The Training Ground
"Good."
At Roella's answer, Ian allowed himself a satisfied smile.
It was a decision entirely in character for her.
Choosing an uncertain but greater future over a safe present.
That was the essence of who Roella Amelia was.
Someone with more than enough potential to go far, if luck just held?
Feeling her boldness firsthand like this left him with a strangely renewed impression of her.
"Then from now on, we're business partners. Looking forward to working with you, Roella."
"Hmph. Business partners? Do you even understand how much of a loss I'm taking on here?"
Roella still spoke curtly, but a spark of anticipation for the new challenge flickered in her eyes.
"By the way, Roella."
He spoke with a serious expression.
This was closer to the real point.
"Since we're going into business together, I have a favor to ask."
"What is it?"
"We've got some mana stones already mined. Could you sell those for us first? Something urgent came up."
Roella nodded.
"That much is no problem. We need to run quality tests anyway. How much are we talking?"
"Hmm… roughly around two hundred million rene worth, I'd say."
"Two hundred million?"
Roella's eyes went round with shock.
"You've already pulled that much? Without proper facilities? In pure raw ore?"
Aurora ducked her head, looking embarrassed.
"Ah, n-no. Most of it was already exposed on the surface, so… it's hard to call it proper mining. And the quantity isn't as large as it sounds — I estimated based on quality."
"Still impressive, though. Two hundred million rene in raw ore isn't a small sum."
Roella said it with genuine admiration.
"Right? So about that."
Ian put on a shameless face and pressed on.
"Any chance I could get an advance payment?"
"What?"
Roella stared at him with an incredulous look.
"An advance? On mana stones that haven't even been sold yet?"
"Yeah. Something urgent came up."
"If that's the case, I could just lend you the money."
"I'd feel a little bad about that."
"You don't even trust your business partner?"
A faint note of hurt crept into Roella's voice.
"It's not like that…"
Ian scratched his head as he spoke.
"The truth is, my family is hounding me to pay back a debt. The deadline's almost up. And if I pay it off with borrowed money, it won't make for a particularly good story."
Roella stared at him for a moment, then let out a short snort of laughter.
"Well, look at you, Ian. You know how to play politics too?"
"Well. If I'm going to pay it back anyway, I might as well get what I can out of it, right?"
Roella laughed as if she were genuinely enjoying herself.
"Heh. Now that is more like a proper rival of mine."
"Ri… what?"
"Never mind. I'll deposit the advance."
"Thanks."
"On one condition. Twenty percent commission."
Twenty percent.
Honestly, it stung a little — but factoring in interest rates and the labor of the transaction itself, it was actually quite cheap.
If only something like futures trading existed.
A memory from his modern life suddenly surfaced.
Resource futures trading — selling mana stones that hadn't even been mined yet, then settling later with the actual stones.
If he could introduce a system like that, raising capital would become far easier.
Something to think about later.
It was too complex a system for right now, but once the mana stone business stabilized to a certain degree, it should be perfectly feasible to implement.
He was feeling rather pleased that the immediate money problem had been solved when, suddenly, cheers erupted from far off in the distance.
"Wooooah!"
"Amazing!"
"One more time!"
Ian and Roella turned their heads at the same time.
"What is that?"
"Something seems to be going on over there."
Roella said it with open curiosity.
"Want to go take a look?"
At Ian's suggestion, the two of them set off in the direction of the cheering.
Following the cheers, they arrived at a wide open lot that even Ian hadn't known about.
And there, wooden training facilities stood in neat rows.
"You had a training ground in Seorigol?"
Roella asked, looking startled.
Ian couldn't answer. It was the first time he was seeing the place himself. Only a few days ago this had been nothing but empty ground — when had all of this gone up?
Looking closer, the facilities did have a rough, slapped-together quality about them, but crude as they were, they had every essential element a proper training ground needed.
Sword-practice dummies, archery targets, even equipment for physical conditioning.
The cheering was coming from the very center of the grounds. There, Roella's escort knight — the one who had been so rude to Ian — was drenched in sweat, locked in a sparring match with someone. Judging by his expression, he was having a rather hard time of it.
"My. Mikhail, on the back foot like that?"
Roella said in surprise.
"That knight almost never gets pushed around. Who on earth is he fighting?"
Ian stepped closer to check the opponent — and to his astonishment, it was Hector.
"Was Hector that good a knight?"
Hector was deflecting Mikhail's attacks with seasoned movements. His swordsmanship wasn't flashy, but it was practical and efficient, steeped in decades of experience. Every time Mikhail struck, Hector either countered at precisely the right moment or neutralized the attack at a masterful angle.
And every time he did, cheers burst from the Seorigol residents watching nearby.
"Ohh!"
"Sir Hector, you're incredible!"
"I didn't know he had techniques like that!"
That knight, though…
Ian still remembered Mikhail's reckless behavior, and his impression of the man was not a good one.
But the Mikhail facing Hector right now looked quite serious — even fulfilled.
As if he were genuinely glad to test his skill against a master he hadn't encountered in a long time.
A short while later, the spar ended.
With Mikhail holding a slight offensive edge, they both lowered their swords — apparently having finished the number of exchanges they'd agreed on beforehand.
"I've learned much, sir."
Mikhail bowed his head respectfully to Hector. There was genuine reverence in his voice.
Hector laughed heartily and praised his skill in return.
"Not bad at all, young man! You seem several times stronger than I was at your age."
"You flatter me. Had you been in your prime, I wouldn't have stood a chance."
Mikhail answered with humility.
Just then, Hector spotted Ian and waved cheerfully.
"Lord Ian! You're back?"
"Hector, what on earth is all this?"
Ian asked, gesturing at the training facilities around them.
Hector answered with a proud look on his face.
"We built a training ground! Once I learned about the mana stone mine, I felt the urgent need to protect Seorigol! Surely we need at least a place to train the people of the fief!"
"This is really impressive."
Ian said it with genuine admiration. A training ground was absolutely essential for a territory's development. Especially for a fief like Seorigol, sitting out on the frontier.
"A fine instructor — far above what a lord of your caliber deserves."
Mikhail tossed the remark at Ian with a clear edge of mockery in his voice.
"Mikhail. Mind your manners."
Roella cut him off sharply.
Mikhail backed down at her rebuke, but the look he gave Ian remained anything but ordinary. And every time the distance between Roella and Ian closed, a subtle killing intent leaked from him. Almost as if he were jealous.
What's his problem?
Ian decided to ignore Mikhail's strange reaction. This was not the time to worry about that sort of thing.
Instead, he took a closer look at the state of the training ground.
Overall, he liked it. Hastily built as the facilities were, they looked more than adequate for basic training. And more than anything, the sight of Anya's subordinates training hard left a strong impression.
"That child in particular has a shining talent!"
Hector said, pointing to a young girl.
Ian looked in that direction and saw one of Anya's subordinates — a young girl — training with movements far superior to the other children.
Anya's subordinate number one, was it?
Barely fifteen years old, give or take.
But her skill with a sword already surpassed that of most grown men.
Well…
Memories of the game surfaced.
When military facilities like training grounds were constructed, heroes with a gift for combat tended to appear naturally.
That had been the game's system — and something similar seemed to be happening in reality as well.
Well, the rest still look like they're severely underleveled.
Expecting ordinary residents to become seasoned soldiers after a single day of training would be pure shamelessness.
If he needed soldiers quickly, he'd have to hire them.
No — wait.
An important thought suddenly struck him. The training ground was one of the special facilities required for territory level-ups. If a facility like this had been built on its own, that meant…
Don't tell me the territory leveled up?
Ian was suddenly burning with curiosity. He needed to hurry back to the office and check. If the territory level had truly risen, it would be a major milestone in Seorigol's development.
"Roella, sorry — something urgent came up. I need to stop by the office for a bit."
"What? All of a sudden?"
"There's something I need to check. I'll be right back."
With that, Ian hurried off toward the office.