Next chapter might be a little delayed.

Enjoy

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TL: Sychev

Chapter VIII – Oubeniel, the Invader

The time I spent traveling with a carriage took longer that I had initially thought.

There was a sound from the roof of the carriage, but when Due unconsciously reaches for his two-handed sword…

His disposition was truly unctuous. Even though now that I’m posted here and consequently he can no longer freely do things he had been doing around this place up until now, I see he’s still quite the sly rac.o.o.n dog. Most likely, he’s scheming to weaken me by playing things nicely to win my favour, in turn, that would get him appointed as my right-hand man. But against his move, I—-

TL Note: The original words used in exchange of “weaken” was “骨抜きにして”, which means, figuratively, “to pull someone’s backbone/teeth out”. I’m not sure if there’s an equal idiom in English, so I translated it as “weaken” instead.

“Ah– right. Me, I’m not that used to traveling. And frankly I am exhausted. There’s a bath ready for me, you say? That sounds good. Let us go, then.”

I’ll take him on. Ugh, all that shaking for days in the carriage has been rough for me. I’ve improved the carriages of the Oubeniel house by installing suspensions on them, but as expected, if I were to compare the carriage’s seat with that of cars or trains in my previous world, then it wasn’t at all a comfortable ride.

The deputy’s eyes bulged in a snap as I appear to be even more dimwitted that he had initially thought.

“…. Is that so, indeed? Then let me guide my lord to our bath right away! Please take my hand!”

“Eeh, is it okay? Sorry about this then, feels like I’m imposing on you.”

“No, no, not at all. Since the Count expects me to serve the new lord with my whole heart in all sincerity as well!”

“Hm? My brother expects that? You see, I hate that man. He was always grumbling and complaining. Have you heard of this story before? There was this once, during a meal, he was being all noisy just because I asked which to take first between a fork and a knife.”

“Yes, yes! We will serve you with all sincerity because you’re our new lord, that’s why!”

Never thought that flattery could be this crafty. Still, this aggressiveness. Even if he was born in my previous world, his skills as a sales can get this man go to places. When it comes to his management skills, though, he’s definitely not a person I would want in the managerial positions.

While minding those matters, I check the people around me. The deputy’s officials aren’t even trying to hide their scorn at me, even way before I show them that incompetent n.o.ble brat act. And with a few retainers——- that said, most of them are slaves save for one—-, I followed along, as I make this soon-in-the-twenties face as bratty and as che sera sera as it can.

These officials have also been gazing l.u.s.tfully at the maids, especially Uni. There are also some frightened face as these bunch glare at Due, who evidently has a rough appearance, probably confused whether he’s an aide or a brigand. While grinning, he responds by making a provocative face.

As I’ve come to learn how the people on the top thinks and now that I’ve seen the att.i.tude of the people below them, then apparently this is just like an enemy territory. To think that I have to manage this fief for my first time, only reputable officials and ministers can successfully turn things around here.

Well, it doesn’t matter. Thanks to that, I can do things thoroughly without being easy on them.

The bath in the deputy’s manor, which will be my temporary residence at this time, has quite the luxurious build. The bathtub is amply wide, wide enough for three adults to enter together while still giving them room to stretch their limbs. Most likely- no, most definitely, multiple people would enter this bath together to have various “fun”. It seems that it’s safe to a.s.sume that these people have been living in extravagance. Thanks to that though, I can now take it slowly for the time being.

“Is the bath temperature to your liking, Master?”

“Excuse me”, Uni says as she throws the retrieved vial over. It’s an emergency, so there’s no time for her to give the vial by hand. I open the vial’s lid and put it on a suitable place. It has a densely sweet aroma, but it’s a sickly scent. My preparation is complete.

Soon after, there was a knock on the door of the dressing room leading to the bath.

“… May I know who you are?”

“My master ordered me to take care of the new lord. I have come to scrub the dirt and the likes from him.”

Send a woman like this towards the weak-willed n.o.ble son. This truly is one of the most standard strategies ever.

“The master prefers to bathe alone.”

“And leave a lady just next to him aside?”

“… Please wait for a moment. I will take your message to him.”

As if I didn’t hear their exchange, I let out a small whistle. I say Uni is quite the actress too. She left her to sweat in suspense.

But that question eventually faded and vanished too. What remained was the dubious desire that melted him.

"Quick, ly…. I’ll hear it out… anything… I’ll give… anything…”

The woman laughed at his reply.

It was a laugh unfitting of her, one that was like a baby’s. And as if her eyes were covered by a film, there was no light that came out of it. The light of one’s will, there was none.

“If that’s so…”

“Shall I have your brain tissue, then?”

A boyish voice took over and continued the woman’s words.

What to say, apparently this is easier than I initially thought.

“It seems that the perfume took into effect very quickly, but I wonder if the concentration was a bit too high…. I hope it won’t leave any weird aftereffects later.”

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem. We won’t be using their talents anyway.”

Uni and I talked as we looked down on the unflattering appearance of the hugging pair. The scent of the homemade perfume hangs thickly within the room. Just like what I used on the high court investigator a while ago, it is a strange scent that makes one easier to manipulate once they smell it. Compared to the earlier version, however, this one works quicker, but correspondingly, its side effects is also stronger.

Last time, I could prepare it in my room in advance, and even if I’d end up being suspected by the kingdom’s investigation agency later, I can always use the weaker one, but, this side was the one breaking in and I suddenly had an uninvited visitor back in the bath, so I had to resort to the emergency measure.

“Excuse me. M-01, reporting to the master. The set up for temporary facilities for emergency surgery procedure in the halls have been completed. In addition, Opus-02 and the B-series have successfully taken control of the guard posts. It may be concluded that there is no problem in the advancements of Phase 1.”

“Well done. Alright then, it’ll be an all-nighter today too. We’ll take over the centre of this manor this very night. You all too, do your best, okay?”

I generously nod in approval to the maid who gave me the report.

“Yes, Master. Us slaves swear to work ever harder in zeal.”

The maid gave me a bow and left. Since this is a temporary facility, I won’t be able to make elaborate adjustments like that of the ma.s.s-produced type, but since this will be a simple lobotomy operation, then there’s no problem. As Uni said, after witnessing the state of the territory for myself, they do seem to be quite incompetent, so… even if I make all of them to standby for my instructions—— like standby dolls?—–, I don’t think there’d be any changes. Rather, I suppose the state of the fief’s population as a whole will improve as they can no longer exert their tyranny on them.

“Okay, I can’t keep taking my time forever. There’s a lot of things I have to do, so let’s just do this quickly, Uni.”

“Yes, Master.”

Answered Uni as she prepares to inject anesthetics into the deputy and his lover. She took away their resistance, and as if she were carrying a small thing, she lifted both of them together with each of her hands. Seeing Uni carrying those two as if they were light with that kind of slender body was pretty surreal.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Revamps of my va.s.sals were completed in less than a week. The other two deputies also immediately responded after I asked them for their hospitality, and in the end they also swore their loyalty the same way as the first deputy did. Though I was prepared for a little more trouble or incident along the way, presently, no such problems happened.

At most, due to the sluggish movement of the guards, the ability to mediate the commoners’ conflicts declined and security around the area, which had been low in the first place, suffered even more.

Presently for us, we are governing the territory and proceeding with the preparations of the new lab in parallel, and as busy as I am, during this time I have to properly readjust M-03 who broke around this time.

Then, at last all the general preparations have been completed today.

“…..  Ah, I’m tired. To do jobs other than research, isn’t this my first time doing so after I was born in this world, I wonder?”

In the former manor of the deputy’s bas.e.m.e.nt that was refurnished as a lab, I stretched myself as I sit slovenly on my chair, as expected it’ll surely be good if my facilities are in place. Even when I do the same job, there’s a remarkable difference in efficiency.

“Yea, yea. I’m also overworked, but it’s worthwhile so…”

So grumbled Due.

At that time he let go of an inferior material when we left the royal capital, but he  redeemed himself by collecting the monsters which happened to infest the area that were attacking him to some extent . He, a battle-type “masterpiece”, isn’t suited for this line of work which I’m currently putting my hands on so he’s doing his best in his area of apt.i.tude instead. If he fights, he’d be able to familiarise himself with his new body which was adjusted for battle, thus it’s supposed to be a pleasing thing for him.

And then Uni comes with some doc.u.ments,

“I’m very sorry to bring this while you’re being tired. Pet.i.tions have been sent here from all over the territory. Arbitration of water rights, resumption of disrupted irrigation works, measures against neglected dungeon, and et cetera.”

“Ugh….”

Just when I thought one work was over, here it comes. When will it be until I can continue with my research, I wonder? Well, my older brother sent me here for that very purpose of keeping me away from my research. Perhaps what’s going on here is just as he wished for. Except that I seized those old racc.o.o.ns within a week.

“Measures against the dungeon? I thought there was a lot of stray monsters, but as it turns out, it was because the dungeon has been overflowing? Then, request to the adventurer’s guild—”

“There’s no reason for the former deputies to not issue a request, is there? That said, is there even a guild here?”

“There is only one adventurer’s guild in this territory, since the level of requests is low and the number of cases is not that much, so our much-needed adventurers don’t even come here.”

That is just horrible.

“Thought so… The monsters around here might be a lot when it comes to their numbers, but their level is low. That means their drops will also be low grade, and apparently that doesn’t look appetising at all for D-ranked adventurers and beyond. Having said that, those fledgling low-ranked adventurers—”

“They wouldn’t have the funds to come to this remote place, so they won’t come in the first place… Well, let’s save what to do with the dungeons for later. It’s not like I have no idea about it. But let’s start from treatments for agriculture-related matters.”

However, I don’t have the right kind of wisdom in me. I’m neither a politician nor a bureaucrat. I’m a researcher. Even if you ask Einstein, Gauss, or Neumann to deal with home affairs, it’s not possible for them to make effective arrangements. Even in the world of simulation games, intelligence (INT) and politics (POL) are usually different abilities.

So, I can only do things to the extent what an amateur in politics can do. Fortunately, the factions of this Viscounty of Marlin is now unified under me. There’s none of this complex thing such as faction this and faction that. And more than any other territory, the Lord of Marlin can actually do whatever he wants. Though I must be extra careful from meddling too much in a weird way and make a mess out of it.

“Let’s declare a tax cut for the time being, the current tax rate is just too terrible, as for the water rights, let’s wait for later investigations.”

“Oh, the basics.”

“How should the merchants be dealt with? It seems that they had a shady relations.h.i.+p with the deputies in regard of the illegal distribution of the grains.”

“Ah, yes, there’s also that, huh…? Just right, let’s take them into our fold and sell them our potions. I happen to be familiar with herbs that can grow even on a rough land like this.”

This is totally troublesome. It’d be a mistake to brainwash people like these. If their dealing partners abruptly change in behavior, there is the risk that the other merchants would come to distrust us. Well, I’ll just bait them with a more interesting deals to silence them. At the very worst, when it comes to things that can be done about them, there’s no other measures available.

“But even if we manage to transact with people that frequents the royal capital, there’s not enough manpower in the industrial sector of this territory. I’d like to propose an increase in the ma.s.s-produced type slaves.”

“Indeed. Due, you’re the least standing out when it comes to buying slaves. Please go with B-01 and B-02. Fortunately, we have enough budget thanks to these a.s.sets those guys have saved up. Go ahead and splurge on it as you wish.”

Truly, this is one cla.s.sic case of “turning misfortune into fortune”. They had been h.o.a.rding wealth for some time now, and on top of it, they won’t be paid salary in the future. And more than that, they won’t raise a labour dispute. Truly a coveted talents for your typical black company. Their abilities are fine as well, though such have been severely reduced due to their readjustments.

“Yea, yea. Got it, got it. So, it’ll be fine for me to return to the royal capital?”

“No, if you do that ani-ue will take notice of my movements. Besides, if you cross the border from here, Ca.n.a.les is much closer. It’s the largest slave-trading city in the continent. Since the population parameter for sale is rather large, you should be able buy products with the normal quality at a cheaper price.”

As I give him the name of the place, Due lets out a whistle.

Commercial Capital Ca.n.a.les. An free city independent from the kingdom. It’s a merchant’s city where you can get ahold of anything if you have the money. The headquarters of the adventurer’s guild is also there. Due was an adventurer originally. I don’t know if he’s been there, but it’s surely a place that’d rouse his interest.

“If you’re so inclined, you may make arrangements for your equipment as well. I will leave your new armour at your discretion as well, since it’s too early for me to earnestly get into research.”

“Quite the lavish budget… my mouth is watering…”

“… Yes, and also.”

I’ll give him another advice while he’s still in high spirits.

“Is there anything else?”

“It’s not really big deal. It’s just, if you want to buy a woman then I won’t stop you, however, if you bring her here, that means you won’t mind if I tinker with her, that’s all I wanted to say.”

It’s actually important. If my secrets leak, then I’d be in trouble. Here am I planning to start an experiment on a larger scale than ever, and I will not let other person to roam around in this place freely.

As expected, Due seems to flinch at that.

“…. Ro-ger”

Then he turned around and left.

As Uni saw that, she lets out a small sigh.

“How unsophisticated. It seems that he still isn’t quite aware that he is Master’s tool.”

“Well, not even a month has pa.s.sed, you see. He’ll eventually get used to it. More importantly–”

I look at the samples that were lined up on my working desk.

Recently, fiddling with people’s head is all what I do. And while I’m used to it, I must say that if that’s the only thing I do, it does actually make quite the depressing story.

Now, after a long while, I actually want to prepare for other tasks than that.

“— Since they went with the trouble of giving me a territory. For once, let’s do something befitting of a lord for a while.”