Chapter 302: Murcia Rejoices

Fortress City Murcia had water drawn in from the start, and boiling sterilization was also enabled. Because of this, drinking water was not an issue, but the problem lay in the insufficient drainage. Since sewage concentrates, the sewage system must be cleaned and maintained quite frequently to maintain good hygiene.

Although there are defense facilities and housing for the lord and the Chivalric Order, there are still far too few facilities for the new residents. According to Esparda’s prediction, the population will continue to increase rapidly from here on out.

And as new residents increase, Murcia’s workload increases visibly. In Seatoh Village, I give instructions to create family registers, and Fortress City Murcia is doing the same. It seems the family registers for the immigrants who have currently moved in are complete, but overwork will increase every time they welcome new residents in the future. That is precisely why he would want to increase the number of civil officials, but actually, Seatoh Village and the Adventurer’s Town are in the same situation. It can be said that Esparda, who processes massive amounts of paperwork with a cool face, is the abnormal one. After all, Esparda handled most of the family registers for the first four hundred people by himself.

The next problem is public facilities. In large cities, it is normal to have various facilities such as government offices for notifications and procedures, schools, and hospitals. Well, depending on the location, there are places where only the rich and nobles can go to schools and hospitals.

By the way, although not magnificent, Seatoh Village has an educational facility like a terakoya (private school). Ideally, I would want to create an educational curriculum based on age and knowledge, but I gave up on that since there were many people with scattered backgrounds and ages.

There are many other public facilities installed in Seatoh Village. The situation was such that there was a lack of human resources to install them in Fortress City Murcia. Murcia understands that too, but he likely tried to do something about the housing problem, which had the most complaints, for the time being.

“It can’t be helped, Muru-emon.”

I muttered that jokingly while checking the map of Fortress City Murcia that Emira had created.

“Eh? Lord Van?”

“Did you say something?”

Arte and Khamsin, who were looking at the map together, heard my monologue and tilted their heads. Laughing to gloss over it, I brought the black tea Till prepared to my mouth.

After a beat of silence, Emira, who had been explaining the situation in detail, cleared her throat quietly and spoke.

“Umm, Lord Van? May I continue the discussion?”

“Ah, please do!”

When I hurriedly straightened my back and replied, Emira replied “Y-Yes” in a formal manner and pointed to the map.

“As I mentioned earlier, considering the shape of the fortress city, I think it would be better to make this area the residential district. Currently, we have opened up the soldiers’ dormitories, of which there are plenty, but it seems they inevitably compare it to life in Seatoh Village…”

“Well, private space is important, you know. Yeah, I understand well. If it were a child in puberty, they might not want to come out of a private room with a lock. Yeah, yeah.”

When I said that, putting myself in the residents’ shoes, Emira and Till made strange faces.

“…Lord Van? Isn’t the age for having such emotions a little later?”

“No, Lady Till. A rebellious phase is possible even at Lord Van’s age… However, he does not look like it…”

“Ah, a rebellious phase… Come to think of it, I feel like there was a scene where he talked back to his father the other day…”

“Eh? To the Marquis? That might be a splendid rebellious phase.”

The two were whispering about me. While harboring uncomfortable feelings about that, I shifted my gaze to Arte. Then, Arte blinked and looked at me.

“Lord Van. What is a ‘rebellious phase’?”

“Eh? U-Umm, maybe when you just get to a point where you hate everything?”

“Ah, so that is what it means. Indeed, recently Lord Van was told unreasonable demands by Lord Panamera and was saying he hated it…”

Arte seemed to have misunderstood innocently and constructed the formula “Van-kun = Rebellious Phase” in her head. No, no, no, anyone dealing with Panamera’s unreasonable demands would enter a rebellious phase. Rather, it would be at a level to go on strike.

“A-Arte… Panamera-san’s fiendish deeds are enough to make anyone want to run away; it’s different from a rebellious phase…”

“Hoho? What is this about fiendish deeds?”

Suddenly, a voice with tremendous pressure was heard from behind. No, perhaps I am the only one feeling it. It has the impact of hearing the roar of a giant kaiju appearing from the sea right in front of you.

“…P-Pa-pa-ppa-pa, Count Panamera?”

When I called her name while trembling violently and turned around, Panamera tilted her head with a gentle smile.

“Hm? That manner of speaking sounded as if you wanted to call me ‘papparapa’ (birdbrained), didn’t it? Count Panamera the Papparapa? Fufu, it has a nice ring to it.”

“O-Ooh, that is too awe-inspiring…”

“What? Scary? You are a guy who says terrible things to such a lovely maiden. To me, the Boy’s future path is scarier, though?”

“…Does that mean terrible terror awaits my future…”

“I didn’t say that, did I? Hey, Viscount Van?”

“Scary! I can’t take it anymore! Please just be normal!”

Finally, unable to bear Panamera’s smile, I screamed. However, Panamera continued to talk while standing behind me, smiling beamingly.