Chapter 87 - Episode 3: "A Cheap Miracle, isn't it?"
Gokigenyou. It is I, Violia Nico Fortesia.
Right now, I am fighting Chesta.
"Prepare yourself, kidnapper!"
"In the name of God, I shall punish you!"
"Begone at once!"
Just as Chesta finished moving the people he kidnapped from the Spatial Bag into the caged carriage, I and several other maidens stood against him.
Of course, among the maidens, the only one who can fight properly is the girl who played the hunter. But in these situations, things usually work out if you just look the part.
"Interesting! Try and defeat me if you can!"
Chesta is really getting into it too. This time he didn't use his prosthetic arm; he charged in with knives in both hands.
I blocked it with my shield, and Keeb used the water magic he just recently practiced and learned, but Chesta dodged it. (Of course, Keeb missed on purpose, but Chesta probably could have dodged it even if he hadn't.)
Then the maidens shot arrows, and in the meantime, they worked hard to pick the lock of the carriage... and then, finally, Carol, the next Saint, stepped forward!
"O God, with Your merciful arms, repel the wicked!"
When Carol held up her staff and spun those words, the dragon Chesta was riding flinched. Why? Because I was glaring at it from behind Carol.
...Yes. Doran is a werewolf, so the dragons are scared of him.
On the other hand, I... have drilled the hierarchy so strictly into them that they are terrified of me.
Whenever I glare, all the dragons flinch to a pitiful degree...
While the dragon flinched in fear of me, Carol took another step forward. There, I gave the dragon another glare.
"Damn, what is this! Hey, dragon! Get it together!"
Seeing this, Chesta hurriedly called out to the dragon, but in the dragon's mind, Chesta and itself are friends... which means I, who am above it, am naturally above Chesta too.
The dragon reacted to my glare more than Chesta's words, so it began to back away slowly while squeaking.
"...I don't quite get it, but this looks like a losing battle."
Chesta gave a single click of his tongue, hopped onto the dragon, and immediately began to retreat.
With this, the scene was framed so that the dragon fled after being overwhelmed by Carol.
"Everyone, you are safe now."
Eventually, the lock-picking of the caged carriage succeeded, and the people trapped inside were safely rescued.
After all, those who rescued them were all (including me in full-face plate armor) beautiful girls and boys. Including the fact that they were saved, their trust level shot up instantly!
"What is this... We were in our village, but then the village was attacked by that guy on the dragon... and before we knew it, we were in this cage..."
Since we don't know anything about illegally modified Spatial Bags, we just look at each other and tilt our heads. We say things like 'I wonder if it's a new kind of magic' or 'I don't know. We need to be careful from now on,' and for the time being, we prioritize the rescued villagers over the villain who fled.
"Where is this? I can't see our village..."
"This is the outskirts of Elsemarin."
"Elsemarin!? Why so far away..."
When we asked the bewildered villagers where they were from, we found out they were all people brought from the absolute boonies, the most remote frontiers. Chesta seems to have done a good job.
"Then it will be quite a struggle to return..."
"Yeah. We don't have any money, and even if we went back to the village... there's nothing there that would be worth any money."
"We don't even have a place to stay tonight. What should we do..."
The villagers, who were suddenly brought here with nothing but the clothes on their backs, have neither money nor power. Returning home, or even securing a place to stay for the night, is impossible. This is desperate, isn't it!
"...In that case, everyone, why don't you come to our village?"
That's when Carol made her proposal!
"Your village? That is..."
"It's still a settlement. But since the Ayle Foundation is funding it, we can provide food and housing. In exchange, if everyone could help a little with the settlement..."
Then Keeb presented the detailed conditions, and the villagers agreed to go to the Settlement without a second thought.
The conditions are the best, after all. For hicks from the boonies who were kidnapped and have no money or place to stay to return, being able to work in a settlement where wages are paid even during winter, housing is guaranteed, and beautiful girls are swarming around—it's only natural they'd agree instantly. Ohohohoho!
"What is the population of the Settlement now?"
"It's over 400. Since it's only been 3 days, isn't that pretty good?"
That's right. If we reach the Saint vote two months from now at this rate, we'll have roughly 8,000 votes. Considering that a certain number of votes from Elsemarin will also come in, 9,000 is a solid number!
...But, I'd like 10,000 if possible.
If you combine the populations of the Royal Capital and major cities, 10,000 or so won't be enough to compete. Of course, the votes from the Royal Capital and major cities will be split among multiple Saint candidates, but it'll still be a bit tough if we don't get 10,000 votes.
Especially with this fighting style, we don't have much time for sabotage. The 'boonies strategy' has no competitors, but it also means we can't crush our competitors...
"Well, the opposition isn't wary of us yet. Carol hasn't declared her candidacy yet. We should hold off on Carol's candidacy until the last possible moment and try to evade sabotage as much as possible."
After that, I suppose we can earn votes in the Royal Capital or Marylance at an appropriate time. To earn votes for Carol, Carol herself needs to move. We must think carefully about that...
For now, two weeks have passed.
2,000 villagers are gathered and working at the Settlement.
...This is already a population about the same as a decent-sized town. Seeing that many people gathered and working on such a vast piece of land, I can really feel the scale of what I'm doing.
The Settlement is currently starting with the construction of housing.
Basically, sleeping and eating are done in Elsemarin, and from there, they go to the Settlement a few hours away by carriage to build the town.
Now that two weeks have passed, it's starting to look like a collection of house-like structures. It's quite interesting.
Among the settlers, there were a few who could use earth magic. Those people are naturally prized when making fields or building the foundations of houses.
And above all...
"Fuhahaha! With this, the foundations and pillars are perfect!"
"Thank you very much, Masked Knight-sama!"
"Think nothing of it. If you need my strength, call upon me anytime."
Onii-sama.
Onii-sama is working incredibly hard!
"As expected of you, Onii-sama."
"It's nothing much. Besides, it feels good to use magic freely after so long."
Onii-sama is making house foundations with earth magic and sprouting pillars with wood magic.
...Onii-sama is far more skilled in magic than someone like me.
Well, I suppose all my magical power went into my blood... Thanks to that, I can hunt dragons alone without much effort, so I can't complain.
"Thanks to Onii-sama, the development is progressing at a tremendous speed."
"A jack of all trades can be useful sometimes. Hahaha."
...By the way, Onii-sama's magic is utterly unsuitable for combat. His fire magic is only enough to light firewood. His wind magic is only enough to fly a kite. His earth magic is only enough to solidify the ground. His lightning magic is just a little 'zap.' And his wood magic takes 10 days for a tree to grow to the height of a house pillar. That's how it is. In short, he's a jack of all trades. It's a very House Fortesia way of using magic.
In other words, Onii-sama's combat power is made up only of his physical enhancement magic—which is inexplicably specialized—pure physical strength, mental violence, and combat techniques like skillful maneuvering.
"With development progressing this smoothly, it must feel like a miracle to mere farmers."
I suppose so. The farmers who were passive about coming to the Settlement are dumbfounded by the way the land is being opened up far beyond their expectations.
Even if we're clearing the land, crops won't be harvested immediately, so we are preparing all the food.
Since this country is suffering from overall crop failure due to the slimes, we are importing food for the farmers from the neighboring country. We are procuring food by reselling Starry Sky Cakes in the Kingdom of Windry to earn money, and then buying up and importing food from the Kingdom of Windry. Thanks to that, we can procure food stably regardless of the food situation in the Kingdom of Orchesta.
In short, this place is heaven for the farmers.
The settlement is progressing smoothly, food is sufficient, and housing was mostly completed in two weeks.
...And the one managing them all is Carol.
The beautiful Sister Carol works hard alongside the farmers of the Settlement, and she has gained their trust by acting as their coordinator.
Thanks to that, her reputation within the Settlement is rising rapidly.
No matter how much we increase the headcount, it's meaningless if they don't vote for Carol. To ensure they definitely vote for Carol, we shall carry out thorough image manipulation.
And so, I gave Carol 'Holy Water.'
With this, she will perform a miracle by repelling the monsters that attack this Settlement, solidifying Carol's reputation.
By the way, the contents of the Holy Water are my blood diluted 1,000 times.