episode_0101

“Baron. Have you checked if the amount is correct?”

As I noticed that the money in the carriage was roughly similar to the amount equivalent to the down payment, and was grinning at the thought of using the money to develop the estate, the driver pulling the carriage approached me.

“Ah, yes. I think it’s roughly correct, but wait a minute.”

After hearing the words of the driver whose name was Coupang approached me, I decided to shake off my distracting thoughts and go through the process of checking it out properly. First of all, coins were not simply made by stamping metal into a mold. Appropriate magical measures were taken, including checking the quantity of coins in the vicinity.

I wasn’t used to dealing with ordinary mana rather than dark magic, but that didn’t mean it was impossible. Therefore, I checked the number while pouring mana into the coins. Since I couldn’t use any great magic, I couldn’t see anything, but instead I heard a sound. It was a format where the mana trembled according to the surrounding number and announced the number with a sound. By multiplying the value of one coin by its number, you could find out how many coins there were.

Of course, since it was sent from the royal family, it was not even 1 med short and was the exact amount.

“You arrived correctly.”

“Is that so? If so, please leave a document showing that you received it.”

Knight Coufen handed me two pieces of paper with the same content. It was a kind of acceptance certificate, and it was used to prove that I received the down payment without any problems. It seemed like it was a measure to prevent people from accepting it and then saying they didn’t. Of course, the guy who didn’t do this was stupid, so I didn’t feel particularly bad about it.

I took out the seal I always carried with me and stamped it on the two pieces of paper that Coufen held out. My seal was left on the document, and Coupein and I each took one.

It seemed like he thought the document was quite important as he put it in a paper envelope, put it back in a leather bag, and then shoved it through his armor. It is of course important because it proves that I received several million meds.

Anyway, after documenting that I had received the down payment, I immediately called some of the skeletons over and collected the down payment. Since the royal carriage was not for me to use, nor was it for them to use it, I had to take care of the down payment.

The skeletons took the box containing the deposit and moved toward the store where the money was stored. It was a place that paid special attention to security by using curses and black magic. It was a place where if you entered without my permission, you would be hit with all kinds of curses and black magic and captured by skeletons.

“Baron. I will be waiting at a nearby Royal Territory, so please contact me when the items you wish to deliver are complete. Please contact me and I will bring the remaining payment.”

“Oh, I guess it was under direct control? Somehow he said he came very quickly.”

“Because there is a distance between the capital and the baron’s territory, it seems that the higher-ups have decided to proceed with the transaction through direct control.”

I nodded when Kupang said that I would wait in the direct territory. It was very easy to contact them if they were waiting in the direct territory. In particular, because the mine was located there, transportation using skeletons was very frequent. At that time, it was not difficult to send it to someone who would be in contact.

Coupein, who had decided to return with the remaining balance when I contacted him, immediately rearranged his carriage and went back the way he came with his escort troops.

It was a little absurd that he came without notice, handed over the down payment, and then left, but he was a very good business partner. The transaction was carried out very neatly.

When Coufen left and was no longer visible to me, I immediately called in the skeletons who were working the ground outside the fence.

The reason the skeletons were preparing the land that would become the road in the first place was because they were not busy enough to put the skeletons in the blacksmith shop right away. But now things have changed. Since a large number of orders had to be processed, it became necessary to deploy an appropriate number of skeletons.

The skeletons that were compacting the ground to build the road were sent straight to the blacksmith shop. There, he gave instructions through black magic to the Skeleton Mage in charge of the blacksmith shop, and he would immediately begin producing items.

“Let’s see… … . Then, I guess I should prepare the ingredients first.”

Because the skeletons were flocking to the blacksmith shop to make things, roads could no longer be built. No, the work did not completely stop because a few skeletons remained, but the speed was still much slower than before.

Therefore, rather than completing the road right away, I decided to prepare in advance the materials needed to develop the territory.

But I couldn’t move to get those materials myself. This is because the time taken to go to another city to purchase something and return back took longer than the time it took to produce the product. Since I had to be there to make the delivery, I couldn’t move it myself.

In that situation, I had three options. One method was to send skeletons or Jiena to other cities to purchase goods, and the other was to hire mercenaries to carry out requests.

Of course, we couldn’t send skeletons or Jienna.

First of all, skeletons are only common in our village, not anywhere else. In the case of Carbon, where a long time has passed since the franchise was established, things may be a little better, but sending out a bunch of skeletons to purchase items was still not a good choice. It was clear that few merchants would not be surprised when suddenly a skeleton came clattering in and made a purchase.

And, it was difficult to send Jiena away. To be honest, it was close to impossible because Gienna was busier than me. The idea of being able to purchase goods at low prices must have spread far and wide, as large numbers of customers came every day. Well, I like being able to receive a lot of incentives.

Anyway, because we couldn’t send Jiena for that reason, we had no choice but to hire mercenaries. Mercenaries did not only carry out requests to escort someone or subdue monsters or wild beasts. A mercenary was someone who did everything from simple chores to various errands.

“Gun… … . What should I say to Amy?”

However, the problem was that in order to do that, I had to meet Amy and talk to her. When I met Amy, who said she was willing to become undead as long as she could be by my side, it was obvious that she would pressure me to make a decision quickly. This morning, I happened to meet someone on the street and was met with strong looks demanding an answer.

However, it was impossible to avoid Amy forever. Amy was in charge of overall management of the mercenaries in my territory, so in order to order the mercenaries to do something, I had to go through Amy.

In the end, no matter what happens, I had to talk to Amy first, so I headed straight to the mercenary hall. Amy’s mercenary group was also assigned to manage the mercenary hall, so Amy tended to spend most of the day there.

“Who managed the request? What if I put something back that has already been completed?”

“Nu, sister! I made a mistake!”

“Come to your senses and work. If you drink and work again, will you die?”

“Hi! Live, live… … ! No, I won’t!”

Even now, Amy was managing various things at the mercenary club. I raised my fist at the boy who seemed to be a new mercenary in my mercenary group and still looked young.

‘No, how on earth did he lead the mercenary group to make that mercenary look so pale? … .’

I had a random thought for a moment, but I tried to shake it off and approached Amy. Amy’s eyes lit up when she noticed that I had come, and she grabbed me and led me to a small room in the corner of the hall.

First of all, it seemed like the conclusion was that no matter what the story I was going to share with you was, there was nothing good about going outside.

“Andrew, are you finished worrying?”

“Ugh… … . Does that still sound like that?”

“I told you. I can’t give up.”

“Keuung.”

I groaned and shook my head at the sight of Amy, who seemed to be declaring that she would be by my side no matter what. But at the same time, I also felt that it was time to answer. I couldn’t keep putting it off like this forever.

“… … Yes, that’s why you keep refusing even though you do that.”

“That means you won’t push me away, right?”

“Uh.”

She nodded as if confirming her answer, and Amy’s expression instantly seemed to glow brightly. Amy, who smiled brightly, jumped up and jumped into my arms.

Amy screamed out loud and said that she loved it, then hugged me and shook her body. Thanks to this, my body was shaking wildly as I held Amy. Since I was a warlock, I couldn’t pay much attention to the physical aspects, but I was swayed back and forth by the power of Amy, a mercenary.

Still, after shaking back and forth a few times, Amy calmed down and slightly got away from me. Her face was also quite red, as if she was both happy and embarrassed.

“Instead, becoming undead is… … . Let’s hold off for now and slowly find a way. Because there may be another way.”

“I would be willing to become undead for you.”

“Big, big… … .”

I was embarrassed to see Amy saying that she would do anything for me. Of course, as a man, it was impossible not to feel good. The muscles around my mouth trembled slightly as I tried to suppress the corners of my mouth that were trying to rise.

Amy didn’t seem to know the condition of my facial muscles, but she still quietly clung to me with a happy smile on her face. They even crossed their arms and hugged each other openly.

“So, why did our Andrew come here in person? The Andrew I know is not the kind of person who would come to me in person to tell me this story.”

Of course, it was just a hug, but there was nothing special about it. No, if I were to look for something special, it was that they didn’t just call me, but added the modifier ‘we’.

Anyway, Amy was looking at me as if she was curious about why I came here.

Only then did I come to my senses and explain why I had come here to find Amy.