CH 232

It was busy at first, but things have settled down and things are getting back to normal. But that’s just for now. Today, the development of the Caan Barony is not yet in full swing. I just went for an inspection last time and made a rough plan. I think that it will be very busy again once it does pick up the pace.

“Miss Floto, we have completed a draft for the Caan Barony’s development,” Katharina said.

“Understood. I’m heading out now,” I said.

I was in the office of the Carruthers Residence processing paperwork, so I stopped at a good point and headed for the conference room.

Well, it’s not exactly a conference room, but we call it a conference room because we often use it for meetings. This is the Carruthers Residence, so it’s not my mansion. In the first place, there should be no office or meeting room exclusively for me. It’s just that while using the empty rooms, the roles were divided into my office and meeting room.

Anyway, once I enter the conference room where the officials involved in the development of the Caan territory are waiting…

“So…” I started

“Baron Caan! This is my plan…”

“Please see this first! This will be…”

“Wait! Don’t rush! This is the most important part!”

When I entered the conference room, it was already extremely fired up. It’s fine because I’m okay with it, but it’s an attitude that makes it hard to believe that the Lord of this territory, a noble lady, has entered.

It’s not a matter of having an arrogant attitude. Everyone is very enthusiastic about their work, and it is clear that they are working on the development of Caan territory with tremendous enthusiasm.

“Now, now, everyone, please calm down. I will ask you for everything eventually,” I said.

And with that, I went further in and sat at the furthest seat…

What the? What is this thing?

“Baron Caan! Please take a look here first!”

“I’m looking but I don’t like it…” I muttered.

It was what I frankly thought, but no one listened. Right in front of my seat were clay models of the Caan Barony and several large illustrations. House Caan uses models and sketches for large-scale development so that everyone can have a common understanding and visualization of the plan.

Of course, this hasn’t been decided yet, and it’s not as accurate as an architectural drawing. I decided on a rough image and the layout of the buildings to make it intuitive at a glance.

It’s good. It’s good but there’s something wrong with this… it’s completely different from what I decided when I went to the site and inspected the area. No… it’s not incorrect, but… it’s different…

I don’t even know what I’m talking about. Calm down. Then calmly and accurately analyze.

First… it seems that the Havel River flows to the west of the Tertu Plateau. The royal capital of Berne also draws water from this river.

Human towns and living areas develop along the waterfront. So if you get lost in the mountains, find a river and go down along its length, and eventually, you’ll run into civilization.

From a top-down view of the whole region, there is the Havel River in the West, and Charlottenburg, the barony I was `given with my promotion, is located on the East bank of the river. A little further from there… in the direction of East-Northeast? I don’t know the exact direction, but if you go roughly Eastward, you will find the current royal capital of Berne.

The Tertu Plateau rises to the edge of the cliffs facing the Havel River. And it gradually descends diagonally as it goes East. It looks like a triangular piece of cheese with one cut side laid on the ground and the spine facing the West.

However, it does not extend straight like a slice out of a cheese wheel, but the downward slope curves in the North direction midway down.

When I went to inspect it and had a discussion, we decided to put a building that was a mixture of a research institute, a testing site, and a military fort near the cliffs near this river. And there should have been talks of building a village around the bend of this descending slope to the North.

That’s good. This is also reflected in this clay model. It seems that they will proceed according to my opinion. The problem lies ahead.

When I checked the clay models and sketches, for some reason, there was a model of a huge town built along the Havel River at the end of the plateau. This is weird. I didn’t say anything about this

Along the river, there is something like a harbor. It’s a riverport, so it doesn’t seem to be that big, but the Havel River empties into the Dierbe River, so maybe they’re trying to get small boats to operate here from Caanburg and Carruzan.

With the plateau on the South side as a wall, there is the Havel River in the West, and it seems that they are trying to create a large town at the end of the plateau once it bends to the North. However, the town at the base of this plateau is only before you go up the incline.

In other words, the town of Charlottenburg was built at the foot of the plateau, and in the middle of the climb, a village was built to monitor those who tried to invade cliff-side facilities without permission, since we had a military installation and research facility there.

Looking at the diagrams, it seems that the town at the foot of the mountain is… wait! This is no good!

“Hey, wait a minute! What is this Charlottenburg Palace!? We can’t just call it a palace without permission!” I yelled.

In the sketch, there is a splendid building, behind it is a cliff, and on top of the cliff is another splendid fortress. “Charlottenburg Palace” was scribbled on the luxurious structure in the foreground.

Apparently, Charlottenburg Palace is commonly used as the town center, and during wartime, it seems that the fortress behind it is meant to shelter the citizens.

But wait a minute. Originally, the word “palace” refers to the place where the royal family or members of the imperial family live. The place where the ministers, parliament, and soldiers gather and conduct politics, and the part where the royal family makes their residence is divided, but it’s still called part of the “palace.”

Of course, depending on the country and era, there are places called palaces that simply refer to large and splendid mansions, and there are places where only the royal family lives. Not only the royal family but also the place where a Feudal Lord’s family lives may be called a palace.

But basically, we should stop calling it a palace while we’re in Ploiss. It’s not like there’s a clear definition, but no, it’s exactly because there’s no clear definition that carelessly saying anything to the effect of, “I’m the king!” should be avoided.

“We have received permission from the kingdom, so there is no problem,” one of the experts said.

“Huh?!” I yelled.

You’ve already made an inquiry to the kingdom and got permission to do this!? I mean, when did they even have time to do that before I was aware…?

“Then let us explain in order,” one of the experts said. “First, the town at the foot of the mountain will build a water purification plant around here upstream in order to take in water from the Havel River. The fortress on the top of the mountain is centered on a well, by digging for groundwater and utilizing hand pumps to transfer it upward…”

Each officer in charge desperately explains to me. Roughly speaking, it’s not much different from town planning in the Caan Knighthood. The land will be readjusted by installing water and sewage systems and laying major roads. The town at the foot of the mountain is planned around Charlottenburg Palace, connected to the royal capital and other areas via the Havel River in the West and the main highway in the East.

Charlottenburg is close to the royal capital, so if you go to the royal capital, you can go to any area from the highway. If you go further down the river, you can reach the Dierbe River, so you can expect mass transportation by ship from the Caan Knighthood. However, the river may not be big enough for a galleon to go up its length. How many ships can pass through? Depending on the situation, it may be necessary to carry out construction work to widen the river or sweep away the riverbed.

Specialized knowledge is also required for the development of water and sewage systems and the construction of treatment plants. We will bring in experienced craftsmen from the Caan Knighthood for guidance, and train new specialists while teaching the workers here.

Of course, there are many secrets in our construction work, so it doesn’t mean that just anyone should have a hand in it. We must collect and develop workers who will live in the Caan Barony.

It’s the same in any town, but the bigger the city, the more slums spread in the lower districts. People in such slums can become criminals, and there are hygiene problems, so it’s a headache for big cities. Therefore, when doing pioneering work and other similar efforts, applicants are solicited from such slums and they immigrate or do the development work.

But in our case, it’s not just about having a labor force and immigrants. People who come into our territories need to be strictly checked so that they do not mix with spies. However, if you do so, you will fall into a dilemma that you will not get enough labor and immigrants fast enough.

For the time being, it is necessary to bring in leaders and veteran craftsmen from the Caan Knighthood, but development is still ongoing on both sides. You can’t just send people here like that.

In Charlottenburg, as usual, we will start with land readjustment for water supply, sewerage, and main roads. At the same time, the construction of Charlottenburg Palace begins. At the same time as that, the construction of the mountaintop fortress began. And a village in the middle of the mountain that gathers only those who can be truly trusted will also proceed to develop…

No… wait a second… it’s definitely understaffed, right? If you want to proceed at the same time as this, you should need a tremendous amount of manpower and a lengthy construction period, as well.

“Is it possible to secure such a large number of workers?” I asked. “Besides, just building a town would be meaningless if there weren’t any immigrants to live in it. It can’t just be anyone, can it?”

“Right,” one of the experts said. “That’s why the early workers and immigrants are already from House Caan’s Royal Capital Ranch, and their families will be brought along with them.”

Hmmm… well, they do have a lot more achievements and reputations than a total stranger? If you drive out all the slums in the royal capital, it will become a tremendous number of people. If I had the intention of taking over the entire slum, I might be able to do this plan, but…

From the royal capital’s point of view, it would be great if the slums with problems such as crime and hygiene became cleaned up. However, as an undertaking, I can’t accept prospective criminals, underground organizations and underworld organizations that are already committing crimes at this time, and people who may be spies somewhere where identities and pasts are hazy.

“We will also gather people through Caanza Trading Firm and Kruck Trading Firm,” another expert said. “Again, we will focus on those who have been doing business with us for a long time and who we can trust, so there will be little danger of interlopers entering. We will gradually pick out those we can trust from among them and let them get involved in matters that involve our House’s secrets.”

Well, it’s not like it’s a “House Secret”, but… I just want to maintain my technical superiority. We should avoid inadvertently leaking our technology. If it’s something that can be passed on, we will actively pass it on, but we have to hide things that would cause trouble if our advantage is stolen from under us.

At first, they are made to do simple labor, and while observing the situation, gradually select those who will be picked up from there. Well, that’s all we can do.

“I understand that…” I said, “but I didn’t instruct the construction of a town at the foot of the mountain like this during the previous inspection…”

Apart from that, what has just been explained is not a formal decision. This is a meeting to make those decisions. Besides, if anyone has a good idea, it would be nice to submit more and more, and our House’s protocols allow such a thing. However, this is becoming more work than I expected. I just wanted to create a secret laboratory and a camouflage village to protect it…

“This Charlottenburg Palace is a must!”

“Yes! This is absolute!”

“And if the Charlottenburg Palace is to be built here, then the surrounding area must match it!”

“Huh…?” I went.

For some reason, everyone is emphasizing with tremendous force. Pushed by their power, I could only nod vaguely.

“Next to the royal capital, we will build Charlottenburg Palace and its castle town, which will far surpass their own!”

“Let the Lords who see Charlottenburg know at a glance who the true King of this country is!”

“For our King!”

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Wait a minute! What are you talking about?” I yelled.

Hey-yyy! Didn’t these guys say something frightening just now? If that’s the case, even if they just talk about aiming to overthrow the nation, we can’t escape the consequences, right!?

“I have no intention of using force to overthrow the nation,” I said.

“That’s right. It’s just a figure of speech,” one of the experts said. “It’s just that everyone’s enthusiasm to build a wonderful city that surpasses the royal capital is overflowing.”

“Ah, is that so…?” I said.

Well, if that’s the case… is it really?

It would take dozens or hundreds of years to actually build a city that surpasses the royal capital. That’s why what they’re saying is the expression of their enthusiasm, determination, and motivation to make something like that… isn’t it?

I was worried about various things, but in the end, I was pushed by everyone and permitted them to develop Charlottenburg like this.