Chapter 14

“I’m going to move my castle from Nayvil to the river-port town of Maust,” I declared unequivocally. Some of my vassals were bewildered, though I’d expected as much. Their faces betrayed them. Leaving a place you’d grown used to was hard; it was a natural thing for anyone to feel. However, I had something else to prioritize over such feelings. “Nayvil Castle was only ever a base of operations from when I was lord of a county and a half. This place is too small for our endeavors to come—it’s not even on the main road. We’re therefore moving to Maust, in Kinaseh County. There we’ll build a castle more than twice the size of the one now.” As I’d already told some of my senior vassals about the move, they showed no sign of surprise. Seraphina wasn’t present, but when I talked to her in the bedroom, she was delighted, saying, “You made the right choice!” “Might…it possibly be a better idea to move your capital after you’ve unified the entire prefecture…? With the prefecture stabilized, it ought to be easier to gather the materials…,” said an older vassal, who’d actually served in four administrations since the time of my grandfather. I was happy for his loyalty, but unfortunately I didn’t think he had much foresight. It wasn’t his fault. His manner of service was outdated. “We’ll have to leave here eventually either way. Besides, moving to Maust soon will help us fund our campaigns, too. It’s a river-port town, after all; going downstream can even get you to the sea.” “In that case, Nayvil has plenty of crops and is flourishing, is it not? Even I can’t quite recall a time when money was a problem.” Oda Nobunaga was the first to laugh—though all his laughter was almost annoying. This old man doesn’t even understand the most obvious things. There’s a world of difference between the money you get from having a commercial center and the money you get from farming. As a city already famous for commerce, this Maust place would obviously earn you more money if you developed it as your capital. Exactly. One or two hundred years from now, there wouldn’t be any lords living like they do now. Bit by bit, smaller lords were being absorbed by larger powers. Even Mineria, in the last twenty years or so, had essentially consolidated power by eliminating disobedient vassals. They’d slowly made it possible for themselves to expand outward. Of course, people like this old vassal, who still thought in the old ways, would be gone before long. Also, I wanted to move my capital to Maust because I was thinking beyond the prefecture’s unification. Going downstream, you could reach Nagurry Prefecture to the north. It was the perfect direction to attack from as we kept the peace with Mineria, and there were several seaport towns in Nagurry. In a large-scale war, most soldiers had to be conscripted from the common folk, but as my guardsmen had demonstrated last time, professional soldiers were much stronger militarily. And it would take money to expand my guard units while maintaining their quality. Going forward, I’d need a system to collect more money if I were to go on becoming a great power. A port town where trade could be conducted would be more convenient for that. Moving the castle might also help me filter my vassals somewhat. “You’re right—relocating would be a burden on an old man like you. So you can stay in Nayvil.” “No… That’s not what I meant…” It was probably better not to let naysayers come along. If they had an even better idea to propose than mine, that’d be great, but most of them just wanted to say no. “Nayvil is the birthplace of my clan. Don’t worry; this land will always be an important place for the Nayvils. It needs someone to look after it. Please, I want you to stay and serve my family and my ancestors who were laid here to rest.” “Actually, compared to Maust, I think this place is more—” Wham! I struck the floor with my spear. The room fell silent. “Have you even once considered there might be a better spot than Nayvil in this prefecture?” “N-no, never…” “Well, then have you ever gone around and visited the castles of lords who control a prefecture?” I glared at the old vassal. At first I’d just meant to put on a show, but as I glared at him, I started to actually get angry. “Never…” “In other words, you were just saying no without a reason. That’s not advice or anything else. Maybe wait to open your mouth until you have something to say.” “Forgive me…” He bowed down before me, all the way to the floor. Laviala nodded as if to say, Good. I’d told her about my plans in detail. She was a great listener. No matter where you are, there are always dissenters when you try something new. So Oda Nobunaga had to deal with that, too, huh? Though obviously a man calling himself a conqueror wasn’t going to be conservative. Tradition definitely has its place. I took full advantage of it when I could, myself. I was always very careful about my reputation. But tradition is also a tool, not something to follow thoughtlessly. Good point. You know, your ideas are always pretty helpful. The greatest perk from the Oda Nobunaga profession might’ve been the advice I got. If Oda Nobunaga was famed as a conqueror in another world, I was hearing that conqueror’s direct opinions. Without a doubt, it was more valuable than any counsel I could hear from the wise men of this world. “All of you, your apprehension is to be expected. None of you have ever served a lord with this much land, after all. Your way of thinking will change in time. What I’m trying to do isn’t anything outlandish. My goals are realistic.” Putting them in their place wouldn’t do any good if it made me too intimidating, so I gave them a smile. “Don’t worry so much. We couldn’t move in just a day or two anyway. But start getting yourselves familiar with Maust’s landscape at least. I would also like to share one more thing I’m considering.” I struck the floor with my spear again. Not with as much force as before, though—I wasn’t trying to scare anyone. “This spear I received from the cathedral is long indeed. It’s over three jargs.” One jarg was about equal to the height of a tall man—most people were shorter than one jarg. In other words, this spear boasted a length greater than three large men. “It’s certainly imposing, but it was an offering to the gods, after all. It’s too long for a weapon,” said one of my vassals. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” I chuckled. “And that is why I’m going to put it into production. I’m going to assemble a unit that can use this. They shall be called the Tri-Jargs.” A few vassals laughed, seeming to think it was a joke. There were neither military units nor tactics that used a three-jarg spear; it was only ever meant to be used by the gods. Nothing this long was meant for humans. “You have a great sense of humor, my lord. Can we call you the lord of the century, already?” “Forgive me if I was unclear, but that was no joke. Of course, I don’t mean to say anyone could use this very easily. Orcus, try giving it a swing.” Orcus Bright, captain of the Red Bears, stepped forward as called. Few men were so obviously a soldier as he, with his log-like legs and arms. “I can give anything a whirl, even a weapon this long!” Orcus swung the spear up and down, again and again. His body trembled just a bit, but it seemed he could do it. He yelled “Hwah!” every time he swung the weapon. The great length made it so much more impressive. It was entertaining in a different way from martial arts demonstrations. “It’s definitely hard to keep posture when it’s twice as long as other spears! I can’t swing it in a circle… Ah, how embarrassing…” “If you can already do that much, I think you can make it work with some practice.” “Certainly! I’ll give the Red Bears thorough training, too; we couldn’t call them the Tri-Jargs if only I could use it, after all. Besides, a spear corps isn’t any good with only a few members.” He really was a soldier to the core. That made things easier. Swinging spears down all at the same time in a tight formation is what makes a spear corps a threat. The enemy can thus be worn down by the spears before they can even get close. If their defenses seem weak, everyone can move in together to stab them, as well. “If a unit could make a tight formation using spears this long,” I said, “they’d be terrifying both offensively and defensively, don’t you think? Not even cavalry could break through it. Smashing the horses’ skulls would be a cinch. And of course, we’d be at an advantage against other spears.” “Indeed! They’d tremble at the mere sight of us! I shall master this monstrosity of a spear no matter what!” I’d had an idea when I got the spear from the head priest: What if a human could use this weapon meant for the gods? There was, of course, a limit to the human body. A fifty-jarg spear couldn’t even be held up, much less forged by a blacksmith. A three-jarg spear, though, could be wielded once you got used to it. And it should put on a great show of power. Spears were meant to be used in tight formation anyway; they weren’t for someone to run out and use on their own. So we could teach them to use even this three-jarg spear at a basic level of competence. A vassal raised his hand then, looking uncertain. “My people aren’t very strong, so I don’t have confidence they could tame such a spear…” “I’m aware of that.” “But aren’t you going to have these three-jarg spears used everywhere?” “First I’m going to try having professional soldiers use them—my guardsmen. I’ve no intention of making all the peasant conscripts use them, so relax.” This spear was heavy, so only men strong enough to endure tough training would be able to coordinate with one another. A group of spearmen that moved out of sync was just begging the enemy to break their way in. “If even peasants could use it, another lord somewhere else would’ve done the same thing ages ago. So people making their living off war should be the first ones to use it.” Alsrod, you really do think like I do! How amusing, how very amusing! This is just like the spear tactics I used—and those spears were twenty feet long! Well, isn’t that a coincidence? But everyone knows longer weapons are advantageous in battle. Some things in war are universal. Exactly. That’s why it’s so much fun for me to see you coming up with the right answers! If he was telling me I had the right answer, the Tri-Jargs should be worth it. In the middle of the Tri-Jargs’ new training, I turned twenty years old. It was nice to spend my birthday as a count. That day I put aside work, and Altia, Laviala, and Seraphina held a celebration for me. My work wouldn’t involve weapons for a while. I wrote very polite letters to the independent powers still left in northern Fordoneria. To summarize, they went like this: “I’ve been busy putting down scoundrels and blasphemers, but I’m finished with them now. Let’s keep things peaceful.” Obviously, those were only words. Any lord who took diplomatic platitudes at face value should just go be a priest or something. Still, it would be risky to outwardly provoke the remaining powers. Even if they were each weak on their own, they would be trouble if they asked for help from the Rentrant clan of Nagurry Prefecture to the north. The Rentrants were a line of counts who had controlled Nagurry for generations. They didn’t seem to be that strong at war, but Nagurry had several port cities with a large population. They could muster more troops than we could. It might be exaggerated, but there was a story of them raising over five thousand troops for a single battle in the past. Five thousand in one place would be unprecedented. They must’ve gathered troops from port towns that had their own mercenaries. At the moment, the most troops I could raise at once would be a bit under three thousand. Of course, there was no need to fight a total war, so I’d never raised that many. A few hundred men had been enough to defeat my enemies. Even if I did manage to unify my prefecture, the number I could raise may or may not reach four thousand. In practice, I’d have to distribute them into different task forces. Of course, I had something else to do before calculating troop numbers. I went to Maust and checked the plans for the castle. It was going to be the greatest building our prefecture had ever seen, after all. I couldn’t guarantee it’d be completed properly if I didn’t at least go give instructions directly at the site. “See, first you need to make the castle’s south and east sides face the winding river. If anything, draw the river in around the castle so it looks like it’s floating.” The people I’d brought in for the design seemed to be in disbelief. “A castle that appears to be floating…? It certainly would be defensible, but according to these plans, it seems it won’t be connected to the castle town…,” said Ornis—basically the construction foreman of this project—a bit confused. He had originally been a salt merchant in Maust. I was now much more powerful than I had been as a little viscount, so vassals who had served my clan for generations often couldn’t keep up. I’d appointed merchants and former vassals of other clans for a variety of things. “No, this’ll work,” I said. “We’ll build a waterway to the preexisting town of Maust at the same time. That will provide a direct route to the castle. Of course, it wouldn’t work for only ships to get through, so we’ll also build a bridge to link the castle towns to each other.” “This is going to be a huge project…” “How long will it take?” “It’ll probably need three years…” “Do it within one.” Ornis was speechless. Well, apparently people couldn’t help but balk at a large project they’d never done before. “Fine. I’ll help give instructions, then.” “Y-you’re going to help?” “The castle is like my home. What’s wrong with coming to the work site for your own home?” Encouraging the construction psychologically was part of it, but I also had my profession’s assistance in mind: the special ability Conqueror’s Guidance. If the laborers’ focus and trust were 1.5 times as great, it should be possible to make things take shape quickly. “I shall do what I must as well… However, the cost for this castle will be tremendous…” “My financial officer, Fanneria, says it’s possible. From here on, more and more people will be coming to Maust, too. What’s Maust’s population now?” “About twelve hundred.” “Once it’s the prefectural capital, I plan to make it about six thousand.” “Five times its current size?!” He was overly astonished at every little thing. “I know it’s unprecedented. But that’s how big we need to make it. This might come to be the center of the world someday, you know.” I wasn’t sure he took my word at face value, but I was serious. The construction of Maust Castle proceeded smoothly for such a large engineering project. Of course, it wasn’t just about building the castle. The town would also be revamped alongside it. As for the economy, I suspended the trade guild and allowed anyone to set up shop at the market. I mostly changed the system to the one I used back in my three villages and Nayvil, where tax was taken only from those with a profit. If there was a guild, people would have to join (and pay inspection and enrollment fees, of course) in order to have a shop. On top of that, since prices were controlled internally, things that would normally go for less would be more expensive. This was good for protecting the traders, and the lord could also take money from the guild, in the end. Of course, the Nayvil clan themselves used to protect the trade guild in the county capital, Nayvil. It wasn’t a bad way to do things when they wanted to keep the town as it was. Apparently, people thought I made everything into a rakuichi-rakuza free market, but I protected the za—the guilds—when I needed to. I didn’t completely abolish the za or anything like that. Even my own job said as much. Za was a weird-sounding word, though. It was almost too short to say. Anyway, guilds were useful only as long as a city didn’t get much bigger. I had proclaimed before that I was going to make Maust the prefectural capital, so the population spiked. That would mean more people would want to do business, so there needed to be more shops and markets. I had no need for a guild to hinder progress in a city like that. There was pushback from the guild, but I brushed it aside. “I’m more or less an invader in Maust. I’m not going to follow in the footsteps of the previous lord,” I explained. “Besides, the lot who did business here originally can turn their experience into profit. Realize you’re saving money by not having to pay the guild. You will have to pay me tax out of your profits, though.” The guild didn’t even have the power to resist. They backed off in dejection. Besides, trying to tax the poor wouldn’t get you anywhere; there was only so much they could give. In that case, it was better to let them make money and then to take more from that. Oda Nobunaga himself said he made tons of money by controlling a port town called Tsushima, as well as another city called Atsuta. It was definitely best to have an economic foundation to support military endeavors. Taking Maust was huge; compared to the cities I’d had before, the amount of taxes I got was literally an order of magnitude greater. With my swelling pocketbook, I hired more workers. Where we needed more help, I levied the peasants to some extent, but I paid higher wages than in the past. The more workers there were, the more people came to sell them things. It made for a good cycle. Eventually, I received yet another ability. Special ability Conqueror’s Insight acquired. Your economic sense related to cities and trade will be akin to Oda Nobunaga’s. This ability is constantly active, barring intoxication or any impairment to your mental state. The heck…? Is this actually an ability…? Allow me to explain. Oda Nobunaga spoke to me again. As you said, this isn’t so much an ability as a show of my admiration. I’m recognizing your foresight as being on par with mine. So I went ahead and awarded this to you in the form of a special ability. Are you saying you’re making these special abilities yourself…? That’s right. After all, this job is so unusual that you are apparently the only one in the entire world to have it. So everything about this job is trial and error on my part. What kind of special ability is this? was all I could think, but it must’ve been his way of acknowledging me. It would take a long time until the castle was complete, but I didn’t wait for that before officially moving to Maust. For the time being, I set up my base on a hill on the outskirts of Maust. It had quite a different feel than the waterfront castle I would later move into, but it wasn’t so bad, either. From there I had a good view of the town as it developed. “There you are, darling. I was wondering where you were.” Seraphina came and stood next to me. A pleasant breeze was blowing, too. “Watching from afar doesn’t finish the work any faster, but it really is fun.” “I know what you mean. Still, you started the construction at a good time. If you did it after unifying the prefecture, I think it would’ve made things harder by provoking other lords your size.” “Yeah. And the only reason I’m able to hire people from the rest of the prefecture is because I’m not in a big war.” I ran my hand through Seraphina’s hair as it fluttered in the wind. I thought she’d become far more beautiful than she’d been when I’d first met her in Mineria. “You’re more charming than ever, darling. From every angle, you’re a great lord I can be proud of.” “What a coincidence. I was just thinking you look lovelier than ever, too.” “Women are prettier when there’s a gentleman they love.” Now that we were alone together, we naturally started to fawn on each other. “Actually, darling, I was looking for you because I had something important to tell you.” “Something important?” I started to brace myself. “Not in a bad way, I hope?” “Just the opposite. It’s a very good thing.” What could it be? “Did your father have a major victory or something?” At that, Seraphina made a show of puffing out her cheeks. “It’s about the two of us.” That made it easy enough to figure out. No way, no way… “A-are you pregnant?” Seraphina nodded shyly. “You did it, Seraphina!” I embraced her straightaway. I’d been a bit worried about not having an heir. But that worry was now gone. “Is it a boy or a girl?” “You know there’s no way to be sure yet. But either way, I’ll raise them so they could be confident as a monarch. Because I believe you’ll be king, darling.” “True. I won’t be satisfied with just one prefecture.” I’d end this war-torn era by my own hand. In the middle of my teens, I’d always worried about when I’d die in war. To make it so no one had to think about such pitiful things, someone had to reunify the kingdom. To that end, I’d most likely have to experience many large wars…but I’d do it. There were sixty prefectures in the kingdom. My unification project wasn’t even one-sixtieth complete yet. “Well, you need to take it easy for a while. Be very, very careful about your health.” It wasn’t uncommon for women to die from complications while giving birth. Childbirth was a woman’s battle against death. “Don’t worry. My profession is Saint. I’m sure the baby will be protected by the gods.” “I’m worried about the child, but your health worries me, too.” I needed to have her offer every prayer in the book at a temple later. But just fretting right now wouldn’t do any good. This was a time for joy. “I’ll let my top vassals know right away that you’re absolutely not to be bothered…… Oh, right, speaking of my top vassals…” Laviala’s face came to mind first. She definitely would be happy about the pregnancy, but telling her was almost like rubbing it in… As a half-elf, she’d long been unable to get pregnant with my child. I’d heard it was more difficult for someone with elven blood to have children, although I didn’t know whether there was any truth to it. Maybe it was because elves were young for a longer time than humans, so the same number of children would cause problems. Still, I couldn’t not say anything, so I called for Laviala. I summoned Laviala to the count’s office. Hearing a knock-knock, I knew it was her. I could tell right away who it was by the sound of the knock. We really had known each other nearly forever. Since I’d lost both my parents long ago, she had to be the person who’d spent the most of my life with me. “Come in, Laviala.” “What could this be about? The irrigation canals are coming along nicely. It’s great to have dwarf workers who are good at digging, with the town being next to the river.” “Oh, this isn’t about work… Ah, right, stay there, please…” I thought it’d be disrespectful to Laviala to say this sitting down, so I got up from my work desk, too. I stood directly in front of her. “That reminds me: When did I get taller than you?” “What are you on about, all of a sudden…? Um, I think I was bigger until around twelve years old.” She might have actually remembered more about me than I did. You see, since it was a wet nurse’s job to provide milk, a woman had to be lactating already to be one. Thus, Laviala had been born before me, so sometimes her perspective of me was more a big sister’s than a vassal’s. Actually, for me, too, I’d seen her as a sister longer than I had a vassal. “Back then you weren’t so good with a bow, either. Even in sword practice, I usually beat you, didn’t I?” “Hey, you don’t need to bring that up…” “Didn’t you wet yourself in surprise one time when I swung at you with a wood sword? I’m going to laugh again just remembering it.” “Oh, stop. You’re going to hurt my dignity as a count taking it that far!” Our eyes met, and we laughed—more as brother and sister than as lord and vassal. Laviala was always proper, though, so she still didn’t speak crudely. “But after that, you improved so quickly. Your body got big to match, too, and two years after that, I could never win against you with a sword.” “But then you went and specialized in the bow instead, and now you’re a terror with it.” Just talking with Laviala made me feel sentimental. Without her, I surely wouldn’t have been able to make it this far. “You did so well to support Altia when she was sick without your parents, and you suffered so much. Even your success now didn’t blossom from nothing; it’s thanks to those days you spent in the dirt.” She spoke like a true elf, putting it like that. I was indebted to her family, the Aweyus, too. Actually, you could say they were the only ones who’d looked after Altia and me. The elven Aweyus were Laviala’s mother’s family. Her father, a human, had died of sickness at about fifty. And Laviala was his last child. “So then, Lord Alsrod, just what was it you needed me for?” She tilted her head and gazed up at me with puppy-dog eyes. Oh right. I had an important purpose here. I didn’t only want to reminisce. “I’ll announce this sooner or later, but I wanted to tell you first.” “I see. Thank you, Lord Alsrod.” “Don’t thank me before hearing it…” I was sure she’d congratulate me. She probably wouldn’t even betray the slightest sadness. But surely she worried somewhere in her heart that it was hard for half-elves to get pregnant? As her husband, it bothered me. At least, in my mind I was her husband. “It might be hard to say, but please just say it, Lord Alsrod.” All right. It’s time to tell her. “Laviala, Seraphina is with child. We’re going to have a baby.” “R-really?!” She opened her big eyes even more. Apparently, it was quite a shock. “I wouldn’t lie about something like this. I only just heard a while ago. I’m not sure of the gender, but they’ll be a potential heir for now.” “I see. That’s really, really good to hear. I’m relieved myself.” “I didn’t realize you were so worried, too.” In retrospect, it didn’t seem as if I’d needed to be so anxious about telling her. I felt immensely relieved. “Now I can tell you something I couldn’t before, too…” “Huh?! What do you mean by that…?” That was the first I’d heard of this. Well, if she couldn’t say it before, of course I hadn’t heard, but still. I couldn’t believe there was something she was keeping from me. I was sure I had a perfect grasp of her habits and personality. Surely it couldn’t be…that she had another man, could it…? Laviala’s looks left nothing to be desired. Her mother—that is, my nurse—was herself famed among elves for her beauty. I was sure all my vassals knew about our relationship, but it was hard to say no one had given in to temptation and made a move. “Well, here goes…” Laviala’s face flushed red—not as if she’d done anything wrong but rather as if she was overjoyed. “Actually, I seem to have been blessed with your child, too, since just the other day…” For a second I wasn’t sure what I was hearing. “H-h-huh…? My child…? You must be joking…?” “I wouldn’t joke about something like this.” Laviala smiled, saying essentially what I had before. “Thank you, Laviala!” Before I knew it, I was hugging her. First Seraphina, now Laviala! There couldn’t be a happier day than this! “The other day I was feeling sick, and when I told my mother, she said it was a sign of pregnancy…” I could feel the relief in her voice. “Really I wanted to tell you right away, but I kept quiet for the sake of your wife, Lady Seraphina… I knew she’d been hoping for a child with you…” “Oh hell, we were all tiptoeing around each other.” Apparently, this was what happened when you had multiple wives. But we didn’t need to worry about that anymore. “Laviala, this is my order to you as your lord. Whatever you do, have a healthy child. And stay healthy yourself to raise it. All right?” “Yes, sir! Consider it done!” In this moment, in this land, no one could have been happier than I. “By the way, will you be the wet nurse for Seraphina’s child, too? You can say no if you don’t want to.” It was just a faint hope that Laviala could dote on Seraphina’s child, too, if she raised them together. I was sure Laviala wouldn’t play favorites, and there wasn’t any worry about matching personalities with a baby. Of course, I realized this was all easy for a man to say. “Yes, sir! I won’t let you down!” “And if you are tired from work, take a rest. You and this child are more important, you know.” “I’ll be fine for a while yet. I can manage until Maust Castle is ready for us to work in at least.” I hugged Laviala tightly once more. A few days later, I announced to my vassals that Seraphina and my concubine, Laviala, had conceived. Of course, I’d told Altia about it even sooner—in fact, she’d already learned about it from Laviala apparently. “I’m so glad you’re going to have a baby.” Altia’s relief was almost over-the-top. “If something had happened to you, then I’d be the one to take your place.” “Wait, did you really mean to?” Her health may have improved as of late, but surely she couldn’t handle that much. “Well, you don’t know till you try.” Altia swung an invisible sword around. Apparently, she wasn’t entirely joking. The idea of leaving the Nayvil family to her sure made me feel uneasy, though, so I’d do what I could for now. News of the pregnancy spread, and for a while, we received what felt like an endless stream of well-wishers—so many that I had to deal with them myself. Otherwise it’d be too exhausting for both Laviala and Seraphina. With my larger territory, there were more people coming to see me than ever; Maust, especially, with all its change, stood out for how many merchants were trying to get authorization for this or that. I guess being a father is more work than it might seem…