Ch.46Mid-Term Check (2)

About a month after the settlement began.

Understandably, given the harsh nature of this world, my pioneer village was preparing to establish a militia for minimal defense.

Of course, by modern standards, or even medieval Earth standards, one might wonder why a village of fewer than 100 people, barely a month into settlement, would need to establish a proper military force, but…

Remember this: This harsh world, especially the unexplored territories where proper pioneering hasn’t yet taken place, is fundamentally a dangerous environment for humans.

The hostile life forms commonly lumped together as “monsters”—magical beasts, different species, and the like—are just the beginning. And what about those mysterious beings called bandits who seem to exist everywhere you go? Aren’t they also a major threat to pioneer settlements?

Of course, with two mid-level individuals in the village, we might not face any significant dangers for now, but Corin and I can’t simply remain in the village indefinitely, can we?

“Charlotte, how many people can we spare right now?”

“About sixteen… I think. Considering they won’t be professional soldiers but militia, this number seems appropriate.”

So we began consulting with Charlotte, who currently handles all the territory’s administration, to select personnel who could be trained as “militia” and deployed for combat.

Of course, those sixteen were calculated based on the standard of a militia who have their own livelihoods and train only when time permits. The reality is that we don’t have the luxury to create even a single proper soldier.

We can’t afford to train anything close to professional men-at-arms, or even a guard force that would focus more on maintaining public order than fighting wars.

Ah, of course, if we were to use “conscripts” like many substantial territories do as their main force, we could potentially use all 70 people as troops, but even then, shouldn’t they meet some minimum standard?

Practically speaking, if we take 16 people from the 42 who don’t currently have specialized roles and train them as militia whenever time permits, they could probably assist others and fulfill their duties even in situations where we need to buy time.

Additionally, our territory fortunately possesses quite a few supply weapons that can be handled without much difficulty by those who aren’t skilled soldiers.

“Administrative Officer Charlotte. What’s the status of the crossbows we ordered to be produced?”

“Yes… Currently, about 20 have been produced. If we include unassembled parts, we could barely manage 40, but in that case, repairs would be impossible.”

“Good. Then instruct them to stop production at that level for now. Considering the bows, this should be just the right amount.”

“…Indeed. Understood, Lord Alzar.”

A few weeks ago, I memorized the structure of crossbows seized from the goblin cultist tribe, and through the “goblin craftsmanship” trait, created a new model that was more expandable and easier to make and handle.

Though somewhat less powerful since it was designed to be modular for quick and easy production, it compensates by being simple to fire and greatly improves upon the crossbow’s biggest weakness: reloading.

The simple operation of inserting an arrow into the loading assist device and pulling is convenient, and if firing and loading are separated, one could unleash about 20-30 arrows per minute.

As a bonus, the simple structure works perfectly even if scaled up to the size of a fixed support weapon.

Given that having such an excellent weapon would allow us to raise the militia’s combat effectiveness to a certain level, we were discussing the establishment of the militia quite straightforwardly when—

“Lord Alzar, I have a suggestion.”

“What is it?”

When Lord Corin, who had been listening to the conversation between Charlotte and me, spoke up, I tilted my head in confusion, not understanding his intention, but asked what his suggestion was…

“Even if not militia, wouldn’t it be good to take squires from among the villagers?”

“…Squires?”

“Yes. Though I am a servant, I am also a knight. A squire who focuses entirely on assisting you would be a great help in maintaining your combat effectiveness.”

“…Ah. That’s what you’re talking about.”

The position of squire (Squire, meaning shield-bearer) is essentially an “armed servant” similar to an apprentice knight, who attends to a knight while also fighting alongside them as a knight-in-training.

However, not all squires awaken their aura, and this era isn’t the medieval period where job distinctions are strictly defined.

Therefore, at some point, most squires, with some exceptions, began to be treated less as “apprentice knights” or “knight candidates” and more as legal private soldiers or mere servants that knights could legally maintain.

It’s an exploitation of the “right to keep squires” listed in the “rights of knights” section of the “sacred constitution” of the Frankish Kingdom, allowing knights to raise private soldiers under the pretext of squires within another lord’s sphere of influence.

Anyway, I could roughly guess what Corin was trying to tell me.

The idea of solving our current lack of military strength through squires who are essentially private soldiers was very appealing, and certainly having an assistant to attend to me would make things easier.

However… I tended to believe that such a potentially complicated issue couldn’t be resolved with a method born from a momentary idea.

Additionally, I couldn’t deny that my personal perception of the squire position differed from that of the general public.

“Lord Corin. I am not in a position where I immediately need a squire. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes. I apologize, my thinking was short-sighted.”

“Huh? No, there’s no need to apologize. I just meant we should act a bit more cautiously.”

“…Is that so?”

“Indeed. We’re already short on people—how could I take away manpower for personal reasons like having my own squire?”

As I spoke my true thoughts to Lord Corin and looked at Charlotte, the estate (settlement) administrator, she nodded in agreement with my opinion, indicating her approval.

Thanks to this, the atmosphere that might have cooled was instead smoothly resolved.

“Lord Alzar, may I move on to the next report?”

“Of course, Charlotte Meister.”

Just after I opened my mouth with a generous smile toward her, Administrative Officer Charlotte Meister handed me a document and said:

“This is the demand survey you ordered me to conduct.”

“Ah, is that finished?”

“Yes. The survey was completed recently.”

The identity of this document was none other than a survey of what the pioneer villagers desired.

In short, since an administrative officer sent by my father would be arriving soon, I had conducted this survey with the intention of considering requests if there was clear demand for something…

“Wine, beer, wine, wine, beer… Alcohol demand is overwhelming.”

“Yes. These people haven’t had a drop of alcohol for a month.”

“…Ah, so that’s the issue.”

From the fact that most of the demand was concentrated on alcoholic beverages with very few exceptions, I was reminded of the alcohol demand I had forgotten about since I don’t prefer drinking.

In a world where entertainment is limited due to lack of civilizational development, alcoholic beverages are almost the only luxury food item accessible to common people.

Though by my standards, remembering modern alcohol, the taste would be unbearably harsh and stale, for ordinary people who know no alternatives, even that seems to be quite satisfactory.

Additionally, since the Frankish Kingdom itself has a climate specialized for grape production, the kingdom’s wine is quite inexpensive, making cheap wine or beer affordable enough that there’s rarely a reason not to drink it, which further strengthens the demand.

“…Then shall we contact someone to bring some?”

“If that’s possible, I would greatly appreciate it. People seem to be growing dissatisfied lately…”

“I understand, Administrative Officer Charlotte. I’ll keep your words in mind.”

So while Lord Corin, a self-proclaimed alcohol enthusiast, was watching with sparkling eyes, Charlotte and I were discussing and concluding on wine supply when—

-Ting!

‘…Hmm?’

Just as I noticed the distinctive sense of someone approaching without hostility—

-Clunk!

“It’s, it’s an emergency!!!”

Suddenly, the door of the temporary government office burst open and a villager rushed in, shouting urgently. I slung the zweihander I had leaned against the wall onto my back, recognizing the somewhat familiar face.

‘Ah, that person from before…’

After being attacked by the werewolf and then protected by me, he somehow ended up joining our village. I recognized his face and immediately questioned him, but…

“What’s the matter?”

“A, a knight has come… demanding that we hand over our food supplies…”

“…What?!”

The moment the man burst through the door and shouted that, I could no longer maintain my composure.

How could I possibly tolerate someone daring to touch “what’s mine”?