A Lord’s Business, Arte’s Battle

We made money by defeating the demonic beasts that came quite often and selling the materials. However, the Belrango Trading Company is on the verge of a financial crunch.

The inventory of arrows is running low, so please create them.

The sewage system in some of the houses has been clogged. We could not flush the water. Please take care of this as soon as possible because of the smell.

Andre’s third child was born. Please name it Van-sama.

We are short of carriages. According to the Chamber of Commerce, the horse-drawn carriages on the market have considerably worse performance than those in Seat Village, but they are expensive. If possible, I would like Van-sama to make one for me.

New residents have arrived. The number of people is fifty, but ten of them wish to join the knighthood. Please give us an interview.

The large amount of work Espada mentioned was piling up in the office.

“…Ask if there are any new residents who can work at the Belrango Chamber of Commerce. If there are any, I’ll interview that person along with the knighthood interview. When we are making the consumables, we should also make a carriage. Do we have enough horses? We don’t want the toilets to smell. Shall we unclog it first? How about Andre’s child…Van Damme? Sounds strong, right?”

I quickly decide on a course of action and quickly go straight to the site.

Something is not right.

“Oh, Van-sama!

“Amie, it’s been a long time. Thanks to you, I’m safe. Thanks for your concern. Oh, you said you had a clogged toilet? Did you flush something funny?

“No, just some bark to wipe my butt…”

“…That’s it. Van, the detective, recognized it at once. Next time, could you please buy toilet paper at Belrango Trading Company? They have cheap prices on household items, so it’s not expensive.”

“Oh, thank you…! I’ll use the toilet paper from now on!”

“…Okay, the blockage is cleared. I’ve widened the size of the sewer line, so maybe we’ll be okay from here on out? Well, I’ll have to go to the next place.”

“Oh, thank you! Van-sama is the best! Van-sama lived up to their reputation of being fast, courteous, and inexpensive!”

“Where have I heard that catchphrase before!”

And by the time they were busy maintaining the toilets and sewage lines, I began to have doubts about the Lords’ work in earnest.

Was it the job of a lord to go around solving water problems like this?

Well, everyone is happy, so it’s okay.

“Yes, a thousand arrows. Materials are running low, so please ask the Adventurers’ Guild for a material procurement request. Oh, I made sure the wagon is an armored wagon, okay? If you put down the mobile ballista, it can hold a lot of stuff.”

“Thank you! Oh, by the way, the peddler said he wanted one of these carriages…”

“One white gold coin per carriage. Ask him next time you come by.

“Yes, sir!”

Making things is also a lord’s job… No, I don’t think about it anymore. I just work as a machine for making things.

After doing various jobs like that, I had a meeting with Bell at the lord’s mansion.

“I’ve asked a peddler I know to transport materials for a new magical beast, and I’ve sent out requests to transport it, but I’ve reached my limit.”

“Oh.”

I nod at Bell, who looks exhausted from the very beginning, with a serious expression on my face.

Bell dropped his shoulders with a sigh and opened his mouth.

“This place is the closest to the Wolfsburg Mountains, so it is inevitable that there are many magical beasts here. However, Seat Village has been dealing with large demonic beasts that we would normally only be able to drive away, but we have been able to defeat them all and recover the materials. Besides, the materials are in excellent condition.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

I replied, and Bell looked at me reproachfully.

“It’s good to make money. We give special rewards to those who make over a certain number of sales each time so that there is no disparity in the number of employees in the future, and we can sell commodities and food at low prices to give back to the villagers, as Van-sama mentioned. But it was clearly too conspicuous.”

“Conspicuous?”

I asked back, tilting my head, and Bell nodded broadly.

“In a manner of speaking, we had dispersed to sell materials to other large cities besides the Royal Capital, but it is still an unusual situation for such valuable magical beast materials to appear on the market so continuously. As a result, we have learned that there will apparently be an on-site investigation by the commercial guild in the near future.”

“Didn’t they come before?”

“No, just an investigation of the merchants of Mary’s Chamber of Commerce, the Kingdom, and the Adventurers’ Guild. Each of the merchant guilds in this country are also a member of the Commerce Guild, but it was not uncommon for us to receive surveys from the Commerce Guild. However, it is highly unusual for a small fiefdom in a remote area like this to receive an investigation!”

I feel like I’ve been casually dissed, but don’t let that bother you; Bell doesn’t give me the airs to joke about it.

“Oh, the Commercial Guild, the world’s largest guild based on the neighboring continent…”

“Yes, that’s them! It hasn’t made much of a splash on this continent yet, but on the continent neighboring ours, it’s the largest guild in both name and reality.”

“Why would that commercial guild come to a place like this…”

I said with a sigh, and Bell looked at me with resentful eyes.

“Well, I’m thinking about the possibility that they are colluding behind the scenes with Mary’s Chamber of Commerce and the Kingdom. Commercial guilds don’t charge anything but admission fees from extremely small chambers of commerce to increase the number of members. If this were a large guild, they would take a portion of the sales.”

“I see. I guess they will come to investigate that. I wonder if the people from Mary’s Trading Company will come with us?”

When I confirmed this, Bell nodded.

“Of course. The most suspicious is probably the Mary Chamber of Commerce. It should be a small trading company in a small territory that happens to have amassed a huge amount of wealth, and they will take all the profits. That’s what they must suspect.”

“If the suspicions were true, it would have been a problem, but we didn’t do anything wrong, so I think it’s okay, don’t you?”

Bell snorts in disgust as he replies.

“No, it’s not that simple. I heard that commercial guilds are investigated in considerable detail. That’s precisely what they suspect, even the complicity of the lords. In other words…”

“Me too…?”

Tilting his head, Bell nodded deeply.

***

[Arte]

As we continued down the street, we came upon a nostalgic landscape.

Wheat fields and a dragon carriage with a bipedal sub-dragon. In Count Ferdinand’s domain, where the distance between towns and villages is relatively short, dragon carts, which are slower than horse-drawn carriages but sturdier, are often used.

However, the situation was different now compared to usual.

Normally, the streets would be a bit busier with peddlers, adventurers, and the like.

“…I wonder if they are invading to take advantage of the Count’s absence, just like Freightliner said.”

When Ortho-san mentioned this, Pluriel-san raised his eyebrows.

“Don’t say that kind of thing in front of Arte-sama.”

Xsara-san nodded with crossed arms to Pluriel-san, who warned him with an exasperated look.

“That’s right, Ortho’s husband. Attention to detail is the secret to being popular, right?”

“Ngugu…you’re getting carried away just because you got a super-beautiful wife…”

Hearing such conversation, I can’t help but laugh as well.

The invasion of Jiernetta’s kingdom is worrisome, but there’s no point in being impatient; Van-sama would never be in a hurry. He makes jokes and other pleasantries to put those around him at ease.

At first, I thought Van-sama just had an unshakable iron heart, but that is not true.

Van-sama is not impatient, frightened, or crying because of his heart and pride as a nobleman.

When Van-sama, who leads everyone, is unwavering and shows his composure, his subordinates can demonstrate their abilities without hesitation.

“…Thank you for your concern. First, let’s head straight for the city while gathering information. The castle town is surrounded by walls. Don’t be in a hurry, but you will definitely make it in time.”

When he smiled after saying that, Ortho-san and the others blinked their eyes, then laughed and nodded in admiration.