Episode 48: Telek Port City’s Radical Remodeling Plan
Telek Port City was enjoying peace.
“It’s surprisingly… empty,” she muttered, gazing at the strategic map. ＜Ringo＞, judging it was just a soliloquy, remained silent.
“Big sis, is Olive’s cannon battery useful?”
“Hmm. Doesn’t seem like we’ll be using it anytime soon, huh?”
“I see…”
While comforting her youngest sister, Olive, who looked terribly disappointed, she pondered. Telek Port City and Iron Town were doing well. Thanks to the iron ore being brought in, ＜The Tree＞ was more vibrant than ever, and the unmanned manufacturing machines were bustling. Well, without any sound or anything, though.
“It’s okay, Olive, thanks to your cannon battery, we were able to pull up a Class 1 (Alpha), so it’s been a great success! Besides, the best contribution of defense equipment is not having to use it!”
“…Yeah, thanks, Big sis.”
Patting the bashful Olive, she reconfirmed the strategic map.
Currently, there were no hostile forces around Telek Port City and Iron Town. They seemed to have mostly disappeared in the previous civil war. It seemed that they were still fighting further inland, but everyone had lost interest in the sea.
“I wonder if this country is going to be alright…”
“As far as we can observe from the sky, it’s completely devastated,” ＜Ringo＞ replied.
Thanks to increasing the production of Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) and increasing the number of units dispatched to the Northern Continent, the internal affairs of the Afrasia United Kingdom were gradually becoming clear.
According to what she had heard from the Kullavia Telek, the president of the Telek Trading Company, this country was formed by the merger of three countries in the past. The political system was a consensus system by three leaders. It was a situation where there were three kings. However, for the past 20 years or so, they had been repeating power struggles, and if the country were to be divided into three—that would still be salvageable. The relationship between the three leaders had become so strained that the number of forces declaring independence had skyrocketed. Repeating absorption, mergers, cessions, and so on, they seemed to be gradually exhausting themselves. Each force was fighting each other, repeating battles in various places. With each battle, there were deaths and ravaged farmland. Water sources were polluted, and epidemics broke out from the abandoned corpses.
“It’s hell, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Furthermore, this country is located on a plain with little undulation,” ＜Ringo＞ explained, displaying a 3D map.
“There are no large rivers flowing within the country, and most water sources are either springs or well water. Therefore, the arable land area remains very small compared to the size of the country.”
Further north of the Afrasia United Kingdom, there were probably mountain ranges covered in perpetual snow. The snowmelt from here was probably flowing in as groundwater. If there was excavation technology, securing water might be relatively easy, but the overall technological level seemed low.
“As a result of our investigation, we have not found any places where lodes are exposed on the surface. Therefore, we believe that iron manufacturing technology is also low. Overall, it is a land lacking in various things.”
It was not suitable for farmland, and there were not many mines. Because there were no special products, there were few means of acquiring foreign currency.
“If I had to say, it might be suitable for animal husbandry. In fact, horses seem to have been the main means of acquiring foreign currency. Also, in some areas, herbivorous animals like cows were also raised.”
According to the Telek Trading Company president, other countries basically used open land suitable for raising horses as farmland, so there was surprisingly no culture of raising horses. This country had managed to get a foothold there. However, since they needed to import food, they seemed to have been taken advantage of.
“There’s no room for development…”
No matter how many horses they raised, if they were exchanged for imported food, it would not be a significant profit. Food prices would rise domestically, making it difficult to increase the population, and therefore, industry would not develop.
“It’s a dead end, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Ma’am. The more we hear, the worse the situation is.”
In such a situation, Telek Port City was a town opened for maritime trade. There were no settlements to the south, but it was known that there was a sea. They built a road there, reached the sea, and opened a port town. Therefore, there were no towns other than Telek Port City in the surrounding area.
“Telek Port City was a town that was able to develop remarkably, which is rare in this country.”
This trade was apparently a national project. They built a port and constructed ocean-going vessels based on blueprints obtained at great expense. By the way, they also tried to produce salt, but in the end, they were driven out by cheap salt from foreign countries.
“They’re being held by the lifeline, aren’t they?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Probably, it was a conspiracy.”
Well, that’s another story.
Using the constructed ships, they started trading. While gradually increasing the number of trading partners, they were steadily growing when a civil war unexpectedly broke out.
“And then, we arrived at the current situation.”
The reason why Iron Town and Telek Port City were not exposed to the ravages of war was simple. Both towns were too far from other towns and were dead ends. Even if they divided their forces to capture the towns, there would be no benefit.
“Furthermore, the nearby domain capital seems to have been burned down.”
The lord who ruled this area also seemed to have been killed in battle. A trade caravan dispatched from Telek Port City obtained some information. According to it, the entire domain was being looted, and most of the important bases such as the lord’s mansion and fortresses had been burned down. Therefore, strategic information such as maps was also lost, and both Iron Town and Telek Port City were being treated as forgotten towns.
“Bandit gangs were rampant as surrounding forces, but they have also been Zistroi.”
“Ah. That’s the one we dispatched before.”
Previously, there were refugees and bandit gangs attacking them, but the refugees were absorbed into Telek Port City, and the bandit gangs were annihilated. Therefore, the surrounding area had become a completely blank area.
“Hmm. So, does that mean it’s pretty safe even if we don’t do anything?”
“Yes, Ma’am. There may be sporadic intrusions, but there seems to be no particular reason to be seriously attacked.”
If I were to mention a danger, it would probably be Iron Town. In war, of course, weapons are necessary. Weapons made of iron are desirable. As the name suggests, Iron Town is a valuable mine in the country where iron can be produced.
“However, according to what I’ve heard, the handling of iron is also suspicious, and bronze weapons are prevalent…”
It is truly a country where industry has not developed.
“…. Let’s make it, a production plant.”
If the surrounding forces are not enemies.
It wouldn’t hurt to make major changes to Telek Port City.
If we can manufacture and introduce machine tools, we can dramatically increase the mining speed of iron ore.
Currently, we are slowly building an underwater mining platform, but fundamentally, there is not enough iron. It might be a good idea to drastically increase production in Iron Town and solve the iron shortage all at once. Initially, I was afraid of getting into a conflict with the surrounding forces, so I didn’t touch it, but now that I understand the situation this much, it seems like I can manage it somehow. If we can secure resources, we can also expand defense equipment.
“Okay. ＜Ringo＞, let’s build it outside Telek Port City. Can you give me a plan?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
If there is a prospect of recovery, we can invest some of the resources stored in ＜The Tree＞.
“I think there was something like a work vessel, right? Let’s cut open the port all at once and build it. If there’s no worry about information leaking, we can even lay down a railway.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Let’s also focus on counterintelligence.”
“If that’s the case… Hmm, build a plant, build a railway, dig a mine… By the way, can we detect lodes?”
“Yes, Ma’am. We are currently observing with equipment mounted on Swift. The Iron Town mine seems to have been discovered because it was originally exposed on the mountainside, so we are checking if there are similar strata in the vicinity. We are also conducting magnetic surveys to check for the presence of metal lodes.”
Ideally, we could explore on a larger scale, but there are limitations on the equipment that can be mounted on Swift, so it’s not going well. We should be able to deploy the flying boat in actual combat soon, so we have no choice but to expect that.