Chapter 404: Nobody Told the Lord

The Geerhilt family, rulers of Baschurten, currently find themselves surrounded on all sides. Won over by the Count of Basel’s grand scheme and proposals, they betrayed the western powers, only to end up on the losing side of the war.

Within the Geerhilt family, a faction centered on the Count of Baschurten’s younger brother is pressuring the count to hand over the title, while the count rallies what supporters he has left and holds out to the bitter end.

It was an absurd situation, but the grand duke’s backing of the younger brother was like pouring oil on the fire of that internal split. In truth, it was an extremely dangerous move. The royal house was meddling in the internal affairs of a princely family.

Yet the western princes raised no objection.

It isn’t hard to guess that a political deal was struck with the grand duke, with Count Euz at its center. Euz has coveted Baschurten’s Öderlen for ages. Why does Count Euz covet Öderlen so?

Öderlen is ringed by fertile land and built on agriculture, so for Euz, a domain of mostly mountains with little flat ground, it was certainly worth coveting. And if I were to jump into the dispute on top of all that?

They’d welcome me with open arms.

And for Geerhilt, it would be one disaster piled on top of another.

Unlike Count Euz, I had no particular designs on Leben and Ladwig. Extending my influence past the border, with Moltheim at the center, was retaliation for the invasion of Feuzen.

I’m the sort who tries not to quarrel with his neighbors if he can help it. But Baschurten struck at me first, and Moltheim is a region bound to be contested sooner or later, so I mean to stake my claim before anyone else does.

My next target for retribution is the Count of Basel, but he’s still more than I can handle, so I plan to build up my strength before taking him on. Of course, he’ll be building up his strength to oppose me as well.

In any case, by coordinating with my ’still friendly’ neighbors, I could put plenty of pressure on Baschurten. As for Belfort, well, they’ll just watch the show and take their share of the spoils. Ferke marveled at the strategy and feared it in equal measure.

"Might I ask why you’re telling me all this...?"

"Because I intend to entrust Moltheim to you."

"Oh, my lord! That is a most gracious offer, but I have no administrative experience whatsoever."

"Experience can be gained, and work can be learned. Opportunities like this don’t come around often."

For the countless court nobles out there, a chance like this is rare indeed. Ferke, who had desperately wanted one, realized as much and accepted. Unlike Beort or Drek, he surely knows how little standing he has.

If he had refused this time, as he refused the Schafen expedition, I would never have offered him anything this significant again. Moderately capable men get only moderately important tasks.

"You’ll need to bring everything you have to bear. You’re welcome to return to Breisburg and draw on any connections you can trust and rely on. What matters is raising Moltheim into a proper village, whatever it takes."

Ferke will handle building Moltheim, and I need only fend off any attacks from the Geerhilt family. I plan to order Viktor to extend his patrol range out to Moltheim. Ferke steeled his resolve.

"I will repay my wise lord’s trust without fail."

"I’ll hold you to that, Sir Ferke."

The prisoners from Leben and Ladwig also agreed to relocate to Moltheim. The Geerhilt family had lost the hearts of its people, and these folk wanted a strong lord who would protect their families.

It served as another reminder of how vital it is to hold the people’s hearts. A lord who fails in his duty, as Geerhilt did, is bound to be abandoned by his people in the end. No matter how absolute a lord’s power may be!

Ferke returned to Breisburg to prepare, and the Leben and Ladwig captives had their prisoner status lifted. But with nowhere in particular to go, they remained at the prison camp for the time being.

Honestly, "prison camp" is just a name; apart from strict control over entry and exit, it’s no different from an ordinary garrison. Aside from them, the remaining 45 prisoners are all Basel men and mercenaries. The Basel bastards were treated on an entirely different footing.

And I intend to resolve this prisoner issue soon.

Because Markus, who had been scouting sites for the business, was back.

"The site you chose is south of Vintenheim?"

"Yes! Even in winter the climate is relatively warm and dry, so it’s a very suitable location."

"Hmm, an unexpected region, but geographically it’s quite decent. Vintenheim is slated for large-scale harbor development, so moving goods and securing labor won’t be a problem either."

It seems it’s about time to send a supervisor to Vintenheim and get development underway. Having entrusted Moltheim to Ferke, I plan to hand Vintenheim’s development to Beort this time.

"Ah, so that’s why all those ships have been crowding into Vintenheim."

"Hm? Development hasn’t even started. What are you talking about?"

"What? Y-you didn’t know? It’s absolute chaos over there right now."

According to Markus, merchant ships are swarming Vintenheim to load and unload goods, and naturally, a harbor that small has been pushed well past capacity, so all sorts of problems are cropping up.

The problem is that none of these reports ever reached me.

Did the sudden change of ownership break the reporting chain?

"With Lent approaching, perhaps they’ve flocked there for Carnival goods."

"That’s quite likely. Still, overland routes carry the bulk of the traffic, so something feels off."

It was about the time of year when Carnival, the pre-Lenten festival, opens all across the country. Carnival is a sort of compound word meaning "farewell to meat." In other words, the whole point is to eat like mad before the fast.

Carnival might run a week at the shortest, or stretch on for a month.

In honor of Jesus fasting forty days in the wilderness, Christians practice abstinence during this period. It’s called Lent (the Lenten season), and it usually begins in March and ends in April, with Easter falling the day after.

Naturally, the Church despised Carnival, but it could never ban the festival, because most of the faithful loved it. Probably because it’s the one season you can legitimately stuff yourself to bursting.

Breisburg is the largest city in Beren, so it must consume a staggering amount of goods to match. The civil war had drained supplies badly, but nothing could suppress the craving for Carnival.

"Could you get a handle on what’s going on in Vintenheim for me?"

"What? M-me? But I’m supposed to be planning the saltpeter farm."

"I’m asking you to do both. I have no one else to send to Vintenheim right now."

Beort is currently staying in Breisach to keep order at the Administrative Minister’s request, and Ivan is scouring the southwestern reaches of Rosenheim with the Hungarians to select land for their settlement.

Drek is undergoing all manner of military training under Viktor, and I’ve sent Ferke to Breisburg with Moltheim in his charge. August is inspecting Rosenheim.

I can’t very well send Hans, the guard captain, and Oscar and Ted can’t be spared either, busy as they are reorganizing the Streit Gunners. I’ve spread so many projects around that I seem to have run out of spare hands.

Flustered, Markus accepted in the end.

"You gave me a chance when I was on the brink of bankruptcy, my lord, so repaying you is only right. Understood. I will look into Vintenheim’s situation in detail and report back."

"It’s not a bad deal for you either. Wouldn’t knowing Vintenheim’s inner workings help your business? Put it to use when you build the saltpeter farm."

With Markus on it, a report should come in before long. I took a short break, leisurely sipping the rose tea Sabine had brewed. Damn it, come to think of it, campaigning abroad might actually be less busy than this.

In the afternoon, Oscar paid me a visit.

"Ten young men have volunteered. Half are shepherds, half are farmers’ sons."

"Looks like the gunner recruitment campaign is working. Did any of the parents object?"

"From what I understand, the parents were the ones pushing them to join."

I’d expected the parents to object, since it would mean losing working hands, but apparently the opposite was true. The promise of a free new-style uniform for anyone enlisting in the gunners seems to have really hit home.