Knights, Let’s Smash Them

92 – How to set fire to our sacred territory (1)

Two days before the news of Petra’s disappearance was heard.

-I’m sorry…….

-No, what is there to be sorry about, Captain?

-I think it only made things worse.

It’s a situation where I can’t say it’s okay even with empty words, but the situation has come to an end anyway.

I’m thinking of contacting Petra, who left before I could do anything, via a separate letter.

There seems to be a misunderstanding, so I need to clear it up.

And yes.

This is purely my opinion, but…….

Cianne and Petra showed such a reaction this morning, maybe it was the ‘heroine battle’ that usually appears in ice water?

No, that’s right.

Like last time, Xianne definitely had a crush on me. She frankly looked like her couple externally, but also because she was very good at helping out.

When I have no choice but to stay up all night, he comes to me around midnight and serves simple tea.

If you fall asleep from exhaustion, even if you’re not good enough, Emain and vice-captain Emain will grunt and take care of the rest of the work.

Wow, now that I think about it, it was a complete flag!

And if you look at Petra, hasn’t she secretly acted as if she had feelings for me?

The senior who I thought of as a close brother started to look different…… What do you feel?

It felt like the objective view was collapsing at this point, and the love cells that had been dead for a long time sprang up.

She doesn’t say anything like an asshole that she couldn’t forget her first love.

But maybe the reason I haven’t taken an active interest in women’s relationships up until now is because of my lack of self-confidence.

So…… The fact that I like someone now can hurt that person.

But if the other person comes out like this first.

Maybe it was the only chance to escape Mosolada that we had been waiting for so long.

I thought of the opportunity that rolled in, “What did you just say?” I’m not a eunuch enough to kick myself.

Around the time when I was rolling the happy circuit so hard.

“Lord of Luberne.”

A stonemason representative came up from the capital and spoke to me. They arrived in Monterto late last night and had an early meeting this morning, seeing off Cianne.

In the end, the reason why I came to Monterto was the completion of the ‘Iron Road’.

I immediately made it my top priority to secure workers, which was the biggest problem.

Good quality materials secured through negotiations with Longston, who dared to hit the stone price, had already arrived in Monterto.

From now on, based on the direction of the masons and the elaborate road plans made by the metricists, as long as the manpower to transport and lay the stones was ready, the work could begin immediately.

“Ah, is everyone wanted?”

The number of people gathered through the adventurer’s guild was not enough to build the road from Monterto to Tippen.

So I was thinking of hiring a mercenary group operating in Monterto on my own.

If you didn’t want to come, you had to pay more to bring them. And as long as you hire them directly without intermediaries, there are many cases where the work is more certain.

But the mason’s face was a little strange.

“That…… That is.”

“Is something wrong?”

I had a very bad feeling for a moment.

I wonder if the mercenary corps paid a much higher amount than the budget, since there were so many bastards who wanted to put a spoon on the Iron Road construction.

‘Ah, these bastards are real.’

Originally, it is said that once money is involved, there are very few cases where it is solved neatly, but is it like this with the last Longstern case, only for the completion of the Iron Road?

I wondered if it was the moment to pull out the stick again.

“I don’t think hiring a mercenary is necessary. Rather, the residents will step forward and help…….”

“Yes?”

I wonder if I heard it correctly.

“A rough estimate of the number of people is well over 400. Wasn’t there only about 100 officially hired workers that the magistrate said?”

“Is that so?”

“All the young people who have nothing to do in the city have gathered… ….”

“Suddenly?”

As soon as I heard that, I left the city hall building. Then, the crowds gathered at the entrance like waves come into view.

“Ah! There he is!”

Citizens of Monterto waving warmly at me. Before I could even guess what was going on, the mayor came forward and started explaining.

“I heard that you helped the adventurer’s guild leader who was nearly arrested by the Black Lion Knights yesterday.”

“No…… It’s true that it helped, but…….”

“It’s because the head of the adventurer’s guild is very popular. It is famous for taking care of the residents of the slums all the time and helping children to become independent somehow, even though they know it is a crime.”

“Was that kind of person?”

Honestly, I didn’t know.

I just thought that he was an ignorant adult who would take children who were not old enough to hire laborers and beat them, driving them into dangerous work.

Thinking back, even when I was almost taken to the Black Lion Knights, I didn’t sell my children, even though I defended myself.

I must have misunderstood a little.

“Oh my gosh, I thought our lord So was strict, but he also has humanity~.”

“If we are in trouble, we should help each other!”

“We are Nami!”

“As it turned out, I heard that Lord Kirten also went voluntarily~. Ah, if it’s a lord, of course the law is over.”

“The only thing left is manpower manpower!”

Friendly phrases popping up here and there. Could it be that the strange reason why my work was not popular was because I had not yet gained the trust of the people.

There are cases like that.

Especially, the further you go down into the provinces, the community is so solid that it is at the level of concrete, so most outsiders are ostracized.

‘This is why public assistance is important.’

Coming to think of it, it seems that I didn’t understand the uniqueness of Monterto.

So far, Rupel Manor—that is, considering the actions of the 7 retainers, it is only natural that the residents, who have made remarkable progress, do not look favorably on them.

In the meantime, Baron Kirten said it was his own will, but if I had moved to the next town, Tiffen, and I, a member of the vassal, sat in the small lord’s seat.

It’s obvious that there must have been some not-so-good things going around among the residents who didn’t know the exact details.

“Come on, then let’s finish quickly!”

From noble mtl dot com.

“The streets of Monterto, the Free City, are all made by us. I believe it will be of great help.”

The Udyr-class stance change, which has changed 180 degrees in one day, is almost dumbfounded.

“I am also confident in my strength! Thank you so much for yesterday, So Young-ju!”

“Mark Chung…… No, boy.”

Among the crowd were some of the overgrown teenagers in question…….

‘There’s no need to be stiff here.’

I’ll say it again, I don’t have the habit of kicking the rolled rice cake. After I first calmed down the residents who appealed to me passionately.

“Are there problems with staffing now?”

Similarly, he said to the mason with a dumbfounded expression.

There was a problem.

No.

***

As soon as the citizens of Monterto actively participated in the road construction project, the construction process was handled swiftly.

In the first place, stone materials supplied by Longston and other mercantile companies were piled up near the gate of Monterto.

As soon as the surveyors who had completed the surveying of the road to some extent distributed the blueprints, hundreds of people clung to it and the construction began to proceed in an orderly manner.

Digging the ground to lay ash stones.

At the same time, drains are dug so that rainwater can drain quickly without pooling.

A milestone is installed at each certain section to enable accurate measurement.

As more than twice the number of workers expected to be around 200 were put in at once, it was a magic that a few meters of road was quickly created even though I had only been to another place for a while.

It was absolutely absurd.

Such an easy thing to do.

‘If we keep going like this, there will be no problem. Rather, this section will finish the construction first?’

However, trouble arose in an unexpected place.

“Has anyone seen Mark?”

“Why Mark?”

“You must have gone up to the northern valley to bring some pebbles, which were scarce?”

“East Valley?”

“Did Mr. Hattin go with you?”

“That was a few hours ago… ….”

A road cannot be completed just by taking a few diamond stones and placing them there.

Basically, after compacting the ground by laying a mixture of gravel and sand on the flattened terrain.

It is necessary to firmly support the ashlar at the top while filling it with clay and small stones so that rainwater can effectively permeate into the ground.

So road construction required quite a bit of gravel and sand.

Sand was contracted with stonemasons from the capital, but the plan was to collect a certain amount of gravel from the surrounding valleys, so some workers were assigned to secure such materials.

“The eastern valley is not that difficult…….”

“Ay, I will be back soon. What are you so worried about?”

“Look at Mark’s face, he’ll think he’s a bandit and run away.”

The residents thought it was just an accident or a minor accident.

Those who headed for the eastern valley in question did not return even when the sun went down at night.

Since five or six villagers who were put to work without incident have gone missing.

Of course, as I was leading the work, I was faced with a very difficult situation.

“Shouldn’t we send a patrol right now?”

“When I checked the map, there were several places where landslides could occur along the way even though the terrain to the valley was not difficult.”

“I could have been caught up in the worst situation… ….”

I chewed on my lips at the words of Andrei, a former Imperial Ranger.

The rainy season has passed and the ground has weakened as much as it weakens.

It might be perfect for digging, but that meant an increased risk of landslides.

“First of all, since the wagon may simply be in an isolated state, let’s send out a search party as soon as tomorrow morning.”

“That sounds good.”

As soon as the day dawned, the knights arrived in the eastern valley.

There were only two wagons that were completely neglected, with no trace of people anywhere.