Van was aware of the usual duties as a lord, the intensive training from Dee, and Espada's methodical education. Despite such a packed schedule, he was still pushing forward with the recruitment of more personnel.
By the way, since manpower was truly lacking, Van had also enlisted the help of Arte and Til to assist.
“Now, with this, we have ten people learning about territory management under Espada, five assisting with the operations of each knight order, five assisting Murcia-sama, two managing the adventurer's town… This feels like quite a personnel boost.”
Van muttered as he checked the report, and Espada, who had been organizing reports on non-essential matters, paused and turned to him.
“That’s right. While the population continues to grow, we can’t afford to relax, but once the new recruits are trained, things should stabilize for a while.”
For once, even the cautious Espada was giving a rare stamp of approval. After all, there were three people managing the budget and resource management of Ceat Village, five handling the registration and updates of residents, two managing negotiations with merchant guilds, and five overseeing the facilities... Until now, these tasks were being managed by Espada and a few apprentices, but now they could be handled by over twice the number of people. If these new recruits could properly learn their duties, the management of the territory would surely stabilize.
In the meantime, the next generation of leaders would likely be cultivated as well.
“Phew… Now, with this, I can finally take it easy for a while, right? We still haven’t gotten a response from the Fiesta Kingdom, so there’s no rush.”
“Good work, Van-sama.”
Til, who had been timing things just right, brought in the tea. Van took the teacup placed before him and sipped the warm tea. It seemed to have been prepared at a perfect temperature. The fragrance was rich, yet it was easy to drink and delicious.
“This really hits the spot.”
“Hehe, Van-sama, you’re sounding like an old man.”
While Van commented, Arte laughed while holding her hand to her mouth. It was so cute. As Van watched Arte and Til with a fond smile, Espada cleared his throat and spoke.
“Now, the recruitment and reassignment of personnel is now complete. The next step is to inform the respective personnel and swiftly shape the new internal administration. Also, Van-sama, while you’re still in Ceat Village, you’ll need to build the new residences for the incoming residents.”
“Eh!? Is this... urgent...?”
Just as Van had planned to take a relaxing bath and stretch out, Espada threw him a curveball. His voice unintentionally wavered. But despite Van’s obvious exhaustion, Espada calmly stated the necessary details.
“Currently, the number of carpenters constructing and repairing homes and the city walls in Ceat Village has exceeded twenty. However, the four-story homes Van-sama intends to build cannot be completed at this time. It’s not only the construction skills but also a matter of manpower and time. So, for now, they’re constructing two-story homes and making furniture.”
“...So, looking at the future, it means that we’ll need much larger buildings to house more families, right? That seems like something only I can handle.”
“That’s correct.”
When Van asked for confirmation, Espada quickly agreed. But the content was something Van couldn’t easily ignore. Should he just accept this? Maybe he had no choice but to resign himself to it...
“...By the way, how many buildings of what size do we need to build?”
Van decided to confirm the details. Espada then pulled out some papers and began flipping through them.
“Hm… The current population growth rate is about fifty times per year. However, since the base number is different, it won’t grow by fifty times in the next year. So, I’ll assume the same number of migrants will arrive. If that happens, all the current buildings will likely be filled in about a month to two months, and by three months, we may have residents without homes. Depending on the response from Fiesta Kingdom, Van-sama may not be able to return to the territory for over half a year, so I would request that you build around fifty four-story houses, like the ones you’ve built before.”
“F-Fifty...?”
Van’s gaze shifted to the sunset outside the window as Espada casually stated this.
“…It’s a beautiful sunset. I know! Let’s have omelet rice for dinner tonight. Til, is that okay?”
“Van-sama? I can’t approve of such escapism.”
Trying to shift the conversation to escape, Van was caught by Espada’s unflinching gaze. Espada, who narrowed his eyes slightly and looked down at him, made Van feel like he had shrunk under his scrutiny.
“The deadline is three days from tomorrow. Even if we hear from the Fiesta Kingdom tomorrow, three days for preparations will be no problem.”
“…Yes… I’ll do my best.”
Van couldn’t help but agree, as Espada’s reasoning was both sound and delivered with enough authority to make it impossible to resist. There was nothing he could do but reluctantly accept.
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