Chapter 106 - After the Election

It was after dark when we returned to Nambonan City after our inspection.

The citizens were gathering in the square, lighting fires and drinking alcohol, celebrating on the eve of the election that was to be held tomorrow.

I went back to the mayor's mansion and ordered the civil servants who were cleaning up the documents in the office to finish up their notes before taking a bath. I had been wandering around the mines, and my whole body felt a bit dirty.

The civil servants seemed to have done some work in the carriage on the way back, and by the time I finished bathing and came back, they had finished taking care of the rest of the inspection work.

I had to work overtime today because of the inspection outside the city, but since they were on a fixed salary, they were not paid for overtime. In my previous life in Japan, they might have been described as "company animals" who worked overtime. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out the best way to make the most of your time here. ...... I'm beginning to feel a bit unhappy for them.

I made Odie prepare some small money and handed it to the civil officer for dinner. There were also stalls in the square, so I would probably eat something delicious.

Shortly after returning from the office to the Mayor's Office, Odie came with tea and a bundle of letters.

There is a letter for you from New Nellie. My horse will be back tomorrow morning, so please let me know if you wish to respond.

Odie put the letter on the desk, and handed me a separate letter sealed with wax. Looking at the symbol on the wax, it seemed to be a letter from my father.

"There's another letter I want to send you. I'll write it tonight."

"Very well, sir."

If he said so, Odie would come to check on him before the horses left.

I wanted to contact New Nelly because I had something I wanted to order. It would be convenient.

I glanced over at Odie, thinking that I should read the letter from my father first. Since it was addressed to me, it might contain some military secrets.

Then I noticed that Odie looked different from usual.

Her expression was still sharp, but there was a sense of joy and peace inside.

As I assessed the change in Odie, she began to confirm her other plans.

"I've made arrangements to go to my grandfather the day after tomorrow as planned. Are there any changes?"

"Nothing in particular. You may proceed accordingly."

My grandfather was currently hard at work building a castle in the westernmost part of the Quadrant.

I'm going to go visit my grandfather this time after my inspection. At the same time, I'm going to give him a souvenir that Fanny gave me.

After a quick chat about my departure plans, I decided to ask Odie why she was in a good mood.

"You look very happy. Did something happen to you?"

"What?"

"You look more cheerful than you did this morning. Did something good happen to you?"

Odie put her hand gently against her cheek as if to check her expression and smiled softly.

"Yes. One of the letters that arrived was addressed to me by your master."

As I craned my neck to find out what my father had sent Odie, she got down on her knees and placed her fingers on the floor.

I was a little surprised by her sudden kneeling, but I waited in silence for her to continue.

"I'm giving you a child for adoption, that's what the letter said."

Odie went into detail about what the letter stated.

I left everything up to my father as to what to do with the eight magical babies Lupetta had protected in the field.

There are a lot of magical babies out there, and the Knight family would love to have them. It simply leads to the stability of the family, and in some cases, it can be used to breed with the family.

It's a matter of communication between the Quardenze family and the knight family, so it's not something that I, the non-head of the family, can handle.

I don't know how my father decided where to distribute the babies, but as a result, Odie was apparently given one of the eight babies as an adopted child.

"If you hadn't taken care of the baby, none of this would have happened. I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Odie bowed her head deeply, showing her gratitude to me. The tone of her voice was full of relief, and I could tell that she was truly pleased with the decision.

"Mm."

I knew that Odie was married, but she had never taken a leave of absence due to pregnancy. In a way, you could say that people get married to have children. In this continent where there is no such thing as a pension system, children are an insurance policy for the future.

"I will take good care of them so that I can repay the debt of gratitude of the Quardenze family."

Odie bowed reverently and left the room.

I was left alone in the room, sipping a cup of hot tea and thinking about her.

Playing with the letter from my father with my fingertips, I got up from my chair.

"Young Master?"

As I stepped out of the mayor's office, my gaze met with the guards waiting in the corridor.

The guard I was about to call was suddenly found.

"I need to talk to you. Come inside."

"What?"

The guard who silently followed my instructions was Odie's brother.

He gestured to another guard waiting a short distance away to give him some information, then followed me into the mayor's office.

I have some questions about Odie.

"I'll answer as much as I know."

I gestured with my hand to make myself and Odie's brother .

"I know Odie's been married for many years now, but does Odie have any children?

"No... it seems she has difficulty having children."

As I thought, Odie does not have any children.

It seems that Odie's brother has always been worried about his sister's infertility problems, and was relieved to hear when she would be adopting a baby.

"So that's what happened. Yes, I was just a little curious. I was just wondering if Odie was desperate enough to go through the trouble of adopting a child."

From the perspective of my father, who had to think about the stability of the territory, would have given priority to the knightly family, who had no heir, to distribute the babies.

Just as the aristocracy needs the power of the master, the knight family needs the power of the follower. If there was no successor to the ancestor, the knight family would not be able to lend control to the nobles. In other words, the family would've been destroyed.

On that note, I remember that the knightly family that Odie was married into didn't have much trouble with the number of magic users.

"Is that what this is about?"

"Yes. But it makes sense. Also, Odie will be offended, so don't tell her I asked you about this."

"Yes, sir."

After a bit of silence, I let him out of the room.

I began to deal with the bundle of letters with a vague feeling in my heart.

It would be nice to have a rest day once in a while.

I left the letters with Odie, and went to bed empty-handed.

The next day, the city of Nambonan was abuzz with excitement in the morning.

It was the long-awaited election day for the citizens.

The square seemed to be a continuation of last night's party, with various food stalls lined up for fun.

If this were New Nellie City, I would have dressed up as a commoner and explored the city, but alas, this was Nambonan City, and the guards had told us not to do that because it was not equipped with a magic circle for wide-area detection.

Because of the proximity of the imperial aristocracy, the possibility of assassins entering the city is much higher than in New Nellie. No wonder the guards didn't like it.

As I arrived at the highest point of the castle, I decided to watch the citizens at the polling station from afar.

It seemed that the voting system was not like the one in the previous generation in Japan, where you could vote at any time from morning to night. After everyone had voted, the votes were immediately counted on the spot.

The citizens who were not in charge of the election were happily watching the vote counting process while snacking on food bought from the stalls around the polling stations.

When the vote counting was over, the winners from all over the country came to Nambonan Castle.

This is because the castle serves as the council chamber.

There is also a square in front of the council chamber where the new council members are unveiled.

Nambonan Castle is currently used as a meeting place for the new council members and as an anteroom for their unveiling.

As I entered the anteroom, a bright orange hair was the first thing I noticed.

"I see you've been elected."

"Yes!"

As I had expected, Anna had been elected as a member of the council, and since there were other people here, she used formal language with me.

As Anna and I were talking, I noticed the other four elected members glancing at us.

All but Anna were men. I was not happy to see men glancing at me.

Anna introduced me to the other four winners, the future members of the council.

One middle-aged man and three elderly men, all of whom first of all apologized for the fact that they had disobeyed the Quardenze family, and declared that they would make every effort to keep up with the payment of the reparations owed to the city, and that from now on they would live as Nambonan citizens of the Quardenze territory.

"Hmm. Good idea."

My father expects stable control over Nambonan City.

The attitude of the council members was good, as they immediately showed their obedience to me.

As we talked briefly about the election and the future of the city government, one of the three elderly councilors fearfully asked for permission to speak.

I grant it.

"... the council members we appoint, do you have, um, any restrictions?"

There are a total of ten members of the council, five of whom are elected by the citizens, and the other five are nominated directly by the elected members.

The old man was probably wary of being told to nominate someone from the Quardenze family.

"We will not tolerate anyone who opposes the Quardenze family."

"Other than that...?"

"No. That's what elections are for, isn't it?"

There was an inaudible cheer in the room.

The air was filled with a mixture of surprise and excitement that all of the council members would be appointed by the citizens.

I felt bad for the thrilled council members, but at worst, the mayor could overrule everything with his authority. There is no need to go to the trouble of arranging for a breathless councilor.

Rather, it is the administration that is important. Politics is not only about the council, but also about the officials who actually work there.

However, the city hall is staffed with a number of civilian officials seconded from the military in Quardenze. If they try to cheat on taxes or plot a rebellion, they will be exposed.

I'm the mayor of Nambonan, but I'm going to leave the details of city administration to the council and city hall.

Nambonan City is recognized as a major transit point for trade between the Kingdoms and Empires.

Now that it has a powerful ally in the Quardenze territory, its position will be solidified. If it can be established as a transit city for trade, I believe it will become a vibrant city full of more people, money, goods, and information than ever before.

I believe that the energy of Nambonan City comes from its citizens, who have a spirit of independence and self-reliance, and who are conscious of the need to improve their city as much as possible.

Therefore, all I have to do is to scoop up the top of the profits as taxes.

At the very least, I'll keep an eye out to make sure the independence movement doesn't start.

"Who is Anna going to nominate for the council?"

I've asked a merchant I know.

He's a regular customer at the tavern where Anna works, and he came forward to help her this time as a councilor.

When I heard the name of the merchant, Rumon, who was standing next to me, nodded with a predictable look on his face.

When I asked him the name of the merchant, Rumon, who was standing next to me, nodded with a predictable look on his face.

"If I was to be elected, I was advised to nominate someone young.

It seems the people who come to the tavern have advised him that the Nambonan needs ideas from the younger generation.

One of the characteristics of the business associations in Nambonan City is that many of them have a short history. This is because many of them took advantage of the difficult times that the city was going through.

It is not uncommon to find that some of the city's most influential merchants were mere peddlers a decade ago. Many of them stopped by Anna's tavern when they were just starting out. As a result, many of the business owners in Nambonan City are said to be Anna's fans.

Anna's connections are stronger than he imagined.

"He was very much in love with you, Anna. He was so in love with you that he would be happy to be nominated. He's a very talented man and his family is very powerful, so I think we can expect him to be a good senator."

The merchant nominated by Anna was in his early thirties and the son of the heir to a large merchant family.

But Anna had always been courted by men in the tavern, so she was used to turning them down.

"I see."

I felt a surge of possessiveness in my heart.

The sexual desire that I had built up last night was now beginning to run rampant.

I wondered if there was a bed in Nambonan Castle. That's all I could think about.