In the evening, we enter the dormitories that have been built outside the Royal City and take a rest. In this case, not only Countess Zehrfeldt’s troops but also several noble families are operating outside the castle, so there are a good number of dormitories.
As a matter of fact, after the completion of the aqueduct, the primary industrial development is scheduled to start near this dormitory, which will be a common residence for the workers.
It’s not a single employee dormitory, but it’s a dormitory for company employees. It’s also a dormitory, so it’s a bit rugged. Well, that’s okay. What I’m complaining about is…
“Count Audenried said that this five-home system should also be used to manage the poorhouse slums…”
“I disagree. The more you manage, the more it’s just on paper. It’s not a formality, it has to be done, and the checks have to work.”
“I see.”
“And at the end of the day, it’s not a system of control, it’s a means of surveillance. If you get a job, you’re willing to compromise even if you’re not happy, but it’s not nice to just be watched.”
“I’ll tell Ingo that.”
No, it’s true that I proposed a way to manage the refugees, which is inspired by the Edo period’s five-person team system. It’s quicker than making a family register, and it’s an excellent management system because it doesn’t require a lot of manpower to monitor each other. At least in the short term, a few years.
Refugees have nowhere to go once they’re evicted, and families with children will be desperate to keep them out of the arms of one of their own. That’s okay.
The problem is that for some reason it’s one of the conditions for living in this farmland near King’s Landing and there’s talk of extending it to the interior of King’s Landing.
Don’t ask my opinion on such a civil administration level. I’m not a scholar of the Edo period.
But you’re still responsible for the idea, so you have to give a response when asked for your opinion. It’s a pain in the ass. I shouldn’t have gotten involved in all this, like my father said.
Ancient armies were made up of five men… and so were five families. I don’t know why the number five has been the standard for this kind of organizational theory since before the modern age.
I wonder if five is the limit for soldiers and peasants without leadership training. Or maybe it’s hard to keep track if you haven’t had a chance to learn letters and numbers. I can’t help thinking about it.
Mr. Werner, here’s the report.
“Oh, thank you.”
I’ll go over the report Frensen brought all the way to my quarters. Brewing my own tea doesn’t taste very consistent. It was a little too strong today. Come to think of it, there’s no coffee in this world. Is it because of the climate?
With these thoughts in mind, I flip through the stack of reports.
More mysteries about Mangold. It’s clear he was seeing someone before the outburst, but he was often seen in a bar with someone in a hood, so it’s not a sighting. Who he was remains a mystery.
but it’s hard to imagine he’s a commoner at all… but so far he hasn’t been able to find his footing. Well, that can’t be helped. I’ve asked Frensen for a lot of favors.
Even more mysterious is the number of men Mungold led. There were dozens of them when they were spotted outside King’s Landing… but there’s no mention of their disappearance from inside the city. Only Mungold and a few of his lieutenants are missing.
I checked to make sure, and no other noble families seem to have lost that many men. Then where did they get all the men? And the bonus is that no one’s ever been seen leaving the gate. The royal family’s investigating.
Frensen seems to have come to think that it’s a very shady thing, and he’s been very aggressive lately. We can leave it to him to continue the investigation.
My father has agreed to let one of the refugees who knows letters and numbers teach at the orphanage, and he’s willing to pay him for the job. Of course, he’s planning to keep the promising children in the orphanage.
Meanwhile, we’re giving the orphans jobs. Not hard work… just cleaning up the streets. The students who were supposed to be in the knight department are leading them to pick up trash and stuff. It’s meant to improve their image, but that’s not all.
If you don’t work, you don’t eat. We give kids jobs and we pay them. I know it doesn’t feel good to have a reputation for mistreating children who work to make the city beautiful, so I’m staying out of the way for now.
The other purpose of this is still a long way off. But it won’t be over in a week or two. This one’s a work in progress.
I think we’re still struggling here.
“It’s unprecedented.”
I have two commissions for the artisans in the Artisans’ Quarter. One of them, fortunately, General Seyffert heard about it from somewhere and helped us in various ways. Thanks to my father.
I’m sure the generals in the military sector would be interested in researching high-performance bows.
The bows in this world somehow jump in rank from ordinary wooden bows to magic bows. There are short bows and long bows, but… If there were elves and such, would there be more kinds of bows?
So I proposed a composite bow, a composite bow. In the past, it would have been made by sandwiching a wooden board between two wooden boards made of animal bones, tendons, or metals, which were processed into long and thin strips.
Unlike a single bow, it has increased range and destructive power. But the higher tension makes it harder to draw, and you have to be more careful when storing it.
And most of all, I’m really intrigued by the idea of making a synthetic bow out of a hexenbiest’s material. It would be a lot of work to pull off, but I’m sure it would be powerful enough.
The only way to find out which materials are suitable for bows is to leave it to the ingenuity of the bow maker. Luckily, the general has been kind enough to provide us with a variety of materials.
If this works, they’re going to build the next one, and they’re getting ready… They should be. I’ve given them the concept drawings, so they’ll probably be able to figure it out. I’m not sure if my drawing skills are good enough for the blueprints, though.
“Is the ball struggling, too?”
“They say it’s difficult to make a balanced sphere.”
Well, you’ve never made anything like that before.
The equipment in the kingdom is starting to be as good as or better than what I’m equipped with, starting with the Kingsguard. Some of the nobles are starting to insist that their houses get theirs first, so the people in charge of ordering and the guilds including the Bierstead Chamber of Commerce are having a hard time.
But that would be too much of a waste for the workshops that have been making equipment for us, so we’ve been selling off old armor for cheap and having them melt it down and make something else for us.
Currently, there are two kinds of spheres, one is the size of a golf ball and the other is a metal sphere about the size of a baseball. But that’s actually the main issue.
I’m aware that I’m a bit picky with my orders, but I’m hoping they’ll be ready in time.
As a side note, it is said that the craftsmen who had to do a lot of unaccustomed work often used public baths near the craftsmen’s quarter, probably to relieve their stress.
I’m sure you’ll be busy with all the customers you’ll have and finding supplies for the water shortage. You won’t have time to worry about the orphanage. I haven’t done anything.
“Did the hammer of steel, Iron Hammer, return safely?”
That’s a relief. I’d like to see them too, but the way things are going… I was going to ask them if they’d stay in King’s Landing and maybe we could go back to the villa on our next leave and talk to them about the details but then I saw the report and raised an eyebrow.
“Uh, Frensen, what the hell is this?”
“He wasn’t sure why.”
Mazel’s house is being razed to the ground in the village of Arlea? I honestly don’t understand. Give Frensen a look and tell him to continue.
“The innkeepers drop money on their guests, but they can’t buy food from strangers in the village anymore.”
Iron Hammer secretly asked for spices and salt if you could spare some. What the hell? There’s no scene like that in the game. I’m sure it’s not the same as the game in any way.
“Is it a problem with the distributor?”
“No, the other villagers have been asking me if I’m staying at their inn.”
Hmm? How is that possible? I mean, this is the home of the royal family. That’s just adding to the mystery. I’d better hear more from the Iron Hammer.
If you don’t talk to him soon, he might leave you. I’m on hold. No need to joke about that.
“Frencen, this coming holiday…”
“Master Werner, I say!”
Suddenly there’s a loud voice outside the door. I recognized the voice and signaled Frensen to open the door. A knight rolled in, but I’m pretty sure he was under my father’s command, not mine. Is there an incident somewhere else?
Sir Kittel, is it? What’s the matter, is there a fire in King’s Landing?
No! The Prime Minister has issued an emergency order!
… Huh?
