Chapter 144. Factory City (5)

Calania Lemen Sharenta.

Karen, for short, fiddled with her lips as if in deep thought.

The silence was quite long.

I waited patiently.

Suddenly, hearing the sound of birds, I turned my gaze out the window and saw colorful birds flying in the small forest she had created in her garden.

Finally, she spoke as if letting out a sigh.

"I told you I was from the Akitarī tribe, didn't I?"

"You did."

"Do you know why I left the tribe?"

She met my eyes.

I raised my teacup and shrugged.

How would I know that?

"Actually, I was born inside Paradise. I was the queen's daughter. I was too young, so I don't remember much, but I had many siblings. My nanny said there were nineteen?"

"A large family."

"But the Senate killed them all. Along with my parents. The night before the Senate committed treason, my nanny secretly snuck me out and left Paradise."

Karen leaned back against the backrest and stared into the empty air.

Like an old person tracing scenes from a distant memory, she laid out a story with occasional gaps.

"It was the day the short prelude of my life ended."

In the middle of a moonless night.

The nanny fled with Karen.

Taking advantage of the chaos among the Elves who had lost their queen, the two desperately shook off their pursuers and finally arrived at the Akitarī tribe.

Upon their arrival, the Akitarī tribe did not welcome them.

Exiled criminals, half-elves, a young man who had been freed from brainwashing by chance, dangerous individuals who opposed Paradise's 'eternal life system', and so on.

The Akitarī tribe, formed by Elves who could not enter Paradise, was sick of the word 'royalty'.

They managed to settle on the outskirts of the tribal village with difficulty, but they were met with blatant contempt and ostracism.

The ruler of the cursed Paradise.

The blood of the king who kills his own children for eternal life.

"I was young, so I don't remember much. Just that the other children ostracized me a lot. But we became close. My nanny probably tried very hard."

She probably did.

People find it hard to accept someone they've once hated.

Anger is easy, but forgiveness is difficult.

History often shows cases where a great orator incited the anger of the crowd to cause a revolution or war, but it's hard to find cases where they calmed that anger to quell a disturbance.

If even humans, who live for a few decades at most and go to their graves with grudges, are like that, then it goes without saying for Elves, who live for hundreds of years even in their natural state.

"Yes, she must have tried very hard. She must have sacrificed, compromised, and given a lot... Thanks to that effort and time, our position in the village improved quite a bit. But one day, a messenger came from Paradise."

Hand over the Sharenta who lives here.

That was the messenger's message.

The justification was that they were escorting her to be installed as the next queen, but everyone knew it was a blatant lie.

The villagers tried to refuse to hand over one of their own.

By then, more than a hundred years had passed since she had settled in the village.

Karen, who had been a little girl, had become a respectable adult, and her nanny, whose injuries from the escape had turned into a chronic illness, was buried in the village cemetery.

To those who had been together for over a century, Karen was more like a family member who had grown up in the village since she was a child than royalty.

"There must have been friction?"

"No."

"How?"

"I turned myself in. After saying my goodbyes to the villagers first."

Just as they were family to her.

They were family to Karen as well.

"I couldn't cause trouble for the village elders who took me in despite knowing my origins, or for the friends and uncles and aunts I grew up with…"

To protect the second family she had barely gained, Karen surrendered to the Senate's messengers.

Of course, she didn't hand over her life without a thought.

Like a single, helpless lamb.

She pretended to be unable to properly handle a bow or spirits, and her hands and feet were bound with rope.

How long had passed since she was taken away, confined in a cage disguised as a carriage?

About halfway through the journey, the messengers had a moment of carelessness.

Karen immediately borrowed the power of the spirits and escaped.

"I ran through the forest. For over a fortnight without rest. Whenever I was exhausted, I received help from the spirits. The wind and fire cooled or warmed my body, I drank water, when I fainted for a moment the earth caught my body, and also…"

What can be inferred from this passage is that her spirit magic is beyond a certain level.

Even more so than I had guessed.

The fact that the spirits helped her even when she was drifting in and out of consciousness meant that she was at least a level 6 or higher spiritmancer.

Karen, who had been recounting her memories like a lament, closed her eyes and slowly exhaled.

"…I can't cause trouble again."

The memory, which must have been the source of her nightmares, still makes her hesitate even after decades.

"Unlike back then, I'm hiding well now. What you've already done for me is more than I deserve."

Knowing all too well what it feels like to be trapped in the past, I listened to her story to the end first.

"Compared to other people, I don't do anything special. Sir Olif, old man Brol, Miss Alina, Priest William, Mr. Randal, they all have important roles."

"You say that when you've done so much. You are calming beings who might destroy this world."

"?"

"And even if that's not the case, I need you."

So.

This time, it would be best to be honest.

I believe that the law of equivalent exchange surprisingly holds true in human relationships.

Especially when sharing secrets.

Just as she told me the truth she had been hiding, I intend to put my sincerity into it.

"I have no intention of stopping at being a mere viscount."

Karen's eyes shot open.

I smiled at the round eyes looking at me and said.

"I will develop Wolfskrig into a domain on par with a nation."

"What? Uh, yes?"

"I need your help for that."

I made four dots on the plate with the scattered sugar and connected them with a line.

"I will create a trade hub that connects the east, west, south, and north. It will be a trade hub that connects the continent's logistics, a power with self-sufficient farmland, a strong army, and the industrial facilities to support them."

“……”

"That's how the autonomous state will begin."

Following the establishment of the mercenary band and the acquisition of the domain.

This is my third goal.

***

An autonomous state.

It is one of the main routes a hero starting in the Empire can choose.

If they were royalty or a close relative of the Emperor, they could rule the entire Empire from the start, but such cases are few.

Heroes, excluding those few, must seek independence from the Empire in the mid to late game.

Similar routes to an autonomous state include a mercenary kingdom, a merchant alliance, a free city economic community, and a magic tower union.

Unless one intends to start a civil war and swallow the entire Empire, the standard path is to differentiate while maintaining a reasonable relationship with the Empire in this way.

Well, looking back at history, the Northern Archduchy was also created in that way.

At a time when the Empire was in a state of chaos akin to a civil war due to the rivalry between the two princes, the two princes promoted the Petroke family, which was a count's family, to an archducal family to block the invasion of the Yetis and barbarian tribes coming down from the north.

In addition, to prevent their own conflict from affecting the defense against foreign invasion, they granted the Petroke family complete autonomy.

This is the background of how the Petroke family, which does not even have imperial blood, unexpectedly became an archduchy.

"It's a similar method. When there is a foreign crisis and the Empire's interior is shaken, a sufficiently strong and loyal lord is made independent to serve as a shield."

There are two conditions.

Crisis and internal strife.

First, a crisis is approaching.

Crises that would make Yetis or barbarian tribes seem trivial.

Just off the top of my head, there are the Lumer advancing north from under the Empire, the Ratmen underground, and the Elves preparing for a holy war.

Considering the Eastern Empire beyond the mountains or the theocracy lurking behind it, the situation is hopeless.

To put it bluntly, the Empire is practically surrounded.

The second condition is a bit ambiguous, because the civil war just ended a few years ago.

Well, this is a problem that will be solved if I wait for the right time.

While the nobles are soaked in peace, indulging in luxury and pleasure, the Empire has been slowly rotting for hundreds of years.

When a real crisis hits, all the accumulated pus is bound to burst out.

Only the prepared will be able to endure that arduous time and reap the rewards.

The first button for that is a trade hub.

"I will gather strength as an international trade hub."

This is the future I had been thinking of since Archduke Gabir hinted that I would receive Wolfskrig as my domain.

Let's name some cities that have undergone rapid and astonishing development in modern times.

Hong Kong, which clung to capitalism alone in a communist desert.

Dubai, which was literally in the middle of a desert.

Singapore, a city-state surrounded by the sea instead of a desert, which became Asia's financial hub, and so on.

They are all international trade and financial centers.

It was natural for me, who did not have much time, to set my domain development plan accordingly.

Of course, the continent of Warlord Conquest is a fantasy world that oscillates between the medieval and modern eras, so international trade is not as developed as on modern Earth, but…

Well, if I can properly connect the trade routes, it's not that difficult for a single city to rise to the level of a nation.

Wolfskrig, which juts out at the southeastern tip of the Empire, is also an optimal location from that perspective.

"To the east are the Dwarves, to the south Indika, to the west the Theocracy and the City-State Alliance, and to the north the Empire's mainland."

Is she slowly breaking free from her long nightmare?

Seeing the light return to Karen's eyes, I explained step by step.

"It means it can become a marketplace where the Dwarves' metal, Indika's spices, various herbs and luxury goods from the Theocracy and the City-State Alliance, and the agricultural products from the Empire's vast lands are exchanged."

"Then from the beginning…"

"Yes. I have been growing the domain with the intention of making it a trade city from the very beginning."

It wasn't without obstacles.

Originally, Wolfskrig was an abandoned land.

A land that was hot, humid, full of insects, where the rainy and dry seasons repeated as erratically as a boiling pot of porridge, and where the energy of necromancy had spread like a contamination throughout the domain, preventing even crops from growing properly.

Geographically as well.

Until a year ago, the east and south bordered the enemy nation, the Vampire Archduchy.

The path to the Dwarves was blocked by the wasteland Orc tribe.

In the black forest to the west, the root colony of the beastmen stood firm.

"The wasteland Orcs scattered after losing their Great Chieftain. The necromantic contamination that was a threat within the domain has also been dealt with, and the Lumer ruins were also eliminated with Randal."

"That's right."

"It's a shame that Indika, the paradise of spices, has disappeared, but that can't be helped."

I can't say this to Karen, but since I've made the Vampire Archduchy a semi-vassal state instead of Indika, the situation isn't too bad.

With this expedition as an opportunity, I have achieved exclusive trade with the Everlasting Mountains Hold, the capital of the Dwarves.

Now, only one thing remains.

The black forest to the west.

The root colony, known as the base of the beastmen, remains the only obstacle blocking the way to the Theocracy and the City-State Alliance.

What I am offering to the next queen of the Elves is that land.

"You're telling me to take the black forest as my territory?"

"Yes. Drive out the beastmen and make it the land of the Elves. In alliance with me, the Viscount of Wolfskrig."

For the Elves, the territory of a forest.

For Karen, the cause of saving her people along with the position of queen.

For me, the removal of the western obstacle and a new trade partner in the form of the Elves.

"Will you accept my proposal? Your Majesty, the Queen of the Elves."

I playfully extended my hand.

The queen smiled brightly and nodded.

***

Half a year has passed.

Daily life, true to its definition, repeated in a similar atmosphere every day.

Change is something that happens at the end of such a constant accumulation of daily life.

There were a few important events.

First, the Elven kingdom was proclaimed.

Second, the excavation of the Lumer ruins began.

Third, Wolfskrig's first factory began to spew smoke.

And…

"His Majesty the Emperor… seems to be missing."

Brol, who came in the middle of the night, delivered the news with a trembling voice.

The story goes back to that morning.