Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Mercenary
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"Kaiman, huh..."
The person Aine recommended was the A-rank mercenary Kaiman.
He was a mercenary who had been active a generation ago.
He was over sixty years old,
and he'd lost one arm during his mercenary days.
He had risen to upper Sword Expert level, but given his age and missing arm, he wasn't all that appealing.
Even so, I decided to go with Aine's recommendation.
She knew exactly what I needed.
And she had emphasized that point.
Kaiman's connections.
As an A-rank mercenary with over thirty years in the business,
'If I make Kaiman the branch chief, a bunch of other mercenaries will follow him.'
It was a solid offer when we were short even one good mercenary.
And that wasn't all.
She said having Kaiman around would make it easier to keep the mercenaries in line.
There were a million registered mercenaries in the guild.
Naturally, some of them were bad apples.
What if they caused trouble?
It wouldn't be easy to handle them with my own strength.
That's why I needed Kaiman's reputation and power.
Finally, I liked that he shared the same goals as me.
'Kaiman was a reformist.'
Aine had told me
that as long as I treated the mercenaries well, Kaiman would be on my side.
"I had to find a branch chief anyway."
A noble like me couldn't keep running the mercenary guild branch forever.
It was a matter of honor,
and it wasn't good for the guild either.
"With the recommendation system and Kaiman, that should be enough, right?"
The Innocent Mercenary Group was the only one operating right now, but in a few months, far more mercenaries would be hunting monsters here.
Knock. Knock.
"Master, it's Isaac."
"Come in."
Isaac entered and bowed again.
Then he got straight to the point.
"We've finished construction on the mercenary guild, surrounding buildings, roads, and all the other infrastructure."
"Good work."
From gathering materials to the actual building,
the project involving thousands of slaves was finally complete.
"Master, what's my next assignment?"
"Take a few days off, then start on the land reclamation."
"Understood."
Isaac bowed and left the room.
The mercenary operations were bound to run at a loss.
So we needed to clear more farmland and boost income from elsewhere.
Knock. Knock.
"Heir, it's Hans."
"Oh!"
I got up and opened the door myself.
There stood Hans, covered in dust.
Seeing me, he dropped to one knee.
"Heir, I've returned after subjugating three goblin villages in our territory."
While I focused on mercenary affairs, Hans, Isaac, and Russell had carried out their assigned duties.
Russell had handled trade runs,
and Hans had led the slave soldiers to hunt monsters.
"Good work. Get some rest."
"At this rate, we won't secure the troll habitats in time."
Even as I told him to rest, Hans spoke from his kneeling position.
"The mercenaries will handle that."
"But!"
"Hans, slave soldiers can't take on trolls."
"...I'm sorry."
Hans's apology carried a mix of complex emotions.
"Securing the troll habitats matters, but stabilizing the territory we've claimed is just as important. Focus on that for now."
We had two pressing tasks.
First: Secure troll habitats before Gibson's coming-of-age ceremony.
Second: Stabilize the expanded territory.
The areas I'd claimed were just marked with borders and flags.
Monsters still lurked inside.
We had to clear them out to truly make it Frontier territory.
I encouraged Hans and returned to my room.
"So much to do."
I'd had a growth plan in mind.
But Father's added goal had doubled the workload.
.
.
A few days later, as I handled paperwork on internal affairs, military matters, and more,
a long-overdue system alert appeared.
[Mission]
Large Farm Operation (Completed)
HINT) Respected Farm Lord skill Mission completed. 1 Skill Point granted. Analyzing situation and presenting appropriate mission. [Mission]
Farm Threat Removal (In Progress)
HINT) Remove monsters near farms
'That would've been easy before, but now...'
Clear monsters near farms.
Not a simple mission.
Unlike when we only had farms in River Village,
we'd built them all over Monster Island now.
'The farms in other territories are fine.'
The barony farms were near the noble estates.
The safest spots in each territory.
The Gray Mage Tower farm was safe too.
The problem was
'the outpost farms.'
As we expanded, we'd built outposts on the borders
and farms there.
To trigger the Respected Farm Lord skill.
'Even so, time will sort it out.'
Hans was already leading slave soldiers to periodically hunt monsters.
Mercenaries would come soon, and they'd clear monsters too.
'More importantly, the skill.'
Skill points from completing missions.
I currently had three skills.
Earth Restoration (Lv 5)
Purifies contaminated land. Norfolk Four-Course Rotation (Lv 3)
Slightly increases efficiency of Norfolk Four-Course system. Respected Farm Lord (Lv 2)
Increases loyalty of subordinate farmers.
If I split territory management into military and internal affairs,
all my skills were focused on internal affairs.
Boost production,
grow the slave numbers,
and military strength would naturally follow.
But now, military power mattered even more.
The skill that fit this situation was Soldier-Farmer Unity.
'As a passive skill, the effect won't be huge, but better than nothing.'
There are two main types of skills:
active and passive.
Of mine, Earth Restoration is active; the rest are passive.
Active skills require manual activation for effect.
Passives work constantly without activation.
But their effects are weaker than actives.
Still, I had no plans to learn more actives.
All my mana had to go to Earth Restoration.
To expand farmland,
and level up the skill faster.
Slap.
I slapped my cheeks to refresh myself.
"Alright! No more skill fretting—back to work!"
I turned my eyes to the stack of papers on my desk.
**
Vampire Duke territory.
Alensia Vampire's room.
Alensia stood gazing out the window.
"He's pushing himself too hard..."
The one on her mind was Frontier Heir Elwin Frontier.
"It's not incomprehensible, but..."
Monster Island had five territories total.
Vampire Duke territory.
Frontier Viscounty.
Kent Barony.
Aquano Barony.
Aer Barony.
Three baronies had stable heirs.
The duke and viscount territories did not.
The duke territory had first daughter Benia competing with second daughter Alensia.
The viscount territory had an heir, but he was incompetent.
"No, not incompetent anymore."
Elwin bore the Frontier bloodline but couldn't use magic.
Instead, he'd shown talent elsewhere.
Even so, his heir position was still at risk.
Elwin couldn't use magic, while Gibson was learning fast.
"Even if he's in a hurry, this is too much."
There were two ways to gain power:
grow strong yourself,
or gather lots of people around you.
Elwin had chosen the second.
He'd amassed slaves to become a large farm lord.
"The slave numbers were already excessive, and now he's calling mercenaries?"
Just gathering lots of people wasn't good.
You needed people you could control.
Slaves aside, could he control mercenaries?
Alensia shook her head.
Among all professions, mercenaries were the hardest to control.
Large numbers, individually strong, and many had no qualms about killing.
They'd handled everything from wars to assassinations.
Knock. Knock.
"It's Marie."
"Come in."
Marie stood beside Alensia.
"What happened?"
"In the last week, 67 mercenaries passed through Vampire's Bridge."
Sixty-seven in a week.
Not a small number.
The real issue was that it kept growing.
"Can Elwin control them?"
"..."
Marie bowed her head silently.
"It'll be tough. Yeah, real tough..."
**
Frontier lord's mansion, third floor.
Brilda's room.
"Mercenaries are gathering in River Village?"
"..."
Anna didn't answer Brilda's question.
It was just musing aloud as she organized her thoughts.
"Why mercenaries? Weren't the slave soldiers enough?"
"..."
Brilda turned her head.
"What happened when you met with my husband?"
"It seems so. After that, Elwin started hiring mercenaries."
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Brilda's fingers rapidly drummed the table.
"Madam, the situation isn't bad right now. Hundreds of mercenaries in River Village alone."
"So?"
"Not civilians—hundreds of mercenaries. Not easy to control."
"True."
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound of nails on wood filled the room again.
Time passed.
Only after a while did Brilda speak.
"He's controlling all those slaves, isn't he? What if he does it again this time?"
"..."
Anna had no reply.
It was true.
She'd thought the same when Elwin increased slave numbers.
That he couldn't handle so many.
Trouble was inevitable.
But what happened?
No trouble from the slaves.
They grew more loyal to Elwin over time.
"Can't just sit idle. Any ideas?"
"Yes."
"What?"
Anna leaned in close to Brilda's ear.
Her lips drew near slowly.
"Even clear water gets muddy with one loach."
A smile crept across Brilda's lips.
"Just send one loach, then?"
"Yes, Madam."
"I'll provide ample funds. Handle it yourself."
"Understood."