Chapter 45: Duke Palan (4)

Once the three-way conference was over, Fuhrer Bahasten privately met with someone.

I did as you said, but is it really alright to do it like this?

In front of Fuhrer Bahasten was a young man in his mid-to-late 20s who looked frail, but the sharpness of his eyesbelayedhis weak image. Hiding his vicious nature, the young man politely knelt in front of Fuhrer Bahasten.

It will be alright, Your Excellency. After all, our priority is to repair the damages done to our own country. It would be too much for us to handle if we tried to take a piece of the Strabus Kingdom.

Thats true but what a pity. I cant even have a taste before giving up the whole thing.

While Fuhrer Bahasten may have said he had no regrets to the others, truthfully, he was regretting that he had to give the Strabus Kingdom. The young man spoke to the regretful Bahasten.

The Strabus Kingdom cannot collapse right now, Sir.

Huh? Truly? Even though the Allied Forces of the Republics are overwhelmingly victorious in the current war?

Strabus Kingdom isnt a country that would collapse just because they lost one battle, Sir. Not to mention, the other countries will soon send in support.

That is true. What you said makes sense.

Yes, and thats why right now its time to take a step back. Before trying to subjugate the kingdom, we need to first unite the Republics, Sir.

Then, if youre certain, well do as you say.

Fuhrer Bahasten seemed to greatly trust the young man in front of him. Thats because Bahasten knew how great he was. After all, the strategy that had turned the crisis of the Hildes Republic into an opportunity came from him. The other two Fuhrers thought the strategy was the masterpiece of the Hildes Republics Chief of Staffs strategizing countless nights, but the reality was, it hadnt been them.

From A to Z, all the plans came from this friends head.

Starting with persuading Fuhrer Bahasten, everything until now was this young mans brainchild.

I completely trust you, Siegfried. Ill lend you my name, so let loose your abilities.

His name was Siegfried and he was the Executive Secretary directly under the Fuhrer.

Currently, not a lot of peopleknewhis name.

However

Thank you, Your Excellency.

In the future, there will be few who didnt know his name on the continent.

* * *

If there are places that have greatly changed, then there will also be places that have changed a bit.

Milton, who had become a Count at the Capital, returned to his estate and slowly carried out his decisions. To begin with, he did as Max wanted and increased the administrative bureaucracy. By doing so, Maxs ability to handle internal affairs improved and he began to complete even the tasks that he hadnt been able to before due to the lack of time and manpower. And to the efficient Max, Milton shared his plans in his head and began to carry them out step by step.

First, Milton started developing the mine by hiring a skilled miner to find him a vein within his mine. When Milton had originally shared his plan to develop the mine, Max and the other vassals had opposed him. This was because they believed it was a gamble. After all, searching for a vein took a lot of money and manpower and you either found one or you gave up. But Milton knew there was a vein hiding within his territory and forcefully pushed for a mine to be developed. Contrary to the vassals worries, a vein was found relatively quickly. Although it was a low-value copper vein, it was still better than nothing. Once the news of the copper vein spread, the surrounding territories were instantly interested in Forrest Territory. The lords of those territories all thought the same as long as there was a vein, it was the same as having free money for the next 50 years. But, the lords werent eager to fight against Forrest Territory anytime soon. They were all afraid of going against Forrest Territorys military strength that had won after three territories in battle.

So, instead of trying to conquer Forrest Territory, there were lords who wanted to invest.

All the lords, from the Southern Region to the lords at the very top, wanted to invest in Forrest Manors development. Milton decided to accept their investments, but not for the mines, but for port development. For the lords who had wanted to invest and benefit from the mines, Milton wanting to use the investments for port development was very unexpected. Half of the investors rejected Miltons proposal, but the other half agreed after careful consideration. After all, theForrestTerritory had the military power to fully protect the repeatedly expanded territory and the mine was expected to be financially profitable. People with enough awareness knew that Forrest Territory was the most promising territory in the Southern Region. Those who realized that it wouldnt hurt to invest in Forrest Territory itself, not to mention the possibility of success with the port development, boldly invested. These investments allowed Milton to smoothly start developing the port. Once the port was developed and the investors were given the right to use it, trade would naturally happen.

Mine development and port development. Both of these would create a lot of jobs. Milton judged that Forrest Territory wouldnt have enough manpower to fill those positions, and so he implemented a policy of absorbing the wandering migrants and those in the surrounding areas