The Count's Daughter (1)
At last, I had risen to the position of director of the newly established Black Death and Pregnancy Countermeasures Headquarters, stepping up from my role as a breeder.
Ah, of course, that didn't mean I had stopped working as a breeder. Even now, I was still handling five women a day before preparing countermeasures against the Black Death. As for the pregnancy countermeasures, simply teaching them the simple method to detect pregnancy was enough, so there was no need to overthink it.
"Still no new personnel assigned today, I see…."
"W-well… don't be too disappointed."
But there was a problem. Because this department was newly created, it lacked everything—budget, personnel, all of it.
Wellington, that bastard!
Swear words rose to my lips. I knew that in this feudal society, a territory was essentially a small country. That meant budgets and personnel allocations for each department were decided every year.
So I had already expected that a brand-new department like ours wouldn't receive generous funding or staff. Still, I thought they would at least allocate something within the bounds of common sense. But…
"What? Budget and personnel for a new department? Speak sense!"
"……."
During the meeting, Baron Wellington had shot down every single one of my requests for budget and personnel as if he were having a fit.
The bigger problem was that Melania, who had been watching the meeting from behind, had nodded along as if Wellington was right.
"As the baron says. We have no budget or personnel to allocate to a new department right now. However, I will personally provide a small amount of funds for the budget. As for personnel… feel free to use as many breeders as you like. For now, be satisfied with this much and bring me results."
The fact that it wasn't wrong made it all the more infuriating—at least to an ordinary person.
"Erika. Could you gather the breeders for me?"
"Understood."
Left with no choice, I had to produce results using the pitifully small budget Melania had reluctantly given and the useless breeders.
"U-um, what should we do?"
"Heh… heh… just leave it to us."
The breeders Erika had called in looked like they had just finished their shifts. Dark circles hung heavy under their eyes, and their cheeks and bellies were so gaunt it wouldn't have been strange if they collapsed on the spot.
All the other breeders besides me looked like this.
They seemed to have gathered the Beta Males with the strongest stamina, but even for them, ejaculating five times a day without a single day off had to be grueling.
I understood that what was simple for me was difficult for Beta Males.
I didn't particularly look down on them for being in this state. They were among the few Beta Males who didn't show open hostility toward me. We might as well get along.
"Alex… that bastard used to beat us whenever he had time. Thanks to you, Alpha, we can finally sleep without worrying these days… hehe."
His only flaw was that he was a bit slow.
Now I had to produce results with a tiny budget and useless personnel.
I held out several bottles and spoke to the breeders.
"For now, collect urine samples from the women and bring them here."
As our first achievement, I needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the pregnancy test I had mentioned.
The pregnancy test carrying the essence of ancient Egypt.
*
Wellington had come to find pleasure in the reports from the maid he had attached to Alpha.
The Black Death and Pregnancy Countermeasures Headquarters.
A newly established department in Vicken Territory with Alpha as its director.
Wellington had allocated neither budget nor personnel to this department. All it possessed was a small amount of money Melania had personally provided and the breeders summoned from another world.
Could they possibly create countermeasures against the Black Death with this? No, what about the pregnancy countermeasures first? Of course, the pregnancy countermeasures weren't about swelling women's bellies but about discovering the pregnancy test—yet even that was absurdly underfunded and understaffed.
"Nonsense."
Pregnancy testing? Even urine-tasting diagnosticians could only guess correctly less than 30% of the time. If they brought in a high-circle mage to use detection magic, they could determine pregnancy with certainty, but there were no such high-circle mages in this territory.
And using a mage of that caliber just to check for pregnancy would be a waste anyway.
"Well then. What is that fellow doing now?"
So right now, Alpha could do nothing. He wouldn't be able to create a pregnancy test, let alone countermeasures for the Black Death.
In fact, he had accomplished nothing over the past few days.
"They are collecting urine from both pregnant and non-pregnant women."
"What? Puhahaha—!!"
Wellington burst into loud laughter. As expected.
Even the arrogant Alpha had no method after all!! It was nothing more than a pathetic ploy to escape the grueling work of a breeder!
"Ahaha!! So your grand plan is just to train diagnosticians? Haa. Fine. You may leave now."
"Yes, my lord."
After sending the maid out, Wellington raised his glass and gazed out the window. The sun that had seemed destined to hang in the sky forever was setting, and the moon's time had arrived.
"Alex. I shall avenge you."
Wellington toasted toward the window as if commemorating Alex, a twisted smile on his lips.
From the very first moment he saw him, Wellington had despised the otherworlder named Alpha, and now he wanted to dance at his failure.
*
Regular meeting time.
"Well then, shall we have Alpha from our new department give his report first?"
Wellington had pointed me out first, as if the time had finally come. His intent was so transparent that I could practically see his bones.
"You haven't made any announcements for the past few days. Surely it won't be the same today? If so… Lady Melania. What will you do?"
"He must die or receive an equivalent punishment."
Melania answered without hesitation.
I had offered my own neck from the start, so I had no right to complain, but still—demanding results without providing adequate budget or personnel!
"I hear you've been collecting women's urine lately."
"Yes, that is correct. We have been conducting pregnancy tests using barley and wheat with the collected urine."
"Exactly. Training diagnosticians… huh?"
But who was I? An Alpha Male.
Producing results even with no budget and trash-tier personnel—that was me!
"Lady Melania. May I show you what we have prepared?"
"Granted."
"Erika! Come in!"
At my loud call, Erika—who had been waiting outside—entered pulling a cart loaded with ten bottles of yellow liquid, trays of wheat and barley seeds, and soil.
"This is women's urine, and wheat and barley? You claim this can determine pregnancy!!"
Wellington shouted in disbelief. Of course he would.
Creating a pregnancy test with 70-80% accuracy using wheat and barley? It made no sense and was utterly ridiculous. But it was possible.
This method discovered in ancient Egypt was remarkably effective. Considering modern pregnancy tests boasted 95-98% accuracy, the fact that this method—discovered thousands of years ago—achieved such precision was nothing short of insane.
"I will report the results first. Using these wheat and barley seeds, we can determine pregnancy with 70-80% accuracy."
A stir rippled through the practical staff attending the meeting. In this world, the only ways to determine pregnancy were diagnosticians tasting women's urine with less than 30% accuracy or high-circle mages using detection magic.
The former method had far too low accuracy, while the latter was practically impossible.
Yet here was a pregnancy test with 70-80% accuracy…!
Thanks to detection magic, it was widely known that a woman's belly only showed after 15-16 weeks—roughly 3-4 months—into pregnancy.
In other words, until then, there was no way to know if she was pregnant. That meant women who were already pregnant would still be sent to the breeding chamber for no reason!
But with the pregnancy test I had created, we could determine pregnancy as early as two weeks in. In short, there would be no need to uselessly summon already-pregnant women to the breeding chamber.
For the practical staff, this meant they could recover the wasted performance records from sending pregnant women into the breeding chamber.
"I can't believe it—!! Lady Melania. This is a lie! There's no way barley and wheat could determine pregnancy!"
Oh, but it can~
Wellington's desperate denial and flailing was almost comical. Cross-verification had already been completed. The barley and wheat watered with pregnant women's urine sprouted in just three days instead of the usual 7-10 days.
Meanwhile, the barley and wheat watered with non-pregnant women's urine grew normally.
"We can confirm whether it's true or not in just three days. Would you like to verify it yourself, Lady Melania? Barley and wheat watered with a pregnant woman's urine will sprout in three days, while those watered with non-pregnant urine will sprout normally. It won't take long."
"You bastard!! Do you think I don't know you're just trying to buy time!!"
"Enough! We shall test it as you say… However, if this is a lie, you had best abandon any thought of dying peacefully."
"Yes."
Oh, how terrifying.
"If it is true… then appropriate treatment must follow. Wellington!"
"Y-yes! Yes!"
"If this proves true, allocate budget and personnel to the Black Death and Pregnancy Countermeasures Headquarters."
"…. Understood."
Wellington clenched his fists, but there was nothing he could do. He could only nod.
*
A few days later.
"Alpha! Great news! We're finally getting new personnel assigned to us! With this, we can start planning countermeasures against the Black Death!"
Erika spoke cheerfully as we walked down the corridor after I finished my breeder duties. She looked genuinely delighted.
Well, from Erika's perspective, it was understandable.
"They can't even write?"
The senior breeders who had been summoned to this world before me couldn't even write. The only thing they could do was manual labor!
The problem was that, as with any government department, administrative work was essential. And the only ones in our department who could handle that essential administrative work were me and Erika, who knew how to write.
But because Erika was a knight, she clearly disliked administrative tasks and had kept requesting an administrator. And now, after successfully creating the pregnancy test, it seemed new personnel had finally arrived for us.
"Greetings. I am Elisa Soryu, newly arrived in Vicken Territory."
The moment she entered the Black Death and Pregnancy Countermeasures Headquarters, a woman with blue roll-bun hair gave a polite greeting as if she had been prepared for this.
She had a family name, so she must be a noble. In this world, only nobles possessed family names. Even those who had once been nobles were not permitted to use them as a rule.
Therefore, there was a high probability that our new recruit standing before us was a noble.
Bowing one's head to a female was unthinkable, but there was no need to cause unnecessary trouble.
"I am Alpha, the director in charge of this department. I look forward to working with you, my lady."
"I am Erika, a knight currently dispatched here from the order. I look forward to working with you as well, Lady Elisa."
"E… d-don't tell me… you're both commoners?"
What…?
"Hiiit—!! Filthy, filthy! Stay at least two meters away immediately! You'll spread germs! And you, sir, stay at least five meters away! I feel like I'll get pregnant!"
Well, well… It seemed Wellington had once again thrown me a particularly nasty curveball…?