Chapter 9 – Expanding Erwin Family

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Imperial Calendar, Year 259 – Moon of the Topaz (November)

After escaping a life-threatening situation, I went back to my lovely home after two weeks of stay at the demon king’s castle. At once I received reports about everything that happened during my absence from Milevis and Irena, resulting in me plunging myself into work.

During our way back home, I had received more than plenty of love from my cute wife Malida in the carriage and now I was bursting with motivation. Hence, I decided to write down a list of things that needed to be done.

• A promotion to standardize the weights and measurements in the Slat fief.
• A draft of basic tax ledgers and grasping the precise harvest amount of the farm villages in the Slat territory.
• Improving the water supply in the Ashley fief.
• Implementing a plan to increase the population in the Ashley fief.

For starters I wrote down the four matters with a high degree of urgency. Nothing related to combat, you ask?

Well of course, anything like some small-fry peasant army would be blasted away anyway, if you have that group of meatheads at your disposal. I’m confident in the peerlessness in regards to combat thanks to the combat power the meathead clan displayed during the battle with Alexa the other day, so it’ll be okay to leave it as it is.

As far as the intelligence gathering through the Malji Company went, we haven’t heard about a fighter with valor values that would allow them to crush Brest with his 98 valor or Malida with her 100 valor. Human commanders, who would commonly be referred to as outstanding in valor, had a value of around 50. An average oni had around 70 with Lator being somewhat stronger than that.

Their individual prowess is marvelous, but in addition, the oni show an outstanding, high level of unity during battle. They will reliably carry out their roles to collect deeds of arms as a team without trying to pull solo stunts.

However, it’s a huge waste that their unity and decent discernment doesn’t work on domestic affairs at all. Oni are superior wherever battle is concerned, but for everything outside of battle, the oni are a clan with strong habits whose ability to perform tasks is below that of any ordinary person.

It’s my ambition to reform the sloppy accounting perpetrated by those meatheads for many generations in a row, train a team for the domestic administration, develop our fief, allow Malida and her gang to fully capitalize on their combat strength, pile up loads of war deeds, and aim to turn our family into high nobility. After all, I wouldn’t be able to stomach seeing the children between Malida and me being forced into a life of poverty.

If my lady becomes high-ranking nobility by obtaining many military achievements for the Empire, my territory will also become big as her retainer. Currently, only the chief retainer Brest possesses territory as a retainer of the Erwin family.

Back when Brest had yielded the seat of family head to Malida after her reinstatement as imperial noble, he was granted the taxation rights over three farm villages in the Ashley Barony. Brest was hiring his own retainers with the taxes he got from those three villages in addition to the salary he received as chief retainer. And because he held territory, he was a very influential voice among the retainers of the Erwin family.

In contrast to that, I had the position of being the family head’s husband, but officially I was no more than a plain retainer. The pay for the newly hired civil officials also had to be sourced from the Erwin family’s budget.

Malida had told me that she’d grant me a farm village as thanks for her reinstatement, but I declined. Even under normal circumstances, I was an outsider who had married into the family. If I were to even receive land on top of tampering with the fief as I pleased, my life would be in acute danger.

If I managed to get everyone in the family to approve my abilities by providing overwhelming results, my life wouldn’t be in danger any longer. At present, I was being protected by Malida’s absolute backing, Brest’s assistance, the respect gained through the Trial of Strength, and my position as the family head’s husband.

If I don’t capitalize on this and stack up accomplishments, people opposing my status will sooner or later pop up. So far it goes, I’ve accomplished to support Malida’s reinstatement with my wits, to secure and create the documents necessary for a basic taxation ledger, to take command in a defensive battle, and to obtain new territory for us.

But, that’s still not enough for calling it overwhelming accomplishments.

If I don’t keep piling up achievements and gain the trust of the residents and oni, I’ll very likely be regarded as a gigolo who buttered up to the family head. Therefore I have to put my back into my work.

Haaah, still, I really need some more people capable of domestic administration. The folks of the Erwin family are all meatheads, so I guess I have no choice but to recruit more capable personnel from the territory of Alkor.

Alright, I’ll also add this to the list of things-to-do.

• Find capable personnel in the Alkor family.

It got slightly delayed by the war, but the draft of the Erwin family’s first accounting report has started, too. Given that we were in the process of finally drafting the basic documents of a domestic administration, we should be able to put together a more comprehensible budget plan starting with next year.

Ah, I forgot to mention it, but I left it to Malida to reward the retainers who participated in the border’s defense battle. The conferral of awards as decided by the family head was apparently an absolute rule for oni, so I thought it’d lead to less bickering to have Malida freely decide on it instead of doing it myself.

Of course I gave her a strict limit on the amount of money she can spend for the rewards, and warned her in advance to not spend a penny more than that.

Because the Alkor family’s territory had been nominally added as a protectorate, we couldn’t simply hand out its land to our retainers as we pleased. For this reason, I also forbade Malida to bestow territory.

As for me personally, I firmly refused any sort of reward for the last battle in order to avoid drawing envy on me and because I’m Malida’s husband. So far as it goes, I’ve been given a room in the castle as her husband and I also receive a salary as her retainer.

Besides, the Malji Company, which I’ve entrusted to Irena, is on track as well, producing profit for me, so I don’t lack any living expenses.

I checked the list with the sums of the monetary rewards and the reward items which Malida had given out to her retainers, and put it to the rest of the approved documents.

I’d love us to get more money as well, but before that, we really need to get more people here…

If the population increases, so will the tax revenue and workforce. It’ll also increase the number of people bringing benefits to the Erwin family.

Everything depends on people, I guess…and in this case, it’d be best to go ahead with this matter here as well. Our coffers have been filled up thanks to the war, so I think we should use those funds to prepare the groundwork for the Erwin family’s growth, starting with the next year.

I picked up a document that was lying in front of me. It was a petition from the farm village in Liese’s territory Slat, complaining about the evildoings of refugees and deserting soldiers. The increase of those people in Slat could easily be traced back to the invasion of Alexa’s army the other day.

We received many reports that the soldiers of the allied forces of Alexa’s lords and Alexa’s royal army, who were routed at the battle, became bandits and formed their own little gangs as they couldn’t go back home even after fleeing. As for the increase in refugees: Due to the frequent invasions of Elancia, Alexa’s citizens had been charged with heavy taxes, and those peasants, who ran away from their villages because they couldn’t pay the taxes, became refugees. Given that Liese’s territory had some leeway in its food situation thanks to the support by Elancia, many of them have apparently immigrated into the Slat fief.

Alexa Kingdom, which brandished its power while still leaving that incompetent idiot in his position as crown prince, is truly lost. But, even if I complain about that, it won’t change anything about our situation .

Fleeing soldiers and refugees are people as well. And fortunately we’ve got loads of food to share in the Erwin family. Besides, there’s also land where they could start cultivating right away. And on top of that, I’m really craving for manpower.

Okay, as I thought, it’s time to go hunt some people. Err, wait, hunting people sounds awful and would give me a bad reputation. Recruiting skilled personnel. Yep, let’s fly with that. Let’s go and recruit new personnel.

With that said, I mobilized the meatheads idling around in the castle, headed out to the Slat territory, and started to hunt down deserting soldiers and refugees in the name of human resource recruitment.

■

“Okay. As you’ve heard, we’re going to start hunting down refugees and deserters in the Slat territory today. Malida-sama, Brest-dono, Lator, did you understand the rules I told you?”

“In short, it’s a competition about who can kill the most deserters between Uncle, Lator, and me, right?”

“Totally wrong. I’m going to add ten more seal stamps to your quote once we get back to the castle.”

“WHYYYY!? This should have been the right answer! You must be kidding, right!?!?”

“Malida-sama, even if you roll around on the ground and throw a tantrum, it won’t lower the number of stamps you have to do. Okay, Brest-dono, do you have an idea?”

“Yeah! We just need to beat them half-dead and drag them here, right? Even if they lack an arm or leg, it’s a-OK, isn’t it?”

“Close, but wrong. Please arrest the deserters and bring them here safe and sound in one piece. That’s the rule this time.”

“I’ll get the most, so don’t worry, Dad, Malida-nee-san, and take it slow and easy.”

“Lator, please don’t forget to allow the young thanes to accumulate some combat practice. If you’re the only one fighting, you’ll be reassigned to building embankments with the prisoners.”

“A-Alright, got it.”

I’ve entrusted Liese with the task of looking after Castle Ashley and took the three folks, who had been making a racket over wanting to train, with me, but…since it looked like they’d slaughter all of the deserters if I left things to them, I made them take the thanes along and gave them the fairly difficult mission of capturing the deserters alive while allowing the young oni to get some combat training.

I had them carry out a mission where the one, who caught the most deserters, would get rewarded and praised instead of the one killing the most. This was a change from the usual way they rewarded people in combat and might be slightly unreasonable of me to ask.

“GAH! What a pain! Isn’t it fine if we simply take down all those deserters!?”

“They’re criminals and thus free workers for building the waterways in our territory as slaves. Are you still going to kill them?”

“Ugh, Albert, you’re truly nasty. For you to force them into building waterways until they die…”

“I haven’t spoken about killing anyone. If they do their work seriously and show that they have reformed their ways, we will pay them proper wages as workers after a slavery term of several years. Right now we need manpower so badly that even criminals are a welcome addition, Malida-sama.”

“Manpower, eh? I guess you’re right. You also need manpower for going to war. As I thought, you’re a smart guy, Albert. Alright, in that case we’re going to round up all the deserters and catch them all!”

To be frank, Malida’s and my perceptions are different when it comes to manpower. But, it looks like she has understood the part about catching the deserters in one piece.

Still, I gotta say, it’s such a pain. Why are those meatheads such battle junkies?

“Okay, please be thorough about tracking down every single deserter. I will go and persuade the refugees, so please take care of this side for me.”

“Aye, got it. Catching them alive will take a bit of time, but if we consider it as training, that in itself makes it fun as well. Uncle, Lator, let’s hurry up and get started.”

“Roger. Given the circumstances, let’s use the sticks over there as weapons. After all, we’d kill them with one swing otherwise, if we used our usual weapons.”

“Uooooohhh! Time to get rollin’!!!!”

“Yeah, yea, just don’t kill them, okay? Don’t kill and be quick about the arrest of the deserters.”

“Sure, leave everything to me!”

With Lator in the lead, Malida and Brest started to run towards a nearby, abandoned fortress which the deserters had turned into their stronghold while leading the thanes.

According to the reports by the villagers of the Alkor fief, the number of loose deserters ranged from a few dozens to around hundred. Because those three wouldn’t lose in a one-on-one anyway, I’m going to leave the rest to them.

Besides, I had told Lator about my plan of operation in full detail before we left the castle, so he should be able to handle the two meatheads one way or another.

After seeing off the gang of musclebrains, I proceeded to deal with the refugees overwhelming the Slat territory.

What is it that refugees usually desire?

『Food』, 『Shelter』, and 『Safety』, right? They were people who had discarded their homeland and fled in order to find those three aspects. The majority of them were diligent, former farmers, and as long as you guaranteed them those three things, they should become decent taxpayers inside our territory.

It might require some money as initial investment for that sake, but since they’ll bring us big amounts of money later on in return, it’s no problem. With money it’s best to save it at a time when you should save it, and spend it in one go, if you have to spend it anyway.

Right now isn’t the time to skimp on investments since the Erwin family is growing rapidly.

Well, we can do that though because the war brought in quite some cash for us. If not for that money, I wouldn’t be able to invest so actively into this.

Taking my guards and the retainers of the Alkor family with me, I went to the refugees who were camping near a former border fortress. Once we got there, I took the high ground in the fortress ruin so that the refugees could see me well.

I pressed the special, big-sized megaphone made out of paper against my mouth and addressed the refugees with a loud and clear voice.

“I, Albert von Erwin, will take custody of you. Unfortunately, you do not have the right to object to this either!”

Seeing me accompanied by armed soldiers, the refugees huddled up, trembling in fear. They seem to lack food and clothes. All of them are haggard and look like they’d collapse before doing any hard work.

“But, I cannot let you work in my territory with those skinny bodies of yours. First, we must get some fat back on your bones! We are going to distribute food next. I order you to eat until your belly is about to burst! Start the distribution!”

I looked at the armed soldiers who would distribute the food stacked on the wagons we brought with us. The fully armed soldiers headed to the scared refugees and started to hand out bread, sausages, and warm soup.

The refugees couldn’t resist the food as they were starving, despite being scared. They accepted their portions and devoured the food.

“Haaaaah, great, really great! It’s my first decent meal in a week.”

“Dad…is it okay to eat that?” “Yeah, eat. Eat this food to survive!”

“Damn, damn, the food of the Elancians is so good…damn it!”

“Our family has plenty of food. You can eat as much as you want without having to hurry. But, now that you eat our food, consider that you’ll never be able to go back to Alexa. Come on, dig in. I’ll definitely keep you alive!”

I sent an eye signal to the soldiers once more, causing them to distribute another serving of food to the refugees.

This year’s harvest had also been lavish for the Erwin family. The storehouses in the castle have so much food that they’re bursting at the seams.

After a while, the bellies of the refugees started to bulge. Soon they began to frequently glance my way, wondering what was going to happen next.

I used the paper megaphone to give them their next order.

“It looks like you’ve sated your hunger. Let us next do something about your filthy appearance. We cannot afford for you to spread diseases in our territory with the filth clinging to you! We’re going to provide you with fresh clothes! Make sure to change into them right away! And burn the clothes you’re wearing right now!”

Once I snapped my fingers, the soldiers passed a set of clean clothes to every refugee.

“Hurry up and change into those. Those not obeying will be cut down!”

Once I urged them to change their clothes through threatening, the scared refugees took off their ragged, dirty clothes and put on the clean clothes provided by us.

“Ah, it has no holes. So warm.”

“The folks in Elancia are given such fine clothes?”

“Gaaah, bloody hell. With this, even the clothes…”

The armed soldiers gathered the old rags of the refugees in one place and put them on fire.

“Now you people cannot return to Alexa anymore. Prepare yourself to do your utmost to survive in our territory.”

“Shit, now we can’t even go back anymore, eh…? We’re gonna be Elancia’s slaves for the rest of our lives.”

“But, even if we went back, there’s no food or clothes waiting for us over there. At least, we’ll get clothed and fed, if we head to Elancia.”

“I guess we have no choice, if we want to survive. Being a slave is still much better than dying a dog’s death.”

The refugees started to cry as it finally set in that they wouldn’t be able to go back to their hometowns anymore, when they saw their old clothes burning down.

I loudly announced through my megaphone: “Alexa is a place that didn’t even provide you with a means to survive, despite being your homeland! But, our Erwin family is different! We will keep you alive! We will allow you to live a human life! If you become our residents, we will promise to exempt you from taxes for three years, and we will provide you with new cultivated land, farm tools, clothes, and food during those three years.”

“On top of being exempted from taxes for three years, they give us food, clothes, farmland and the necessary farming tools? Something so beneficial cann――”

“I do not mind offering my own head as governor of the Erwin family, if we break that promise.”

“Something like the verbal promise of a noble――”

“Of course, I do not plan to just give you a verbal promise either. Those who become our residents will be handed proper contracts.”

Hearing this promise, the refugees started to stir.

It seems like they believe it will be much harder to act like something didn’t happen, if a promise has been recorded on paper. Because they have had many bitter experiences as residents of Alexa thanks to the verbal promises by nobility, I decided to write the promise down on paper from the very start.

“Alright, I’m going to fly with this! I will become a resident of the Erwin family! Time to bid farewell to that shithole called Alexa!!”

“Me too! As if I’d ever go back to Alexa!”

“We’re different from Alexa. Come now. Those wishing to become residents of our fief, line up at the fortress’ entrance. All those desiring the chance for a prosperous life with my Erwin family, should take this opportunity!”

We’ll assign reclaimed land that’s not being cultivated yet to them. I also plan to have them help with the new water channel digging while establishing a pioneer village. It’ll be tough labor, but the Erwin family will provide them with the materials to build a pioneer village, the farming tools to plow the fields, cows, food, and everything else they might need. Their labor is the sole compensation they have to provide for all of this.

If we manage to dig a new water channel, and finish the new pioneer village plus farm fields through the refugees, it’s easy to predict that we’ll be able to achieve a substantial increase in our crop tax income. Sending refugees into an existing farm village creates problems, but if it’s a new pioneer village built by refugees only, it should be more difficult for frictions to occur as everyone will pour all their efforts into advancing the cultivation of the land.

“Come on, hurry up and make a line!” I called out to the refugees, who were streaming towards the gate, urging them to get some order.

We’ll give hope to those who abandoned their home because of Alexa’s incompetent statecraft. Population equals power in this world. Lords capable of feeding many people possess a big military force and thus hold influence.

As I’m now living in this world, I’d like to increase the number of people no matter what it takes, enlarge the Erwin family, and get a hold of plenty of influence in order to make my life as easy as possible.

If it’s for that sake, I’ll make my wife succeed, no matter what means I have to use.

Just like this, personnel recruitment under the pretext of a manhunt ended with a big success.

Given that I’ve received a report about the deserter hunt from Malida after having finished the refugee persuasion, I’ll use the chance now to take a peek at it.

Deserter Subjugation Report

Malida … 125 arrested, 25 killed, no casualties.

Brest … 139 arrested, 31 killed, no casualties.

Lator Unit … 245 arrested, 45 killed, 2 minor injured.

Total: 509 arrested, 101 killed, 2 minor injured.

It’s a passable outcome. Also, I’ll take the liberty to deduct the number of killed from the number of arrested for each of them.

Lator fought while leading soldiers, but he apparently manages to skillfully control the young oni. On the other hand, Malida and Brest killed way too many, considering they went out by themselves.

This time Lator is the best performer with Brest being second and Malida being third, I’d say. I think I’ll appoint Lator to the vanguard for the next battle.

Actually I believe it might be more efficient to have Malida and Brest fight as singular units instead of having them command troops for the sake of drawing out their maximal potential.

After reading through the report, I put it away in my pocket.

Anyway, I’ll have those 509 do their best at building embankments. Well, I’m no devil, so I’ll make them work for free for three years and then it’ll be fine to discharge them as long as they haven’t killed anyone, I guess.

Next up is the report about the refugees that has been completed just now.

Refugee Census Report

458 Adult men

346 Adult women

192 Male children

112 Female children

Total: 1108 people

Water Channel Construction Team: 540

New Farm Village Construction Team: 568

Over a thousand refugees were registered as our new residents. Limited to these refugees, we’d exempt them from all taxation for three years.

Favoritism, you say? No, we do assist them with the material, but building a pioneer village and waterways from scratch is a huge burden. If we were to levy them taxes right away, they’d start running away again, returning to being refugees. In such a case, it’d turn all the money invested this time into a waste.

Even if they succeed in the digging of new waterways and we don’t take any taxes from them for around three years, it won’t faze the Erwin family. I mean, starting with next year, the village chief will be forbidden to embezzle taxes, so it’s pretty much set that the food-based income will double.

It’ll be a disaster if a drought hits us, but in that case we’ll just have to weather through it by opening up the storehouses to feed our people with the food in there.

The refugees will dig waterways during those three years and if they get the pioneer village working well, they’ll quickly change into wonderful taxpayers.

The Ashley fief sits on fertile land. The crop harvest will increase drastically through the new water channels and pioneer village, and in five or ten years those should yield a profit going well beyond the money invested into it.

At that time, the Erwin family’s assets will likely have become most prominent even in Elancia.

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