Chapter 111

Episode 111: Blood

The next day, a short distance away from Liese, who was answering the questions of the craftsmen, Kazura was absentmindedly thinking back to his conversation with Zirconia.

He had thought that there might be a way to avoid war, but yesterday Zirconia had sounded as if she was sure to start a war. He wondered why Balbert was so adamant about attacking the allies, but perhaps that was just something he couldnt help but think about.

If you think back to the history of war on Earth, there are plenty of unreasonable reasons.

If we start a war, this country will surely be destroyed, right?

The other day, Kazura had a vague idea of the war potential of the Istair territory from the war doc.u.ments he had seen.

It seems that last time, the enemy kept making bad moves at the beginning of the war, so they were able to fight more than evenly.

However, the enemy would not make the same mistake next time.

They will take some countermeasures, and if even the neighboring Krayrats betray them, there is no way they can win.

Four more years, , and well be forced to introduce iron.

Kazura knew very well that the introduction of iron weapons would change the balance of power in the world.

Iron, a powerful and inexpensive metal, much more powerful than bronze.

Not only the military, but all industries in a country will benefit from it, which will dramatically increase the countrys power. Moreover, the processing and refining techniques do not require trial and error once they are pa.s.sed on by Ikura.

Arcadia, which has a large vein of iron within its territory, will be on its way to becoming a superpower.

Im not sure if Ill be able to make it work.

As Kazura pondered on his own, he saw Isaac running up to him out of the corner of his eye.

When Isaac reached Kazuras side, he straightened his posture and bowed.

Kazura-sama, I brought you some information on over-the-counter medicines.

Oh, thank you very much. Lets see, .

I took a piece of leather paper bound with a leather strap and flipped through it. The contents were a list of medicines, their effects and the herbs they were made from.

It was a list of medicinal herbs, including wound medicines and laxative medicines, its seawater.

Oh, seawater. Are you supposed to drink it directly?

Isaac nodded to Kazura, who looked surprised.

Yes. If you drink a bowlful of seawater, you will immediately get diarrhea. Its brought by peddlers who come from areas where there is sea.

Thats a very violent way of doing things. It looks bad for you.

Yes, it does make you a little sick. However, it is much cheaper than herbal laxatives, so many people take it.

There seemed to be a lot of medicines that were different from those using herbs, such as charcoal in the diarrhea medicine section, and milk of myagi in the stomach medicine section.

As Kazura was looking at the doc.u.ments with admiration, Isaac asked in a reserved tone, May I stay with the garrison guarding the village of Grisea for a little while? Id like to negotiate with the village.

Oh, thats right. I think it would be better if you did. But in the meantime, no Isaac.

It is quite difficult to lose Isaac, who moves around on his own in many ways, but it is also important to negotiate between the village and the garrison.

Im not sure what to do with it.

I understand. Ill take care of this, so please organize the garrison well. Have you decided who the commander will be?

Yes. I have a cousin named Silvestria, and Im going to leave it to her. She belongs to the cavalry, but Ive decided to pull her out of the unit.

Cavalry? Was that uncomfortable for her?

Its alright. She is only 24 years old, but she is a very loyal and talented soldier. Shes a little hard-headed, but hes trustworthy.

Well, thats very encouraging. but does hard-headedness mean that shes not very flexible?

No, she has a very strong sense of justice and is a woman of integrity. She is extremely averse to bribes and other forms of injustice, which makes her ideal for this mission. I will have her instruct all those who come in contact with Grisea Village to head to Isteria at once.

If Isaac, who is a hard man, can say that much then she must be even stricter than Isaac.

Shes usually very friendly and cheerful, though. She also likes children, so Im sure shell get along well with everyone in the village. Please dont worry.

When Kazura imagined how hard-headed Isaac was, Isaac noticed and hurriedly made an excuse.

He seemed to have followed the instruction to choose people based on their personality.

Im sure youll be able to figure out whats going on.

I heard that she once bribed her superiors to exempt her from cleaning latrines and then half killed her colleagues, including her superiors. After that, I heard that she was sent to a punishment cell because she said, I understand how you feel, but its too much.

This is too scary.

From what Ive heard, she seems more like a rabid dog than a gentleman, but as long as you dont make her angry, shes fine.

In the event youre a cadet and youve managed to kill half of your superiors and coworkers at the same time, thats terrifying, but youve also got the guts to attack your superiors.

There are rumors that her superiors also demanded a pillow in exchange for favors, and her colleagues also made foolish remarks about her, so I guess she got what she deserved. Even though she is a member of the Suran family, they must have underestimated her as a sixteen-year-old girl.

Oh, really?

As they were talking about this, Liese, who had finished explaining to the craftsmen, walked over to them.

Im not sure what to do. Is everything alright?

Yes, I think so. Ill call you if anything happens, and you can go work on something else.

Liese smiled and turned to Isaac.

Are you overseeing the digging of the well, Mr. Isaac?

No, Im heading to the village of Grisea. I wont be back for a while, and Im sure this will be a burden to Liese and Kazura.

Isaac replied, and Liese smiled at him.

We have a lot of people we can rely on, so well be fine. Please dont worry, take care of yourself and do your best.

Yes, thank you. Thank you very much.

Isaac bowed deeply to the two men and walked away.

By the way, Isaac, you are a hard worker. I wonder if all the people in the Suran family are like that.

Kazura said as he watched Isaac walk away, and Liese nodded deeply.

Liese nodded deeply. Most of the people in that house are very serious. There are a few people with quirky personalities like McGregor, though.

Isaac, Root, and the rest of the Suran family seem to be very serious people.

I wondered what kind of person Silvestria, who had just been mentioned, was.

A few hours later.

As a river construction supervisor, Marie was watching over the workers with a construction plan in her heart. Since there was more than one area to be worked on, Marie and the others were dispersed to supervise the work.

The plans were not meant to be shown to everyone, so they were only shown to the head craftsman at the site.

As expected, it was too much of a burden to be left to Marie alone, so she was paired with Eira but Eira was not there, she had gone to a nearby cafeteria to get food for the workers.

Yo.

ah.

Marie looked back at the voice from behind her and choked on her words.

Im not sure if youre a work supervisor or not. Youve grown up, havent you?

There was Arondo, riding on a wagon full of materials.

Im sure youll be pleased to know that Im not the only one., Marie replied.

He walked briskly up to Marie and smiled.

How is life at Master Narsons estate?

Ah, ah, .

Im sure youll be pleased to know that Im not the only one whos not afraid to ask questions.

Im not sure what to say. Im asking you, What do you think? Im asking you, What do you think?

What? Im really enjoying working with you guys, you care about me so much!

Forgetting to even think about it, Marie answered with gusto.

Im not sure what to do, but Im going to do it.

Fun, he said. Youre misunderstanding something, arent you?

?

Youre not a member of the Luzon family, youre not a citizen. Youre a slave. It seems that somehow Havel is trying to make you a freed slave, but even if he does, your slave blood will not be replaced. A slaves child is still a slave. Dont forget that.

Yes, sir.

Marie replied as she stared into Arondos eyes, just as she had when she was working at the Luzon residence.

The reason why she does not look away is because if she does, Arondo will hit her.

It is unlikely that she will be hit in this place where people are watching, but still Marie never stops looking into Arondos eyes.

She had been made to remember to look Arondo in the eye whenever she spoke to him.

I dont know why Master Narson uses such incompetent people. You should have sold your father out as soon as possible.

He looked at the workers who were continuing to work and sighed heavily, clearly disgusted that Marie was being used so heavily.

Dont screw this up and get in our faces, he said. Dont screw up and embarra.s.s us. We wont like it if you run out on us and come back.

Yes.

After a quick glance at Maries mechanical reply, Arondo rode away again on the wagon.

Marie bent over deeply and looked up only when the cart was completely out of sight.

When she moved her feet to go check on the work, her hands shook and she dropped the plans.

!

However, she quickly got up and ran off to find a secluded place.