21st Century Archmage

Chapter 87: There’s No Such Thing as Free

Translator: Lei

Proofreader: Imagine

‘First, we have to construct long roads in every direction, and then we have to build a few bridges. Then, we’ll make defensive bases in important places, mid-sized cities as well as the smaller cities and villages connected to them, and set up administration to govern them.’

As if my sweet break was naught but a memory, once I returned to the territory, I had to tackle various problems. I didn’t know how other kingdoms or territories handled this sort of stuff, but I intended to build the conveniences I enjoyed on Earth here in this territory.

‘The top priority is road construction.’

If I had trucks and other various machinery, road construction would be done in a jiffy—there were no real mountains to speak of, so all you had to do was put a ruler down and draw a long line, but the problem was that our construction equipment was pretty shoddy.

Soon, the fairly harsh winter would arrive. I wanted to finish a rough outline of the roads before winter, if possible.

‘This year is crucial. The Laviter Empire and the Havis Kingdom are the biggest problems.’

But I didn’t have any regrets. If they were enemies I would have to butt heads with one day anyway, squaring off with them was merely the law of cause and effect.

Swooooooooosh.

The winds were already changing. Instead of carrying hot sunlight, the winds were now rushing through the skies with a cool touch.

Guooooooooooo!

I gave orders for the basic matters and went out on patrol without time to rest. Flying high above Denfors, I looked around for good places for roads and salt fields on the shore.

‘Shall I give it a try?’

I was thinking about roads that could be built in a short period of time and suddenly thought of a certain spell and spirit. I didn’t have the advanced technology of the 21st century at my disposal, but I did have an ability granted by the gods.

“Bebeto, land.”

Guooooo!

Swooooooooosh.

‘Woah, woah! Take it easy. You’re not a kite, dude.’

He wasn’t even in his stormy adolescence, but these days, Bebeto had fun being wild. In response to my command to land, he folded his wings and began to plummet.

‘Is this a threat to find him a wife?’

Intense windforce crashed into my face and body. Bebeto expressed whatever unhappy complaints he had with his entire body.

Swooooosh.

Flap flap flap flap flap.

After dropping like a stone until we were just 10 meters above ground, Bebeto stretched out his wings and landed light on his feet.

GUOOOOOOOO!

Then, he praised his own feat with an arrogant cry, as if boasting his manliness.

‘Just wait a little, dude. I’ll book you a nice room, don’t you worry.’

Considering Bebeto’s overflowing ‘vitality’, it seemed I would only be able to enjoy a safe flight if I led him to the land of corporal pleasure brought by mating.

I jumped off with easy movements.

“No stones, so all you have to do is lay out a road, huh.”

The Nerman Plains always inspired my admiration. Thanks to its ideal climate, grasses and unknown flowers were lushly blanketing the land.

“To compact the earth… Wind Press!”

Boooooooom!

I cast the 5th Circle wind spell I had memorized, Wind Press. Blue light flashed before unleashing its powerful strength on the earth.

Shaaaaa.

“Cough, cough.” As soon as the spell hit the ground, dust flew up everywhere. “Dammit, this isn’t right.”

The sight that met me after the dust settled made me frown. Several paces in front of me was a 5 meter diameter crater 1 meter deep.

“This won’t do. It’ll take forever to make a road like this.”

Flattening the earth in this manner would definitely end up as a dead-end—I would grow old and die before finishing the roads in Nerman.

“Summon Gnomae!”

Whirr.

Mana stirred in my mana core and was sucked out. And then, the earth in front of me rushed up and turned into a form resembling that of a person. It was the intermediate earth spirit, Gnomae.

“Good to see you, Gnomae. Think you can help me out a bit?”

Nod nod.

The humanoid lump of dirt nodded.

“Please make it nice and flat from here all the way to there, and firm enough that a carriage can travel on it.”

I pointed around 100 meters away.

‘Ohhh!’

The loyal spirit moved to act as soon as I gave the command. The sound of the earth being broken and crushed rang out as a 1 meter wide road began to appear on the ground.

‘That’s quite something.’

The ground sank down around 30 cm and hardened enough that my feet didn’t leave an impression, just like how I wanted it.

‘!!’

However, as Gnomae went further and further away and the road grew in length, the mana in my mana core melted away like ice cream in the sun.

‘Fudge!’

It was great that the ground was being loudly packed down, but it didn’t feel that great to have my mana core drained.

‘This is too difficult, too.’

It took more mana than I expected to make a 100 meter long road 1 meter in width. I frowned. Because Gnomae’s movements and use of strength were entirely enabled through the summoner’s mana, I couldn’t deal with the mana consumption.

‘It would be hard to manage even a few hundred meters in one day like this.’

Building a road like this would be difficult due to the limits of an intermediate spirit and my mana quantity.

‘In the end, there’s only the elves left.’

In order to connect Nerman from the east to the west, several hundred kilometers of road had to be constructed, and large enough that they could fit two lanes of carriages.

‘But would the elves really help me? Unlike the dwarves, they lived in such complete isolation from the human world. Haah, how in the world should I convince them…’

Though I fancied myself a masterful angler, getting the help of the elves would be difficult. They had lived apart from humans for over a thousand years like social outcasts; I didn’t have bait that could move them.

‘Elves are all summoners, so this would be easy if they helped me…’

I couldn’t help but feel regret when thinking about them, because if the elves were to pitch in alongside the dwarves, the paradise I dreamed of would likely come to fruition in a short amount of time.

* * *

“Contact the Kesmire pirates. Tell them I wish to make a new trade.”

“W-With the pirates?”

“Sir Derval, you wouldn’t happen to be afraid, would you?”

“N-No, that’s not it…” Derval fumbled.

“All you have to do is fly the lumikar the pirates gave us not too long ago.”

“Understood, sir.”

“It seems to me that it would be safer if we were to build a breakwater over there, but what do you think, Sir Derval?”

“Actually, from what I gathered from the fishermen, if that area can just be blocked off, there will be no worries even if a storm were to come from the sea. I believe we could protect the boats we are using now several times better if a breakwater is built there.”

‘Is it finally time to have some fish again?’

In order to increase Nerman’s stable productive capacity, developing the ocean was also critical. Because it was not yet polluted or overfarmed, the sea was nearly as plentiful as the Arctic Sea on Earth. Enough fish to feed 500,000 Nerman residents could be procured without much effort.

However, the problem wasn’t the plentitude, but that I was envisioning something even more ambitious. The Nerman Plains were blocked off on nearly every side by mountains. A sea route would be ideal for territory development.

‘If it goes well, Nerman could become a commercial center dominating the continent.’

The pirates could not officially conduct trade on the continent. However, the current situation was such that trade with the other continent was impossible without going through the pirates.

An enemy of my enemy is my friend. I decided to use the pirates.

“But my lord, about that thing called cement.”

“Hm? What about it?”

“It is truly a marvel. Thanks to that cement, which makes powdered rocks turn hard again like stone, the repair work has been progressing quickly.’

‘Just wait a bit longer. I’ll show you something even better.’

* * *

I had no idea what the hell Master Bumdalf involved himself in on Earth, but an enormous amount of scientific knowledge was stored in my brain. Of course, I had no intention of making use of all the knowledge within—I’d had more than enough of the polluted air on Earth. I would use just enough to create the paradise I wanted.

“The Temir slaves aren’t acting up, are they?” I asked. The Temir had been set to mining limestone and minerals.

“I heard they resisted quite a lot at first, but these days, they’re very quiet. As you commanded, they are only mining for 10 hours a day. With the three meals and comfortable quarters we have provided them in addition, they are listening very obediently.”

‘You should realize how lucky you are, you jerks.’

The Temir invaded my precious territory and made her bleed. I turned them into slaves, but I didn’t want to treat them as horribly as I had seen in movies. I couldn’t just treat them like beasts with no eye for human rights when they probably had kids back at home.

“Still no carpenters?”

“No… We do not have many immigrants. Only around 300 migrants have come in the last month.”

‘That’s less than I expected.’

Kallian was not a place where the population could be boosted just by wishing for it. For the most part, territory residents were personal slaves of the nobles here, so there weren’t many free citizens. Additionally, everyone on the continent knew of the rumors surrounding Nerman. As long as they weren’t crazy, people wouldn’t just come rushing in.

“Procure slaves.”

“Pardon?”

“I heard there are many slave merchants on the continent. Go through them and acquire all the slaves.”

“All of them…?”

“It’s fine if they have families or if they’re old. Bring as many as you can acquire.”

“Understood.”

Whoooooosh.

Derval and I stood atop a cliff with a clear view of the harbor, and the salty smell of the sea blew towards me which cooled the heat that had plagued me all day. I silently watched as several small sailboats returned to the harbor, the already setting sun at their backs.

It was a peaceful sight.

A smile as cool as the salty spray was etched on my lips. In my heart, I was grateful that the sun was safely setting on another day.

* * *

“What did you say? Wyverns are flying from the Havis Kingdom?”

“Yes, sir. I have a report that at least 10 wyverns have crossed the border just now.”

“10?”

‘Wut, just 10?’

It was too pitiful a number to even call them enemies. The Havis Kingdom wouldn’t send such paltry numbers; they should know the rumors about me.

I had been waiting for them. I might be a count of an empire, but the act of invading a foreign country’s borders was an unforgivable crime.

“They are no ordinary wyverns. I am told they are carrying the emblem of the Havis Royal Family, five spears and a spear.”

‘So they’re not enemies, at least for now.’

I did think it was strangely quiet the last few days. There were a lot of things I had to think about, and residents and chiefs would come dragging cartfuls of crops several times a day like it was a popular thing to do. Thanks to disinfecting the seeds with holy water, the crops were completely unaffected by blight and the villagers were experiencing their first-ever bumper crop. Overcome by pure feelings of gratitude, they brought the best parts of the harvest to me, filling Weyn Cover’s food warehouse to the brim with provisions.

However, such peace was fleeting—the Havis Kingdom had come looking for me.

“It appears that guests are coming, contact Lady Janice and tell her to escort them over.”

“As you command!” barked the reporting knight before leaving.

“My liege, the other guests said they would come today as well.”

“Ah! That’s right.”

‘What timing.’

Two days after sending the messenger lumikar bird to the Kesmire pirates, a response arrived, saying they would come one week from now. Today was that day.

“Bad rumors could spread if we are not careful,” said Derval.

The poor guy had to deal with a mountain of worries from all the stuff I did. His expression said that it wouldn’t be good if rumors were to spread that we were in cahoots with the pirates when we already had so many enemies all around.

“Derval, there’s a saying like this in the place where I lived before.”

“….?”

“If it’s going to happen, it’s better to get it over with and throw the first punch.”

“…..”

Derval attempted to decipher the meaning of my words with big eyes.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “This is the best way, anyway.”

“I apologize, my liege. It seems my imagination got the better of me.”

I grinned at him. It was only natural for a loyal subject to give me such counsel. I had enough tolerance to listen to what was in their hearts rather than empty sweet talk, anyway. Of course, that didn’t apply to those who only knew how to flap their mouths without understanding their place.

“It’s fine. But prepare to entertain the guests. They are important to us.”

“Understood, my liege.”

‘Birds of a feather flock together, huh.’

The Havis Kingdom lived precipitously wedged between two titan empires on both sides and the Kesmire Sea Kingdom had declared their sovereignty, but were still mockingly called pirates. Nerman’s situation wasn’t much different, so if you added me to the pile, it would make a perfect partnership of outcasts.

In any case, no matter what we did, others would definitely just snort and call it the flailings of losers.

* * *

Ziiiiiiiiing.

‘Huhuhu, the air in here feels different.’

It might be called the provisional magic tower, but it was just a temporary building made on one side of the expansive covert. I felt a strange sense of delight from watching the frowning faces of the mages practicing mana breathing while sitting inside the Mana Condenser inside the building. I wasn’t a pervert who derived pleasure from the pain of others or anything, but schadenfreude was alive and well within me.

“How is it, is it worth learning?”

“I-It is very good,” gritted Gessanin, the mage representing the group. He had endured well for a week.

“Is it? That’s a relief. This is where it really begins. You guys are holding out better than I thought.”

“…..”

I, too, was familiar with the agony of the Mana Condenser. Just like how you had to put on muscles with brute force exercise if you wanted to get buff, in order to increase mana capacity, you had to expand your mana core. It was easy enough to sit in the Mana Condenser, but in exchange, it was extremely painful.

‘It’ll be so painful you’ll wanna die. Huhu.’

The pain one experienced inside the Mana Condenser was almost as bad as being fried alive. As expected for mages who had lived tough lives, they were enduring it well, but I didn’t just imagine the way the mages grimaced at my words.

“Oh right! From today onwards, upper-circle mages are here just to help you guys. I will help out here and there as well, but I’m too busy and won’t have time to help you all individually.”

“M-My lord, for that level of consideration… Truly…”

Forgetting their previous gripes, Gessanin and the mages were completely touched.

“What, this much is nothing. From now on, you are all friends of mana who will walk with me, are you not?”

“…Thank you, my lord…”

‘Thanks? Kuku, let’s hope you can hold onto those feelings for at least one day.’

“Come in!” I shouted towards the door.

Five figures came in silently through the double doors.

“!!”

“Did you call, Master?”

The beastman Hasifor was always so short-spoken.

‘They have a truly incredible desire to learn.’

The beastmen displayed concentration ability that humans could not compare to. Their ability to acquire magic knowledge fell short of their powerful bodies, but the beastmen filled the gap with pure effort rather than indolence.

‘You guys are all goners now.’

I wasn’t a narrow-minded person, but that didn’t mean I was 100% good, either. I sent a silent prayer to the mages who were looking over with dumbfounded expressions.

“Raise the circles of every mage here by one each in a month.”

“!!”

“If you cannot reach your goal, then…”

The beastmen and the gaping, shocked mages bored into me. I just sent a cool grin their way.

“I won’t give you any more spells.”

“Got it, Master. We will definitely achieve it.”

Hasifor and the beastmen resolved themselves.

“…..”

The mages must have perceived the beastmen’s resolve, because they began to tremble.

“Well then, do your best.”

Waving my hand, I turned my back on the mages who were staring at me blankly.

‘Is there such a thing as free in the world? Huhu.’

Things would only get easier on me if the mages were quickly nurtured. I wanted to say goodbye to the labor of engraving magic circles on Blessed Spears every night, an act that reminded me of people who sewed eyes into dolls for pittances.

Something that didn’t make money was simply tiring for no good reason.