CH 276

A few days have passed since I returned to Caanburg, and more than a week has passed since the school closed. No, should I say another week since then? Until now, I would have been on the move or had finally arrived. I am here and have been working for days, thanks to the galleon ship.

I’ve been staying at Caanburg’s mansion and cleaning up the accumulated paperwork. But I think it’s time to spend some time doing something else.

Paperwork can be done anywhere. Certainly, there are many things that cannot proceed without my approval and consent. That’s why each department won’t move if I don’t process the documents that have stacked up in my absence. But as mentioned above, paperwork can be done anywhere.

Whether it’s Caanburg, the royal capital, or Koenigsvelg, the result is the same. It doesn’t matter where you do it. Compared to that, inspection and on-site command are things you can’t do unless you go to the site itself. If you’re returning to the Caan Knighthood, it’s better to prioritize the work that can only be done here.

Having said that, I still had piles of paperwork that I had to deal with, so I spent the last few days shutting myself up in Manor Caanburg’s office. But thanks to that, all the things that had to be dealt with in a hurry were finished. Of course, it increases every day, but it can be dealt with on that day. It doesn’t pile up now.

Support for Charlottenburg and transportation of necessary materials… Setting up a governing body for the Caan Knights Nation, dispatching personnel, transporting supplies… Charlottenburg is also beginning to sort out its residents. There is nothing convenient about finding good people right away. There is no other way but to collect little by little over a long time.

The Caan Knights Nation already has many inhabitants. Now, I can’t just tell them to leave because they might be a spy. Setting up a governance structure here, managing people and things, and controlling information is quite difficult. It’s different from making it from nothing like before.

In return, there are many advantages. From the beginning, there is a certain amount of livelihood, and there is already a huge number of workers. The problem is the governing structure and… the defensive force… there is no option not to place a defense force because they’re a front line bordering the enemy.

That said, although the Carruthers Vassals are stationed now, there is practically no fighting force in the Caan Knights Nation. They just have the deployments from here.

It’s not like I don’t have a clue what to do. In this world, prisoners of war are practically slaves. We don’t call them slaves, and they don’t have any legal bindings as a slave. However, in reality, it’s human compensation, or rather, the prisoners of war can be taken as they are by the victorious nations and used for manual labor.

That’s why the prisoners captured in the Kingdom of Polsky War are part of our slave labor force, or rather, they are part of the reparations accompanying Polsky’s defeat…

I think Janzicka can be used quite well. It would be a lot easier if the 700 prisoners and Janzicka became my soldiers. Rather than training soldiers from scratch, it’s easier to absorb those who are already qualified to some extent. The only problem is whether those 700 people and Janzicka will follow me.

Their country was defeated, and he was offered as part of human compensation. On the surface, he won’t go against me anytime soon. But I can’t accept them so easily if I absorb them as our soldiers and then be careless about their supervision, leading to them colluding with others and causing rebellion.

I’ve sorted out guys who seem okay and have had others observe and investigate, but even that doesn’t mean it’s absolutely certain. There will be those who seem good only on the surface. Ultimately, I want to somehow incorporate a certain number of people into the Caan Knights, if not all of them, but it will take a while until I can actually do that.

And about our navy, no, we don’t have a navy. The House Caan Merchant Fleet is also making steady progress in increasing ship production, but it has not been able to secure crews and sailors in time. Stefan and his underlings, who have been deeply attached to me since Koenigsvelg, have already completed their identity checks and have begun training. Still, it’s far from the navy I’m aiming for, or rather the total sailors of the House Caan Merchant Fleet.

People who have come to support us from other free cities and those who want to join our House are being investigated one by one, but there are still not enough people. It will also be necessary to gather people from the former Kingdom of Polsky residents.

After all, there is power in numbers… Without enough people, nothing can be done. But just because of that, it’s also bad to blindly accept people who we don’t understand. With our House becoming so famous, naturally, there will be more people sending in spies than ever before.

We have many secrets. There are a lot of things that can’t be put out to the public so carelessly. If it’s at least the town’s vigilante group, it shouldn’t be a big problem as long as you don’t let them get promoted, but no matter what I do, they’ll get into the secrets to some extent…

Ah~, I can’t stop doing it… too much to think about. But first, let’s do something about the Caan Knights Nation. If I miss something this time, I won’t be able to come back for another 4 months. We should make as much progress as possible during these 2 months. And it’s like a home base here. If this is neglected, other things will not be possible moving forward.

“Pardon me for entering,” Isabella said. “Miss Floto, I have a delivery.”

“Thank you, Isabella… please leave it there…” I said.

Most of the deliveries are documents sent from other regions. In other words, work… I couldn’t be happy to have them coming in like this. If it’s paperwork, I sort things that are urgent or not so much. I don’t need to figure out how to prioritize after checking everything, so that’s a help, but…

“Come to think of it, you haven’t had a day off since returning here, Isabela,” I said. “I’ve gone back to my hometown, so would you like to take a trip to your home?”

Everyone around me is excellent, so I rely on them unintentionally. Isabella isn’t just a veteran maid, she’s too dependable. She’s probably pushing herself too hard, and I have to give her a break every once in a while…

“Do you mean to say that the old people should hurry up and leave…?” Isabella said with mock crying.

Well, she didn’t actually cry at all… she was surprised because she didn’t expect to be told such a thing.

“That’s not true,” I said. “I don’t want you to leave, Isabella. If you wanted to quit or leave, I would stop you. But it’s also not very good for you to work too hard. Because I rely on you, I want you to take good care of yourself and rest when you can. Plus, I need to make sure my subordinates are good so they don’t end up lagging, right?”

“Isn’t it impossible for everyone to rest when the Master is so overworked?” Isabella asked.

I see……. That’s right. It’s hard to take time off because it’s like you’re slacking off as a subordinate when your boss is still working. But I can’t stop. Even in a few days of moving, the documents piled up like that. If you don’t deal with it daily, it will easily exceed my capacity.

“Hmm… Ah!” I said. “Let’s do this! It’s almost time for me to go on an inspection. Even if it’s called an inspection, it’s just enjoying myself. While I’m on the inspection, the House Servants and the officials can rest, and also, please let everyone take turns resting. Won’t this be fine?”

Well, an inspection is an inspection and it’s work, but if I don’t say this, everyone won’t rest. I can’t make sure that people in other regions can rest during my vacation, but I can probably get them to do so while I’m in the Caan Knighthood.

“I think it would take a lot of effort just to create that system and decide the order of replacement,” Isabella said.

“Ugh!” I groaned.

I was poked where it hurts. Just thinking about such a system and organizing everyone’s shifts is a considerable amount of effort. It’s not like I can’t understand Isabella’s point, saying that it’s better to work that much than put in significantly more effort to give everyone vacations.

But this system is not intended to be a temporary one. From now on, I want everyone to take regular breaks. You can think of it as a model of the system and a demonstration experiment for that purpose. Then this won’t go to waste.

“From now on, I would like to give regular breaks to those who work in my House,” I said. “It’s a prototype of the system and a demonstration experiment, so it’s fine. If this goes well, I’ll spread it to other territories.”

Well, it’s a random idea, but I’ve been thinking for a long time that I need a break. Even now, if I want to take a break, I can take it, but I haven’t been able to secure a regular holiday. Even though it was just an idea to start now, I have always thought I needed to create such a system.

“Understood,” Isabella said. “Then, I’ll pass along your instructions.”

“Yes. I’m counting on you,” I said.

Isabella will contact the department that considers the laws and systems of House Caan and its territories. They should come to me to confirm the details and start making concrete plans. Regardless of whether it can be implemented during this holiday, it will probably start moving soon.

Huh? Come to think of it, I was originally supposed to give Isabella a break from overworking, but in the end, I just let Isabella do her work. Well, it’s fine…. she’s the type who doesn’t rest even when she’s told to rest… once there is a system, she will take a rest even if she doesn’t like it.

In addition, the schedule is to go to the inspection tomorrow. Until then, let’s proceed with the processing of the new work that Isabella brought. Thinking that, I checked it… and there was a letter among the things that arrived. It is placed on top of the other documents. I take it.

“From Father…?”

The sender was probably him. It’s possible that it’s for urgent business… well, it’s not much so. If it’s urgent, they’ll probably come by messenger, not through a letter. It is highly likely that it is not so urgent since he’s sending it through ordinary mail.

However, I don’t think Father would go out of his way to do something like this for no big deal. It’s not as urgent as using a messenger, but it’s still important.

Even if I think about it, I don’t know what it’s about, so I should just look inside. I quickly cut the seal and looked through it.

“………… This is,” I muttered.

I quickly read the letter and stood up. At the same time, the office door opens. It was Mother coming in.

“Flora dear, Mother is going to visit Father,” she said.

“Ah… did you receive the same letter?” I asked.

She came in with a letter herself. Seems Father sent two similar letters. This letter also said that he wanted Mother to come over to him.

“Is it about the border security of the former Kingdom of Polsky territories and the Caan Knights Nation?” I asked.

“That’s right. Did you get one too, Flora dear?” she asked, holding up her letter.

Just in case, we exchange letters with each other and check the contents. He wrote differently for each of us, but the same subject was written about the request to send Mother over.

It seems that there is a strong smell of something up in the north, around Windou. Windou is currently the northernmost point of the Caan Knights Nation. The peninsula on the other side of the sea, the islands in between, and the area around Rieger (which is a bay) were to be ruled by the Principality of Moscove thanks to the recent peace treaty.

Until now, the Kingdom of Ploiss and the Principality of Moscove had not bordered each other so clearly. Free cities were left as enclaves and were surrounded by Moscove, but there was no such thing as such a wide-ranging border. We had the Kingdom of Polsky between then.

However, now that the three countries divided the territory of Polsky in the previous peace treaty, Ploiss and Moscove’s borders now meet. Not long after the last treaty was concluded, it was decided that the borders and spheres of influence determined by the agreement would be mutually recognized.

That should be the case, but there seems to be a provocation from the Principality of Moscove in the northern region. We haven’t reached a full-scale conflict yet, but if we make a mistake, it could develop into such a situation.

So Father is requesting Mother to be dispatched to defend the north. In the first place, even now we have too few soldiers compared to the territory and borders. As long as the number cannot be increased suddenly, there is no choice but to do something about the quality. In my father’s plan, it was written that he would leave the land to Mother and that he wanted me to increase the number of ships dispatched to the waters near Windou and the number of trips.

“I’ve just come home, but Mother is going to go visit Father,” Mother said.

“Indeed……” I said.

I cannot oppose it. Rather, I should be in a position where I should lower my head and ask her to do so. I’m completely dependent on my father and mother, even though I’m the ruler of the Caan Knights Nation. Without the Carruthers Vassals, the border patrol wouldn’t be possible.

“I humbly request your aid, Lady Maria von Carruthers,” I said.

I bowed to the general in front of me. This is not with us as mother and daughter. It is as the representative of the country and the general of the allied Feudal Lord who has sent support…

“Geeze! Flora dear!” Mother yelled. “Don’t be so formal. There’s no need for such a thing between Mother and you.”

“No…, but this is…” I said.

“That’s why I don’t want you to be so stiff!” Mother said.

“Uu…” I gasped.

My mother hugged my head mid-sentence. I’m surrounded by large, soft breasts. Hearing her heartbeat, tokun-tokun, calms me down.

“Listen?” Mother said. “If I could, you’re at an age where you should be spoiled more, Flora dear. Even so, it’s too much for you to be pushing yourself so hard, so could you rely on Mother and Father for a little bit more help?”

Needless to say, I rely on them. But… she doesn’t have to say that. All I have to do is rely on Mother as she wishes. I have to rely on my parents, and that’s what Mother tells me to do. So what I should say are not reserved or harsh words.

“Please, Mother. Please lend me your strength.”

“Yes. You can count on me.”

With a very beautiful smile, my mother said so and nodded.