Chapter 86 - Episode 2: "Gathering Villagers and Sending Them to the Settlement, desu-wa"
Gokigenyou! It is I, Violia Nico Fortesia!
Right now! I am overflowing with motivation!
After all, I heard about that Pin-Hane Girl! I heard that the very woman who first entrapped me after my downfall is running as a candidate for the next Saint!? I simply cannot sit still!
I had heard she left the Guild and hadn't been able to track her whereabouts since, so I honestly thought she might have just died somewhere!
But if she's alive, the story is simple!
That Pin-Hane Girl, who sold me out to the soldiers even at the cost of damaging the Guild!
I shall thoroughly crush her—!
"And that is why, Carol. You must become the next Saint, no matter what."
"Yes, Teacher! Please leave it to me! I will surely see it through!"
And so, I immediately went to see my maiden pupils, and there, I conveyed my feelings to the girl who had played the role of the sister... Carol.
Carol showed her resolve, her fluffy silver hair swaying. Even when she tries to look sharp with that cute face, she's still just plain cute.
"Then let us begin our move at once! Let's go!"
...And so, we immediately start moving according to this plan.
"To the absolute boonies!"
Yes.
We are going to the absolute boonies. The sticks.
As a surefire way to win the Saint vote, one might suggest 'focusing activities on large cities.' Why? Because 'touring the absolute boonies has far too low a cost-performance and time-performance ratio.'
In this country, the distances between towns are quite significant. It takes a little over half a day to get from the Royal Capital to Elsemarin, and even longer for cities further away.
Furthermore, the number of people living in the absolute boonies is small. There are many settlements with only one-hundredth the population of a large city, or even less.
Therefore, one cannot afford to engage in such piddling activities. You work where people are gathered and collect votes all at once. That is considered common sense for winning this Saint election.
In short, the number of votes obtained from touring the boonies simply doesn't balance out with the time spent. Travel expenses are high, and the hicks in the boonies are passive about voting, thinking it doesn't matter to their lives who becomes the Saint... You absolutely won't get any decent results.
...But, that is exactly why we go to the boonies.
We do have the backing of the Elsemarin Guild, but we cannot do this openly. The Elsemarin Guild must pretend to be the Royal Family's dog and wag its tail. In fact, a request had come from the Royal Family to pick out several beautiful girl adventurers from the Elsemarin Guild as Saint candidates. The Royal Family's scheme is likely to 'make the Cathedral the Royal Family's property by making someone loyal to the Elsemarin Guild—their own loyal dog—the Saint.'
...Therefore, we effectively have no backing. Our financial power is still nothing compared to the Royal Family.
That is why we go to the boonies.
We will use our power to make touring the boonies—previously called the worst of all possible moves—possible.
If you add up the populations of all the small and medium-sized towns in the boonies, the number of people exceeds even Elsemarin or the Royal Capital. So, in a sense, this is a chance.
They have been left alone because they are 'scattered' and 'passive.' What a waste.
So, it's the opposite. Think in reverse.
'The Saint does not move to the people.'
Yes! 'The people should move to where the Saint is'...!
There are a little over two months left until the day of the Saint vote. I decided to gather as many people from the boonies as possible during that time.
We have the wonderful power of the Spatial Bag. Long live illegal modifications!
...Furthermore.
"So I just gotta kidnap people as I see fit, right?"
"That's right. I don't think you're capable of clever persuasion, so please just kidnap them appropriately. We'll go with the plan where Carol and the others take you down and rescue the hicks from your evil clutches."
"Hahaha. That's cruel. Well, whatever."
Chesta. Chesta will be working here...!
"...Even so, they've become quite attached and grown quite large, these little ones..."
"Right? Monsters really do grow fast."
Frolicking around Chesta's neck are dragons. They are still young dragons, but they've grown large enough to somehow carry one person and fly!
Chesta, riding a dragon, soared into the blue sky.
...Apparently, aside from the Spatial Bag for humans, he's carrying one Spatial Bag for dragons, containing the relief dragons. Yes. It seems Chesta has become completely friendly with the dragons and they've started letting him fly on their backs...
I certainly thought he was playing with them often, but I didn't think they'd become this attached. To become a dragon tamer despite being a junkie, how cheeky!
...And so, in this operation, Chesta riding a dragon will kidnap people, thereby efficiently earning people and votes. Once we've gathered them, it'll be easy to make them understand Carol's charm!
It's foolish to work bit by bit in the highly competitive Royal Capital! It's much more efficient to snatch up all the ignorant hicks from the boonies at once, gather them, and work there! Ohohohohohoho!
"Dragons are fast, after all."
"They're several times faster than horses, aren't they..."
Even if they're young, they're still dragons. They are simply fast. Fast enough that they can raid several marginal settlements in the boonies, kidnap people, and return in just a few days.
"Chesta's a good guy at heart. The dragons probably sensed that."
"Guess they didn't sense the part about him being a junkie."
"Dragons don't really take to me..."
Doran and Giovan watched Chesta off with complicated expressions.
...By the way, dragons surprisingly do not take to Doran at all. It's probably because he's a werewolf. Doran himself dotes on the dragons, but the dragons are scared of him, which is a bit pitiful.
"...So, we just have to go around the nearby small villages and gather 'employees for the Settlement,' right?"
"Yes. While praying they'll be lured by the wages and the beautiful girls, we shall proceed peacefully."
On the other hand, we will go peacefully.
Why? Because if a string of kidnappings occurs relatively close to the Royal Capital, it would be a bit problematic!
Therefore, our side will gather people under the pretext of 'opening up land near Elsemarin to create a new town.'
Wonderfully, this year has seen a succession of crop failures everywhere due to a mysterious mass outbreak of slimes. Agricultural workers who are economically unstable should have no choice but to consider going to the Settlement where labor conditions are stable.
Now then, we must work hard to produce good results here as well.
"Excuse me."
In the village we visited, the one who called out to a villager tending to livestock was... our cute Keeb!
"Hm? Who are you?"
"I am Keeb Old of the Ayle Foundation, a foundation authorized by the Elsemarin Guild. I have come because I heard this village suffered damage from the mass slime outbreak."
The villager gave a suspicious look at Keeb's words and at me, standing behind Keeb in full-face plate armor, but for the time being, since it was a beautiful boy speaking, he seemed willing to listen.
"So, is this 'Foundation' thing gonna do something for us?"
"If it is what you desire..."
While appearing to flinch at the villager's somewhat haughty tone, Keeb timidly made a proposal.
"We are opening up the plains near Elsemarin to build a town. We are currently recruiting settlers for that..."
"Settlers?"
But this villager doesn't seem very keen. It's likely a mix of intimidation, fearing he'll be bought out cheap, and a lack of courage to go settle elsewhere at the cost of giving up his own land.
"Hey now, don't talk down to us. 'Settling, settling,' a brat who's never done farm work probably doesn't get it, but it ain't that easy."
"Of course, I understand that. Therefore, the contract is that we will provide food and housing for the settlers until the Settlement begins to function as a town..."
"We're farmers! You think we'll move just 'cause you give us feed out of pity!? I'm not interested in such talk when I don't even know if that land is decent!"
What an incredibly stubborn villager. Is he irritable because he's hungry? No, even so, I feel like we've drawn a dud here...
"It's alright! The land is fertile! It's good land."
Keeb firmly asserted. He's playing the 'admirable beautiful boy doing his best to fulfill his duty while being intimidated,' but I bet inside he's thinking something like, 'Haa, what a pain, you damn peasant, just agree already!'
"How would you know that? You think you people can tell good land from bad?"
Well, it's a plain, so it's reasonably good land. It'll get even better once human hands and fertilizer are put in.
And in the worst-case scenario, if I scatter my blood on other lands, it will become relatively amazing land. There's no problem at all.
...Just as I was about to convey something like that from my side.
"Th-there used to be a small village there. It was small, but it was a good village where lots of wheat and vegetables were harvested."
Keeb started saying something that wasn't in the briefing.
"A village? That's..."
"It was my hometown."
...The 'was' uttered by a beautiful boy while forcing a small smile is heavy, isn't it...!
"It was attacked by monsters. My father and mother were killed there, and the village was gone, but... since I survived... I thought... it would be nice... if a village could be built there once more..."
Keeb, who had been spinning those words while looking down and biting his lip, suddenly looked up and hurriedly added more words.
"A-ah, so, it's alright! I remember well how the wheat fields swayed on that land! So, I can guarantee the land is fertile! As for monsters, we've invited one Sister so they won't attack again... Um, she's also from a village in that neighborhood... so, she's very motivated..."
Keeb's beauty-boy-ness is shining.
Even so, settings are being sprouted one after another...! What a terrifying child...!
"Th-that's... quite..."
The villager is overwhelmed by this! He has the face of someone reflecting on having taken an unnecessarily haughty attitude toward a beautiful boy!
"Um, so... once we have enough settlers, a village will... no, I'm sure it will become a magnificent town! I believe it!"
The beautiful boy fixed his tear-moistened eyes on him. Is there any attack more effective than this?
"So, please! Could you please... help us with the settlement!?"
...It worked. He fell for it. We did it.
Well, originally, not just this village but everywhere is in distress due to the mass slime outbreak, so it's only natural to grab a helping hand that offers perfect support. Since they can definitely get through this winter of crop failure, it's really an impossibly good deal, you know?
"Good job, Keeb."
"Well, yeah. Ahh, what a tedious guy."
I immediately praised Keeb's performance. But when I tried to pat his head, he swatted my hand away. How cruel.
After that, all the villagers of that village agreed to go to the Settlement, saying 'we probably won't all survive the winter if we stay in this village,' so they were put on another carriage we had prepared, their luggage was stored in a lent Spatial Bag, and they were transported to the Settlement in a carriage driven by one of the maidens.
Since Keeb and I don't need to deepen our friendship with the villagers on the way, we'll quickly head to the next village to either recruit or kidnap the villagers there.
And so, the carriage carrying Keeb and me proceeded to the next village.
"...By the way, that bit during the recruitment. How much of it was a lie?"
When I asked Keeb that.
"...Who knows. I wonder how much. Well, it's fine, isn't it? If that place becomes a town."
He said that and flashed a slightly happy smile.