#10. A Chance to Turn My Life Around

#10. A Chance to Turn My Life Around

The Grand Duke's castle office.

When Kylan's eyes met Eleanor's as she served him warm tea, he suddenly broached the subject.

"What do you say we officially hold our wedding ceremony now?"

In fact, it was something he had brought up once right after she arrived in the North.

At the time, they had agreed to wait until things in the North had been sorted out to some extent.

After all, they had been on the verge of bankruptcy.

But now, the territory's finances were finally turning a slight profit. All thanks to his lovely wife.

"I think the time has come."

Eleanor stood there, unable to say a word.

Her lips were smiling, but her eyes looked deeply troubled.

Kylan's impatience only grew, and he continued.

"We can't go on like this without even holding a wedding ceremony. I want to officially announce it to the entire continent now. That our beautiful Imperial Princess has become mine."

Kylan's shameless flirting sent Eleanor's pale cheeks flushing red. The temperature in the room shot up along with her changing emotions.

'She's so easy to read at times like this.'

But the room remained hot only briefly before Eleanor's eyes once again took on the cold gaze of the finance minister.

"Not yet, Your Grace."

"...Why not?"

"We need to begin the urban development immediately, and there is no budget to waste on a banquet and ceremony where the money would simply disappear without purpose. To me, the moment Your Grace gave me the ring was no different from a wedding ceremony."

It was a touching and commendable thing to say. But this was not an issue they could simply brush aside with a few words.

"We can't just skip the wedding ceremony. This time, I must insist."

In noble society, a wedding ceremony was an occasion for a family to display its wealth and power.

But what if the Grand Duke of the North took a woman as his wife and simply skipped the ceremony?

The imperial family, not to mention some of the northern nobles, would look down on Eleanor in private.

"I absolutely cannot stand by and watch people look down on you."

"Your Grace...."

Kylan's firm voice made Eleanor's eyes tremble. She took his large hand and spoke carefully.

"Then... how about we hold the ceremony once the North can truly afford to celebrate us? Just as Your Grace wishes, we can show it off to the imperial family once Winterwald has become the finest commercial city on the continent."

She wiped away her tears and gave him a coquettish smile.

"If we invite the Empire's merchant magnates and nobles, then... we can recover the banquet expenses through the gifts they bring and still make an enormous profit."

Kylan felt momentarily dizzy at the talk of 'recovering the wedding gifts,' something that would normally only come up between spouses in modern society.

But every word she said made perfect sense.

If they sent VIP invitations to merchant magnates who could smell money, those men would come bearing tributes by the wagonload just to make an impression on the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess.

Even understanding all that, Kylan let out a deep sigh.

"...How frustrating. When will the day finally come when Winterwald is that prosperous?"

Eleanor beamed and held out a bundle of parchment.

"It will come soon enough if Your Grace keeps approving the territory's proposals."

"Haa... You really are a wicked woman."

Kylan returned to his paperwork with tears in his eyes. Even the Grand Duke of the North himself could no longer stop the march toward the territory's prosperity.

***

A few weeks later. The Grand Duke's castle conference room.

All the nobles, busy with their respective duties, made time to gather.

It was the first working meeting for Eleanor's ambitious 'Winterwald Urban Development Plan.'

First to present his report was Viscount Argen, the civil-works official responsible for Winterwald's territorial facilities and rampart repairs. His expression was grave.

"The blueprints Your Highness prepared are... hm. They're nearly flawless. Any shortages of materials can also be resolved through imports... Even so, there is one problem."

"What is it?"

"There are no laborers to build the structures. All the young men in the North are making a fuss about joining the guild."

Kylan felt as though someone had struck him in the back of the head.

When he thought about it, it was only natural.

"Now that the men have started earning fortunes hunting monsters, no one wants to do grueling manual labor anymore."

Compared to hauling heavy stones all day, poking a finger into a feeble goblin's chest and popping out its magic stone was more profitable from the perspective of the northern residents.

Besides, they could receive all sorts of benefits and even train for free. Who would willingly choose backbreaking labor?

At present, the North's construction sites held no one but nobles who needed to repay embezzled funds and a few criminals.

'This is insane. We need to build the buildings so we can collect rent from the merchants! That's the only way we can hold the wedding ceremony too.'

Kylan desperately racked his brain.

There were no laborers, yet people were pouring in.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the streets were filled with homeless people.

But if they openly revealed that they were short on construction workers, laborers from the other continents would demand two or three times the usual wages.

The North did not currently possess that much wealth.

They had already spent a considerable sum constructing essential buildings such as the guild, training camp, slaughterhouse, and clinic, and much of the property seized from the nobles had yet to be converted into cash.

'Wait. Why are we building these with our own money? Can't we get advance payments from the people who will move in?'

Recalling knowledge from his previous life, Kylan slapped the table.

"Walter. You said it was becoming troublesome with so many adventurers coming from the Central Continent, didn't you?"

"No, Your Grace. I only mentioned it because I thought the training camp might not be able to accommodate them, but it is fine now. There don't seem to be many adventurers who can endure the harsh training."

That was even better.

It meant that the people who had been unable to survive even on the Central Continent and had come all the way North were now being outmatched by ordinary northern residents and wandering the streets.

"Their number must have already exceeded several hundred. Viscount Argen, somehow recruit the adventurers who came from the South and Central Continents as construction laborers. If the budget is insufficient, proceed by selling the buildings in advance to make up the difference."

"Pardon...? How can you sell buildings that haven't even been built yet?"

"Sell the right to move in ahead of time. What's the problem?"

Kylan began explaining the real-estate pre-sale system to Eleanor and his retainers.

"We collect the deposits in advance before construction begins. We use that money to purchase whatever building materials we lack and hire the laborers we need. The territory's capital investment can be kept to a minimum."

"But Your Grace! Who would pay a fortune just looking at an empty patch of dirt?"

"No, they will pay. It's a project I'm personally undertaking. Who would doubt it?"

Rumors—absurd rumors that were not entirely baseless—were already circulating throughout the Empire that everyone in the North had become fabulously wealthy by selling magic stones.

Who did people think was the richest person in the North?

Wouldn't they assume it was the Grand Duke of the North, who swept up magic stones whenever a monster wave arrived and even collected taxes from the northern residents?

There was no way anyone would doubt a building project led by Kylan himself.

Kylan gave a sly grin.

"And let's create a system allowing those who provide labor at the construction sites to secure the best buildings first. If there are adventurers having trouble because they have nowhere to sleep, tell them to come work at the construction sites. What good is it to leave the unsold noble mansions sitting empty? We can at least let the adventurers sleep there. Oh, be sure to include a clause stating that their occupancy rights will be revoked immediately if they damage the mansions."

The retainers gaped. He was taking money for buildings that had not even been constructed, and he even intended to use the future tenants as construction laborers.

There had never been a con artist like him.

But apparently, Eleanor, who understood the Empire's tax laws inside and out, saw things differently.

"As expected, Your Grace. You are a genius!"

Eleanor gazed at her husband with admiration.

"What a perfect way to make people open their own wallets and work with their own hands without spending even a single coin of the territory's capital...! Your Grace! I will draft and distribute the notices starting today!"

The retainers still looked utterly baffled as they glanced back and forth between the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess.

In any case, given that the order came from the couple who had turned around the North's deficit-ridden finances, there was no reason not to obey.

***

Winterwald territory.

Adventurers who had made their own way up from the warm South were huddled miserably, shivering.

"B-Boss. It's so cold I think my toes are going to freeze off...."

"That's why I said we should just pay one gold to stay somewhere... They said we could even take a bath in warm water...."

"Fuck, how does one gold for a single night make any sense...? Shut up and pull the blanket tighter over yourself!"

Gale, the veteran adventurer from the South, and his party members were chattering their teeth and trembling as they huddled around a small wood fire.

Recently, rumors that the North was a place to make money had spread, and merchants and mercenaries from every corner of the Empire had rushed there like mad.

As a result, even the shabby inns and stables within the territory were already packed.

No matter how much they offered now, there was nowhere left for them to stay.

"Boss... Didn't we make more than two gold today alone...?"

"Yeah... What good is earning it if there's nowhere to spend it?"

"Heh heh. Still, I'm happy. We've never earned this much before."

That's right.

They had truly been happy as adventurers for the first time in a very long while.

Their bodies were exhausted, but gold coins jingled in their pockets.

They were in such a miserable state that they had to huddle around a campfire and share each other's body heat to avoid freezing to death, yet they still felt like grinning.

"Boss. My dream is to sleep in a room with a warm fireplace. With a woman, too."

"...Tomorrow, let's at least look for a cheap stable."

The next morning, after spending a hellish night wide awake.

Gale's party dragged their weary bodies to the guild. Once again, adventurers were crowding around the guild bulletin board and causing a commotion.

"Did an interesting quest come in, Rick?"

"Ah, yes, Boss."

Rick slipped between the people with practiced movements.

A short while later, Rick emerged from the crowd with his face flushed red, having forgotten all about the cold.

"B-Boss! This is huge!"

"Why!? Is it that good?"

"No. I can't read, remember."

"You idiot."

Gale rapped Rick on the head and slowly read through the parchment.

[Winterwald New City Construction Workers Wanted]

Pay: 16 silver for adventurers only (twice the existing daily wage)

Adventurers who participate as construction workers will be given first-come, first-served rental access to grand mansions formerly used by nobles.

[Winterwald New City Pre-Sale Announcement]

Occupancy rights will be granted to those who prepay the deposit for a newly constructed building!

Deposits may be discounted in proportion to the number of days worked at the construction site.

"Pre-sale... occupancy rights...? What in the world does any of this mean?"

Gale took the time to understand the notice, then explained it in simple terms to his younger brothers.

Their reaction was exactly what he had expected.

"Sixteen silver a day...? That's kind of iffy. Wouldn't it be better to just hunt goblins?"

"That's right, Boss. If this were the Southern Continent, we'd do it without hesitation, but here, there's no real reason to...."

Gale shook his head.

"Can't you do the math? How much was that cheap inn room you looked into yesterday?"

"Well... The price was whatever the innkeeper wanted, so it had risen as high as one gold for a single room... Gasp!"

Gale's hand began to tremble.

Rick and the other idiots were thinking only about the immediate lodging cost, but that was not the issue at all.

Winterwald would become an incredible city in the future.

It meant that if they provided labor now, they could secure the good land... and the buildings... before anyone else!

"Come on, boys. No more luxuries until we've secured a house."

"Boss, I suddenly have no idea what you're talking about. Gasp... Don't tell me sleeping out in the cold yesterday froze your brain...."

"Shut up and just follow me. Trust me. Do you want to spend your whole life moving from stable to stable? Or do you want to secure a new home here in the North?"

Gale thought to himself. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change his life—and the lives of his idiot younger brothers—for good.