episode_0162

It was very good news that I had brought information about the Marquis of Kurid, so I immediately urged him to talk to Amy about the information.

“Huh, with your bare mouth?”

“What?”

But Amy hardly opened her mouth, as if she wanted to joke.

“I can’t help it. Should I make you confess everything you know?”

“If you can, try it.”

Seeing Amy smiling brightly, as if asking her to try anything, made me feel playful. I thought about amplifying the sensation and burning the tickling sensation.

“Heung.”

Of course, I had no choice but to stop when I saw Jiena standing next to me with her cheeks puffed out and looking at me in a crooked posture. Even the six slave elves who had finished their work were looking at us blankly.

“Ah… … !”

Amy, who belatedly realized that fact when I stopped, was also startled and looked the other way, ruffling her hair for no reason.

“You must not forget. Today is my turn.”

“Okay. I’m just kidding right now.”

Seeing Jienna insisting that she was the one who would be with me today, Amy put her hands together and bowed her head as if she was sorry. Only then did the air that had been filling Jiena’s cheeks go out.

Seeing Jiena looking like she was going to stick around for the rest of today, I thought that if I stayed like this, I might never hear anything about the Marquis of Kurid.

“… … First, would you like to talk about the Marquis?”

Therefore, I immediately asked Amy for information about Marquis Kurid.

Amy caught a glimpse of Jiena’s attention and immediately began telling a story about the Marquis of Kurid, which she had memorized.

“First of all, the Marquis of Kurid is a nobleman who owns a large estate in the south, well below the capital. It has a large river, and the land is fertile, so there is plenty of food.”

“Tsk… … . Then, some military power would be good.”

“That’s right. They say he is considered the highest among domestic nobles. Anyway, there are two businesses that keep the family of the Marquis of Kurid strong.”

“Two?”

I frowned when I heard that a guy with good military power also had two major businesses. It occurred to me that a person who has enough things is needlessly aiming for more.

“Yes. One of them is the food sales industry, which is related to what I just mentioned. There is a lot of fertile land, so they sell food from there. Rice, wheat, corn, potatoes… … . There are so many types.”

“Food? Well, if there is excess production capacity, it is natural to sell it.”

“That’s right. And, based on the information we have learned, they also use food as a weapon. By threatening territories that are highly dependent on external sources of food.”

“… … My territory will be okay, right?”

As my territory is highly dependent on food, I was worried that I might be purchasing food from the Marquis of Kurid. Since you were purchasing through the upper section, there was a possibility that you were unintentionally purchasing the Marquis of Kurid’s crops.

As the slave elves were brought in, there would come a time when they could become somewhat self-sufficient in food, but it was not possible right now. It was difficult to harvest enough crops to feed all six of the territory’s residents.

“You don’t have to worry about that part. It’s not that there is no food to buy from the merchants owned by the Marquis of Kurid, but all of that quantity can be obtained through merchants belonging to the royalist faction. The price may go up a little, but it’s not a big difference. It’s far away from the Marquis of Kurid’s territory anyway, so the crops of the Marquis of Kurid are also expensive.”

“Really? Then I guess I should just change it right away. Everything that is essential for the operation of the territory and is dependent on the outside can be obtained from the royalists.”

Amy shrugged her shoulders, as if to take care of that.

“I don’t know about income, so I’ll skip it. Marquis Kurid’s second business is textiles.”

“Fiber? Selling fabric or thread?”

“Yes. It is a fairly large business, accounting for more than 30% of the kingdom’s production. About half of the goods delivered to the royal family are made by the Marquis of Kurid.”

“Huh… … .”

My mouth dropped when I heard Amy say that it accounts for more than 30% of the kingdom’s production.

This is not simply based on a few fiefdoms, but when looking at the entire kingdom, about 30% of all cloth and thread was made in the Marquis of Kurid’s fiefdom.

“For your information, the source of Marquis Kurid’s wealth is this textile business. They sell thread and fabric made from sheep wool, and cotton and linen made from plants. The solution is to use the fertile land. Cotton and linen are made from products grown in fertile land, and sheep are fed grass that grows in fertile land.”

“Wool, cotton, and linen make up more than 30 percent of the entire kingdom, right?”

“Yes. Right now, even in our territory, there are quite a few items made in the Marquis of Kurid’s territory. It’s not at the level of 300, but it’s less difficult to transport than food, so a lot of it came in.”

Amy glanced at me, saying that the clothes she was wearing were made of cotton from the Marquis of Kurid’s estate. If you said you didn’t like it, they were ready to tear it down at any moment.

There was no particular need for that, so I waved my hands around and thought about it for a moment.

I plan to take revenge on the Marquis of Kurid in the mercenary way that Amy mentioned, and I feel that the textile business is the perfect way to do that. However, the problem was that I really knew nothing about textiles.

Because he had some knowledge of metallurgy through his uncle, he was able to run a blacksmith shop using skeletons, but this was not the case with textiles.

At least I knew that a plant called cotton was used to make noodles, but other than that, I had no idea. Of course, I don’t know anything about raising sheep to get their fur.

“The best way to spoil the Marquis of Kurid is to follow the textile business and take over the market myself… … . I don’t know what to do.”

“Sorry, but I don’t know anything about fiber. When my grandmother was alive, she told me to learn, but back then, I didn’t learn by playing with you.”

Seeing Amy shrugging her shoulders and saying she had no idea, I reflexively turned my gaze to Gienna. Since he was an elf who has lived for over a hundred years, I thought he might know a little about textiles.

But unfortunately, Jiena also shook her head. Although he knew how to sew, he seemed to have no knowledge about making fabric or thread.

“Gun… … .”

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think of a solution, so I started to groan.

But then, one of the elves who had been staring at us blankly came forward. It was an elf named Balang.

“I… … . When it comes to textiles, I know how to make them… … .”

“… … You know how to make textiles?”

“Yes, yes! I don’t know how to make wool, but I know how to make cotton or linen… … .”

I couldn’t help but be surprised to hear that the elf knew how to make textiles. The purpose was simply to prevent disruption in the production of blacksmiths and blast furnaces by having them grow firewood and flowers, but I never expected that it would also help in defeating the Marquis of Kurid.

“Do you really know how to make it?”

“Before I was captured as a slave, I worked in the village making cloth. The noodles were made by growing our own cotton, and the linens were also made by growing our own flax.”

Balan said that he had been making the fiber himself and began to briefly explain the process of making the fiber.

When is cotton planted, when is it harvested, and how is it processed? He also gave a vague explanation about flax, which makes linen. Of course, it was only explained in words, so I couldn’t understand it properly.

“Then can you make it right away?”

“Well, that’s impossible. Since the fabric is made from plants, there needs to be plants to use as materials, but now… … . There are no tools.”

Balant shook his head, saying that the only things around him were firewood and flowers, and there were no tools for making fiber or thread.

However, that meant that anything could be made as long as you had plants and tools. No, that’s what it sounded like to me.

“You can make any tool as long as you know its shape. I have a problem with plants, but can I grow them?”

It was clear that if the researchers were trained, they would be able to create something, even if it was just a tool. There was still the issue of needing plants, but that might not have been a problem considering the elves here.

“Plants can be grown. Although the timing is not right… … . Well, still! If you go through the spirits, you can somehow get it right.”

Perhaps it was because he seemed full of regret when he said that the timing was not right, but Balan quickly changed his words.

“I’m glad I don’t have to worry about timing right now. So how long does it take to grow it? Just because you plant it doesn’t mean it will grow right away.”

“If it takes a long time, it will take about 100 days… … Long though! If I work hard, I can grow them all in one month!”

“A month? Is it really possible?”

Although he appeared withdrawn due to the time he spent as a slave, that did not mean he lacked confidence. I felt confident that I could grow a plant within a month.

“It may be a little difficult, but it is not impossible. Instead, it is impossible to grow cotton within one month. It is a plant that needs a lot of water, so it will be difficult to grow it even with spirits when winter comes soon and it gets very cold.”

“Cotton would be better suited for winter than linen… … . That’s a shame. Still, it’s possible to use a plant called flax, which is used to make linen, right?”

“Yes.”

I clenched my fists as I saw Balang nodding his head with confidence. Although it may take another month, it is now possible to retaliate against the Marquis of Kurid in a mercenary manner.

However, while I was clenching my fists and rejoicing, the sight of Balan caught my eye. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but didn’t have the courage to say it.

At first I wondered why it was like that, but I soon found out why. It seemed like he wanted some kind of compensation since he was going to do something helpful to me, but I could feel that he was having a hard time bringing it up directly because he was a slave.

Even though he was a slave, I had no intention of using him carelessly, so I smiled lightly and nodded.

“Once the textile business starts properly, I will give you appropriate compensation. No, if done right, it can free you from slavery.”

“Are you serious!”

When he nodded his head in response to the question filled with earnestness, hope filled Balang’s face.

Honestly, I was willing to pay the price of one elf if I could start a textile business. It was worth it because it could also serve as a promotional element for textiles made in the elven way.

However, what Balang said next was quite different from what I expected.

“Perhaps… … . If you don’t mind, couldn’t you save one more of your compatriots than my wife? If I am dismissed… … Because our fellow countrymen will suffer more.”

He said that if he were to be discharged, his duty would be to go back to his compatriots and make things more difficult for them, and that he wanted a new elf slave instead of being discharged.

Since it was a request that I had nothing to lose, I immediately agreed to the request. Even so, even in the fiber business made from plants, more labor is needed… … No, because an elf was needed.