Chapter 64. Keeping in Check (1)
The day the unemployed knights of Corse arrived with their families.
I went to the harbor with Axel and the knight order to welcome them.
“Sir Axel, the ships are already entering. Hurry with the welcoming ceremony.”
Following my instructions, Marcel’s heavily armed knights lined up on their warhorses in full armor with lances.
The soldiers also formed ranks while holding horns and flags.
Three merchant ships from Corse attached their mooring ropes and lowered their gangways.
The immigrants began disembarking.
Booooo!
The soldiers repeatedly blew large horns to celebrate their arrival.
About one hundred and fifty immigrants became excited by our welcome.
They stopped disembarking and stood there waving at us.
Naturally, unloading slowed down.
“Damn. At this rate, it’ll take forever for all those people and their luggage to come down.”
“My lord, Sir Berix is quick to understand situations. You can probably begin immediately.”
At Axel’s quiet suggestion, I held a shining longsword across both hands.
Berix, representative of the unemployed knights, truly was quick-witted.
The moment he saw me, he pushed through the crowd, hurried forward, and knelt on one knee.
This was a simplified loyalty ceremony where I accepted his oath and presented him with a sword.
Naturally, it was mostly for show.
“Sir Berix, receive this sword. From this moment, you are a knight of Marcel. Become the senior knight of the twelve knights you brought and serve me.”
“I will uphold the honor of a knight, offer my loyalty to you, my lord, and fight for Marcel.”
I drew the longsword and touched both shoulders.
Then, when Berix stood, I handed the sword to him.
And slapped him across the face.
Smack!
“Ghk, my lord. Why did you slap me...?”
“Huh? You don’t do that here?”
Knight Commander Axel quietly informed me.
“We don’t do that in the Franche Kingdom.”
“Sorry. First time.”
“That’s fine. I suppose they slap the knight in Germania.”
First day on the job, and I slapped an employee across the face.
Was I becoming a terrible boss?
I needed to change the subject quickly.
“Anyway, there are many members in your families, and the manors you will move to are far from here. The relocation will happen gradually over several days. I prepared temporary lodging until then. I apologize for the inconvenience.”
“A tent in a field would have been enough.”
“I can’t do that. I rented several inns. If there is anything you need, ask Sir Axel.”
Then I moved around greeting the immigrants and shaking their hands.
A lord personally shaking every person’s hand made them extremely happy.
This world did not really have such a custom.
I had learned it from politicians in my previous life.
Maybe shaking hands creates some sense of personal connection. If not, whatever.
Treating an employee’s family kindly increased the employee’s motivation.
That was probably true in any world.
I became exhausted after personally greeting nearly one hundred and fifty people.
Still, it was worth it.
The existing knight order had twenty-one knights.
The thirteen knights from Corse brought us to thirty-four.
Four Naval Knights from Gibraltar would arrive soon.
That would bring us to thirty-eight.
More Naval Knights might come.
Once we also finished selecting the Free Knights gathering from various regions, we could reach the official limit of fifty within the year.
Fifty knights still won’t let us compete directly with Ronalp, but it’s enough to block most outside threats.
The increase had been decided suddenly.
Still, I felt much safer.
The chance of being stabbed while sleeping had decreased.
I also worried less about sudden invasions.
However,
I wonder how the other territories will react. Well, even if they throw a fit, I have no intention of changing my mind.
As Marcel’s economy and military continued growing, neighboring territories would place greater pressure on us.
I still did not know whether I could overcome and calm that pressure.
Even so, the process might be a little fun.
* * *
Since I was already at the harbor, I went to find Captain Adrien.
“Adrien Assel! How is the task I gave you?”
“I collected quite a lot from Catalonia and Liguria. Just as you ordered, I only identified the materials of the expensive pieces and brought back the cheap ones.”
Captain Adrien guided me into a warehouse.
Rows of bowls and dishes filled the shelves.
I had asked him to gather different types of ceramic tableware from the Delhi Sultanate and countries farther east whenever he found them in foreign markets.
I carefully inspected the dishes.
As expected, bone china doesn’t exist in this world.
Just like the cliché from countless web novels in my previous life, I planned to produce bone china and sell it.
I already knew there was nothing similar on the Northern Continent.
Still, I had asked Captain Adrien to confirm the tableware from the East, just in case.
In my previous life, the manufacturing method for proper bone china was not established until around the Industrial Revolution.
It was natural not to find any here.
Grow cattle-feed beet and make sugar. Use the leftover byproducts as cattle feed. Slaughter those cattle, turn their bones into ash, then use the ash to produce bone china.
That was the production chain I had designed.
Of course, after the marriage alliance with the Berber Kingdom, most cattle-feed beet farming, sugar production, livestock raising, and slaughtering would happen in Berber.
“When are the cattle bones I ordered arriving?”
“The Canada transport ship will bring them back from Berber.”
“Send a messenger the moment it enters the harbor.”
“Are you making something else?”
“Dishes. White and durable dishes.”
Captain Adrien grinned.
His teeth shone like pure white bone china.
“I’m looking forward to this one too. Hehehe.”
“Stay sharp. We need to earn a lot of money. Most of it will be exported outside the territory.”
“We’ll probably visit Veneto frequently.”
The Veneto Territory had an enormous trading port through which all kinds of luxury goods passed.
Thanks to our marriage alliance, Marcel received most-favored treatment in trade and tariff abolition.
Adrien had probably assumed we could maximize profits through selling luxury items there.
“I wouldn’t really call these noble luxury goods. We’ll mass-produce them in factories.”
“So the plan is to sell huge quantities for huge profits?”
“Exactly. At first, scarcity will let us sell them expensively to the upper class. Then we gradually lower prices and expand the market.”
Luxury goods used only by nobles did not make enough money.
If only a tiny class could buy luxury brands in my previous life, LVMH would have been a small company.
It became enormous because anyone with enough money could buy luxury goods.
“Ah, so you want nobles to use them first and create a trend.”
“As long as people think of it as a premium product. After that, quality and price will decide everything.”
“There are plenty of places to sell. Just start making them. I’ll carry all the cattle bones you need.”
This world had not yet reached anything that could truly be called an Industrial Revolution.
Still, magic such as ship acceleration magic items had promoted colonial expansion and trade.
Religion and alchemy had also defeated several diseases.
As a result, the world had an enormous population.
In other words, the consumer market was not small at all.
“The ceramic craftsmen from Veneto should arrive soon. Production starts then.”
Rosso Bank was already recruiting skilled ceramic craftsmen for me.
Thanks to my reputation as a merciful lord and famous inventor, recruiting them should not be difficult.
I intended to create a tableware company and offer the craftsmen a small share of ownership in exchange for moving here.
“My lord, what happened to the marriage alliance with Catalonia? It would be useful if we received most-favored treatment there too.”
For now, Marcel and Catalonia only had a free trade agreement covering wheat and iron ore.
“No idea. They haven’t contacted me. Are they really waiting until a daughter is born?”
“Why not send an envoy? If you make those white dishes, you’ll want to sell them in Catalonia too.”
“Should I? Fine. I’ll send Chloe soon. Take her to Catalonia.”
Chloe was Chief of Foreign Affairs.
She was also my most trusted subordinate and the person originally responsible for arranging marriage alliances.
There was no better choice.
She had done well in both Veneto and Berber.
She would probably do well in Catalonia too.
* * *
Several days later.
Chloe arrived in Catalonia aboard the Benedikta.
She stared at the harbor while grumbling.
“I’m sick of ships. I may be the woman who has ridden the most ships on the Northern Continent. Ah, I want a vacation.”
She was already in a terrible mood.
Seasickness had also made her face pale and gloomy.
Her attendants were intimidated enough that they silently followed without making a sound.
However, when Chloe arrived at the Catalonia lord’s residence, the Head Butler gave her unexpected news.
“His Lordship asks that you wait several days. We prepared a guest room, so please rest from your journey.”
“Several days? A marriage alliance is extremely important. Wasn’t the Marquis also looking forward to this?”
“I apologize, but he says his current work is too busy for him to make time.”
Ridiculous.
A neighboring territory, and the man expected to become his son-in-law, had sent an official envoy.
Yet he did not even have time to greet that envoy?
Something happened. The situation changed. Has Catalonia started becoming wary of Marcel? Damn it!
Chloe immediately wrote a letter to Eric.
She sent it by messenger to Captain Adrien.
* * *
Meanwhile, the Marquis of Catalonia received the Head Butler’s report and sank into thought.
What should I do? Personally, I want to side with Viscount Marcel. But the resistance will be severe.
Even a marquis who possessed authority almost equal to a king inside his own territory could not completely ignore public opinion.
The money he spent so freely came from taxes and bribes paid by his subjects, specifically powerful local families and merchants.
Those people wanted to pressure Marcel.
Marcel was rapidly developing and increasingly eating into their interests.
The Iberian military was also becoming wary of Marcel.
Eric had recruited knights from Corse.
And one by one, Iberian Naval Knights were canceling their contracts and leaving for Marcel.
The military wanted the Marquis to place pressure on Marcel to stop further military expansion.
Unable to decide, the Marquis called an old friend who served as Administrator.
The man held the rank of viscount and had received an advanced education.
The Marquis had relied on him since childhood.
The moment the Administrator entered, the Marquis began complaining.
“Did you hear that an envoy arrived from Marcel?”
“Yes. I also heard that Your Lordship is hiding from her.”
“...I’m not exactly hiding. Anyway, the situation is not good enough to form the marriage alliance immediately.”
The Marquis stroked his mustache while thinking.
“You’re going to pull your mustache out at this rate.”
“Enough. Give me a solution.”
The Administrator made a motion across his throat.
“Let us cut off Viscount Eric Marcel’s head.”
“Are you insane?”
“No? Then cut off all trade with the Marcel Territory.”
“That’s absurd.”
“That doesn’t work either? Then there is no solution. Stop worrying about the people of this territory and the military.”
“Damn it. That’s what you wanted to say from the beginning.”
The Marquis sank into the sofa.
The Administrator continued.
“What are you afraid of? Think back to when you entered Marcel Port. Marcel is not a competitor. It is a partner. We are in the same boat.”
“There are too many problems for that.”
“Then solve them one at a time. Call the envoy.”
“Ghh. I heard she already sent a letter to Viscount Marcel. Shouldn’t we at least wait for his reply?”
“There’s no choice. I’ll give the envoy a hint for now.”
However, the Marquis never needed to wait for Eric’s reply.
Eric appeared in person.
