Ch.91Fur Trade (1)

The day after I realized that the level I’ve reached now is not something that can be simply expressed in words, and awakened the desire for growth that had been dormant within me.

Regardless of becoming aware of a proper goal for the first time in my life, humans are creatures that need to eat to survive.

-Crunch, crunch, crunch…. Gulp.

That’s why I was enjoying my pleasant mealtime today as usual.

Mixed grain bread that has recently become the village’s staple food—though it tastes a bit off, it’s still dozens of times better than that porridge (soup)—and the belly meat of a wild boar hunted by Hanna, grilled directly over fire as it’s the most edible part.

Add to that the turnip pickles my father prepared and a stew made with meat from an unidentified mountain bird, topped off with Gretel’s magically created raspberry cookies for dessert, and it’s perfect.

Thanks to the village’s recently improved food situation, I was able to enjoy such a luxurious meal for once. After finishing this not-so-simple lunch, I flung open the window of my second-floor room….

‘Oh, it’s finally starting to look like a proper village…!’

The village scene before my eyes had developed as I’d imagined, with various buildings being constructed, giving it the authentic feel of a real village.

The roads are relatively well-maintained, and sewage disposal is manageable since the village is still small. While older buildings were primarily made of wood, recently we’ve gradually started using better materials.

The market we started as an experiment is now running fairly well at this point, and the development of various industries has played a crucial role in improving the food situation.

Thanks to the discovery of wild raspberry colonies in the forest, there’s a decent supply of fruit, one of our few luxury items. The increased number of hunters bringing in wild game has boosted meat supplies and stabilized village security.

The farming we attempted recently is also going quite well, which should secure enough food to last through winter, and the supply of timber—used for everything from firewood to construction materials—is progressing very smoothly.

Well, the only flaws might be that the palisade is a bit low and buildings are scattered around in a disorderly fashion, but that’s something we can fix when the houses need renovation anyway.

Therefore, I feel there are two main things this village currently needs.

‘…I should try conducting some training.’

One is a militia (tentative name) responsible for the safety of this still-dangerous pioneer village, and the other is securing manpower from somewhere for village expansion.

Regarding the militia, looking at the village’s current military strength, there doesn’t seem to be a need to recruit ordinary residents.

Seven retired adventurers who, despite their retirement, still possess enough strength to defeat regular army soldiers head-on.

Twenty-four half-blood (lower) werewolves who are natural hunters and warrior race, whose bodies are literally weapons—and that’s not an exaggeration.

Add to that eight hunters led by Felix Jäger, who, although his priority has relatively fallen, has still firmly established himself as the village’s best archer.

A total of 39 people, and if we include my subordinate Pierre, that makes 40… an army that surpasses even the Men-at-Arms of the Frankish Kingdom.

By modern standards, especially K-modern standards, 40 soldiers might not seem like much, but what’s important is that while they’re called a militia, they’re actually superior soldiers to the Men-at-Arms.

And those regular Men-at-Arms are considered significant military forces in typical domains of 300-500 people if there are even five of them.

The Men-at-Arms of this world, who serve as regular army and elite medium infantry, are typically equipped with self-provided metal armor and quality weapons, receive military training, and earn salaries as true “regular soldiers.”

Of course, for truly important battles or domain wars, peasants and freemen are “conscripted” to inflate the numbers, but these conscripts are essentially just low-quality mobs that can hardly be considered combat-effective by any standard.

That’s why “control forces” are needed to turn these conscripts into something resembling actual soldiers, and in typical domains, those are the Men-at-Arms.

Of course, the maintenance cost of Men-at-Arms is disgustingly expensive.

Due to the historical background, there’s no need to provide expensive equipment separately… but even excluding that, using able-bodied men as soldiers means they can’t contribute to the labor force in a village where every person counts.

Additionally, salaries must be paid, and to prevent these properly trained soldiers from deserting, they must be well-treated with proper meals and such.

It’s no wonder many lords outsource their domain forces to mercenaries, and an even higher proportion entrust monster subjugation to adventurers.

They may be called medieval lords, but in terms of population, the average lord of this era is more like a representative of a few apartment buildings.

Having lived in my father’s domain, which is a barony in name but practically a small kingdom, I had somewhat distorted perceptions of reality in the past.

But now that I’m aware of this fact, I had originally planned to use retired adventurers as pseudo-Men-at-Arms.

However, with the unexpected addition of 26 warriors and hunters, I’ve been able to form an extravagantly powerful domain force.

The fact that a village of less than 140 people can mobilize 40 soldiers of regular army quality or better serves as a positive factor in ensuring the domain’s security.

So what’s immediately needed in the current situation is for them to practice working together as a unified army.

With the three groups comprising the militia (disguised as regular army) likely to operate separately, the best way to unite them under one command is to have them practice coordination.

Even with four intermediate-level individuals, considering they aren’t omnipotent, we’ll need to do this eventually.

And in this situation where security has essentially been established…

“Charlotte, is the current state of the domain favorable?”

“Yes. There should be no problem with recruiting additional personnel.”

In discussions with Charlotte, the domain’s effective housekeeper, I decided to recruit additional immigrants to expand our domain’s size.

The current population of the domain is about 140 people. While the number itself seems quite large, what’s important is that the proportion of general laborers who actually serve as the village’s workforce is small.

I mean general laborers who aren’t confined to specialized work but engage in farming, construction, logging, and gathering… workers not bound to any specific role.

Strictly speaking, expanding the workforce itself is relatively easy.

We could round up bandits and robbers from the surroundings, brand them, and put them to work through “voluntary immigration,” or we could bring in wandering refugees—wouldn’t that work?

Considering the poor security and dangerous environments of domains in this area, there’s bound to be a significant proportion of wandering refugees, and we could entice them from cities with offers like “cleared farmland.”

Living as a self-sufficient farmer with one’s own land in a pioneer village—a small domain with stable security—is extremely attractive.

Considering the proportion of tenant farmers without their own land, bringing in 100 people would be no challenge at all.

However… there’s a reason why I don’t use such methods and why I’m cold toward refugees who come to the village after hearing about me.

It’s the cultist problem stemming from my birth… or something that would be concerning regardless of my birth.

Even among city residents with verified identities, many are revealed to be cultists, so what about refugees with uncertain identities and unknown life histories?

Stories of small domains increasing their population by accepting refugees only to discover they were cultists are so common that bringing unverified personnel into the community carries significant burden and risk.

That’s why villages typically use methods like open recruitment for resident recruitment…

“Administrative Officer Charlotte. I’ve had a good idea.”

“…What is it?”

“Since we need to establish an export route for furs anyway, why not recruit personnel while we’re at it?”

“That’s… quite a good idea.”

I also decided to choose this method, as I needed to visit the city for export matters anyway.