「Mayor, please be careful.」
「Please have a safe trip.」
Rumon lowered his head. Following him, Kohali lowered her head, and her silver hair gently hung down.
「I leave things to you while I'm away.」
After I talked to the sibling, I left the mayor's office.
Two days had passed since the announcement. Although there were slight troubles, Nambonan was moving well under the new structure.
I decided to establish Rumon and Kohali's former mansion, which was among the confiscated residences from the councilors, as the new city hall. It had a splendid appearance, and its location was also good. Above all, there was a bath, which became the deciding factor. A better building might get constructed in the future, but the mansion would serve as the mayor's mansion and the city hall for the time being.
Although called a city hall, its main task was to observe and supervise the council. It was unlike the city hall in my previous world that would perform tasks such as accepting marriage applications, issuing residence certificates, and going around the populace. Hence, there were only a few staffs. It was a small organization with about thirty people; around twenty civil officers transferred from Quordentz house and about ten commoner staffs hired from Nambonan City.
Moreover, those city staffs were working at Nambonan Castle, the council's office. Hence there was only a small number of people left in this mansion. Many of the citizens appeared to be unaware that this mansion also served as the city hall, and they were calling it the mayor's mansion.
I hired Rumon as city staff. I didn't think he would succeed in starting a business, but I thought that he was suitable as an official, based on the evaluation I heard from the council's staff. When I sent an invitation to hire him while they were doing their preparation to leave Nambonan, he surprisingly accepted it. As expected, Rumon most likely considered that it was unrealistic and difficult to travel to a faraway land with a sheltered girl like Kohali.
If I hired Rumon, Kohali would also follow him. This could be considered a package deal or a value set depending on the person. I loved Kohali's gentle smile when she was together with her brother, so I took it as a good deal. I arranged and lent a room similar to a storehouse in the mayor's mansion to the miserable sibling since they had no place to stay. Kohali had been hired to do odd jobs in the mansion, but as expected, she was having a problem in working since she lacked in common sense.
These two weeks had been hectic because of the preparations for the new council election, so I hadn't been able to have sex with Kohali even once. She was included in my package deal, so what was going on here?
Ever since the announcement, I felt that Anna had become friendlier to me. One more step, I believe she'd become madly in love. I had no clue how long that one step would take, though. Maybe I should lavish her with honeyed words the next time we have sex, I thought.
「Young Master, the preparations are done. We can leave at any time.」
「I see.」
Nambonan City had become quite stable, so it had been decided that I would temporarily return to Nyuneri to report the situation to my father. I intended to return after sightseeing at the border with the empire together with my grandfather.
「Grandfather, let's go.」
I lined my horse with my grandfather, who had been waiting on his horse, and advanced through the city. The citizens were aware that I would be returning to Nyuneri and they were looking at us with curiosity. When I lightly waved my hand, they shouted in joy. My popularity as Nambonan's mayor seemed to be going strong. Good.
The walls had already been demolished to some extent, but the area around the gate hadn't yet. The gatekeeper saluted with a smile, and I told him to do his best in protecting the citizens.
「Grandfather, what are you going to do after you arrive at the base?」
「Hm? I plan to go around beating the asses of those slaves while I monitor the progress of the fort.」
The other nobles in the Quordentz Allied Army had captured the routed mercenaries and turned them into slaves. The Quordentz house had bought the slaves on the spot for a low price. As it would be time-consuming to take the group of former mercenaries to their territories, selling them for a reasonable price was easier. The slaves were making an effort in constructing the fort in the defense base, which was our current place of destination this time.
「... If we don't fortify the base, we won't be able to move.」
Although grandfather was the former head, he must follow the orders from my father, who was the current head of our family. Grandfather looked like he wanted to go and raise a bloodbath out of those nobles who he hated so much, but he was apparently going to endure until his task was over. I could see that grandfather was itching to fight. As he wanted to finish the construction and continue the war as early as possible, the slaves would probably be yelled at as they do their work. It would be tough for them.
Quordentz's territory was located between the Levios Kingdom and Jinkaen Empire. It was located west of Levious Kingdom, while it was in the east of Jinkaen Empire. Due to that, Quordentz's territory would expand westwards whenever grandfather attacked and seized the lands from the Empire's nobles. It would be great if the territory expanded in desirable shape, but that wasn't the case. The territory had become like a boomerang in shape. Conquering the area including Nambonan had stretched the border between Quordentz's territory and the Empire sideways. Preparing a defense structure was inevitable for a stable war in the future.
We'd traveled around one day to the west of Nambonan, and we were getting farther away from Nyuneri. The terrain around this area was rugged due to the mountain ranges.
This place, which could be described as a mountainous region, a valley, or even a place along a mountain, was the foremost defense base against the Empire. There was a river tributary to a larger one flowing, and it was considered the boundary line between Quordentz's territory and the territory of the nobles from the Jinkaen Empire. In short, that was the boundary between the Levious Kingdom and the Jinkaen Empire.
「So that's the Empire's defense base?」
As I looked at the distant opposite shore, army facilities were set up around the area, but there were several areas concealed by the wall so I couldn't grasp the number of soldiers inside. According to my grandfather, there weren't enough soldiers for them to launch an invasion, but there was enough to defend against our attack.
On the riverbank of Quordentz's territory, soldier and slaves were quietly doing public works. Glancing at the surroundings, unique stones that could repel magic were neatly arrayed in the area which looked like a material storehouse. Those were the stones we collected when we demolished the walls in Nambonan, and they were brought all the way here. What my father desired the most in Nambonan City was actually this stone that could repel magic—Magic Severing Stone. Even in Nyuneri City, the darkish eerie stone with an oppressive aura was the stone used in the walls which divided the castle town and the urban area. Although called stone, it was practically a material similar to clay, and they wouldn't easily break when struck.
Manufacturing these Magic Severing Stone takes a lot of time, so it was difficult to make up the number. It wasn't something we could immediately prepare. When my father discovered that they were used in the walls of Nambonan City, he apparently thought of putting them into use in the foremost defense base. Still, Nambonan City's business power was astonishing for being able to prepare this much stone. The fact that they spent them to build the walls without sparing shows how much they really feared the nobles.
「It hasn't been long since the construction began, but it looks like thing are progressing well.」
「Well, the soldiers probably want to finish this kind of work as quickly as possible, too.」
When grandfather said those words while looking at the officer-class soldiers, each one of them vehemently nodded their head. I thought public works were boring, but that wasn't the case here. Apparently, they couldn't wait to restart the war with Empire's nobles.
「Nambonan was Young Master's first campaign, so its no wonder that Young Master doesn't know. Normally, the captured city would be in a more terrible state. For us ordinary soldiers, that's where we would reap our rewards.」
Simply put, plundering was allowed to some extent. Since we intended to maintain the structure in Nambonan, grandfather strictly prohibited the soldiers from the plundering acts.
I see. Then it was mostly like a dull war for the ordinary soldiers.
「We weren't able to do anything in the war at Nambonan, so its only natural. We've practically won with just Young Master and the General's magic. And, we only hunted the remnants.」
Another officer-looking soldier said as to rebuke the soldier who grumbled.
Grandfather seemed to agree, so I quietly agreed.
「Do your best. The next war is nearing.」
Life was tough for the Empire's nobles, too.
After we finished observing the border and the defense base, I went on my way back to Nambonan. Grandfather would serve as the chief overseer in the construction, so we separated at the base.
I returned to Nambonan in a day, and once again immediately departed for Nyuneri after preparing the supplies such as foods.
「Where did Young Master go when we returned to Nambonan earlier?」
「Ah, I thought of buying Nambonan's specialty product as a souvenir, but they weren't selling anything good.」
「A souvenir, is it? 」
It would make you want to buy a souvenir when you go sightseeing. I would've bought it instantly if there was a dragon on sword keychain, a wooden figure of a bear, or a wooden board with a 'Friendship, Effort, and Victory' written on it. Unfortunately, there was none. Well, Fanny would probably just feel confused if I gave her such thing. But since I went to Nambonan, I wanted to at least return with some kind of local specialty.
「I heard that there might be something good in a village on the way back. It shouldn't take long, can we drop by there? 」
I passed this area's map which I received from Rumon to my adjutant and asked him if we could drop by the village. The village wasn't that far off our route, so I think it should be fine.
「There's not much danger around this area, so I think there shouldn't be any problem.」
And so, we'd slightly changed our course.
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