The Lord of Andvari (2)
"It's been a while, Baron Chrome. Or should I call you Lord now?"
"Why the sudden change?"
"Well, it hardly seems right to keep calling someone who now possesses his own fief 'young master,' does it?"
"Honestly, it's going to take some getting used to... but I suppose I'll have to. More importantly, what about the investigation I asked for?"
"Right here, my lord."
The middle-aged man with the somewhat sly-looking face, Dorf Brams, handed over a thick bundle of papers with an exceedingly polite bow. Chrome took them and began poring over the contents with careful eyes.
Location: Northeastern continent, adjacent to the eastern edge of the Eastern Mountains. Given the blocked passage beyond the mountains, this is effectively the most remote region within imperial territory, making it poorly suited as a hub for transportation or commerce.
Development Status: More than half the territory remains undeveloped agricultural land. The slow pace of reclamation appears to be influenced by the occasional descent of monsters from the Eastern Mountains.
Resources & Potential: Unusually large for a single barony. Abundant forest resources and excellent yields from developed farmland indicate high potential.
Population: Higher resident count than comparable baronies, yet still low relative to the territory's size. Most inhabitants are concentrated in the western sector.
Administration: Formerly under direct imperial control; living standards and public security remain reasonably favorable.
Fiore, who had been reading over his shoulder, offered his impression.
"It's... average in a good way."
"Right?" Chrome agreed.
Compared to the strategic trade hub that Alphonse's side had received, the immediate profits were modest. But in exchange, the land held tremendous latent potential. The fact that it hadn't been properly developed was a drawback, yet in a sense it was also an advantage. It meant he could shape it however he wanted.
"It's not the kind of land most people would celebrate, but for us it's perfect."
If he'd been an ordinary commoner who'd earned his noble title through some military exploit with nothing else to his name, he might have been in trouble. High growth potential was all well and good, but turning that potential into reality required money—enormous sums of it. Relying solely on taxes and local revenue to snowball the fief's development could easily take decades.
But that had nothing to do with Chrome.
"What did Brother Theo say?"
"He said to go ahead and do whatever I wanted, as long as I didn't pull out the support pillars."
"Isn't he being a bit too generous?"
"He claims he's happy to endure any hardship for his beloved younger siblings."
Chrome and Fiore exchanged a long look.
"That's code for 'don't go overboard,' isn't it?"
"If we just spend freely without thinking, those receipts are going to come back to haunt us later, aren't they?"
While he wasn't the same bloodless, tearless devil as their father Bern Midas, Theo Midas was still a battle-hardened veteran merchant. If they took his words "do whatever you want" at face value and actually did whatever they wanted, there was no telling how badly he'd grab them by the scruff of the neck later. If it were someone they'd never have to see again, they could suck them dry and cut them off, but that wasn't an option with Theo.
"Well, I wasn't planning to go crazy from the start anyway. This is a fief granted by the imperial family after all. It wouldn't do to neglect it and invite criticism. We'll show some sincerity, then head back—"
At that moment, Chrome's gaze, which had been idly drifting outside the carriage, suddenly froze. Noticing the abrupt change, both Fiore and Dorf tilted their heads in confusion.
"Brother?"
"Is something the matter, my lord?"
"Wait. Just... wait a moment."
Chrome removed his monocle, rubbed his eyes several times, then looked out the window again. After staring outside for several seconds, he turned to the opposite window and did the same. Dorf followed his gaze, wondering what on earth he was looking at, but all he could see were moderately sized farmlands stretching along both sides of the road, dense forest beyond them, and the massive mountain range looming in the distance.
Nothing particularly unusual...
While he felt various questions rising, an equal measure of anticipation welled up inside him. After all, whenever Chrome acted strangely like this, it usually meant something that smelled strongly of money was about to happen.
And his expectations were not betrayed.
"Dorf, I need you to gather some people."
"What sort of people, my lord?"
"Miners, forest rangers, surveyors, and laborers."
"How many...?"
Chrome answered without hesitation.
"As many as you can get. All of them."
Andvari Fief, main gate of the lord's manor.
"Hey, hey, did you hear?"
At his colleague's whisper—as if sharing some grave secret—the rookie guard who had only recently started working here answered indifferently.
"Hear what?"
"About the new lord who's supposed to arrive today. Apparently—"
"He's an academy student and the hero who saved the Mars territory?"
"Huh? You already knew? Then what about—"
"That he pushed aside his notoriously infamous father in Spero and restored the Midas Merchant Group to its former glory?"
"You knew that too? Then this is the really important part—"
"That the reason he received this fief as the imperial princess's right-hand man was because of her influence, and that he's a rising star in the empire's chaotic political landscape?"
"What? You knew that too? Where the hell did you hear all this from?!"
From you, idiot. You've been blabbing it all yourself.
The local guard stared at his colleague with eyes full of disbelief. The man considered staying silent for more than ten minutes while on duty a grave sin, yet possessed the convenient brain that somehow forgot everything he'd said and repeated the same stories over and over. At first, the rookie had been secretly moved by how openly the man approached a stranger like himself without any wariness, and had even found it a small source of vitality in the otherwise depressingly boring life of a guard. But that only lasted the first few days. After hearing the same repertoire dozens upon dozens of times, he could now guess the entire story from the opening sentence alone.
It wasn't that his colleague had any ill will. It was simply that, being a remote rural area, outside information was limited and rarely updated, so topics of conversation were few. The rookie guard considered himself rather laid-back, and others often described him that way too, but even he found it impossible to adapt to an environment where the romance between the third son of the first household and the second daughter of the brewery was relayed in leisurely installments on a weekly basis.
Unlike what I worried about at first, monster attacks are almost nonexistent, which is fortunate... but this is just too peaceful.
"Think things will change around here now that we have a proper lord?"
"Who knows. At the very least, Mr. Demar's rampages might decrease a bit."
"True. Our job is just to stand at the gate, but I've heard it's absolute chaos inside."
Demar Flamingo. The imperial official dispatched to manage this former direct imperial territory had been losing his mind lately trying to repair the manor's condition and straighten out the discipline of the servants and soldiers. He seemed desperate to make a good impression on the new lord—who was known as the princess's confidant—in hopes of building connections in the capital. Whether or not that would work was anyone's guess, but one thing was certain: he was rapidly burning through the goodwill of the fief's residents.
"He was like this when he first arrived too. For about two years he went wild—creating new wheat fields, digging canals, that sort of thing. After that he went quiet, probably because things weren't going as planned."
His colleague spoke as if he couldn't understand it, but the rookie guard could roughly guess the situation. The man had probably been assigned to this remote post, tried to produce results to earn a promotion, and failed. Managing a fief sounded impressive, but in the end he was just a salaried bureaucrat. There were limits to his authority, and he couldn't take any risky gambles even if he wanted to. It was rather pitiful.
If I'd had a bit more authority, I wouldn't have ended up in a place like this... or would I?
Just remembering it sent a chill down his spine—the mysterious masked figure. Reflecting on that horrifying experience, the rookie guard—Pan Lien, formerly a guard at the Special Prison—let out a deep sigh. What good would authority have done in front of a monster like that? It would only have meant greater responsibility. At least he himself had been shown some consideration for sounding the alarm in time and had only been demoted to the countryside. His superiors, on the other hand, had been purged one after another. The warden who had openly cooperated with the culprit had simply vanished.
Come to think of it, the fanatics who had gotten him exiled to this place and the new lord seemed connected by a rather complicated karmic relationship. He wondered what kind of person this new lord would be.
Pan's thoughts were interrupted. A commotion from the direction of the manor tickled his ears.
"...Hey, stand straight. He's coming."
"Huh? Whoa—"
He had only a moment to admire how his colleague instantly straightened his posture at the warning—so guard duty is the same everywhere—before a middle-aged man with a half-bald head emerged from inside the manor, leading a group of attendants.
"The new lord will arrive shortly! Make sure there are no discourtesies!"
"Yes, sir!"
Just how much faith could be put in the administrator's definition of "shortly," when he was so desperate to curry favor? Even if it took an hour, that would be acceptable, Pan thought. Contrary to his worries, however, the shadow of a carriage appeared in the distance far sooner than expected. At most a minute.
Isn't that too fast?
The horses galloping toward the lord's manor were moving with terrifying momentum. If noble gentlemen were riding in that carriage, the coachman would surely lose his job that very day. Or perhaps his head. Wondering what kind of reckless fool would drive the new lord's carriage at such a pace, Pan focused his gaze—and realized the "coachman" was wearing extraordinarily luxurious clothing.
Do coachmen dress that extravagantly these days? And more importantly, since when do coachmen wear monocles?
Whether the others were flustered or not, the carriage continued its mad dash and only came to a violent stop once it reached the front of the manor. At the same time, a young man leaped down from the driver's seat.
From head to toe, he gave off the impression that money had been poured all over him. He stepped forward immediately and declared:
"I am Chrome Midas, who will serve as lord of this land starting today. Which one of you is the administrator?"
"Eh? I-I am the administrator, but... wait, did you just say you're the lord?"
"Yes, Chrome Midas. Here's my letter of appointment. If you don't believe me, shall I contact them again through the communication device?"
"N-no! Not at all! Please come in! We've prepared a welcome reception inside—"
"Ah, we can do that later. Put it off for now. We'll be holding a proper banquet eventually anyway. Let's do it all at once then."
The young lord rattled off his business like lightning, then turned to the stunned administrator and the others and declared:
"—For now, I'd like to take a look around the fief. Could someone show me the way?"
Pan Lien unconsciously looked up at the sky.
It seemed the new lord was just as far from normal as everyone else.