Chapter 23 - 23 Migration Begins
A Third Village was established in the Archibalt Territory.
The characteristic of this Third Village was the absence of fields. A factory was installed in the center of the village, with water drawn there from the river via irrigation channels. Surrounding the factory were warehouses, shops, and residences. The shops doubled as cafeterias, where one could buy groceries or eat meals.
The residents did not pay taxes; instead, a system was in place where they received wages from House Archibalt. The profits from the manufactured goods were intended to serve the role of taxes.
Regarding the migration, Steve did not use his magic to bring people over; everything was entrusted to the Emmanuel Trading Company. While Steve's Teleportation was known to a few, its handling was treated as a top-priority secret.
And so, today was the arrival day for the first wave of migrants. The residents were all filled with anticipation and anxiety.
Among those residents was a girl named Lala. Lala was twelve years old, and her parents, who were farmers, had been unable to withstand Viscount Karsh's tax increases. They were agonizing over whether to sell Lala when the talk of migration came along. Seeing it as a godsend, they applied and were selected for the migration quota.
The family consisted of four people: the parents, Lala, and her ten-year-old younger brother.
Not only in Viscount Karsh's territory, but also in the lands of the nobles who had defied Aurora by hoarding copper, stories of such self-selling were appearing quite frequently. If it was not a kidnapping but a sale agreed upon between parents and a merchant, it was not illegal, and the nobility could not crack down on it.
And naturally, those who were sold would receive terrible treatment. Working as prostitutes or mine laborers was on the better side; if sold to criminal organizations and the like, they would certainly be used as disposable tools.
Though Lala was fortunate enough to have her migration decided just before being sold, her parents were voicing anxieties that the conditions were too good and that it might actually turn out to be a much worse job. Influenced by this, she herself harbored a vague sense of unease.
For a farmer, twelve years old is an age where one is already helping with their parents' work, but being a minor, she still had little social experience. She couldn't even imagine what a "terrible job" would be, but as she was swayed by the carriage carrying the migrants, she wondered if it would be painful or hot.
"Father, if it's a job that's painful or hot, can we go back to our old house?"
Lala's father was startled by that question and hurriedly covered Lala's mouth with his hand. Then, he cautioned Lala in a small voice.
"Don't say such things. If a noble were to snitch on this, there's no telling what kind of fate we'd be subjected to."
Lala nodded after being told that by her father.
The surrounding families were the same; feeling that getting involved would be troublesome, they watched the coachman intently. However, the coachman showed no particular movement, and realizing there would be no punishment on the spot, they felt relieved. However, they still didn't know what would happen upon arrival, and everyone thought to leave this carriage as soon as they arrived.
This wasn't necessarily because Viscount Karsh was practicing misgovernment; in the Kingdom of Cascade, if a noble was spoken ill of by a commoner, correcting that rudeness was recognized as a right, and "correcting" was often understood as synonymous with killing.
Saying that something terrible might be done to them, as Lala had, sufficiently met the conditions for being rude, and it was not something one could complain about even if they were killed.
Just as Lala became full of anxiety, the carriage carrying the migrants stopped. It was time for the midday break, and both horses and people were to have a meal. Since they were transporting residents who had no money, all food expenses were covered by House Archibalt, paid in advance to the Emmanuel Trading Company.
Because of this, bread was distributed to the residents by the company. It was hard bread, but since salty soup was also distributed with it, they managed to eat it by soaking the bread to soften it.
A little while into the break, a girl about the same age as Lala was seen coming back after catching a bird. Lala didn't know it at the time, but this was Bella, who had come along as an escort. Bella, who used to hunt with Steve and Abel, had now become a hunter who put adults to shame. She was serving as an escort because her skills were highly valued. Incidentally, Abel was also serving as an escort for a different group.
Since there were twenty people in total, the amount of meat each person could eat was small, but Lala was moved by the taste of the salty grilled chicken. Bella came over to such a Lala and sat down next to her.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Bella. I'm glad there's a kid around the same age among the people migrating. You, what's your name?"
"I'm Lala. Are you from the place we're going?"
"That's right."
Because a girl of the same age had come, Lala tried asking the question her father had stopped.
"Is it not scary?"
"Scary? What is?"
Not understanding the intent of Lala's question, Bella asked back. Her parents were startled and tried to stop Lala, but they weren't in time, and Lala's mouth opened.
"Do you have painful experiences at work, or is the Lord scary?"
Bella burst out laughing at that question.
"There's nothing painful. Well, it hurts if you trip, but if you're careful yourself, there's nothing painful. The Lord is scary, but only when I play pranks with Steve. Ah, Steve is the name of the Lord's child. He's not scary if you don't play pranks, but I think you'll gradually get the urge to try and prank him without getting caught. If you like, I'll tell you what kind of pranks have been found out so far next time."
"Really? Then, I'll go play when we get to the village."
Lala said innocently to Bella, but her parents were on pins and needles. If the girl who had just arrived was a spy sent by the Lord, this conversation would undoubtedly be reported.
Even if they wanted to stop the conversation, at this point, stopping it felt like it would be even worse.
Having no choice, they asked the coachman about Bella's identity.
"Excuse me, that girl talking to our daughter... is she the child of someone important?"
"Ah, Bella-chan? Her parents are commoners, but why do you ask?"
"If she were someone of high status, I was worried my daughter might be speaking rudely."
"Then it's fine. That girl herself is rude. I was also worried she'd be struck down for her insolence when I first saw her speaking casually with Steve-sama, the Lord's son, but Steve-sama didn't seem to mind at all. I travel to various territories for business, but House Archibalt isn't strict about that sort of thing compared to other nobles."
The coachman had visited the Archibalt Territory many times and had a favorable impression of Brian and Steve, who did not brandish their status as nobles unlike other aristocrats.
Being a newly established Knightly House that also caused hardships for its people, House Archibalt's domain management would fail if they took an arrogant attitude and the people fled, so they inevitably became humble. However, neither Lala's father nor the coachman understood such circumstances.
To the coachman, they simply appeared to be good people.
"But that's probably how it's been until now. There's no telling what will happen to new faces like us."
"Well, yeah. But regarding this migration, I heard House Archibalt paid a considerable sum to the Margrave. So, I don't think they'd do something like killing you easily. Well, there are plenty of nobles who'd kill without thinking about that, though."
It was incorrect that House Archibalt had paid Margrave Sowell regarding the migration. To be precise, they had refrained from taking their share of the market profits, but rumors tend to grow, and that was how it had been conveyed to the coachman.
And hearing that, Lala's father, not knowing the actual amount, felt his anxiety increase over what kind of harsh work they would be given. It was the assumption that if they paid, say, ten gold coins, they would demand at least twenty gold coins' worth of work.
"Hey, I wonder if it'll be harsh work like mine development?"
"There aren't any mines in that territory. Besides, the talk is that this batch of migrants is for making products to sell to us. Didn't you hear that explanation?"
"Yeah. It was that we'd be working as industrial workers instead of in agriculture. The explanation was that we'd be working while receiving wages."
"I've carried prototypes of those products a few times, but they didn't look like they were made with very harsh work."
"Is that true?"
"Yeah. That's the truth."
The father felt relieved hearing that. After all, they were the first group of migrants, so no rumors, good or bad, reached them. That was exactly why they were so anxious.
He didn't know if the coachman's story was true, but since that was the only information available now, he believed it and felt at ease.
Then, they safely arrived at the Third Village of the Archibalt Territory. There, a room in a tenement house was given to Lala's family.
Lala and her family were moved by the 2LDK layout. It had more rooms than their previous house, which only had a living room and a bedroom. Since it was a tenement house, they were cautioned to be quiet at night because sound would leak to the neighbors, but such warnings didn't enter Lala's ears.
Since today was the first day, the parents didn't have to go to work. However, they were told they would be going to work starting tomorrow. And Lala would be attending school.
This school was an institution that taught reading, writing, and arithmetic necessary for work. Based on Steve's opinion, it was decided to create an organization to provide the education necessary to have them work as operators. This was because, from his experience hiring foreigners in his previous life, he had felt the necessity after struggling with people who couldn't read standard work procedures, couldn't read the text on start-up inspections or initial product check sheets, or couldn't perform calculations.
Cyril was involved in the operation of the school to verify its effectiveness. He introduced a third son of a noble who hadn't found work to Steve, and had him hired as a teacher at the school. Then, the three of them—Steve, Cyril, and the teacher, George—decided on the content to be taught.
The teacher, George, was the third son of the Viscount Wilkinson family. He was young at eighteen, and like Cyril, he couldn't fit into a family of a military lineage and was looking for a way to live as a scholar. However, he was a person who had been unable to belong to the Royal Research Institute because he wasn't as brilliant as Cyril.
Besides naturally having a basic education, the fact that his elitist consciousness as a noble toward commoners was thin was also a reason Cyril recommended him. Though, since he had reached adulthood and left his home, and wasn't in a research position treated as nobility like Cyril, even if he did have an elitist consciousness, he himself was technically a commoner.
Lala would have her first encounter with such a George at the school.
The day after arriving in the Archibalt Territory, Lala's parents went to their workplace, and Lala went to school. Her younger brother stayed home to watch the house.
Furthermore, while the children like Lala learned at school, the adults were made to learn the language while working. There were plans for a night school, but that was to be decided after monitoring the operational status.
Arriving at the school, Lala entered the classroom and waited for the start of lessons with children of the same age. The classroom consisted of a blackboard, a teacher's platform, and the children's chairs in front of it. Incidentally, while blackboards are defined by JIS Standards, the steel blackboard Steve created with magic this time did not conform to JIS Standards.
She looked for Bella, thinking she might have come too, but she couldn't find Bella's figure. Bella wasn't from the Third Village to begin with, so she wouldn't come to the school, but the current Lala thought Bella also lived in the Third Village.
Lala was disappointed that Bella wasn't there, but she shifted her mood when George entered the classroom.
However, Lala immediately lost her composure again.
"I am the teacher, George. Nice to meet you."
The George Lala saw had a slender, well-proportioned build and a handsome face, with beautiful silver hair that shone in the sunlight; she thought he might be the prince she had heard about in stories. Just looking at George made her body feel hot, and her heart began to beat faster. It was first love for Lala.
When George's greeting finished, it was time for the students' greetings. Note that in Japan, the term for children is 'jidou' for elementary school and 'seito' for middle and high school, but the school in the Archibalt Territory had decided to call the children 'students' for convenience.
When it was her turn, Lala said in a small voice:
"I'm Lala."
"Lala-chan, right?"
When George said that to her, she immediately looked down and sat in her chair out of happiness and embarrassment.
The first day was studying numbers. Since the Kingdom of Cascade used a base-10 system, they would learn the numbers from 1 to 10. Numbers were written on wooden molds cut into the shapes of birds, and they would learn the numbers by arranging them in order.
They were made to form pairs of two and compete to see who could arrange them faster and more accurately, letting them learn through play. Such a system was Steve's idea. It was a device to keep the children interested, as they would get bored with classroom learning.
Of course, Cyril was recording the results.
In the Kingdom of Cascade, education was something received by the children of nobles and wealthy merchants, and the method of education was to memorize what the teacher said. It was terribly tedious, but the children took it as a matter of course and made efforts to learn so as not to disgrace their family names.
In the midst of such conventional education, Steve's idea of devices to pique interest was fresh.
Furthermore, they intended to sell the teaching materials used here as educational toys, and they planned to collect data on the children's interest and effectiveness.
Unaware of Steve and the others' intentions, Lala went home thinking that the school, where she could meet George and study while playing, was fun.
In this manner, the migration proceeded.