I’m done pretending to be an international student and going to school. However, my stay in the Caan Knight’s Nation is not over. Finally, we must also observe the results of the past 2 months.

The first place I visited was the new town under construction near Koenigsvelg. Here I also came to the site during school breaks and helped with various things with civil engineering magic. We should have been able to shorten the time for underground installations, foundation work, road construction, etc., which would have taken more time if everything had been done manually.

I usually cover my whole body with a robe in the style of a dubious wizard, but today I’m just visiting as the ruler of the country, so I’m hiding my figure after all…

Why is that? I wonder why…? I always hide myself…

Floto von Caan must pass as a man. Even so, it would be unreasonable to expose this body that has grown to the point that it wouldn’t be ridiculous to call attention to these watermelons and then insist that I’m still a man. So I wear a mask to hide my face, cover my body with a robe, and cover my hair with a hat. I’m a completely different person now.

It can’t be helped for people who have known me as Floto von Caan for a long time. But I can’t show myself to new strangers and call myself Floto. At least I have to disguise myself by this much…

Well, aside from that, I actually know to some extent because I came to help with the construction, but I’m coming to the construction site today in order to leave a track record of having come directly as the ruler of the country. By the way, I have other places to go after this, so the inspection of the new city construction is really just for camouflage and achievements.

No matter how much magic was used to shorten the time, there is no way a new city could be built in a few months. Of course, the construction plan itself wasn’t something that started when I came here this time, but it’s something that I prepared immediately after the Kingdom of Polsky was overthrown and the Caan Knight’s Nation was established. It will still take time to complete.

As usual, the construction of the water supply and sewerage facilities, the laying of the water supply and sewage systems, and the land readjustment of the new city are proceeding as planned. The origins are different from the unplanned town where families were built one by one and developed on their own. It takes time just to develop such a plan, and it takes a lot of time before the construction actually starts.

From now on, more and more buildings will be built, so it would be very interesting to see this site from now on. Until now, it was just digging up the ground and laying stones. If craftsmen who didn’t know our construction method saw it, they would have thought it was a strange way to build a town.

Anyway, after finishing the inspection of the new town, I headed to the suburbs a little further away. Of course, it’s not too far away, and it’s very close to Koenigsvelg, but…

Is this a newly opened state-run business? Directly managed by House Caan? The farms and ranches. I have a poultry farm and stables. It has become a base for producing everything that House Caan and the Caanza Trading Firm have dealt with, such as agricultural products, livestock, dairy farming, and so on. There are also processed food factories such as cheese and butter.

The highlights here are rice, potatoes, and tea. Until now, it was imported from the Caan Knighthood through the Caanza Trading Firm. Caanza Trading Firm used to do business by selling it, but there is no need to do so from now on.

Considering the cost of transportation, rather than making it far away and bringing it in, it’s better to make it nearby and sell it around there without wasting labor and costs. Until now, this was not the territory of House Caan, but now it is House Caan’s territory. In that case, there is no need to keep the seeds and manufacturing method a secret, and it would be more efficient to bring farms and ranches here and produce them locally.

Apart from me, Louisa is inspecting this farm and ranch. Louisa is also in charge of the royal capital’s farms and ranches. She could see it in the distance, but she seemed to be itching to get there. I’m sure Louisa still wants to do this kind of work. Recently she has been away from this kind of work for a long time. Her body must be aching to get to it.

After inspecting the farm, the next stop is the nearby military facility. In this world of medieval townscapes, there are usually soldiers and military facilities in towns, and they build defenses around there. Surrounding the limits with a castle wall to form a castle city, and if there is an enemy invasion, they will stay in the castle town as they are besieged.

But our army is not like that. Of course, they are also in the city and patrol to maintain public order, but the main military facilities are built outside the town and have an independent structure.

House Caan’s military doctrine does not endorse siege in small, unsanitary walled cities. In the first place, in order to besiege, there must be allied reinforcements, or there must be a hope that the enemy will have no choice but to surrender. If you just shut yourself up, you will be surrounded and starve to death.

In the first place, besieging a medieval walled city also sacrifices the citizens at the same time. On top of that, it will also be a hindrance to professional soldiers.

In the old days, there was not much difference between soldiers and civilians, and in times of war, it would have been nice to cooperate and hide and use a spade or hoe to attack the enemy who was approaching the castle walls. But as modern warfare progresses, civilians without weapons become nothing more than a shackle for professional soldiers.

Even if you’re trapped in a walled city, it’s easily destroyed by artillery fire, and it’s nothing but a burden to fight enemy soldiers while being overwhelmed by the panicked, disorderly fleeing populace. In addition, as time progresses, the separation of military and agricultural forces will progress under the pretext of taking care not to cause unnecessary damage to the citizens as much as possible.

In the world, it’s still common to besiege in a walled city and stick around until it surrenders, but House Caan’s premise is to deal with the conflict before it goes that far. Of course, in the end, we may have to make such decisions. That’s why I’m not going to deny such a strategy or abandon everything.

However, in peacetime, build a dedicated military facility in a place away from the city and establish a system that allows them to move freely and independently. By detecting the enemy’s approach from as far away as possible and intercepting it from the outside, we can control the battlefield while minimizing the damage to our people. If it can’t be suppressed at the front line, it may be possible to retreat and become a siege battle.

In order to leave such choices and options, it is necessary to have this system as far away as possible from civilians. Therefore, House Caan often builds dedicated military facilities outside the town.

Military drills for new recruits were conducted at the military facility. Some of the very first recruits were also drafted during the Blish Isles War. The ones here are probably new recruits who joined later than that. Claudia, among the commanders and staff officers of the army, is shouting at the new recruits. I don’t think she’s the same person as the girl I went to school with not so long ago.

Even within the same military facility, magicians were gathered in an isolated place that could not be seen by others. It looks like Mikoto is teaching here today. Louisa is going to the farm.

It seems that this Mage Unit is still full of beginners who can’t even be called chicks, they’re still eggs in incubation. The magical power level is also low and it is not a unit that can be used on the battlefield. I thought that Mikoto and Luisa’s progeny magic corps still had a long way to go, but compared to this one, they’re so different that they’re overwhelmingly elite. After all, they’ve experienced everything. Recruits lack experience and training.

I returned to the office of the Caanza Trading Firm after finishing my inspection of the Koenigsvelg suburbs. When I entered the office, I saw Kanbee saying something to Alexandra.

“You’re late! How long are you going to spend on this kind of work!”

“Please forgive me. I’ll get to the next one right away.”

Kanbee usually calls Alexandra “Okugata-sama,” his master’s wife, and bows to her. But when it comes to work, it’s the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. Kanbee, who has a higher position, seems to be unforgiving at work. There’s never a moment when he’s not venting his daily grudges and anger.

I enter my office and take off my mask. I just went outside and inspected it, but somehow I feel tired. Physically, I should have plenty of energy, but for some reason, I feel tired all at once.

“Good work today,” Katharina said, brewing some tea for me.

“Katharina… thank you.”

I haven’t inspected all of the Caan Knight’s Nation, but from what I’ve seen so far, most of them seem to be progressing smoothly.

Originally, it had a large territory and a large labor force, and it was a land where a rule system was established to some extent. Even though we have eliminated all the ruling systems of Polsky, it’s not that hard since we’ve obtained a country that’s been developed to some extent.

The Knighthood was opened up from an uninhabited forest from scratch, and the Blish Isles were brought together from a disjointed, chaotic mess of states. There were a lot of hardships there, and there are still many headaches related to the Blish Isles, but it might be the Knight’s Nation that has the least dealt with right now.

The fact that it was originally a settlement area where many Plossians lived was a major factor, and the fact that it was practically ruled by Polsky meant that the country’s governance was stable. Currently, the population of the Blish Isles is larger, but in terms of a labor force that can be mobilized immediately, the stable Caan Knight’s Nation may have more.

It’s just that…, there’s a high possibility that this will be the front line where we’ll be glaring at the enemy from now on. The Principality of Moscove is too close to us, so it’s the front line of the border at the moment, but if the Second Division of Polsky goes ahead as planned, the front line will spread too much.

I have taken measures for the time being, but it is impossible to suddenly protect this much. If we don’t build up our military power as much as possible now, we’ll end up being crushed by the really overspread front line.

“At least I wanted a little more time, but…”

Of course, just because a second division took place, it doesn’t mean that there will be a war immediately. But it’s very stressful to expose your weak points in a situation where you don’t know when you’ll be attacked. Even if there are artillery and gun units here, the number is limited, and the number is overwhelmingly insufficient to deploy all the stretched borders.

After all, in the current situation, even if we put aside border security for the time being, if we are attacked, we have no choice but to temporarily abandon it, retreat, prepare, and launch a counterattack.

“What’s wrong, Flora dear? You’re making such a difficult face… You’re cute, so you have to smile more.”

“Mother……”

My father and mother entered the office with smiles on their faces full of happiness. Maybe you and your husband should be happy now, but I’m too busy and don’t have enough time to sleep.

“You’re going back to the capital in a little while, aren’t you?” Mother said. “Mother and the others also said they’d like to stay in the capital, but… I think we should go back to Carruthers Territory.”

“Huh? Is that so?”

When we returned to the royal capital, my parents were planning to return and stay with us, but… if you want to go back to Carruthers territory, that’s fine, but what happened all of a sudden?

“Did something go wrong?” I asked.

“Do we need any particular reason?” Mother said. “But we talked about taking it easy in our territory.”

“I see……”

Well, she’s pregnant, and it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to relax with my parents. Until now, it was often the case that one of them was gone somewhere and was absent from my life. Now that they’ve found out they’re pregnant again and things around me have calmed down to some extent, it might be okay to take it easy.

“Understood. Then we will get off the ship at Steltin and head to the royal capital, but Father and Mother will continue to board the ship heading for Cien, Caanburg, or Carruzan.”

Usually, large ships for the Hulk Sea trade often end up going to Cien. Vessels traveling through the Del Strait to the Hermann Sea and the Blish Isles, and those traveling up the Dierbe River change at Cien. If a trading ship also stops at Lubek, you can switch from Lubek to a ship on the Dierbe River route.

We’ll get on the ship from Koenigsvelg to Steltin and get off there, but let’s have my parents and the rest of House Carruthers-related personnel go straight to the territory.

“Let’s think a little about the number of people and the boats on board. Is it okay if we head to Cien by boat and transfer to a boat that goes up the Dierbe River from there?”

“That’s right.… the final withdrawal personnel will also go together. After going to Cien, please go up the river by boat.”

“Okay. I’ll arrange it.”

The last members of the Carruthers Vassals who came here for a business trip were already planning to stay with us in the royal capital… I wonder if they are dissatisfied with the sudden change of plans. Well, they can’t say anything about it, can they?

After securing a ship for our parents and the salvaged personnel, the day has finally come for us to return to the royal capital from the Caan Knight’s Nation.

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