Chapter 65 - 065_Drift (End)
This chapter concludes Rodney's story.
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065_Drift (End)
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"So Rodney is a viscount now. You're still young. You'll become a count soon. Perhaps you might even surpass me."
"Surpassing the master is a disciple's goal."
"You talk big. But the mountain before you is far from low."
"Even if it's a steep mountain, I will surely climb it."
"Hmm. That's the spirit. Bajis, work hard too, don't lose to Rodney."
"Yes!"
I heard Bajis has improved his magical skills considerably. Sage Daguldor says he still has a long way to go, but he is still the second mage in this world. Rodney hoped that Bajis would become a great mage, just like Sage Daguldor.
"By the way, the automobile is coming along quite nicely."
"What!? Alright, I'll head to Dedel territory immediately!"
"Please calm down, Master. As His Majesty the King's advisor, you cannot leave the capital now."
The crown prince had only just ascended the throne. Sage Daguldor simply couldn't leave the capital now.
"That's precisely why I didn't want to be an advisor!"
"Please bear with it. Besides, you're the only one who can guide His Majesty the King in the right direction."
After somehow calming Sage Daguldor down, Rodney headed for Dedel territory.
He arrived at Bassam quite quickly by ship. There, he reported his promotion to Viscount to Hacklehoff and the others. They were overjoyed.
When he arrived at Beck Port in Dedel territory, Yulin and the family came to greet him.
"Rodney!"
"Yulin!"
They embraced, rejoicing in their reunion. Rodney savored the feeling of holding Yulin.
The pier became crowded as Hortus's family also came out in full force to welcome them.
Everyone had returned without a single person missing. It had been a great battle, but that was the most joyful thing.
"Thank you for coming back safely."
"As if I'd die when you're here."
Yulin's belly was quite big now. It seemed to be growing well, which was a relief. Summer would end soon, and autumn would come. Then, the Forvas family would gain a new member. He couldn't help but look forward to it.
When he returned to the mansion, the knights and attendants were quickly gathered. Truth be told, he wanted to be alone with Yulin, but as the lord, there were many things he had to do.
"Everyone, thank you for holding down the fort while I was away."
"Welcome back, Lord Rodney."
"Welcome back, Lord Rodney.""
Following Rodmel's words, everyone chorused.
"As a reward for this campaign, I have been promoted to Viscount. Thanks to all of you."
"Congratulations!""
The issue here became how to govern the newly added territories. It would take another month for the current lord's family to vacate. At the same time, they had to enter the territory and conduct land surveys and such.
The Seppa territory, which had been a direct royal domain, had slightly different circumstances from the other two territories.
The Seppa territory was governed by a court noble dispatched from the capital as a deputy. After that deputy returned to the capital, knights and attendants rooted in the local area would remain.
Being a viscount's territory in scale, the Seppa territory had many knights and attendants. They would probably be several times the size of the current Dedel territory.
Since it had been a direct royal domain, they had never been sent to battle. Would they get along well with the current Dedel territory's knights?
Also, from the other two territories, such locally rooted individuals might also remain. Rodney had to accept those people as well.
It was unclear how many knights the Seppa territory had, but personnel would likely be insufficient. Just in terms of scale, the land had increased more than tenfold. Even if the number of knights increased severalfold, it wouldn't be enough.
He presented these problems to everyone.
"We'll have to hire some people from those lands. That's absolutely necessary for governing the territory. But I simply cannot tolerate powerless people putting on airs. Let's drill it into them from the start who their superiors are."
Rodmel flashed a sinister grin.
"As Lord Rodmel says. Even for civil officials, it's unacceptable for people with low ability to hold high positions. From now on, we must manage the four territories, starting with Dedel, from multiple angles, so ability is very important."
Kiris said they couldn't entrust important positions to useless people.
Rodney decided to send people to each territory and get a grasp of the knights remaining in those lands now.
"Rodmel goes to the Aplan territory, Roxwell to the Armes territory, and Hortus to the Seppa territory. Sorry, Hortus, you just got back, but can I ask you to do it?"
"Thank you for your concern. However, it is no problem. The Seppa territory is closer compared to the capital."
"Good, I'm counting on you."
Next, he received reports on incidents that had occurred within the territory.
It was an incident that made him doubt his ears, or rather, he was just astounded.
Right after Rodney led the army to the capital, several arson attacks and attacks using Selvanui occurred within the territory.
Rodmel, with the cooperation of the Blue Wolf Tribe, tracked down the culprit's scent and cornered him. That person turned out to be Gakil, the legitimate son of the former Baron Menisas.
The Selvanui Gakil could summon were of a low grade, and since he didn't possess the Life Light Stone for higher-level Selvanui, there wasn't much damage.
Rodmel and the territory's soldiers apparently captured Gakil, stripped him naked, and threw him into the dungeon.
Gakil had been stripped of his noble status and had convinced himself that it was Rodney's fault.
Rodney couldn't help but wonder why both father and son turned out that way, but arson and robbery were serious crimes. Now a commoner, no one would protect Gakil.
"Why does he hate me in the first place? It wasn't me who punished the Menisas barony; it was the royal family."
"Gakil's words are incoherent and hard to make out, but since the former Baron Menisas wailed that it was Lord Rodney's fault, Gakil seems to have believed the same."
"As for the father, the former Baron Menisas, he hated me for paying off his debts... I just can't understand that father and son's thinking."
"I think no one can understand the thoughts of a madman, Lord Rodney."
A few days later, after examining the evidence, Rodney held a trial and declared Gakil's death sentence. The sentence was carried out the same day, and Gakil's young life was cut short.
The authority to arrest, judge, and execute punishments for crimes occurring within the territory all belonged to the lord. Judging Gakil, a former noble now a commoner, was the rightful authority of the head of the Forvas House.
The matter of Gakil was conveyed to Knight Menisas. It was just a matter of letting him know. A polite letter of apology arrived from Knight Menisas, but Rodney replied that it was not Knight Menisas's fault.
"The land reclamation seems to be going well."
"Yes. The Blue Wolf Tribe is working hard. At this rate, I believe all the planned land will be reclaimed by the end of the year."
"That far along?"
Originally, there wasn't that much undeveloped flatland. Still, it wasn't an area that could be reclaimed in a single year.
"As expected of the Blue Wolf Tribe. A happy miscalculation."
The Blue Wolf Tribe apparently worked hard on the reclamation because they were fed until they were full every day.
"Next year, the planted area will increase by about twenty percent, so I'm also looking forward to the grain harvest."
"Buy some serfs before winter comes."
A certain number of farmers became serfs every year, but since the east was in such a terrible state, he predicted the number of serfs might decrease considerably.
It might be a wrong prediction, but since they planned to buy serfs anyway, it was better to act early.
"Won't you leave the farmlands to the Blue Wolf Tribe?"
"The Blue Wolf Tribe is good at jobs that use strength, like reclamation, but they don't seem to be good at growing grain. In that case, it's better for both sides if we use them for other things."
"I see, understood. However, wouldn't it be better to buy serfs in the spring?"
In winter, snow would pile up, making farming impossible. The Blue Wolf Tribe could still be active even in the snow, but human serfs would just be consumers of food.
"No, serfs with good conditions will be sold during the winter. Buy up as many as possible who are being sold as families, and then buy as many young ones as you can."
By Rodney's decision, it was decided to buy serfs with good conditions before winter.
To accommodate them, buildings like longhouses were to be hurriedly constructed.
"Last year, we grew Shishikam (barley) and Zarai (rye) in the fields. Now we're growing Borshi (potatoes) and Bambaro (soybeans) there. How's the growth?"
"We've already finished harvesting the Borshi. It's a crop with an extremely high yield per planted area. The Bambaro should be ready for harvest soon. With Borshi, it seems we won't face a food shortage."
"Prioritize extracting cooking oil from the Bambaro. Buy all of what's produced."
"Understood."
From his past life memories, he knew that with potatoes and oil, he could eat french fries. Just thinking about it made his cheeks naturally relax into a smile.
"Salt production was a failure. Continue to buy it so we don't run out."
Count Banyusas had negotiated for them, but Kiris was told that salt production was not easy.
After finally processing all the paperwork over several days, he received reports on the automobile and the screw. In a sense, these were the Sage's hobbies, so for now, the lord's work took priority.
He read Pinica's report. Parts that had been heavily worn on both the automobile and the screw were being improved. Including minor ones, there were as many as seventy improvements made to just the automobile, showing the effort that had gone into it.
The screw had already entered the practical stage, and the improved version was installed on the ship.
The second ship was nearing completion, and the screw to be installed on it was also finished.
"Good work, Pinica, Hobart."
Rodney thanked the two for their hard work.
Regarding the automobile, he decided to go and watch a test run in person.
When he arrived at the test site, Hobart briskly climbed into the automobile. His posture was oddly practiced.
He started the motor and began driving. After three laps, the automobile made a strange move. It was actually drifting through the curves!
"Hey, hey..."
Rodney laughed wryly, wondering how you could drift a car with continuous tracks for rear wheels. It wasn't a question of whether it was possible or not; he was doing it.
"Did Hobart come up with that?"
"U-um, during a test run in the rain, th-the continuous track slipped, that was the, th-the trigger, it seems."
It seemed that since then, he had honed his skill of drifting through sharp curves, leading to the present.
"Won't that make the continuous track come off? Is the consumption of parts okay?"
"We've d-done modifications and r-reinforcements for that."
Rodney decided to think that if parts could withstand such hard driving, they could be trusted.
After that, he went to see the sheep farming, and lambs had been born. There were many lambs, and he thought that this would be enough that the males could be used for meat.
And thus, Rodney Elias Forvas, Viscount, the Monster of the Northernmost Territory, began governing his new lands. Many more difficulties undoubtedly awaited him, but he would overcome them, enrich his territory, and build a strong army.
——— This concludes the story ———
[Author's Note]
Thank you very much for your long-time patronage of The Monster of the Northernmost Territory.