Episode 42: A Surprising Announcement
Seriously…
Maintaining relations with the slums is also tough.
I’m living every day with the feeling of “endless summer vacation!” but sometimes work like this comes up.
Thinking about that, I returned home to find…
“Ah.”
“Whoa.”
Two men were waiting for me.
One was Count Missgancia, the noble who rules this place.
The other was Maximilian, a relative of the nobility and a first-rate Strider.
Ugh, with this combination, it’s definitely going to be a pain.
Come on, I just want to live a slow life in another world with my Magic Cheat…
“You’ve arrived. I have something to discuss. Come inside at once.”
Count Missgancia’s gracious words. It’s my house! But I can’t say that in this atmosphere.
For now, I let the two of them into the house.
“So? What happened? Get to the point.”
I ordered my disciple and lover, the Mazoku girl Tristia, to make tea, and then slumped down on the sofa in the drawing room.
Count Missgancia, sitting across from me, slowly opened his mouth… and said one thing.
“From now on, you will go to the Royal Capital and have an audience with the Fourth Princess.”
…What?
“Huh?”
I couldn’t help but snap back.
That’s why I’m working as a doctor in this backwater!
Think about my situation!
“Well, listen.”
I was stopped with a hand gesture and told to listen to the story.
Well, I understand that I’m being considered since you’re bringing this up to me, and I can tell that Count Missgancia doesn’t want to let me go either.
For now, let’s hear the story before I get angry.
“…The Fourth Princess is the daughter of Duke Balthazar’s daughter. Faction-wise, she leans towards the Aristocrat Faction, but since she’s a member of the Royal Family, you don’t have to worry too much about that.”
“And?”
“The Fourth Princess… Lady Lucretia, has a great interest in beauty.”
Ah, Soap…
The Scented Soap I wholesale for the nobility. The matter must be about that.
“She wants to hear about your Soap.”
I knew it.
“Wasn’t the contract that you’d handle all that in exchange for selling you the rights?”
“Well, when it’s a request from the Princess herself…”
“Hmm?”
“Of course, I presented as many conditions as possible and demanded extremely large concessions from the Royal Family. I implicitly refused. But they accepted those conditions.”
I see.
As a noble who swears allegiance to the Royal Family, he can’t refuse directly.
But, in order to refuse implicitly, he presented outrageous demands.
However, the Princess wants to meet me so much that she’s willing to accept those outrageous demands?
“What did you demand from the Royal Family?”
“First, the perpetual right to rule the Frontier Settlement.”
“Woo-hoo!”
I couldn’t help but shout.
In this world, there’s no law like the “Konden Einen Shizaihou” (Law Permitting Permanent Private Ownership of Newly Cultivated Land) or the Homestead Act.
First of all, as a major premise, everything in the world belongs to God. In turn, it belongs to the King, who is God’s representative.
The King lends land to the lords, and the lords sublet it to the farmers and others…
In other words, a territory can be taken away with a single word from the King.
Of course, that’s just in name only, and they would never really take away a territory… but the fact that “territory confiscation as an option” exists makes a difference.
It’s not quite like the Sengoku-era Japanese local samurai or Kokujin, who would cultivate their own land and die rather than have it taken away! Working desperately! It’s more like “a person entrusted with the management of land by the King.”
In that situation, the de facto “cession” of land is almost equivalent to allowing the establishment of an independent nation.
“And, to marry my son to the Princess.”
“Woo-hoo!”
I couldn’t help but shout.
Princesses are usually given to foreign royal families. They are valuable diplomatic cards.
To give one to a noble who is only your subordinate, and a young man who hasn’t accomplished anything yet, is abnormal.
“Finally, a reduction in tariffs.”
“Woo-hoo!”
I couldn’t help but shout.
The establishment of taxes on trade, such as tariff rights, is one of the Royal Family’s major vested interests.
If that were lowered, the Royal Family’s income would be greatly reduced.
Hmm…
“…Isn’t this some kind of setup?”
“Well, it probably is.”
Count Missgancia said casually, enjoying the aroma of the tea that Tristia had brought.
“It’s a strategy of the Aristocrat Faction. Probably, they’ll find some reason to declare you a Heretic and detain you in the Royal Capital… And, along with weakening my power, they’ll nullify all the conditions I presented. In addition, they’ll try to crush the faces of the Royalist Faction by claiming that they invited a Heretic.”
Haa…
Well, yeah.
I thought it was about time it was exposed.
The Mercantilist Faction has been making too much money lately.
My Heretic treatment and Soap business are already one of the “huge vested interests.”
As for Soap, there’s no red-light district in this country that doesn’t have it, and it’s become established even among the common people at the village level.
The cleaning power is completely different for dishes, clothes, and the human body. Moreover, it’s solid, easy to carry, and has an extremely long shelf life.
That’s why there are three Soap Factories in Midford.
As for Heretic treatment, “surgery,” it’s more about imposing “debts” than the amount of money.
Sharing the secret that they received Heretic treatment and selling favors instead of money. This is too big in a network of powerful people like nobles.
…And on top of that, Count Missgancia’s long-running Frontier Settlement project was a great success. He expanded the territory of mankind, opened the way to the northernmost part of this continent, and created a new city there.
His achievements are too great.
By the way, as an aside, there’s a story that hygiene management using Soap and the alcohol disinfection I advocated has reduced the mortality rate on the frontier by about 30%.
“I see… Well, if it’s an order from the Royal Family, I have to go…”
I have Citizenship, after all. Having Citizenship means that I have to fulfill my obligations as a citizen of this country.
“Rest assured. I will turn all of this strategy against them and gain concessions from the Royal Family. If I do, I will share the profits with you.”
Hmm, I wonder if it will go well?
No, I’ll be in trouble if Count Missgancia doesn’t succeed.
Should I cooperate a little…?