Chapter 407: Build Me a Port

After I sent August off, Oscar came in next, bringing Gustav with him.

My standing had risen beyond all comparison with the old days, so Gustav seemed wound as tight as a bowstring. Oscar appeared to be trying to loosen him up, but none of it seemed to reach the young man.

So I greeted him warmly.

"Gustav, it’s been a long time."

"Y-you still remember me, my lord!"

"We fought side by side in Euz. Of course I remember you."

Gustav seemed deeply moved by this small kindness.

He was Rosenheim’s militia captain, the young man who led the 25 soldiers levied from the town during the crown prince’s first campaign. He was also the matchmaker Ted had been waiting on day and night.

"Oh? You’ve already introduced your younger sister to Ted?"

"Yes. They seem to fancy each other, thankfully."

"So we can finally marry that boy Ted off."

Thank goodness I won’t have to listen to him whine about being the last bachelor standing. That leaves only Anton and Winter. Anton at least had a girl he was sweet on, but Winter wouldn’t budge an inch.

I’d like to see him married if possible, but if he himself wants none of it, I won’t force him, so I’ll let it be for now. A man’s ability to father children doesn’t decline all that much with age, after all.

"You want to join the gunners?"

"Yes. I’ve never seen such a magnificent uniform. All my friends want to join the gunners too. Is there any plan to recruit? I dearly want to wear that red uniform!"

Gustav’s eyes sparkled.

He admired the uniform with pure sincerity, like someone gazing at a pop idol.

Seeing that reaction, I could feel that the Streit Gunners had become the symbol of Rosenheim. In any era, what moves the hearts of the young is style.

The conservatives still frowned on it, of course.

Only the era changes; the way people think stays exactly the same.

"Oscar, I’d say it’s about time we started recruiting."

"Yes. Many young men, Gustav among them, are waiting for the call."

"Rosenheim is going to be buzzing. Gustav, you should apply as an officer."

Gustav had the makings of a commander. In the battle of Euz, coordinating with Oscar, he fended off an enemy detachment that attacked the encampment around Euz Castle, and he did it without serious losses.

I rated that battlefield command very highly.

And Oscar strongly recommended Gustav as well.

"M-may I dare apply to be an officer of the glorious Streit Gunners?"

"Oscar, standing right next to you, is a commoner too. What’s stopping you?"

Those words gave Gustav courage. Commoner or noble, if a man has the makings of a commander, isn’t giving him a chance only natural? Opportunity stands open fairly to everyone.

"Master, your rose tea."

"Thank you, Daniel. Now I can finally catch my breath."

Even after Oscar and Gustav left, there were five more audiences. Squabbles between landowners and grievances of every kind. Mediating and resolving these is also a lord’s duty.

I think I finally understand some of the grand duke’s suffering as he dealt with nobles who trooped in and out of the royal palace day after day. Unlike my days as lord of Feuzen, I am now a prince ruling an entire region, and my responsibilities and authority have grown to match.

"Good grief, I had no idea the physicians’ guild and the apothecaries’ guild got along this badly."

"It seems each believes the other is stealing its customers."

Rosenheim has its share of guilds, and the physicians and apothecaries are on atrocious terms. Small as their numbers are, it seems turf wars over profit exist everywhere, in every time and place.

"I’ll have to make it so people get examined by a physician and receive their remedies from an apothecary."

"What? Wouldn’t that be too great a burden on the commoners?"

"Then I’ll make them lower their fees. And if they don’t like it, I can always turn the whole system on its head."

I decided to discuss this later, once Arzt, whom I’d appointed as court physician, came over to Rosenheim. Arzt was extremely busy training Simon, who would become Feuzen’s physician.

"Will you be visiting the smithy this afternoon as planned?"

"I should. I want to commission firearm production and see the workshop with my own eyes."

"Understood. I’ll summon the administrator."

Daniel was butler and secretary in one.

Göring had clearly trained him well.

Rosenheim’s smithy was larger than I expected. And the Rosenschmidt family that owned it was a famous blacksmith clan, one that directed every smith in the city.

Wilhelm, head of the Rosenschmidts, greeted me in person. I brought Anton and the administrator as my attendants. The administrator had served under the estate manager, and since he was Rosenheim-born, I’d kept him on in his post.

The administrator eagerly explained things to me.

"The Rosenschmidt family also supplied arms to the duchy army during the last civil war."

"The quality is excellent, no doubt about it. If they can forge swords of this caliber, I can trust them with the commission."

A young blacksmith in Feuzen had succeeded in replicating firearms, and I’d officially licensed gun production, but the operation was small and output remained meager. We currently hold around 400 guns.

If powder residue fouls the mechanism badly enough, a gun can be ruined beyond use, so we need to secure at least 1,000. Only then can we maintain a proper fighting force.

"Firearms, you say? My deepest apologies, but we have never made a firearm."

"The quality here had my hopes up, and now you disappoint me."

"I-if you grant us ample time, we will make your firearms."

The flustered Rosenschmidt patriarch begged for time, but I didn’t spare him a glance and ordered Anton to go to Feuzen and fetch the blacksmith. Wilhelm’s face stiffened.

"You can learn the craft of gunmaking from the Feuzen blacksmith."

"There’s no need for that! Three days! We will make it within three days, no matter what!"

"Within three days? You wouldn’t dare speak empty words to me, would you?"

"I will make it flawlessly, even if it costs this old man his life!"

A fire lit in Wilhelm’s eyes. I’d heard craftsmen utterly despise being compared to others, which is exactly why I mentioned the Feuzen blacksmith, and it worked even better than I expected.

I handed over ten guns for reference and left the smithy.

The heat of the forge seemed to linger on my skin.

Besides the smithy, I visited the market, the plaza, and more.

The market was a tenth the size of Breisburg’s central market, but it was the largest in the region. There were resident merchants, and goods moved through fairly often. And Carnival season was approaching.

Everyone, young and old, man and woman, looks forward to Carnival before Lent. In case meat runs short, I plan to permit limited hunting, for that period only, of the aurochs we’ve been protecting in the Feuzen forest.

The aurochs population had swelled so much that the Feuzen hunters and forest keepers had been begging me to let them thin the herd. Using this Carnival as the occasion to cull it seems reasonable enough.

Hunting is a luxurious pastime for nobles, but I dislike it myself, so I leave it entirely to the hunters. Rather than waste money on the hunt, I’d sooner buy one more barrel of gunpowder.

Not for a moment have I forgotten that an enemy more fearsome than Baschurten or Basel exists. Burgundy will attack someday, and gunpowder will be the hidden blade that catches them off guard.

"What? War has broken out?"

"Yes! That’s what had Vintenheim in an uproar!"

Markus, whom I’d all but forced to go check on Vintenheim, had returned. Sure enough, since we’re some distance from the center, our news reaches us late. The problem was the Palatinate Wittelsbachs, neighbors of the Duchy of Beren.

The count palatine had long had one foot in the grave, and his sons had finally drawn swords on each other. The eldest controlled the Franconia region while the second held Baden and Württemberg, so the scale was enormous.

"With the overland routes in that direction temporarily unusable, everyone crowded onto the Main River, and with Breisach destroyed of all things, the merchant ships with nowhere to go poured into Vintenheim."

There was a plan to develop Vintenheim into a port city to join the Main River trade. It was something I’d discussed with the Administrative Minister, and we had permitted the harbor as a temporary dockyard, but I never imagined it would balloon like this.

With Carnival and now a war piled on top of each other, this was the mess that resulted.

"Do you have any connections in Breisburg?"

"I stayed there for a while, but there aren’t many I could truly call connections."

"Any city planners or harbor architects among them?"

"...I do know one architect."

"I’ll pay whatever it costs, so go find him right now and see if there’s anyone who can design a proper port city for Vintenheim. From here on, it’s a race against time. Hurry!"

"U-understood!"

I sent Markus off to Breisburg without even a moment’s rest. I’d meant to focus on the domain management I’d been neglecting, and now this, out of nowhere? So that’s why goods had been flooding in.

The problem is that civil war has erupted in the neighboring Duchy of Franconia, and there’s no predicting how it might spread. The Bavarian Wittelsbachs certainly won’t let a golden opportunity like this slip by.

I’d really rather not get dragged into someone else’s war for nothing.

And then the powder keg of the north flashed through my mind.

The free imperial city of Strasbourg. While Württemberg is consumed by civil war, surely Essenbach and Offenburg wouldn’t make a move, would they? And the Duchy of Roden won’t sit still either.