21st Century Archmage

Chapter 142 – Damned Bird Ignorant of His Master’s Pain

“Open the floodgate.”

“As you command!”

‘The tide is rising, perfect timing.’

The Nerman salt farm was bigger than any existing salt farm in South Korea. When the high tide was coming in, the floodgates could be opened to allow the clear seawater to flow inside through a channel. The seawater would be turned grain after grain into salt in sections divided by more floodgates.

A whirring sound came from the control room of the central floodgate, the most important one in the salt farm. The floodgate was opened and closed using magic, and a knight capable of using mana was constantly stationed in the room.

Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.

The knight poured mana into the central control orb as commanded, and the Grade 3 magic crystal began to shine as the magic array activated.

Craaaaaaaaaaaaaash.

The tide was rising, so the water was above sea level. When the floodgate opened, an enormous amount of seawater crashed in with a thunderous roar, flowing through a channel made of concrete into the salt farm, which was located under sea level.

“Open all of the salt farm’s floodgates!”

I used mana to give orders to the soldiers waiting in front of the salt farm. Unlike the central floodgate, the smaller ones were sturdy wood gates that could be physically opened and closed.

Over a hundred soldiers opened the wooden floodgates connected to the channel.

‘Amazing!’

Despite being the one who planned it, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the huge salt farm that had been completed without a single fault. The seawater surging in along the channel began to fill the sections one by one, starting from the ones in the front. It would take at most one hour to completely fill the salt farm with seawater. Because of Nerman’s characteristic of its spring being so dry to the point that the season could be called a drought, the farm would be full of salt in a few days time.

‘Now, all that’s left is to rake in all of the continent’s money. Huhuhu.’

The salt farm wasn’t the only project—even now, the sowing of wheat was still underway. The dravits that had made significant contributions to the battle went right back to plowing Nerman’s land, and in places without dravits, cows and horses were dragging plows to prepare the farmland. The combined efforts of a laborer force 180,000 men strong and the territory’s residents would create an amount of farmland three times larger than last year, and that massive amount of land would be planted with crop seeds disinfected with holy water, enabling them to grow faster and with greater health than any grass you could find.

‘Starting this year, we’ll be sowing wheat twice, once in spring and once in fall. If that’s successful, the territory’s grain yield will be unimaginable.’

I was even considering building granaries in every village, ones that maintained low temperatures using magic arrays. I wanted to store up enough food that the residents could eat their fill for around two years even if we weren’t able to farm.

“This is an important place in the territory. Be sure to guard it well.”

“As you command!”

Dozens of knights and hundreds of soldiers were standing guard all around the salt farm. The moment our territory’s salt went onto the continental market, there would be more than just one or two people coming to snoop around. The salt farm’s security detail had to be thorough in order to block such people. Of course, even if they found out about the salt farm, the knowledge would be useless since they couldn’t produce cement.

‘The salt farm is done now, next is…’

The next place I needed to patrol was the eastern road construction site, which had been in progress for a long time.

‘Narmias…’

Among the high quality worker elves brought in to work on Nerman construction sites by order of the Chief Elder, the one who worked the hardest and most earnestly was Narmias. I was able to see her briefly every few days when I went on patrol.

‘Just thinking about her makes me feel sorry towards her.’

Narmias always showered me with a pure and noble love, and I felt like I was always on the receiving side. My thoughts were on her noble love as I got onto Bebeto’s back in order to go see the pretty elf, who was surely sweating for my sake today as well.

* * *

Crrrgggggkkkkkk. Neiiiiiiiiigh.

As I watched, an empty plot of land suddenly transformed into flat and hardened ground. Even though they were wearing blinders, the horses hauling the carriages filled with cement and sand reacted sensitively to the storm of fluctuating energy.

‘There’s not much left before it’s done.’ Road construction was assigned the highest priority in Nerman’s development. A road was being made in the eastern region, a place that had, until very recently, been too dangerous even for soldiers. ‘When all’s said and done, you really have to admire the skills of the dwarves.’

At first, I only brought out a few hundred dwarves who were the first to sign up, but because the prisoners had to be returned in one month, I had more dwarves join the fray, putting them to work making sturdy carriages. After I installed a temporary magic furnace for them and had iron melted down, they went on to swiftly make frames, metal wheels, and even plate springs so that the carriages wouldn’t break down. From the carriages acquired from the Rubis Merchants and the solid supply carriages we collected from both battles, as well as the ones made in the territory, every single one of them was used in the road construction. The total number was astonishing—we had carriages in the thousands. Even now, there was a long line of carriages on standby.

Carriages filled with cement and sand were flying in the air. Wind spirits lifted the carriages up as if they were as light as a feather and poured the contents into the places that would become a road.

‘If I were to return with just these guys, I’d be set for the rest of my life.’

I heard that it usually took several years to build several kilometers of high-speed rail. However, with the use of spirits, that construction time could be massively reduced, and construction fees would come flying into my hands in proportion to the time reduced.

“Ciquelle, please pour water in.”

The elves were now complete road construction experts. They advanced the work via a thorough division of labor and the nimble use of spirits.

“So you’ve come…”

‘Narmias.’

When I landed Bebeto, Narmias appeared like a flash. Her previously white skin had become nicely suntanned from daily exposure to the sun.

“I hope it wasn’t too hard on you?”

Instead of responding, Narmias sent a grin full of vitality my way. She had changed. Narmias and all of the other elves went from looking like sickly chickens to radiating a healthy, dynamic energy.

‘What am I supposed to do if you look at me like that…’

Narmias silently looked into my eyes with her clear eyes, which were like a blue coral reef. If there weren’t a bunch of people around, I would have given her a big kiss as a reward for her hard work, but there were too many onlookers.

‘Actually, Narmias was the first person I ever shared a bed with…’

I remembered that even though Lokoroïa and Countess Irene had recently “slept” with me in my room, I had already spent the night with Narmias in her room before. Though naturally, because I blacked out after drinking and didn’t remember anything, I would never recognize it as my first night.

“It seems spring has come early this year.”

Turning away from her, I looked out at the grass and nameless flowers blooming on the endlessly stretching plains. The Kallian Continent was completely unpolluted by artificial things. I filled my lungs with a long breath of the earth’s energy, which blossomed with the vitality of spring.

“I think… the world is so beautiful.”

Narmias, who had followed my gaze, spoke of the world’s beauty with an excited voice. She had lived 60 long years in the small Elven Village. Of course she found it beautiful. Just like how a bird that could fly freely in the skies was more lively and beautiful than a bird in a cage, the sense of peace offered by the endlessly huge Mother Nature was more than enough to amaze Narmias.

“To me, you are more precious and beautiful than those flowers, Narmias.”

‘My god…’ Even I found myself nauseated by how cheesy that line was.

“Thank you… for looking at me, even though I am lacking in many ways…”

Narmias lowered her head carefully onto my arm, heedless of the gazes of others.

Whoooooooosh.

A breeze came rushing in from across the faraway plains, gently sweeping up Narmias’ blue-tinged silver hair in a teasing manner.

‘Ah…’

As her hair went flying, the rich spring fragrance went up my nose and right into my soul. Narmias had a fragrance reminiscent of nature so captivating that it made you forget who, what, and where you were.

A smile crept onto my face.

Happiness.

I realized once again that happiness wasn’t, and had never been, a faraway existence.

“Good work today as well.”

“What are you talking about, it’s thanks to you guys that Nerman can develop like this…”

Humans were truly profound and unfathomable creatures. When the prisoners were guarded against, they showed their hostility and acted rebelliously, but when that treatment was completely reversed and they were treated the same as Nerman soldiers, the Laviter prisoner soldiers were unable to differentiate between home and foreign territory. Once they received the same meals and rest time that I had promised, the Laviter soldiers worked hard to contribute, as if it were their own business. Even now, the Laviter prisoner soldiers and Nerman soldiers were clapping each other on the back with great comradery.

“We’ll come find you later, so let’s have a drink then.”

“Sounds good. We’ll prepare the snacks.”

The Nerman soldiers and residents were no different. Even though the prisoners were soldiers of an enemy nation that had invaded their land not too long ago, they were now treating them in a friendly manner as if they were simply neighbors.

‘It’s a damn shame. If only they could stay, Nerman’s development would progress in a jiffy.’

Everyone had eyes, ears, and a head capable of thought. When they were given weapons without reserve and entrusted with the monster subjugation and their wounded were treated with top-grade potions, even the most mistrustful among them changed their minds one after another. And when they heard about Nerman’s lifestyle while mingling with Nerman residents and soldiers, the prisoners even began to feel envy.

From what I heard, the wage of the captured Laviter Empire soldiers ranged from 1 to 3 Silvers a month, and they were conscripted to at least five years of service. In comparison, Nerman’s soldiers received salaries on the level of Golds, not Silvers, and they were using dwarven-made weapons that even knights were hard-pressed to acquire, plus they were given free food, accommodations, and their taxes were exempted. I heard they were wavering after learning about all of these aspects.

‘We need a lot of young men in order to boost the population. Nerman’s sex ratio is severely imbalanced right now. We need tens of thousands of adult men.’

Many men had died from battling monsters and the Temir folk. Currently, from a population of approximately 500,000, over 300,000 of them were women. And even among the men, the majority of them were old or young boys. I knew that gender ratios skewing towards women was an inevitable phenomenon during wartime, but it was worse than I expected.

‘For now, the bait has been laid, so we’ll just have to wait.’

Even among mercenaries, there were a fair number of people who dreamed of raising a family and settled down. And I knew that there were a number of people among those 180,000+ Laviter Empire soldiers who were thinking about staying behind in Nerman.

Nerman was a place where a person could live like a human should. Anyone who passed on such an opportunity would be a real idiot.

“It’s truly amazing.”

‘Irene.’

After landing Bebeto in the covert, I had made my way to the Denfors city walls. I was listening to conversations outside the walls by concentrating mana in my ears when I suddenly smelled the fragrance of a certain woman on the wind, the source of the smell being Irene.

‘Did you want to see me? Huhu.’

Irene had followed me all the way from the covert. She feigned ignorance and came all the way here, but it seemed she had something to tell me.

“How did you even think of something like this? A scheme to use enemy soldiers to take care of one’s enemies… And to even get trust from those enemy soldiers… Kyre, you’re a truly terrifying person.”

Countess Irene’s sincere words were full of admiration.

“It is merely an opportunity the heavens granted to me for doing my best every day.” I spouted humilities that really didn’t suit me.

“That’s also a skill. Not just anyone can achieve something like this… Who would believe it? That the people in tents out there eating and drinking merrily aren’t men of Nerman, but prisoners?”

For those who did heavy labor, there was no better method to unload stress than to eat and drink. When the sun set, every construction project was put on hold, and the prisoners returned to their individual tents. And then, they were allowed to use ingredients provided to them in abundance to eat as much as they wished. However, alcohol was restricted to a certain degree, and only distributed in small quantities through Nerman soldiers they were familiar with. The smell of roasting meat and stewing soup was billowing up from everywhere among the thousands of large tents outside the walls of Denfors, to the point that an onlooker might think that it was a Boyscout outing.

From what I heard, there were some prisoners who went out to the river to fish. It was still cold, but I guaranteed them transport to the river so that they could wash up. Moreover, holy water was poured upriver along the Lovent River to purify it, so there were hardly any underwater monsters or demon beasts. I was sure that looking at the fish flopping out of the river would inspire a desire to fish. Because they were given their freedom once the sun set and it wasn’t too late at night, they were able to enjoy such leisure as well.

However, I did not give them absolute freedom. There were always several thousand soldiers on standby on the Denfors walls in case the prisoners attempted to escape, and entry into the city was completely forbidden. In addition, I had the centurions and lieutenants that the prisoners selected on their own as well as knights I dispatched monitoring the state of the prisoners on the sly. Those who had become centurions and lieutenants were well aware that they wouldn’t be able to return to the empire anyway, because there was no way the empire would forgive those who had become high ranking officers and cooperated with Nerman.

“What is that castle’s name? It’s on a scale that rivals the Bajran Empire’s Imperial Palace. I can’t believe it’s taking shape in just one month…’

It didn’t have a formal name yet. The lord’s mansion that was under construction was simply called the Nerman Castle for now. In no time at all, the Neran Temple became visible beyond the high castle walls, shining gleaming with a florid golden light under the moon’s glow.

‘R.I.P my money…’

That flashy plating was all made of gold we got from the Rubis Merchants and medium-size merchant groups. Acquired goods were traded for with gems or golden tokens attributed with a certain sum, and we received a portion of the money for the sold goods as gold. It wasn’t pure gold, but impure gold with around 20 to 30% gold, but I had saved it for a day like this. The gold I had painstakingly gathered was melted down to coat bricks. It didn’t take as much gold as I expected, but because the temple was so enormous, it had apparently taken thousands and thousands of gold so far.

“It does not yet have a name. Please give it some thought, Lady Irene.”

“Truly?”

Irene’s eyes sparkled at my words.

‘Hm…’

Before I knew it, she was only about 1 meter away. The silver-haired fairy was looking at me with a smoldering gaze.

‘This can’t go on though…’

This was a woman I had kissed on the forehead and even given an arm pillow to in recent days. Our relationship had grown closer than expected.

‘Her figure is phenomenal, seriously.’

She had taken off the airplate, something a Skyknight should wear at all times, and was wearing a light training outfit for knights. The sight of her slender and slim mature body filled my eyes.

Gulp.

I unconsciously swallowed some drool.

‘Aaaghhhh!’

Her womanly fragrance and provocation completely stirred up my instincts as a man.

My hand unconsciously went up to Irene’s shoulder.

As my hand drew near, Irene flinched, and as I put my hand on her shoulder, I could feel her trembling.

‘Ehh, whatever.’

It wasn’t like this was our first rodeo—I’d even given her an arm pillow before. I simply did as my emotions directed.

‘Who cares if she’s an older woman, she’s so frickin’ beautiful.’

As I put my hand on her shoulder, preparing to draw her in, Irene lightly closed her eyes. My instincts, which were just as animalistic as Bebeto, led me to move to steal the fairy’s red lips.

‘Hm?’

The moment I was about to seal a fateful contract with Irene, I caught sight of a woman who had turned the corner and was standing stock still.

‘I-Igis…’

Princess Igis was watching me on the verge of getting closer to Irene with wide-open eyes of shock.

‘Damn…’

I breathed an inward sigh of regret. It wasn’t the time yet for my kiss with Irene.

“Ha-hahaha. You’ve got something on your shoulder.”

Even for a person with nerves of steel like me, I couldn’t kiss Irene in front of another woman. With an awkward laugh, I dusted the dust off Irene’s shoulder with great care.

“……”

Because the situation she’d hoped for did not come to pass, Irene opened her closed eyes and looked at me blankly.

“I see you have also come to look at the moon, Princess Igis. Welcome, welcome. This is the best seat in the house.”

I called over Igis, who was standing in a rigid limbo. This opportunity was gone with the wind, but I was a young man in the prime of his youth. As long as the continent was not destroyed and Irene’s feelings didn’t change, there would be plenty of opportunities to come.

Guoooo! Guooooooooo!

Just then, I heard Bebeto’s jubilant cry from the covert. The night had just started, but that enviable, damned bird was busy devoting himself to the propagation of his race.

For a moment, I seriously considered learning black magic.

Unlike humans, Bebeto lived however he pleased. That fucking beast of a wyvern was going all out without knowing his master’s pain. I suddenly had the urge to learn magic to cause erectile dysfunction, if such a thing existed…

…so that even that half-witted birdbrain could feel the pain of his master in full.