Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Booming Hawk County
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“Duke Zion, Your Grace!”
“Zuenha...!”
The ministers, who bore heavy responsibilities as the core of the Dukedom, chattered toward Zion like a flock of sparrows, desperate to prevent massive fires from breaking out in their respective departments.
Thud thud!
“Quiet, quiet.”
The ministers snapped their mouths shut in unison as Zion lightly rapped the table.
Zion, his face weathered like someone who had spent a decade grinding away at civil service exams in Noryangjin, scanned the faces of the ministers one by one. Each carried a subtle glimmer of hopeful anticipation, like the parents of an exam prep student hearing, “Looks like we passed this time!”
But a class of idle bum who had left internal affairs almost entirely to his wife Stella and eldest son, Grand Theo, even during his active days as Duke, wasn’t about to change now.
And those who had sustained a freeloading life for long years possessed cunning wits and sharp instincts on par with top exam scorers.
“Hmm! I well understand your sincere devotion to the Dukedom. However, such weighty duties are not for me.”
“...Huh?”
Zion flicked a brief glance at someone seated right beside him before continuing gravely.
“I believe Hander should handle them. As the founder of this land, its sword and shield, I shall devote myself for the time being to guarding and protecting the Dukedom. Hmm, that will be all.”
Zion patted the shoulder of Yonas, who sat beside him, then rose from his seat immediately.
“G-Grandpa.”
“Tsk!”
The eternal sword and shield of the Dukedom (idle bum) silenced the flustered Yonas trying to call out to him with a single sharp glance. Leaving behind the pitiful descendant trembling with despair and betrayal, he crossed the conference room with light steps.
‘It’s a runner.’
‘His Grace Duke Zion is running away.’
‘Hmm. So it was true that Princess Stella cried out he was a freeloading layabout who played and ate whenever he had the chance.’
The ministers exchanged only glances, too afraid to voice it aloud.
At that moment.
“Oh, right.”
Zion, who had half-opened the conference room door, turned his head slightly and spoke.
“No matter what else, make sure to take care of the soldiers who died or were wounded in this monster hunt.”
“......!”
Right. They had momentarily forgotten amid the overwhelming joy.
A great share of today’s joy belonged to those who had fought bravely without regard for their lives for the Dukedom.
A pang of self-reproach for overlooking something so important, even briefly, colored Yonas and the ministers’ faces with shame.
“Let me see. Yes, for the bereaved families of the fallen, pay 10,000 dien annually for ten years and grant full tax exemptions for five years. For the wounded unable to continue service, pay 10,000 dien lump sum and arrange employment in a profession of their choice.
That is the bare minimum honor due to those who staked their lives for this land.”
“Let it be as Your Grace decrees!”
All the ministers cried out in unison, bowing their heads.
As expected of the founder.
So what if he found internal affairs a bit bothersome?
They should be content just to have this long-retired figure return to their side.
It was more than enough that he still cherished and loved the people of this land.
They were grateful just for him awakening these young and inexperienced souls today.
“Zuenha....”
Deep emotion filled the conference room with a warm glow.
But.
‘Constitutional monarchy is the best, after all. While ensuring proper treatment for national heroes, dump all the hassle on the slaves—no, the ministers. Plus, gain popularity with the Dukedom’s subjects.’
“Yes, yes. Then everyone, carry on.”
The conscienceless old monster nodded with a pleased expression and exited the conference room.
But the lingering感動 left by the benevolent founder in the conference room.
“Hander, the issue of establishing villages at the Hawk Corps garrison sites is the most...”
“Nonsense! If we don’t refill the grain storehouses immediately, next year...”
“Lord Zion, Lord Zion! We must pave and extend the roads to address the problems plaguing every corner of the Dukedom...”
“Fortresses! Grand and magnificent fortresses first...!”
“Hander!”
“Yonas Hander!”
Vanished in an instant.
The ministers revealed their true colors the moment Zion left.
Transforming in a flash from wide-eyed innocent sparrows into greedy magpies eager to extract even one more scrap from the naive bird, they began hounding Yonas, who was dozens of times more approachable than Zion.
“Ah......”
The感動 was fleeting. The pitiful descendant, betrayed by the founder he had trusted, wanted nothing more than to faint.
* * *
Time flew by swiftly.
Led by Stelmann, the Hawk Corps set out every five to ten days to various parts of the Dukedom, focusing on driving all monsters completely toward the Brandin Mountains.
The regular troops and reorganized reserve militias from each area supported the Hawk Corps or joined operations together, accumulating overall knowledge and experience in monster hunting.
The three elf tribes, divided into North Mountain, High Mountain, and South Mountain Elves, used Zion’s return as an opportunity to strengthen exchanges beyond before and share territory information.
The era of great upheaval had increased both the types and numbers of monsters in the mountains, but their activity ranges had expanded dramatically as well.
Especially problematic were the new variants that hadn’t existed before, so the elves conducted joint reconnaissance regardless of tribe and hunted beasts or monsters together, forging closer ties than ever.
The Iron Mountain Dwarves experienced their busiest time since arriving in the Dukedom.
Mine Foreman Smirnov stayed at the Hawk Corps garrison site, managing and supervising various construction and work projects.
The labor officers with red armbands left in Iron Mountain screamed amid the flood of tasks and workloads, leading the dwarves in a fervent labor campaign dubbed the “Great Advance Movement” (Zion flinched upon first hearing the name, but it yielded entirely different results from its “original”).
Rozin and Frland, not to mention the Dukedom’s counties and towns, all regained stability.
Small hamlets with fewer than fifty households remained uneasy, but the reserves who had been conscripted(?), trained, and returned sequentially eased those worries greatly.
Thanks to Hander’s bold decision (with the Minister of Military Affairs clinging to his trouser legs and begging), the reserves returned home equipped with 32-layer linen armor, round shields, short swords, and short spears. They felt invincible.
The reserve gear, distributed under penalty of death for selling (if caught), matched the specs once used by the Black Eagle Legionnaires.
In other words, even just five or six militia members centered on rigorously trained reserves could now easily repel dozens of small monsters like goblins or kobolds.
With the entire Dukedom thus stabilized, all the residents praised Hander and the ministers.
Above all, they felt immense gratitude and sang praises for the “House of Duke Zion,” which had proudly raised the three-headed eagle banner once more.
Amid this smooth operation of everything, a single rumor began circulating indiscriminately through cities and towns alike.
It was a tale that would pique the interest especially of farmers who toiled year-round in fields and with livestock, and poor fishermen who rowed out on good-weather days to catch fish but sucked their thumbs when the skies turned foul.
* * *
- A massive new village, at minimum a town, is being built right next to the Hawk Corps!
- The dwarf folk are erecting enormous workshops and factories—they need tons of workers!
- Earn at least twice as much as slaving away at farming or fishing!
- Best of all, with the Hawk Corps right there, zero worries about monsters!
The residents of Duke Zion’s Dukedom, particularly the southern villagers who had witnessed and endured the monster crisis, were greatly stirred.
Wherever two or three gathered, they gossiped about Hawk County (named after the Hawk Corps), and the impatient rushed off to the nearest county seat or city for details.
And just days after the rumor took hold, announcements were posted in every city and town of the Dukedom.
Staff and Laborer Recruitment
- Positions: 000
- Recruitment Period: No limit
- Fields: Unskilled laborers, apprentice and experienced workers for monster byproduct processing
- Qualifications: Any Dukedom resident aged 15-50, male or female (heads of household with 2+ dependents prioritized)
- Wages: Starting at 300 dien per week for unskilled laborers and apprentices, 500 dien per week for experienced workers
- Etc.
Rooooar!!!
The residents cheered at the announcement stamped boldly with the seals of the House of Duke Zion and Hander.
The pay was ordinary, but the key word was “starting.” After all, didn’t it guarantee at least 1,000 dien a month as long as you had a body to work?
It was the opportunity of a lifetime for those sick of farming, or young third or fourth sons from poor farm families with little inheritance even after their parents passed.
Moreover, recruiting at least 1,000 people was noteworthy.
Ordinary folk rejoiced, thinking so many spots meant they’d surely get in.
But the sharper minds among them calculated.
“If thousands are working, add their families and it’s at least four or five times that? Over 10,000 population easy! First ones there to set up stalls will rake it in!”
Capital or not, selling food or booze or anything—merchants flocked en masse first.
These quickest, shrewdest traders who raced to Hawk County were slightly disappointed by the village population, smaller than expected.
But as hundreds of laborers poured out every evening after work, and Hawk Corps members went on outings or overnights in shifts every weekly holiday, splashing money everywhere, disappointment turned to cheers.
A single military unit, swelled to nearly 500 including trainees, had ignited the economy of the Hawk County garrison area.
Naturally, the gouging prices typical of garrison towns emerged, but after the undying old monster gave Smirnov a stern warning, the unscrupulous merchants were swiftly expelled.
All sorts of minor incidents cropped up, but within less than a month of the announcements, thousands of applicants and those eyeing their spending money flooded into Hawk County.
Hander was astonished, the ministers aghast, and other territories and nations would kneel at Duke Zion’s Dukedom’s “great transformation,” which had successfully begun.
“How about it? Didn’t it turn out just as I said?”
“......”
Standing at the window on the top floor of the expanded garrison headquarters, Yonas and Smirnov gaped toward distant Hawk County, nodding vigorously.
When they first heard Zion’s plan and followed the founder’s orders just in case—“Tsk. Will this really work?”—they had wondered.
But now.
Even in broad daylight, swarms of people bustled like ants, endless wagons and carts rumbling along the pre-built roads without cease.
On one side, a river tributary was diverted for full-scale sewer works; on the other, buildings sprang up with rhythmic hammering.
‘No way this actually worked!?’
Yonas and Smirnov shared the same thought.
No, this wasn’t just “working.”
It was a resounding success, beyond mere triumph.
(To be continued)