Chapter 37

Sven-san’s party arrived .

I thought they would have sold the wagon, but to think that they would load it with all their belongings and came here pulling on foot……

Well, it’s not a big deal if you think of how the Earl’s completely equipped army made a trip round trip to and from the capital… . .

I immediately met with William-san and gave him the list of the first 36 conscripted soldiers . I’m leaving the rest in his hands .

To be honest, I think villagers will be able to win against bandits just by training a bit .

Well, if you throw 200 villagers against a few dozen bandits, you‘ll be able to defeat the enemy, but so even if a few dozen people get taken out on their side as well, their village will collapse .

I know . Guns are all you need to prevent that from happening .

But if I’m not around anymore then the guns won’t have any ammo nor maintenance and would quickly become useless . That’s pointless .

However, just in case, I’ll teach select people how to shoot submachine guns and use magazines . Of course, I’ll only hand out guns in an emergency, and they usually wouldn’t have access to them . The emergency weapons and ammunition among other things are being stored in a borrowed room within Wolf Fang’s base . Ready to be teleported . If there’s enough time, I might be able to hire them again too . I guess I’ll talk to the captain to prepare in case something like that happens…

Oh, what about crossbows . Can we make a prototype here if it has a simple shape? Arrgh, I need a good blacksmith . I like to make all the farm tools, ship’s fittings and hand tools in my town . They seem to be directly linked to the development of everything……(自力での発展に直結しそうなのに……。)

What about refining iron? For the time being I can bring steel from Japan . It’s not a big deal . I want to make steel in the future, but I don’t want to destroy the landscape . Should we go with high quality but small volume? Tamahagane steel? Tatara furnace? Did you need a lot of timber?

(tl note: it’s always high quality but small volume with Mitsuha)

Titanium… No, no, that would be too hard to process over here .

Colette-chan arrived!

No, I went to pick her up of course .

There’s no way I’ll let Colette-chan move alone without any escorts while wolves or thieves could show up again at any time . Me and William-san went to pick her up .

Sven-san and the others were in the middle of giving special training to the first class of villager soldiers .

“Wow, Mitsuha, you really became a viscount!”

Hey hey, you didn’t believe me, Colette-chan?!

Anyway, with this, the guard/training instructors, apprentice soldiers, and healing personnel have been prepared .

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After this, would be time for territorial reforms with cheap development as the goal .

Three-field system? Crop rotation? Norfolk four-course system?

Is the three-field system the one with a period without harvest? Should we jump straight to the Norfolk four-course system?

No, let’s hear the opinion of experts here .

As in Endou-san of agricultural counseling…

It’s too bad we didn’t find any mineral resources that would have been worth the money to extract…

I guess next would be marine products? If only we had a decent fishing boat…

Information and knowledge . I need more information .

Let’s set aside some time for book reading and web surfing .

Ah, before that, first I have to replenish my servants…

When thinking about securing personnel .

In summary, the credibility of documents and letters of introduction from people you don’t know are no good in this world where bribery and counterfeiting are rampant, only acceptable when it’s a direct referral from someone you can trust or if you have directly interviewed them . Well, even with interviews, it’s hard to tell who’s putting on an act .

The Earl told me that he could lend me some of his retainers, but I refused .

The people sent to help me could be like Alexis, and they would be exposed to 『methods no one has ever seen before』 . Even if it’s to the Earl’s people, I have to consider leaking too much information .

Hmm, head of financial, head of agriculture and fishery, head of commercial affairs . Also, employee welfare, and two maids .

For the maids, lets ask Anton-san the butler and the other servants if there’s anyone they could recommend . Of course, there might be lucky finds so I’ll also try recruiting from the general public too .

3 out of the 6 people who were disciplinary dismissed who in charge of financial affairs and production and while 1 remains, his duties are mainly the collection and conversion of taxes which focuses on the crackdown on illegal activities instead and not 『making policies to cultivate production』 . It would be nice if we could find people who can be entrusted with this area . I had hoped to find engineers to help with this, but public recruitment in the capital wasn’t very satisfactory……(王都での一般募集ははかばかしくなかったしなぁ……。)

Not just ordinary technicians with dexterous hands, but people who also have flexible thinking and a broad perspective, wait … why would someone like that still be unemployed?

I don’t mind if they’re a little eccentric, like someone who’s a weirdo and is ordinary unfit but has the talent and ability . If only I knew where to find people like that……, wait, I do know someone, maybe!

Yes, a place for talented weirdos, Platidus-san’ place!

Actually, their field of research is in a slightly different direction, but he definitely has connections to weirdos with the talent and ability! People like that are acquainted with each other most of the time . You know, 『birds of a feather flock together』 .

Let’s go to consult with him immediately .

Actually, it turns out we have similar dispositions, I get along pretty well with that grandpa .

…Found some .

One is a metal worker who didn’t listen to their mentor and was expelled for doing various strange things without permission, even while having a day job and trouble with money he continues to do his research . It seems Platidus-san sometimes will place orders for him to make the tools he needs for his research .

After being shown things that person had made and listening to various episodes, I feel he’s a typical 『obsessive engineering idiot』 . Good arms and a fine mindset . I decided to have Platidus-san tell him I would like to meet him .

The other is one of Pratidus-san’s female disciples . It seems that she is interested in sociology, slightly off from the science that is the main focus of the Platidis sect and doesn’t really fit in with others . (他の者とは少し合わずに浮き気味らしい。) Seems to be strong at numbers, might be good for deskwork .

According to Platidus-san, she isn’t a bad person but is sort of like a fish out of water(うちとは少し水が合わないようだ) . He recommends her saying, “she might be more energetic in Mitsuha’s care”(ミツハのところで活躍できれば) . He hasn’t said anything to the person herself yet .

I asked to schedule an interview with her too at a later date .

And so, the day of the interview .

Metalworker Randy-san, 23 years old .

He’s just as I heard from Platidus-san, there was no problem with his personality, he’s just so much of an engineering idiot to the point that he doesn’t get along with other people . Pretty skilled . This is a find . I can’t trust him to do administrative work, but as a technician, there is no problem . On the contrary, it’s convenient that he learns and tries new things without resistance .

Ideal for building parts base on things from Earth .

Next, Platidus-san’s disciple, Miriam-san, 19 years old .

Interesting . She thinks fast and has firm insight . Since she’s interested in sociological matters, I can get her involved in making policies .

It’s a different field but since she’s strong in numbers, I may be able to trust her with financial problems too . She’s another good find .

When I told them that I wanted to hire the both of them, they along with Platidus-san were very pleased . The pair being recruited were especially over the moon(本人達は、それぞれ行き詰まっていたところを), even if it’s the countryside this was a direct invitation from a Viscount . Furthermore, they were scouted for their fields of expertise . They couldn’t be more pleased .

They said that they’ll head to the territory as soon as possible and immediately set out to organize their personal affairs . There’re likely various things to do such as explaining to their parents .

So then Platidus-san asks whether I’ll also take Jock-san, but I refused .

When he curiously asked why and I listen to his reasoning, it was Jork-san, it seems Jork-san had apparently reported that I couldn’t understand his explanations so I had driven him away . “So, why don’t you learn from Jork-san . ”

I got angry .

So I clearly explained everything . Starting with what happened on the horse carriage, to how all the principles he explained were too rudimentary, and that I already knew, and how he couldn’t them explain any further .

In general, I can’t trust a researcher who makes a false report at his own convenience at all . I have no money to give to such a person . No matter how much money I have .

And, people like him could lie and sell out their associates again at any time for their own well being, like the time with the bandits .

Furthermore, I discovered that Platidus-san didn’t instruct Jock-san 『to be a guest lecturer』 or the like from talking with him . Apparently, Platidus-san seemed to had merely instructed him to ask for my patronage and donation, but he decided on his own to butter me up when he discovered I was a girl .

If he twists his master’s instruction into falsehood and spews out lies to a noble then even more refused . I strongly urged Platidus-san not to use any of the money I donated the other day for Jock-san’s research . As expected Platidus-san thought it was a bad idea as well and nodded with a sour face .

Because recruitment seems to be somewhat managed, I returned to the territory by teleportation .

While I do think that if I teleport so many times then it’s likely someone would find out, it’s too troublesome to come and go from the capital without using teleportation…

Besides, since it’s a distance that takes 8 days on a one-way trip by horse carriage, there’s probably no one who could figure out when or what I did in the first place . Whether it’s the capital or my territory, they probably only think ‘Ah she came’ and ‘Ah she returned’ . (王都にしても領地にしても、ああ来てるんだ、とか、ああ戻ったのか、とか思われるだけだろう。) Well, let’s not mind it too much .

If it’s only a few times, I can get away with 『I crossover because it was a hassle . 』 But if the Earl or Iris-sama finds out, a sermon about 『Mitsuha’s lifeforce!』 would begin……

I guess I made a troublesome setting . No but, otherwise, there would have been nobles and merchants asking for a cultural exchange with my country, and that would have become a big deal, can’t be helped .

So, there was a large list of people who wanted to be a maid from employee recommendations and general recruitment by the time I returned to the territory .

Apparently after hearing about the working conditions and Mitsuha’s temperament(どうやら待遇やミツハの人となりを聞いたらしく、); that it’s for the maid of a Viscount, and there’s no worry of abuse or being made into a mistress because the lord’s a girl, a flood of applicants was only natural .

While it can be called super lucky to be able to work at a lord’s house when there are a few thousand people in a big territory, if it’s only a few hundred people then it’s hardly as probable as winning a lottery . (領民数百人だとそう宝くじ並みの確率というわけでもないし。)

Ah, is that because we have the population of a Baron’s territory? There’s likely normally more barriers to entry for the job of a Viscount housemaid since Viscounts usually have thousands of people in their territory . If that’s the case then isn’t it only natural that they’ll jump at it if there’s suddenly a road towards becoming a Viscount’s servant to in their reach?

Even in Colette-chan’s village, there were a number of people who seem like they wanted to be hired .

No, we can’t take people of other territories .

“Colette-chan is my savior and my friend”, I properly asked the Earl and got permission .

It’s a secret that she might have hidden talents . Any lord would be reluctant to let talented people get away .

Hehehe, you will regret having let go of Colette-chan in a few years, Earl!

So yeah, that’s why we have to select from among the many people using their documents and interviewing them .

The maid who was the head chore maid was dismissed… Kate was promoted(はケーテを昇格させたから), so we’re hiring a chore maid… and there were two maids who were attached to the former lord’s wife . I already have the former lord’s escort maid… the girl who greeted me when I first arrived here…, so I don’t need another escort maid . Can I just call them both ordinary maid personnel?

Or rather, let’s abolish the division of maids . Whether they’re escort maids or chore maids, what’s the point of dividing maids into classes? It’s not really an especially specialized business, so isn’t it fine if we make everyone able to do everything and abandon the distinction .

The escort maids who have been on top up until now will likely dislike it, but there’s no point in ranking the maids who take care of the lord’s family and visitors on top or the maids who do other work below .

Probably, a maid with a good appearance gets made into an escort maid and was probably also one of the lord’s concubines . If this was originally a viscountcy or higher, then it may have been that they were the 3rd daughter of a Barony or daughter of a wealthy merchant sent here to learn good manners through apprenticeship to an upper-class family, but a weak Barony in the rural county only has commoners . In the first place, there are no 『wealthy merchants』 in this territory .

And so, that’s why we are employing 『ordinary maids』 . 2 or 3 people maybe . Well, it depends, we can be flexible if there are good applicants .