Chapter 127
I was ennobled, became a margrave, and received a domain. I am now a proper noble.
On top of that, former princess Lilith is coming with me as my principal wife.
And, as if that weren't enough, former queen Amaranthus—now a slave—is coming along too. This situation makes no sense.
Even when I promised to take her with us and told her to dissolve the slave contract, Amaranthus stubbornly refused.
I had no idea why, but I couldn't leave her behind, so she would be coming with me to my domain.
The domain I received consists of the area around that lake and all the high ground atop the nearby cliffs.
Most of the territory I am to govern is uninhabited, but it is so vast that I was granted the highly unusual rank of margrave.
Apparently, nothing like this has ever happened before.
The only problem is that since I have only just become a noble and received my domain, only some of the nobles in the royal capital know about it.
Because of that, I will probably need to visit the neighboring noble domains and pay my respects eventually.
It seems the powerful nobles around the royal capital are currently repairing the bridge on the road to Iberis, so I intend to greet them on the way.
In the morning, before setting out, we all had breakfast together.
My family, Akira's family, and the eleven maids who had formed the suicide squad had all joined us. It was a large group.
Calling them a suicide squad might sound a little extreme, but we were heading to a remote wasteland with no houses or anything else.
Until we cleared the forest, leveled the land, and built houses, we would essentially be sleeping outdoors.
There could be monster attacks, so it would not be an exaggeration to call them a suicide squad—but we had two people with cheat abilities, two grand archmages, and Amaranthus, a martial arts master, had joined our fighting force as well.
As a fighting force, we were now comparable to the army of a small country.
That Amaranthus was sitting with us and eating breakfast.
Lilith was seated on my left, and Amaranthus was sitting beside her.
"Hey, Amaranthus, why don't you finally remove that slave contract?"
"...Ggh..."
She silently turned her head away, enduring something.
She was probably suffering because she was in a state of disobeying her master's order.
"Whew... I retract the order. Come here, Amaranthus."
I lifted her chair and rotated it ninety degrees, then called her onto my lap.
Apparently, she could not disobey my orders, so she would do whatever I told her.
It wasn't as though I wanted to make her do anything like that.
As I stroked her head and stomach while she sat on my lap, I spoke to her.
"You know, if you dissolve the slave contract, I'll do even more pleasurable things to you."
"...Ggh..."
She kept her eyes shut and sat rigidly, apparently refusing even to listen to my sweet words.
"Fine, do whatever you want. Order revoked."
Amaranthus suddenly went limp. The strain on her body must have been that severe.
If she still wouldn't say yes in this state, I probably had no chance of making her dissolve the contract...
After carrying her back to her chair, I returned to my seat—and this time Lilith climbed onto me.
"When are you going to make a move on me?!"
"We're not in a situation where we can have children."
"Gnnngh... Even if we don't have children, you can still make a move on me."
"Well, eventually."
"Come on! I was first!"
This time, Anemone came hugging me.
I thought they didn't really want a physical relationship, but merely wanted to be spoiled—probably.
I hugged them both and petted them.
"Mmmmmm..."
"Oops, I used too much force."
"Yo! The margrave sure is popular, huh?"
Akira's family had returned as well and were eating at a separate table from ours—and were preparing to set out afterward.
Apparently, nobles had been constantly approaching Reiran-san with requests for her to become their personal mage.
There was no way she would accept any of them. She seemed to dislike nobles too.
Apparently, even back when she was in the Empire, nobles had swarmed her, trying to make her their mistress, until she had grown thoroughly fed up with them.
"Why don't you become a noble too, Akira? If I approve it, you should be able to become a one-generation noble, like a baronet."
"No thanks. I'll pass on anything that troublesome!"
To be honest, I found it troublesome too, but all things considered, being a noble seemed more convenient in this world.
As a margrave, I wouldn't have to worry about other nobles clinging to me.
After all, the only rank above margrave was duke.
"If you become a noble and make Reiran-san your principal wife, no one will try to court her anymore, you know?"
"I see... That might be one way to handle it..."
Akira was seriously considering it, but knowing his personality, I doubted he would actually become a noble.
After the meal, I stored the maids' luggage, stacked on pallets, in my Item Box.
In the end, Lilith and Amaranthus's luggage filled twenty large pallets.
"Even if we take all this with us, we probably won't have anywhere to put it. I don't plan on building some enormous mansion, either..."
"If it is in the way, sell it."
"If I sell it, I'll use it as fuel for my magic..."
"Then that is fine too."
Lilith and Amaranthus both nodded. They didn't seem especially attached to their possessions.
"Still... once the mansion is built, we won't be able to eat outdoors under the open sky like this every day, will we?"
"Why can't we eat just like we've always done?"
"You say that, Anemone, but once we have a domain and a mansion, people might start gathering there. Are we really going to eat in front of everyone in town?"
"Hmm..."
She didn't seem to grasp it, but when a new domain was established, there was a good chance people would gather there in search of new land.
A few people from the castle might move there too—and I wondered whether the dwarves from Sobana would come as well.
Bell came over to my feet, so I stroked her fur while continuing the conversation.
"So, Kenichi, what are you going to do first in the new domain?"
I answered Akira's question and explained my plan.
"First, I'll distribute land and houses to settlers, then build a direct road to the main highway."
"Public works, huh? That's the basics."
"Hold on, boss! What do you mean, distribute houses? You mean you're going to give people houses?"
Nyamena hurriedly joined the conversation.
"When I say distribute them, I mean that the houses and land will belong to the domain, so people won't be allowed to buy and sell them freely."
"But... giving them away for free..."
"People will gather to build the houses, and craftsmen and laborers will have work to do, right?"
"Then merchants will gather to sell things to all those people..."
Primula joined the conversation too.
"Exactly. Then people will gather like a snowball—though you probably don't know what that means. Anyway, the population will keep growing."
"Beastfolk would never think of something like that, nya."
Myaaree rested her elbows on the table and sighed.
"Of course, we can't give houses to every resident, so if there are too many applicants, we'll probably have to decide by lottery."
Akira seemed interested in what industries the new domain would have.
"There are plenty of trout in the lake, so we can make smoked salmon."
"Oh! Nice. I love smoked salmon. It would go great with beer..."
"There are ores in the nearby cliffs too—and, hmm, we might make a profit by producing chocolate."
"Chocolate! The royals and nobles will go crazy for that!"
"What?! Chocolate?! Is that true?!"
"Then I shall invest money too!"
Lilith and Amaranthus both showed tremendous interest.
"If we're going to do that, the first problem is getting cacao fruit..."
According to Akira, the elves used a cacao-like nut to make something like a health drink.
I could buy chocolate or cacao powder from Shangri-La and be done with it, but that would not create an industry capable of supporting the residents.
If anything happened to me, Shangri-La would disappear forever, and that would be the end of it.
To solve that problem, I would first have to contact the elves—and then I suddenly had an idea.
Did Shangri-La sell cacao fruit? I immediately searched for it.
And it did! Cacao fruit. They apparently cost around 1,500 yen each.
"Click."
A cacao fruit, slightly smaller than a rugby ball, dropped down in front of me.
It was brown, soft, and squishy.
"Kenichi, isn't that cacao?"
"Yeah, probably."
"It looks like the one I saw among the elves."
I took out a kitchen knife and cut the fruit open. It was my first time seeing an actual cacao fruit.
When I split it lengthwise, a grub-like mass wrapped in white, sticky pulp emerged.
"Eek! A bug?!" "Whoa! That's disgusting!"
The beastfolk began making a fuss—but at a glance, it did look like a grub, or perhaps a mass of insect eggs.
"Hey, Akira! Are you trying to make me eat something like this?!"
"I'm not making you eat it, so shut up, Clementina."
The female knight and Annerose-san gazed uneasily at the cacao fruit.
"It really is the same! But the elves' cacao was bright red."
Apparently, he had been acquainted with the elves and knew what their cacao looked like.
"I see. Then maybe they aren't exactly the same thing, but related plants?"
"Maybe."
"Does a fruit like this really turn into that chocolate powder?"
Lilith poked the sticky cacao fruit with one finger.
"Apparently. Akira, do you know how to make cacao powder?"
"From what I heard from the elves, you ferment it like natto. Then you dry it and grind it into powder."
"That sounds difficult."
"Exactly. Apparently it's pretty hard."
This world had no advanced machinery, but it did have magic instead.
They could control the temperature, and apparently magic could also accelerate fermentation.
"Before we worry about powder, we need to bury this in the ground and see whether it grows into a tree."
"If that doesn't work, we'll have to get the cacao substitute the elves use and grow that instead."
Amaranthus, who had been silent, spoke up while the two of us were groaning over the problem.
"Holy Knight-sama, you have forgotten something important."
"Something important? What's that, Amaranthus?"
"Sugar."
"Ahhh..."
Akira and I both slapped our knees.
Come to think of it, that was true. Since I bought sugar from Shangri-La, I had never given it any thought.
"Come to think of it, how do people obtain sugar in this world?"
Akira seemed to know the answer.
"There are small white and pink flowers that bloom in the forest..."
"Oh, I've seen those. They look like dogtooth violets..."
"That's it! Sugar accumulates in the plant's small bulbs, but it's difficult to cultivate."
"Can't you grow it in fields?"
"No. It only grows in forests."
No wonder sugar was so difficult to obtain. Even so, apparently there were businesses that cultivated it in forests and refined the sugar.
"Primula, you obviously know about this, right?"
"Yes. Sugar producers operate in strict secrecy, and many of them are under the direct control of nobles."
"They'd be furious if we mass-produced sugar and destroyed their vested interests..."
"Hahaha! That sounds fun! Let's do it, Kenichi!"
Akira was eager to try it. But where would we get the source material for the sugar?
Just like with chocolate, it would be pointless for me to buy refined sugar from Shangri-La.
Of course, that would be the cheapest option.
I searched Shangri-La again.
I wondered whether it sold sugarcane seedlings. If Shangri-La sold cacao fruit, a place that stocked practically everything might have them too.
When I searched, there they were—sugarcane.
"Click."
A grass-like plant about two meters tall came tumbling down.
"Kenichi! Could this be sugarcane?!"
"As expected of you, Akira. You know your stuff."
"I helped harvest it on Minami-Daito Island."
"What? You went all the way to an island like that?"
"Yeah. I grew coffee trees in the Ogasawara Islands and drank coffee there too. Hahaha."
He really had traveled all over Japan, hadn't he? How envious.
Actually, I had plenty of time and freedom to do the same. I simply hadn't taken action.
"We're heading to a lake with plenty of water, and its shores are sandy. It should be perfect for growing sugarcane, right?"
"Definitely. And it's about as huge as Lake Biwa, right?"
"Exactly. There's more than enough space."
Lilith tilted her head at the seemingly ordinary grass.
"Kenichi, what is so special about this grass?"
"Lilith, this is a plant that can be used to make sugar."
"What?!"
"Kenichi, can I eat this?"
"This one is for planting, so no."
When I searched Shangri-La, I found packs of edible sugarcane for sale.
"Click. Here, Akira. If you want to chew on some, use this."
Three grass stalks wrapped in a plastic pack dropped down.
"Oh! This is exactly what they sold on Minami-Daito Island!"
Akira tore open the package roughly and used a knife from his Item Box to peel the stalks.
He split them into long, thin strips.
"That's how you eat it?"
"Yeah."
"Akira, are you sane? Eating grass is something horses and cows do."
"Clementina, shut up! Annerose will eat it, right?"
"Yes, I'll have some... It's incredibly sweet! I never knew grass could be sweet!"
"Sensei! Want to try some too?"
"Are you saying this grass is really sweet?"
"It really is. I lie sometimes, but Annerose doesn't, right?"
Reiran-san nibbled the sugarcane gingerly, but once she realized it was sweet, she began crunching through it enthusiastically.
"Here, Myaa, why don't you try some too?"
"Nyaa!"
Anemone had been watching and tugged at my sleeve.
"Kenichi."
"All right, all right. I don't think it's anything particularly delicious, though..."
When I bought more of the same, several pieces dropped down.
I imitated Akira and peeled the skin from a sugarcane stalk.
"You don't swallow it. Just chew it and suck out the juice."
"Yeah... Suck, suck... The more I chew, the sweeter it gets!"
"Kenichi! I want some too!"
I handed out sugarcane stalks to everyone. I placed a bowl on the table to use as a trash can.
The beastfolk had strong teeth and jaws, so they simply crunched through the stalks.
Everyone was chewing and sucking on sugarcane, creating an incredibly surreal scene. What on earth were we doing?
"What is this?! The stalk of a grass really is sweet!"
"You can squeeze out this juice and boil it down to make sugar."
"Incredible! Are you a god?!"
Lilith's eyes widened as she said something outrageous.
"Holy Knight-sama!"
Amaranthus hugged me next.
"Ah, what now?! Let go, Amaranthus!"
"No! Aaaaaah!"
Amaranthus began rolling around on the ground.
"What is wrong with you?! Order revoked!"
Exasperated, I picked her up and stroked her body to ease the pain.
"Haaah, haaah... Mmmmmm!"
"Me too!"
This time, it was Anemone.
"Hey, stop it! If you don't cut it out, I'm going to get angry!"
Everyone hurriedly moved away from me.
"Kenichi! If we can make brown sugar syrup, we can make alcohol too!"
"What do you call liquor made from sugarcane again?"
"Rum!"
"Oh, the stuff with horns and a tiger-striped bikini..."
"That's right, cha!—No, that's not it!"
"If the dwarves come, they might be able to make a still too."
"Oh! If there isn't any good liquor, we can make our own and drink as much as we want!"
Nyamena joined in on the conversation.
"Akira, boss, is that liquor any good?"
"Yeah, it's delicious and strong! The dwarves should love it too."
"If we're talking about making delicious, strong liquor, the dwarves will probably cooperate."
"Probably... This is getting pretty interesting."
Akira was getting fired up.
"What do you think, Primula? Sugar, chocolate, and liquor! Doesn't that sound like a great business opportunity?"
"Kenichi!"
This time, Primula came hugging me.
"Kenichi, what should we do? My heart won't stop pounding at the thought of such a wonderful business opportunity."
"Maybe the Marlowe Trading Company won't just become the greatest company in the kingdom, but on the entire continent."
"Kenichi!"
Primula, excited, pressed her lips to mine. I had never seen her be so forward.
"Ah, me too! Me too!"
"Me too!"
Anemone and Lilith both came rushing in to hug me.
"All right, all right, you all, let go! But wait—wasn't sugar a state monopoly?"
"That sort of thing is nothing to worry about when we are here."
Lilith puffed out her chest while Amaranthus hid her mouth behind a folding fan. They were probably smiling.
"Exactly. Now that we've settled on a plan, we need to prepare to leave."
I pulled everyone away from me and thought for a moment.
"Kenichi, our group has gotten a lot bigger. Are you sure this will be all right?"
"I'll bring out another Pr○do for you, Akira. Use that."
"That's fine, but what about your group?"
"I guess I'll summon something new..."
Let's see—eight people and Bell, plus eleven maids. I guess a microbus would be best.
I searched Shangri-La. For reliability and proven performance, I decided on T○yota's Co○ster.
It seated twenty-nine, cost 3.5 million yen, and had already traveled 130,000 kilometers—but for a commercial vehicle, 100,000 kilometers was nothing.
"All right, all right, I'm bringing down something big, so make room!"
"Another summoned beast, nya?"
"Co○ster, summon!"
A long white vehicle dropped down and bounced on the ground.
A Hi○ce was about 4.7 meters long, while a Co○ster was about seven meters, making it roughly 2.5 meters longer.
"Oohhh!"
"A Co○ster! This will definitely fit everyone."
"I could summon something even bigger, but it wouldn't be very maneuverable. We wouldn't be able to turn corners in town."
"That's true."
"Besides, the roads aren't very good, so a large bus might get stuck."
"I see... That could happen."
Besides, I had never driven a large bus. Apparently newer ones had automatic transmissions, though.
When I touched the handle on the door at the left side, it slid open.
Bell immediately climbed aboard and began patrolling the interior.
"Woohoo, I'm first!" "You cheated, Tiger!"
The beastfolk followed her inside.
I brought out the Pr○do behind the microbus.
"You expect me to ride in this monster again?!"
"Then walk, Clementina."
"As if I could do that! How many leagues away is it, anyway?"
"Kenichi, about how many leagues is it to Sarai?"
"Let's see... It's about 400 kilometers, so around 250 leagues."
The female knight grabbed Akira when she heard that.
"That's impossible!"
"Then get in already!"
"Wait! Hold on! Nooo!"
Apparently, Akira used the power of Blessing to force the female knight into the vehicle.
In front of the microbus, the maids were standing in a cluster.
There were ten of them, led by the head maid, Mairen-san. One of them was the woman who had accompanied us to Sobana.
There was one other maid I recognized—the woman who had helped me copy the books in the castle library.
"Maids, if you're going to quit, now's the time!"
"No. We've made up our minds."
"You're going to a place where there's nothing at all, you know? Working at the castle is supposed to be a coveted job."
"That is true, but Kalmia said we'd be able to eat lots of delicious food—and..."
Kalmia was the name of the maid who had accompanied us.
"Exactly! I heard you earlier, and you said you're even going to make sugar!"
"Well, yeah."
"And apparently we'll be able to use nice-smelling soap and medicine that makes our hair beautiful too..."
"You girls! What kind of way is that to speak to the margrave?!"
At Mairen-san's sharp reprimand, the maids lined up and bowed their heads.
"It's fine. I don't mind."
Even after I spoke with the maids, their resolve seemed firm.
Well, if that was what they wanted, I wouldn't argue.
While we were preparing to leave, a procession of people in flashy clothes came toward us.
Officials, ministers, the chancellor, and members of the Royal Family's Round Table Conference were all there.
Had they come to see us off? Farewells were usually accompanied by tears, but contrary to that expectation, everyone was grinning.
A female member of the royal family named Alstroemeria, apparently the leader, approached me.
"Are you leaving?"
"Yes, we'll be departing shortly. Thank you for everything. Truly, for everything."
"You needn't be so sarcastic."
"Two royals who have lived in the castle for many years are leaving, yet you all seem remarkably cheerful."
"Dark expressions do not suit a new beginning."
Look who's talking. This woman was quite the crafty old fox herself.
"Is this the iron summoned beast that carries people as it travels?"
Alstroemeria gazed at the iron Co○ster.
"How many people can it carry, and how far can it travel in a day?"
"It can carry about thirty people and travel around three hundred leagues..."
"Really?"
"I don't lie."
She turned toward me and slipped an arm around my neck.
"If your domain collapses, come visit me."
"You're assuming it will collapse?"
"As a Holy Knight, you may do whatever you like with my body, you know?"
"Alstroemeria-sama! Please restrain yourself!"
Lilith hurriedly stepped between us.
"But I wasn't joking."
"Two former royals are already as much as I can handle, so I must decline."
"Hmph... Julius! Come here!"
Called by Alstroemeria, a young man with short blond hair stepped forward. He was tall, sharp-featured, and handsome.
Unlike the royal guards in black uniforms, he wore a white uniform with embroidery on the chest.
He looked about twenty-five.
He seemed like the type young girls would adore. As proof, the maids on the microbus were giggling and swooning as they watched him.
According to the royal who introduced him, he was a herald.
It looks like we'll have even more people to bring to the lakeshore.