LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 45. To the land of the frozen land (5) Anyway, it is necessary to plow the corner of this land.
Because of the frequent snow, the ground is unstable and the roads are not well maintained, so this is not a very good route for trade.
Even when I came here by carriage, I thought my ass was getting sore from the bumpy, icy road.
“First of all, let’s do something from this bastard road.”
To be honest, if you keep going down this road, you'll get hemorrhoids within a year?
There's that too, and the roads have to be convenient for merchants to come and go often.
I immediately delivered the road construction plan to the village chiefs.
At first, they were perplexed when they suddenly announced that they would clean the road, but they did not oppose it.
Anyway, all the construction costs are coming out of my safe.
I didn't pay a single penny of tax to them, so I wouldn't have to go through a crisis in their lives whether I did the construction or not.
Immediately, I contacted the royal capital and was introduced to skilled artisans.
Rather, I had to spend quite a bit of money persuading them.
This is because it is not an ordinary job for a craftsman, no matter how skilled he is, to go directly to such a frozen land and in such a far place to do construction work.
So I had no choice but to go there myself as usual and hit it with a bag of gold coins.
Long live the buy.
Ten days later, construction craftsmen came with a wagon loaded with necessary equipment.
“It looks like it will be a pretty big project.”
“doesn't care. If it seems like it will take longer, I will pay for it no matter what.”
“Then we can only thank you.”
The artisans showed their enthusiasm and started making estimates right away.
The necessary workers decided to ask the residents here.
The climate here is not very favorable for the construction to be carried out purely by external manpower.
It was based on the judgment that it was safe to leave it to the residents who were familiar with the area if it was simply a laborious task.
Of course, because they said they would pay a fair price, the residents also actively volunteered for the project.
this is preferable
Rather than blindly supporting their livelihood, having them work and paying them to live by some means is the way to not make them lazy. If you want to eat, work.
that's the truth of the world
So, a month later, the roads connecting each village were completed safely.
The workmanship of the craftsmen was good, but the construction was completed faster than expected thanks to the enthusiasm of the residents who were lured by the rewards.
“This is smooth enough.”
As a test, I rode a wagon and moved, and the ride was better than before.
It puts less strain on your butt.
If you use a material that does not easily freeze and manage it periodically using manpower, at least there will be no accidents where the carriage slips or the wheels get caught somewhere and break.
And my ass will be fine too.
By the time the road was completed, it was trying to attract merchants from outside in earnest.
Now, I contacted my mother's family, which had built a wonderful intermediate distribution business, and sent the management commerce trade here to instruct them to establish a branch.
Of course, even the upper ranks seemed reluctant to set up a branch in Pahilia.
“If you want to do it, do it.”
When I grabbed the head of the company by the collar with a smile on my face and asked for it in a bright and innocent way, the company couldn't overcome my smile and sent it to me.
As for the main trading items, priority is given to daily necessities needed here right now.
So far, the residents here have more demand for daily necessities than favorites.
And the residents mainly offer things like fur and animal meat as trade items.
I instructed the guild under my management so that peddlers could actively come here to trade, so there were quite a few peddlers coming from a long distance to buy fur.
First of all, goods will be supplied, and residents will also receive income from the last construction, so consumption will begin to some extent.
It should be said that the basic trading route has planted some seeds.
First, it was lit like this.
Now, the rest must take action to ignite more of this momentum.
Therefore, a second plan is needed.
As it stands now, it is nothing more than piercing the blood vessels of domestic water to some extent.
We need a driving force to circulate so that it overflows more reliably.
“Damon. Can we make and produce this right away?”
I summoned Darman, who was managing the alchemist team, and consulted on the implementation of the second plan.
“…Are you going to make paper?”
“I think this will be enough money. no?”
“hmm. Certainly paper is precious.”
Damon readily admitted.
There is no paper at all here.
Right now, even in my study or the Kingdom Library, there are quite a few paper books.
but.
“I think it would be a huge benefit if we could definitely produce it.”
Paper is never cheap here.
It is far more economical to just use parchment unless absolutely necessary.
“Do you know how paper is produced?”
The reason why paper is precious is that no one in the kingdom knows how to produce paper.
At least, books and documents are made with materials imported from abroad, but the paper is in fact only poorly manufactured by simply steaming and weaving fibers.
“Whoop whoop. If you didn't know, you wouldn't have said anything, right?”
I raised one corner of my mouth.
Have I ever said something I can't do?
Knowing that well, Damon doesn't doubt me.
“But they say they produce paper... Will the opponent really stay still?”
“Don't worry about that. Because the production method is completely different and the quality is also different. You can insist that it is a completely separate product.”
Even if they talk about morality, it doesn't matter because it's just whining at that time.
Therefore, I showed Darman the blueprints I had drawn over the past few days.
“But I need at least this much equipment to make it.”
The estimate of the workshop to produce paper and the blueprint for the machines that will produce paper in earnest.
“…This is difficult for us.”
After looking around, Damon shook his head.
“If it's a necessary drug, we'll do our best to make it possible...
but the development of the machine is another matter.”
The alchemist's specialty and equipment production and installation are far from each other.
Totally out of my field of expertise.
Then, the only ones left are the blacksmiths here.
“Even the blacksmiths here won't be able to do this level of equipment easily. Just
“just?”
Do you have a good number?
As I gazed expectantly, he told me:
“I think it would be possible for dwarves.”
dwarf.
They set up their own smithy in the royal capital and receive orders and produce weapons, agricultural tools, or necessary custom equipment.
It is said that with their delicate hands, they can make even more precise instruments and sophisticated products.
Are you saying leave the rice cakes to the rice cake shop and leave this job to the dwarves?
“Then can we leave it to them?”
Come on, bring me the gold coins.
I'm going to hire them right now.
“Wait a minute, Mr. Arell.”
When I showed my usual willingness to spend money, Damon stopped me with a stiff smile for some reason.
“why?”
“If you blindly try to buy it with money, they will rather not accept the request.”
“Do they hate money?”
“They have high egos. Rather than money, we prioritize things that can save the craftsman’s soul.”
My bag of gold, stand aside for a moment.
“…is that enough?”
“If they don't like it, they say they won't accept requests from nobles no matter how high.”
According to Darman's explanation, it seems that dwarves are naturally a race full of craftsmanship.
A job that could save one's skills rather than simply paying a high price.
In other words, stick to only what is likely to be worthwhile.
craftsman's soul.
Without it, even if you threaten them with force or try to bribe them with money, they will never raise a hammer.
To put it nicely, chasing romance.
To put it badly, these are the perfect things to go hungry.
“Should I make it by order if necessary?”
If the prince ordered it, wouldn't it be better not to make anything small?
Classes are meant to be used at times like this.
This is the difference between your status and mine.
“But I don’t really like that…”
If possible, I would like them to help me wholeheartedly.
If necessary, they will mobilize power or whatever to make them work, but that is only a last resort.
“First of all, there is one Dwarf artisan among my acquaintances. Why don't you send him these blueprints and let him decide? I think this is enough to interest him.”
“okay! Let's do it!”
I strongly agreed to Darman's proposal and immediately asked the Dwarf craftsman to send me a letter containing this blueprint.
The dwarves' forge.
iron workshop.
There is no way that a blacksmith who has held a hammer in the kingdom would not know about it.
The best forge in the kingdom.
I was referring to a workshop set up by 35 dwarves who suddenly came to the capital decades ago.
At first, the blacksmith and nearby residents were displeased.
To think that dwarf-like things suddenly came and set up a forge by themselves.
Everyone pointed their fingers at me that I was going to fail.
However, before they knew it, they became famous as the best blacksmiths in the kingdom.
And those who cursed them regretted their dark eyes.
Dwarves' skills are very famous, and the quality of the products they actually produce is impeccable.
The iron they struck was never soft, and the sword they forged was not easily broken or chipped.
Nobles also lined up to request famous swords or armor, and there were not a few cases where the royal family directly requested them.
Now it has become the most famous workshop in the kingdom.
Thanks to that, there is never a day when the fire in the furnace is not cold in all blacksmiths installed here.
“The temperature is low! I need a boat!”
The dwarves shouted with a force that never lost to the heat of the furnace.
Short limbs about half that of humans.
However, its log-like muscles produce strength and endurance several times that of humans.
“I don’t know, did you eat it! Hurry!”
His copper-colored skin, tanned by the heat of the furnace, can only be said to look like a dwarf.
they are never idle
Orders from each noble as well as from the royal family have been rushing in, and orders have been crowded for the next three years.
He is also one of the 35 dwarves who command this place.
My name is Aken.
“Don't be lazy! Just know that if you don’t make it today, the work you have to do tomorrow will be doubled!”
His disciples were in a hurry every time he heard his roar like a whip.
However, he walks around the forge as if he is used to it.