The First Familys Circumstances 1

* * *

Damn it!

That night.

Kalamaruyu, his eyes red and swollen, was downing cheap alcohol in his office.

Its a simple office, with a plain desk and chair, just the bare necessities, but spacious.

A single, small candle illuminated the room.

Convenient, modern tools like magic lamps dont exist in this rural town.

Therefore, when night falls on First Town, very few lights leak out from the houses, and looking up, theres a magnificent starry sky.

But to Kalamaruyu this young lord the brilliance of the starry sky has no meaning.

What he needs is the brilliance of gold coins.

I have a plan to make money Preparations are already in their final stages

Kalamaruyu, completely drunk, muttered to himself, staring at a map on the wall.

Its a map of the Great Grassland of Beginnings and its surroundings.

The thick line running just south of the grassland is the Igamo Tenart River.

And to the north is the Haigagadan mountain range and on the map, the area between the mountain range and the grassland is colored in a belt shape.

Im not wrong Theres definitely a Kodorokizo ore deposit in the Great Grassland of Beginnings and its quite close to the surface

Yes, the colored area on the map.

Thats the Kodorokizo ore deposit distribution prediction map that Kalamaruyu has spent his entire life creating.

Kodorokizo ore is a type of magic ore, one of the essential materials for making the Barrier Stones developed by the Great Mage, and even a layman can predict that its demand will continue to grow in the futureits a valuable stone, like a jewel.

When he was a child, Kalamaruyu found a strange, purple glowing stone while playing in the grassland.

His father didnt pay much attention to it, saying it was just a stone that can be found in the grassland sometimes, but Kalamaruyu couldnt get that strange stone out of his mind.

That stone was actually a piece of Kodorokizo ore, and encountering that piece is what led him to pursue a career as a magic ore researcher.

Yes, Kalamaruyu, although hes currently the lord of the First Viscounty against his will, was originally a researcher at the Somatoko Academy.

What drove his research was his love for his hometown.

He wanted to make the lives of the people of First Town, a rural town with no major industries better.

With that thought in mind, he continued his research.

And as a result, he found out, with a high probability, that theres a Kodorokizo ore deposit in the Great Grassland of Beginnings.

Kodorokizo ore has been mined in the Haigagadan mountain range, which stretches to the north of the grassland.

If you draw a line along that mountain range, it hits the Great Grassland of Beginnings.

The Kodorokizo Belt.

Thats what Kalamaruyu named it, but anyway, the Kodorokizo ore deposit is distributed in a belt shape along the Haigagadan mountain range, and the Great Grassland of Beginnings fits that condition.

Furthermore, analyzing the components of the Stone Head Rabbits helmets, it was found that a small amount of Kodorokizo ore is contained in them!

This means that the soil of the grassland, which these rabbits consume to make their helmets, contains Kodorokizo ore!

Furthermore, the existence of the Kodorokizo ore fragment that Kalamaruyu himself picked up when he was a child.

All of this evidence strongly supported Kalamaruyus theory that theres a Kodorokizo ore deposit under the Great Grassland of Beginnings!

His father and brother were still alive when he discovered that.

So Kalamaruyu, overjoyed, wrote to his father, suggesting the development of the Great Grassland of Beginnings.

Many times.

Again and again.

But.

His fathers answer was always no.

His father never tried to start a Kodorokizo ore mining business

And then, his elder brother, the heir, died.

He didnt ask for the details of what happened, but his brother, Wakiteryu, unlike Kalamaruyu, was a physically strong, warrior-like person, and its hard to believe that he died of illness.

Ill tell you the details when you get here, his father wrote in a letter.

But his father also suddenly collapsed from a heart condition while Kalamaruyu was on his long journey back to the remote First Viscounty (a great journey, crossing many countries), after resigning from his position as a researcher at the Somatoko Academy.

Kalamaruyu was grief-stricken and bewildered, as the first thing he had to do after returning home was to attend his fathers funeral.

He was struck with even more bewilderment when he checked the state of the First Viscountys finances, but.

* * *

This First Viscounty.

To put it simply, its a financial disaster.

Its management is in a terrible state.

In fact, theyve been behind on their taxes to the country for generations.

Honestly, it wouldnt be surprising if they were dissolved at any moment.

When the young Kalamaruyu entered the Somatoko Academy, his father didnt pay a single penny for his tuition or admission fees.

He only gave him a third of the necessary amount for travel expenses to the academy.

Thats why he needed to work harder than anyone else, in order to pursue his studies.

At the time, Kalamaruyu was indignant, thinking that it was due to his fathers lack of understanding of academia but that wasnt the case.

They simply didnt have the money.

His father couldnt pay, even if he wanted to.

Now, in such a situation, why is the First family still in existence?

Werent inspectors sent from the country?

Kalamaruyu, appalled after checking the books as soon as his fathers mourning period ended, asked that simple question to the old steward who had been serving the family for a long time.

Of course, they came many times, was the stewards answer.

So why is the First family still in existence?

Why havent they been dissolved?

To that question, the steward replied, Because we satisfied the inspectors.

Satisfied?

They dont have the money to bribe them.

They dont have any gourmet food to boast about.

How did they entertain them?

When asked that, the steward looked away.

Women?

When asked that, the steward remained silent, his eyes welling up with tears, and then closed.

First Town is a rural town.

Theres no brothels or anything like that here.

So, in order to satisfy the inspectors

The women who were offered to them were

From the town.

AAAAAAAAH!!

Kalamaruyu had never been so furiousat his father, his brother, all the previous heads of the First family, and at himself, who had been spending his days leisurely at the academy.

And then he felt he had to do something.

He made that resolution, from the bottom of his heart.