Leaving Merinesburg meant I’d be safe and able to search for talented personnel… And as a bonus, I’d get a short break from the onslaught I’d been dealing with from Sylphy and the others lately. Three birds with one stone!
“Hmm… It will be lonely without you here,” Sylphy said quietly. “But I don’t see any other choice.”
“I’ll try not to be gone too long.”
“Mm… Promise?” She peered up at me with a soft, melancholy expression, already feeling pangs of loneliness. Sylphy rarely looked at me like this, which only made her absurdly adorable whenever she did.
“They’ve entered their own world.”
“Grr… I’ll be working hard right beside Sylphy, you know.” Melty added, puffing out her cheeks. She could be calculating at times, but Melty was just as cute when she got like this.
“Heading out again?” Grande asked. “You’ve got nothing to fear as long as we’re with you.”
“Yup! We’ll be right by your side!” Shemel chirped.
“Feels like we’ve been left behind a whole lot lately, though.”
“It is what it is considering where he’s been going…” Grande said with a shrug. “The Merchant Union and Adventurers’ Guild are one thing, but the cathedral was built for human sizes.”
She was right. Strolling around Merinesburg with Shemel and the others while fully equipped for combat would’ve drawn attention we didn’t need. I couldn’t bring them with me to inspect the cathedral if I wanted to avoid provoking the Adolists. And when we’d gone to the Merchant Union, Ifriita herself said we’d be fine on our own.
“…Mrm.”
“Oh? What’s this? Why the sour mood, Ifriita?” Serafeeta teased.
“I’m fine…”
“You must be feeling lonely now that Kousuke’s leaving,” Doriada added.
“That’s not it…”
Across from us, Serafeeta and Doriada were having a field day messing with Ifriita. Aqual saw this and immediately shot me a stinging look. Her gaze was so icy that it felt like she was physically stabbing my cheek.
I’d heard she was a talented water spirit mage, and right now I fully believed it because her glare felt like it could have actual attack power. And judging by the look in her eyes, the message was clear: You put your greedy hands on Ifriita too?
I haven’t, I swear! I wanted to shout. Believe me!
“Ah, um…” I said aloud instead. “If I’m heading out to recruit people, what’s our public cover story? I can’t exactly go around telling people that’s my objective, right?”
It was the perfect timing to bring up the issue in an attempt to escape Aqual’s painful glare. It really did feel like she was on the verge of freezing me solid with her eyes.
“Very true. Then how about this: We ask the lords to gather demi-humans who need work, under the pretense that we’re building pioneer villages across the regional territories. That way, we can quietly headhunt the top talent while giving the demi-humans their own villages and farms. Additionally, the lords can collect taxes from them like anyone else, and their territories will stabilize instead of worrying about unrest. Everyone wins.”
Melty was on to something. I nodded slowly. It was a solid plan.
If unemployed demi-humans had food and a safe place to live, they wouldn’t be driven to banditry. On our end, we’d gain loyal new citizens and make lords indebted to us without them even knowing it. This was a good plan.
“It’s all well and good to say we’re building pioneer villages, but actually clearing out the wilderness won’t be easy,” Sylphy noted. “Even if the demi-humans help, how will they survive until the villages are complete? Are you going to make the lords prepare that stuff?”
“Kousuke can handle it all,” Melty said simply.
Ifriita blinked in disbelief. “You can’t be serious… Can you really manage that?”
I nodded. Obviously, it wouldn’t be ideal if I handled absolutely everything myself, so I’d need to make some arrangements on that end. But generally speaking, things would be fine.
“As far as water is concerned, I can produce unlimited water sources, so we don’t have to limit ourselves to areas near natural water sources,” I said. “As long as I’ve got the materials, I can easily build housing too. Hell, I can just gather what I need from the trees and stones near the new villages. And if we’re okay with normal fields, I can cultivate the land using my mithril tools.”
“Kousuke can build plenty of pioneer villages in a short time,” Melty said confidently. “After that, all we need to do is find people to live in them.”
“It might be smart to offer aid for their first year and give them a three-year tax break as an incentive,” Doriada suggested, offering slightly more in-depth advice.
“Though I think it’s a bit unreasonable to expect people with zero experience to suddenly start plowing fields,” I mused.
“Couldn’t we recruit guides from nearby farming villages?” Serafeeta offered. “Or pick out those with agricultural experience among the pioneers and make them instructors?”
One of the ogre girls piped up with a suggestion. “Well, some of them might already have farming experience from when they were forced to work as slaves.”
The conversation picked up momentum from there. Once someone spoke up, everyone else jumped in with their own ideas. This was a good sign.
They were all amateurs when it came to this stuff, but some ideas were actually pretty solid. At the end of the day, Melty and her team would be the ones getting things done, but this kind of brainstorming was valuable.
“Anyway, I’ll handle recruiting folks, developing the villages—whatever you need,” I said.
“Okay,” Melty said with a small smile. “Then I shall take you up on that offer. First, we’ll decide where to send you and inform the local lord to gather any demi-humans who need work.”
“Since you’re the one who came up with the idea, you’d better not try to run away,” Sylphy said with a grin.
“Just be gentle,” I replied to Melty with a serious look on my face.
Anything but death by overwork, okay? For real!