The Struggle of a Weak Aristocrat in a Different World Our Domain is Surrounded by Large Aristocrats, and It’s a Big Problem! - CH 43
“I’m starting our last meeting before I enter the Academy.”
In the usual conference room, five people were seated respectively: Hazuki, the master of the workshop, Zion, in charge of flood control work, Yulis and Hal, in charge of political affairs, and Macbeth, the chief squire.
“First, Squire Macbeth will give us a report and outline our course of action.”
When I said that, Macbeth stood up quickly from his chair and stood up in a dignified manner with his back straight like a knight. His attitude seemed to tighten the atmosphere of the place, and everyone straightened up more than usual, looked at Macbeth, and listened.
Macbeth looked at everyone listening, took a breath, and then opened his mouth.
“Currently, we have a squire from the Viscount family as the captain and civil servants as soldiers, and in addition to our normal civil servant duties, we have been training day in and day out and have finally mastered basic military behavior and weapon handling. From now on, in addition to the training we’ve been doing, I would like to engage in actual combat, such as mass battles and defeating bandits!”
It’s nice to see how far they’ve come in such a short time. From what I’ve been able to gather lately, it seems that factions of the royal family are slowly starting to form, and I’m sure the three families are wondering if they should join one of the factions, so I have to prepare my forces while they’re not focused on my territory.
“You’ve done a good job, and I’m going to ask you to also train with the longbow, which will take a long time to master. In addition, the students of the private school will become the next squires. The ones who have military aptitude should also be given the opportunity to experience actual combat.”
“Very well, sir!”
Macbeth saluted and then sat down in his chair with a neat swoop.
My vassals are more capable than me so I’ll leave it to them. No, no, no! There’s got to be something I can do!
Inspired by Macbeth earlier, Hazuki quickly stood up and opened her mouth.
“So far, production has been able to keep up with the growing demand for screws from the nobility, who want to use screws in their buildings. From now on, I’m thinking of developing some kind of product since I’ll have more time.”
“I see. When I can afford it, I’ll ask you to make high quality equipment for our soldiers. However, I don’t want to make a big deal of it and have people know that I have strong equipment. So start buying materials little by little and make them without being noticed.”
“Yeah. All right.”
“I also want you to make longbows and pikes, if you can. I have some paper that Zeon gave me for the design, so I want you to use this.”
It will be difficult to train my soldiers until they become knights. For this reason, I want to use long pikes to gain an advantage, and a relatively easy to use crossbow.
“That sounds interesting. I’ll think about it with Nami when I get home.”
“Thanks!”
When I thanked her, Hazuki popped her large breasts and then sat down.
“Zion, you’re up next.”
“I have basically finished most of the flood control work, and am currently expanding the city to accommodate the growing population, and will continue to do so.”
“Oh. From now on, I want you to be aware of the defensive side and make it solid. I don’t care if you have to spend a lot of money and people, just be firm and quick.”
“Leave it to me!”
Zion said with a bounce in his voice, then sat down and looked up diagonally, crossing his arms with a grin. I’m excited, fantasizing about what Zion is going to design. I like him, I really do.
“Hal and Yulis, please.”
“I guess I’ll go. The problem of the shortage of civil servants was solved since the civil servants from other countries that we pulled out are good enough that we can afford to work with them. In addition, from now on, we will be able to hire students from private schools, so this issue should not appear again.”
“Okay. If you can spare the time, I’d like to entrust you with an important task, okay?”
“Can I quit if it’s going to be too much trouble?”
Hal’s previously cheerful face suddenly changed to a gloomy expression.
“No. This will be the most important issue. Establish an intelligence agency, find the agents of the other houses, and when the time comes, remove them from this territory.”
“Yes, it’s important…….But it’s going to cost a lot of money and people.”
“I don’t mind spending as much money as I can. The cotton crop is doing better than I expected, and the spinning machine I had Hazuki build for me is finished, so I’m sure we’ll be able to make some more money from it. Even if we don’t, the tax revenue from the increase in population is getting huge, so use it.”
No matter how much money we make, we spend most of it on internal affairs like this, so we can only afford a little luxury in terms of meals…….I guess it’s necessary.
“Finally, while I’m at the academy, I’m going to give my authority to Yulis, so you’ll have to follow her instructions.”
Everyone nodded. Wow, it’s so easy. Well, it’s almost as if Yulis had the authority until now. After this, we finished the meeting with the details of the plan that had been discussed.