The day after the Red-Haired Quanine Fang Bear1 was brought down, Margrave Rommel and Count Bruno’s forces left the village.
The wounded members of Count Bruno’s group had all healed enough to travel on their own, thanks to the potions brewed by Grandma Luciola, the alchemist. Those who got the potions thanked her warmly, and some were even moved to tears.
It turned out this expeditionary force hadn’t brought any healing medicines or potions with them, so Grandma Luciola had stepped in after seeing the suffering soldiers. I clearly remember Count Bruno wearing a sour expression while she was handing out those potions.
As for Margrave Rommel, he told me that Flora’s things would be sent later, and that in addition to supplies, a good number of people would also be arriving-so I should have my reception arrangements ready. And with a final, “Take good care of my daughter!” he left Flora behind and rode off without a second thought.
”Let me reintroduce everyone properly.”
With that, Flora introduced her personal maid and the two knights who had stayed behind as her guards.
**Sara Brahms, 22 years old. Maid.** The second daughter of the Brahms baronial house. She entered service with Count Bradl’s household right when Flora was born, and has served as her personal attendant ever since. A marriage proposal once came her way, but she turned it down flat-unable to bear the thought of being separated from Flora. The two are like sisters.
**Mireille Bloir, 21 years old. Knight.** The eldest daughter of the Bloir viscount’s family. Her father, a muscle-headed brute, drilled swordsmanship into her from childhood to prepare her to inherit the household, but the moment a son was born, he lost all interest in her. Deeply hurt by being reduced to nothing more than a pawn for political marriage, she left home at sixteen. Hearing rumors that Count Bradl’s territory was recruiting knights, she applied, caught Margrave Rommel’s eye with her skills, and was brought into the Order.
**Maria Valeria, 17 years old. Healer.** Originally from an orphanage, she was placed with the Holy Church after being discovered as a user of rare Restoration Magic. But unable to stand the cloistered life there, she escaped and sought refuge with Margrave Rommel. He granted her the title of adopted daughter of the now-defunct Valeria knightly house-a house already fallen into ruin-and used that as a reason to send her into service with Count Bradl’s household, thereby protecting her.
All of them had volunteered to stay behind, being close to Flora.
”I’m the lord of this territory, Alfred Lindrott. Good to meet you all. There’s not much here in this village, but I’m going to turn it into a proper thriving, comfortable place, so you’ve nothing to worry about. I swear, I’ll make sure none of you ever regret staying. Right then, first things first-we need to sort out somewhere for everyone to live.”
To discuss plans for the future, I paid a visit to Gardo, the carpenter.
”Oh ho, well, well, well! If it isn’t His Lordship the Baron! Come to talk about building a new marital home with your bonny missus, have you?” The moment we stepped into his workshop, Gardo broke into a lecherous grin and started running his mouth.
”Wh-what!? G-Gardo!! What the bloody hell are you on about all of a sudden!?”
”……O-oh, missus…… I…… huff……”
Behind me, Flora was making sounds that definitely should not be heard in polite company, but I had bigger problems right now.
”Last night, you two slipped out of the feast and wandered into the manor hand in hand, all cozy-like. Then you went and got down to business-so now you’re here to get a new home sorted before the little one pops out, aye?”
”Wha-!? Wh-wh-wh-what are you saying!?”
”……Little one…… mine and Al’s…… our child…… huff, hee hee……”
Flora was progressively falling apart……
”Why would you even jump to that conclusion? It’s a misunderstanding! A complete misunderstanding!”
”Wahahaha! Bit late for that!! Everyone at that party saw the two of you hand in hand, heading into that manor! There isn’t a soul in this village who doesn’t know about you two now! And it wasn’t just the locals who saw you, neither! By now, I’ll wager this story’s doing the rounds all over Count Bradl’s territory-and the Liegel domain too! Wahahaha!”
”Uwaaaah!? N-no way…”
”M-my marriage to Al…… public knowledge…… starting tonight, I’ll…… guh, hee hee hee……”
Flora-san, please come back to us……
We took a fair bit of ribbing after that, but we still managed to settle matters and get him to build everyone’s homes.
Gardo kept insisting right up to the end that we should just live together, but I ignored him.
……I mean, sure-being with a beauty like Flora would be the greatest fortune a man could ask for. But with our current social gap, pulling something like that might literally get my head separated from my shoulders. When you think about it that way, now’s not the time for that kind of thing.
Afterward, the discussion turned to housing for the people who would be arriving later as support. First priority was getting the reception facilities in order, so we decided to build a few temporary longhouses.
”Pay me proper, y’hear!” With that, Gardo and his crew got started that very same day, which was a huge help.
A month later, just as we’d finally gotten the reception system into some shape, Margrave Rommel’s support shipments arrived as if he’d been waiting for that very moment.
Ten wagons piled high with wheat and soybeans, dried meat, salted fish, long-lasting vegetables, tea leaves-huge amounts of food. Ten barrels of alcohol. Five wine-casks of salt. A hundred each of iron hoes, sickles, axes, hatchets, shovels, hammers, saws, and other farming tools. A hundred sets each of swords, spears, bows and arrows, shields, armor, breastplates, and butchering knives. Bulk loads of cloth, needles, thread, scissors, clothing, shoes, pots, cauldrons, kitchen knives-all the daily necessities you could ask for. A hundred kilograms each of copper, iron, and steel alloys. Six head of cattle, four horses, and twenty chickens. Over a dozen varieties of vegetable seeds. Five hundred gold coins in aid funds. And 150 personnel.
A hundred people who’d been working in civil engineering and construction within Margrave Rommel’s domain. Thirty people who’d been engaged in farm work. Ten carpenters. Three people who’d been tending animals. Five people who’d worked in clerical and internal affairs. Two people to handle meal preparation and general housekeeping. He’d chosen only those who were willing to move permanently to Lindrott territory.
And finally, attached was a heartfelt message: “Hurry up and let me see my grandchild’s face, son-in-law.”
Margrave Rommel is absolutely loving this situation……
What’s more, the Knights who had escorted this support convoy went on to clear out the surrounding monsters for us as well.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected support on this scale-it genuinely floored me.
I immediately wrote a letter of thanks and sent it along with the great big Red-Haired Quanine Fang Bear magic stone-the one I’d failed to deliver last time-which was about the size of an adult’s head.
The people who had come as support got straight to work starting the very next day.
The ten carpenters joined Gardo in building houses. The three animal handlers worked alongside Zeno, the stonemason, caring for the livestock while building pens and sheds. The five clerical and internal affairs staff were turned over to Flora-who promptly began reviewing the account ledgers. The two meal-prep and housekeeping staff were put in charge of the village women. And the remaining 130, who had backgrounds in civil engineering and farming, were set to work digging a moat and building a defensive wall around the village.
The plan was to dig a moat five meters wide and three meters deep, then pile the excavated earth along the inner side to build a wall to keep monsters out. We set up wooden frames along the moat’s line-five meters wide, five meters tall-and filled them with a mixture of the excavated dirt and finely crushed White Demon Stone.2
The soil in this whole region is full of moisture, making the muddy earth hard to pile up-and there was concern that if the water didn’t drain properly and the drying process was left half-finished, the wall would become brittle.
Just as I was agonizing over what to do, Zeno the stonemason told me that White Demon Stone has excellent drainage properties and dries quickly. He said that if you go to White Demon Mountain after a rain, the surrounding area is soaked with puddles-but the White Demon Stone itself is so thoroughly dry you’d think there’d been nothing but clear skies. We tested it right away, and sure enough, the water drained away beautifully, leaving the mixture rock-solid. So we adopted the method.
Looking at the hardened earth, the finer details were a bit different, but it looked exactly like the concrete I remembered from my past life.
When building the wall, we also made a point of digging drainage channels toward the moat before piling up the earth, laying crushed White Demon Stone at the bottom to soak up groundwater and channel rainwater into the moat.
In addition, we drove numerous stakes into the ground along the wall’s path, poured sand-like White Demon Stone into them, and continued the work while improving the soil quality.
Just as that project was starting to gain momentum, word came that support from Count Bruno had arrived.
I rushed over-and what greeted my eyes was a group of about fifty people, dressed in little more than the clothes on their backs, standing there with anxious, uncertain expressions.
…………Huh? What on earth is this?
Trivia:
- Count Bruno’s grim expression during the potion distribution suggests not just shame over his force’s lack of medical supplies, but potential friction between noble houses—accepting aid from a barony’s alchemist may have wounded his pride.
- The Valeria knightly house’s “now-defunct” status means Maria’s adopted title carries no actual political weight, making Margrave Rommel’s protection of her a cleverly invisible act of charity that costs him nothing while saving her from the Church.
- Alfred’s concrete-like construction method using White Demon Stone represents the first major application of his past-life knowledge to reshape his territory’s physical infrastructure, laying groundwork for future development.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ A unique monster variant identified by its distinctive red fur and oversized fangs. The “Quanine” designation may indicate a specific regional classification or rarity tier within this world’s monster taxonomy.
2 ↩ A location characterized by its pale or white-colored stone that has remarkable water-repellent and quick-drying properties. The name suggests the mountain may have supernatural or monstrous associations in local folklore.