Chapter 33
Chapter 33
As soon as I entered the lord’s office, the first thing I checked was his hands.
‘There’s no sword, it seems.’
His expression didn’t look too bad either.
More importantly, he wasn’t paying attention to my arrival at all and was focused entirely on the documents in front of him.
“Did you call for me, my lord?”
When I spoke, he briefly glanced over me and then pointed his chin toward the sofa.
“Sit there and wait a moment.”
His tone sounded the same as usual, so it didn’t seem like he had summoned me to scold me.
‘Still, I can’t let my guard down.’
After all, this was Calix Craubel.
I carefully sat down on the sofa. Since I’d been tense the entire time, my back straightened naturally.
By the time the tea the maid had served me had cooled slightly, Calix Craubel sat down on the sofa across from me.
“I heard something interesting.”
A bad feeling told me that it might be interesting for him but not for me at all.
“I heard the administrators of Districts 2 and 3 came to see you?”
See? I knew it.
“They offered you two hundred gold if you installed triangular roofs and drainage channels in their districts. Is that correct?”
When the administrators had come to see me, no one else had been around.
‘Then how does he know the details so precisely?’
I hadn’t even told Anton Brown the amount they offered.
“I didn’t call you here to reprimand you, so there’s no need to be that tense.”
“Then why—”
“It’s simply a warning.”
…That sounded like the same thing.
“You may accept the bribes.”
I reflexively widened my eyes at the unexpected statement.
“But regardless of how much you receive, we will not construct drainage channels in Districts 2 and 3 for the time being. The triangular roofs as well.”
“…Then shouldn’t I refuse the bribes?”
“Why?”
Calix Craubel asked as if he genuinely didn’t understand.
“If they’re offering money, why would you refuse it?”
“Well, it’s money they’re offering in exchange for construction…”
“If they truly wanted the construction done, they should have bribed me. Though if they had come to me, they would have lost their lives instead of their money.”
The cynical remark made goosebumps rise along my arms.
I really had to be careful around this man.
My throat suddenly felt dry, so I drank the now-cold tea.
“More importantly, I heard you’ve been asking around about the price of migration permits.”
“Cough—!”
The sudden comment made me choke, and I coughed dryly.
Fortunately I had just swallowed the tea. Otherwise I might have sprayed it everywhere.
‘How does he know that too?’
At least when the administrators came, I had consulted Anton Brown afterward.
But I hadn’t told anyone about the migration permits.
I had been extremely careful when asking about them.
The fact that he knew everything made chills run down my spine.
“So that’s why you said you wanted to leave the Urban Development Department? Because you want to leave Belheim?”
“Ah, well… that’s not exactly it.”
I quickly wiped my lips and hurried to explain.
“It was just pure curiosity. I met a resident while repairing a building, and they complained that they wanted to leave Belheim because of the weather but couldn’t.”
“Oh? And who might that resident be?”
“…Haha, well. I only heard it in passing, so I don’t really remember who it was.”
Even to my own ears, the excuse sounded terribly awkward.
Yet Calix Craubel didn’t press further.
“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. You will never be able to leave Belheim.”
Those words felt no different from a death sentence.
I wanted to ask why.
But doing so might reveal my true intentions, so I merely forced an awkward smile.
“Why are you smiling like an idiot? Don’t tell me you were actually planning to leave?”
Now he was criticizing my smile too.
“N-No. I don’t plan to leave anytime soon, so you don’t have to worry.”
To be precise, I simply didn’t have the money to leave.
“Anytime soon? That sounds like you intend to leave eventually.”
“Haha… of course not.”
Seriously, he was far too perceptive.
“Did you summon me just to say that?”
Please let that be the end of it.
I asked with a silent plea to leave quickly.
He snorted.
“As if. Do I look that idle to you?”
“Not at all.”
When I answered immediately, he chuckled softly and took out an elegant sheet of stationery from his inner pocket.
“A letter arrived from the Smith marquisate.”
“The marquisate?”
“Yes. They heard that Belheim overcame the autumn monsoon thanks to the drainage channels and have requested the same construction in their territory.”
Oh? It seemed the drainage system I created had become famous across the empire.
That was actually good news.
“It must rain a lot in the Smith territory then.”
I asked vaguely, assuming that was the reason they wanted drainage channels.
Calix Craubel looked at me oddly.
“Do you not know what kind of place Nubiar is?”
Of course I didn’t.
I had only been in this world for about half a year, and I had spent almost all of that time in Belheim.
When I first joined the Urban Development Department, I did read books about the Monola Empire.
But most of them focused on imperial history and the royal family. They didn’t cover territorial details.
“Ha.”
When my silence confirmed the answer, he exhaled sharply and tilted his head.
“How can someone from the Monola Empire not know Nubiar in the eastern region?”
…I told you, I’m not from here.
The unfairness of the situation frustrated me, but I couldn’t tell the truth.
“The eastern region of the empire has little rainfall and many desert areas. Most cities suffer from water shortages, but Nubiar is the exception.”
Calix Craubel explained unusually patiently.
“Thanks to the Raed River that runs through the city, there’s no shortage of water, and agriculture thrives. That’s why people call the Raed River both the blessing of the goddess and the root of their suffering.”
“The root of their suffering?”
“Yes. The Raed River overflows once every two years and devours everything.”
The moment he said that, I thought of a civilization that had depended entirely on a single river.
“It seems Marquis Smith wants the drainage channels installed to prevent the river from overflowing.”
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t reinforcing the riverbanks make more sense than building drainage channels?”
“As far as I know, they already spend a large amount of tax money every year maintaining the riverbanks.”
Yet it still failed.
“They could seal it off with magic, but they can’t block the entire river, and more importantly, it costs too much. So they can’t attempt it every time.”
That sounded very similar to the situation here.
Belheim also only protected Districts 1, 2, and 3 with magic because of the cost.
“So they’re hoping the drainage channels will help… Do you think it will work?”
“I would need to see it in person to be certain, but the chances are low.”
I answered honestly.
“Drainage channels only remove water that accumulates inside a city. They can’t stop a river from overflowing. If the water level rises and causes backflow, it could even make things more dangerous.”
“Your architectural knowledge is quite impressive.”
His gaze held both surprise and suspicion.
“You never attended the academy, so where did you learn such things?”
“It’s a natural talent.”
Though there was a lot of hard work behind it.
Perhaps my shameless answer worked, because Calix Craubel didn’t question me further.
Instead, he placed the Marquis Smith letter beside the ashtray and lit a cigar.
“Still, just in case, I suppose I should go to Nubiar and see it for myself.”
If the purpose was to quickly drain water that remained in the city after the river overflowed, then drainage channels might still be useful.
“Why would you go there?”
Calix Craubel tilted his head slightly as he lit the cigar.
“Didn’t you just say drainage channels can’t stop the river from overflowing?”
“That’s true, but seeing the situation in person might give me new ideas.”
“If you have time to worry about another territory, you should worry more about Belheim. You’re an official of Belheim, after all.”
He took a deep drag from the cigar and leaned back into the sofa, releasing a plume of white smoke.
“Just so we’re clear—no matter how tempting an offer Nubiar makes, don’t even think about going.”
Calix Craubel tilted his lips slightly as he tapped the ash of his cigar—not into the ashtray, but onto Marquis Smith’s letter.
The falling ash slowly burned the paper black.
“I have no intention of letting someone else take what belongs to me.”
…Why do I belong to you?
“If I sense even the slightest sign of that happening, you’d better prepare yourself.”
It felt as though he was saying I would end up like the charred letter if I ignored his warning.
So I nodded and promised several times that I understood.