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Turning Chapter 1076
🕑 Added 2024-05-13 11:03:55 +0000 UTCChapter 1076
"You also said you wanted to hear about what I did in this office."
Around the time Yuder finished a cup of tea, Kishiar got up from his seat. He approached the desk and took out a thick bundle of documents from the drawer.
"Everything I planned and implemented in Peletta is all here."
Yuder skimmed the top of the documents placed in front of him. They were orders directly stamped with the seal of the Duke of Peletta, the lord of the territory.
"When you try to do something new within the territory, you face many obstacles. These orders were used to navigate through those processes."
In chronological order, the order at the very bottom was the oldest one, he said. Yuder pulled it out. The date written on the paper was about 15 years ago. In Kishiar's handwriting, which was as elegant as it is now, it was written, [To dispatch troops from Peletta regularly from today to exterminate the monsters appearing in the Jilbang territory, I order in the name of the lord.]
"Jilbang?"
"It's a place near Peletta. The size of the territory is similar, but it was a place with much better living conditions as it had been stably ruled by a lord's family for a long time. However, if there was one concern, it was the fact that monsters regularly appeared near the territory."
That's what people usually think of as a 'relatively normal' monster occurrence phenomenon. Monsters originally tend to appear where they appear, so people usually keep the monster spawning grounds and residential areas far apart.
However, there are cases like the Jilbang territory where the territory and the monster spawning ground happen to be quite close. The lord of Jilbang had been carrying out monster extermination with the territory's own troops until then, but he had been secretly harboring considerable dissatisfaction with that fact.
"He wanted other northern lords to help as he felt bad thinking that he was bearing the burden alone. But from the perspective of other lords, they didn't want to help when it was equally difficult to make a living and there was nothing to gain."
"It's a common occurrence."
"Yes. That's when our Peletta decided to step in."
The young boy Duke spent a few years keeping a low profile after coming to Peletta. However, that was only the view from the outside. In fact, he had succeeded in solidifying his position internally and reorganizing the Peletta Knights to give them a new birth.
The first territory business he attempted with the reorganized Peletta Knights was none other than proxy monster extermination for the neighboring territory.
"If there are no usable resources within the territory, what should be done first? What should be done to make money the fastest? The result of that contemplation was that. Can you guess what I was trying to do through that?"
This wasn't a very difficult problem. Yuder opened his mouth almost without thinking.
"If you exterminate on their behalf, you can receive money. It might look a bit... like mercenaries though."
In fact, it wasn't something a respectable lord would do. Usually, when lords send troops to each other, they valued the purpose of helping each other and the future alliance they would build, and receiving material compensation was treated as something only lowly mercenaries would do. How could a nobleman go and fight for money like a mercenary? In the Orr Empire, which revered brave and elegant knights, it was something they would detest.
However, lords who were really short on money or didn't care about their reputation sometimes did that. And Kishiar was... both.
"Haha. That's right. All the surrounding northern lords criticized me at the time. I even received protest letters saying that I, as an imperial family member, couldn't even personally step up for the empire and was doing a petty thing to extort money."
"Then they should have helped the lord of Jilbang themselves. They talk a lot for not being able to do it."
"Right. They all just talked like that, and no one helped. The lord of Jilbang also resented spending money on raising more troops than other territories."
Kishiar pushed through with his intention regardless of the surrounding criticism. He sent a proposal to the lord of Jilbang, saying that he would handle the extermination at a slightly lower price than the money the lord had been reluctant to spend on maintaining the troops. It was an exquisitely perfect price.
When you think you have to pay for regular extermination, it might be regrettable, but if their skills are reliable, it's rather a good deal as they are more trustworthy than mercenaries with a clear identity. Moreover, if it goes well, the population of the Jilbang territory will increase as people won't die, and they can do the business they wanted, so isn't it better in the long run?
The lord of Jilbang thought hard and eventually expressed his intention to accept. Kishiar stamped his coat of arms on the first external dispatch order of the Peletta Knights.
"The result was, of course, a great success."
The Peletta Knights, including Nathan Zuckerman, exterminated the monsters very cleanly and returned. Not a single person died, and the quantity and quality of the monster by-products they brought back were very good.
Monsters that regularly appear are always of similar types, so if the investigation is done well in advance, they are easy to handle. With the presence of Hellem, a renowned monster scholar, such an investigation would have been a piece of cake, and victory was already a foregone conclusion in a situation where Kishiar, a genius in tactics, had made the plan.
"Monster by-products can be sold for money if processed. Hellem took the lead and started teaching the people of the territory how to process the by-products. And I felt the need to find a good merchant group to pioneer other sales routes."
"That's..."
"Yes. That's around when I found Mick Shuden."
A smile appeared on Kishiar's lips.
So, everything was connected like a spider's web starting from this first order.
"There are many monsters that regularly appear in the north. After that, other territories with similar concerns also started to secretly contact us under the table, and the empty territory's wealth increased significantly."
It wasn't something to say openly on the surface, so everyone sent letters secretly and subtly. Even after the work was done, no one mentioned that they had received help from Peletta. However, Kishiar didn't mind.
"There was nothing good about revealing that I was doing such things, so it was rather nice. After spending a few years like that, the northern people also let go of a lot of their prejudice against me and became quite friendly."
Originally, the Apeto Dukedom had a strong influence in the north, but like other dukedoms, they didn't take good care of the region. It was due to the influence of many northern nobles being loyal to the imperial family a long time ago, and in fact, Apeto only took care of their own main territory and a few favored areas.
At that time, the northern nobles were too busy surviving in the barren environment to have any significant solidarity among themselves, and they gave the impression of taking a step back in the battle of nerves between the imperial faction and the noble faction.
The emergence of Kishiar and the quiet prosperity of Peletta gave those northern nobles a considerable shock.
"After I became an awakener and revealed that I would return to the capital to create the Cavalry, most of the northern nobles began to subtly support the imperial faction. Even if it wasn't directly helpful, it was quite touching. Should I call this an alliance honed through monster extermination?"
Kishiar gazed at the first order in Yuder's hand with deep emotion.
"I still vividly remember the moment I stamped the seal on that order for the first time while sitting here. My heart was pounding quite a bit, thinking that I was now executing the real plan to revive this place."
"Is that why you kept this order?"
"Yes. I kept it as a memento. I didn't want to forget what I had done and how I got here."
Yuder fiddled with the slightly faded end of the first order, which was old. As he felt the rustling sensation, he imagined the moment when the young boy Duke he had never met touched it long ago.
He turned to the next page. He read and read the Peletta internal business plan that continued to expand in scope and become bolder as it progressed.
Kishiar explained everything about when each business was implemented, how it was carried out, and what intentions he had at the time without hiding anything. He looked very happy and even seemed to have returned to that time.
The red eyes sparkling like a young boy.
It suddenly occurred to him that no jewel could be more beautiful than him.
As all the papers were turned over, only the last page remained. Yuder paused for a moment when he saw it.
'This is...'
Comments
Nik
No wonder everyone in Peletta is so protective of Kishiar (+ Nathan), guy showed up and became lord at 15 😦..
Marie
It could be the first plans for the Cavalry, maybe? Since that's when he left Peletta.
Jesse Gibson
I feel like… it’s a plan for Kishiar’s death from that day as he became an awakener? Or maybe…… something having to do with his future plans with Yuder? Good or bad 50/50 here.. I’m probably not even close
