Chapter 71

Chapter 71

The quarter flew by quickly, because everyone was extremely busy and working hard. Since Goulda was very skilled, he was the one assigning people to the appropriate areas. The dwarves’ main goal was to repair the territory’s facilities. After hearing about the current situation in the territory, Goulda used his unique expertise as a dwarf and placed the appropriate technicians and young men in areas the way Davey would have done too.

Of course, Davey generously provided artifacts or alchemy tools to boost the dwarves’ efficiency to the extreme, and manpower, as it would be difficult for them to do everything alone. He was able to obtain all these resources, since the territory was packed with wizard towers, schools of alchemy, temples, and merchant companies. And since the territory had more than enough money and all the organizations were handing him small bribes, there were no shortages of any resource.

“Let’s do that here...”

“I have a good idea for that.”

For days, Davey discussed the development of the territory multiple times with the dwarves.

The better the foundation, the more the territory would benefit. If they were to create a space or facility that everyone would want to live in, the merchants nearby would be desperate to build things of similar quality to prevent their sales from decreasing. Then, the wizard towers and the schools of alchemy would be forced to match that quality as well, since they were proud organizations.

Davey was trying to rapidly improve the condition of the territory while preventing the organizations’ power play of establishing their branches here. To him, this was worth a shot. Of course, it didn’t matter if they acted out of his expectations, because he had nothing to lose.

Perhaps it was because of the dwarves’ special skills, but most of the shabby portable lodgings made out of wooden panels were replaced with temporary houses. However, problems began arising from the sudden increase in the territory’s population.

There was conflict from the friction between a growing group of people in the territory. No resident was allowed to discriminate against another, and Davey always made thoughtful and fair decisions, but life didn’t always go as planned.

Davey only managed to solve the immediate problems after pulling several all-nighters. Now, all he wanted to do was sleep. He groaned, “Damn it. I think fighting would be much easier than this.”

-Being a leader isn’t easy.

“Now I know why kings lived such short lives,” Davey said to Perserque as he plopped down onto his large bed. The coziness and warmth of this new ergonomic bed by the School of Alchemy surrounded his entire body. Befitting for royalty, the bed was huge. It would also be considered a pretty high-quality bed on Earth as well.

‘I want to relax.’

Davey covered his eyes and let out a deep breath while laying silent in the dark room.

“

Groan...

” Then, for some reason, there was a little girl’s voice in the supposedly empty room.

Davey got up almost reflexively and noticed that there was something curled up inside the blanket, which was at the center of the bed. “...” Remaining calm, all Davey could do was stare at the small squirming thing with mixed feelings.

29. You Have to Take Responsibility for Your Child.

It was human, but the lumpy shape was too small to be an adult human.

“Did I get the wrong room?”

-There’s no way.

Davey squinted and quickly lit a mana stone lantern, despite still being in disbelief. Once the dark room was lit, the shape was revealed to be...definitely someone wiggling in the middle of the massive bed, which seemed like it could fit seven or eight people!

It wasn’t uncommon for someone to enter Davey’s room. Bribes didn’t always come in the form of money. Sometimes, it came in the form of offering sexual services. It had been about two months since Davey had returned from the dwarf village. It seemed that the organizations saw Davey as an incredibly important business partner after confirming that moon grass was consistently harvested. And so, this was one of their ways of offering bribes.

This wasn’t rare or a big deal in a world where monarchy was deeply rooted in society, but it was different for Davey; he wasn’t interested in sleeping with a woman he didn’t love. He wasn’t impotent, but he had learned different values from his time in the Hall.

“Y—Your Highness! What is...” Amy widened her eyes when she saw a little girl on the bed while Davey was standing with a menacing frown. “Your Highness! Did you?!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Did I not specifically tell you not to let anyone in?”

Amy, who was staring at Davey with a suspicious gaze, blinked. “I—I didn’t let anyone in! Did you...not bring her here, Your Highness?” She genuinely didn’t seem to know anything about this. Most of the palace’s happenings would be reported to her, but if she didn’t know, then the only possibility was that one of the servants had taken a bribe to sneak the little girl in here. Otherwise, the little girl had wandered in here all by herself; either way, it wasn’t good.

“Didn’t anyone take me seriously?”

As Davey looked at the giggling girl with a severe expression, Amy quickly ran over and took the girl into her arms. She backed away with a pale face. “I... I’m sorry, Your Highness... I should’ve made sure to keep this place in order... There definitely wasn’t anyone in here before you came...”

They took advantage of the slightest opportunity.

The girl smiled brightly at Davey and reached out to him. She clapped her hands and giggled. “Dada!”

“Huh?”

“Heh?”

Everyone froze. The little girl didn’t speak very clearly, but Davey wasn’t an idiot; he knew what the girl had said.

Clutter

... Suddenly, the cupboard leaning against the wall slowly opened up while everyone was still frozen in place. A blue-eyed little girl, who looked exactly like this girl on the bed, peeked out.

“...” Davey’s silence went on for longer than expected.

* * *

The sun rose after the night with two moons passed.

“

Scream

! Miss! You can’t run around like that!”

“

Giggle!

”

Davey was woken up by someone’s excited laughter. He stared blankly at the ceiling and covered his eyes while taking a deep breath. “Wow, I really didn’t expect this.” He could only blame his own stupidity; if he had just used [Check Information] on the little girl in the first place, things wouldn’t have gone this chaotically.

-I don’t know. I think I did want you to feel a little guilty.

Perserque said as she flew toward Davey, who was vacantly staring into space.

“How do I change a name that I’ve already chosen?”

As soon as Davey complained, the door of the silent bedroom burst open, and a cute girl with long, red hair came running in. She was still wearing a white dress, but it looked more luxurious than before. She looked around the room, and when she found Davey, she came running toward him with a terribly cute smile.