Fun Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord (Novel) - Chapter 114 - The Changes in Seat Village

Chapter 114 – The Changes in Seat Village

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The Commercial Guild’s on-site inspection ended without issue. The result was, of course, a huge success. The guild investigator had wound up with his merchant spirit blazing, but that was energy heading in a good direction.

After the talks and future trade discussions were concluded, I guided Apollo and the others around Seat Village once more the next day, showed them the lake where the Apkallu lived and startled them thoroughly, and then they left the village and began their return journey.

It seemed they would really have liked to see the dungeon as well, but they said they couldn’t afford to miss such a major business opportunity and hurried back instead.

Personally, I had wanted to show them the adventurers’ rest stop I’d built in front of the dungeon and surprise them with that too, but I’ll save that for next time.

For now, simply earning the right to trade with the Commercial Guild, which affects nations across the world, was an excellent result. I had honestly been worried that Bell-Rango Company might be treated as fraudulent and end up cut off from other merchant houses and countries, but instead it was a grand slam home run turned walk-off.

If the Commercial Guild was paying attention to us, then other nobles would have a harder time harassing us casually too.

“Well, that worked out nicely. It wasn’t what I expected, but all’s well that ends well.”

When I said that, Bell and Rango, who were attending the little celebration, both nodded.

“It really did. Now our Bell-Rango Company will likely be treated on the same level as the Mary Company. After all, we’ve been granted the highest class of trade rights with the Commercial Guild.”

“And because we’re still just a newly established merchant house, no other merchant house can afford to ignore us so easily now, thinking of the future.”

Rango added that in agreement with Bell’s words. Ever since the discussion ended yesterday, the two of them had suddenly regained a great deal of mental breathing room.

Even now, they had come all the way to the office in the lord’s residence from the morning onward, happily talking about future prospects.

“…Are you two really okay being here with me?”

“It’s fine. We’ve placed some restrictions in place for now. Our employees have at least become apprentice-level by now. We can just barely keep the shop running…”

Bell answered that with a broad smile, but then fell silent the moment he heard a knock at the door.

When I sent a glance toward it, Kamushin nodded silently and opened the door. Standing there beside Till was a young man from the Bell-Rango Company. If I remembered right, he was one of the few who had valuable experience as a traveling merchant.

Without hiding his displeased expression, the young man bowed his head in the doorway. Then he glared at Bell and Rango.

“Chairman.”

The moment he opened with that, Bell and Rango’s faces twitched.

“D-did work pile up after all?”

“Maybe this was bad.”

As the two spoke at once, the young man knit his brows and reported the problem.

“The adventurers are staging a demonstration, and the other villagers are lodging complaints.”

“What?”

“J-just because we imposed a one-day restriction?”

At that report, the two blinked and asked back. With a sigh, the young man put his hands on his hips and shook his head from side to side.

“Every month new adventurers arrive in Seat Village after hearing the rumors. Because of the restrictions, everything sells out early in the morning, and by noon the purchase of magical beast materials and ore is also over. The newly arrived adventurers wouldn’t know that, so everyone’s voicing dissatisfaction.”

“What!? Even more new adventurers!?”

“There were new ones yesterday too.”

“Their numbers increase every month, so that’s hardly strange. If anything, it should have been expected.”

The three of them went back and forth like that, and then a moment of silence followed. Structurally, the scene had become one of Bell and Rango being scolded by a subordinate.

Yep. They’d definitely gotten carried away and optimistic again.

Thinking that, I laughed and waved one hand.

“Don’t worry about me. You two should go back to the shop. Do your best.”

When I said that, the young man unexpectedly turned to look at me.

“The weapons and armor Van-sama makes are also in short supply… when can we expect the next delivery? Incidentally, greatswords, straight swords, katanas, spears, and the like are all already sold out.”

“Huh?”

At the young man’s careful but faintly dissatisfied words, I gave a silly half-reply. Just last month I’d delivered more than a hundred swords and spears apiece.

The price of my weapons is set simply by size. Large weapons go for ten to twenty gold coins, medium weapons five to ten, and small weapons one to five.

Even so, for iron weapons those were already extremely high prices. Mithril weapons and the like I could make too, but those are fully made to order and priced at market value.

And those weapons were already on the verge of selling out. Since I make every single one carefully, it wasn’t as though they were snapping one after another.

“…About how many new customers are coming each month?”

“Last month about two hundred visited, and just under one hundred left the village. By contrast, this month over three hundred have already come, and about one hundred, such as caravan guards and mercenaries heading toward the neighboring country, have left the village.”

“Fifty percent more!?”

At the young man’s answer, I couldn’t help blurting that out. New customers meant people who had almost all surely come because they’d heard rumors. And those had increased by fifty percent in a single month… just how much was Seat Village being talked about in other territories?

There had been reports that the people of Seat Village were steadily increasing, but at this rate even the adventurers’ town would end up overpopulated.

The knight order was also increasing its numbers every month, and the more the population increased, the harder management would get too.

“This is bad. We’ve got to develop all sorts of things before the residents’ dissatisfaction explodes!”

Muttering that, I hurriedly stood up.

“I’ll have the weapons and armor ready by tomorrow, so for now please go and handle the company work!”

I told Bell and the others that, then looked toward Till and Kamushin.

“You two, hurry and bring Espada and Dee! Emergency meeting!”

“Y-yes!”

At my order, the two straightened their backs, answered, and ran out of the office.

From worrying about the Commercial Guild, I’d neglected my work as lord just a bit too much. Normally Espada would already have been giving me an earful, but this time perhaps he’d judged me too busy, because I’d received only the usual reports.

After waiting a little while, Dee arrived first, rushing in at once.

“I heard there was an emergency!?”

“An emergency meeting, yes. A meeting.”

“Mm, an emergency meeting.”

For some reason Dee muttered that with a trace of excitement and dropped heavily into a chair.

Espada, who had been left in charge of the newly built adventurers’ town, came a little later, but after another short while he too arrived.

“…I came at once when I heard there was an emergency meeting.”

Bowing respectfully, Espada made his appearance as well.

It felt as though it had been a long time since I’d sat down with the two of them properly, but if I thought about it, up until the Commercial Guild matter came up I’d still been seeing them every week for sword practice and study, so not enough time had passed to really call it nostalgic.

“I’m glad both of you came.”

As I said that, I indicated to Espada that he should take a seat. Dipping his chin slightly, he sat down without making a sound. During that time Till and Kamushin closed the door and moved to my side.

Once I confirmed that everyone was looking at me, I opened my mouth.

“As you both know, thanks to everyone’s help, the Commercial Guild matter turned out about as well as it possibly could have. There may still be nobles who resent my existence or something like that, but I don’t think we need to worry much about that for now.”

When I said that, both Dee and Espada nodded.

“Right now the biggest issue is population growth. The adventurers’ town was supposed to be only something like a waystation, but I think we need to expand it.”

With that, I raised the issue and stated the policy.

At that, Dee and Espada exchanged glances and nothing more. After exactly a second of silence, Dee raised the corner of his mouth like a victor, while Espada only nodded silently.

“Eh? What? What’s with that weird reaction?”

When I tilted my head at their reaction, Dee burst out laughing.

“No, well, a very anxious fellow came to consult me last week, you see. He said that because Van-sama’s hands were full, at the very least we ourselves needed to do what we could. But I told him this, didn’t I? That there was no possible way Van-sama could fail to understand the state of his own territory.”

When Dee said that in a meaningful tone, a wrinkle formed between Espada’s brows.

“I did no such thing as consult anyone. I merely suggested that until Van-sama had settled on a direction, should we not at least use the two knight orders to gather materials.”

“You certainly seemed anxious about when the matter would finally be raised.”

“You must be mistaken.”

Dee answered in a teasing tone, which was rare for him, while Espada only shrugged.

Apparently, the two of them had already been discussing this issue before I noticed it myself.

There was no way I could say, “I only just noticed it now,” at this point, so I simply smiled at the two of them.

“You didn’t say anything because you think I’ve become a full-fledged lord by now, right? Thank you.”

At that, both of them blinked, then let the tension in the room ease a little.

“You are still far from being the greatest swordsman in the kingdom.”

“And both as a lord and as a noble, you are still far from possessing deep foresight.”