Volume 3, Intermission: Friend, from Far Away (1/3)

Volume 3, Intermission: Friend, from Far Away (1/3)

“Good!”

Mellisia Salisa fired herself up and puffed up her cheeks. She was the daughter of a slave and was 16 years old, an age where she outbloomed even flowers. She wore a maid’s uniform as she checked her appearance on the iron mirror.

“Uu…”

It seems she’d puffed her cheeks a bit too much, as she had to caress them like she was trying to relieve the pain. With a turn of her skirt, she left the room.

The reason she became a slave was because her parents had sold her. It was a common story at the village she lived. So since she was a fairly beautiful girl herself, she was eventually sold to a slave merchant. But it wasn’t a bad story by any means. After all, a year’s worth of food was exchanged for her.

It is common sense that expensive things would be treasured. Of course, there were slaves who couldn’t accept what has become of them, but Mellisia Salisa was not like them, and she was quickly able to come to terms with her newfound status as a slave. At the very least, by being a slave, she no longer had to fear starving to death. When she was free and was still at the village, even being able to eat everyday was a luxury.

The slave merchant that purchased her was a skilled businessman. He cultivated the obedient slaves, even going as far as to teach them how to read and write. Although there was little point in teaching labor slaves how to read and write.

That being said, the opposite was true when it came to high-class prostitutes. They were expected to know that much. Increase the value of the slaves and then sell them. It was difficult for Mellisia, but that was probably what the merchant had in mind.

For 2 years, the slave merchant traveled from country to country, until one day, he laid his eyes at the edge of the west: Germion Kingdom. The land of the holy knights that cut open the border lands. The feudal lord of the western region was an accomplished man and was said to have many skilled youths under him.

Apparently, the slave merchant had washed his hands of the southern and eastern regions and had set his sights on a territory with good prospects.

The slave merchant had planned to offer Mellisia Salisa to the knight that served beside the feudal lord in hopes of gaining a stable social position and protection for his business. He was really a skilled merchant.

The girl vaguely heard such a story from the slave merchant, leading her to hold sweet dreams of becoming a high-class prostitute who would one day be bound to a knight.

Had the merchant lived, he would’ve surely become an exceptional businessman, but due to the monster attack that occurred that day, he passed away. It was a pity, but he was caught up in a mob, and died. After that the goblin army came.

When Melissia Salisa watched the giant goblin cry out in victory, she felt as if she were watching something from a distant world.

“Good morning, Mellisia.”

“Good morning, master!”

“Didn’t I tell you to stop calling me that?”

“Then should I call you the Governor-General of the Western Capital?”

“…Uh, ‘master’ is fine.”

Her master shrugged his shoulders. From what she’s heard, he’s supposedly a former slave. But with his gentle face and his chestnut- colored hair, he didn’t look like it at all. When she looked at him, she couldn’t help but feel her heart beneath her abundant chest tighten.

According to a friend of hers who loved rumors, Yoshu the Flame Striker and Shumea the Flame Spear were ranked one or two among gladiators.

But she didn’t really care about that. No, it was not that she didn’t care, but as far as she was concerned, the Yoshu in front of her was enough.

“What do you have for me today?”

“There are 8 cases that have to be dealt with by noon. From noon onwards, there are 10 cases.”

“I guess I’ll have to do my best to deal with all of those then…”

Even the way he breathed was enough to send her heart going pitter-patter, but why? Mellisia didn’t understand.

“What is it?”

“Nothing! Nothing at all!”

“Really? Then in that case, please take care of it right away.”

Yoshu’s days as he unified the western capital began early. He would wake up before the sun rose, readily change his clothes, and by the time the sun had risen, he would have already started working. He

dealt with all sorts of cases from complaints from merchants to elves destroying houses without permission to build a forest.

Recently, Yoshu has started to leave matters to other people, so the burden on him has lessened, but there were still many cases that he had to deal with himself.

Of those cases, the most important ones were those that dealt with goblins.

When Yoshu would begin working on dividing the people to plan the town, Mellisia would read a case relating to the goblins, upon which, Yoshu would make a decision. This was how Yoshu’s days usually went.

“Umm, I saw a goblin push his leftover bones into the back of an alley. Please deal with it. Kushinada-san of the 3rd District.”

“…”

When Yoshu stopped writing and turned to look at her, Mellisia felt herself go pleasurably numb. That was clearly a gaze of criticism, but to her nothing could be more lovely.

“Dispatch some soldiers and scold that goblin that can’t clean up after himself.”

“Yes!”

Yoshu suggested that Gi Ah should have been nearby to escort the people transporting goods.

“Gi Ah-dono? I understand.”

When she thought back to the goblin with a stern face, she stamped the document with a ‘Settled’ stamp and made it distinguishable from the others.

“Next. A request to exterminate monsters. It’s for the area between the western capital and the former colonial city, Middled.”

“Who’s the client?”

“Messa Deon Company.”

“…Hmm.”

Yoshu closed his eyes to gather his thoughts. Mellisia peeked at him from the side, wondering what was there to worry about. But her questions aside, it was a good opportunity to watch Yoshu acting like an adult from the side, so she couldn’t complain.

Yoshu was responsible for the entire western capital, but at the same time, he was also responsible for the developing guild in Middled and the western capital. Aid in the form of introducing jobs was much better than just giving stuff to people.

By giving jobs, not only can you shape the city as you imagine it, but you’ll also be able to maintain the public order. It’s important to remember that a large of portion of the people living in the western capital and Middled were made up of refugees from the border lands.

Feeding people isn’t enough to help refugees regain their self- respect.

Only by being able to make a living with their own abilities and feed themselves and their family will such people be able to recover their self-respect and the deterioration of the public order be prevented.

“Let’s offer some funds from the office of government-general of the western capital as well. Priority should be given to the subjugation jobs along the highway that’s under construction. Tell that to the Messa Deon Company. I don’t think they’ll refuse, but just to be safe.”

“Yes.”

“Also, perhaps we should also request to place a stone monument with the name of Messa Deon Company engraved on it at the entrance of the city.”

“Hah?”

“On it we could say that the name of Messa Deon has been engraved for the achievement of building the highway.”

“Are you sure it’s okay not to engrave the name of the governor- general of the western capital?”

When Yoshu heard Mellisia’s words, he broady smiled.

“To be rich is to seek honor. The same is true for people who hold sword fights. They have so much money they don’t know what to do with it, so they use it to buy honor. For that, no cost is too— No. That’s not quite right. What they use is their spare change.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Please take care of it. And also, to the people of the governor- general office, the stability of the city is the greatest honor they could ask for.

“…I understand!”

Yoshu’s job continued until the dead of the night. At the frontmost lines of a newly born country, the reach of the governor-general knew no limit.