Let the Games Begin (1)
The sound of fists striking iron breastplates echoed through the dungeon.
It was a solemn, heroic sound.
‘I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding.’
Aiden felt certain that they had gotten the wrong idea, but the water had already been spilled; it was difficult to scoop it back up.
“Ugh!”
Sure enough. Even Jamie knelt down and began to beat his chest, so Aiden quickly stopped him with a sharp look.
“...Let’s just get to work for now.”
With that, he glossed over the situation to escape the awkwardness, effectively ending the scene.
Creak-.
As he opened the rusted iron door and stepped outside, sunlight poured down over Aiden’s head. It was finally, truly spring.
“I was truly moved, Administrator!”
As soon as they stepped out, Jamie grabbed Aiden’s hand with a teary-eyed expression.
“To think you would so easily cast aside your pride as an Administrator for the sake of our North!”
Ah, was that what it was?
Aiden thought to himself. The Northerners. Despite their rough appearance, they were remarkably good at jumping to conclusions and were deeply emotional, sensitive people.
“Even if that wasn’t my intention, you wouldn’t believe me anyway, right?”
“Yes!”
“Sigh.”
“Hehe-.”
Aiden had told the truth, but Jamie still seemed to believe that his superior was just being shy.
“Anyway, where should we use this free labor to make sure it’s put to good use?”
“Usually, we’d have them work the fields on the Lord’s direct farmland, but this year is a bit...”
“Right?”
The Lord’s direct farmland had already been leased to the territory’s residents as a pilot project for growing specialty crops.
“I mobilized them for forest clearing as an urgent measure, but since the weather is warming up, we don’t really need that much timber.”
“And there’s no one to buy it either, right?”
“That’s exactly it.”
Even with free labor, having nowhere to use them was a problem in itself.
‘It’s a waste to just use surplus labor haphazardly.’
He considered the card of large-scale civil engineering again, but it was still too early for that.
“When you think of forced labor, you think of mines.”
“Then shall we send them to the mines?”
“Hm?”
“Yes?”
It had been a mutter to himself. No, wait a minute.
“We... have a mine?”
“Of course.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it lacked marketability, so we left it undeveloped and abandoned, sir.”
Aiden’s head tilted to the side at Jamie’s answer.
‘There are mines that lack marketability?’
No, in a fantasy world, isn’t a mine supposed to be some kind of cheat code that lets everyone live in luxury?
A short while later.
“So this is the iron that comes from that mine?”
“Yes.”
Jamie brought a box of iron ore, saying there were samples in the warehouse.
‘I can’t tell anything by looking at it.’
He looked at it because he had to check, but since he knew nothing about minerals, there was no way to tell if it was economically viable just by sight.
“The blacksmith who checked it a while ago recorded that the iron ore from this mine is of poor quality, so more than half has to be discarded even after mining it. Here it is.”
“Hmm.”
Aiden nodded after reading the paper containing the blacksmith’s opinion that had been kept with the ore.
“You said there’s another problem?”
“You mean the location of the mine, sir?”
“Yes.”
“That’s right. It happens to be on the border of a beast and monster habitat, so the risk is too high.”
“So both appear there?”
“Yes. According to records, even while going back and forth a few times to confirm the discovery of the mine, the party was attacked.”
“If it’s still like that now, the transportation costs would be astronomical.”
“We would have to mobilize soldiers, after all.”
“We can’t mobilize soldiers just to transport low-quality iron ore.”
“It wouldn’t be profitable.”
There was a reason why they hadn’t touched the iron mine even after discovering it.
“Still, forced labor usually means mines.”
By the standards of this era, those dragged to the dungeon wouldn’t feel particularly wronged even if they were sentenced to death by 21st-century standards. They wouldn’t dare face the Lord’s judgment for mere misdemeanors. So, he wasn’t keen on giving such vicious criminals labor that required no effort and just killed time.
‘Is there no way?’
It was a day of deep contemplation.
New worries had arisen, but he couldn’t just dwell on them forever. That was the nature of administrative work. Even if you work hard, it doesn’t show, but if you slack off, it’s immediately apparent.
‘It’s just like housework.’
It shares many commonalities in that maintaining the status quo is the best you can hope for even if you work hard. Of course, Aiden liked both administrative work and housework. A house and society that are always maintained in a neat, tidy, and consistent state. Ah, how beautiful that is. It’s a sad thing to have an aesthetic sense that others don’t quite appreciate.
Anyway.
“The North-Life Integrated Leisure Improvement Plan is finally complete!”
Jamie placed a thick bundle of documents down with a confident expression. It seemed the result was in after Aiden had ordered him to come up with ideas to change the Northern culture of drinking and shouting at the top of their lungs into something healthier.
“You won’t be disappointed, sir!”
Aiden felt a surge of anticipation because he was so full of confidence.
‘Did he come up with something groundbreaking?’
He turned the cover, which was written in a neat and tidy handwriting that belied his appearance, and began to read the report in earnest.
Rustle, rustle-.
How long did the sound of turning pages continue?
Thud-.
Aiden, who had put down the documents, smiled.
“It’s a good idea, right? Haha-! I knew the Administrator would think the same. Actually, I was thinking lately, perhaps you and I are soulmates...”
“Get out.”
“Eh?”
“Get out, you idiot!”
He had asked for healthier leisure activities to prevent more people from drinking and causing trouble, and this was what he got.
“You want to hold an inter-village war tournament? What is this...!”
With the Northerners’ temperaments, there’s no way that would end with happy laughter.
“No, you shouldn’t look at it so negatively, Administrator. Look here. We hold war tournaments for each village in a tournament style! Like those jousting matches the nobles do!”
Jamie desperately explained his plan, pretending not to notice Aiden’s expression, which was on the verge of exploding.
“Look, if we do this, the winning village will have the pride of being the strongest village in the North! Yes, pride. Isn’t pride a very important thing for people? That’s what they’ll get.”
“And the losing village?”
“They’ll analyze the cause of their defeat while preparing for the next match and train together, and what is it... yes, cooperation! They’ll cultivate that, yes.”
“Damn it.”
It’s called a war tournament for the sake of the name. How is that any different from a street brawl?
“But everyone liked it.”
When Aiden’s reaction was less than enthusiastic, Jamie grumbled with his lips pouting.
“Liked it? Who did?”
“I listened to the residents’ opinions before submitting the report. Why, didn’t you say so, Administrator? That no matter how good a policy looks, it’s useless if the residents don’t like it.”
“...They liked this?”
No matter how extraordinary the spirit of the Northerners might be, there’s no way they would advocate for village-level brawls...
“Administrator. If this is implemented, will our Lord’s Castle participate too? I think we could make a team with the workers!”
Brikal, the chef who had brought the sandwiches himself for some reason, asked with a flush on his face.
“See! I told you everyone likes it. They’re really looking forward to it!”
“Haa-.”
Aiden could only sigh more and more.
“It’s still a no. Permission denied.”
“But...!”
“If a rival village is created for no reason, it will turn into an emotional feud at the village level. If that happens, village-level harmony? It all goes down the drain. Don’t you think?”
“Still...”
“And what about the people who get hurt? In a situation without a proper clinic, if the young people who need to be working get hurt, who will farm and who will hunt?”
“......”
“Do you think that’s all? What if there’s a village that keeps losing? In the North, where strength is already considered a virtue, if they get pointed at just because they’re from that village, what are you going to do about that!”
Tsk tsk-.
At Aiden’s clicking tongue, Jamie’s shoulders slumped. He hadn’t failed to consider that there would be various side effects, but he had pushed it because he thought it was the perfect leisure activity for Northerners. Hearing it like this, the downsides were indeed significant.
“No, usually you wouldn’t submit a plan with so many side effects, did something happen?”
“Since the downsides were clear, the advantages were also clear, so I wanted to discuss it with you.”
“Advantages?”
There are advantages to village-level brawls?
“If done well, I thought we could try to provide free military training to all residents of the North...”
“Military training?”
“The North has such a vast land. Because of that, it’s difficult for the Lord’s soldiers to be dispatched immediately when a distant village is in danger, so I thought it would help with safety if they cultivated their own skills.”
“No, if you had that purpose, you should have written that first.”
That changes things.
‘Hmm-.’
It might be usable if he tweaked it a little.
“How about making hunting a competitive sport, Administrator?”
Kalisa offered an opinion.
“Making hunting a sport.”
Tap, tap-.
Aiden, who had been lost in thought while tapping his fingers on the desk a few times, spoke.
“First. To eliminate the disadvantage based on the size of the village, we must set the number of people who can participate. Ten men and women over the age of 15 recommended by the village council. I think that should be enough.”
“That sounds good.”
“Second. For fair progress, the competition will be held only in designated places and for a set period. We can’t stop individual training, but private competition between villages must be strictly prohibited.”
“Why is that?”
“Because you might end up neglecting your main jobs, including farming. We have to prevent that.”
“Aha.”
“The types and specifications of weapons to be used for hunting must also be reported. It’s essential if we want to recover all traps or capture cages after it’s over. Weapons that could easily hurt people should be filtered out from the start.”
“Of course.”
“Lastly, let’s make the competition format a point system.”
“A point system?”
“We’ll assign points separately by synthesizing the danger, size, and rarity of the prey, and the side with the highest final score after adding up all the points will be first place. And let’s settle on giving prize money to the villages from first to third place, and awarding the title of Honorary Ranger and a championship ring to the participating athletes of the first-place village.”
After all, it’s the rule of thumb that even in a mere ball game, you share rings after winning.