Prologue: The Plan to Build the Strongest Fortress City

HOWDY, Y’ALL. IT’S ME, VAN. EVERYONE’S IDOL.

I’d been told to repair a busted fortress smack dab in the middle of the battlefield. You know, the kind that’d be under constant fire from missiles in my world. I also had orders to defend it if the enemy struck. If someone heard about all this without context, they’d probably think I was being sentenced to some new form of torture.

But despite it all, I was brimming with determination. The fire and passion in my eyes were probably visible a mile away. After all, I was on the verge of getting my hands on foods I’d long since given up ever tasting again: curry and rice, fluffy pancakes, and even ramen. For that dream to become a reality, though, I had to be able to do business with the Central Continent, a region known for its plentiful spices and other ingredients. This meant we had to take Yelenetta, which functioned as the gateway to that region.

Delicious food. That was what drove me on!

“All right! First, we need to gather materials! Everyone, collect all the pieces of the fortress you can and put them where they need to go.”

“Yessir!”

Armed with my instructions, the members of the Seatoh Village Chivalric Order split into their respective squads and got to work.

Members of the other orders stayed behind to take on other jobs.

I needed to remain mindful of the fact that most of these people outranked me by a long shot. They were older, too, the kind of nobles who, under normal circumstances, would have no reason to acknowledge any requests I made of them. In my world, this would be like the president of a tiny startup issuing orders to the president of a giant corporation: definitely not a job for the faint of heart.

Fortunately, I had the king behind me. His authority lent me the power to work the nobility to the bone. After all, time was of the essence!

“Um, Viscount Pinin?” I said. “I hate to ask this of you, but I would love to repair the busted gate on the north side of the fortress. Would it be too much to ask you to gather timber, stone, and metal?”

“Hmph. As you wish. I’ll set my Chivalric Order to the task.

How much do you need, and when?”

“Thank you so much! This is a priority. I’d like four two-horse carriage loads of metal, then twice as much stone…”

“…Understood. By when?”

“Within a week, I suppose.”

“A week?! That might prove to be a bit…” Viscount Pinin trailed off.

I looked up at him. He was a middle-aged man, veins visibly bulging just under the skin of his bald head. I waved both hands. “Ah, please don’t worry! You’re not the only one I’m asking! I was thinking of talking to Viscount Farina as well.”

“Lord Farina? Not a bad choice, but it would be wise to secure more manpower. I will reach out to a few others. Is that acceptable?”

“Of course! Um, but could you let me know who you end up working with? I have to report back to His Majesty,” I explained, bowing my head.

Viscount Pinin groaned and pulled in his chin. “O-of course! That goes without saying. On second thought, I seem to recall Viscount Farina having brought quite a few men along on this march. I think our Chivalric Orders should be able to handle this. We will have the materials to you in five days’ time!”

“Thank you so much!”

This was how it went. I issued instructions and tried to keep a low profile, compromising as best as I could. If I let my guard down, these nobles were liable to try and get off easy. Too much leeway, and some of them would even try to snatch the valuables from what remained of the fortress.

My job was to limit work to certain areas and have the correct number of people team up to finish the work promptly. Just making requests of the nobility stressed me out, though, so the whole thing was agonizing. Luckily for me, mentioning that I would report back to His Majesty was enough to get even the rowdiest noble to cooperate. It hammered home just how much they feared the king.

In any case, the nobles who remained here at the fortress hadn’t had a chance to do much in the battle. By putting them to work on repairs, His Majesty was arguably giving them an opportunity to contribute. If they didn’t take advantage of his kindness, who knew how they would be received later?

And so it was thanks to His Majesty that the nobles worked diligently under the command of me, their social inferior. Given the manpower at hand, I planned to use this opportunity to acquire a surplus of materials. I would have been a fool not to take advantage of the situation.

“Lord Van, you have a nasty look on your face,” Till said.

I rearranged my features hurriedly. “Now, now! I swear I wasn’t thinking about anything in particular. Unrelatedly, have you seen any nobles with free hands? There’s a job I’d like to have done…”

“Where did you learn to act like that? You’re so good at using people, you remind me of some worldly, jaded merchant.”

“You make me sound awful! I’d prefer it if you said that I’m good at requesting things from others.”

“It almost feels like you are blackmailing people…” Till smiled an exasperated smile.

I turned to Khamsin. “Are there any other walls that need fixing ASAP?”

He took out a hand-drawn map. “Um, the only one remaining is on the southeast side. Everything else is being attended to.”

“If my memory serves, that wall is mostly just cracked. In that case, I’ll start with areas where the materials have already been gathered for me. Are the earth mages on standby?” I asked Arb, who stood up straight.

“Yessir! I’ve received a report that ten of them have gathered in the square. Lowe and the others are looking for more, but that might be all we can locate.”

“Well, I suppose there wouldn’t be too many folks around here who are useful for building walls. Okay, ten people should be more than enough. Time to get to work.”

“Um,” Arte piped up from behind me.

I turned around. “Hmm? Is something wrong?”

Arte shook her head, wearing a troubled smile. “Oh, no. I just realized I wouldn’t be able to take a bath today. My apologies.” She bowed her head deeply.

“I totally forgot! Thank you for the reminder, Arte!” I replied, louder than I intended.

More Chivalric Orders had stayed behind than I expected, so the fortress I’d built earlier was overbooked. There was no way we’d be taking baths tonight. On top of that, I was the lowest-ranking nobleman around, and a new one at that; I needed to know my place. Naturally, my pals and I would be staying in Yelenetta’s fortress, which was basically one giant set of ruins at this point.

“You know what? Let’s repair this place right now! Actually, let’s rebuild it! Brand-new real estate! Everyone, gather up the materials as quickly as you can! I don’t mind if it’s all timber, just be fast!”

“Yessir!”

Just like that, the Seatoh Village Chivalric Order sprinted into action.

I watched my people carry timber to the square at an incredible pace while Dee blinked curiously. “What do you plan on doing with all this timber?” he asked. “The walls have yet to be completed.”

I quickly explained the situation. He was the one who’d taken the initiative in terms of gathering lumber, so it was my responsibility to inform him of our plight.

“Is that so?! That is a problem! But I also feel as though the walls are a higher priority!” he said. Trust him to refuse to take his eyes off the defensive perspective.

Obviously, in a world where monster attacks were frequent, safety came first. But I still couldn’t turn a blind eye to our inability to bathe. “I totally get where you’re coming from, but for today, our top priority is getting our living situation together. I’ll station our people at the ballistae on the fortress, so you don’t need to worry.” “Hmm… Perhaps it will be fine, then. I suppose we can use our war wagons as well! In that case, I’ll go and gather building materials!”

Dee was truly something else. I watched him sprint away with a warm feeling in my chest. Then Khamsin opened his mouth, an expectant look in his eyes, and said, “Lord Van, you have a lot of materials here. What type of structure will you be building?”

He was practically vibrating with anticipation, clearly expecting another new and exciting building. I’d already built a pentagram fortress, a gigantic dwarf forge, and baroque-style buildings, though. I’d even gotten a little goofy and built a replica Yomeimon. How could I top all of that?

I searched my memories, unexpectedly coming upon a place

I’d visited once: Kumamoto Castle, the greatest castle in all of

Kyushu. I’d also been to Osaka Castle and Nagoya Castle, but Kumamoto was my most recent visit, so it was still fresh in my memory. A spectacled man near the entrance had explained to me that Kumamoto’s stone wall, which was called Musha-Gaeshi, was twenty meters tall. The castle had towers of all sizes, plus a massive watchtower. If you looked up “fortress” in the dictionary, you’d see Kumamoto Castle.

From a geographical perspective, it would take me a while to build a moat, but I could eventually put a long one in place, making the fortress impenetrable. What tremendous luck that I’d managed to remember all these details!

I wasted no time in summoning the earth mages, all of whom looked exhausted from working on the wall. In the meantime, I had the members of my order keep bringing over building materials, creating a veritable mountain of stone and timber. Standing in front of it, I looked at the cluster of pale-faced mages. “So, um, first, I want to express my gratitude to you all for your hard work on this first day. Thank you so much.”

The mages looked surprised. I was sure they thought me an eccentric noble. Then again, these were all talented elemental mages, so the other nobles probably treated them exceptionally well. None of them struck me as particularly humble.

“I have one last job for you today. I would like you to build me a mountain the size of this whole square.” I smiled, and the blood drained from their faces.

Barely two hours later, a stone wall stood at the center of the square. The mages were all sprawled on the ground by that point. I genuinely felt bad for them, so I asked Till to get started on a barbecue. The Seatoh Village Chivalric Order, which had by then gathered enough materials for me, was also reassigned to barbecue prep.

“Let’s see,” I murmured to myself, looking up at the new stone wall. It was enormous, a whole edifice in and of itself, and the warped structure was certainly impressive. A steel gate set into it stood open, revealing a path that continued inward. The path, which was wide enough for a carriage, led to a three-story storehouse made from wood blocks.

The roof of the storehouse merged with the top of the wall itself. I laid a stone floor over that roof and then raised new walls on all four sides of it. This would be a Japanese-style castle, of course; it even had sliding door windows.

I wanted the center of the fortress to be as large as I could make it, so I started with the first floor. The goal was for this whole thing to resemble Kumamoto Castle, so I made the ground floor horizontal. I was building this atop a twenty-meter stone wall, making it already tall enough to give its inhabitants a good view of their surroundings, but it was only going to get bigger from here. After all, Kumamoto Castle towered six stories above the ground.

I kitted out the first floor with a dining hall, kitchen, and open bath for the soldiers, and on the second and third floors I built a series of resting rooms. The ballistae went on the fourth floor, so I made some extra bolts while I was at it. As a precaution against the enemy finding its way inside, I installed spears at the top of the stairs. They could be used to attack invaders from above.

The fifth floor was reserved for bedrooms and bathing areas for the nobility, while the sixth was a castle tower meant just for me. I’d done such a great job that the view from all the way up there was actually kind of scary. When I looked down at the Yelenetta side of the square, I saw the road extending far into the distance, until it disappeared from view altogether.

“Perfect! Done before nightfall!” I said to Arte and the others, seeing them look around the room. I was satisfied with the day’s work. “Time for a fun barbecue and some sleep!”

Till and Khamsin shot me identical exasperated looks.

“Even I’m exhausted from being surprised all the time,” Khamsin muttered.

“This fortress sure is…unique,” Till agreed.

Elsewhere, Arte examined the room with glistening eyes. Eventually, she turned to me. “This is wonderful, Lord Van! I think this castle is my favorite of all the buildings you’ve made!”

“Really?” I blinked and nodded, overwhelmed by Arte’s enthusiasm. “I’m glad.”

It must have really captured her heart, if the excited way she explored the castle’s interior was anything to go by.