Chapter 133
After the meal, I headed into the forest with Lilith.
Earlier, I had promised to sleep with her once we reached the lake.
She was only fifteen, but that was perfectly acceptable in this world.
By the standards of my old world, it would be somewhat problematic, and that was what held me back.
Even though I had mixed feelings about it, I had to keep my promise.
I had become a noble, and she was former royalty—this promise carried exceptionally serious meaning.
The LED lantern in my hand illuminated the stage among the trees—the place where I had previously built the tree house.
The hut that had stood on the stage had been repurposed elsewhere, so there was nothing there now.
Once we climbed up, I took out a small tent.
"This is the place we're using? Are you sure? Wouldn't it be better to wait until the mansion is finished and do it in a nice room?"
"Anywhere is the same as long as I am with you. Mating like beasts in the forest could be rather exciting."
"Hmm..."
"Why are you being so hesitant? Do you dislike me?"
"It's not that, but I've never slept with a young girl like you, Lilith."
"Is that all? Then just do it!"
Lilith was incredibly forward. According to her, they were taught all about these things as necessary knowledge.
I spread an air mattress inside the tent and turned on the LED light.
"It would be rather pointless for us to be together if you did not even know how to make a child, would it not?"
"Is that how nobles and royalty are?"
"Indeed."
Besides that, Lilith had repeatedly used Mairen for sexual games.
She might even have been more experienced than I was... Perhaps that thought showed on my face, because she threw her arms around me.
"Do not worry. My vagina is still untouched."
"It's not that I doubted you."
I held Lilith's slender waist, so thin it looked as though it might snap. Amaranthus had a strong, springlike body, but Lilith's was unmistakably a girl's.
Her soft, swaying golden hair tangled around her pale, gleaming naked body.
When I tightened my arms around her, Lilith let out a faint sigh.
Well, we had come this far, so I had no choice but to go through with it...
As I was thinking that, Lilith took hold of my manhood.
"First, I will do this—chomp."
"Ah!"
That utterly unhesitating preemptive attack made me fear what was to come.
------◇◇◇------
――The first morning after returning to the lake.
When I woke inside the small triangular room, the soft light filtering through the tent fabric illuminated Lilith's naked body.
At first glance, she had a childlike body with long, slender legs and glittering golden hair.
She was as beautiful as a fairy, but her blissful expression and the drool hanging from her mouth made her look like an ordinary girl.
Rather than being moved by her beauty or warmed by her cuteness, I let out a sigh.
"Whew... What's done is done."
Lilith was sleeping so peacefully that I felt bad about waking her.
I took her clothes out of my Item Box, placed them beside her pillow, and climbed down from the tree house.
The sun had only just risen, and mist hung over the lake.
When I went to the house, the maids were already awake and preparing their own meals.
I provided the maids with bread and eggs from Shangri-La.
Eggs were quite expensive when bought in town, so they felt bad accepting them, but I needed them to stay well fed so they could work.
It would be difficult to travel all the way from here to Astrantia whenever we needed ingredients.
I wanted to get the fields in better shape and build a large bread oven as soon as possible.
"I should prepare breakfast too..."
I could have had the maids make it, but they cooked the food of this world.
With Primula gone, I decided to keep things simple with bread and granola from Shangri-La.
I would make boiled eggs for Lilith too. I put a pressure cooker on the stove and boiled a large batch of eggs.
While I was preparing breakfast, Anemone woke up and hugged me.
"...I'll bake bread."
Anemone rubbed her eyes and looked grumpy, but she was still a good girl for doing her job.
I had intended to use bread from Shangri-La, but since she wanted to make it, I decided to leave it to her.
By the time the delicious smell of baking bread filled the air, the beastfolk and Julius had woken up too.
"Phew! It finally feels like I've slept at home again after such a long trip."
"Nyaa."
The beastfolk stretched deeply, loosening their bodies after their long journey.
"Good morning."
"Good morning, Julius."
While I was preparing breakfast, Bell came from the forest with prey in her mouth.
She usually came right over, but this time she sat a short distance away.
"Oh—thank you, Bell. You must be happy to have been able to hunt properly again after so long."
"..."
Even when I spoke to her, she remained silent. After setting down the prey, she turned away and disappeared into the forest again.
"Is she in a bad mood?"
I put the prey Bell had given me into my Item Box.
The last to wake up, once breakfast was ready, were Amaranthus and Lilith.
"Kenichi! On a morning after sharing a bed, a man should wake a woman with gentle words!"
"I didn't realize. You looked so peaceful and cute while you slept."
"Wha... Say such things where no one else can hear you!"
Lilith's face had turned bright red. I might have been seeing that expression for the first time.
The princess who had suggested tormenting the maids together was embarrassed by something like this...?
"Mmph."
Anemone looked displeased when she saw Lilith and me, so I would have to comfort her later.
While we ate, the beastfolk asked about our plans. They seemed curious about what we were going to do as well.
"Boss, what are we doing now?" "Nyaa?"
"For now, we'll plant the grass that produces sugar, prepare the fields—and build houses."
"Houses? Another one like that house?"
"Yeah. We can't live in tents forever, and we need somewhere to live for the time being."
Once we built a proper mansion and houses and no longer needed them, we could repurpose them as storage sheds.
"But we'd better make arrangements to build the mansion soon. I think I'll rely on the Marlowe Trading Company for that."
"Sensible."
Lilith muttered that while stuffing a boiled egg into her mouth.
"It doesn't look like you'll have any work as a herald for a while."
"Kenichi-sama, I will assist with any work you may have, however..."
"Well, don't push yourself. I expect I'll bring in workers from Astrantia."
"I see. If there is anything I can do to help, please give me your orders."
"I will."
Well, there was no need to panic yet. We had plenty of time.
I still felt quite relaxed, but I needed to improve the living conditions quickly for the people who had followed me.
Our plan to create a home of our own had begun, but there was a chance it might fail along the way.
It would be a difficult undertaking, but we should at least be able to build a small village.
After breakfast, we immediately got to work.
I had the maids continue cutting grass. The grass had grown wild simply because we had been away for a short while.
I also gave them hoes and plows, telling them to till the fields and harvest the corn.
"Give me a sickle too!"
Kanan seemed unusually eager, though...
"You are a noblewoman who has never done manual labor. Don't overdo it."
"Don't worry! I will do it! If I don't show that I can be of some use, I'll be nothing but a parasite!"
"You know a great deal about high society and are good at dancing, aren't you...?"
"I doubt I could match the two former royals at either of those things, and neither would be useful here."
That was true.
With all the women working outside, I bought sunscreen from Shangri-La.
There were products at every price point, but I chose an expensive one. I bought one ¥3,000 container for each person and handed them out.
"Hey, everyone! This is sunscreen. Apply it to any exposed skin."
"Wow!"
The women all crowded around and began applying the cream.
They were apparently quite interested. When I asked Mairen, she said they wore complete protection whenever they worked outside.
"Isn't that hot?"
"Of course it is hot, but one must make do with what one has."
Well, a woman's skin was important to her.
"Sunburn causes spots and freckles. Is there anything else you want?"
"Um... Master, I would like a hat..."
A voice came from the back row of maids.
When I thought of sunscreen, straw hats naturally came to mind. I immediately searched Shangri-La and bought a ¥1,400 straw hat for everyone.
"They're all the same, so don't complain."
"Master, this is such a beautiful hat. Was it made by a master craftsman?"
I thought things like this were probably machine-woven, though...
"Amaranthus—how do nobles prevent sunburn? I didn't see any sunburned nobles in the royal capital."
"They wear thick clothing or use portable tents."
"Tents?"
When I asked about it, she explained that they were like parasols: they assembled a one-person tent and stayed inside it.
Kanan would be fine with a straw hat for working, so I bought a parasol for Amaranthus.
It cost about ¥3,000. The outside was white, the underside black, and it had frills around the edge.
I had never used a parasol before, so I had no idea how much sunlight it could block.
I opened it to test it.
"This really does make proper shade. Here, Amaranthus. Use it to make a shadow and stand inside."
I handed the parasol to her.
"This is a splendid, lightweight portable tent!"
She opened the parasol and spun it around happily. I was glad she liked it.
That should be enough for the work going on here...
Julius, the herald, had already begun handling administrative work.
To begin with, he said he would send letters to the various nobles announcing my ennoblement as a margrave and greeting them on my receipt of the fief.
This world had no postal system, so messages were normally carried directly by messengers or entrusted to merchants.
As a brand-new margrave, I had no spare messengers, so I would have to use the Marlowe Trading Company.
I knew absolutely nothing about this kind of administrative work, being a noble amateur myself.
Having Julius here as my herald was an enormous help.
"Now then..."
For now, I decided to go greet the only village in my territory: Santanka.
I took a Ha○ce out of my Item Box.
"Kenichi! Give me one of those little tents too!"
Lilith seemed to have noticed the parasol I had given Amaranthus.
"I'll take one out for you later."
After only a brief exchange, I opened the vehicle door.
"Where are you going?"
"Lilith, come with me for a moment. I'm going to greet the village next to us."
"I see. That makes sense, since its people are residents of Hamada territory."
"I'm coming too!"
"Anemone, we'll be right back after greeting the village, all right?"
"Okay."
I also gave instructions to the beastfolk and Amaranthus.
"Keep watch around the area. We were away for a while, so monsters may have wandered in."
"Got it, Boss." "Nyaa."
Bell, who was the most sensitive to enemies, was sleeping in the sunshine, so I thought we were probably safe...
I drove across the bridge and headed toward the village of Santanka.
It was about three kilometers in a straight line—around four kilometers if we followed the lakeshore, but it was close by car.
A small village of wooden single-story houses came into view. It looked as though there were more houses and people than when I had visited before.
They made dried trout and smoked salmon, so it was probably because there was work available.
I had visited several times before, so I headed straight to the village chief's house.
More rather fine cargo wagons stood outside the village chief's house—a sign that business was thriving.
Lilith and I got out of the vehicle and knocked on the door. Anemone watched from inside the vehicle.
"Village chief! Are you there?!"
After we waited for a while, the village chief appeared.
"What is it?"
The white-haired village chief, who had a short beard on his chin, came to the door.
His clothes had been rather shabby before, but they were much nicer now.
"Long time no see."
"Hmm? Oh, it's you. Have you come to sell something?"
"No. By order of the king, I will be ruling the land around this lake as the Hamada Margraviate, so I came to introduce myself."
"Huh?"
The village chief blinked repeatedly.
"What kind of joke is that? This area is supposed to be part of the Eupatorium Viscounty..."
"It is no joke, old man. This land has been ceded by the viscounty and is now part of the Hamada Margraviate."
"This is Lilith, my principal wife."
"Pleased to meet you."
Even after I showed him the letter from the king, the village chief still seemed unable to believe it—but the decision had already been made.
The villagers, having heard the commotion, began gathering around us.
"Everyone, listen. Nothing will change for now just because this has become a margraviate."
"Is that really true?"
"Yes. If you have any problems, come to me."
As a gift, I handed them vegetable seeds I had bought from Shangri-La.
Most were probably improved hybrids, but I had no idea what would happen if they saved seeds from them.
"Are these vegetable seeds?"
"That yellow grain has already begun to be cultivated in the neighboring viscounty."
"This is grain?"
It would be better to show them the real thing. I took out some corn I had bought earlier from my Item Box.
"This is it."
"Ohhh!" "How peculiar." "Is it really grain?"
"If you dry the kernels and grind them into flour, you can use it like wheat flour."
I had Anemone come over from the vehicle and heat it with magic. White steam immediately rose, and it was ready to eat.
We didn't need a microwave. With magic, we didn't need a washing machine, refrigerator, or microwave either.
Apparently there was even magic for making ice, so we didn't need an ice maker.
No wonder science had never developed here.
The villagers cried out in amazement after tasting the heated corn.
"Delicious!" "It's sweet!" "This is incredible!"
"It won't become this sweet unless you cultivate it properly."
"So if we plant these seeds, this is what the grain will become...?"
The village chief must have been amazed by the corn's flavor too. He stared intently at the yellow kernels.
"That's right."
The villagers discussed the matter among themselves, but at least the initial greeting was over.
They might still have been skeptical, but if anything happened, they could no longer expect help from the viscounty. They would have no choice but to rely on me, and I now had that responsibility.
After explaining this to the villagers, I got back in the vehicle and returned home.
"Kenichi, they seemed to be doing reasonably well. Are you not going to do anything for them?"
"I won't turn it into a village, but I'll have the Marlowe Trading Company open a branch in my territory and do business with them."
"I see. Then you can collect taxes from the Marlowe Trading Company."
This world had no poll tax or resident tax, but merchants registered with the commercial guild were taxed on their profits.
Since I had become a noble, I would have to pay taxes to the kingdom if I ran my territory as a noble and made a profit.
Ordinary people generally paid no taxes, but some cities and territories imposed their own taxes.
Such matters were normally left to the discretion of each territory or city, and residents who could no longer endure harsh taxes sometimes abandoned their farms or fled the territory.
"Well, I have no intention of lining my own pockets."
My family alone could live perfectly well on food bought from Shangri-La and prey obtained in the forest.
"Kenichi, I doubt you will have that problem. But some say that a noble is someone who fattens his own purse, works his subjects to the bone, and keeps them barely alive while denying them a life."
"I would never do that. Let's all be happy together."
"Heh heh... What you say is perfectly reasonable, but it is not very noble of you."
Anemone interrupted from the back seat.
"Hey! Don't cling to him!"
"I am Kenichi's principal wife, you know? Isn't that right, Kenichi? Please embrace me gently, as you did last night."
"That's not fair!"
"Hahaha. How pitiful, how pitiful, to be unable to experience such melting pleasure of body and soul."
"Mmph!"
"Lilith, don't tease Anemone."
While Lilith and Anemone argued, we arrived home.
As soon as we got out of the vehicle, Anemone hugged me and refused to let go.
"Anemone, come on. Let go."
"No!"
I dragged her along and called the beastfolk over.
"I'm going to work on the fields near the lake. Come help me for a bit."
"Sure thing!" "Nyaa!"
When we reached a spot near the water, I bought about twenty sugarcane seedlings from Shangri-La.
Apparently they spread rapidly by sending out rhizomes, so this should be enough.
I wondered if spreading by rhizomes meant they would multiply like Japanese pampas grass or bamboo grass.
I had the shovel I used in my Item Box, but there weren't enough, so I bought more from Shangri-La.
I handed them out to the beastfolk too.
"Bury these."
"Who would have thought this could become sugar?" "Yeah, nya."
"Apparently it spreads rapidly on its own, so it should be easy to cultivate."
"Oh?"
Together, we dug up the lakeside soil and planted the sugarcane.
Lilith had been watching our work and seemed interested.
"If it spreads that easily, the entire kingdom will end up buried in sugar."
"This plant needs an abundance of water to grow."
"Oh? Then the land around this lake is perfect for it."
"Exactly. That's why sugarcane cultivation and sugar production should become industries of this territory."
"Hmm..."
Shangri-La also carried sugar beets, but sugar beets could be grown anywhere.
If I introduced those, it would eliminate Hamada territory's advantage. Don't call that underhanded; this was a competition.
If I was going to do this, I had to win, and the future and livelihoods of everyone who had come here rested on my shoulders.
Once we finished planting, I had Anemone use her growth-boosting magic.
"Mmph! Grow!"
The rhizomes must have spread sideways, because shoots began emerging from places other than where we had planted them.
Every time I saw it, I thought the same thing—this was incredible. Even the technology of my old world couldn't do this.
It was amazing magic, but the plants were not growing without a price. Plants needed water and fertilizer to grow.
Even if we sowed seeds in parched, dead soil and used magic, they would not grow.
To accelerate growth with magic, we would have to add plenty of fertilizer here too.
It would take some time, but once they multiplied to a certain extent, we should be able to harvest them regularly.
"I can't believe this grass can become sugar. Boss, what's next?"
Nyamena was fiddling with a sugarcane leaf curiously.
"This."
I showed them something I had found and bought from Shangri-La.
It was dark brown and shaped like a withered pea, and as its appearance suggested, it was a legume.
I had never seen it growing in person, but Shangri-La's description included a picture of a large tree, so it must be a fruit from a tree.
The sight reminded me of the black locust trees that grew all over my hometown.
Of course, black locust pods were poisonous and therefore useless.
When I split open the dried pod, I took out the brown seeds inside.
"Beans?"
"Something like that. Take a bite."
I handed the seeds to Myaaree and Nyamena, and they popped them into their mouths.
"It's faintly sweet, nya. It tastes a little like iron, maybe?"
"It tastes like that chocolate stuff. Is this what it's made from?"
"This is called carob. It isn't cocoa, the ingredient used to make chocolate, but it can be used in sweets and bread too."
It might even have uses as a spice.
Carob's advantage was that it was a legume.
Legumes could use symbiotic root-nodule bacteria to fix nitrogen from the air, allowing them to grow well regardless of the soil.
"Me too!"
"Me too!"
I gave some carob to Anemone, who was still clinging to me, and to Lilith as well.
"These seeds are nutritious too. They might even be usable in drinks."
"Mmm. It's good."
"Oh, what an unusual flavor! If we gave it to Sanbak-san when he arrives, do you think he could turn it into delicious sweets?"
"Exactly. That's what I'm hoping for."
I would cultivate cocoa too, but I wasn't sure it would grow well, and it was better to have more options.
I took seed-starting pots from my Item Box and planted carob seeds and cocoa seeds I had bought earlier.
Once we finished, I had Anemone use her magic again.
"Grow!"
The seeds planted in the pots sprouted one after another, poking their heads out.
"All right! Let's plant these somewhere with more space."
I placed twenty pots of each kind, forty in total, on a board and stored them in my Item Box.
When we went near the cliff, we found the Linker trees the beastfolk had planted growing there.
I handed the beastfolk shovels again and had them plant the carob seedlings. Since they were trees, it would be better to leave some space between them.
After giving them plenty of water and fertilizer, I had Anemone use her magic again, and they quickly grew to about forty centimeters tall.
Fast! The carob already had visible buds, so it looked as though it was about to bloom.
If flowers could appear on trees this small, that meant they would bear fruit too.
The black locusts multiplied like crazy, but this plant might do the same if we weren't careful.
Once we finished planting the trees, I went to the maids working in the fields.
Wearing the straw hats I had given them, the maids were busy working here and there.
I planted vegetable seeds in seed-starting pots again, watered them, and had Anemone use her magic.
"Why are you putting the seeds in containers like that?"
"Hmm? It's easier to water them and use magic on them if they're all gathered in one place."
If I sowed the seeds directly in the furrows, I would have to walk around individually every time.
"I see."
"It also lets us thin out the ones that germinate poorly while sitting down—it's simple."
"As expected of you, Boss." "Nyaa."
"Indeed, as expected of you, Master."
Mairen's praise embarrassed me, so I made a suggestion.
"Mairen, that 'as expected of you, Master' thing is embarrassing..."
"What are you saying? This is also one of our duties as maids."
They were supposed to obey any order I gave them, but apparently this one was off-limits.
The remark seemed to mean that flattering the master and getting him to work was also one of a maid's duties.
"Haha, I've heard stories of territories nearly collapsing simply because their maids were replaced."
If Lilith said so, it was probably true.
Capable backstage staff supporting a glamorous public stage—such things probably happened fairly often.
Perhaps people thought they controlled the maids by taking them to bed, when in reality they were the ones being manipulated.
We planted the vegetables, which had grown to about ten centimeters in their pots, in the furrows of the fields.
"I see. You thought this through carefully. As expected of a sage."
I wished she would stop that too, but I had created that setting for myself.
Once the fields were full of vegetables, the maids would be able to cook for themselves whenever they wished.
After having a light lunch together, I began the project I had been planning for some time.
It was an attempt to combine a marvel of civilization—heavy machinery, Ko○tsu-san—with fantasy weapons.
My chest swelled with anticipation.