, but I decided to accept it honestly.

A few days later… every day, I’m so busy that I don’t even have time to sleep.

All you have to do is give the go-ahead to build a ship. But I have to give orders for securing sailors, training them, reorganizing the navy, and so on. The people in charge of the development of Charlottenburg, the Caan Barony, are also being discussed day after day.

A concrete plan must be drawn up to start canal construction. If we’re going to do the construction by ourselves, it’s already done to some extent, but the kingdom will join in, so we need to fix it to allow them to enter.

Those jobs are increasing… I’m so busy! Instead of reducing the pile of work, it keeps piling up! Someone help me~eeeee!