Town chapter 85: From town to country, from match to electrical appliances 2
It is after the report that Initia Kingdom invaded a small group of countries has entered. I was staying at the lord"s mansion in case of an unforeseen event.
"Fujiwarsama, I come in"
Reina, who is the head of the Polo Company branch here, enters the office. I called her for one reason.
"Sit down on the sofa. Let"s talk calmly"
A long sofa set across from a small rectangular chair. And when Reina sits down, I stand up from the office desk and sit in front of her, giving her a letter. Not cheap plant paper. It uses high-quality parchment. When Reina received the letter, she looked through it.
"This is from the Royal Palace......is that a request for dispatching troops?"
"Yes, the Royal Palace demands one thousand soldiers. If that isn"t possible, they´re telling me to send a huge amount of wheat. What do you think I should do?"
Once Reina reads the letter to the end, she turns her gaze back up and begins reading from the beginning. She repeated it twice and finally spoke a few words.
"I will sort out the current situation. The population of Fujiwara territory is about 5300 people. If there are no standing troops, if you are going to dispatch troops, you have to collect soldiers first. If you want to recruit soldiers, life here is rich, therefore it seems that there are few people applying for it. So if you respond to the request for dispatching troops, you will need to recruit them forcibly"
After all a former n.o.ble is reliable. She had a lot of cooperation with the management of the territory, so she knew everything about the territory, including people, fields, and taxes. I told her 「I agree」and I continue Reina"s words.
"Although the gap between the genders of the village has largely been filled, there are still many men. Therefore, it is possible to collect a thousand soldiers if it is a condition of compulsion. But this is worth 20 percent of the population ratio in the territory, and if the conscription were to be carried out, this Fujiwara territory would almost cease to function"
Reina nods to my words and takes over.
"So what about sending wheat? The main crop in the territory is potatoes and only a small amount of wheat is being produced. Combine what you collected from the village and saved for emergency use. I think it"s enough, but it"s too involuntary and it can seriously undermine the trust you have built so far"
It looks like calm words with no color, but there is a strong denial hidden. Reina may be opposed to either dispatching troops or offering wheat.
"How far will other lords partic.i.p.ate in this battle?"
"Those who are loyal to the country. Those who partic.i.p.ate in the desire to win. Those who offer only food. Those who wait for a chance while hesitating to respond to the demands of the Royal Palace. I think half of the people who actively partic.i.p.ate in the fight from the beginning should be there"
There are many feudal nations on this continent. The state is a very big t.i.tle, but the fact is that the centralization is thin and the royal palace is a collection of small countries. Among that, the ruler"s power is weak and the local lord"s power are the Dryad Kingdom, so Reina"s expected lord"s actions were natural. Absolute monarchy is different.
"Can the Dryad Kingdom win?"
"If the eastern reinforcements are in time or depending on the movement of the Youju Empire in the south, it be so. However the other party is not incompetent either. You should work out a plan"
Hmm, apart from using my head. The outcome of the battle is not yet predictable. So what happens if I ignore the request from the Royal Palace? Needless to say. If the Dryad Kingdom won, I would be the first sacrifice among those who didn"t partic.i.p.ate in the battle. Ah, it doesn"t mean that I´m killed, but it means I´m sucked up to the bone marrow in a money sense.
"Okay, let"s send the wheat. Of course, there is no collection from the residents"
"......As I said earlier, it"s not enough to empty the warehouse. Even if you want to buy it from a merchant, the price of wheat has been tremendously high here. I think it will cost a lot of money right now"
Since potatoes came out, the price of wheat has dropped, albeit little by little. There may be a reaction. Unpreserved wheat, which is not found in potatoes, was priced as impossible as it is now for rations and refraining from war.
But there is that. I have the ability. If I can"t buy it from a merchant, I can buy it with my ability.
"It"s okay. There"s a stockpile of wheat"
By those words, Reina was silent. She doesn"t know my ability, but she knows the anomaly of me.
"――That"s it. I"m sorry, but I"d like to ask Polo Company to transport it. I"d like you to observe the battle. Of course, safety comes first"
"......Can I get a risk allowance for those in charge?"
"Five jars of pepper"
"Okay"
There is courtesy in the intimate relation. Mutual trust is maintained only by paying compensation for labor.
Initia Kingdom, led by Reanis, who defeated the small country group, revealed his ambition. That is, the seat of the Pope and the conquest of the continent. The sentence was sent to various places and Reanis insisted on the legitimacy of taking the seat of the pope in the sentence and even wrote down the current Pope"s wrongdoings and goofy failures. It was the people of the continent who read――the present Pope´s failure story――half of the story seemed to be foolish, but everything that was written is true.
Anyway, Initia Kingdom suddenly exposed the ambition of continental domination. It was the Dryad kingdom that trembled most. If you ask a hundred people the question of which country will be attacked next, they will answer the Dryad Kingdom.
There is no need to sit down and wait until the enemy is invading. Edenstam, the prime minister of Dryad Kingdom, immediately organized an army and sent it to the territory that would be the front line before the enemy attacked. Edenstam"s strategy is thorough defense. Now that the ambitions of Initia Kingdom have been revealed, the eastern countries and the Rashia Church cannot be silent. Eventually reinforcements will come in the form of an large army. Until then, they just have to survive.
Thus, as all people expected, Initia Kingdom invaded Dryad Kingdom――in the territory of Duke Corland.
The defending Dryad Kingdom army is confined to the castle like a turtle against the offensive Initia Kingdom army. Those who had watched over the course of the battle would wonder how long it would last. Unexpectedly, however, the battle in Duke Corland´s territory was settled at a surprising speed.
"Report! Duke Corland has fallen!"
"Whaaaattt!!"
Edenstam"s scream resounded in the office. It was a time when he was faced with more work than always, when the duty was not to be kept behind even if it was a war.
Each lord is told not to leave the castle, and the front line has sent reinforcements from the capital and back territories before the Initia Kingdom army invaded. The defense posture is just right. However, he screams because the southern point fell within a few days after the report of the Initia army"s invasion.
"The fact is, that Duke Corland worked with the enemy from the beginning, set fire on the allied camp when everyone was asleep at night, opened the gate and called the enemy forces into the castle"
"Fo, Fool......!"
The battle had already been decided even before it began. The Dryad Kingdom sent reinforcements to the front line to defend itself, which was incorporated into the enemy"s grand total. Even so, the most unforgivable thing is that Duke Corland betrayed the country before the war began.
"A blood relative of the Queen rebelled......? d.a.m.n! That shameless sparrow!"
When Edenstam´s whole body flushed, he was exposed to a fierce rage that only spit blood toward a traitor who is not here. And there comes a new messenger.
"Re, Report!"
Although the messenger was out of breath, there is no room for Edenstam to care for it. Thaty why he uttered "What!" in a frustrated tone. However, the boiling heat quickly becomes cold like a winter icy pond.
"Rein, Reinforcement as soon as possible! The castle walls are almost useless before the enemy"s new weapon! Two bastions have already fallen beyond the territory of Duke Corland and perhaps one more has fallen by now!!"
"Wh, Whaatt!? Tell me more!"
"Ye, Yes, that is――"
"――They were shooting a metal ball from a large tube......?"
"Yes"
Lord"s mansion. While sitting in the office, I was listening to the situation of the battlefield from the Polo Company´s messenger who had returned early. The content is truly amazing. A large cylinder and a metal ball. It was a cannon. Definitely.
In my heart, I have a suspicion that there was someone with the ability to build a town like me. If so, there must be other weapons.
"Did they have any other weapons? What about the weapons they carried with them personally? Did they have anything like a thin tube?"
"No, I "m sorry. I don"t know"
"Vehicle? Was there an iron car that moved by itself?"
"I"m sorry, that"s a little too"
The Polo Company´s messenger only responded that he didn"t know, but as I asked questions, I began to become calmer. If I think about it, it"s more likely that they developed a cannon using their knowledge of j.a.pan than [The ability to create a town].
I don"t know, but somebody knew how to make gunpowder. As long as there is a useful thing called magic, the processing of the gun barrel is easy and if they have a certain amount of physical thinking, they will be able to make a cannon by trial and error.
"Do you know the formation of the Initia Kingdom generals?"
"This is the names of the people partic.i.p.ating in the battle this time"
Reina, who was listening from the side, offered me a parchment. I take it and look at it from the top.
――There. Fourth from the top. Left General Yoshiki Komatsuna. The unique sound that is rare on this continent is definitely a j.a.panese name. I change my speaking partner to Reina.
"Anyway, is it okay for the Dryad Kingdom to escape from the defeat?"
"No doubt, the Youju Empire sent troops to the small country that had just been conquered and tried to divide the Initia Kingdom"s army from its home country. Immediately after that, there was a rebellion in the country. The eastern countries have not yet gathered together and don"t try to move with half-hearted forces. No, there is a clause waiting for the Dryad Kingdom to be conquered. They"re trying to make the pie bigger."
Reina´s great idea. The pie is the fruit of the war. If they defeat Initia Kingdom, which defeated Dryad Kingdom, the land will be entirely theirs. However, it is a story if Initia Kingdom wins.
"How does the royal palace move from now on? Is there a surrender?"
"I can"t predict. A surrender means the death of Dryad Kingdom´s royal family. I have heard that in the small country group, all the clans of the rulers were killed to break the roots of evil There is no exception here. The royal family will be in trouble for killing everyone"
"I see"
There is no help for this. That is the duty of the royal family. Soldiers fight for life and death on the battlefield, but the king decides whether life or death is the result of the war.
But what happens to me, the lord, that the king is okay? The other country is the one who tries to start a war. If there is a j.a.panese on the other side, they will know about me soon.
No, they may already be investigating me. Anyway, the name of my territory is "Fujiwara" territory. Am I waiting for the surrender to be used or killed?
What happens if I confront them? The opponent has a large weapon called cannon. This is a threat. On the other hand, there are only a limited number of opponents to whom I can deliver weapons. Even if there is a weapon, the one who uses it――they have little human strength.
Then will I run away? I thought no. I am the lord. Isn"t it a betrayal to abandon the residents of my territory? In addition, there is a feeling that it has finally come here. Population and money.
"It"s 1.36 trillion. For the last three and a half years, I"ve made a lot of money"
Reina looked mysteriously at my muttering.
"No, nothing. Matter being discussed"
Dying, being used by someone, or abandoning this territory, I was really in a dilemma. I will do my best with my own hands. They know nothing but me and the people around me. Even if they are also j.a.panese people.
"Reina get on the track"
"Is it the iron car? Well, I"ve only heard of it"
"There is a hurry. Sorry, can you get on the truck and ask the royal palace to make use of it?"
We don"t have time. From now on, we"re going to be fighting every minute and every second.
What is missing now? It"s a foolish question. It seems stupid to think that there are too many things that are missing. However, if it is not enough, I can add it.